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This scandal is barely getting attention in the American press(Newspapers or ESPN television). From ESPN-
Renault parted company with flamboyant Formula One team boss Flavio Briatore and his deputy Pat Symonds on Wednesday after accepting allegations that last year’s Singapore Grand Prix was fixed.
The two men were due to appear before the governing FIA in Paris on Monday to face charges, unprecedented even in a sport often mired in controversy, that the team ordered Brazilian Nelson Piquet Jr. to crash deliberately to help Spanish teammate Fernando Alonso win.
Renault said in a statement it would not dispute the allegations.
“[Renault] also wishes to state that its managing director, Flavio Briatore, and its executive director of engineering, Pat Symonds, have left the team,” the team added.
Italian Briatore led the team to two Formula One constructors’ and drivers’ championships with Alonso in 2005 and 2006 after also winning titles with Benetton and Michael Schumacher in 1994 and 1995.
To maintain the integrity of their sport, Formula One will need to still come down on Renault. Renault admits they took actions to alter the outcome of a race. In other sports, people have gotten lifetime bans for such actions. If Formula One doesn’t want lose the confidence and trust of racing fans and its sponsors, they need to punish Renault very harshly.
The 2009 Formula One season continues to be unpredictable. From AP-
Rubens Barrichello picked up his second win in three races to lead Brawn GP to a 1-2 finish at the Italian Grand Prix that tightened the Formula One title fight.
Barrichello and teammate Jenson Button both used one-stop strategies to get the sweep at the Monza circuit on Sunday.
Former Ferrari driver Barrichello shaved two points off Button’s overall lead by getting within 14 points with four races remaining.
Lewis Hamilton of McLaren crashed on his final lap while running third. That allowed Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari to take the final podium spot.
Button remains the favorite for the driving title but he isn’t a lock. IMHO he will win, but narrowly.
Her father, Clyde Rice, is a thoroughbred trainer also. From the Daily Racing Form-
Linda Rice held off Todd Pletcher by one winner, 20-19, at Saratoga to become the first female in the modern era to win a trainer’s title at a major U.S. racing circuit.
“It means the world to me,” said Rice, the 44-year-old daughter of trainer Clyde Rice. “It’s been a lot of work, a long time coming, and it’s a real honor to compete at the greatest racetrack in the world and to come out with the training title.”
Rice started 75 horses, 60 less than Pletcher. Pletcher, a six-time leading trainer at Saratoga, finished with 19 wins but 28 seconds from 135 starters.
“When you run second 28 times, it’s only fitting that you finish second in the meet,” Pletcher said. “It’s a little bit frustrating. Linda had a great meet. It’s quite an accomplishment. She should be proud.”
Neither Rice nor Pletcher won a race over the last two days of the meet, but the two were quite active on Sunday and Monday. The two were never more than two wins apart since Aug. 12.
I find it interesting that Rice’s feat was a first in thoroughbred racing history. As I’ve related in the past, I grew up around the world of standardbred(harness horse racing). Female drivers aren’t uncommon at all. In the early 80′s, one of Pompano Park’s top drivers was Bea Farber. Bea didn’t train the horses she drove, her husband Charles did. There are top female trainers in the sport today. Brooke Nickells, the daughter of my late father’s business partner trainer/driver Bruce Nickells, is one example.
With the end of racing in Saratoga, the thoroughbreds return to the New York City area. Businesses in Saratoga can start charging regular prices again. I visited Saratoga with my father in August 1972(we had a horse racing in the New York Sire Stakes at Saratoga’s harness track) and while we were there all Dad did was complain about the prices for food and lodging.
Doesn’t it seem odd to be investigating an incident that happened almost one year ago? From AP-
Renault was summoned by Formula One’s governing body to a hearing into allegations that the team deliberately caused a crash to win a race last season.
The French team was called to appear before the World Motor Sport Council in Paris on Sept. 21, FIA said Friday.
