PWC: Series completes May run with CTMP, Lime Rock double - MotorSportsTalk

Three race weekends are in the books for Pirelli World Challenge’s SprintX format in 2017 and the results have been mixed, both on-track and procedurally, at times. The SprintX – for GT – serves as headlining act among all of PWC’s classes, which also includes GTS and three Touring Car classes (TC, TCA, TCB).

In the last two weeks, the series has headed to Canadian Tire Motorsport Park and Lime Rock Park for what was meant to be two back-to-back doubleheaders.

However the second race at CTMP was scrapped owing to heavy rain and poor track conditions; a replacement round has not yet been scheduled, but there are still two more SprintX weekends to come at Utah Motorsports Campus (August 12-13) and Circuit of The Americas (Sept. 2-3). From a release:

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Per PWC series chief steward Peter Roberts, the historic 2.458-mile, 10-turn road racing circuit had standing water around the racing surface including two sections of running water due to the constant rain system traveling through the Ontario area.

“The rain system was just too heavy to run the SprintX cars under safe conditions,” said Greg Gill, CEO and president of WC Vision, producers of the Pirelli World Challenge. “We will determine the makeup date and location in the near future. We want to thank the racing fans who came to CTMP this weekend for their support. We look forward to returning to CTMP in 2018.”

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Bowmanville, ONT – May 20, 2017: The Pirelli World Challenge racers take to the track on Pirelli tires during the PIRELLI WORLD CHALLENGE AT CTMP at the Canadian Tire Motorsports Part in Bowmanville, ONT.

Alas, in the first CTMP race, Cadillac played a strategic spanner to perfection under yellow flag conditions. The No. 8 Cadillac Racing Cadillac ATS-V.R of Michael Cooper and Jordan Taylor pitted to switch drivers under a yellow, but where the pace car came out, it picked up the second placed No. 58 Wright Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 R of Patrick Long and Joerg Bergmeister instead, and the Cadillac had nearly a lap lead as a result. PWC later updated the yellow flag protocol, per Sportscar365.

Lime Rock was a bit more straightforward with the Wright Porsche in the hands of Long and Marc Lieb, in at a one-off weekend with Bergmeister racing at the 24 Hours of Nürburgring, winning the first race in dominant fashion.

However in race two, that Porsche and the No. 2 CRP Racing Mercedes-AMG GT3 (Ryan Dalziel and Daniel Morad) got speared by the No. 31 TR3 Racing Ferrari 488 GT3 (Daniel Mancinelli and Niccolo Schiro) immediately after the start. That Ferrari has had a number of controversial incidents with other cars this season and this only continued that streak; this one triggered a stop-and-go penalty.

Magnus Audi broke through at Lime Rock. Photo: PWC

A second straight one-off lineup of Spencer Pumpelly and Dane Cameron delivered Magnus Racing a popular victory on Saturday in their No. 4 Audi R8 LMS, and for Cameron, completed a day where he won two races in two classes. Cameron also returned to his former team Turner Motorsport and won a TC race in a BMW 235i. He was with Magnus, and subbed for Pierre Kaffer, also on Nürburgring duty. John Potter’s Magnus team has had a number of heartbreaks at Lime Rock over the years but won in IMSA GTD there last year, and now has a PWC win at the track on its record.

So in five SprintX races, there have been five different overall winners from five different manufacturers, with three of those five lineups not competing in the full season:

VIR: Race 1: 31-Mancinelli/Montermini (TR3 Ferrari)*; Race 2: 2-Dalziel/Morad (CRP Mercedes)
CTMP: Race 1: 8-Cooper/J. Taylor (Cadillac)
Lime Rock: Race 1: 58-Long/Lieb (Wright Porsche)*; Race 2: 4-Pumpelly/Cameron (Magnus Audi)*

*Montermini only raced VIR; Lieb and Cameron only scheduled to race Lime Rock

The provisional SprintX GT points are linked here. The Sprint points, since the last race at Long Beach, are linked here.

