Haddock in the Paddock

U.S. Rookies Cup qualifying

2008-10-24T17:57:51Z

A member of the Red Bull AMA U.S. Rookies Cup team won the pole for Saturday's Red Bull Riders Cup race in Valencia, Spain. But the top two riders in the U.S. Rookies Cup and the MotoGP Rookies Cup from Europe did not qualify well on a wet track on Friday.
Benny Solis Jr., a 14-year-old freshman at North Hollywood High School and the U.S. Rookies Cup champion, qualified 16th after crashing in qualifying. JD Beach, the MotoGP Rookies Cup champion, qualified eighth.
"It was a tough day for our guys and the MotoGP Rookies, too," said U.S. Rookies Cup riders coach Kevin Schwantz. "We had too many bikes on the ground today and the conditions were really tough. There's not a lot of grip at Valencia in the wet. I thought the rain might equalize things for our guys but that really wasn't the case today. We'll see what tomorrow brings, but the weather might throw us a curve ball again."
Hayden Gillim of Owensboro, Ky., won the pole for the Red Bull Riders Cup race.
"It was very slick out there but I was pretty happy with my best lap," Gillim said. "The weather was tough but I was in the top three for most of the first session. I was able to get some good laps in towards the end and that's when I had my fastest time. I'm disappointed that I crashed on the next lap, though. In the second session, it was raining too hard to go faster. I'll be looking to get a good start and do well tomorrow."
Three riders from the MotoGP team followed Gillim in qualifying. Mathew Scholtz of South Africa was second, Matthew Holye of Great Britian was third and Jakub Kornfeil was fourth.

Hornaday in second in Truck Series standings

2008-10-24T17:54:46Z

Ron Hornaday Jr. is looking to rebound after a disappointing finish in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Martinsville Speedway in Virginia.
Hornaday, who led the most laps in the race, ran out of fuel with four laps to go. He dropped from second to 29th and lost his lead in the Truck Series standings. He is 65 points behind Johnny Benson with four races left on the Truck Series schedule.
The next race for the Truck Series teams is at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Hornaday won the Truck Series race at Atlanta in 2005.
"Atlanta is a good, smooth track and you have two grooves you can run in," said Hornaday, a former Saugus Speedway champ from Palmdale. "Our last two races at Atlanta have been successful runs, but we weren't able to get the finishes we wanted when we had the strongest truck in the field. This time around, we will have a really good truck. It's only been raced once, but it's a good piece. I think we should be able to pick up where we left off back in March and hopefully be in victory lane at the end of the day."
The truck his team at Kevin Harvick Inc. is bringing to Atlanta is the same truck they raced at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, where Hornaday finished fifth.

More on Benny Solis Jr.

2008-10-24T17:44:09Z

Benny Solis Jr.'s dad was a motorcycle racer and introduced his son to the sport. Solis Jr. learned to ride and race at a place called the Grange Motor Circuit in Victorville. It's where Benny Solis Sr. used to race and where Solis Jr. saw his dad race for the first time.
When Solis Jr. was 10 years old, he asked his dad if he could race motorcycles too.
HIs dad told him he didn't know how to ride. Solis Jr. asked his dad to teach him. Soon thereafter, Solis Sr. gave up racing and started teaching his son how to do it.
Back then, all of four years ago, Solis Sr. said there weren't a lot of kids racing. The first race Solis Jr. entered, when he was 11 years old, was against grown men.
Now there are more kids closer to his son's age racing, especially on the Red Bull AMA Rookie's Cup circuit, so Solis Jr. can compete against racers closer to his age.
His mom was not a big supporter of her son's racing career in the beginning. She would ask Solis Sr. not to teach him how to ride. Solis Sr. said he had a number of accidents during his racing career, resulting in broken collar bones, legs, wrists and arms. His wife didn't want to see the same thing happen to her son.
Whenever Solis Jr.'s mom would go out to a race, Solis Sr. said his son would also crash or have something happen to his motorcycle. Solis Sr. said having her at the track made his son nervous.
But not this year. Solis Jr.'s mom has been to every Rookie's Cup race and has seen her son win four of the them.
Solis Sr., because of his work schedule, has not been able to watch or attend every race his son has been in this year. All three are in Spain for the Rookies Cup race on Saturday.