The French team is accused of ordering former driver Nelson Piquet Jr. to crash during last year’s Singapore Grand Prix in order to deploy the safety car, which aided teammate Fernando Alonso. The Spanish driver went on to win the race.
Renault could be fined, banned or even excluded from the world championship if found guilty.
*****
FIA started the investigation after the claim was made by Brazilian TV station Globo during Sunday’s Belgian GP.
You have to assume there is something to substantiate these claims. F1A wasted no time disciplining Rennault for an incident at the Hungarian Grand Prix last July.
Piquet Jr. was fired by Renault last month after 1 1/2 seasons with the team. The Brazilian driver complained about unequal treatment by team principal Flavio Briatore compared to his two-time world champion teammate.
Is a disgruntled Piquet the cause of this investigation? It will be interesting to follow this developing story
It was the first win for the 2007 Grand Prix Champion since last year’s Spanish GP. From AP-
Kimi Raikkonen held off Force India driver Giancarlo Fisichella to win Formula One’s Belgian Grand Prix on Sunday, the Ferrari driver’s fourth triumph at the high-speed track in the past five years.
The former world champion, who started sixth, immediately overtook pole sitter Fisichella after the safety car came in following accidents on the opening lap — including one involving overall F1 leader Jenson Button — and held for a 0.9-second victory.
“It’s a proper circuit, an old-style circuit,” said Raikkonen, who clinched Ferrari’s fifth win in seven races at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit. “It’s just been good to me.”
Championship contender Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull, who had retired with engine failures in the last two races, finished third to gain on Button.
Button failed to finish in the points for the first time this season, and Rubens Barrichello moved within 16 points of his Brawn GP teammate after finishing seventh despite an oil leak with two laps to go. Barrichello’s car caught fire as he rolled into pit lane.
Button leads the drivers’ standings with 72 points, followed by Barrichello with 56 and Vettel with 53. Mark Webber of Red Bull, who finished ninth after a drive-through penalty, trails by 20.5 points.
Raikkonen is the sixth different F1 driver to win in 2009. I’m betting it hits double digits before the year is up.
Maybe Jenson Button won’t run away with the driving title after all. From AP-
Brawn GP’s Rubens Barrichello won the European Grand Prix on Sunday to claim his first Formula One victory in five years.
The 37-year-old Brazilian took advantage of a costly pit-stop error by Lewis Hamilton’s McLaren team to record a 10th career win — his first since the 2004 Chinese GP — and boost his championship hopes.
Hamilton finished second ahead of Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen after having started the Valencia street race from pole position.
Jenson Button finished seventh to have his championship lead cut to 18 points over teammate Barrichello. Red Bull’s Mark Webber finished ninth and is 20.5 points behind Button.
Luca Badoer, who is filling in for injured Ferrari driver Felipe Massa, finished 17th after starting last.
Hamilton, who also finished second at last year’s race, looked to be cruising to a second straight win after having taken the Hungarian GP. But McLaren’s mechanics fumbled when removing tire warmers during his final pit stop, which lasted 13.4 seconds, and the chance was gone.
Barrichello moved clear in front after his second stop and held on to win by 2.3 seconds.
The racing fortunes of Barricello haven’t been very good since he left Ferrari after the 2005 GP campaign. Barrichello will have to show more consistency before it will acknowledged he is among the top Grand Prix drivers again like he was between 2002-04.
If your employees cheat and snort cocaine at your establishment, you can expect to take a double whammy for it in the Sunshine State. From the Miami Herald-
The state has fined Gulfstream Park $800,000 for security failures that allowed employees to steal hundreds of thousands of dollars from slot machines by using free-play cards.
In an order filed Friday, the state’s Department of Business and Professional Regulation said the Hallandale Beach casino was lax in overseeing the use of the cards allowing employees to load the cards with much more money than authorized.
