Pagenaud secures sixth pole of 2016 at Mid-Ohio (VIDEO) - MotorSportsTalk

LEXINGTON, Ohio – Scott Dixon had dominated the Honda Indy 200 weekend up to this point, but courtesy of another strategic backfire he does not have the pole position for Sunday’s Verizon IndyCar Series race (2 p.m. ET, CNBC) at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

Instead, Simon Pagenaud has secured his sixth Verizon P1 Award of the season in the No. 22 PPG Automotive Refinish Chevrolet for Team Penske, and set a new track record at the 2.258-mile road course in the process.

Dixon missed the Firestone Fast Six after the No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet team determined that his lap in Q2 would be good enough to make it with rain on the horizon.

It wasn’t, and Dixon fell to 11th – which opened the floodgates for the rest of the field.

Pagenaud has the pole with a new lap of 1:03.8700, albeit not the fastest lap of the weekend (Dixon had that in third practice, 1:03.7244), one of two drivers to break into the 1:03s in qualifying.

“Tricky, tricky session,” said Pagenaud, who adds another bonus point to his tally this season. Pagenaud led Power by 47 points going into the weekend.

“It was more on me really because I have been struggling a little bit with my really bad lower back. They did a lot work on me. We didn’t need to do too much on the car, more on me this weekend. We put those Firestone red tires on and again, the car was beautiful. That was an interesting qualifying. The expectation of rain, no rain. There was some drops in Q2 that made it more difficult. And there at the end I think the strategy was perfect to start Q3.”

Will Power was second at 1:03.9381 in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet.

The rest of the top six? That’s all Americans – Josef Newgarden, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Charlie Kimball and Graham Rahal.

They’ve all made Firestone Fast Six appearances this year but it’s been relative dry spells. Pagenaud has made all eight and this was Power’s sixth.

This is the first one for Kimball (qualified second), Rahal (third) and Newgarden (fifth) since the Angie’s List Grand Prix of Indianapolis, although both Rahal and Newgarden were sent to the rear of the field for infractions found in post-qualifying technical inspection.

Hunter-Reay makes the Fast Six for the first time since St. Petersburg, when he qualified sixth.

In Q1, there were no major surprises but disappointment for a handful of notables. After ending third practice sixth overall, Max Chilton was only seventh in his group, and frustrated with how much the track change. Meanwhile Spencer Pigot was only 10th and Marco Andretti 11th in the session – Andretti continuing to take the blame for his season long run of poor qualifying.

Pagenaud broke Dixon’s old track record of 1:04.5814 with a lap of 1:04.2483.

That new track record lasted all of one group, with Power going 1:04.1430 and Dixon 1:04.1942 in Q1, Group 2. Rahal was third ahead of the Schmidt Peterson Motorsports teammates, James Hinchcliffe and Mikhail Aleshin, and Alexander Rossi – who like the three who made the Fast Six also advanced out of Q1 for the first time since the Angie’s List Grand Prix.

Tony Kanaan was seriously frustrated after the session and refused to talk, and Sebastien Bourdais and RC Enerson were just behind in the session. Enerson, who’s had an impressive debut weekend for Dale Coyne Racing, was in the top six on his first run on Firestone reds before he made a mistake and got stuck in traffic on his second set. But 18th, four spots and 0.5 of a second clear of teammate Conor Daly, is still a solid first qualifying effort.

Q2 saw the track change as the threat of rain continued, but did not fully interrupt proceedings.

The surprise drops beyond Dixon were Helio Castroneves and Juan Pablo Montoya, who start seventh and eighth, then the Schmidt twins in ninth and 1oth and Rossi in 12th.

Once into the Fast Six, Pagenaud edged ahead of Power to secure the top spot, ahead of the quartet of Americans.

Times are below:

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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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