Weekend Review

Though IndyCar and the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series were off, their was plenty racing for one to consume this weekend.

Moto GP
Spaniard Marc Márquez became the first rookie to ever win at Laguna Seca in Moto GP. The Spaniard held off German Stefan Brandl who scored his first Moto GP career podium the day after he scored his first career Moto GP pole. Valentino Rossi finished third after battling with Álvaro Bautista. The injured riders Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo finished fifth and sixth respectively. Cal Crutchlow finished seventh with American Nicky Hayden finishing eighth ahead of his Ducati teammate Andrea Dovizioso. Héctor Barberá rounded out the top ten ahead of Alex de Angelis who substituted for the injured Ben Spies and Colin Edwards finished twelfth.

Márquez has a sixteen point lead over his Honda teammate Pedrosa, a twenty-six point lead over Lorenzo and a forty-six point lead over Rossi. The Moto GP guys will have three weeks off but will return to the States for the Indianapolis Grand Prix at Indianapoolis Motor Speedway.

American Le Mans
North of the border, Lucas Luhr and Klaus Graf extended Muscle Milk Pickett Racing's winning streak to four with a win at Mosport. The LMP2 winning #551 Level 5 Motorsport entry of Scott Tucker and Marino Franchitti finished second overall ahead of the #01 Extreme Speed Motorsport entry of Scott Sharp and Guy Cosmo. The #552 Level 5 Motorsport entry of Mike Conway and Tucker finished third in class. Conway was substituting for the injured Ryan Briscoe.

The SRT Vipers were in great position for their first class win since returning to competition last year but fell short as the #4 Corvette of Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner picked up their second win of the season. The #91 Viper of Dominik Farnbacher and Marc Goossens finished second ahead of their teammates, the #93 Viper of Jonathan Bomarito and Canadian Kuno Wittmer who sat on GT pole position for this race. The #3 Corvette of Jan Magnussen and Antonio Garcia finished fourth ahead of championship rivals, the Rahal Letterman Lanigan BMWs of Dirk Müller and Joey Hand.

Jonathan Bennett and Colin Braun won in the PC class with Cooper MacNeil and Jeroen Bleekemolen winning the GTC class. The American Le Mans Series will have two weeks off before heading to Road America on August 11.

World Superbike
Marco Melandri won race one of the World Superbike weekend at Moscow Raceway. It's Melandri's third win of the season. Chaz Davies made it a BMW 1-2 with his first podium since sweeping the weekend at Aragón in April with Ayrton Badovini scoring his first podium of season with a third place finish. It was also Ducati's first podium of the season. Honda's Jonathan Rea and Aprilia's Michel Fabrizio rounded out the top five with Sylvain Guintoli finishing sixth to retake the points lead from Tom Sykes who retired from the event. Race two was cancelled after Andrea Antonelli was fatally injured in the World Supersport race. The World Supersport race was abandoned following the accident. World Superbike will be back on track in a fortnight at Silverstone.

NASCAR Nationwide Series
Though the Cup series was off, Joey Logano took part in the Nationwide race at Chicagoland and won with Penske teammate Sam Hornish, Jr. finishing second and taking the points lead from Regan Smith. Austin Dillon finished third with Elliott Sadler in fourth. Sadler's Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Brian Vickers finished fifth with Parker Kligerman in sixth. Trevor Bayne finished seventh with three Chevrolets, Justin Allgaier, Brad Sweet and Matt Crafton rounding out the top ten. Regan Smith finished thirteenth.

Hornish has a seven point lead over Smith with Dillon only eight back. Sadler is twenty back with Allagier twnety-two back in fifth. The Nationwide Series will race next Saturday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

USAC
Indiana Sprint Week concluded on Saturday night when the final race at Tri-State Speedway in Haubstadt Speedway was rained out. Brian Clauson won the final two races on Thursday and Friday at Lincoln Park and Bloomington to take the Indiana Sprint Week title from Brady Bacon and Kevin Thomas, Jr. Thomas won the second, third and fourth races at Kokomo, Lawrencebrug and Terre Haute. Jon Stanbrough won the first race at Gas City. While taking the Indiana Sprint Week title, Clauson also took the USAC National Sprint points lead by seven over Dave Darland. Thomas is third in points with Bacon and Chase Stockton rounding out the top five.

Sprint cars are off until August 6th at Southern Iowa Speedway but the Silver Crown and Midget division hit the track this Saturday night at Indianapolis Raceway Park.

Pro Mazda
Matthew Brabham's winning streak in Pro Mazda was snapped on Saturday at Mosport. The American-Australian finished third in race one behind American Spencer Pigot and Shelby Blackstock. Race two saw Blackstock picked up his first career win in Pro Mazda with fellow American Scott Anderson finishing second and Diego Ferreria rounding out the podium. Pigot finished fourth and Brabham was taken out in race two after making contact with Nicolas Costa.

Brabham still leads the championship by fifty-one points over Ferreria and is seventy markers clear of Blackstock. Pigot is fourth in points with Scott Anderson rounding out the top five. Pro Mazda returns in a fortnight when the series goes to Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in a weekend that will feature all four levels of the Mazda Road to Indy ladder system.