OCTOBER 27, 2021
Sunday, October 24, 2021 at 11:53AM 
Marc Marquez (No. 93 Repsol Honda Team) won the Emilia Romagna MotoGP at Misano on Sunday, while Francesco Bagnaia (No. 63 Ducati Team) crashed out of the race, securing the 2021 MotoGP Championship for Fabio Quartararo (No. 20 Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP), who finished fourth. Pol Espargaro (No. 44 Repsol Honda) was second, and Enea Bastianini (No. 23 Avintia Racing Esponsorama Ducati) finished third. Bagnaia needed to outscore Quartararo by three points to keep the championship alive, and looked well on course to do this as he led from pole for the first 22 tours while Quartararo worked his way up the field from 15th. But a late crash for the Ducati rider at Turn 15 ended all of his hopes, with fourth more than enough for Quartararo to become France’s first MotoGP world champion at just 22 years old. It was the third win of the season for Marquez and the first Repsol Honda 1-2 in MotoGP since Aragon 2017. It was Pol Espargaro's first podium as an HRC rider. Bastianini charged through from 16th on the grid on his two-year-old Ducati and snatched third from Quartararo on the final lap at the Caro hairpin to claim his second MotoGP podium. Quartararo became the first Yamaha rider to win the world championship since 2015. Watch a Fabio Quartararo tribute video courtesy of MotoGP here.
(Motorsport.com)Twenty-two-year-old Fabio Quartararo, the 2021 MotoGP Champion!
Max Verstappen (No. 33 Red Bull Racing Honda) held off Lewis Hamilton (No. 44 Mercedes-AMG Petronas) on a warm Sunday afternoon in Austin, Texas, to win the United States Grand Prix in front of a huge crowd estimated at 140,000 people. Verstappen led 35 of 56 laps in claiming his eighth win of the season, but Hamilton made Verstappen work for it using his newer set of tires to cut the Red Bull Racing Honda driver's lead to less than a second. Despite the pressure, Verstappen held off the Briton, taking the win and doubling his lead in the Formula 1 World Championship. Verstappen started from the pole for the ninth time this year, but Hamilton outraced him to the first turn and took the early lead. The Dutchman ran a steady second until the Red Bull team called him in for an early first stop, with Verstappen using the fresh Pirelli rubber to take a five-second lead over Hamilton. The Mercedes driver made his final pit stop eight laps after Verstappen, and whittled an eight-second lead to just one, but couldn't get close enough to overtake the Honda-powered Verstappen over the final laps around the Circuit of the Americas. Sergio Perez (No. 11 Red Bull Racing Honda) had another strong weekend, starting and finishing third, putting both Red Bull Racing Hondas on the podium for the second consecutive race. The back-to-back podiums vaulted the Mexican ahead of Lando Norris (No. 4 Team McLaren) and into fourth in the championship standings. Watch the race highlights - courtesy of F1 - here. (Thank you to Honda Media)
Kyle Larson (No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet) led nine different times for a race-high 130 laps, ultimately crossing the finish line a comfortable 3.619-seconds ahead of the field to earn a NASCAR Cup Series-best ninth win of the season (15th of his career) in the Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway. It was the third consecutive race win for the 29-year old Californian and the second time this season he’s won three in a row. The last time a driver won three straight races twice in a season was 1987 when the late, seven-time champion Dale Earnhardt accomplished the feat. As important as the milestone and positive playoff outcome to Larson’s Hendrick Motorsports team, however, Sunday’s victory also came 17 years to the day that the storied organization lost 10 people – including Rick Hendrick’s son Ricky and brother John – in a plane crash near Martinsville, Virginia. In Victory Lane, Larson’s No. 5 Chevy team turned their hats backward in tribute to Ricky’s favorite style and pointed upward in tribute to the organization’s beloved lost members. “I want to dedicate this win to Rick and Linda (Hendrick),’’ Larson said. “I didn’t ever get to meet Ricky or the other men and women who lost their lives that day, but I felt the importance of this race, no doubt. “It’s crazy how it kind of all worked out there for me to win. I know they were all looking down and helping out there with all the restarts and stuff after getting into the wall. Again, thank you to Rick Hendrick. I know this means a lot to you and I’m glad I could get it done." Larson has four race victories and a runner-up finish in seven playoff races this season as the series holds its penultimate playoff race next week at Martinsville Speedway. The outcome will determine which four of the current eight playoff-eligible drivers will advance to the Nov. 7 season finale able to contend for the NASCAR Cup Series Championship. Larson’s teammate Chase Elliott (No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet) was runner-up Sunday, nursing a car with some damage after he hit the wall pushing for a win in the final laps. Kevin Harvick (No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford) finished third. “Once I hit the wall, I really didn’t have a choice, I hurt it pretty bad, but I’m really proud of the effort,’’ Elliott said. “Our NAPA team did a great job today and I felt like we had something for Kyle [Larson] there, just got the wall off of Turn 2. Just so hard to get up to him. Every few feet you get closer, the harder it gets.’’ Watch the race highlights - courtesy of Motorsports on NBC - here. (Thank you to Holly Cain/NASCAR Wire Service)
