BROOKLYN, Mich. — Neither Van Gogh nor Pavarotti, with their exquisite talents would’ve had a prayer of displaying the facial pain or the agony in Hendrick Motorsports crew chief Alan Gustafson’s voice as Sunday’s sun began to set on Michigan International Speedway.
Gustafson’s driver, Mark Martin, and their team have won a league-leading four races — including a Michigan fuel mileage special in June — but Martin sits only 12 points away from falling out of the 12-man field for the Chase after his car apparently ran out of fuel on the last lap and Brian Vickers, one of three drivers who still has a shot to race his way into the Chase, won the Carfax 400.
In June, Martin went from third to first on the final lap when … Details
Pourcel Gains Championship Advantage with 250 Class Victory
NEW BERLIN, N.Y. (August 15, 2009) – A buzz was in the air as 40 years of motocross was celebrated at Unadilla Valley Sports Center for round nine of the 2009 Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship and the Unadilla Retro Motocross National. With championships in sight, Rockstar/Makita/Suzuki’s Chad Reed, of Australia, and Monster Energy/Pro Circuit/Kawasaki’s Christophe Pourcel, of France, captured the overall victories in the 450 and 250 Class, respectively.
Throughout the second half of the season, Reed has been at the top of his game. The two-time AMA Supercross champion has four wins this season and appears to be on his way to a first career Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross Championship crown, rounding out what has already been a tremendously successful career. After working his way into the lead, Reed dominated each of the day’s motos en route to his third 1-1 sweep of 2009 and now carries a 81-point advantage going into the next round at Budds Creek.
“I’ve been working hard to …Â Details
Eder Luciano has won the 2009 Viana Pro in Portugal beating Guilherme Tâmega in the final heat.
The Brazilian won the first title in the IBA World Tour and receives a US$4.000 prize-money.
Mike Stewart lost the leading of the world ranking, after losing in the semi-final to Eder Luciano.
Guilherme Tâmega has now 4540 points. Stewart is very close with 4533 points.
IBA World Tour ranking after the 2009 Viana Pro:Â …Â Details
Mat Mladin (No. 7 Rockstar/Makita Yoshimura Suzuki GSX-R1000) clinched a record-extending seventh AMA Pro National Guard American Superbike presented by Parts Unlimited championship Sunday at Virginia International Raceway (VIR) where Yamaha riders Josh Hayes (No. 4 Yamaha Motor Corp. USA Yamaha R1) and Josh Herrin (No. 8 Team Graves Yamaha YZF-R6) each earned the title of Big Kahuna for sweeping the weekend’s races.
Hayes led every lap from the Superpole in both yesterday’s race and the Sunday American Superbike final while Herrin raced from fifth on the grid to first in both AMA Pro Daytona SportBike presented by AMSOIL races. The near-perfect performance was Yamaha’s first AMA Pro Road Racing double-class sweep in history.
“All of these guys have been riding great this weekend,” said Hayes, who …Â Details