Cooper Webb, Adam Cianciarulo win Atlanta Supercross

By Dan BeaverMar 2, 2019, 10:26 PM EST

SupercrossLIVE.com

Cooper Webb led Round 9 of the Supercross season flag to flag, but it was anything but an easy ride in Atlanta.

On Lap 5, Webb was under heavy pressure by teammate Marvin Musquin when he got crossed up in the sand. Musquin was right on his back wheel and actually got slowed up more than Webb. He lost a second in the incident.

Musquin closed to within less than half a second and forced Webb into a minor mistake. Webb overcame the pressure and extended his advantage to a full second again. Musquin closed to less than half a second a few laps later before Webb squirted out to another one-second lead.

Ultimately, it was a battle between Blake Baggett and Musquin that gave Webb a little breathing room. Baggett climbed into second on Lap 14 and kept the pressure on, but was never able to get close enough to force another mistake. Webb won his fifth race of the season and extended his points lead.

“It was all about lines,” Webb told NBCSN after the race. “I had to ride a little defensive, but also offensive. I knew there were a couple of places where they were catching me. I was searching, I was skimming, I was trying all kinds of stuff. I got a little tight in the middle, but by the end I found my groove.”

Baggett finished second and felt that the sand was partly to blame.

“The track conditions and the sand,” Baggett said. “It’s tough when they put sand in a Supercross event; I’m definitely not for it. You could get a run up to them, but then you were going through tear-offs so fast you needed to hang back.”

With his second-place finish, Baggett climbed into fifth in the points around Dean Wilson who finished eighth.

Musquin rounded out the podium.

Ken Roczen finished fourth and remains the only 450 rider with a perfect record of top-five finishes. He now sits 13 points behind Webb.

Aaron Plessinger rounded out the top five in fifth.

Eli Tomac had another slow start. He was 13th on Lap 1 and forced to make another charge through the field. He cracked the top 10 on Lap 5 and ultimately landed sixth on the leaderboard.

Complete Results
Points Standings

250s

It was a tale of brother versus brother (or at least teammate versus teammate) and East versus West when Adam Cianciarulo got around Chase Sexton on Lap 3 and set his sights on Austin Forkner. Nine laps later, the West Coast rider Cianciarulo passed Forkner and became the first to do so during the 2019 season.

Cianciarulo held on to win by nearly five seconds over Dylan Ferrandis.

It was his third Showdown win after winning the season finales at Las Vegas for the past two years. Cianciarulo is the first rider to win three Showdowns.

“Those guys are riding so good,” Cianciarulo told NBCSN after his victory. “I can’t say enough good things about Chase (Sexton) and Austin both. Their pace was unreal. For me it was just about trying to learn their pace and learn where they were better than me. That’s what I’m most proud of in that Main. I didn’t feel good all day. Honestly, I was pretty good in practice, but just terrible in my heat. I just stayed patient. I told myself on the line, ‘whatever you do, just do your very best the entire time.’ And my best was good enough for a win.”

Forkner grabbed the holeshot and appeared to have the race in hand until Cianciarulo chased him down. Two laps later, he lost second to another West rider Dylan Ferrandis. Forkner finished third, but it was the first time this year that Forkner lost a race after winning his heat earlier in the day on the heels of a perfect first three rounds of competition.

“I had a pretty rough day in practice,” Forkner said afterward. “I crashed twice pretty hard in the whoops and just wasn’t feeling it tonight. That’s where I was losing my time, obviously. That’s where I got passed both times.

“I just wasn’t willing to go any faster. Simple as that.”

Forkner made the decision to protect his points lead and keep from experiencing a disastrous run that might ultimately cost the championship. He ended the night with an 18-point lead over Justin Cooper and the field.

Sexton finished fourth and gave up minimal points to Forkner.

Cooper rounded out the top five.

Complete Results
250 East Points Standings
250 West Points Standings

450 Heat 1: Blake Baggett scored his first heat race of the season. … Points leader Cooper Webb kept the pressure on with a second-place finish. … Marvin Musquin rounded out the top three to give KTM a sweep. … Zach Osborne was knocked down in the first corner, but recovered to finish sixth.

450 Heat 2: Cole Seely led flag to flag. … Dean Wilson finished 2.155 seconds back in second. … Justin Brayton rounded out the top three. … Chad Reed slipped in the sand clipped wheels with Eli Tomac, who went to the ground. … Reed finished sixth; Tomac recovered to finish eighth.

450 Last Chance Qualifier: Justin Bogle dominated the LCQ with a margin of nearly nine seconds over Cedric Soubeyras. … Alex Ray finished third, another two seconds back. … Mike Alessi made his Main since March 2017 by taking the final transfer spot..

