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Marco Andretti, Alex Lloyd bump into Indy 500

Edward Lewis – AHN Sports Reporter

Indianapolis, IN, United States (AHN Sports) – It was Bump Day at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Marco Andretti and Alex Lloyd bumped their way into next Sunday’s 100th Indianapolis 500.

With dramatic qualifying runs in the final 10 minutes, the two were nine drivers among 14 looking to secure a spot in the 33-car grid.

“I wonder if the track just got better, or what. I knew we were going to be hanging it out at the end there,” Andretti said. “Our approach was we’re going home anyway. Really, I mean, the way we went out, it was either stick it in the fence or stick it in the show. So luckily we were on the upside of that.”

The six-hour qualifying session was interrupted twice by rain and with 75 minutes left, Danica Patrick put the No. 7 car solidly in the field with a four-lap average of 224.861 mph.

Eight drivers failed to gain enough speed to force Andretti to re-qualify until Lloyd of Dale Coyne Racing, who finished fourth in the Indy 500 last May, put together an average speed of 223.917 mph.

“It’s been probably one of the most stressful weekends I think I’ve had in my career,” Lloyd said. “I remember it last year, we had to qualify on Bump Day last year. I remember that being pretty stressful, and I didn’t want anything to do with it this year. Fortunately, last year we got in comfortably on Bump Day; we had the speed.”

Mike Conway was among the entrants who failed to qualify and also not making the show were Raphael Matos, Sebastian Saavedra and Jakes. Dragon Racing’s Ho-Pin Tung and Scott Speed did not complete qualifying attempts.

Lloyd will be joined on the last row by rookie Pippa Mann of Conquest Racing and Ana Beatriz of Dreyer & Reinbold Racing. Andretti will start on Row 10 with rookie Charlie Kimball and Graham Rahal, while Paul Tracy will share Row 9 with Patrick and Ryan Briscoe.

This is the closest matched field by time in Indianapolis 500 history — 2.5399 seconds separate fastest qualifier Alex Tagliani and slowest qualifier Beatriz. The record was 3.0622 seconds set in 2010.

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MEMA Meeting Focuses on Tires

DOWNEY, CA – A meeting of the Municipal Equipment Maintenance Association (MEMA) on May 19 included a tire retreading tour and information about tire sealant, the Fiat 500, and the Nissan NV commercial vans.

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Animal Kingdom favored for Saturday’s Preakness

John Nestor – AHN Sports Correspondent

Baltimore, MD, United States (AHN Sports) – Kentucky Derby winner Animal Kingdom is the favorite for Saturday’s Preakness Stakes after Wednesday’s post position draw.

Animal Kingdom is a 2-1 favorite for the 136th running of the second jewel in horse racing’s Triple Crown. Ridden by jockey John Velazquez and trained by Graham Motion, Animal Kingdom will break from the No. 11 post Saturday against a full field of 14 horses.

It’s the first time the Preakness has had a full field since 2005.

“It’s great. I couldn’t be happier, really. I just would rather be on the outside than stuck down on the inside,” Motion said. “I was a little worried when 1 and 14 were left. I’ve started from 14 before and you’re almost on the outside rail. That’s a tough spot.”

Kentucky Derby favorite Dialed In was tapped as the second favorite (9-2) by Pimlico handicapper Frank Carulli. Dialed In, who finished eighth at Churchill downs will be in the No. 10 stall, next to Animal Kingdom.

“I think it’s fine. Everything looks good. It’s not going to bother him at all. I think if you get over, you know you’re in good shape,” trainer Nick Zito said. “Normally, a closer, you like to be inside because you’re already there, but you can get bottled up or whatever. Julien will have a good shot at it.”

Dialed In is racing for a North American record payout of $6.1 million. If he wins Saturday he will earn a $5.5 million bonus being offered by MI Developments to any horse who wins the Preakness after winning either the Florida Derby or the Holy Bull Stakes.

Dialed In won both prep races.

Mucho Macho Man, who finished third in the Derby, drew the No. 9 post and is the third choice at 6-1.

Nine new horses are in the field but only three horses in the last 10 years have won the Preakness without first competing in the Kentucky Derby – Red Bullet, Bernardini and Rachel Alexandra

The field includes Astrology (15-1), Norman Asbjornson (30-1), King Congie (20-1), Flashpoint (20-1), Shackleford (12-1), Sway Away (15-1), Midnight Interlude (15-1), Dance City (12-1), Isn’t He Perfect (30-1), Concealed Identity (30-1) and Mr. Commons (20-1).

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Antron Brown scores second NHRA win of season at Atlanta

Edward Lewis – AHN Sports Reporter

Commerce, GA, United States (AHN Sports) – Antron Brown raced to his second win of the season whe he held off his teammate Tony Schumacher Sunday in the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway.