Jack Sprague, Kevin Harvick Inc. part ways

2008-10-08T21:12:38Z

Jack Sprague will not finish the season driving for Kevin Harvick Inc. in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Kevin Harvick, the owner of the two-truck team and a driver in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, said he will be in the No. 2 truck for the next race at Martinsville Speedway in Virginia. "The performance of the No. 2 team was not up to either Jack or KHI's standards," said Harvick, who owns the team with his wife, DeLana. "My main goal now is to prepare the team to run for a championship in 2009. I am looking forward to getting behind the wheel in Martinsville. It should be a lot of fun."
Sprague has five top fives and nine top 10s in 20 Truck Series races this year. His finished second at Kansas Speedway and Dover International Speedway in Delaware, his best results of the year. He finished 27th at Talladega Superspeedway and 26th at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in his last two races with KHI.

Grand Prix of Long Beach tickets on sale

2008-10-08T21:11:00Z

Tickets for the 35th Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, scheduled for April 16-19, are on sale by calling (888) 82-SPEED or visiting the race web site, www.gplb.com.
The Grand Prix of Long Beach will include the Indy Racing League IndyCar Series, American Le Mans Series, Team Drift Challenge, Indy Lights and the 33rd annual pro/celebrity race. There will be an additional racing series added to the lineup.
Ticket prices for the three-day event range from $25 for a Friday general admission ticket to $125 for a three-day ticket that includes Saturday and Sunday reserved seating in grandstand upper levels. Pre-paid parking packages are also available.

Hornaday back on top of Truck Series standings

2008-10-08T21:03:27Z

Ron Hornaday Jr. finished second in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama and moved into first place in the Truck Series standings.
He has a 39-point lead over Johnny Benson with five races to go in the season. Hornaday, driver of the No. 33 Chevrolet Silverado for Kevin Harvick Inc., and a former Saugus Speedway champ from Palmdale, recorded his 12th top-five finish of the year and his fourth in a row.
"I knew we had a fast truck," Hornaday said after the race at Talladega. "We got three wide there. I've got to apologize to Mike Wallace, he pushed me to the front there and Rick Carelli (spotter) cleared me and I thought he was clear with us to go down there so I hate to leave Mike out there. He definitely pushed us."
Hornaday came into the race one point behind Benson for the lead in the Truck Series standings. Benson finished 11thh at Talladega.
"We ran good all day and I saw Johnny all day," Hornaday said. "We'll take it. Coming out here finishing second, that is just unbelievable. This is what this team is all about. Built a brand-new truck, to come here and do this is a lot of fun.
Todd Bodine won the Talladega race. It was his second Truck Series win of the year. Hornaday, who has won five Truck Series races this year, has 12 top five finishes, including the second-place finish at Talladega.
"Bring a brand new truck that has never been tested," Hornaday said. "Chevrolet put it in the wind tunnel with us and Mark Smith doing the motors. We will take a second. It feels like a win here at Talladega for me."

Benny Solis wins AMA U.S. Rookies Cup championship

2008-10-02T05:43:45Z

Benny Solis, a 13-year-old from North Hollywood, won the inaugural Red Bull AMA U.S. Rookies Cup championship with a fifth-place finish in the season finale at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca on Sunday.
Solis finished nine points ahead of Hayden Gillim, Owensboro, Ken., to win the Rookies Cup championship.
"Last year when we went to the selection event, it was like a dream come true to make it to the second day," said Solis. "I was aiming for the top 10 in the championship but then after getting pole at [the first race at] Barber, I thought maybe I had a chance at this. Ever since then, my confidence has been boosted up and I've been trying to do my best all year. I ended up with four wins and a couple of podiums. I am really happy with how things have gone and it's been a fantastic year."
Solis will be on the 10-rider team for the United States competing against the Moto GP Rookies from Europe in Valencia, Spain, on Oct. 25. It will be the second race in the Red Bull Riders Cup. The first race, won by the European Moto GP team, was in Indianapolis.

Hornaday one point behind Benson in Truck Series

2008-10-02T05:38:31Z

After a fifth-place finish at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Ron Hornaday Jr. is one point behind Johnny Benson in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series standings.
The Truck Series races at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama on Saturday. Hornaday has two top 10s at Talladega in two Truck Series races at the track.
"Racing at Talladega is a lot like racing at Daytona," said Hornaday, a former Saugus Speedway champ from Palmdale. "Daytona is more of a handling track so the driver has to drive the truck a little more there than at Talladega. Talladega is really smooth now with the new asphalt surface they put down a few years ago."

