Canadian Alex Tagliani might have a tough time sleeping over the next while.
The Montreal driver had the lead in the Edmonton Indy late in the race, but had a slow time coming out of the pits, and gave up the lead to eventual winner Helio Castroneves of Brazil, the three-time Indianapolis 500 champion and winner at St. Petersburg, Florida earlier this year.
To make matters worse for Tagliani, he would later be passed by Japan’s Takuma Sato, Australian Will Power and American Graham Rahal before the end of the race.
Tagliani was looking for his first win since 2004 when he won a CART race in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.
Next year Sportsnet has the rights for the 2013 IndyCar series, and should strongly consider using its own broadcast team for the races in Toronto and Edmonton.
One of the most remarkable comebacks in sports history happened on Friday night in Washington.
Down 9-0 after five innings, the Braves stormed back to outscore the Nationals 10-1 in the last four innings before winning 11-10 in extra innings.
Dan Uggla led the Braves attack by going three for four, scoring four runs and recording the game winning run in the eleventh inning.
With the win, the Braves improve to 51-41, and are 2.5 games back of the Nationals in the National League East. The two teams will also play a very intriguing doubleheader on Saturday (11am and 5pm on Peachtree TV).
Here are the other events I’ll be watching this weekend:
The Edmonton Eskimos will look to improve on their 1-0 record when they play the Saskatchewan Roughriders at Mosaic Stadium Sunday at 5pm on TSN.
However, even though both teams got into the win column last week, I was much more impressed with Saskatchewan than Edmonton.
The Roughriders completely dominated the Tiger-Cats in recording a 43-16 victory. The Eskimos have struggled mightily over the last few years in Regina and I expect most the same this weekend.
One thing the Eskimos do have going for them right now is their overall team defense. Edmonton has a chance if they force Darian Durant to be as disorganized as Ricky Ray was last week.
Here are the other events I’ll be watching:
Saturday–Women’s Wimbledon Final–(3) Agnieszka Radwanska–POL vs. (6) Serena Williams–USA–TSN–7am–There is a possibility this tennis match may not even take place at all. Radwanska, according to the Associated Press, has a serious respiratory illness right now and was forced to cancel her press conference today because of her health condition. Williams has the 2-0 advantage head to head, including an easy 6-4, 6-0 win in the quarterfinals of the 2008 Wimbledon. With the win, Radwanska will move into the world’s number one ranking.
This weekend is a big tuneup for Canadian Olympic medal hopeful Dylan Armstrong of Kamloops, British Columbia. The reigning Diamond League Champion is set to compete in the 2012 Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Oregon (Saturday, NBC, 1pm) , a major track and field event in Armstrong’s preparation for the 2012 Olympic Games in London.
Armstrong will also be competing this weekend against a very deep field–reigning Olympic Gold medallist Tomasz Majewski of Poland, and Americans Ryan Whiting (World Indoor Champion), Christian Cantwell (2009 World Champion) and Reese Hoffa (2007 World Champion). Hoffa has the seasonal best throw of 21.73m.
Here are the other events I’ll be watching this weekend:
Saturday–ATP–French Open Tennis– Men’s Third Round–(13) Juan Monaco–ARG vs. (19) Milos Raonic–CAN–9am–TSN–For the first time in his career, Canadian Milos Raonic has advanced past the first round of the French Open. In his win Thursday, Raonic defeated American Jesse Levine 6-4, 7-5, 6-2. Levine, a native of Ottawa, has publicly stated he considers himself 100% American, making him a present day Greg Rusedski (represented Great Britain despite being born in Montreal), as a player that turned away completely from his Canadian roots. Monaco will be the slight favourite due to his experience on the clay. He has been on the ATP Tour now since 2004 and the clay is his best surface.
The 98th running of the Indianapolis 500 runs this weekend (Sunday, ABC, 9am) with Australian Ryan Briscoe on the pole.
But the big news for Canadian sports fans is who will be driving second. James Hinchcliffe of Oakville, Ontario will be starting in the second position for Andretti Autosport. Meanwhile Alex Tagliani of Montreal will be riding 11th.
Not at the 2012 Indianapolis 500 are the defending champion, Dan Wheldon, who died at a race in Las Vegas and Danica Patrick who is in NASCAR.
However there are three ladies in the race. Brazilian Ana Beatriz is driving in the 13th position, England’s Katherine Legge is 30th and Switzerland’s Simona de Silvestro is 32nd.
Australian Will Power who leads the IndyCar point standings so far this season will start fifth.
Here are the other events I’ll be watching this weekend:
Four races into the 2012 IndyCar season and Australia’s Will Power continues to be the most dominant driver.
Yesterday in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Power, the two-time winner of the Edmonton Indy, won his third of four races to begin the season after previously winning in Long Beach and Alabama.
Power is trying to also win his first championship of his career after finishing second to Dario Franchitti of Great Britain the last two years.
I will remember this race however for the eight car accident with eight laps to go. I have never seen so many cars connect with one another at a particular instance in an auto race.
Sunday was once again a solid result for James Hinchcliffe of Oakville, Ontario who finished sixth, only two weeks after recording his first career podium finish when he finished third in Long Beach. Hinchcliffe is also third in the overall standings.
