Cooper Webb, Austin Forkner win Minneapolis Supercross

By Feb 9, 2019, 11:19 PM EST
SupercrossLIVE.com
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Cooper Webb proved he is the real deal by winning his third race in the last four rounds of the 2019 Supercross season. Webb patiently chased Joey Savatgy for 15 laps and then pulled away from the field as the battle shifted to second place.

“Last weekend I made that mistake and crashed and didn’t get a great result,” Webb said on NBCSN after the race. “I was bummed to lose the red plate after just one race, but we’re getting close as you can see.”

Webb had ample reason to be psyched about his finish. He won his first career race just four weeks ago and has emerged as the hottest rider on the circuit. He is now part of one of the closest points battles in history with four riders sitting only two points apart.

After losing the lead on Lap 15, Savatgy was immediately under attack from Ken Roczen. It took Roczen another five laps to get up to the runner-up position. With his second-place finish, Roczen is the only rider to sweep the top five this year. His strong run in Minneapolis allowed him to snatch the red plate from Eli Tomac.

Marvin Musquin snapped his streak of three consecutive second-place finishes with a third at Minneapolis.

Rookie Savatgy posted the fastest time in qualification and was looking to score his best result of the year. He crossed under the checkers fourth, bettering his seventh at San Diego.

Justin Brayton rounded out the top five.

The points leader entering the race, Tomac had a horrible start. Mired outside the top 15 on Lap 1, it took 10 laps to simply crack the top 10. He slowly climbed the grid and finished just outside the top five in sixth. It was this first time his year that he failed to score a top five.

Tomac’s struggles made the points battle razor thin. Roczen hold a one-point advantage over Webb with Tomac and Musquin two points back in third and fourth.

Blake Baggett was running fourth late in the race before he landed on his front wheel with 2:30 remaining. He failed to finish four laps from the end and was credited with a 21st-place finish.

Complete Results
Points Standings

250s

Butterflies abounded in the first of nine round of the 250 East class. One rider who was not effected by the winged insect was Austin Forkner. He jumped out to an early lead and kept a 10 second advantage through most of the race. With such a huge lead to his credit, Forkner rode a safe last lap and beat the field to the checkers by six seconds.

Jordon Smith finished second after an eventful night. He had a rear tire go flat before the gate drop. “I had time for about one deep breath before we took off,” Smith said on NBCSN after the race. “And off we were.”

That may have thrown Smith off his rhythm because he laid his bike down midway through the race when he bogged in loose dirt while in the runner-up spot. Smith fell to fourth, but charged back.

Justin Cooper stood on the final step of the podium in third.

Chase Sexton finished fourth after an adventurous race. He mistimed a jump and went down on the same lap that saw the Smith crash.

Mitchell Oldenburg rounded out the top five.

Blake Wharton was another rider with issues. He ran off course and dropped. His bike was not as quick to hit the dirt and smashed into his head.

Complete Results
Points Standings

450 Heat 1: Cooper Webb took the lead on Lap 2 and beat Eli Tomac to the line. … Ken Roczen rounded out the top three and finished within a little more than two seconds behind the winner. … Aaron Plessinger was a distant fourth almost nine seconds behind.

450 Heat 2: Justin Brayton won his second heat of 2019 over Justin Barcia and fast qualifier Joey Savatgy. … Justin Bogle led two laps before missing a shift and allowing Brayton to take the lead with Marvin Musquin in tow. Bogle finished fourth. … A pair of mistakes for Musquin as time ran off the clock dropped him to fourth and then Musquin dropped his bike on the plus one lap; he fell all the way to eighth at the end, but advanced without needing to race through the LCQ.

450 Last Chance Qualifier: Cheyenne Harmon made his second feature of the season by beating a charging AJ Catanzaro by 1.5 seconds; Catanzaro advanced to the Main for the first time this year. Casey Brennan and Daniel Herrlein rounded out the transfer positions and will also race in their first 2019 feature.

