Sammy Halbert wins Flat Track at MOA

Sammy Halbert won the inaugural Flat Track race on a temporary track built in a parking lot at Mall of America to begin the 2017 X-Games.  Halbert had a dominating run, he was fast time in qualifying, won his heat race and led all but the first two laps in the feature event, his margin of victory was over 12 seconds.

JJ Flarity from Wisconsin won the Hooligan race.

The 1/3rd mile flat dirt track had a big hole in the fourth corner but held up pretty well, it was mainly one groove but fairly consistent.  A large crowd estimated 4,000 or so packed into the temporary facility, all the food trucks ran out of food before the feature event started and the lines for the Porta-Pottys were long.

Indian Motorcycle riders continued their strong Flat Track Motorcycle season, #9 Jared Mees and #6 Brad Baker finished 2nd and 3rd.

MN racer Jake Mataya was riding with a separated shoulder, he had a bad start in his heat race and had to run the Last Chance Qualifier, he finished 8th in that race.  Overall he was happy with the experience, "being at X-Games was awesome, I'm so glad I could make it here," said Mataya.  Listen to his entire interview HERE https://soundcloud.com/speedtalkon1360/jake-mataya-interview-x-games

Here are the official results for the race http://xgames.espn.com/xgames/events/2017/minneapolis/results/400952705/harley-davidson-flat-track

Helio Castroneves silences the rumors and wins Iowa Corn 300

Rumors swirled this week that it might be the final year of racing for Team Penske in IndyCar for Helio Castroneves, he silenced those rumors and ended his long winless drought of 1,134 days on Sunday July 9th 2017 by winning the Iowa Corn 300 at Iowa Speedway.  It was his 30th career win. He led 217 laps (out of 300) in the race and now is fourth all-time in laps led with 5,947.  The media was instructed not to ask Helio about his upcoming contract in the post-race press conference, we were told that all questions should be addressed to Team Penske and at this time they have no comment.

JR Hildebrand (photo above) led 38 laps but had older tires at the end and held on for second place.  Here is the Speed Talk on 1360 Exclusive interview with Hildebrand after the race.   https://soundcloud.com/speedtalkon1360/jr-hildebrand-2nd-place-at

Ryan Hunter-Reay (photo above) is a three time winner of this race, he started 15th on the grid and drove his way up to third.  The race was Red Flagged for a very brief time on lap 208 for Rain.  It also was very hot with air temperatures in the 90's and track temperatures above 130 degrees.

Will Power (photo above) started the race on the Pole, led the race three different times for 23 laps but dropped back after the last caution period and finished fourth.

Graham Rahal (above) finished the race in the fifth position 10.1811 seconds behind the leader.  2016 race winner Josef Newgarden started the race 16th and finished 6th.

Charlie Kimball (photo above) started the race 14th and with pit strategy actually led ten laps in the second half of the race but he dropped to 15th at the finish.  Here is a Speed Talk on 1360 exclusive interview with Charlie Kimball https://soundcloud.com/speedtalkon1360/charlie-kimball-15th-at-iowa

Ed Carpenter (photo above) did the Kids "Q and A" earlier in the day and started the race in 4th, he dropped back and finished 12th.  Here is an exclusive Speed Talk on 1360 interview with Ed Carpenter.  https://soundcloud.com/dean-reller/ed-carpenter-p20

Here is the article about the Kids "Q and A" at Iowa Speedway.  https://racefansradio.blogspot.com/2017/07/kids-q-at-iowa-speedway.html

Point leader Scott Dixon had a poor qualifying effort starting the race 17th, he finished the race in 8th.

We will have a full recap of the Iowa Corn 300 Verizon IndyCar series race including commentary and full interviews with Jason and Dean Saturday 10-11am (CDT) on Speed Talk on 1360 radio.  Listen on KRWC1360.com or search KRWC on the free Tunein app.


Here is a :50 Sound Bite of the opening laps for the IndyCar race at Iowa Speedway.  https://soundcloud.com/speedtalkon1360/indycar-sfx-at-iowa-speedway

Kids Q & A at Iowa Speedway

Iowa Speedway held a Kids Q & A Session preceding the Iowa Corn 300 for the Verizon IndyCar Series.  It was held at the Crash Course located under the Main Grandstand.  IndyCar driver Ed Carpenter was the celebrity guest and kids were given the opportunity to ask questions, just like the professional media.

Here are some of the interesting Kids Questions that were asked-with a summary of the answer.

