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16 - 31 July 2014
www.pattayatoday.net
Local Sports Local and International Motorsports Report Recent Race Updates: 2014 F1 News: Second home race victory for Hamilton as he slashes championship gap to 4 points, Rosberg retires with gearbox failure, Bottas climbs from 14th to second, Riccardo holds off Button for P3 while big Raikkonen crash causes red flag and 25-minute delay on the first lap of the race. Upcoming Race: Jul 18-20 German GP, Hockenheim www.formula1.com (free live timing and scoring online) **All events will be shown on Star Sports Asia 2014 NASCAR News: Almirola survives wrecks and rain to win at Daytona Coca Cola 400. The rain was an ever-present threat on Sunday when the Coca Cola 400 finally got underway, but it was the two massive wrecks that really mixed things up. Almirola who for the first time in his 125-race long Cup career went to a soggy victory lane to celebrate with his crew. Upcoming Races: Jul 27 Indianapolis Motor Speedway Aug 3 Pocono Raceway www.nascar.com (free live timing and scoring online) **All events will be shown on Star Sports Asia 2014 Indy Car News: Juan Pablo Montoya (JPM) to his first 2014 pole on Saturday at Pocono Raceway, and then on Sunday afternoon which turned out to be the fastest 500-mile race ever run in IndyCar history at an average 202 mph or 323 kph! JPM went on to a most emphatic win open wheel racing. Montoya has not been in open wheel US racing since 2000, after which he spent years competing in F1 and NASCAR. Finding wins now in all three levels. Upcoming Races: Jul 19 Honda Indy Toronto - Race 1 (Toronto, Ontario) Jul 20 Honda Indy Toronto - Race 2 (Toronto, Ontario) www.indycar.com (free live timing and scoring online) **All events will be shown on Star Sports Asia 2014 MotoGP News: MotoGP champion Marc Marquez continues his unbeaten 2014 run to eight in a row despite chaotic weather during Saturday’s Dutch TT at Assen. Rossi extended his contract with Yamaha two more years, however Yamaha MotoGP Lin Jarvis wants to see Valentino Rossi remain with the manufacturer to the ‘end of his sporting career and beyond’. Upcoming Race: Aug 10 Indianapolis MotoGP Aug 17 Czech MotoGP www.motogp.com (free live timing and scoring online) **All events will be shown on Star Sports Asia **Local Thailand Motorsports Schedules 2014** Race 5 & 6 1-2 November 2014 BRIC, Buriram* Race 7 & 8 10-14 December 2014 Bangsaen, Chonburi* * date and venue subject to change
Stuvik still in the Formula 3 championship fight after challenging Hungaroring race Thai driver Sandy Kraokaew Stuvik looked set to dominate yet another race weekend for the EuroFormula Open Round 4 in Hungary. The Hungaroring Circuit hosted the Formula 3 event and Stuvik would be the fastest driver for both the Thursday and Friday testing ahead of the race weekend. However during qualifying for Saturday’s first race, Stuvik had a car set too rigid in the rear and could only manage a P3 starting position. Teammate Artur Janosz secured the pole position, while Spain’s Alex Paulo was P2. For the race start, the Thai
driver having had a very good start, went for an aggressive overtake into the first turn, but overshot onto the runoff area and rejoined the race in ninth position. He started fighting forward and overtook a car immediately and then saw several cars crashing out or getting penalized; he finished the race in fourth position. Stuvik looked to be back on pace for Sunday morning’s qualification for the second race, but again Artur Janosz claimed pole position, one-tenth of a second in front of
the Thai driver. The second race start was again good for Stuvik, but he soon started struggling and ran wide off the track due to a
front suspension failure. Midway through the race he was forced to
retire with irreparable suspension failure. Spain’s Alex Palou won the race, with Poland’s Artur Janosz in second. This means again it is Artur Janosz who takes the lead in the championship competition with 140 points; Sandy Stuvik is second, 5 points behind with 135 points. The next race will be at the British Silverstone Circuit. Sandy Kraokaew Stuvik races for the Royal Automobile Association of Thailand and is sponsored by The Pizza Company, Singha Corporation and Dacon Inspection Services.
