MotoX News: 5/12/13

Saturday

Power Rankings: It?s Matt Kenseth?s turn at the top

It's time for Power Rankings! After every race, we'll opine about who we think is at the top of the Sprint Cup heap and how and why they got there. Remember, this isn't scientific, as our formula is the perfect blend of analytics and bias against your favorite driver. So let's get on with it, shall we?

1. Matt Kenseth (LW: 3): As the esteemed Geoffrey Miller noted in Hot/Not on Monday, Kenseth has been in the same stratosphere as Jimmie Johnson this season, it's just that he's been crashed at Bristol and blown up at Daytona. And he's now the first driver in the Cup Series to have three wins. That deserves the top spot, if at least for a week, right?

2. Jimmie Johnson (LW: 1): Does it seem downright evil that we're demoting the points leader from the top spot of Power Rankings after finishing fourth and extending that lead? Oh well, we are. Jimmie, you'll get over it, won't you? Or will you show us up by going out and dominating the show at this year's All-Star race much like you did in 2012?

3. Carl Edwards (LW: 2): Last year, a seventh place finish for Edwards is a cause for celebration. This year, it's hardly noteworthy. Carl already has five top 10 finishes -- two more than he had all of last season -- and is on pace to have more top 10s in 2013 in just 22 races. Is there a Chase spot with your name on it already, Cuz?

4. Kyle Busch (LW: 11): Not many drivers finish the race in sixth like Busch did after having a cut right rear tire over the race's final 10 laps. Sure, it's a race that Busch will rue for his horrible luck costing him the win, but think if he would have ended up on pit road under green or with the car stuffed in the fence? Simply 20 points less on Saturday night and he's in 14th in the standings.

5. Dale Earnhardt Jr. (LW: 8): Are we overrating Junior's standing in Power Rankings? His ninth place finish Saturday night was his first single digit finish since he reeled off five of them to start the season. Those five races are the reason he's still so high in the points standings, and Junior's doing enough every week to look like a bonafide Chase contender, but he's not close to victory lane.

6. Kevin Harvick (LW: NR): Hell of a bounceback by Cupcake to charge through the field over the last stages of the race to take fifth. Sure, a late pit stop for four tires helped, but moves like that not only enhance Harvick's reputation as a closer but also put you in the top 10 in the points standings and tie the great PFM for the Richard Childress Racing points lead. Monumental.

7. Jeff Gordon (LW: NR): Third place is certainly a nice way to celebrate your 700th start, and for the Gordon fans who want to blame Alan Gustafson for everything (we're looking at you, Yahoo! race chatters), there was nothing to blame Alan for Saturday night. OK, yeah right. Gordon could have finished two spots higher.

8. Kasey Kahne (LW: 9): Damn, Kasey, that has to suck. You storm by Kyle Busch on a restart to take the lead -- while being the first car to really challenge Busch all night -- and then see that lead and your race disappear when Busch goes really low to challenge you into turn one. No, it wasn't an intentional move by Busch to disturb/make contact with Kahne enough to crash him, but after three incidents in 11 races, it's hard to not see why Kahne is frustrated.

9. Denny Hamlin (LW: NR): Welcome back to the Sprint Cup Series, Denny. That wasn't a bad way to mark your first full race back even though you chose one of the toughest tracks to make your official comeback at. Hamlin's going to get stronger with every race and won't have to save anything on Saturday night at the All-Star race. What does that mean? Well, don't be surprised if he's there at the front in the final segment.

10. Clint Bowyer (LW: 10): That was a pretty nondescript 11th place finish by Bowyer. And you know what? I think we all can be happy with that. Can you imagine how inundated we would have been with the "Fresh off the Wire" reports and terrible KFC jokes if Bowyer had been at or near the front at Darlington?

11. Juan Pablo Montoya (LW: NR): What? JPM has only two top 10 finishes? How are you putting him here? Well, those two top 10s have come in the last three races and you have to think they're not a fluke. It's been crazy issues and mechanical failures that have derailed him so far this season, and if he gets more opportunities without catastrophic failures, the top 10s may start to pile up.

