VOL 18 | NO: 5 | MAY 2012
Travis Pastrana finally makes his NASCAR Debut at Richmond
Ryan Dungey's win Supercross ׀Formula One update on Kimi Raikkonen
Pastrana Debuts Will he last in NASCAR?
A mullet-wearing Travis Pastrana had three goals for his first NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Richmond International Raceway: to finish, to do it on the lead lap, and to do it in front of Danica Patrick. He achieved one of them, crossing the line in 22nd place – two laps down on winner Kurt Busch. His only real incident was getting busted for speeding in the pit lane, which dropped him further down the order.
Pastrana plans on running seven Nationwide races and nine races in NASCAR's lowertier K&N Pro Series East. This one at Richmond will have been the hardest Nationwide event because it was the first, but having brought the car home at all will be a boost and should get him cleared by series officials to run the high-speed track at Charlotte on May 26. This was Pastrana's overdue intro to NASCAR after he broke
his ankle at the X Games last year and had to abort his 2011 schedule. He pledged to stay off the bikes for two years to give stock car racing a real shot and said he wants to be in the top 20 this year, top ten next year, and fighting for wins the year after. As for that target he put on Danica Patrick's back in Richmond, no doubt he got a good look at it since she finished a spot ahead of him in 21st. He'll get another shot at the Nationwide race at Darlington on May 11th.
that was my mess-up in the pits. I Questions and learned a lot though. It felt good. Answers with Travis I really trust the team. They did a about NASCAR debut good job. Pretty excited about it.” Did you have problems at Richmond
How was it racing against Brad Keselowski?
“Overall it was a good race for us. I was able to qualify and with pit road? race competitively pretty much the entire race. Bryan and I just "I think the lowlight was having How did you feel during to go through pit road twice. "It raced each other way too hard. the race? was my first pit under green and I In hindsight, I should have just gave him the spot and tried to “Honestly, the result wasn’t what definitely got a little excited." go underneath him. We are both we wanted, but to be perfectly How do you feel about rookie and still learning. I was honest -- I felt pretty good out pretty happy with how things went the future? there. You know we weren’t a "I feel really positive about it and overall.” top-10 car, but for a while we were I understand that its going to be a closing in on what could have tough road ahead and nothing is been a top-15 before I messed • Dale Earnhardt Jr. going to come simple. Its definitely up the pits. But, first time for a makes run at title different from a motocross bike stop-and-go pit. I felt really good. or the Subary rally car I'm use to We passed (Brad) Keselowski at driving. Overall I'm very excited one point and I was like, ‘That’s • Formula One update for the challenge of NASCAR and awesome.’ on Kimi Raikkonen driving against some of the best Was it better than you drivers in the world. My goals are expected? top 15's this year, top 5's next • Kyle Busch having a “No. I think everybody envisions year, and then get a few wins. We better attitude have a tough road ahead but we they’re going to do well. I was have a really strong and dedicated hoping -- I was optimistically • Jimmy J finding right thinking it was going to be around team." here -- hoping for better. I really setups for track thought we could get a top-20, but
Formula One Update
Kimi Raikkonen
interested in the racing aspect of Formula One and he admitted that outlook had not changed. "No, I'm only here for racing. All the other bulls**t I can do without. If you took away the cars from Formula One, I would not be there. Formula One plays no role in my personal life. I have a real life! I think for many people, their life is Formula One. For me it's not."
Kimi "The Ice Man" Raikkonen on F1 Future Kimi Raikkonen insists that Formula One "plays no role"
in his personal life but that he is happy with his return to the sport. Following a two-year break Raikkonen has made an impressive comeback to Formula One this season, with
his second place in Bahrain leaving him within 20 points of the championship lead. As a result, Raikkonen said that he was pleased with his return so far, but admitted he didn't like finishing second in a season where teams are struggling to find consistency at each race. "It's not going too bad,"
Raikkonen told Bild am Sonntag. "I like what I'm doing, that's enough. I don't care if someone says whether I'm doing it well or not. Still, it's disappointing when you're only second. Who knows what's going to happen at the next race." When Raikkonen left Ferrari at the end of 2009 he said he was only
• Ryan Dungey wins Supercross in Salt Lake City, Utah • Ruben's Barichello decides to retire before finishing the season out • Sebestian Vettel still being the dominate force early on
Supercross Update Dungey Wins Salt Lake in Fashion
Dungey Dominates in Return Ryan Dungey raced to his third victory of the AMA Supercross season Saturday night, and Eli Tomac won for
the fourth time to wrap up his first Western Regional Supercross Lites season title. Dungey, the KTM rider from Belle Plaine, Minn., returned to action last week in Seattle after missing five races because of a broken collarbone. Ryan Villopoto has already clinched the season title. A nine-time winner this year, he missed the race after injuring his left knee in a first-lap crash in Seattle. Dungey, knocked to the ground after contact with
Jake Weimer on the eighth lap, rallied to take the lead from Davi Millsaps with two laps left in front of 40,548 fans at Rice-Eccles Stadium. Millsaps finished second, and Weimer was third, and Justin Brayton fourth. "It was great racing out there tonight, and I really dug deep," Dungey said. "I didn't see (the pass) coming and that was my fault. My front wheel got a barrier in the corner and I went down. My focus was to run him down, and I did. I had a tough part of the middle of the season, and I knew I had the speed tonight. I just needed to be patient."