Great Scott! Max wins Scorefest Friday: Mountain Shadow (STRainbow) It was Friday July 4th--American Independence Day--and the ever hopefuls turned up at Tropical Bert’s for breakfast and planned for the day. The venue was Mountain Shadow, and to commemorate the holiday and inject variety into the game, a red, white and blue ‘rainbow’ tee rotation was set up. This proved to be interesting and popular, making most holes somewhat different than in the past and requiring a little more thought. Some tees presented a gift of less distance but more strategy, while others were longer and required more consideration for the second shot. Mountain Shadow was in fine condition. They have been fixing up the fairways, and work continues remodeling the clubhouse. The weather was hot and sunny. Maybe because the tee rotation required golfers to concentrate a bit more, or because the course was in good condition, but during the round many golfers must have thought, ‘This is my Day’. Back at Tropical Bert’s, the golfers were met with two surprises. The first was a typical American 4th of July meal of hot dogs and fries, followed by apple pie and custard or ice cream. Excellent. Thanks Bert and staff. The
second surprise was how many good scores there were, and you’d better be very good to get a mention. When the counting was done, Max Scott (6) took a well-deserved first place with 42 points off his handicap of six! Anytime someone shoots par golf they deserve a big congrats from us mortals, no matter which tees they play from. Fireworks this day from Max. Second place went to Mashi Kaneta (13) with 40 points. The Yanks made a showing with Tom Herrington (16) in third place with 39 points that included an Eagle. Mike O’Brien (23) took fourth place over Ted Morris in fifth on count-back each with 38 points. More than a few golfers who had 36 and 37 points were left scratching their heads wondering what it takes to win some days. Near Pins: Max Scott, Tom Herrington, Kurt Ebentheller, and Thomas Johansson Tuesday: Khao Kheow (Stableford) This really is a weird year in the life of golfers at Tropical Bert’s. The numbers fluctuate so much from week to week that we do not know if we will be overfull or down to the last couple of groups. Being an ‘organizer’ does have its problems. So the ‘Magnificent Seven’ met
at Bert’s for the brekkers and into cars and down to Khao Kheow. We arrived there nice and early, and thanks to Khao Kheow for not commentating on the difference in numbers booked. We had been informed by the starter that the test for the day would be the A & C Nines, the original test and to me the best. The weather was great except for a strong wind, so it was soon onto the first tee, where the starter let us
get away as soon as we got there. So away we went and the first thing we noticed was that the ground was quite soft; it has rained a lot of late, but not enough to make any great difference, just enough to let the ball pick up a bit of mud now and then. Starting on the A Nine we also noticed that the greens were a bit hairy and slow but as we moved along the greens started to dry up and
by Derek Brook
sometimes I suspect the cutter got to a couple before we did and so some were a lot faster. Being a three ball, we zoomed around the front nine and, looking back, could not see the group behind, so decided to have a 10-minute break at the rest stop, something that has not happened for a long time and was so well appreciated. It is not long since the B Nine was totally refurbished, and it is a pleasure to play it. On this day we sailed along, but did not rush, and enjoyed the company. Most of the changes appear subtle; however, if we had plans of the original course I am sure we would notice the improvements. Suffice to say we enjoyed this nine as we sailed around, and the scribe playing his second round for a month enjoyed it more as he was playing well. We would see. A quick call in the restaurant and a nice drive back saw us able to get the results at Bert’s underway at least an hour early. The winner was Derek Brook with a fine 38 points ahead of Daryl Evans in second with 37 points and that man Mashi Kaneta third with 34 points. It was soon home for an early night, and if you believe that you will believe the moon is made of cheese. T.T.F.N.