12. Aric Almirola (LW: 6): Does anyone want 12th? You could make an argument for four or five drivers, so we just went with the guy highest in points. That'd be Almirola, even though his streak of top 10 finishes ended at four. Congratulations! Does this mean we get free bacon?

Lucky Dog: Kurt Busch, you did a nice job of finishing 14th after the damage sustained in Casey Mears' crash. However, what would have been your finishing position had you not gotten so morose when you fell out of the top five?

Dropped Out: David Ragan, David Gilliland, Brad Keselowski, Paul Menard

The DNF: We'll give that one to Keselowski, who finished 32nd after being caught up in that aforementioned crash. After seven top 10s in the first eight races, Kes's last three have gone 33rd, 15th and 32nd.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nascar-from-the-marbles/power-rankings-matt-kenseth-turn-top-121632370.html

Zsolt Baumgartner Elie Bayol Don Beauman Karl Gunther Bechem

Time running out for Alonso

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2012/10/time_running_out_for_alonso_in.html

John Barber Skip Barber Paolo Barilla Rubens Barrichello

A dream win: Matt Kenseth wins at Darlington for third win of 2013

The significance of winning at Darlington is no more evident than when a two-time Daytona 500 champion emerges from his car and says it's the biggest of his career.

That two-time 500 champion is Matt Kenseth, and he passed teammate Kyle Busch with 14 laps to go to take the lead of Saturday night's Bojangles Southern 500 to get his first win at Darlington and third win of the season. And it's a win that comes just three days after Kenseth's team saw the penalties that NASCAR levied against it after his win at Kansas severely lessened.

"Honestly, I've only dreamed about winning the Southern 500," Kenseth said. "This to me feels to me probably bigger than any win of my career. So I really feel bad that (crew chief Jason Ratcliff)'s not here, this is obviously his team and his effort but (interim crew chief Wally Brown) did a great job filling in and all these guys behind me. We had a fifth or sixth place car, fighting loose and those last two adjustments were just awesome."

On Tuesday, it wasn't too farfetched to think that Kenseth could miss the Chase this year. Now, there's no doubt that he'll be in the 12 driver field after Richmond in September.

After Kansas, when NASCAR found that Kenseth's car had a connecting rod in the engine that was less than three grams too light, Kenseth was penalized 50 points, saw the win removed from counting towards the Chase and his crew chief, Jason Ratcliff, was suspended for six races and fined $250,000 (among other penalties). On Wednesday, an appeals panel gave Kenseth 38 of those points back, the three points in the Chase for the win back, and reduced Ratcliff's suspension to just for Saturday night's race.

(And before you ask, yes, Kenseth's car and engine will be taken back for further inspection again, as is customary for every race winner.)

Now Kenseth is third in the points standings and all three of his wins will count towards his bid for the Chase. Just like series points leader Jimmie Johnson, who has two wins, Kenseth and team now don't have to worry about their points standings and attempt to accumulate as many bonus points as possible for the Chase.

Throughout the majority of Saturday night's race, Busch had a stranglehold on the field. At one point, thanks to just one caution during the race's first 302 laps and Busch's dominance, there were just 11 cars on the lead lap.

As the caution flags started to accumulate over the race's last 60 laps, Brown was able to make those adjustments Kenseth mentioned. Though as Busch sprinted out to a one-second lead on the race's final restart, it still looked like his race to lose.

