Pirate Galaxy » persuade Verstappen to change his style.Im

STEAM CORNERS, Ohio -- You could look at the Honda Indy 200 as a microcosm of the 2016 Verizon IndyCar Series season as a whole.?Simon Pagenaud and Will Power, the two main (Chevrolet equipped, sorry Honda) championship contenders, waged an intense duel over 90 laps at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course that ended in favor of the Frenchman.?The Team Penske teammates started alongside each other on the front row, and along with their respective crews, fought a clean and compelling battle that demonstrated why they have distanced themselves from the field this year.?In typical IndyCar fashion, the race could have thrown a surprise result, as Mikhail Aleshin and Conor Daly used alternate pit stop strategies to combine to lead more than half the laps.?But ultimately the eighth win of Pagenauds IndyCar career came down to hard, wheel-to-wheel racing -- with one of his teammates.?If anybody doubts how hard the man from Poitiers is willing to push in the quest for his first series championship, they should watch a replay of Lap 66 of Sundays race.?Lining up third behind an off-sequence Daly and Power for the restart, Pagenaud banged wheels as he tried to pass Power on the outside of Turn 4 on the entry to Mid-Ohios esses.?With Power suffering from rubber pickup on his tires, Pagenaud stayed glued to his teammates gearbox through the next four corners and got a run through Thunder Valley to try an audacious move into Turn 10 that got properly chopped. But Pagenaud stayed with it, ducking to the inside on entry to the Carousel.?The two Penske cars made contact again, but the No. 22 emerged ahead of the No. 12 through the sequence of corners and pulled away in the run to the finish. Pagenaud won by 4.16 seconds and stretched his championship advantage to 58 points over Power.?Compounding the joy from his fourth win of the season (and first since early May on the road course at Indianapolis), most of the other drivers in championship contention had bad days Sunday at Mid-Ohio.?Helio Castroneves and Scott Dixon came into the weekend third and fourth in the title sweepstakes but crashed out together in an incident that, again, was pretty much symbolic of the season as a whole.?While Pagenaud and Power separate themselves from the IndyCar field, everyone else self-destructs.?Pagenaud started the season with three wins and three second-place finishes, and he withstood challenges from Dixon and several others before Power emerged as his main contender.?An under-the weather Power missed the season opener, but he has bounced back with a championship-caliber season in any other year against any other teammate. As well as the Australian performed on Sunday, it wasnt enough to topple his teammate from scoring a very timely victory.?I just made a dogs breath of the bloody restart, which allowed him to get into the position to have a shot, Power said. And if you have a shot, of course you cant pass it up. Youve got to go for it, and he did.?I really put myself in a bad position, and I should have done a better job of just getting a jump on the restart. ?No question. Mid-Ohio is a notoriously difficult place to pass, so Pagenaud knew his only chance to pass Power would come on a restart or soon after.?When the opportunity came, Pagenaud struck with ruthless precision. When Power lagged, Pagenaud raced him hard and clean and was rewarded with a satisfying victory on a day when he wondered whether he could even make the start after tweaking his back in the Saturday morning practice session.?It looked like an excellent opportunity for Power -- or Castroneves, Dixon, or even Josef Newgarden -- to capitalize.?But serial blocker Castroneves took care of Dixon and himself, while Aleshin -- who had the race in the bag based on his midrace pace -- crashed out Newgarden in the pits.?That set up the Lap 66 restart showdown between Pagenaud and Power. And we know how that came out.?I knew that was my chance, Pagenaud said. On that restart, it was time to go. And it was a pretty interesting lap. That was fun driving like that.?Thats racing, he added. It was fair, it was clean. It was hard racing, and Im just glad I won.?Team Penske drivers arrived at Mid-Ohio ranked 1-2-3 in the IndyCar Series, and the order remained the same when they left.?But Castroneves is now 111 points behind Pagenaud with four races remaining, as Pagenaud and Power have turned the title chase into a two-man show.?Power started the season in a 40-point hole thanks to the concussion-like symptoms that held him out of the opener at St. Petersburg. And hard as he has tried -- matching Pagenaud win for win up through Sunday -- he just cant seem to make up that disadvantage.?It was a good clean battle and it was tough, but it sucks finishing second, Power said. Simon did a bloody good job. He saw an opportunity and he went for it, which he should.?Its turning