Full Throttle

On the fifth anniversary of his most recent Lernerville victory, Kinser snapped an inexplicable 0 for 8 losing streak at the track with a victory in the World of Outlaws Commonwealth Clash on Tuesday night. Kinser, the winningest Sprint car racer in World of Outlaws history with more than 500 wins, outran 23 of the top sprint racers in the country to take home the $10,000 first-place prize.

Kinser passed Sammy Swindell on the 22nd lap to win a battle of two World of Outlaws veterans.

Swindell is the winningest World of Outlaw Sprint car racer at Lernerville with 14 titles, but faded to second. Tim Shaffer of Aliquippa was third. Apollo’s Ed Lynch Jr., the top Sprint car driver in Western Pennsylvania, finished sixth after starting in 20th place. Defending Commonwealth Clash champion Donny Schatz, still seeking his first win of the season, was 20th.

Kinser is the 18-time series champion and current points leader in the 2004 World of Outlaws Sprint Series. He has more than 70 World of Outlaw races and three Sprint Series points titles since he last took the checkered flag at Lernerville Speedway. But flat tires, poor draws and just plain faster cars have conspired to keep him out of first place at Lernerville since May 25, 1999.

Kinser’s day started fast. He won his first heat when he passed Brandon Wimmer, a high school junior from Fairmount, Ind., on the back-turn of the eighth and final lap, and then won Dash 1.

But it looked like Kinser’s winless streak at Lernerville would continue. Swindell, trying to win at the track for the first time since his horrific 2001 wreck when he ran into the back of a push-truck at more than 120 mph, led for the first 20 laps working along the outside of the track.

But while Swindell’s 1,375-pound, 850-horsepower car seemed to lose some ground at the bottom of the track, Kinser was able to maintain his speed at the top and the bottom of the track.

“Usually, it’s a big, hard narrow ledge,” Kinser said. “Here, you can run at the top and the bottom and that’s the way a track should be. It’s nice to see a race track work when you have two grooves.”

The victory was Kinser’s ninth World of Outlaw A feature championship this season

The second heat was delayed for about 20 minutes when Paul McMahan of Nashville, Tenn., and Chad Kemenah of Findley, Ohio, collided just past the finish line. They were battling for fifth place — and an automatic berth into the feature — in the seventh lap of the eight-lap heat. McMahan’s car flipped into the chain link fence and sent bits of debris into the stands. No one was injured.

Source: Pittsburgh Live

Marcus Gronholm’s victory in the Rally of Cyprus was overruled Wednesday after motor racing’s governing body upheld a finding by rally stewards his Peugeot water pump was illegal.

Peugeot said they would not appeal, which means Sebastien Loeb replaces Gronholm as the Cyprus winner and the Citroen Xsara driver takes over the world championship lead.

Cyprus Rally organisers found a difference in the water pumps used in Gronholm’s Peugeot 307 and the Loeb’s Citroen Xsara despite both cars having similar engines.

Peugeot’s pump paddle was made of plastic while that of Citroen was in aluminium.

Finland’s Gronholm had gone top of the world driver’s championship after winning the fifth race of the season in Cyprus two weeks ago, when he finished almost one minute clear of Loeb.

It would have been former champion Gronholm’s 16th career win and first for the new Peugeot 307 on the WRC circuit.

And a Saturday night bull ring NASCAR event appeared on my TV screen. The Monoco Grand Prix certainly departed from what has been mostly a Schumacher parade this season. Drivers reactions:

Jarno Trulli, Renault (1st):

“It is hard to express what I am feeling right now. The team, the car, myself, we have all been improving bit by bit since the start of the season. Yesterday, I took my first pole position and said that all I needed now was a first win. To do so is a wonderful feeling. I believed in myself and the team, and hoped that maybe we could win here. To be honest, the way the race turned out really didn’t help me: each time I built up a gap, the safety car came out, and I had quite a lot of trouble with traffic. But the car was perfect, the strategy correct and the pit-stops were fantastic. I just want to thank everybody in the team, here at the track, at Viry and at Enstone. They have worked so hard this year and this is not just my win, it’s theirs as well.”