However, Kenseth started making up considerable ground in turns three and four especially, and drove away from Busch, whose car started to slow considerably, evidently from a cut right rear tire. Busch led a race high 265 laps but fell from 2nd to 6th over the race's final nine laps. After the race, the team said the right rear had just 12 pounds of air left in it when the car was brought back to the garage.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nascar-from-the-marbles/dream-win-matt-kenseth-wins-darlington-third-win-033108623.html

Kurt Adolff Fred Agabashian Kurt Ahrens Jr Christijan Albers

INDYCAR Announces Competition Committee

Source: http://www.16thandgeorgetown.com/2013/03/indycar-announces-competition-committee.html

Slim Borgudd Luki Botha JeanChristophe Boullion Sebastien Bourdais

Matt Kenseth sets track record in Kansas qualifying

KANSAS CITY, Kan. ? Matt Kenseth snatched the pole from former teammate Carl Edwards and will start first in Sunday's STP 400 at Kansas Speedway.

Kenseth, the next-to-last car to qualify, went out two cars after Edwards and his lap of 191.864 MPH is a track record on the newly repaved and reconfigured surface. The previous record was set before last year's fall race in the first race on Kansas' steeper progressively banked track. This year, the combination of cool temperatures and a new car helped Kenseth break that record.

Ricky Stenhouse, the man who replaced Kenseth in the No. 17 when Kenseth moved to Joe Gibbs Racing before 2013, qualified third and Sam Hornish will start fourth in his first Cup start of the season.

Jeff Gordon crashed on his qualifying lap and will take the green shotgun on the field in a backup car. The back end of Gordon's car came around on him in turn two as he was in the throttle and the impact pancaked the rear of his car.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nascar-from-the-marbles/matt-kenseth-sets-track-record-kansas-qualifying-224514361--nascar.html

Eddie Cheever Andrea Chiesa Ettore Chimeri Louis Chiron

Friday

Danica Patrick scores on first try in intermission contest at Chicago Blackhawks game

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Is this an omen for Talladega?

Danica Patrick was in attendance as the Chicago Blackhawks faced the Minnesota Wild in Game 1 of their opening-round Stanley Cup Playoffs series and was a contestant in the Blackhawks' famed "Shoot the Puck" contest in the second intermission.

And guess what? She put it in the back of the net in her first shot at her first-ever Blackhawks game. Patrick's hometown is Roscoe, Illinois, which is northwest of Chicago.

Wearing a Blackhawks jersey with her name and number emblazoned on the back, Patrick advanced to the final round but in that round put her shot to the left. Another omen?

Patrick is making her first Sprint Cup Series start at Talladega on Sunday and figures to be a contender for the pole and potentially another top 10 finish. At Daytona, the series' other restrictor plate track, she became the first woman to start on the pole for the Daytona 500 in February and led a lap and finished 8th, the highest finish for a woman in the 500.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nascar-from-the-marbles/danica-patrick-scores-first-try-intermission-contest-chicago-125142615.html

John Cannon Eitel Cantoni Bill Cantrell Ivan Capelli

2013 Le Mans Moto3 FP2 Practice Result: Rins Tops Rain-Shortened Session

Alex Rins ended an incident-packed FP2 session for the Moto3 class on top of the timesheets, in a session cut short by the weather. The Estrella Galicia rider just edged ahead of Mapfre Aspar's Jonas Folger, while Luis Salom took third spot half a second behind Rins, and just ahead of Maverick Viñales. British rider Danny Webb ended in fifth, ahead of Niklas Ajo and Webb's Ambrogio teammate, Brad Binder.

A change in the weather thwarted Viñales' forward progress. The Red Bull KTM rider had fallen on his out lap, taking his time to get going again once he had returned to the pits. Spots of rain started falling shortly after the halfway mark, becoming more serious with some five minutes or so left, sending everyone back into the pits. A number of riders crashed during the session, though most of them during the dry first part, rather than due to the rain, with Efren Vazquez coming off worst, being taken to the Medical Center with a suspected fractured collar bone.

Results:

Race Details

Round Number:

2013

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/MotoGPMatters/~3/pxtch_FcnpQ/2013_le_mans_moto3_fp2_practice_result_r.html

Luciano Burti Roberto Bussinello Jenson Button Tommy Byrne

Aston Martin CC100

Posted on 05.17.2013 12:00 by Kirby Garlitos , Justin Cupler

The Geneva Motor Show is obviously a place where automakers converge to present their latest offerings to the auto world. But the event also serves as a venue for these same automakers to announce future plans for their respective brands.

