Alexander Rossi, James Hinchcliffe recall first Bathurst 1000 experience - MotorSportsTalk

While NTT IndyCar Series team owner Roger Penske was able to celebrate his first victory in the famed Bathurst 1000, two of the star drivers of the series also competed in the race for Walkinshaw Andretti United.

Alexander Rossi, the 100^th Indianapolis 500 winner in 2016 and a perennial contender for the IndyCar championship, and James Hinchcliffe shared a Holden Commodore in the famed endurance contest at Mount Panorama in New South Wales, Australia.

They finished 19^th after starting on the last row of the 26-car grid. At one point in the race, they were running in the mid-teens before finishing just inside the top 20.

“I came here with a huge amount of respect for this place and this Series, and I’m for sure leaving with no less,” Rossi said afterward. “We knew this would be a big challenge. We didn’t come into this with an arrogance that it would be easy. By the same token, we didn’t really come here to finish 19th, either, so we are a bit bummed about that.

“Nonetheless, we finished, and we finished ahead of where we started so that’s a positive. I think that’s all we can ask for considering where we started the weekend.”

Rossi admitted it took time to get comfortable with the car, but once he was able to familiarize himself with the Commodore, they made consistent improvement in every session.

The gap between the “Wild Card” entry and the front had to do with overall familiarity with the cars, according to Rossi.

Hinchcliffe is a popular driver from Oakville, Ontario, and became a popular driver in the paddock in his first Bathurst 1000 with his friendly personality and unique wit.

He also proved to be a driver who learned in one weekend how to work with the 650-horsepower Holden Commodore.

“First ‘1000’ in the books – it was quite an experience all around,” Hinchcliffe said. “We had an OK start, but the first stint was honestly a real handful. The track conditions were quite a bit different than what we had pretty much all through practice with it being really cold and overcast and/or wet. So with the track heating up, the balance wasn’t quite there. I was working a lot with the tools in the car, so struggled a little bit in that first stint to get things on the right track.

“Alex jumped in after that, and we started to make some progress on the balance. Track grip started to come up with the rubber going down and he had a couple really good stints. I jumped back in and had a couple good stints. But one of the big challenges at that point, though, is once you’re a lap down, with the blue-flag rules here, you lose so much lap time just trying to let the leaders go by. It’s an unfortunate reality, but if you don’t want to do it, don’t go a lap down.”

Even with as much experience in racing as Hinchcliffe and Rossi possess, it’s a sport where a driver always learns something new. This past weekend in New South Wales, Australia, was one of those times.

“Oh, for sure,” Hinchcliffe said. “I think every lap you do at this place puts you in a better position than the lap before. Over the race distance, you have a lot of things that you experience that are going to be valuable to know next time you find yourself in that position. For sure, there are lessons I wish I could tell my four-day younger self, but that’s the name of the game. You’ve got to go out there and pay your dues.

“We tried to run our race and make as few mistakes as possible. We made a couple little ones, I think that’s to be expected. A lot of more experienced guys made even bigger mistakes than we did, so I think there’s a lot to be proud of from the whole team.”

A main goal was to be running at the finish, and the team was able to accomplish that. With that goal accomplished, Hinchcliffe wants do to more.

“I’m dying to come do it again,” Hinchcliffe said. “It was a ton of fun. These cars are so, so unique, but they are a blast to drive when you get it right. It feels so good when you get a strong lap here. Obviously, we still have a couple of seconds to find, so I can only imagine what that feels like. But hopefully, we’ll get an opportunity to do it again one day.”

Although Hinchcliffe is eager to return, Rossi has to think about whether he wants to return to Bathurst one day.

“I don’t know yet,” Rossi said. “You may have to ask me that again later, I’m still digesting the weekend. I think the whole Walkinshaw Andretti United team did a really good job of helping James and I. We felt really comfortable in the car at the end, but ultimately we’re missing something in terms of pace and performance.

“I think the overall confidence of the car was at the limit. Just sliding around. The high-speed corners I felt really comfortable. So, I think the biggest thing is just understanding the car at its limit. If I was starting all over again tomorrow, that would have made it a much easier proposition.

“Nonetheless, I think we learned a lot.”

Media and fan attention focused on a controversial run-in between Haiden Deegan and his Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing teammate Jordon Smith during Round 10 of the Monster Energy Supercross race at Detroit, after which the 250 East points’ Hunter Lawrence defends the young rider in the postrace news conference.

Deegan took the early lead in Heat 1 of the round, but the mood swiftly changed when he became embroiled in a spirited battle with teammate Smith.

On Lap 3, Smith caught Deegan with a fast pass through the whoops. Smith briefly held the lead heading into a bowl turn but Deegan had the inside line and threw a block pass. In the next few turns, the action heated up until Smith eventually ran into the back of Deegan’s Yamaha and crashed.

One of the highlights of the battle seemed to include a moment when Deegan waited on Smith in order to throw a second block pass, adding fuel to the controversy.

After his initial crash, Smith fell to seventh on the next lap. He would crash twice more during the event, ultimately finishing four laps off the pace in 20th.

The topic was inevitably part of the postrace news conference.

“It was good racing; it was fun,” Deegan said at about the 27-minute mark in the video above. “I just had some fun doing it.”

Smith had more trouble in the Last Chance Qualifier. He stalled his bike in heavy traffic, worked his way into a battle for fourth with the checkers in sight, but crashed a few yards shy of the finish line and was credited with seventh. Smith earned zero points and fell to sixth in the standings.

Lawrence defends Deegan — *Jordon Smith failed to make the Detroit Supercross Main and fell to sixth in the points. – Feld Motor Sports*

“I think he’s like fifth in points,” Deegan said. “He’s a little out of it. Beside that it was good, I don’t know. I wasn’t really paying attention.”

Deegan jokingly deflected an earlier question with the response that he wasn’t paying attention during the incident.

“He’s my teammate, but he’s a veteran, he’s been in this sport for a while,” Deegan said. “I was up there just battling. I want to win as much as everybody else. It doesn’t matter if it’s a heat race or a main; I just want to win. I was just trying to push that.”

As Deegan and Smith battled, Jeremy Martin took the lead. Deegan finished second in the heat and backed up his performance with a solid third-place showing in the main, which was his second podium finish in a short six-race career. Deegan’s first podium was earned at Daytona, just two rounds ago.

But as Deegan struggled to find something meaningful to say, unsurprisingly for a 17-year-old rider who was not scheduled to run the full 250 schedule this year, it was the championship leader Lawrence who came to his defense.

“I just want to point something out, which kind of amazes me,” Lawrence said during the conference. “So many of the people on social media, where everyone puts their expertise in, are saying the racing back in the ’80s, the early 90s, when me were men. They’re always talking about how gnarly it was and then anytime a block pass or something happens now, everyone cries about it.

“That’s just a little bit interesting. Pick one. You want the gnarly block passes from 10 years ago and then you get it, everyone makes a big song and dance about it.”

Pressed further, Lawrence defended not only the pass but the decision-making process that gets employed lap after lap in a Supercross race.

“It’s easy to point the finger,” Lawrence said. “We’re out there making decisions in a split millisecond. People have all month to pay their phone bill and they still can’t do that on time.

“We’re making decisions at such a fast reaction [time with] adrenaline. … I’m not just saying it for me or Haiden. I speak for all the guys. No one is perfect and we’re under a microscope out there. The media is really quick to point a finger when someone makes a mistake.”

The media is required to hold athletes accountable for their actions. They are also required to tell the complete story.

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