IndyCar: Hinchcliffe continues to endure home race house of horrors - MotorSportsTalk

Oakville, Ontario’s James Hinchcliffe joked heading into the Honda Indy Toronto weekend, “I just assume it will go poorly.”

Unfortunately for the “Mayor of Hinchtown,” the lone Canadian in the field, his words proved prophetic.

A nondescript eighth place finish occurred in race one while in race two, Hinchcliffe slid off course at the slick and damp Turn 8, but was stuck and stalled for several laps while the Holmatro Safety Team tended to Mikhail Aleshin after he’d got wedged underneath Juan Pablo Montoya’s car. Another tough day for the driver of the No. 27 United Fiber & Data Honda.

Here was the official quote from Hinchcliffe, as issued by his Andretti Autosport team:

“I’m pleased with a top 10 in Race One, but we knew we had some room to improve the car, it was a bit of a handful. We took a swing at it and (the car) was so good at the start of Race Two. We were picking off guys and just got caught out on the wet concrete there when (Juan) Montoya crashed. It’s just one of those things, I mean, if the accident behind me wouldn’t have been so severe, we probably would have only gone one lap down and probably could have gotten that lap back. But (the safety officials) were rightfully attending to Mikhail (Aleshin) who was potentially hurt, and as a result we went four laps down and there’s no recovering form that. I’m really disappointed, the car was so good and the UFD guys did a great job so disappointed to not bring home a better result in Race Two.”

Here’s the reaction from the local media in Toronto.

From the Toronto Star’s Norris McDonald: “Hinchcliffe, as is becoming a habit for him in Toronto, was terribly disappointed. He’s never finished better than eighth in his home race.”

From the Toronto Sun’s Dean McNulty: “James Hinchcliffe said he could feel his chances of finally winning his hometown Verizon IndyCar Series race slip away as the rain began to fall on the Exhibition Place circuit in the second of two Honda Indy Toronto races on Sunday.”

From The Globe & Mail’s Jeff Pappone: “Sitting helpless in the pitlane during his home race while watching his rivals continue to battle on track seems to have become a recurring nightmare for James Hinchcliffe.”

And from SportsNet’s Todd Lewis: “Wherever you went in Toronto the last week, you likely saw the image of James Hinchcliffe — or probably even the man himself! There was no busier person leading up to this event. Carrying the hopes of all Canadians, he managed an eighth-place result in the first race, then got turned around and wound up 18th in Race 2.”

The latest rough Toronto weekend came at an inopportune time as Hinchcliffe sorts out his future – again – for the following season. An Indianapolis Star report said Hinchcliffe is looking to test the free agent market; Hinchcliffe was on a one-year deal with Andretti Autosport for 2014 with a team option available for 2015.

Hinchcliffe was the marquee free agent in the sport a year ago before returning to Andretti, but he’s not the domino this year – that is Simon Pagenaud of Schmidt Peterson Hamilton Motorsports. So we’ll see where the chips fall from here.

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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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