Joining Brown atop the podium as class winners as well was Jack Beckman, Jason Line and LE Tonglet.

“It was tough all weekend,” said Brown. “Qualifying didn’t go like we wanted it to of course. But our boys just pulled together like they did in Vegas and when race day comes, the game face goes on. Any given Sunday anybody can win it. We came out here this weekend and just took it one round at a time.”

Brown made a run of 318.69 mph for his 27th career win and fourth at Atlanta Dragway.

In Funny Car, Beckman also tallied his second win of the season when his final pass of 311.05 mph topped points leader Mike Neff.

“Any win is good,” said Beckman. “You take everybody serious. But beating a John Force car has kind of got a nice topping on that ice cream sundae if you know what I mean. They are at the top of their game.”

Jason Line held off teammate Greg Anderson in the Pro Stock final fir his third win of the season.

In Pro Stock Motorcycle, Tonglet topped Karen Stoffer for his first win of the season and sixth of his career.

“We’re really happy with the way that Nitro Fish Suzuki is running,” said Tonglet. “It’s really been a fun bike to ride. It’s so smooth and it’s just hauling butt. There is really nothing more we can do to it.”

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Wallkill Adds GPS to Fleet

WALLKILL, NY – The town of Wallkill has decided to add GPS tracking systems to its 93 vehicles.

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Kevin Swindell filling in for Bayne at Dover

Edward Lewis – AHN Sports Reporter

Concord, NC, United States (AHN Sports) – Despite being evaluated and released from a Minnesota Mayo last week Daytona 500 winner Trevor Bayne will be held out of this weekend’s NASCAR Nationwide race.

Bayne’s Nationwide employer, Roush Fenway Racing, instead has decided to substitute in fellow Tennessee native Kevin Swindell in the No. 16 Mustang this weekend.

“Trevor’s symptoms have subsided and we are very encouraged by his progress,” said Roush Fenway president Steve Newmark. “Still, we are going to exercise an element of caution with his return to the track and keep him out of competition for at least another week.”

Bayne, who drives for the Wood Brothers in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, was hospitalized last month from complications of what was believed from an insect bite.

After further setbacks, Bayne missed other races and underwent tests by specialists before being released last week.

“Trevor is itching to get back out on the race track, and, although it’s hard to keep someone with his passion away, we feel it is in his best interest to hold off for another week,” Newmark said. “As of now, we, along with the Wood Brothers, are planning for Trevor to return next week and compete in the Sprint Cup All-Star event in Charlotte and the Nationwide Series race in Iowa.”

Chris Buescher filled in for Bayne in the last two races and is committed to running in the ARCA Series event at Toledo (Ohio) Speedway this weekend.

Swindell will run the his fourth career Nationwide start and first of 2011. The son of Sprint Car legend Sammy Swindell, Kevin won the 2011 Chili Bowl Midget Nationals earlier this year, becoming the first driver to post back-to-back victories at the event.

Swindell, who race 12th at Daytona earlier this season, will have Roush Fenway teammates in Carl Edwards and Ricky Stenhouse.

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European Court of Human Rights rejects limiting news on celebrity indiscretion

Vittorio Hernandez – AHN News

Strasbourg, France (AHN) – The European Court of Human Rights rejected a bid by a known car racer to limit news on celebrity indiscretions.

The ruling comes at a time that bloggers are circumventing super injunctions issued by British courts in favor of celebrities by posting a list of notorious celebrities on Twitter.

The ECHR decision is an offshoot of a case filed by Max Mosley, former president of the governing body of Formula One auto racing. Mosley asked the court to require news organizations to inform the subjects of their article before publishing stories about celebrity indiscretions.

Mosley filed the lawsuit because of a 2008 article in the British tabloid “The News of the World” which bannered a story about him having a Nazi orgy with five prostitutes, based on a video shot secretly by one of the orgy participants.

Mosley said the newspaper did not check the story with him prior to publication. A British court favored Mosley and fined the paper almost $100,000 (GBP 60,000) because the story failed to provide evidence of Nazi behavior in the orgy.

But the ECHR rejected Mosley’s claim that British media law breached the European Convention on Human Rights by failing to protect him from intrusion into his private life. The court said Britain has sufficient privacy protection laws in place. Mosley plans to appeal the court’s decision to the Grand Chamber.

Celebrities often resorted to court orders to secure injunctions against publications that run stories on extramarital affairs or sexual liaisons of public orders. The injunctions even prohibit media from reporting the issuance of the court gag order.

But even British Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt admitted that technology and social media networking sites such as Twitter are making a mockery of the country’s privacy laws. However, Hunt agreed with an earlier comment by British Prime Minister David Cameron that it should be the parliament who will decide where to draw the line on the country’s privacy law, not the courts.

