INTERNATIONAL WRAP: MOTOGP SAN MARINO & AUSSIES OVERSEAS
Marc Marquez wins the San Marino MotoGP – Photo: LAT
MOTOGP – SAN MARINO – ROUND 13
Marc Marquez made the most of the wet and tricky conditions at Misano to steal the win off Danilo Petrucci on the final lap of the race.
The win for Marquez moved him to equal on points with Andrea Dovizioso, who finished third, to have both riders leading the championship.
Even though the rain had stopped just prior to the race, the race started on and extremely wet track, which remained wet throughout the race.
Jorge Lorenzo made a sensational start from the second row of the grid to lead the race early. Building up a convincing 3 second lead over the rest of the field before crashing out on Lap 7. Promoting Petrucci into the lead of the race.
Petrucci then battled with Marquez and Dovizioso as the race continued, however the conditions remained tricky. All three riders having slight moments and almost crashing out as they continued to push hard in the lead of the race.
Dovizioso eventually decided to back off, thinking about the championship. Leaving Marquez and Petrucci to trade fastest laps as the race drew to a close. Marquez making the move into turn 1 on the final lap to steal the victory away from Petrucci.
Aussie Jack Miller made the most of the wet conditions to move up from 14th on the grid to challenge Maverick Viñales for fourth place during the race, before dropping back to finish sixth.
NASCAR – RICHMOND – ROUND 26
Four wide as Kyle Larson takes the NASCAR win in Richmond – Photo: LAT
Kyle Larson took out the win in an action packed NASCAR Cup race at Richmond.
Larson, stole the lead from Martin Truex Jr. who struggled on the final restart with the race in overtime.
Truex Jr’s, who had held a clear lead over the rest of the field, was expected to claim a comfortable win until Derrike Cope found the wall, trigger the caution to come out with just 3 laps left in the race.
His race then went from bad to worse on the restart, after losing the lead to Larson, Truex Jr.s found himself trying to fend off fellow Toyota driver Denny Hamlin when the two made contact, send the former race leader into the wall at Turn 1.
The race finished under caution with Larson taking the win ahead of Joey Logano, Ryan Newman, Kurt Busch and Denny Hamlin who slipped down the order after the incident.
“It came down to the last restart there, and I got a good start.” said Larson.
“I spun my tires pretty bad, and I was a little nervous, but we cleared him (Truex) into (Turn) 1, and I was pretty excited about that.”
“I’m really pumped for the playoffs. We’ve got a great shot at the championship, I feel like, this year. So I’m looking forward to it.”
The race was also the final round of the “regular season”, with the next event at Chicagoland Speedway kicking off the first round of the NASCAR Payoffs.
Playoff contenders are as follows:
1. Martin Truex Jr.: 2,053 points
2. Kyle Larson: 2,033 points
3. Kyle Busch: 2,029 points
4. Brad Keselowski: 2,019 points
5. Jimmie Johnson: 2,017 points
6. Kevin Harvick: 2,015 points
7. Denny Hamlin: 2,013 points
8. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.: 2,010 points
9. Ryan Blaney: 2,008 points
10. Chase Elliott: 2,006 points
11. Ryan Newman: 2,005 points
12. Kurt Busch: 2,005 points
13. Kasey Kahne: 2,005 points
14. Austin Dillon: 2,005 points
15. Matt Kenseth: 2,005 points
16. Jamie McMurray: 2,003 points
AUSSIES OVERSEAS
Joey Mawson racing in European Formula 3 – Photo: LAT
EUROPEAN FORMULA 3
Joey Mawson had a great start to the weekend in European Formula 3 at Nürburgring finishing on the podium in the first of the three races of the weekend.
Mawson backed that up in the second race with a seventh, in the second race, moving up one spot from his starting position.
The third race saw Mawson tangled up with Tadasuke Makino on the opening lap. Forcing Mawson into the pits for repairs. He managed to resume, but three laps behind the leaders, to finish 20th.
Race 3
GLOBAL RALLYCROSS
Aussie Chris Atkinson won one of his heats and his semi-final on the way to finishing on the podium on the first day of competition in the Global Rally Cross in Seattle.
The second day wasn’t as good Atkinson, with a fourth in his semi-final the best he was able to achieve.
AUDI TT CUP
Drew Ridge also had a strong weekend at the Nürburgring in the two Audi TT Cup races.
After qualifying tenth, Ridge made some setup changes to his car which helped him climb his way through the field to finish the first race on the podium. He backed that up in the second race, fighting his way up from eighth to fourth battling for the final spot on the podium.
SPEEDWAY GP
Jason Doyle had another good round of the Speedway GP in Germany to extend his lead in the Championship.
Doyle won four of his heats on his way to the semi-finals where he finished second. The final was more of a challenge for the Australia, but he did manage to finish on the podium.
MOTO2
Remy Gardner had a tough Moto2 race at Misano. The young Aussie started 22nd in extremely wet conditions that made it tough for all the riders, with almost half the field failing to finish the race. Gardner did manage to finish, after falling twice, moving up the order to finish in the points in 13th.
Remy Gardner in Moto2 at the San Marino MotoGP – Photo: LAT
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