into a pretty good battle, though the points have opened up, obviously, he added. We need to keep pushing.?With no team orders at Team Penske, Pagenaud and Power duked it out fair and square, and the fastest man won.?Thats the way it played out at Mid-Ohio -- and on the season as a whole.?Sundays race was the kind of clean, fair competition that Roger Penske relishes. In terms of intrateam championship battles, this one is far more authentic and realistic than the one being contested between Mercedes-Benz teammates Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg in Formula One.? ?Well look, those guys both want it, and I think thats the reason theyre both driving for us, Penske said of Power and Pagenaud. Fortunately it didnt cause a problem, but overall it was a little dicey.?A little dicey but nobody crashed. That next Penske team meeting will be a lot less awkward than it could have been.?Mid-Ohio, with big crowds lining the hillsides surrounding the old-fashioned road course, was a great showcase for the IndyCar Series. It summed up the whole season, in fact.?It was close racing but it was clean, to the limits, Pagenaud said. At the end of the day, we didnt crash. We did what we were supposed to do as top drivers. I thought it was a great battle, and it was fantastic for the fans, what happened.?I just saw a chance and I went for it, really. Didnt think much more of it.Gaylord Perry Indians Jersey . And when it opened, every player was at his stall. Thats a sure sign that a team is in a slump and is searching for answers. "Its embarrassing to be at home and play the way we did," said defenceman Josh Gorges. Jose Cardenal Jersey . JOHNS, N. https://www.cheapindiansonline.com/4298u-mike-clevinger-jersey-indians.html . -- For the first time in two months, an opponent was standing up to Alabama. A. J. Cole Indians Jersey . The Americans, skipped by John Shuster, seized the advantage in the eighth end by scoring five points for a 7-3 lead. The Czechs pulled two back in the ninth, but Shusters team of third Jeff Isaacson, second Jared Zezel and lead John Landsteiner ended with another point to secure the last Olympic berth on offer. Sam Hentges Jersey . White came in fourth place in the event. He was the two-time defending gold medallist. The gold medal went to Swiss snowboarder Iouri Podladtchikov.SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium -- A furious Kimi Raikkonen has hit out at Max Verstappen, saying the 18-year-olds driving should have been penalised at the Belgian Grand Prix.Raikkonen and Verstappen collided at Turn 1 after the Ferrari driver was hit by teammate Sebastian Vettel from the outside, but it was Verstappens driving at Les Combes on lap 12 that really angered the Finn.Raikkonen was attempting to pass Verstappen on the outside and appeared to have the overtake complete when Verstappen braked late and dived back up the inside. The pair touched wheels, forcing Raikkonen off the track and across the run-off area before he rejoined the track after the next corner.Im completely fine with good, hard racing but if I had to back off and even brake on the run down to Turn 5 [Les Combes], still on the straight, when I had made my move... when I have to brake not to hit somebody, as he moved afterwards, something is not correct. That, in my view, is completely not correct, but obviously for whatever reasons the stewards think its OK. But if I had not braked we would have had a massive accident.The problem was that I was using the DRS, I was 15/20 kph faster than him and once I made my move, he waited and waited and then turned much later than me. And the speed difference is quite high, so I had to brake, slow down to avoid him. Its not exacctly what should happen: when the other guy has to break from full speed - its not correct.dddddddddddd...Its not the first time Verstappen has come under fire from his fellow drivers. At the Hungarian Grand Prix, Raikkonen accused Verstappen of moving in the braking zone and Nico Rosberg had a similar complaint at the German Grand Prix, although it was Rosberg who was penalised in that instance. Raikkonen fears only an accident will persuade Verstappen to change his style.Im sure it will happen sooner or later if this doesnt change, but it seems to be OK [with the stewards]. It will be interesting to see when something will happen whos to blame... Like I said, Im fine with good racing and hard battles but in that situation it was not correct, in my view.Obviously there are always different opinions from everybody. It doesnt change an awful lot, maybe he needs an accident before things become clearer to everybody, but hopefully not, because it can be a bit bad for somebody. And obviously nobody wants to see anybody get hurt. Like I said, Im fine with racing and fighting hard, but something like that should not be correct, in my view. But there are always different opinions from different people, so lets see. ' ' '