250 East Heat: Austin Forkner remained perfect for the time being. Through this heat, he had not lost a race yet this season through three rounds that included a Triple Crown event. … Forkner got off to his worst start of the season – allowing Chase Sexton the opportunity to get the holeshot and a more than one second lead. … A red flag gave Forkner the opportunity to catch back up and get the lead on the restart. … Sexton held on to finish second. … Martin Davalos rounded out the top three. … Wilson Fleming crashed on Lap 2 to bring out the red flag. … Anthony Rodriguez finished ninth to take the final transfer spot; Lorenzo Locurcio finished 10th and headed to the LCQ,

250 West Heat: Shane McElrath grabbed the holeshot, but he had pressure from Colt Nichols throughout the heat. … He nipped Nichols by one second. … Adam Cianciarulo rounded out the top three. That was a great recovery, however because Cianciarulo got squirrelly on the start and fell back to seventh on the first lap. … Dylan Ferrandis slipped outside the top nine and had to battle his way back to seventh in order to secure a transfer spot. … Garrett Marchbanks took the final guaranteed spot in ninth. … Cameron McAdoo finished 10th and headed to the LCQ.

250 Last Chance Qualifier: East and West rode head to head for the first time in 2018. East rider Joshua Osby grabbed the win. … Jordan Bailey (East) and Cameron McAdoo (West) finished second and third respectively, but were less than a second behind the leader. … Kyle Cunningham (East) took the final transfer spot. … James Decotis (West) went down in the sand while running one position out of the transfer in fifth.

Points Leaders

450s
Cooper Webb (199) (5 wins)
Ken Roczen (186)
Marvin Musquin (182)
Eli Tomac (177) (2 wins)
Blake Baggett (142) (1 win)

250s West
Adam Cianciarulo (140 points) (4 wins)
Dylan Ferrandis (125)
Shane McElrath (123) (1)
Colt Nichols (120) (1)
RJ Hampshire (86)

250s East
Austin Forkner (99 points) (3 wins)
Justin Cooper (81)
Chase Sexton (79)
Jordon Smith (70)
Alex Martin (60)

Top 5s

450 top 5s
Ken Roczen: 9
Marvin Musquin: 7
Cooper Webb: 7
Eli Tomac: 6
Blake Baggett: 5
Dean Wilson: 2
Joey Savatgy: 2
Chad Reed: 2
Jason Anderson: 1
Justin Barcia: 1
Justin Bogle: 1
Justin Brayton: 1
Aaron Plessinger: 1

250 West top 5s
Adam Cianciarulo: 6
Shane McElrath: 5
Colt Nichols: 4
Dylan Ferrandis: 4
RJ Hampshire: 3
James Decotis: 2
Jacob Hayes: 1
Garrett Marchbanks: 1
Jess Pettis: 1

250 East top 5s
Austin Forkner: 4
Justin Cooper: 4
Chase Sexton: 4
Jordon Smith: 3
Martin Davalos: 2
Alex Martin: 1

Next race: March 9, Daytona International Speedway, Daytona Beach, Fla.

Season passes can be purchased at NBC Sports Gold.

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Strong rebounds for Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi amid some disappointments in the Indy 500

By Bruce MartinMay 28, 2023, 10:00 PM EDT

INDIANAPOLIS – Alex Palou had not turned a wheel wrong the entire Month of May at the Indy 500 until Rinus VeeKay turned a wheel into the Chip Ganassi Racing pole-sitter leaving pit road on Lap 94.

“There is nothing I could have done there,” Palou told NBC Sports. “It’s OK, when it is my fault or the team’s fault because everybody makes mistakes. But when there is nothing, you could have done differently there, it feels bad and feels bad for the team.”

Marcus Ericsson was a master at utilizing the “Tail of the Dragon” move that breaks the draft of the car behind him in the closing laps to win last year’s Indianapolis 500. On Sunday, however, the last of three red flags in the final 16 laps of the race had the popular driver from Sweden breathing fire after Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden beat him at his own game on the final lap to win the Indianapolis 500.

Despite the two disappointments, team owner Chip Ganassi was seen on pit road fist-bumping a member on his four-car team in this year’s Indianapolis 500 after his drivers finished second, fourth, sixth and seventh in the tightly contested race.

Those are pretty good results, but at the Indianapolis 500, there is just one winner and 32 losers.

“There is only one winner, but it was a hell of a show,” three-time Indianapolis 500 winner and Chip Ganassi Racing consultant Dario Franchitti told NBC Sports. “Alex was very fast, and he got absolutely caught out in somebody else’s wreck. There was nothing he could have done, but he and the 10 car, great recovery.

“Great recovery by all four cars because at half distance, we were not looking very good.”

After 92 laps, the first caution flew for Sting Ray Robb of Dale Coyne Racing hitting the Turn 1 wall.

During pit stops on Lap 94, Palou had left his stall when the second-place car driven by VeeKay ran into him, putting Palou’s Honda into the wall. The car sustained a damaged front wing, but the Chip Ganassi crew was able to get him back in the race on the lead lap but in 28^th position.