Jenson Button, BAR (2nd):

“It was a very tough but incredibly exciting race for me - and I suspect everyone watching at home too! It felt great crossing the line in second place, but ever so slightly frustrating because I was only a second behind the winner! I didn’t get a good start and Alonso was able to get by me, then the traffic was very bad because of the backmarkers and I was getting really frustrated, being stuck behind da Matta for three and a half laps. After I broke free of them I could really start catching Jarno. We had a great strategy today but we just couldn’t quite catch him.”

Rubens Barrichello, Ferrari (3rd):

“I think I was very lucky to finish today and third place was my birthday present from God. At the start, Sato came past me even before I moved off the line. Then, quite early in the race, in Casino Square, the car hit the ground very hard, I was locking the wheels and it felt as though I had a puncture. I told the team on the radio, but they said that if I could, I should stay out and see if the situation improved on my next set of tyres. But after my second pit stop, which I did not make when the Safety Car was out as I had a lot of fuel on board, the car was still hitting the ground and was not turning well. It felt like something was broken in the rear suspension and while the SC was on track I even drove slowly near the pit wall in case the team could see anything. I?m not even sweating after this race, because all I could do was drive slowly to carry the car home. I did not see Michael?s incident in the tunnel.”

Michael Schumacher, Ferrari (DNF):

?Firstly I must congratulate Jarno. He did a fantastic job and I am very happy for him as I work closely with him in the GPDA and we meet on the football pitch. Today, I don?t think I could have really challenged him, but nevertheless when the accident with Montoya happened I was leading the race. So the situation is that the race leader was knocked out of the race after being hit by a back marker. I am sure there was no deliberate intention on his part and I accept the Steward?s decision. I was accelerating and braking just as we do when we go to the grid and in the standard way when running behind the Safety Car. The tunnel was not even the first place I had done it as I had used the same procedure earlier in the lap. A bit of smoke off the wheels is quite normal in these situations as you try to get heat into the front tyres and the brakes. After not the most successful weekend for us, I am really looking forward to next weekend when we will already be at the Nurburgring for one of my home races.?

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The icy cool Matt Kenseth, driving on perhaps his best track, waited patiently until three laps to go to make his move, then took the air off Ryan Newman’s rear spoiler in a pass for the lead and went on to win NASCAR’s annual all-star race by a solid eight lengths. It was a good debut for Ford’s new cylinder head. And that all made Roush smile.

But a crash involving Busch and Biffle, which took them out along with five others, will leave Roush with a headache that may take a few days to resolve. Roush: “I think Kurt misjudged… unless he meant to knock Greg out of the way, which I don’t think he did. “I hope I can put some salve on this thing.”

Roush may be properly proud of Kenseth but he will have to cool things off between Biffle and Busch.

Biffle was angry with Busch: “I think the replay showed Kurt has his head (expletive deleted). I just don’t understand. You’ve got to finish the race.

“He was reckless on the straightaway. He had more motor than I did because he’s higher in points. You’ve got to use some common sense. Kurt Busch took out the whole field. If I were Jack Roush, I don’t know what I’d do.”

Biffle’s engine comment referred to Ford’s new cylinder head, which is being supplied only to a few drivers, based on their point standings.

“I got hit from behind on the straightaway and turned into the fence. I tried to save it, but dang, you’re going so fast right there,” Biffle said. “It’s early in the race and a teammate wrecks you, just drives under the back of you. It’s crazy, it’s crazy. It’s senseless to do something like that.”

Busch said he was trying to push Biffle past a third teammate Matt Kenseth: “He got a run on Matt coming out of four and I just wanted to help him down the straightaway. But the way our noses are pinned and the tails are up with the stiff rear springs, our car lifted his instead of helping to push him.

“It’s just an all-star type bump, where you just want to try to help him. He’s a teammate of mine and I didn’t mean to wreck him. “I apologize for all the wrecked cars.”
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Marcus Gronholm’s victory in last weekend’s Rally of Cyprus will not be officially ratified until after a meeting next Wednesday between his Peugeot team and the sport’s governing body to clarify a technical issue, the FIA confirmed on Wednesday. Cyprus Rally Organisers have summonsed Peugeot chiefs to a meeting in Paris on May 26 to answer questions on a technical control carried out after the race, a FIA spokesman told AFP.

The control found a difference in the water pumps used in Gronholm’s Peugeot 307 and the Citroen Xsara driven by his leading rival Sebastien Loeb, despite both cars having similar engines. Peugeot’s pump paddle was made of plastic while that of Citroen was in aluminium.

