OT: Racing 2011 (Spoiler Alert)

[pk500]

Fantastic finish today at Bathurst!

[GB_Simo]

I hope Hopper was a winning part of the drama!

Having beaten his fellow Title Fighters in race 1 before being consigned to 12th in race 2 by electrical trouble, Hopper is set for a winner-takes-all race 3 against his only remaining rival, Tommy Hill. That's all I'm giving you, apart from saying that while the Bathurst finish was indeed fantastic (two superb drivers on top of their game and a great story in the winning car too), the third race at Brands almost defies description.

[pk500]

I hope Hopper was a winning part of the drama!

Having beaten his fellow Title Fighters in race 1 before being consigned to 12th in race 2 by electrical trouble, Hopper is set for a winner-takes-all race 3 against his only remaining rival, Tommy Hill. That's all I'm giving you, apart from saying that while the Bathurst finish was indeed fantastic (two superb drivers on top of their game and a great story in the winning car too), the third race at Brands almost defies description.

.006.

'Nuff said.

[Dave]

Fantastic finish today at Bathurst!

Yes, it absolutely was fantastic. Kudos to Speed for not only showing the race, but treating it like a big event. I can't believe I'm about to type this, but DW wasn't bad in the booth (after he got his boogitys out of the way). I'll definitely set the DVR for the Surfer's Paradise round in a couple weeks.

PK, IndyCar needs to go back to Surfer's!

[pk500]

Highlights from the CRACKING BSB finale Sunday at Brands:

[DChaps]

Fantastic finish today at Bathurst!

Yeah, pretty amazing. Don't know about Garth, but Nick Percat is an iRacer as well.

[GB_Simo]

Highlights from the CRACKING BSB finale Sunday at Brands:

Perhaps my favourite part of Jack Burnicle and James Whitham's commentary, a part which sadly isn't captured in Jack's voiceover for the highlights package, is that by the time Tommy and Hopper had made it into Clearways for the final time, both members of the commentary team had apparently lost the ability to speak. Jack in particular sounded like the Salivex commercial from GTA Vice City:

"It protects your teeth, fights infection, and lubricates your food...but what happens when you run out of saliva?"

The longest answer Hopkins gave in his post-race interview contained 6 words. He looked cut up and he'd clearly given everything, but after the time he's had over the last few years, there must be some consolation in having put himself right back on the world map in 2011.

[pk500]

The longest answer Hopkins gave in his post-race interview contained 6 words. He looked cut up and he'd clearly given everything, but after the time he's had over the last few years, there must be some consolation in having put himself right back on the world map in 2011.

Absolutely. Suzuki MotoGP boss Paul Denning was on Hopper's pit box Sunday, and his gutty performance -- remember, the dude's finger was broken badly six weeks ago at Brno -- won't hurt Hopper's chances of returning to the premier class in 2012.

I think Hopper will be in MotoGP or WSBK with Suzuki next season. I hope it happens.

Hopper was a wild party boy with a ferocious alcohol problem during his salad days in MotoGP, and he burned many bridges in the paddock with his attitude. But he became sober and chastened in his trying years since being bounced from MotoGP after the 2008 season, and a couple of friends of mine in the MotoGP paddock have said he's a truly good dude these days.

[Rodster]

Congrats to Stoner for taking the title. Pedrosa must be in a real good mood right about now.

[F308GTB]

Rather boring race in Korea. Too bad the rain stayed away as it would have mixed things up. Looked like a lot of Koreans decided to skip the race. The attendance looked terrible with a bunch of empty grandstands and many empty seats in the others.

[Rodster]

I also noticed the stands looked really bare. The track layout looks awful. Is it a temporary layout like Albert Park or street course. I certainly don't like it. I am looking forward to the Austin track. I hope that gets finished in time for next year.

[toonarmy]

The Korea race was the usual Vettel-fest. The Hamilton-Webber battle was interesting for a few laps, but overall a ho-hum race. I agree about the track -- it's crap.

[toonarmy]

Indy race with one of the worst messes of a crash I have ever seen. Power out of the race, so too bad for him. Still a red flag out to clean up the more than dozen cars involved in the incident. Don't think I've ever seen 3 cars go airborne that bad in a single crash. Hopefully Wheldon is ok. What a total mess for the final race of the season.

[Gurantsu]

Prayers are with Wheldon. What a scary wreck.

[toonarmy]

Interesting comments from the drivers while this red flag continues. Sounds like some concern was expressed by the drivers and teams before the race about experimenting with 34 cars on a 1 1/2 mile track, not to mention a very fast track, and furthermore with the inclusion of drivers that haven't been racing much with the series this season. Hopefully they can finish the race with no further catastrophes.

[Gurantsu]

This lack of news about Wheldon is scaring the hell out of me.

[GB_Simo]

This lack of news about Wheldon is scaring the hell out of me.

Snap. Very concerned at the minute.

[toonarmy]

According to Dario's wife Wheldon is unconscious but his vitals are good. She tweeted that. Some of the pics of the crash are just unreal -- height of the cars that took flight are just nuts.

http://www.openwheelworld.net/pages/gallery.php?id=294

[Dave]

I feel sick, this is terrible.

[Gurantsu]

I'm getting the same feeling as when Moore and also Earnhart passed. I'm not a praying man but I damn sure am now hoping he'll be OK.

[toonarmy]

This is not looking good at all. No way they can continue this race. A couple drivers are bawling their eyes out. Damn.

[Rodster]

Some bits of information from the drivers. It sounds bad hopefully NOT life threatening.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/r ... &eref=sihp

[GB_Simo]

Some bits of information from the drivers. It sounds bad hopefully NOT life threatening.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/r ... &eref=sihp

All lifted from TV interviews, those, mate. Davey Hamilton was nearly in tears by the end of his first sentence.

Look at TK.

[toonarmy]

RIP Dan Wheldon. Good decision to end the race and do a 5-lap salute. Absolutely crushing news for race fans.

[Gurantsu]

I'm in tears as I type, I can't believe it.

Holy frigging cow.