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1 - 15 July 2013
www.pattayatoday.net
Local Sports Local and International Motorsports Report
Royal Varuna’s “Drifters Dash”
Resnt Race Results Updates
24 Hours of Le Mans: Audi wins dramatic - and tragic - 2013 Le Mans – Audi achieved its ambition on the 90th anniversary of Le Mans by adding a 12th Le Mans 24 Hour title to its already bursting trophy cabinet, but the post-race atmosphere was a very subdued affair. The rain wouldn't stay away for more than half an hour at a time, making for a record number of safety cars and time spent under yellow flag condition, Allan Simonsen the Danish driver of the #95 Aston Martin Vantage V8 GTE CLASS was on the second lap when his car lost grip over wet curbs and snapped left into a brutal impact with the racing barrier. Tragic news came from the hospital two hours later with confirmation that the 34-year-old from Odense had died of his injuries. This is first in-race fatality at Le Mans since 1986. The Aston Martin Racing team now down to 2 cars decided to continue competing at the request of the Simonsen family, with the need to claim a class win in one of the GTE categories and did, giving an added emotional impetus. It was in sports cars where Allan Simonsen made his name; with countless wins around the globe. Allan Simonsen: 1978-2013 June 23 2013
Several key members and enthusiastic sailors from the Royal Varuna Yacht Club joined a moderate upwind sail for the inaugural Drifters Dash last month. Drifters Beach Café (Naa Jomtien, Soi 8) served a pizza and Aussie meat pie. Drifters Dash is planned as a quarterly event.
2013 FI World Calendar (July- Sept) 09 FORMULA 1 GROSSER PREIS VON DEUTSCHLAND 2013 (Nürburgring) 05 - 07 Jul 11 FORMULA 1 MAGYAR NAGYDÍJ 2013 (Budapest) 26 - 28 Jul 12 2013 FORMULA 1 SHELL BELGIAN GRAND PRIX (Spa-Francorchamps) 23 - 25 Aug 13 FORMULA 1 GRAN PREMIO D'ITALIA 2013 (Monza) 06 - 08 Sep 14 2013 FORMULA 1 SINGAPORE GRAND PRIX (Singapore) 20 - 22 Sep www.formula1.com (free live timing and scoring online) **All events will be shown on Star Sports Asia
2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (July- Sept)
Date Day Race Site Location 7/6/13 Sat Daytona International Speedway 7/14/13 Sun New Hampshire Motor Speedway 7/28/13 Sun Indianapolis Motor Speedway 8/4/13 Sun Pocono Raceway 8/11/13 Sun Watkins Glen International 8/18/13 Sun Michigan International Speedway 8/24/13 Sat Bristol Motor Speedway 9/1/13 Sun Atlanta Motor Speedway 9/7/13 Sat Richmond International Raceway 9/15/13 Sun Chicagoland Speedway 9/22/13 Sun New Hampshire Motor Speedway 9/29/13 Sun Dover International Speedway www.nascar.com (free live timing and scoring online) **All events will be shown on Star Sports Asia
TV Race Start ET TNT 7:30 PM TNT 1:00 PM ESPN 1:00 PM ESPN 1:00 PM ESPN 1:00 PM ESPN 1:00 PM ABC 7:30 PM ESPN 7:30 PM ABC 7:30 PM ESPN 2:00 PM ESPN 2:00 PM ESPN 2:00 PM
2013 Indy Car Schedule (July- Sept) July 7 Pocono IndyCar 400[38] Long Pond, Pennsylvania July 13 Honda Indy Toronto[39] Toronto, Ontario July 14 August 4 Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Lexington, Ohio August 25 GoPro Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma Sonoma, California September 1 Grand Prix of Baltimore Baltimore, Maryland www.indycar.com (free live timing and scoring online)
2013 MotoGP Grand Prix (July-Sept) 14 July Germany 21 July United States*** 18 August Indianapolis 25 August Czech Republic 01 September Great Britain 15 September San Marino & Riviera di 29 September Aragón www.motogp.com (free live timing and scoring online) **All events will be shown on Star Sports Asia
Sachsenring Laguna Seca Indianapolis Brno Silverstone Marco Simoncelli MotorLand Aragón
Top 3 F1 Drivers' Championship 2013 after round 7 of 19
1 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 2 Fernando Alonso Ferrari-Ferrari 3 Kimi Räikkönen Lotus-Renault
132 96 88
Top 3 IndyCar Drivers' Championship after round 10 of 19
1 Helio Castroneves 2 Ryan Hunter-Reay 3 Marco Andretti
332 323 277
Top 3 NASCAR Drivers' Championship after round 16 of 36
1 Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Motorsports 2 Carl Edwards Roush Fenway Racing 3 Clint Bowyer Michael Waltrip Racing
573 543 528
Top 3 MotoGP Drivers’ Championship after round 6 of 19
1 Dani Pedrosa Repsol Honda Team 2 Jorge Lorenzo Factory Yamaha Racing 3 Marc Marquez Repsol Honda Team
123 116 93
**Local Thailand Motorsports Schedules 2013**
The second round of (TSS) which is set to take place on much more familiar turf at the long-time ‘Home' of Thai motorsports, Bira Circuit, on July 13-14th 2013. More information is online at www.thailandsuperseries.net
Thailand Super Series Schedule (TSS) 2013 July 13-14 Pattaya’s Bira Circuit October 5-6 Pattaya’s Bira Circuit December 13-15 Bang Saen Street Circuit, Chonburi
Nitto 3K Racing Series Schedule 2013 Kaeng Krachan Circuit 5-7 July Pattaya’s Bira Circuit 6-8 September Bonanza Speedway 1-3 November Pattaya’s Bira Circuit 6-8 December
Pro Series Schedule 2013
July 27-28 - Pattaya’s Bira Circuit September 28-29 - Kaeng Krachan Circuit October 26-27, 2013 - Kaeng Krachan Circuit
OMP Challenge Series Schedule 2013 November 17 - Pattaya’s Bira Circuit December 22 - Pattaya’s Bira Circuit
Bobby Brooks™ Follow me on Twitter: @racebobby
PSC 124th monthly golf tournament by Nigel Cannon June Eastern Star Golf Club All 89 PSC members went east for the PSC June monthly tournament at the delightful Eastern Star Golf Club. The course was presented in good order and the management had no others on the course, allowing the two tees start to go uninterrupted. The only concern was rain, as most left Pattaya in a downpour. Apart from just a sprinkle, however, no rain affected the players. The weather was cool with a stiff breeze. Golf chairman Joe Mooneyham and social chairman Nigel Cannon welcomed members for registration. There were five men’s flights A B C D and silver and a ladies flight. A and B were played from the white tees, C and D from the yellow tees with seniors and ladies from their respective tees.
