After Graham Rahal had to give up the lead for fuel with four laps to go, Scott Dixon took P1 from Mike Conway and went on to win today’s GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma at Sonoma Raceway.
But a wild final lap involving the Verizon IndyCar Series championship leader also claimed some of the post-race spotlight.
Will Power, who had dominated the first half of the race only to fall to the back of the pack due to a Lap 40 spin, had managed to climb back up into the Top 10.
Heading into the Turn 11 hairpin, Power went to the inside of Justin Wilson and the two made contact, allowing Sebastien Bourdais to pull alongside them both as they moved onto the front straight.
But in that same area, Conway was creeping along the inside after running out of fuel. A nearby corner worker was waving a yellow flag, but Wilson, Power and Bourdais zoomed by it and Conway.
Bourdais got into the outside front stretch wall, as Power beat Wilson to the stripe for ninth. However, citing that local yellow for Conway, INDYCAR Race Control bumped Wilson to ninth in the final standings and knocked Power to 10th.
Thus, Power will take a 51-point lead over Team Penske teammate Helio Castroneves to the season-finale at Auto Club Speedway on Saturday night.
But Power’s advantage could have been so much more.
The Australian started the race from pole and right after the green flag, a multi-car melee ensued behind him on the way up the hill to Turn 2.
Among those involved was Castroneves, who had to pit under the caution to replace a damaged front wing. But on Lap 9, he had to pit again under green, with his crew cutting away his right rear wheel guard on the No. 3 Chevrolet.
That stop put Castroneves one lap down, in 22nd and last place. He eventually returned to the lead lap but could only finish 18th.
While Castroneves struggled, Power was cruising. He led by almost 10 seconds before his first stop at Lap 17, and then rebuilt a sizable lead before Carlos Huertas pulled off course and stopped to force a full course yellow at Lap 29.
Rahal and Tony Kanaan chose to pit, but the other leaders stayed out. Kanaan and Rahal lined up 18th and 19th respectively for the restart at Lap 36, which only lasted for a few moments.
In Turn 7, Bourdais, Castroneves, and Sebastian Saavedra went into the corner three-wide. Contact was made between the trio and Saavedra was ultimately left behind after stalling.
That led to the leaders pitting en masse at Lap 37, and in that exchange, Dixon was able to beat Power back onto the track. But a group of six drivers that was led by Kanaan and included Conway and Rahal stayed out, causing Dixon and Power to be slotted into sixth and seventh for the Lap 40 restart.
On that same lap, perhaps the biggest moment of the race occurred in Turn 7, when Power spun out on the inside of the hairpin on cold tires. He fell all the way back to 20th place before putting on a solid recovery drive in the race’s second half.
Up front, Conway – who had charged by Kanaan for P1 right after the Lap 40 restart – took his lead north of eight seconds. Kanaan ceded second to Rahal before they both went into the pits together at Lap 57.
Conway, however, kept going until Lap 60, when he pitted and switched to the reds for the final stint of the race. But although he cycled back to the front at Lap 64, his lead had been melted down to a few car lengths over Rahal.
At Turn 7, Rahal went for it on the inside and was able to get Conway wide enough to take the lead for himself.
Since Rahal and Kanaan pitted early in the previous cycle, though, there were questions about them being able to make it to the finish without a yellow.
For Kanaan, the question was answered on Lap 73 when he was brought in for fuel and tires (he finished 13th).
That shifted the spotlight to Rahal and his nearby pursuers – Conway in second, Dixon in third, and Ryan Hunter-Reay in fourth. But with four laps left, Rahal finally had to pit.
Shortly after Rahal ducked in, Dixon went to the inside of Conway on the front stretch and took the lead for good in Turn 1. Then at Turn 7, Hunter-Reay got past Conway for second place.
As for Rahal, he was hit with a pit road speeding penalty for a disastrous ending to his day. He would finish 20th after contending for what would have been his second career IndyCar win.
Simon Pagenaud ended up finishing third behind Dixon and Hunter-Reay. With that, the Frenchman is still mathematically alive in the championship going into the ACS finale at 81 points back of Power.
PALA, California – In his 450 bike debut, Jett Lawrence scored a perfect round at Fox Raceway in Pala, California to win Pro Motocross Round 1. He posted the fastest time in both qualification sessions, won the holeshot in both motos, and scored a pair of wins to take the overall victory and the early points’ lead.Chase Sexton stalked Jett Lawrence throughout Moto 2, but could not find his way past. – Align Media
No one seriously questioned Lawrence’s opportunity to make noise in the 450 class. Few would have been surprised to see him podium in his Pro Motocross National, but Lawrence outperformed all expectations by dominating Moto 1. He entered the weekend with zero points and his eye on 20th in the standings so he would receive an automatic invitation to the inaugural SuperMotocross World Championship (SMX).
He well surpassed expectations.
“It’s awesome,” Lawrence told NBC Sports’ Jason Thomas. “I can finally smile. I’ve been trying to stay serious and not get too excited with emotions coming up – and now I can finally let loose. The second one was a little harder, I couldn’t hear him but I’d look back and I’d still see the red bike. It was like a chess match.”
By the end of the race, Lawrence made up 30 percent of the points he needed to claim 20th and served notice that he will be one of the favorites to win the championship. He closed the gap even further in Moto 2, but the two races had entirely different storylines.
While Lawrence was able to run away from the field in the first race and win with a 10-second advantage, Honda teammate and defending Monster Energy Supercross champion Chase Sexton pressured him for the entire 30 minutes plus two laps that made up Moto 2.