Elsewhere in PWC:

Rodrigo Baptista delivered the new-look Porsche Cayman GT4 MR its first two wins in PWC with Flying Lizard Motorsports at Lime Rock, in GTS. The first one came after edging the impressive Ian James in the new Panoz Esperante Avezzano by 0.178 seconds, while the second came after James incurred an engine failure. Baptista’s wins extend the legacy of the team at the track, who note: “From 2004 to 2013, Flying Lizard never finished outside the podium, earning six wins in the ten races. With drivers Rodrigo “Digo” Baptista and Nate Stacy, the Lizards celebrated two more wins and an additional podium finish to add to the record, marking the first Pirelli World Challenge GTS win for the California-based team.”
Baptista’s is the fourth straight weekend sweep in GTS to kick off the year, in the fourth different type of car, for the fourth different team. Jade Buford swept the GTS weekend for Jon Mirachi’s Racers Edge Motorsports in the SIN R1 GT4 at CTMP last week. Prior to that, Nico Jamin swept at VIR in Alain Nadal’s ANSA Motorsports KTM X-BOW GT4, and sports car veteran Andrew Aquilante swept St. Petersburg for his small, family-run Phoenix Performance team in the venerable Ford Mustang Boss 302. Oddly, it’s been Blackdog Speed Shop’s new Chevrolet Camaro GT4.R that is yet to break through and join the GTS winners group.
The TC classes have been in action too at both CTMP and Lime Rock. Event results pages are linked within the track listed in the previous sentence.

Standard sprint races weekends come next, at Road America and Mid-Ohio in the next couple months. SprintX is off until Utah in August.

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Jett Lawrence remains perfect in the Pro Motocross series after recording another perfect round at Hangtown in Rancho Cordova, California. In his second start on a 450, Lawrence won his second National with his fourth consecutive moto win. It is getting increasingly difficult to find the right superlatives to describe the exploits on the reigning 250 West Supercross champion.

“The track was so brutal out there,” Lawrence told NBC Sports Jason Thomas. “The bike handles amazing even when it’s not too friendly. You had to be really patient; you couldn’t take too much. I didn’t eat enough before that second moto. I kind of lost energy halfway through, but luckily I could use technique and balance and just keep that flow going.”

Lawrence leaves Hangtown with an 18-point advantage over Ferrandis in the 450 Motocross standings, but perhaps more importantly, he climbed to 19th in the SuperMotocross standings and should he stay there, he has an automatic invitation to the Main events in the SMX Championship.

“On this track, you just have to manage,” Lawrence continued. “If you try to take too much and not respect the track, it will bite you very quickly. It was humbling on the first few laps. I got kicked on the cutout at the start of the third section, the tabletop going to the left. I had to get my focus because the boys were coming.”

Still in his first few races since returning from a concussion suffered at Houston in the Supercross series, Dylan Ferrandis finished second with results of third in Moto 1 and second in Moto 2. While Ferrandis was happy with the result, he remains hopeful that he will contend for victory shortly.

“The first moto was very hard for my physically, Ferrandis said. “I got arm pump and when you get arm pump your body gets tired. But I’m very happy because we made a big change for the second moto. We tried stuff every session today and in the last moto the bike was much better, but unfortunately I wasn’t sure what I could do with this bike because the track was very hard and difficult to pass.”

RESULTS: How they finished in the 450 Overall at Hangtown

With the rash of injuries at the end of the Supercross season, the podium was filled with heartwarming stories. Cooper Webb returned to action last week in Pala and failed to make the podium. He is steadily improving with a third-place finish in Hangtown. after finishing with a 4-2.

“It’s incredible what seven days can do,” Webb said. “Last week I felt like I was going to get lapped in the second moto. This week, I could see the leader. It was nice. I fought hard, learned how to suffer again there and that felt nice.