It’s another jam-packed week on 15 Minutes of Fame, as we hit our 50th episode!
This week: Will Sidney Crosby miss time this season? Will the SJ Sharks finally get that Stanley Cup this year and is Drew Doughty going to be a holdout for the Kings? Are the Winnipeg Blue Bombers the “real deal” in the CFL? Also: Is this the Year of the Work Stoppage in pro sports?
In this week’s GABBYs: The NY Yankees, the BBC and Sir Alex, BYU, IndyCar and North Korea’s women’s World Cup team!
Australian Will Power is the 2011 Edmonton Indy champion.
Power, who was second on the pole, passed Japan’s Takuma Sato early in the race and held on for the lead convincingly throughout the rest of the competition.
It was an excellent day for team owner Roger Penske as Power finished first and his teammate Helio Castroneves of Brazil finished second.
Overall, the Edmonton Indy was significantly cleaner than the Toronto Indy, where there were less crashes. But I felt from a fan perspective, it wasn’t all that exciting near the top of the leaderboard. When Castroneves moved his way to second place, he didn’t make a strong attempt to catch Power, basically because they were teammates.
As for Danica Patrick, it was an excellent day for her as she moved her way up to ninth from starting 22nd on the grid. There has been a lot of speculation that Patrick might be moving to NASCAR next season, but she made an attempt to dismiss those rumors while in Edmonton.
As for the Canadians, it was a disappointing day for Paul Tracy of Scarborough, Ontario, who was in a crash with Sebastian Saavedra very early on. James Hinchcliffe of Oakville, Ontario was 15th and Alex Tagliani of Montreal was 17th.
Over the last two years, some of the most interesting IndyCar races have happened in Edmonton. Two years ago, Brazilian Tony Kanaan suffered first and second degree burns to his body when a splash of fuel got into his cockpit and ignited him and his car.
Then last year, Brazilian Helio Castroneves, who was the leader after 92 laps, was black flagged for blocking on the restart and finished tenth. The eventual winner was New Zealand’s Scott Dixon, the 2008 Indianapolis 500 winner.
Fast forward to 2011, where Dario Franchitti of Scotland has been the driver so far on the IndyCar circuit. He won two weeks ago in Toronto, and has also won in St. Petersburg, Florida and Milwaukee. He leads Australian Will Power by 55 points.
Organizers have changed the layout of the 2011 Edmonton Indy, giving competitors more opportunities to pass.
The race starts Sunday at 12:45pm on TSN.
Here are the other events I’ll be watching this weekend:
Saturday & Sunday–10am–Senior British Open–TSN–I wasn’t go to watch this, but now I will. Rod Spittle of St. Catharines, Ontario is the co-leader with Americans Mark Calcavecchia and Lee Rinker. Spittle shot a -5 on Friday to tie for the lead at -7. The emergence of Spittle, 56 years of age, is remarkable because he never played on the PGA Tour. He won the Canadian Amateur in 1977 and 1978, but decided to sell insurance instead of turning professional. Now he is one of the world’s top senior golfers.
The Women’s World Cup soccer game between the United States and Brazil was not the only controversial sporting event on Sunday.
On the streets of Toronto, Scotland’s Dario Franchitti won a controversial Indycar race.
On the 57th lap, with Franchitti and Australian Will Power battling for the top position on the track, Franchitti nudged Power and temporarily stalled his car.
Franchitti was initially given a penalty that would have cost him valuable positioning on the track. But race officials later analyzed the incident and changed their minds.
No penalty meant victory for Franchitti. The decision not to penalize Franchitti infuriated Power who was quoted by The Globe and Mail as saying:
“It doesn’t surprise me that Dario doesn’t get a penalty. I’m really disappointed in him. I always race him clean and he always races me dirty.”
The race also had Canadian confrontation as well. Paul Tracy of Scarborough, Ontario and rookie James Hinchcliffe of Oakville, Ontario were battling for sixth place at the time when they collided on the track. Tracy got a flat tire and Hinchcliffe had a damaged front wing.
Scott Dixon of New Zealand finished second and Ryan Hunter Reay of the United States was third. Hinchcliffe was the top Canadian in 14th place.
The Power-Franchitti and Tracy-Hinchcliffe rivalries should continue in Edmonton in two weeks time.
Some of the best race car drivers in the world come to Toronto this weekend for the Honda Indy.
American Danica Patrick headlines a solid field that also includes current IndyCar Series point leader Dario Franchitti of Scotland, Indianapolis 500 runner-up Ryan Hunter-Reay of the United States, defending champion Will Power of Australia, and Canadians James Hinchcliffe, Alex Tagliani and Paul Tracy.
Remarkably however Indianapolis 500 champion Dan Wheldon of England won’t be in Toronto competing, but might be as a commentator. It completely leaves me shaking my head that the winner of IndyCar’s biggest annual race hasn’t been able to find a team to ride for since May 29.
The Toronto Honda Indy will go Sunday at 12pm on TSN.
Here are the other events I’ll be watching this weekend:
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