One automaker that dropped quite the news at Geneva was Aston Martin. As part of the company’s 100th anniversary, Aston Martin chief, Ulrich Bez, told Autocar that the brand will be debuting a pair of V12 Vantage-based two-seat, open-top sports cars at the 24 Hours of N�rburgring in May.

One of these models has been dubbed the CC100. According to Bez, the CC100 will be part of Aston Martin’s 100th anniversary and will feature a Vantage-based styling that would also be heavily influenced by its own DBR1 race car.

Apparently, the CC100 will come with a dramatic look, too, particularly the absence of doors and a roof, thus exhibiting an entirely exposed cabin. Only two models of the limited edition supercar will be built, one of which will be used to celebrate Aston’s centenary with the other commemorating Stirling Moss’ iconic triumph during the 1959 N�rburgring 1000-kilometer race.

Technical details of the CC100 have yet to be revealed but Bez did say that the CC100 will be priced somewhere between the V12 Zagato and the brand’s crown jewel, the One-77., which gives it a wide range of �330,000 to �1.4 million (roughly $498,000 to $2.1 million at the current exchange rates) to play with.

Update 5/17/2013: Aston Martin has released a teaser video (above) for the CC100 - the CC100 is the yellow silhouette at the end of the video, Aston Martin even has an official web page that previews the official debut of the CC100 Concept, so be sure you check it on May 19th, 2013. Just click here: www.astonmartin.com/n24/reveal.

Stay tuned for more details.

click past the jump to read more about the car that inspired the CC100, the DBR1.

Aston Martin CC100 originally appeared on topspeed.com on Friday, 17 May 2013 12:00 EST.

Source: http://www.topspeed.com/cars/aston-martin/2014-aston-martin-cc100-ar148998.html

Tony Crook Art Cross Geoff Crossley Chuck Daigh

Electric Vehicles Finally Receiving Aid

And we continue with the subsidies. It appears that tomorrow, April 26 will ultimately aid aprobabas electric vehicles, a decision that will allow those interested to save ? 5,500 on the purchase (at least if the amount does not change eventually). The best of these grants is to be retrospective so that all users who [...]

Source: http://www.autocarblog.co.uk/450-electric-vehicles-finally-receiving-aid.html

Harry Blanchard Michael Bleekemolen Alex Blignaut Trevor Blokdyk

They cite security is not up to Mercedes Benz

With just three stars, Mercedes goes home thinking about how to solve the problems of the quote after passing crash tests Euro NCAP. And it is even a commercial vehicle derived from Renault Kangoo leads the star on the front and, it must be said, I’ll come. The poor performance of the quote is no [...]

Source: http://www.autocarblog.co.uk/456-they-cite-security-is-not-up-to-mercedes-benz.html

Sebastien Bourdais Thierry Boutsen Johnny Boyd David Brabham

Thursday

RHR To Utilize The #1, Marco #25

Source: http://www.16thandgeorgetown.com/2012/12/rhr-to-utilize-1-marco-25.html

Jack Brabham† Bill Brack Ernesto Brambilla Vittorio Brambilla

Photos: Busch Tests At Indy

Source: http://www.16thandgeorgetown.com/2013/05/photos-busch-tests-at-indy.html

Ernesto Brambilla Vittorio Brambilla Toni Branca Gianfranco Brancatelli

2013 Monza World Supersport FP2 Results: Lowes Beats The Kawasakis

Toward the end of the morning's free practice session, it looked likely the front row would end up an all-Kawasaki affair, but Sam Lowes was able to snatch his familiar position at the top in the flag. With both Kenan Sofuoglu and Fabien Foret recording higher speed trap figures, the slip stream effect in the race should prove important, as usual.

