Houston Update: James Hinchcliffe leads at halfway - MotorSportsTalk

A solid first pit stop for James Hinchcliffe has helped him take control of Race 1 at the Shell/Pennzoil Grand Prix of Houston, which has crossed the halfway mark with him ahead of Helio Castroneves, Sebastien Bourdais, Ryan Hunter-Reay and Justin Wilson.

A quick downpour leading up to the green flag left the 1.7-mile, 10-turn NRG Park circuit damp for the standing start, which was delayed by extra pace laps. The delay caused IndyCar to invoke a 1-hour, 50-minute time limit.

At the start, Simon Pagenaud was able to get away clean to keep his lead from pole while Takuma Sato made contact while going between two cars. But Sato’s car stood up to the run-in, and he quickly set out for the front.

On Lap 3, Sato was able to pass both Hinchcliffe and Castroneves for second at Turn 3, and a short time later, he went to the inside of Pagenaud going into Turn 6 and out-braked him for P1.

Sato pulled out to a lead of several seconds on Hinchcliffe after Pagenaud faded back a few spots. But Sato’s edge slowly went away as he was unable to pass Hinchcliffe’s teammate, Marco Andretti, who was trying to get on the lead lap.

Andretti was given the blue flag to move over, but Race Control felt he did not heed it quickly enough and gave him the black flag. Still, Sato held the point as the first wave of green-flag stops began.

With an hour and 15 minutes remaining in the race, Hinchcliffe and Sato stopped for service. But a lightning-fast stop from the Canadian’s Andretti Autosport crew got him out ahead of Sato.

That occurred before Mike Conway went into the tires at Turn 3 to bring out the first full-course yellow of the day. The green came back out with 1 hour, 6 minutes left, but going into Turn 6, disaster struck for Sato.

Appearing not to notice the lapped car of Mikhail Aleshin on the inside, Sato moved right and made contact with the rookie. The two then went into the outside wall, ending both of their days.

Sato’s team owner, A.J. Foyt, was thoroughly agitated.

“The deal with Marco, more or less – I’d have to say blocking for his own damn car is a bunch of crap,” said the four-time Indy 500 champion.

“They don’t seem like they want to do anything there, and this deal here [with Aleshin] was probably just as much [Sato] on trying to move over with the other boy.

“But what gets you – a car a lap down, you think they’d back off. But I don’t know. You got a bunch of goddamn idiots is all I can say.”

After the mess was cleaned up, Luca Filippi then clipped the inside wall at Turn 10 coming to the next restart before slamming into the outside and inside front stretch walls to end his day. Finally, the race returned to green and some semblance of rhythm with about 47 minutes left.

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Vicki Golden has earned a career worthy of a thousand stories and 805 Beer tells at least one of them, as “Inverted Perspective” premiered March 30 on the company’s website and YouTube channel.

Golden did more to break the glass ceiling in SuperMotocross than she ever thought possible. She knows this because riders have never felt the need to explain any of her accomplishments with the disclaimer, “for a girl”.

At this point in Golden’s career, she’s been the first woman to finish top 10 in AMA Arenacross Lites, the first woman to qualify in the Fast 40 in Monster Energy AMA Supercross and the first woman to compete in freestyle Moto X competition, earning a bronze medal by doing so.

Her love for moto came from childhood while she watched her dad and brother ride. By seven she was on her bike and making waves throughout Southern California.

Golden, 30, is still madly in love with the sport and has no plans on moving away but her career is already one to talk about. 805 Beer’s film series wanted to do exactly that.

“I’m taken aback by it all,” Golden told NBC Sports about the documentary. “It’s just crazy to see your story, it’s one thing to live your life and battle everything that comes about but it’s another to just sit there and talk about it.”

805 approached Golden about the feature by asking, “Do you even realize that what you do, and your story is special?”

Golden took the question as a blank canvas to map out the highs and lows of her career and life.

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The title “Inverted Perspective” came from a brainstorming session with Dominick Russo and it highlights Golden’s outlook on the sport of SuperMotocross and her life in general.

“My whole life, my whole career was thinking differently and looking at things that shouldn’t be done and aren’t there, while being able to make a place for myself, where no one thought there should be a place,” Golden said. “It’s inspiring someone to think in different ways. It sums up my life.”

*Vicki Golden is not “fast for a girl”; she’s just fast. – 805 Beer*

While Golden is no stranger to the spotlight, this was the first time she’s been fully involved with the storytelling and creation of a feature about herself.

“It’s not like a full new experience,” Golden said. “Obviously, you get your standard questions about your upbringing and accomplishments, but I’ve never really put into perspective things that happened in my past with my dad and putting that to light. Also, certain other things that maybe got overlooked in previous interviews or films. I wanted to touch on these and Dom wanted to create a story. It’s just cool to see it come to light, it’s a nearly impossible thing to tell somebody’s life story in 40 minutes.”

Golden’s father was left paralyzed after an ATV accident, robbing him the opportunity to ride again. This happened a few months before the father-daughter duo was set to compete in the Loretta Lynn’s Amateur Nationals when Vicki was 12. While she might have been unable to grasp the severity at the time, it’s something she carries with her. Golden continues to ride in his honor.

Years later, an accident in 2018 nearly sidelined the then 25-year-old Vicki when a freestyle accident almost resulted in the amputation of her lower leg.

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Golden 805 Beer — *Vicki Golden has ridden a variety of disciplines in SuperMotocross, which gives her a unique perspective. – 805 Beer*

“Inverted Perspective” highlights her father’s diligence in helping Vicki continue with her career and the kindness and strength he carried while fighting his own battle.

“My dad was the entire reason that I started riding in the first place,” Golden said. “So, to honor his memory and to honor what we went through and how hard he pushed to keep our dream alive and keep everything going – in that sense then, it was really special to be able to honor him and talk about him.”

The 40-minute feature was filmed entirely in black and white, a stark contrast from the oversaturated world of motocross where the brighter the suit the easier it is for fans to find their rider and follow him in the race. By filming in monochrome Russo and Golden had the chance to focus on the race and track from a different perspective.

“It was cool to be able to film it differently,” Golden said. “It created a challenge in the sense of what was going to be more visually impactful for the film.

“I couldn’t be here without the companies that back me but at the same time, it’s not like the logos or colors disappeared, it’s just different lights shed on different spots. It’s just a cool way to do it and to take color away and still be impactful. When you think of black and white, you think of old school, the OG way of doing things.”

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