Q:  How does it feel to go Airborn?
A:  It is very Quiet.

Q:  Did you watch racing when you were little?
A:  Yes, I was always a big IndyCar fan growing up.

Q:  How long does it take for you to get into the car?
A:  We have a maximum of 6 minutes when it is announced for drivers to do so but, it usually only takes me about 3-4 minutes.

Q:  How does it feel when you need to go to the Bathroom?
A:  I was waiting for that one!  It's just like when you go on a long road trip with your parents, you have to   go to the bathroom before the race and if you don't you just have to hold it.  But we sweat out a lot in the car so it usually isn't a problem

Just like working media, the kids were not allowed to take photos with the driver or get autographs but the parents were allowed to take a group photo at the end.

Iowa Corn 300 IndyCar Iowa Speedway preview

The Iowa Corn 300 IndyCar race at Iowa Speedway is coming up today with green flag scheduled for 4:40pm.  The race will be televised on NBCSN beginning at 4pm (CDT).

Will Power #12 was the fast qualifier with a lap time of 17.3612 seconds, average speed of 185.210 mph on the 7/8th Oval at Iowa Speedway located in Newton (IA).

The 2016 winner was Josef Newgarden Here is the link to our race story http://racefansradio.blogspot.com/2016/07/newgarden-dominates-iowa-corn-300-at.html

Here is our 2014 Recap http://racefansradio.blogspot.com/2014/07/hunter-reay-repeats-at-iowa-speedway-in.html

Here is our 2013 Iowa IndyCar Recap https://racefansradio.blogspot.com/2012/06/ryan-hunter-reay-wins-at-iowa.html

Scott Dixon #9 is the current point leader with 379 pts
Simon Pagenaude #1 is second in points 34 behind
Helio Castroneves #3 is third in points 37 behind Dixon.

Check back for full coverage of this race on Speedtalkon1360.com

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BUFFOMANTE DOMINATES TRANS AM TA2 RACE AT BRAINERD

By Dean Reller

BRAINERD, MN (July 2, 2017) –  If there was such a thing as a "perfect race"  for Tony Buffomante, this would have been it as Buffomante won the Trans Am TA2 Ryan Companies Muscle Car Challenge at Brainerd International Raceway.

After having been the fastest car in all of the practices and then qualified for the pole with a Track Record lap of 1:29.562 seconds, Buffomante led the field to the green in the 40 lap race on Brainerd International Raceway's 2.5 mile Competition Road Course.  From the wave of the green, Buffomante took control of the race staying ahead of Gar Robinson and teammate Shane Lewis. The cautionless race played into Buffomante's favor as he held off every challenge that Robinson threw at him, leading every lap in taking the win.

"I don't know how much he had left," said Buffomante following the race.  "We had a little bit left, but I didn't want to see that traffic at the end, but that's TA2 racing.  It's hard to get away from people in this series.  The series is so close, Ford vs Chevy this weekend and fortunately the Mustang ended up on top."

Click to listen to interview with Tony Buffomante

Points leader Robinson chased Buffomante from the start, but despite several challenges and a small opportunity to capitalize on some lapped traffic near the end, he would have to settle for second.

"He (Buffomonte) had a nice car today," said Robinson afterwards.  "I think both our cars were equally matched.  It came down to who made mistakes and Tony didn't make mistakes and I got to try and minimalize mine.  It was a clean hard race all the way.  I thought it was going to get interesting with lapped traffic, but we'll have to wait until Mid-Ohio to do it again."


Click to listen to interview with Gar Robinson

Shane Lewis started third and maintained that position the entire race, finishing a considerable distance behind the leaders.

This event will be televised on CBS Sports Network on Saturday August 12th  at 11am