Palou ultimately would fight his way to a fourth-place finish in a race the popular Spaniard could have won. His displeasure with VeeKay, whom he sarcastically called “a legend” on his team radio after the incident, was evident.

“The benefit of being on pole is you can drive straight and avoid crashes, and he was able to crash us on the side on pit lane, which is pretty tough to do, but he managed it,” Palou told NBC Sports. “Hopefully next year we are not beside him. Hopefully, next year we have a little better luck.”

Palou started on the pole and led 36 laps, just three fewer than race leader Pato O’Ward of Arrow McLaren Racing.

“We started really well, was managing the fuel as we wanted, our car was pretty good,” Palou said. “Our car wasn’t great, we dropped to P4 or P5, but we still had some good stuff.

“On the pit stop, the 21 (VeeKay) managed to clip us. Nothing we could have done there. It was not my team’s fault or my fault.

“We had to drop to the end. I’m happy we made it back to P4. We needed 50 more laps to make it happen, but it could have been a lot worse after that contact.

“I learned a lot, running up front at the beginning and in mid-pack and then the back. I learned a lot.

“It feels amazing when you win it and not so good when things go wrong. We were a bit lucky with so many restarts at the end to make it back to P4 so I’m happy with that.”

Palou said the front wing had to be changed and the toe-in was a bit off, but he still had a fast car.

In fact, his Honda was the best car at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway all month. His pole-winning four lap average speed of 234.217 miles per hour around the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway was a record for this fabled race.

Palou looked good throughout the race, before he had to scratch and claw and race his way back to the top-five after he restarted 28^th.

In the Indianapolis 500, however, the best car doesn’t always win.

“It’s two years in a row that we were leading the race at the beginning and had to drop to last,” Palou said. “Maybe next year, we will start in the middle of the field and go on to win the race.

“I know he didn’t do it on purpose. It’s better to let that pass someday.”

Palou said the wild racing at the end was because the downforce package used in Sunday’s race means the drivers have to be aggressive. The front two cars can battle for the victory, but cars back in fourth or fifth place can’t help determine the outcome of the race.

That is when the “Tail of the Dragon” comes into the play.

Franchitti helped celebrate Ericsson’s win in 2022 with his “Tail of the Dragon” zigzag move – something he never had to do in any of his three Indianapolis 500 victories because they all finished under caution.

In 2023, however, IndyCar Race Control wants to make every attempt to finish the race under green, without going past the scheduled distance like NASCAR’s overtime rule.

Instead of extra laps, they stop the race with a red flag, to create a potential green-flag finish condition.

“You do what you have to do to win within the rules, and it’s within the rules, so you do it,” Franchitti said. “The race is 200 laps and there is a balance.

“Marcus did a great job on that restart and so did Josef. It was just the timing of who was where and that was it.

“If you knew it was going to go red, you would have hung back on the lap before.

“Brilliant job by the whole Ganassi organization because it wasn’t looking very good at half-distance.

“Full marks to Josef Newgarden and Team Penske.”

Franchitti is highly impressed by how well Ericsson works with CGR engineer Brad Goldberg and how close this combination came to winning the Indianapolis 500 two-years-in-a-row.

It would have been the first back-to-back Indy 500 winner since Helio Castroneves in 2001 and 2002.

“Oh, he’s a badass,” Franchitti said Ericsson. “He proved it last year. He is so calm all day. What more do you need? As a driver, he’s fast and so calm.”

Ericsson is typically in good spirits and jovial.

He was stern and direct on pit road after the race.

“I did everything right, I did an awesome restart, caught Josef off-guard and pulled away,” Ericsson said on pit lane. “It’s hard to pull away a full lap and he got me back.

“I’m mostly disappointed with the way he ended. I don’t think it was fair and safe to do that restart straight out of the pits on cold tires for everyone.

“To me, it was not a good way to end that race.

“Congrats to Josef. He didn’t do anything wrong. He is a worthy champion, but it shouldn’t have ended like that.”

Palou also didn’t understand the last restart, which was a one-start showdown.

“I know that we want to finish under green,” Palou said. “Maybe the last restart I did, I didn’t understand. It didn’t benefit the CGR team.

“I’m not very supportive of the last one, but anyway.”

Dixon called the red flags “a bit sketchy.”

“The red flags have become a theme to the end of the race, but sometimes they can catch you out,” Dixon said. “I know Marcus is frustrated with it.

“All we ask for is consistency. I think they will do better next time.

“It’s a tough race. People will do anything they can to win it and with how these reds fall, you have to be in the right place at the right time. The problem is when they throw a Red or don’t throw a Red dictates how the race will end.

“It’s a bloody hard race to win. Congrats to Josef Newgarden and to Team Penske.”

Follow Bruce Martin on Twitter at @BruceMartin_500