Singapore GP coverage highlights 15 hours of racing on NBCSN this weekend - MotorSportsTalk

Formula One’s top drivers will race under the lights this weekend at the SingTel Singapore Grand Prix, highlighting NBCSN’s 15.5 hours of motorsports coverage. Live coverage of the Singapore Grand Prix, Formula One’s original night-time race, will begin on Sunday at 7:30 a.m. on NBCSN.

NBCSN’s live coverage of the Singapore Grand Prix begins with practice on Friday at 9:30 a.m. ET. Coverage of qualifying will be live streamed on NBC Sports Live Extra – NBC Sports Group’s live streaming product for desktops, mobile devices and tablets – on Saturday at 9:30 a.m. ET, and can be seen on NBCSN at 3:30 p.m. ET. F1 Extra, NBC Sports Group’s half-hour post-race show, will air immediately following the conclusion of the Singapore Grand Prix on Sunday.

The 2008 Singapore Grand Prix was Formula One’s inaugural night-time race. The illuminated Marina Bay Street Circuit continues to serve as the star of one of F1’s premier annual events, and remains the only F1 race to be held “under the lights”.

Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) aims for his third straight victory in the Singapore Grand Prix after taking the checkered flag the past two years. Vettel leads the F1 driver standings with 221 points and looks to build on his momentum following a first-place finish at the Italian Grand Prix two weeks ago. Vettel has won four of the last six races on the F1 schedule, and leads second-ranked Fernando Alonso(Ferrari) by 47 points. Vettel and Alonso have combined to win four of five races at the Marina Bay Street Circuit since F1’s debut at Singapore in 2008; Vettel stood atop the podium the past two years, while Alonso took the checkered flag in 2008 and 2010.

NBCSN will also air episodes of Mobil 1 The Grid and TRANSLOGIC this week as part of NBCSN’s motorsports coverage.

The full release is linked here, via the NBC Sports Group Press Box website.

Date	Coverage	Network	Time (ET)
Thur., September 19	Mobil 1 The Grid	NBCSN	9 p.m.
	TRANSLOGIC	NBCSN	12:30 a.m.
	TRANSLOGIC	NBCSN	1 a.m.
	TRANSLOGIC	NBCSN	1:30 a.m.
Fri., September 20	F1 Singapore Grand Prix – Practice	NBCSN	9:30 a.m.
Sat., September 21	F1 Singapore Grand Prix – Practice (Encore)	NBCSN	1 a.m.
	F1 Singapore Grand Prix – Qualifying	NBC Sports Live Extra	9:30 a.m.
	F1 Singapore Grand Prix – Qualifying	NBCSN	3:30 p.m.
Sun., September 22	F1 Singapore Grand Prix – Qualifying (Encore)	NBCSN	1 a.m.
	F1 Singapore Grand Prix	NBCSN	7:30 a.m.
	F1 Extra	NBCSN	10 a.m.
	F1 Singapore Grand Prix (Encore)	NBCSN	1:30 p.m.
	F1 Extra (Encore)	NBCSN	4 p.m.
*Dates and times subject to change

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Media and fan attention focused on a controversial run-in between Haiden Deegan and his Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing teammate Jordon Smith during Round 10 of the Monster Energy Supercross race at Detroit, after which the 250 East points’ Hunter Lawrence defends the young rider in the postrace news conference.

Deegan took the early lead in Heat 1 of the round, but the mood swiftly changed when he became embroiled in a spirited battle with teammate Smith.

On Lap 3, Smith caught Deegan with a fast pass through the whoops. Smith briefly held the lead heading into a bowl turn but Deegan had the inside line and threw a block pass. In the next few turns, the action heated up until Smith eventually ran into the back of Deegan’s Yamaha and crashed.

One of the highlights of the battle seemed to include a moment when Deegan waited on Smith in order to throw a second block pass, adding fuel to the controversy.

After his initial crash, Smith fell to seventh on the next lap. He would crash twice more during the event, ultimately finishing four laps off the pace in 20th.

The topic was inevitably part of the postrace news conference.

“It was good racing; it was fun,” Deegan said at about the 27-minute mark in the video above. “I just had some fun doing it.”

Smith had more trouble in the Last Chance Qualifier. He stalled his bike in heavy traffic, worked his way into a battle for fourth with the checkers in sight, but crashed a few yards shy of the finish line and was credited with seventh. Smith earned zero points and fell to sixth in the standings.

Lawrence defends Deegan — *Jordon Smith failed to make the Detroit Supercross Main and fell to sixth in the points. – Feld Motor Sports*

“I think he’s like fifth in points,” Deegan said. “He’s a little out of it. Beside that it was good, I don’t know. I wasn’t really paying attention.”

Deegan jokingly deflected an earlier question with the response that he wasn’t paying attention during the incident.

“He’s my teammate, but he’s a veteran, he’s been in this sport for a while,” Deegan said. “I was up there just battling. I want to win as much as everybody else. It doesn’t matter if it’s a heat race or a main; I just want to win. I was just trying to push that.”

As Deegan and Smith battled, Jeremy Martin took the lead. Deegan finished second in the heat and backed up his performance with a solid third-place showing in the main, which was his second podium finish in a short six-race career. Deegan’s first podium was earned at Daytona, just two rounds ago.

But as Deegan struggled to find something meaningful to say, unsurprisingly for a 17-year-old rider who was not scheduled to run the full 250 schedule this year, it was the championship leader Lawrence who came to his defense.

“I just want to point something out, which kind of amazes me,” Lawrence said during the conference. “So many of the people on social media, where everyone puts their expertise in, are saying the racing back in the ’80s, the early 90s, when me were men. They’re always talking about how gnarly it was and then anytime a block pass or something happens now, everyone cries about it.

“That’s just a little bit interesting. Pick one. You want the gnarly block passes from 10 years ago and then you get it, everyone makes a big song and dance about it.”

Pressed further, Lawrence defended not only the pass but the decision-making process that gets employed lap after lap in a Supercross race.

“It’s easy to point the finger,” Lawrence said. “We’re out there making decisions in a split millisecond. People have all month to pay their phone bill and they still can’t do that on time.

“We’re making decisions at such a fast reaction [time with] adrenaline. … I’m not just saying it for me or Haiden. I speak for all the guys. No one is perfect and we’re under a microscope out there. The media is really quick to point a finger when someone makes a mistake.”

The media is required to hold athletes accountable for their actions. They are also required to tell the complete story.

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