James Davison has been suspended for the first of two Pirelli World Challenge races this weekend at Utah Motorsports Campus (the former Miller Motorsports Park) following an incident at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course two weeks ago.
Here’s the release from PWC explaining the how and why:
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WC Vision, producers of the Pirelli World Challenge GT Production-based series, today announced that GT Class driver JD Davison has been suspended for Round 16 scheduled for Saturday at the Utah Motorsports Campus due to rule violation PWCR 1.11.3 – making avoidable contact while on probation.
Davison’s suspension, established by Pirelli World Challenge race director Dorsey Schroeder, was a result of avoidable contact on lap 1 in GT Round 14 two weeks ago at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
Per the SCCA Pro Racing rulebook, a driver receives a suspension from participation in Race 1 at the next round that the competitor participates, a $5,000 fine and an additional three-race probation.
Davison was put on probation for three event weekends (six races and through the Mid-Ohio event) following an on-track incident at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in May.
“According to the rulebook, any driver who is on probation and violates the term of the probation is automatically suspended for one race – the next round,” said Schroeder. “The Davison violation at Mid-Ohio occurred at the start of Race 1 before the start/finish line that included contact with Colin Thompson.”
Craig Dolby, a 28-year-old veteran driver from Mleton Mowbray, England, will now drive the No. 33 Always Evolving/Replay XD/Nissan GT Academy Nissan GT3 GT-R in the opening race of the Pirelli World Challenge Utah Motorsports Campus Grand Prix presented by Energy Solutions in Round 16 set for Saturday, Aug. 13, at 4 p.m. MDT.
Dolby drove the Always Evolving Motorsports Nissan GT-R Nismo GT3 last year in the SRO Blancpain Sprint Series in six races with a best finish of fifth. Dolby was the 2006 Formula Renault 2.0 series champion and placed second in points in the 2009 and 2010 Superleague Formula series.
Rounds 16 and 17 of the PWC GT division will be held Saturday (Aug. 13) and Sunday (Aug. 14) at Utah Motorsports Campus.
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In a team release, Always Evolving confirmed Davison will be out of the cockpit both races this weekend as the team prepares for a potential car addition in 2017.
“It feels mega to be back with the Always Evolving team and crew from AIM Autosport,” Dolby said.
“This is an amazing opportunity to be part of, I’m really looking forward to the weekend of racing in the US it’s been a life long dream to come over here. We had quick success with the Blancpain program last season and it’s great to be back in the NISMO GT-R.”
James Davison, a longtime Always Evolving athlete, switches roles this weekend to provide coaching and expertise while the team gets Craig Dolby acclimated to the PWC sprint weekend format.
“We’d love to have James and Bryan back with us next year but Craig is certainly one of the guys on our radar for the expanded program,” Always Evolving team owner, Erik Davis said.
“With the 2017 schedules now revealed, we’re investigating running both the existing Championship Sprint format plus the new Sprint X Series which will obviously require us to add to our driver talent pool.
“The new partnership between the Pirelli World Challenge and the SRO organization is proving to be a positive step forward for GT3 racing in the US.”
2023 SuperMotocross Power Rankings after Detroit: Chase Sexton narrowly leads Cooper Webb
For the fifth time in 10 rounds of the 2023 Monster Energy Supercross season, the three riders at the top of the championship standings shared a podium and while those points tell one story, the NBC SuperMotocross Power Rankings after Detroit tell a slightly different tale.Cooper Webb is peaking at the right time. – Feld Motor Sports
Chase Sexton has been all but perfect during the past 45 days with podium finishes in each of his heats and Triple Crown features. His only stumble during this period was a 10th-place finish in the Indianapolis Main. Last week, Sexton was perfect with wins in both his heat and the feature, although he needed a little help from an Aaron Plessinger mistake to take the top spot on the podium at the end of the night.
Cooper Webb finished fifth at Houston and was beginning to worry ever so slightly about his position in the points. Prior to the race in Tampa, he told NBC Sports that it was time to win and like Babe Ruth pointing to the outfield fence, Webb went out and captured it. Following that race, Webb has swept the podium and earned the red plate two weeks ago in Indianapolis. At Detroit, he added two more points on Eli Tomac as the season begins to wind down.
Tomac struggled with a stiff neck at Indianapolis and after a modest third-place showing in Detroit, he revealed he was still suffering a little. Webb and Sexton have been able to close the gap on Tomac in the past 45 days, but one of the main reasons he is so close in the points was a pair of wins that started the year. Seattle is going to be important for the defending champion because Tomac cannot afford to lose any more momentum with seven rounds remaining.