PSC Golf from The Growling Swan by Peter Blackburn
Multiple car crash at Coca Cola 400 at Daytona
Yamaha wants Rossi to ‘stay to end of his career’ www.thailandsuperseries.net Photo credit to Crash.net
Bobby Brooks™ Follow me on Twitter: @racebobby
Monday – Bangpra – Stableford It was another fine and sunny Monday morning as we made our way to The Growling Swan, looking forward to revisiting the popular but challenging Monkey Course in Bangpra. Several new arrivals were welcomed, including Len Hardingham from Perth, whom I had not seen for about 20 years, John Pierrel from Houston, Texas, back with us for four months, John Davis back after a few weeks in the UK, veteran Ken Hole returning after a holiday in Bali, and Bent Agerbo who is back from Denmark. We had a later tee time so there was plenty of time for a good old “natter” before we departed the GS right on time at 8:45 a.m. Our two mini vans made very good time and we arrived at the golf course after just a 40-minute drive and as is the norm just lately at most courses the car park was almost empty. Our scheduled tee time was 10:30 a.m. (their idea not mine) but there was hardly anyone there so we were invited to start at our leisure. As there were 22 in the field it meant two three balls. To speed things up we sent them off first and the first one got away 35 minutes ahead of our booked time. There were no groups to be seen ahead so these two groups left the following four balls for dead and in sunny and hot weather we commenced our round, finding the golf course in terrific condition with most of the greens up to their usual Bangpra tricks, so it was crucial to stay below the hole! For a change we did not spot one monkey and it was suggested that perhaps it was too hot for them and indeed we found it necessary to keep up the water intake, even stopping for a rest just before the 16th tee.
We did slow down a bit due to the heat and our round was completed in four hours and twentyfive minutes. We had two divisions – Division A for handicaps 0 to 13 and B for 14 and over with three places in each division. There were also rewards for nearest-the-pin on all the par threes and longest first putts on the 9th and 18th greens. For the third game in a row it was that man again, Gerd Riedler, who stole the show and, despite losing a shot off his handicap, scored 35 points and won Division A. With two on a 34-point count-back was needed. It saw Martin “Toddy” Todd (19 point back nine) finish second and John Pierrel (17 point back nine) third. For his second win in a row it was Bob Akapita who finished on top of Division B with 33 points, 1 point ahead of Ken Hole in second place and John Andersom finished third with 31 points. It was interesting to see that no-one was able to play to their handicap or better on the day. Results for Bangpra: Division A – 0 to 13 1st – Gerd Riedler (7) - 35 points 2nd – Martin Todd (8) - 34 points 3rd – John Pierrel (12) - 34 points Division B – 14 & over 1st – Bob Akapita (16) - 33 points 2nd – Ken Hole (18) - 32 points 3rd – John Anderson (26) - 31 points NTP’s 2nd - Ebrahim 8th – Ken Hole 12th – Kevin Waycott 17th – Martin Todd
LFP’s 9th – Kevin Waycott 18th – Mike Allidi The Growling Swan NAGA Award (to the golfer who has the worst score on the day and discreetly their score is not made public) was won by Geri Crilly and he accepted the award like the good sport that he is. Gerd then kindly paraded Deefa the Dog and of course collected many donations for the needy in Pattaya from our generous Growling Swan Golfers. It was then back to the bar for some Aussie cold, low priced beers and of course Geri Crilly was in good spirits despite winning the famous “red cap”. Growling Swan Golf, the home of friendly golf in Pattaya welcomes golfers of any persuasion – low and high handicappers alike, female golfers and beginners. We generally play Mondays and Thursdays, meeting at The Growling Swan in Soi Chaiyapoon at 8 a.m. with transport departing at 8.30. For bookings or more information please contact Peter on 0806 351 386 or email to petermalcolmblackburn@gmail.com We also play bowls out of the Growling Swan every Wednesday and Sunday. Sunday is lawn bowls and Wednesday is indoor bowls. All are welcome. Transport leaves The Growling Swan at 10 on each of those mornings. For more information please contact Paul Rennison on 0843 454 005.