According to the department’s complaint: “The unauthorized issuance and use of test cards with excessive amounts of money loaded onto them was largely, if not completely, unchecked — there were no facility procedures or regulations governing the issuance or check out of test cards, nor receipts issued when test cards were turned in.”
The department fined Gulfstream $800,000 — $100,000 for each count.
The owner of Gulfstream Park is in bankruptcy. So the fine may not even be paid. The track also already owes $144,000 in back taxes. If they can’t pay those taxes, why should the State of Florida be hopeful will Magna Entertainment will pay the new fines?
The penalty follows a two-year inquiry by the state — and a criminal investigation that resulted in the conviction of one employee for cheating and organized fraud. Other employees were fired or suspended but not charged.
In September 2007, employees at Gulfstream caught a patron playing slots — for free — by using a card that was only meant to test the machines.
Investigators found that a slots technician had given the man the test cards and shared the money he won.
A subsequent investigation found that many cards that were normally worth about $5 of play had instead been loaded with hundreds of dollars.
According to the complaint, the test cards were not tracked — no unique serial numbers, sign-out requirements or system for logging them.
One employee is convicted, others are allowed to return to their jobs but the track is fined. The rules are certainly different in Florida.
The 84th edition of trotting’s biggest race is now in the record books. From AP-
Muscle Hill delivered as expected Saturday in the $1.5 million Hambletonian at the Meadowlands Racetrack.
The dominant 3-year-old trotting colt cruised to a six-length victory in record time. The overwhelming 1-5 favorite, Muscle Hill led all the way from the rail in the mile trotted in 1:50.20, erasing the Hambletonian mark of 1:51.20 set by Glidemaster in 2006.
Muscle Hill extended his winning streak to 13 in the richest race of the year in harness racing. He lost his first race and is undefeated since. Brian Sears drove for trainer Gregory Peck as Muscle Hill won for the fifth time this season.
Sears also drove the winner of the Hambletonian Oaks yesterday. That was the first time in the history of these racers that the same person drove the winners of these races in the same year.
He was also fined $4,200. From AP-
The International Equestrian Federation banned its president’s husband — Dubai’s Sheik Mohammed — from riding in endurance races for six months after his horse twice failed doping tests.
Sheik Mohammed accepted the suspension based on his horse Tahhan’s positive tests for a hypertension drug and the steroid stanozolol, equestrian’s governing body said Monday.
“Consistent with the FEI’s strict liability approach to anti-doping rule violations, the panel has found Sheik Mohammed responsible for the doping of his horse,” a tribunal panel said in a ruling published on the FEI’s Web site.
His ban runs through Oct. 3, and he was assessed $4,200 in fines and legal costs.
The sheik’s horse trainer, Abdullah bin Huzaim, admitted giving the horse drugs without the sheik’s knowledge before the 74.5-mile desert races at Bahrain and Dubai.
Bin Huzaim was banned for a year and fined.
Horse racing is a sport where anyone big or small can lose money by wagering. When damage is done to the sport’s integrity, the punishment has to be harsh.
I didn’t know Lee worked at Shea Stadium but do remember his voice calling the races at Roosevelt Raceway. Roosevelt was the closest harness track to the part of Long Island I grew up in till 1976. I only went to Roosevelt a few times, but heard Lee’s voice many times when weekend races were broadcast on local and cable television after I moved away from the NY area. RIP.
Jack E. Lee, a longtime race announcer most closely associated with his work at Roosevelt Raceway, died Thursday, July 30. He was 73.
Mr. Lee was a popular fixture at the now-shuttered Roosevelt, from 1968 until 1985, and also called races at Freehold Raceway in 1966 and from 1990 through 1998.
His mellow voice and descriptive calls were known to millions via his race calls on the “Racing from Roosevelt†TV shows syndicated across the nation by WOR-TV. He also served as the public address announcer for the New York Mets at Shea Stadium, and was for a time the ring announcer for World Wrestling Federation shows at Madison Square Garden.
Mr. Lee was retired and living in Florida at the time of his death.
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