It appeared Jason Anderson was turning things around. He earned his fifth heat win at Detroit, which was also his sixth consecutive race (including features) in which he scored a top-five. A fall in the Detroit Main dropped him a lap off the pace and sent him home with a season-worst finish of ninth, causing a ripple effect in the SuperMotocross Power Rankings.
Justin Barcia was a huge part of the show last week in Detroit. He swapped positions with both Webb and Tomac in the middle stage of the race, which allowed Sexton to close the gap. Barcia finished fourth in that race to earn his third consecutive top-five. He’s been outside the top 10 only once in the first 10 rounds.
Adam Cianciarulo had a great start to the Main. He led a couple of laps before losing a lap and slipping back to eighth in the final rundown. That run was strong enough to elevate him three positions in the SuperMotocross Power Rankings after Detroit.
The NBC SuperMotocross Power Rankings look at the past 90 days in the 250 class in order to have a balanced comparison between the East and West divisions and Hunter Lawrence has been all but perfect this year. At Detroit, he earned his fifth win of the season and kept alive a streak of podium finishes in six rounds. He tied his brother Jett Lawrence with 10 250 wins one week before the West riders take to the track for back-to-back races at Seattle, Washington and Glendale, Arizona.
Nate Thrasher is settling into a comfortable role as ‘best in class’. – Feld Motor Sports
The Lawrence brothers are dominating the points in each of their respective divisions, which means the remainder of the field is battling to be best in class.
In the East, that rider is Nate Thrasher, who beat Hunter in a head-to-head matchup in their heat only to finish second in the main when the majority of points were awarded. Thrasher seems to have accepted his position in the championship standings, but that doesn’t mean he won’t keep trying for wins.
Haiden Deegan showed a lot of aggression in his heat last week. He threw a couple of block passes at his teammate Jordon Smith and set up a series of events that kept Smith from making the big show while Deegan settled into second in the preliminary. Deegan was unconcerned about how he raced his teammate and would not let a little controversy keep him from celebrating his second career podium in Detroit.
Jeremy Martin just keeps clicking off solid results. He won his heat last week by making a pass on Deegan and Smith while they were in the heat of their battle. Martin finished fourth in the Main, which means he continues to have only one finish worse than sixth in any of the features or mains.
Smith fell one position in the points standings, but the damage was even worse in SuperMotocross Power Rankings after Detroit. Crash damage in his heat contributed to a last-place finish in that race, for which he earned minimal points. He was not able to advance from the Last Chance Qualifier after stalling his bike in heavy traffic.
250 Rankings
This
Week
Rider
Power
Avg.
Last
Week
Diff.
1.
Hunter Lawrence – E
[5 Main, 5 Heat wins]
90.43
1
0
2.
Jett Lawrence – W
[3 Main, 3 Heat wins]
90.30
2
0
3.
Nate Thrasher – E
[1 Main, 3 Heat wins]
84.00
5
2
4.
Cameron McAdoo – W
[1 Heat win]
79.80
9
5
5.
Haiden Deegan – E
[1 Heat win]
78.21
7
2
6.
Jeremy Martin – E
[2 Heat wins]
78.00
8
2
7.
Jordon Smith – E
[3 Heat Wins]
76.77
4
-3
8.
Levi Kitchen – W
[1 Main]
75.30
3
-5
9.
Mitchell Oldenburg – W
75.20
11
2
10.
RJ Hampshire – W
[4 Heat wins]
74.50
17
7
11.
Max Anstie – E
74.43
6
-5
12.
Tom Vialle – E
72.07
12
0
13.
Max Vohland – W
71.56
10
-3
14.
Stilez Robertson – W
[1 Heat win]
69.22
14
0
15.
Chris Blose – E
67.43
18
3
16.
Chance Hymas – E
67.10
15
-1
17.
Enzo Lopes – W
66.00
20
3
18.
Michael Mosiman – E
65.80
16
-2
19.
Pierce Brown – W
65.78
13
-6
20.
Phil Nicoletti – W
59.25
21
1
* The NBC Power Rankings assign 100 points to a Main event winner and 90 points for each Heat and Triple Crown win, (Triple Crown wins are included with heat wins below the rider’s name). The points decrement by a percentage equal to the number of riders in the field until the last place rider in each event receives five points. The Power Ranking is the average of these percentage points over the past 45 days for the 450 class and last 90 days for 250s (because of the split nature of their season).