250 Heat 1: Jordon Smith won the first East race of 2019 by more than three seconds over Alex Martin and Justin Cooper.

250 Heat 2: After setting fast time in qualification, Austin Forkner grabbed the holeshot and ran away from the field. He beat Mitchell Oldenburg by nearly 13 seconds. Blake Wharton rounded out the top three. … Chase Sexton jumped off course and lost a battle with the tough blocks on Lap 1. He moved up to 11th before he ran across the back wheel of Lorenzo Locurcio. Sexton moved up to eighth at the end; Locurcio remained in 10th.

250 Last Chance Qualifier: Joshua Osby got to the front early and remained there to win the LCQ. … That was good news because chaos erupted behind him: Samuel Redman had a big off while running in the final transfer spot, handing the lead to Joey Crown, who immediately flew off the track. On the same lap, Lane Shaw tried and failed to make an aggressive pass. He went down and was rolled over by several other riders. … Lorenzo Lucurcio survived in second with Chase Marquier and Wilson Fleming also advancing.

Points Leaders

450s
Ken Roczen (125)
Cooper Webb (124) (3 wins)
Eli Tomac (123) (1 win)
Marvin Musquin (123)
Dean Wilson (95)

250s West
Adam Cianciarulo (114 points) (3 wins)
Shane McElrath (106) (1)
Colt Nichols (104) (1)
Dylan Ferrandis (102)
RJ Hampshire (75)

250s East
Austin Forkner (26 points) (1 win)
Jordon Smith (23)
Justin Cooper (21)
Alex Martin (19)
Chase Sexton (18)

450 top 5s
Ken Roczen: 6
Eli Tomac: 5
Marvin Musquin: 5
Cooper Webb: 4
Dean Wilson: 2
Blake Baggett: 2
Jason Anderson: 1
Justin Barcia: 1
Justin Bogle: 1
Chad Reed: 1
Joey Savatgy: 1
Justin Brayton: 1

250 West top 5s
Adam Cianciarulo: 5
Shane McElrath: 5
Colt Nichols: 4
RJ Hampshire: 3
Dylan Ferrandis: 3
James Decotis: 2
Jacob Hayes: 1
Garrett Marchbanks: 1
Jess Pettis: 1

250 West top 5s
Austin Forkner: 1
Jordon Smith: 1
Justin Cooper: 1
Alex Martin: 1
Chase Sexton: 1

Next race: February 16, AT&T Stadium, Arlington, Texas.

Season passes can be purchased at NBC Sports Gold.

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With throaty roar, NASCAR Next Gen Camaro is taking Le Mans by storm on global stage

Associated PressJun 8, 2023, 4:00 PM EDT
Le Mans 24 Hour Race - Car Parade
Chris Graythen/Getty Images
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LE MANS, France — The V8 engine of the NASCAR Chevrolet Camaro has a distinct growl that cannot go unnoticed even among the most elite sports cars in the world at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

When the Hendrick Motorsports crew fired up the car inside Garage 56, NASCAR chairman Jim France broke into a huge grin and gave a thumbs up.

“The only guy who didn’t cover his ears,” laughed seven-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson.

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France has been waiting since 1962 – the year his father, NASCAR founder Bill France Sr., brought him to his first 24 Hours of Le Mans – to hear the roar of a stock car at the most prestigious endurance race in the world.

A path finally opened when NASCAR developed its Next Gen car, which debuted last year. France worked out a deal to enter a car in a specialized “Innovative Car” class designed to showcase technology and development. The effort would be part of NASCAR’s 75th celebration and it comes as Le Mans marks its 100th.

Once he had the approval, France persuaded Hendrick Motorsports, Chevrolet and Goodyear – NASCAR’s winningest team, manufacturer and tire supplier – to build a car capable of running the twice-around-the-clock race.

The race doesn’t start until Saturday, but NASCAR’s arrival has already been wildly embraced and France could not be more thrilled.

“Dad’s vision, to be able to follow it, it took awhile to follow it up, and my goal was to outdo what he accomplished,” France told The Associated Press. “I just hope we don’t fall on our ass.”