Results:

Race Details

Round Number:

2013

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/MotoGPMatters/~3/wKaGSOr6cns/2013_monza_world_supersport_fp2_results_.html

Carlo Abate George Abecassis Kenny Acheson Andrea de Adamich

Matt Kenseth wins from the pole at Kansas

KANSAS CITY, Kan. ? Matt Kenseth benefited from the timing of the final caution flag to take the lead in Sunday's STP 400 and held off Kasey Kahne over the final laps to get his second win of the season.

It's the third straight Sprint Cup Series race in which the winner has won from the pole and the fourth win for Joe Gibbs Racing in eight races in 2013. Though outside of Kenseth, it wasn't a rosy day for the rest of the team.

Kenseth was up front the entire day, but was running fifth as the pit window for the race's final pit stop ended. As the pit stop cycle started and the four cars ahead of him pitted, Kenseth stayed out and inherited the lead.

In the midst of all of that, Brad Keselowski's rear bumper cover was flapping in the breeze thanks to damage he had sustained earlier. Three laps after Kenseth took the lead and before he had a chance to pit, it flew off and landed on the track. The cars that were in front of Kenseth were suddenly going to restart behind him when the green flag waved again on lap 225.

That also put Kahne near the front too, and he charged to second place. Over the last 20 laps, the race strongly resembled the third race of the season at Las Vegas, where Kenseth had kept Kahne at bay to get his first win of the season and first with Joe Gibbs Racing.

As the laps wound down, Kahne would close in to within mere carlengths of Kenseth's bumper. But then, on the next lap, he'd lose some of the ground he'd make up, much like what happened at Vegas. On the white flag lap, Kahne got to Kenseth's bumper in turns one and two, but wasn't able to maintain his momentum and Kenseth pulled away down the backstretch.

It's also back-to-back wins at Kansas for Kenseth, who won last year's fall race while with Roush Fenway Racing. On Sunday, he led 163 of the race's 267 laps and was not passed for the lead on the racetrack all afternoon.

The other three JGR cars all crashed separately Sunday, including last week's winner Kyle Busch, who spun twice. The first time he didn't hit anything, but the second incident ended his day when he slid down the track and was collected heavily by Joey Logano.

Elliott Sadler, making his first Cup start of the season, crashed in turns three and four on lap 88 and Brian Vickers, subbing for the injured Denny Hamlin, hit the wall and spun on the backstretch on lap 175.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nascar-from-the-marbles/matt-kenseth-wins-pole-kansas-210503815--nascar.html

Don Beauman Karl Gunther Bechem Jean Behra Derek Bell

2013 Monza World Superbike Race Two Result: High-Speed Battles Front To Back

The second World Superbike race at Monza once again demonstrated the kind of excitement that only a fast track can deliver.

Race Details

Round Number:

2013

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/MotoGPMatters/~3/tUmPKQCx-p0/2013_monza_world_superbike_race_two_resu.html

Jean Alesi Jaime Alguersuari Philippe Alliot Cliff Allison

Wednesday

A dream win: Matt Kenseth wins at Darlington for third win of 2013

The significance of winning at Darlington is no more evident than when a two-time Daytona 500 champion emerges from his car and says it's the biggest of his career.

On Tuesday, it wasn't too farfetched to think that Kenseth could miss the Chase this year. Now, there's no doubt that he'll be in the 12 driver field after Richmond in September.

(And before you ask, yes, Kenseth's car and engine will be taken back for further inspection again, as is customary for every race winner.)

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nascar-from-the-marbles/dream-win-matt-kenseth-wins-darlington-third-win-033108623.html

Franco Comotti George Connor George Constantine John Cordts

Warped Wednesday: Are pedal cars the next step?

Welcome to Warped Wednesday. On this, we'll put out the rush to judgment mat, go a little too far and have a little fun. Will it be funny? Sometimes. Will it be crazy and largely unbelievable? Probably. Will not everyone get it? Definitely.

While the Sprint Cup Series garage's plans of fielding strictly stock cars for the rest of the season was squashed by the sanctioning body, there's a movement afoot to run pedal cars at this week's race at Richmond.