With a clear course it was rounds of about four hours, and as the cards were submitted it was evident the course – with the wind - was playing a little difficult for most but as always some there were good scores. The low gross was Michael Allidi (2) with 76 gross. Leading ‘A’ Flight was Mike Newbert (8) coming in with a net 76. In form Freddy Starbeck (15) took ‘B’ Flight with 36 points. Another 36 was enough for Rod Brown (19) to win ‘C’ Flight. The best of the day came from Graham Buckingham (23) with 40 points to secure ‘D’ Flight. Kevin Dinan (21) with 34 points was the senior winner and Usa Phaohom (22) took the ladies’ prize.
It was to Lewiinski’s for the presentation where again Colin and his team provided another great buffet with plenty for all. Time for the presentation. Nigel welcomed all and introduced Joe Mooneyham who expressed his appreciation for the support to all players and the help from Nigel, William and the PSC unseen office staff for the preparatory work prior to the day. Nigel called the winning names and Joe presented the prizes with William taking the photos. Lucky draw followed and then the traditional 50/50 draw. The next PSC monthly is at Green Valley and will be rather different with a ‘shotgun’ start at 10:30 with the buffet and presentation at the course.
Bunker Boys at The Ranch by Geoff Parker Burapha G.C. (B and C courses) Stableford Another good low season turnout of 17 golfers today and we were allocated the unusual combination of B and C courses. The weather was bright and breezy again and we were able to tee off on schedule even though the course was quite busy. We welcomed back Geoff Hart on his return from a long visit to U.K., but unfortunately he was forced to cut short his round after nine holes with stomach problems-- must be all that healthy English food he’s been living on for the past couple of months. The fairways and greens here are in great condition, but the premium is for straight hitting and any shot straying from the short grass is likely to find some extremely punishing rough. It’s fair to say that Burapha is a genuine championship course and no golfer managed to play to his handicap; only Geoff Parker came close, scoring 35 points to comfortably win the honours, four points clear of the field. Lee Butler took second place on a count-back ahead of John Graham. John is usually one of the best putters in the group, but today he had a tough day with the short stick, and even finishing with a single putt for par on the 18th green wasn’t enough to compensate for his frustrating day. A special mention is due for Dave Keats who picked up his first near-pin prize of the year, hitting a great shot on the short par-three third hole on the B course.
Results: 1st Geoff Parker 2nd Lee Butler 3rd John Graham 4th Neil Griffin
(hcp. 15) 35 points (hcp. 17) 31 points (hcp. 10) 31 points (hcp. 22) 30 points
Only three near pins were hit : Dave Keats, Lee Butler and Paul Corner Plutuluang Navy G.C. (East and South courses) Stableford A great start to the day at The Ranch, when John Graham donated his recently won KPK voucher to provide free bacon sandwiches to all the golfers. Suitably satiated, our group of 17 golfers set off down Sukumvit under bright breezy skies. We were allocated the east and south courses and tee’d off on schedule, with the first three-ball soon disappearing off into the distance. The Navy course is certainly one of the most scenic in the area and is currently in as good a condition as anyone can remember, although as always the greens were slow. Neil Griffin and Skinny Newton were in fine form, particularly when they discovered (on the first tee) that cans of Carlsberg beer were on sale at 50 baht! The round progressed smoothly and the first groups were back in the clubhouse in well under four hours, to enjoy the fine food also available at very reasonable prices. Geoff Hart was making a quick return after being taken ill on Wednesday, but decided to take an early dip on the 11th hole whilst
trying to retrieve Reg Smart’s ball from the stream–so much for doing good turns, as the rest of the group were rolling around in laughter. Paul Corner was playing his final game before returning home. He narrowly missed out on first place, being beaten on a count-back by Ken Young. Dave Keats made a welcome return to form, also scoring 35 points, to take third place ahead of Neil Griffin. Results: 1st Ken Young 2nd Paul Corner 3rd Dave Keats 4th Neil Griffin
(hcp. 27) 35 points (hcp. 14) 35 points (hcp. 32) 35 points (hcp. 23) 34 points
Near pins : Barry Murnin, Geoff Hart, Gerry Cooney and Paul Corner. The Bunker Boys are a PSC affiliated golf society who now play out of The Ranch bar on Pattaya Third Road (in front of the fire station, across from the Buffalo Bar). We play on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, so if you enjoy a fun day out and a friendly but competitive golf competition, why not come and join us? We meet at The Ranch at 9 a.m. for breakfast and transportation. New players are always welcome. Contact Buff on 086 046 5091 or 080 605 5663 for all enquiries. You can find all the news, schedules and results on our website at www.bunkersociety.com