The car is in a class of its own and not racing anyone else in the 62-car field. But the lineup of 2010 Le Mans winner Mike Rockenfeller, 2009 Formula One champion Jenson Button and Johnson has been fast enough; Rockenfeller put down a qualifying lap that was faster than every car in the GTE AM class by a full three seconds.

The Hendrick Motorsports crew won its class in the pit stop competition and finished fifth overall as the only team using a manual jack against teams exclusively using air jacks. Rick Hendrick said he could not be prouder of the showing his organization has made even before race day.

“When we said we’re gonna do it, I said, ‘Look, we can’t do this half-assed. I want to be as sharp as anybody out there,” Hendrick told AP. “I don’t want to be any less than any other team here. And just to see the reaction from the crowd, people are so excited about this car. My granddaughter has been sending me all these TikTok things that fans are making about NASCAR being at Le Mans.”

This isn’t NASCAR’s first attempt to run Le Mans. The late France Sr. brokered a deal in 1976, as America celebrated its bicentennial, to bring two cars to compete in the Grand International class and NASCAR selected the teams. Herschel McGriff and his son, Doug, drove a Wedge-powered, Olympia Beer-sponsored Dodge Charger, and Junie Donlavey piloted a Ford Torino shared by Richard Brooks and Dick Hutcherson.

Neither car came close to finishing the race. McGriff, now 95 and inducted into NASCAR’s Hall of Fame in January, is in Le Mans as France’s guest, clad head-to-toe in the noticeable Garage 56 uniforms.

“I threw a lot of hints that I would like to come. And I’ve been treated as royalty,” McGriff said. “This is unbelievable to me. I recognize nothing but I’m anxious to see everything. I’ve been watching and seeing pictures and I can certainly see the fans love their NASCAR.”

The goal is to finish the full race Sunday and, just maybe, beat cars from other classes. Should they pull off the feat, the driver trio wants its own podium celebration.

“I think people will talk about this car for a long, long time,” said Rockenfeller, who along with sports car driver Jordan Taylor did much of the development alongside crew chief Chad Knaus and Greg Ives, a former crew chief who stepped into a projects role at Hendrick this year.

“When we started with the Cup car, we felt already there was so much potential,” Rockenfeller said. “And then we tweaked it. And we go faster, and faster, at Le Mans on the SIM. But you never know until you hit the real track, and to be actually faster than the SIM. Everybody in the paddock, all the drivers, they come up and they are, ‘Wow, this is so cool,’ and they were impressed by the pit stops. We’ve overachieved, almost, and now of course the goal is to run for 24 hours.”

The car completed a full 24-hour test at Sebring, Florida, earlier this year, Knaus said, and is capable of finishing the race. Button believes NASCAR will leave a lasting impression no matter what happens.

“If you haven’t seen this car live yet, it’s an absolute beast,” Button said. “When you see and hear it go by, it just puts a massive smile on your face.”

For Hendrick, the effort is the first in his newfound embrace of racing outside NASCAR, the stock car series founded long ago in the American South. Aside from the Le Mans project, he will own the Indy car that Kyle Larson drives for Arrow McLaren in next year’s Indianapolis 500 and it will be sponsored by his automotive company.

“If you’d have told me I’d be racing at Le Mans and Indianapolis within the same year, I’d never have believed you,” Hendrick told AP. “But we’re doing both and we’re going to do it right.”

Le Mans 24 Hour Race - Car Parade
Fans gather around the NASCAR Next Gen Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 that is the Garage 56 entry for the 100th 24 Hours of Le Mans at the Circuit de la Sarthe (Chris Graythen/Getty Images).

General Motors is celebrating the achievement with a 2024 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Garage 56 Edition and only 56 will be available to collectors later this year.

“Even though Chevrolet has been racing since its inception in 1911, we’ve never done anything quite like Garage 56,” said GM President Mark Reuss. “A NASCAR stock car running at Le Mans is something fans doubted they would see again.”

The race hasn’t even started yet, but Hendrick has enjoyed it so much that he doesn’t want the project to end.

“It’s like a shame to go through all this and do all this, and then Sunday it’s done,” Hendrick said. “It’s just really special to be here.”