Late Model showdown at Irwindale

2008-10-02T05:31:40Z

Tim Huddleston of Agoura Hills is six points ahead of Nick Joanides of Woodland Hills in the NASCAR Late Models at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale with one race to go -- a 100-lap season finale Saturday night.
Huddleston, the reigning Late Model champion at the track, has won five races this year,
including three of the past five. Joanides, the track champion in the Super Late Model
division, has won three races this year and has three runner-ups in his past five races.
The final races in the Super Stocks, Mini Stocks and Legend Cars are scheduled at the track
Saturday night. Gates open at 4 p.m. Races start at 7.
Bryan Harrell of Riverside has already wrapped up the Super Stock championship. He has a 58-point lead over Rich DeLong III of Santa Clarita.
Rich Garver of Torrance has a 24-point lead over Jacob Rogers of Riverside in the Mini Stocks division. Tom Landreth won the Legend Cars championship two weeks ago.

Pacific Coast Motorsports driver injured during test

2008-10-02T05:11:38Z

Carl Skerlong, driver for Oxnard-based Pacific Coast Motorsports in the Atlantic Series,
crashed during a test session Tuesday at Road Atlanta in Georgia and suffered a concussion. He will not race in the season finale this weekend at Road Atlanta.
Skerlong is fourth in the Atlantic Series standings, won his first Atlantic Series race in New
Jersey in September and had two poles and seven top fives in his rookie season.
"I was so excited to fight for a top-three finish in the championship this weekend," Skerlong said. "I am quite sore from the accident but not being able to race is much more painful." Skerlong's teammate Frankie Muniz will race this weekend at Road Atlanta.
Jonathan Bomarito, driver for the Encino-based Mathiasen Motorsports, leads the Atlantic Series standings.

Tight race in Late Models

2008-09-28T05:51:03Z

The standings in the NASCAR Late Models at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale tightened up Saturday night.
Andrew Myers snapped an 11-race winless streak, winning his first race since May 10. He won the first five races of the year, then posted only a couple third places in his past 11 races.
Tim Huddleston of Agoura Hills, the leader in the Late Model standings, finished 14th and saw his lead over Nick Joanides of Woodland Hills cut to six points.
Joanides finished ninth in the race Saturday night. Myers is 40 points out of first and mathematically still in the championship hunt.
The season ends next Saturday night with a 100-lap race for the Late Models.
In other action, Rod Johnson Jr. of Canyon Country won his second straight race in the NASCAR Super Trucks and Pat Mintey Jr. of Quartz Hill won the Super Trucks championship. Connor Cantrell of Valencia, who won a division leading six races at the track, was second in the race and second in the Super Trucks standings.

Kyle Busch's chances to win the Chase

2008-09-26T22:05:17Z

They're not good. Neither is Kyle Busch's attitude about how the Chase started.
After winning eight races before the NASCAR Chase for the Sprint Cup began, Busch had two bad races to start the Chase and dropped from first to 12th in the Cup standings.
In the most recent race at Dover International Speedway, he blew an engine and finished in 43rd and last place.
Before qualifying for the Cup race at Kansas Speedway on Friday, Busch was asked about what happened in Dover.
"We blew up and now we're behind," he said.
His answers were short and sharp. He knows the possibility of catching the leaders -- Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle and Jimmie Johnson -- in the standings are not good.
"Here's how I look at it," Busch said. "You can't count on anybody else having a bad race. So, realistically, yeah we are out of it. If they do have a bad race -- then it depends on who has the bad race and how bad the race is and stuff -- for us to get back in it. Realistically, if you are not counting on those guys having a bad race -- we can't win eight races in a row and have Carl or Biffle finish fifth through 10th every single one of those and still win the deal. That ain't going to happen."
Busch was asked if he prescribed to the philosophy that drivers have to lose a championship before they can win one.
"I've been in the Chase -- this is my third year now," Busch said. "So, technically I've already lost two. I've been in this series -- I think this is my fourth year -- so I've lost it three times. So, I think I've lost enough."
He was also asked, regardless of how he finishes, about how he will reflect on his season and if it will be sour.
"I think the biggest thing we'll remember is the eight wins and the places that the came at -- being all various different race tracks," Busch said. "The overall success of the year -- being able to win 19 races overall.
"Really we weren't supposed to be in the position we've been in to win the championship. This was supposed to be the building year the learning year -- getting used to everything at Joe Gibbs Racing, and Toyota coming on board and getting a relationship going with Steve Addington (crew chief). So, you can't look at it as a sour year."