POS	NO.	CLS	PIC	DRIVER	CAR	LAPS	BEST LAP TIME	#	AVG SPEED	SPONSORS
1	34	TA2	1	Buffomante	Mustang	40	1:31.093	13	121.377	Bestline Superior Lubricants
2	74	TA2	2	Robinson	Camaro	40	1:31.164	30	121.338	PuraVida Tequila/74RanchResort
3	72	TA2	3	Lewis	Camaro	40	1:31.495	6	120.195	PuraVida Tequila/74RanchResort
4	5	TA2	4	Loshak	Camaro	40	1:32.287	13	119.628	Pennzoil / ETE Reman
5	19	TA2	5	Lawrence	Camaro	40	1:32.637	6	118.699	Class Auto Centers
6	9	TA2	6	Prociuk	Camaro	40	1:33.136	31	118.407	HP Tuners
7	97	TA2	7	Sheehan	Camaro	40	1:32.993	16	118.395	LTK Insulation Technologies
8	12	TA2	8	Ivey	Challenger	39	1:34.672	11	115.495	Hawk Performance
9	60	TA2	9	Gray	Mustang	35	1:36.899	5	104.966	Ryan Companies US Inc
10	29	TA2	10	Neveau	Camaro	34	1:35.263	5	101.711	Class Auto Centers
11	24	TA2	11	Machavern	Mustang	23	1:31.887	19	116.379	Heritage Motorsports
12	87	TA2	12	Smith	Camaro	19	1:33.832	3	106.438	3Dimensional Services Group

CAMERON LAWRENCE WINS AT BIR

By Jason D Searcy

The driver whose name had to be written in by hand with a sharpie on duct tape won the Ryan Companies Independence Day Classic Trans Am series race presented by Pirelli at Brainerd (MN) International Raceway.  Twenty-four year old Cameron Lawrence from Dania (FL) won his first career TA series race in just his second career start.

The number 6 car is not the usual ride for Cameron Lawrence, Mickey Wright has driven that car for Shakopee (MN) based Derhaag Motorsports for the last few years, but Lawrence was in that seat for the Indianapolis race and now the win at BIR.  Lawrence had to start the 100 mile, forty lap event at the back of the pack in 8th on the grid because a busy racing schedule elsewhere prevented him from qualifying this car on Saturday.

The crew members of the #6 car cheered as Cameron Lawrence crossed the finish line at BIR in first.  The 40 lap race saw the lead swapped numerous times as pole sitter #41 Vinnie Allegretta and current point leader #98 Ernie Francis Jr battled for the top spot.  Allegretta finished as the runner-up and was all smiles after the race "It was hard trying to hold off Ernie, the kid is fast and he always has a good car for the long haul and our car got a little loose," said Allegretta "I had an absolute blast out there Ernie and Cameron are true sportsmen and great racers, it's an honor to be running with these guys."

Here is our exclusive interview with Vinnie Allegretta https://soundcloud.com/dean-reller/allegretto-p2-in-ta-at

It looked like #98 Ernie Francis Jr was going to win the race at BIR, he had a nice lead until a shocking moment happened with just three laps remaining.  "When I came around turn 12 and when I got off the throttle to get on the brakes the throttle just stuck to the floor, it was something random, don't know what happened yet" said Francis "we had a good race going, we had a fast car, we will get it at the next one."

Here is our Speed Talk exclusive interview with Ernie Francis Jr https://soundcloud.com/dean-reller/francis-jr-p3-in-ta-at

Brainerd Track owner Jed Copham #44 did a great job to finish just off the podium in fourth even though he struggled with some mechanical problems and two time defending Trans Am Champion #23 Amy Ruman finished fifth.  Minnesota born driver and four time winner at BIR Tony Ave lost power steering, pitted and finished fourteenth.

Even though it was the first career TA victory for Cameron Lawrence he is no stranger to winning, he is a two time TA2 Champion and has won 20 races in his ever growing Trans Am career.  Lawrence was subdued in Victory Lane and mentioned thoughts about a fellow racer and friend who died at the track during a regional SCCA race held at BIR just a few hours earlier, the start of the Trans Am race was delayed by more than an hour because of that accident.  Victory lane had more hugs than high-fives and the mood was somber and reflective.

Speed Talk on 1360 had an exclusive interview with Cameron Lawrence, he mentions the recent death of fellow racer Mel Shaw who died at Brainerd International Raceway earlier that day while racing in an SCCA race.  https://soundcloud.com/speedtalkon1360/cameron-lawrence-wins-ta-at



The Results can be found HERE http://gotransam.com/news/Cameron-Lawrence-Captures-Trans-Am-Win-at-Brainerd-International-Raceway/66922

The Ryan Companies Independence Day Classic TA race was televised and can be seen on CBS Sports Network on Saturday July 22nd at 11am (CDT).

The Ryan Companies Muscle Car Challenge TA2 race was also televised and can be seen on CBS Sports Network on Saturday Aug 5th at 11am (CDT).


A full audio recap of the race can be heard Saturday morning 10-11am (CDT) during Speed Talk on 1360 radio on KRWC1360.com or search KRWC on the free Tunein app.