Lawrence is the 16th rider to win in his first Pro Motocross race, the 10th to do so in an opener and second youngest, (behind Rick Johnson, 17 when he won at Hangtown in 1982).
Sexton was within two seconds of Lawrence for the entire moto. He rode a patient race with the realistic expectation that the 450 rookie Lawrence might make a mistake. Lawrence bounced from rut to rut in this race, but would not be forced into losing his focus.
“Toward the finish line area I had some decent lines, I thought maybe, if I could get close enough, I could make a move,” Sexton said. “I tried my hardest; I got close. I made a bit of an attempt with maybe 10 minutes to go and messed up. Jett was obviously riding really good. We were pushing the pace and it was a fun moto. It felt a little like last year.”
With his 1-1 finish and the overall victory, Lawrence remains perfect at Fox Raceway after sweeping Victory Lane in five rounds his 250 career.
Dylan Ferrandis returned to the track after suffering a concussion in the Supercross season in Round 4 in Houston. He attempted to return for the Daytona Supercross race, but another hard crash on Media Day set him on the sideline.
“Earlier this week I was pretty far from a podium position, so got together with the team and we made it happen,” Ferrandis said. “It was very hard. [Aaron Plessinger] was pushing me and I had to dig very deep.”
In a pre-race news conference, he indicated that the best course of action was to get up to speed before he fully sent his bike into the turns. But adrenalin is a wonderful factor and once he got into the pace of the race, he held off charges from Cooper Webb in Moto 1 and Plessinger in Moto 2. Ferrandis’ 3-3 finishes in the two races earned 40 points and puts him back in the conversation to be among the top 20 in the combined SuperMotocross standings.
Plessinger and Webb each ended the day with 34 points. Plessinger won the tiebreaker for fifth overall in the standings. But it was an adventurous afternoon for Plessinger who had to overcome a pair of falls in the first Moto to finish fifth.
Round 1 of the Pro Motocross season marked the return of Webb after he suffered a Supercross series ending concussion in a heat race at Nashville.
“This was a last minute decision,” Webb said. “I sat out last summer and I didn’t want to do that again. Once I got cleared from the doctor, it was game on.”
The battle between Lawrence and Sexton gave Honda a 1-2 finish in this race for the second straight year, but perhaps most importantly, it provided a glimpse of what can be expected during the opening rounds.
I think there is more to come from Chase,” Lawrence said. “He had that crash in practice so it rung his head a bit, but I know it’s going to be a war in the outdoor season. I know there’s going to be times when I’m behind Chase and can’t get around him. It’s going to be an awesome season and I can’t wait to race my teammate.”
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Jett wasn’t the only Lawrence to win Fox Raceway Motocross. Hunter’s win in the 250 class marked the first time in history that brothers won a Motocross National on the same day.
The reigning 250 East Supercross champion scored the overall victory with a third in Moto 1 and a victory in Moto 2. A poor start in the first race forced Lawrence to mount a charge from behind. Riding with discomfort, Lawrence was out of his rhythm early. A spirited battle with Jo Shimoda and Justin Cooper for third through fifth forced him to push through the pain of an injury suffered at the start of the week.
“The start was crucial,” Lawrence said. “I had a massive crash Monday and could barely ride press day for three laps, I was in so much pain. This one goes out to Dr. [Rey Gubernick]. He has magic hands.”
Lawrence’s strong start to Moto 2 put him in a better zone and he pulled an eight-second advantage over the second-place rider.
Haiden Deegan got a taste of the Motocross series last year, but that was all it was: a nibble.
Deegan failed to crack the top 10 in either of two starts and had some questions for himself before the race began. Deegan did not believe there were high expectations placed on him for this race, which is precisely how he described his first Supercross attempt. In that inaugural SX race, he finished fourth and was as surprised as anyone in the field.
Again: The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Deegan surprised himself again by finishing second in only his third Motocross National. He finished sixth in Moto 1 and second in Moto 2, giving him a second-place finish overall.
“I’m actually a little surprised,” Deegan said. “A lot of people said I wouldn’t even be close to this. I guess we’re proving people wrong and that’s what we’ve got to do Second place in my first full season. I’m hyped.”
RJ Hampshire had to overcome a pair of falls in Moto 2 to score the final podium position in the overall standings. – Align Media
RJ Hampshire made a statement in Moto 1. An entirely new discipline allowed Hampshire to grab an early advantage. But then a poor start to Moto 2 provided an entirely different challenge. Two falls on Lap 1 dropped Hampshire to 39th in the running order.
“I didn’t have a great start and got mayhem in that second corner and went down,” Hampshire said. “Picked [myself] up in last and made some really good passes and then going uphill on the [backstretch], someone got out of whack – took me out and I was dead last again. I didn’t really know if I had a shot at the podium, but I was digging really deep.”
It took half of the race to get back into the points in 20th, but Hampshire kept digging. Passing riders one at a time, he climbed to 11th in Moto 2 and salvaged enough points to give him the third position overall.
Maximus Vohland made a statement of his own by holding off a determined Lawrence on the last two laps. Lawrence was able to pressure Vohland when they were slowed by a lapped rider who fell in front of the battle.
Tom Vialle was in a position to take the final overall podium spot with a solid third-place finish in the second moto. He did everything he could, but Hampshire’s determined charge from the back of the pack was capped off with a two-position advance on the final lap to slide onto the final step of the box.
