The “36 hours of Florida” is the unofficial name for the kickoff to the North American sports car season, with the Rolex 24 at Daytona and Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring comprising 36 hours of grueling endurance racing to begin both the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and Tequila Patron North American Endurance Cup seasons.
Post-those 36 hours, though, a good dose of R&R time is needed. And this is where an outside-the-box idea – a cruise featuring a number of those individuals who ran at either or both of Daytona and Sebring – comes into play.
“Cruisin’ with the Racers” came to light last year under a different branding and name, but is set to feature a number of full-time sports car competitors in a motorsports-themed cruise off the coast of Florida, starting in Ft. Lauderdale the day after the race (Sunday, March 19) and returning a week later to Key West.
More to the point is the deal on offer for racers and race fans, with a special promotional offer available for car club members and those with a series membership of just $200.
“It’s a hidden gem of a vacation idea,” said Marc Miller, who drives the No. 33 CJ Wilson Racing Porsche Cayman GT4 Clubsport in the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge and will be part of the cruise. He’ll share that car with Till Bechtolsheimer this season.
“Essentially this started as a cruise geared for racers. It’s morphed into the promotion where we’re inviting a bunch of racers on board. There can be even more interaction with auto enthusiasts and car club members. The goal is to get as many like-minded car enthusiasts as possible on the ship.
“A lot of road racers like to have a bit of downtime. There’s a busy week of lead up to Sebring, but there’s a decent size gap between Sebring and the next race (Long Beach for the WeatherTech Championship in April, Circuit of The Americas for Continental Tire Challenge in May). We know not everyone can go, but the invite is out there.”
Miller’s 2016 co-drivers at Riley Motorsports, Jeroen Bleekemolen and Ben Keating, and team principal Bill Riley, will be on the cruise as well as others such as Christina Nielsen, Katherine Legge, Marc Goossens and Alex Laughlin. Miller, Bleekemolen and Keating combined to win last year’s Petit Le Mans in IMSA’s GT Daytona class, in the sendoff for the Dodge Viper GT3-R.
The $200 rate seems a bargain considering the cost of most luxury cruises. More information is available via the cruise website, linked here.
The focus of the Detroit Monster Energy Supercross round was on the mid-pack battle while Aaron Plessinger pulled away from the field, but when he crashed after hooking his foot in the dirt, the results once more looked like we’ve come to expect, with Chase Sexton, Cooper Webb and Eli Tomac sharing the podium for the fifth time in 10 rounds.Justin Barcia was part of an exciting, four-rider battle in the middle of Detroit’s A-Main. – Feld Motor Sports
For Sexton, Plessinger’s late-race crash was a vindication of sorts. Several times already this season, Sexton has crashed while battling for the lead and the points that has cost him keeps him sporting the red plate. He lost points in Detroit for a different reason, however.
Sexton was allowed to keep the win, but was penalized seven points for jumping in a red cross section of the course. As a result, he dropped four points to Webb and two to Tomac. Sexton is now 17 points behind Webb in the championship hunt.
One week after snatching the red plate from Tomac for the first time in 2023, Webb stretched his advantage by two. With his second-place finish, Webb holds a three-point lead over Tomac, which essentially means both riders control their fate in the coming weeks. Webb continues to have a sweep of the top five this season with his sixth consecutive podium.
Coming off his worst finish of the season, Tomac rebounded to finish third. His eighth-place result last week was partially attributed to a stiff neck that hindered him in traffic and he still suffered some of those same effects in Detroit. Before Plessinger’s crash, he was destined to be the only rider in the three-man title scrum to finish off the podium in Detroit.
It is surprising what one position can do for one’s confidence.
Justin Barcia scored his fourth top-five of the season. He was part of the exciting four-man battle that dominated the middle stages of the race before Sexton and Webb gained a little separation. Finishing less than three seconds behind Tomac, he kept that rider honest for the entire race.
Coming off his first win of the season, Ken Roczen finished fifth. It was his seventh top-five of the season and it elevated him to fifth in the standings.
Hunter Lawrence tied his brother Jett Lawrence with 10 wins each after another dominating ride in the Detroit Supercross race and the results in the points continue to widen. With his fifth win in six rounds and a worst finish of third, Lawrence now has a 35-point advantage over Nate Thrasher with four rounds remaining. Finishes of 14th or better in the final four mains will give him his first 250 championship.
Strong starts have been one of the keys to Hunter Lawrence’s success in 2023. – Feld Motor Sports
Jett will have an opportunity to retake his wins’ lead as Supercross heads west for the next two rounds in Seattle and Glendale, Arizona.
Nate Thrasher earned his third second-place finish of the season with a gap of 7.6 seconds to Lawrence. He won the overall in Arlington earlier this season, but a 15th-place finish in the opening round in Houston and 10th in Daytona hurts his championship chances.
Haiden Deegan scored his second podium and fourth top-five in six rounds of his young career. On his way to that finish, he rode aggressively against his teammate Jordon Smith in the heat race. Fans are getting a glimpse of what his on-track personality might be.
Jeremy Martin continues to be the model of consistency. He has not finished worse than sixth or better than fourth in six rounds now and that has allowed him to close to within two points of third in the 250 East championship standings.
Max Anstie entered the race weekend second in the points, but a hard crash in heavy traffic early in the main forced him to retire after two laps. Earning only one point for the round, he plummeted to fifth in the standings.
The news was worse for Smith, who was dropped out of the top nine in his heat after the altercation with Deegan and failed to advance through the LCQ. In the last chance race, he stalled his engine and had to mount a determined charge. He got only as high as seventh in that race after crashing while attempting to make a pass on fourth-place Jack Chambers.
“Essentially this started as a cruise geared for racers. It’s morphed into the promotion where we’re inviting a bunch of racers on board. There can be even more interaction with auto enthusiasts and car club members. The goal is to get as many like-minded car enthusiasts as possible on the ship.