Just like teams were fearing penalties after what happened to the Penske teams at Texas, they're now in panic mode about Matt Kenseth's engine penalty. Teams are fearing they will now have to be incredibly precise with their measurement, something they haven't had to worry about in the past. One source said that there was a team in the field on Sunday that ran an engine that was a whopping 15 grams too light. Can you imagine the penalty they would have received after a further inspection?

So with a short track race coming up, pedal cars may be the order of the weekend. One team has already been scouting out thick soled shoes in the event that its driver has to drag his feet across the asphalt to come to a halt.

However, going to pedal cars may be a distinct advantage for some teams. Word is that Stewart-Haas Racing is already fighting the movement because despite their slow start the team knows Stewart will be more competitive in a regular car. He has no chance in a pedal car race against Jimmie Johnson or Carl Edwards.

It's the perfect time for this change to take place. Richmond is a short track and while the race is listed as the Toyota Owners 400, it's actually only 300 miles, and drivers will likely be coasting through the corners on many laps.

While NASCAR deterred stock cars at Kansas with seven-figure fines for each team that brought a strictly stock car to the track, the sanctioning body may be between a rock and a hard place on this issue. After all, pedal cars fit seamlessly into the NASCAR Green initiative, and the sport would be looked upon as a hypocrite just after Earth Day if it forced teams to use gasoline instead of human power.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nascar-from-the-marbles/warped-wednesday-pedal-cars-next-step-021937351--nascar.html

Chris Craft Jim Crawford Ray Crawford Alberto Crespo

Tuesday

Acura NSX

Posted on 05.14.2013 16:00 by Justin Cupler

After years of teasing and concept reveals, the Acura NSX is finally going to be a reality. This was confirmed by a press released from Honda informing us that it had selected a production facility: an all-new, 184,000-square-foot Performance Manufacturing Center in Ohio. This production facility will be inside Honda’s former North American Logistics facility nearby Honda?s R&D and engineering operations.

Little is known about the production version of the NSX except the fact that is will carry a mid-mounted, direct-injected V-6 engine and Acura?s Sport Hybrid SH-AWD system. The Sport Hybrid SH-AWD uses a trio of electric motors ? one mated to the engine and two driving the front wheels ? to help boost the V-6 engine?s performance and overall vehicle stability. The latest concept?s engine hooked up to a dual-clutch transmission and we expect the same from the production model. Unfortunately, Honda released no information on the total output and performance of the NSX, so we are in the dark here. We do figure to see at least 400 horsepower from the 2016 NSX and a 0-to-60 mph time around 4 seconds.

The 2013 NSX Concept is likely the one that is most similar to what the NSX will actually look like, minus the crazy headlights and wheels. The red and black leather interior is very realistic for production and the body isn?t too over the top to be considered for production.

Production will begin in Ohio in 2015, making this a 2016 model year not the 2015 model year that anticipated earlier. We will keep you updated as more information becomes available.

Click past the jump to read more about the NSX Concepts

*Image Note: All Images are of the various NSX concepts, not the production model

gallery: 2013 Acura NSX Concept

Acura NSX originally appeared on topspeed.com on Tuesday, 14 May 2013 16:00 EST.

Source: http://www.topspeed.com/cars/acura/2016-acura-nsx-ar155562.html

Chuck Daigh Yannick Dalmas Derek Daly Christian Danner

2013 Monza World Superbike Superpole Results: Three High Speed Sessions

Superpole was blessed with the promised good weather, allowing the riders to get on with pushing their machines down the multiple high-speed sections of the old Italian track. The qualifying tyres were pink-ringed for Mother's Day instead of having their usual yellow stripe.

Race Details

Round Number:

2013

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/MotoGPMatters/~3/hjSD0544xzg/2013_monza_world_superbike_superpole_res.html

Peter Ashdown Ian Ashley Gerry Ashmore Bill Aston