Camping World, Kevin Harvick Inc. and the Truck Series

2008-09-26T21:50:52Z

Camping World is one of the companies that could become the title sponsor of what is now the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.
Camping World is also one of the title sponsors on Ron Hornaday's No. 33 Chevrolet Silverado for Kevin Harvick Inc.
Harvick, a driver for Richard Childress Racing in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, was asked what would happen to Hornaday's truck if Camping World becomes the sponsor of the Truck Series.
The deal Camping World has with Harvick and the No. 33 truck ends in 2009. Harvick said he expects Camping and VFW to be the title sponsors on Hornaday's truck next year.
Camping World also has a stake in Harvick's Nationwide Series team. That team could be affected the most if Camping World becomes the sponsor of the Truck Series, Harvick said.
Harvick was asked before qualifying for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway on Friday if he was upset by NASCAR's apparent cherry-picking of sponsors from teams, especially in light of the current economic climate.
"I don't think they cherry-picked in this situation," Harvick said. "I think if you look at the entitlements that Camping World has, it is definitely something that they obviously look at what works for them and their vendors and the way that they sell product at the race track. It has got to make sense. If something doesn't make sense for me from a business side of it, I don't do it. It has to make sense on that side of it. Camping World has been a great partner and will continue to be a great partner as we roll forward on the No. 33 truck."
In addition to being a sponsor on the No. 33 truck, Camping World is also a sponsor on the No. 33 car driven by Harvick in the Nationwide Series.
"We have a lot of good races on the No. 33 car with me driving," Harvick said. "It is just something that we haven't been selling. We have sold the rest of the car; I don't foresee a problem there."
Harvick said NASCAR has been in communication with him about the negotiations with Camping World.
"We have known that Camping World has been looking at the entitlement," Harvick said. "This has to work for everybody and ... there is definitely not any cherry-picking from a NASCAR standpoint. This is just a company looking at it, one of a few companies looking at something that might make sense for them. That is not something that you can damn anybody for. You just have to stand back. Sponsorship hunting is something that is always going to be a part of NASCAR, the teams and there is going to be some crossover and some things that happen. I just like the fact that there has been good communication and been on the same page with the team from this point."
There is a possibility that Camping World will be the sponsor of the Truck Series and on Hornaday's truck in 2009.
"I don't know the details of how far along they are with NASCAR," Harvick said. "I know that they are under contract to run on Ron Hornaday's truck, it will be the Camping World Chevrolet with six VFW races with Hornaday next year."

Mathiasen Motorsports on verge of Atlantic Series championship

2008-09-24T23:53:41Z

Jonathan Bomarito, a driver for Encino-based Mathiasen Motorsports in the Atlantic Series, has an eight-point lead in the series standings with one race to go.
If Bomarito, coming off a sixth-place finish at Miller Motorsports Park in Utah over the weekend, can hold on to his lead in the standings, it will be the first Atlantic Series championship for Mathiasen Motorsportts, owned by Ray and Leslie Mathiasen of Encino.
The top-three drivers, Bomarito, Jonathan Summerton and Markus Niemela, in the Atlantic Series standings are separated by 10 points.
The Atlantic Series season finale is Oct. 2-3 at Road Atlanta in Georgia.

Huddleston, Mintey in drivers' seats for track championships

2008-09-24T22:44:31Z

Two drivers can wrap up track championships at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale on Saturday night. Tim Huddleston of Agoura Hills, the reigning champion in the NASCAR Late Models at the track, has a 16-point lead over Nick Joanides of Woodland Hills. Pat Mintey Jr. of Quartz Hill has an 18-point edge over Connor Cantrell of Valencia in the NASCAR Super Trucks standings.
Mintey had a chance to win the Super Trucks championship on Satuday night, but a flat tire knocked him out of contention. He finished 19th in a 20-car field. Cantrell, who has a series leading six wins, finished third and turned a 50-point deficit into 18.
Cantrell, a senior at Valencia High School, needs to finish 10 spots ahead of Mintey to overtake him in the Super Trucks standings.
The season finale in the Super Trucks, a 100-lap race, is Saturday night. It will be the longest race of the year for the Super Trucks drivers.
The Late Models race two more times at the track, Saturday and a 100-lapper on Oct. 4.
NASCAR Super Stocks, Pure Stocks and USAC Ford Focus Midgets are scheduled to race Saturday night at Irwindale. Gates open at 4 p.m. Races start at 7.
Joanides finished second in the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series California standings. He won the NASCAR Super Late Model championship at Irwindale with 10 wins, 17 top fives and 19 top 10s in 21 starts.
He finished second in the California standings to Jason Gilbert, a driver at Altamont Motorsports Park in Tracy, who had 10 wins, 17 top fives and 20 top 10s in 21 starts.
Newhall's Travis Thirkettle was fourth and Burbank's Dan Moore was sixth. Six drivers from Irwindale finished in the top 20.