Eric Ritter, driving the Team Vesco 444 reVolt Systems streamliner, crushed the National Electric E3 Record twice! First, with a respectable 322MPH mark, followed 24 hours later, on Friday, October 1st, clocking a blistering 353MPH average - 12 miles-per-hour faster than the current World Record! Rockville, Utah-based Team Vesco, pioneers in the field of automotive and motorcycle racing and record-setting, joined forces with Oceanside, CA’s reVolt Systems led by Eddy Borysewicz for the record attempt. together with significant contributions from American Track Roadster’s Greg Peek and engineering from Trenton Wonsley. Borysewicz loaded in 1,152 prismatic lithium ion batteries and heavily modified pair of Tesla motors. “Nobody got paid in dollars, only satisfaction,” confessed Eddy B. “We worked equally on the powertrain as we did good team communication to function together, recognizing there was no time for major mistakes.” “What an incredible ride! The torque off the starting line - it’s a monster - it bolts without hesitation and keeps pulling, non-stop. Our time slips tell the story, with the 357MPH top speed, that 400 is a now a reality, no longer just a dream,” commented Ritter. Peek was responsible for the design and build complex powertrain section that connects the motors together and then sends the necessary energy to the driveline, out to the wheels. “In design, you start with things that you know and the things you don’t, then fill in the blanks and connect the dots,” Explained hot-rod veteran Peek. “The main parts had to go through six complex processes to end up with something useful and reliable. You can go for cheap or go for bullet proof. I think our new National record shows which one we chose.” The 444 attained both National E3 Class Records in only four runs down the racecourse. All records require two runs that are averaged to the record speed, but World Records have the added requirement of completing both runs within 60 minutes. The reVolting Little Giant’s battery pack was recharged with solar power using a Tier 4 solar trailer.
(Chevrolet)
From the "More Cowbell" File: Chevrolet Performance has introduced the ZZ632/1000 crate engine, "the largest and most powerful crate engine in the brand’s history," according to Chevrolet PR minions. The naturally aspirated 632-cubic-inch V-8 produces 1,004HP and 876 lb-ft of torque. “This is the biggest, baddest crate engine we’ve ever built,” said Russ O’Blenes, GM director of the Performance and Racing Propulsion Team. “The ZZ632 sits at the top of our unparalleled crate engine lineup as the king of performance. It delivers incredible power, and it does it on pump gas.” The Big Block V-8 reaches peak power at 6,600 rpm and revs to a recommended maximum of 7,000 rpm. Fuel is delivered by eight port injectors with the engine breathing through CNC-machined high-flow aluminum cylinder heads featuring symmetrical ports. While Big Blocks have traditionally been designed with variations in port shape from cylinder to cylinder, all eight intake ports of the ZZ632 have the same length, volume and layout. Similarly, all of the ZZ632’s exhaust ports are identical. This symmetry ensures individual cylinders all produce similar power. These RS-X Symmetrical Port cylinder heads are named for powertrain engineer Ron Sperry, who designed them as one of his final accomplishments in more than 50 years working on General Motors performance and racing engines. Sperry also introduced symmetrical ports to Chevy’s iconic Small Block V-8 with the Gen III LS1 engine that debuted in the 1997 Chevrolet Corvette. The ZZ632’s iron block shares a mold with Chevrolet Performance’s ZZ572 crate engines, but the castings are machined to accommodate the massive 632-cubic-inch displacement. The bore grows by 0.040 inch compared to the 572-cubic-inch V-8s, with most of the displacement gain coming from a stroke that’s 0.375 inch longer. To provide clearance for that long stroke, engineers modified both the block and the connecting rods. Four-bolt main caps and a forged rotating assembly ensure strength and durability. During development, a single engine endured more than 200 simulated drag strip passes on a dynamometer. The ZZ632/1000 crate engine will be on display at the 2021 SEMA Show in Las Vegas, Nov. 2–5. Chevrolet Performance dealers will begin deliveries in early 2022.