“The stewards recognise our good faith but they put off their decision until next week for a complementary inquiry on the connection in a series of water pumps,” said Peugeot spokesman Jean-Claude Lefebvre.

The French team will be represented at the meeting by technical director Michel Nandan and team manager Nick Gullino.

Finland’s Gronholm became the new leader of the world driver’s championship after winning the fifth race of the season in Cyprus on Sunday, when he finished almost one minute clear of second-placed Loeb.

It was former champion Gronholm’s 16th career win but the first time the new Peugeot 307 had registered success on the WRC circuit.

Gronholm said: “Everything was perfect with the car. It was important for me and for the team to take this result with the new car.” Third going into the Cyprus rally, Gronholm now heads the driver’s championship on 34 points with Loeb a point adrift.

Enzo must be lapping in his grave quicker than Michael Schumacher’s Ferrari on nitrous!

A Lamborghini for Italian cops SPEED-LOVING Italians now have a good reason to become traffic policemen: a

Making the best of an otherwise off day Ken Schrader takes the win from the pole at Toledo (OH) Speedway. There were more trying times for Frank Kimmel and a black flag for Billy Venturini; and that was only part of the story Sunday afternoon at Toledo Speedway when the ARCA RE/MAX Series played before a packed house.

In the end, Schrader held off Jason Jarrett in a two-lap shootout that nearly brought down the house to win the thrilling Hickory Farms 200 presented by Federated Car Care. Rookie Boston Reid finished third.

Source: ARCA Racing
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Sprague, who returned fulltime to the series this season after a two-year absence, led the last 54 laps of the 250-lap race to post his first victory since Sept. 9, 2001. Sprague took the lead from fellow Chevrolet driver Dennis Setzer as the pair - rubbing fenders and doors - crossed the start-finish line on lap 197.

The Spring Lake, Mich. veteran, who started from the pole position in a lineup set by points due to a steady rain on Saturday - then held off Setzer on four restarts following caution periods to win by .394 seconds - about a truck length.

Sprague won $44,350 at an average speed of 54.706 mph - a pace slowed by a series record 94 laps of caution.

“I had perfect pit stops today and it all came together,” said Sprague, who spent the 2002 season on the NASCAR Busch Series and ran a partial schedule of NASCAR Nextel Cup races last year.

Source: NASCAR
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Gambling that he could win on tires and fuel with 54 laps to go, Dale Earnhardt Jr. made it happen Saturday night, outrunning Jimmie Johnson and Bobby Labonte over the last 45 laps for his third victory of the season. Earnhardt made the move look brilliant, gradually building a lead of more than 3 seconds and finally beating Johnson by 1.481 seconds.

“It was a great race car, just had a great long-run setup on it,” Earnhardt said after his 12th career victory and second at Richmond International Raceway. “I passed (Johnson) on the outside. I don’t know where that came from. I told him I felt like my daddy for five minutes.”

Earnhardt took the lead when Tony Stewart and most of the other contenders pitted for tires and fuel during the ninth and final caution on the 344th lap.

Source: NASCAR
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Joey Saldana dominated Tri-City Speedway’s quick half-mile Saturday, grabbing the $10,000 winner’s check and posting his first World of Outlaws Sprint Series “A” Main of the season.

Saldana started outside front row for the 25-lap headliner but just as he and pole-sitter Craig Dollansky took the green Kraig Kinser and Erin Crocker farther backinthe pack, with both cars flipping. Both drivers emerged unscathed, but during the resulting red flag Dollansky discovered a broken rear end which sent him tothe pits for repairs.

Chasing Saldana home were Lasoski, Kinser, McMahan, Jason Meyers, Brian Paulus, Brooke Tatnell, Tim Shaffer, Donny Schatz and Jason Sides.

“I can?t thank Larry Woodward enough for giving me an opportunity to race with these guys,” Saldana said in Victory Lane. “This team?s done a great job. Mike Cool, Mike Briggs and Dave Brzozwski have worked really hard and the Charlie Fisher motors are running great. This is the third car I?ve run on the Outlaw tour this year and it?s really fulfilling to know that I can still get the job done. I knew those guys were back there, but the traffic was really tight. Cars were weaving all over the place on the straightaways and I didn?t want to do anything stupid to throw away a good finish.”

Source: Hotlaps