Moto 2 wasn’t pretty for Lawrence. On several occasions in the opening laps, he nearly high sided as he rode the front wheel through the ruts. The reward was worth the risk. By the halfway point, Lawrence had 4.5-second lead over Webb, who was embroiled in a tight three-rider battle for second with his teammate Aaron Plessinger pressuring him and Ferrandis ready to take advantage if those made contact.

It took 20 minutes for Plessinger to get around Webb and once he did, he trailed Lawrence by four seconds. But then, with three minutes remaining, Plessinger crashed and had difficulty restarting the bike, handing second back to Webb who has seven seconds behind Lawrence. Plessinger fell to fourth with results of third and sixth.

Adam Cianciarulo rounded out the top five with a 5-4.

Heartbreak for Aaron Plessinger as he was charging forward 💔#ProMotocross #SuperMotocross #HangtownMX pic.twitter.com/vQtKIsuhVg

— Pro Motocross (@ProMotocross) June 4, 2023

Last week Hunter Lawrence won the overall with a 3-1. He repeated that feat in Hangtown in an exact replica of his Fox Raceway results last week. In Moto 1, Lawrence got off to a slow start and lost 10 seconds in the opening laps. Forced to overcome a sixth-place position in the race at the end of Lap 1, he once again caught the riders ahead of him when the field hit heavy traffic. For the second week, scored another 3-1 for the Hangtown National win.

“The start was crucial’ I knew I had to go,” Lawrence told NBC Sports’ Jason Thomas. “They laid a lot of water down, so I didn’t want to be behind any longer than [I was]. First hot one of the year, was a bit of a wakeup call, so I’m happy to get out of here safe and healthy.”

Lawrence’s third-place finish in Moto 1 featured a fierce battle for final spot on the podium when he caught Spain’s Guillem Farres and France’s Tom Vialle. With Lawrence hailing from Australia, the international nature of the sport was highlighted.

Lawrence left Hangtown with a 10-point advantage over Haiden Deegan in the Pro Motocross championship battle.

Click here for 250 overall results

Justin Cooper finished second in both motos to finish second overall. Hangtown represented a huge improvement from Fox Raceway where he finished fifth overall with a 5-4 finish in the two motos. Cooper pressured Haiden Deegan in the second half of Moto 1 and he earned the holeshot in the second moto and stayed within three seconds of Lawrence in that race.

“He was following me a little bit, checking out my lines, seeing where he was better,” Cooper said. “It’s disappointing to give up the lead like that but it was way better than last weekend. I will definitely take two seconds. I want to be on the top of the step. I feel like I get close to the top step but I never get it done. That’s building up the frustration – the fire. I really want to get one of these wins, so it’s time to start digging.”

Haiden Deegan earned the first holeshot of his career in Moto 1 and rode away from the field, building a four-second lead in the opening laps. Cooper trimmed the lead at the halfway point and for a while it leveled off at two seconds. Then Cooper made another charge with three to go and closed to within a second. Deegan was biding his time, however.

“I was saving a little. I knew at the end Justin was going to try and put a charge on. I let him get up close and then sent it super hard at the end to break him a little at the end.”

Deegan’s first moto win comes in only his fourth National and he remains perfect in regard to podiums this year.

“This was a dream since I was a little kid, to win,” Deegan said. “And in my fourth race, it’s gnarly. I was just sending it. I was getting a little tired at the end becasue I left my mouth open the whole time. It’s unreal; I’m so hyped. I wanted to win bad and I proved it to you guys.”

Chaos erupted in turn 1 in Moto 2 Jeremy Martin went and another rider ran over his arm. Michael Mosiman crashed further down the track on that same lap. Both riders were helped off course by the Alpinestars Medical team.

Deegan grabs his first 250 Mx moto win!1️⃣#ProMotocross #SuperMotocross #HangtownMX pic.twitter.com/1FH5s1ZHfn

— Pro Motocross (@ProMotocross) June 3, 2023