Hunt said he would discuss a review of the country’s regulatory environment with Minister of Justice Ken Clarke.

Zac Goldsmith, a Tory MP who secured a gag order, spoke in favor of super injunctions because of the alleged failure of newspapers to distinguish between public interest and prurient interest to some members of the public.

Goldsmith favored a new privacy law that would allow media to perform its duty without fear, but would protect people’s privacy, unless there is a good reason to expose their indiscretions. He admitted the super injunctions were overreaction from celebrities.

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Santa Ana Plans to Have 75% ‘Green’ Fleet by 2016

SANTA ANA, CA – Santa Ana’s five-year alternative energy plan will convert the fleet to 75-80 percent alt-fuel and hybrid units and will decrease fleet size by 10-15 percent.

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Kasey Kahne on Darlington pole

Edward Lewis – AHN Sports Reporter

Darlington, SC, United States (AHN Sports) – Baby-faced Kasey Kahne gave his momma an early Mother’s Day gift Friday when he won the pole for Saturday night’s Showtime Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway.

Kahne toured the Lady In Black at 181.254 mph, breaking the old track record set by Jamie McMurray a year ago.

“The cars handle a little different, but we’ll keep working on it. It’s a great track still and I really enjoy it,” Kahne said. “Definitely have a chance to run up front and be one of the top cars.”

With the fastest car on the 1.366-mile track, Kahne earned his first pole of the season and the 21st of his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career.

Stewart/Haas Racing driver Ryan Newman will roll off beside Kahne after qualifying second at 180.429 mph.

“I didn’t know what we would pick up with the sun coming out. That first lap on the track was pretty nice because it was cool too. I’m just really proud of everybody at Stewart-Haas,” Newman said. “The Tornados Chevrolet was good off the truck and was good in qualifying. We got a good starting spot and good pit selection. We’ll just try to do our best for tomorrow.”

Rounding out the rest of the top-10 qualifiers was Denny Hamlin (180.132 mph), Carl Edwards (179.980 mph), seven-time Darlington winner Jeff Gordon (179.829 mph), Marcos Ambrose, A.J. Allmendinger, Brian Vickers, Tony Stewart and Brad Keselowski.

Struggling to find the right setup and qualifying poorly was Matt Kenseth (20th), Greg Biffle (22nd), Kurt Busch (25th) and Dale Earnhardt Jr. (30th).

“We didn’t get to make a qualifying run and didn’t know what we were gonna have there,” Biffle said. “It was a little free going across the corner and a little free getting in. We were a little tight off four, but we got what we could get. We’ll see where that puts us.”

Scott Riggs, Andy Lally and Brian Keselowski all failed to qualify for the 43-car field.

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Derby favorite Dialed In draws No. 8 post, Uncle Mo and Nehro on outside

John Nestor – AHN Sports Correspondent

Louisville, KY, United States (AHN Sports) – With a draw near the middle of the field, Dialed In has been installed as the favorite for Saturday’s Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs.

Dialed In drew the No. 8 post Wednesday and is a 4-1 favorite according to Daily Racing Form national handicapper Mike Watchmaker.

A full field of 20 3-year-olds are entered in the 137th running of the $2 million Kentucky Derby.

Triainer Nick Zito is looking for his third Derby victory with Dialed In, who has won three of four career starts, including the Florida Derby in his last start.

“I was happy with it. I think, actually, most the major players got good post positions, too. I think the draw went OK,” Zito said. “Obviously, Archarcharch, they’re going to talk about the ’1,’ but we were certainly happy with our draw. They made us the favorite, so that’s OK. I’m flattered by it, very humbled by it. We’ll see what happens.”

Uncle Mo is a close second in the list of favorites at 5-1. He drew post 18 and will try to become the second Derby winner for trainer Todd Pletcher, who won in 2010 with Super Saver.

Nehro is listed at 6-1 and Archarcharch is on the rail and a 10-1 shot.

“I have always wanted to be No. 1 but not in the Kentucky Derby starting gate,” Archarcharch trainer Jinks Fires said. “I’ll just tell Jon to get good position, save ground and figure out a way to get out. It is still the shortest way around and at least I am not out next to the track kitchen.”

Despite being next to last on the outside, Nehro trainer Steve Asmussen is not about to give up hope, especially with the unpredictability that comes along with a race featuring 20 horses.

“He hasn’t been eliminated, you know what I mean? He needs to run the race of his life, but all is well,” Asmussen said. “I really like the horses that are immediately to his inside; they’ve got pace. There are a lot of scenarios in a 20-horse field that will change how you get to the backside but I think this gives us a good chance.”

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