 Schumacher is 17 years older than 24-year-old team-mate Rosberg  Michael Schumacher said he must "raise his game" after Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg beat him in Friday practice at the season's opening grand prix. The German legend, returning to F1 after three years in retirement, was nearly 0.5 seconds slower than Rosberg in both practice sessions in Bahrain."That is a bit too much for my standards. I've got to raise my game a bit and I'm sure I'm able to," he said. Rosberg was fastest of all, 0.445secs quicker than McLaren's Lewis Hamilton. Schumacher, who was 0.494secs behind Rosberg, had been 0.463secs slower than his team-mate in the first session in the morning.  Highlights - Bahrain second practice "On long runs and consistent runs things are pretty good, I'm quite happy. I will just use the rest of the weekend in order to tweak out the little bits. "It's not a problem. It's just that for one lap I saw that Nico was four-tenths up and that is a bit too much for my standards. I've got to raise my game a bit and I'm sure I'm able to." Hamilton's team-mate Jenson Button was fourth ahead of Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel. Button, who appeared to be very evenly matched with Hamilton, said: "I'm reasonably happy with the car. "It's very difficult because the rear tyres go off quite quickly here, but it's the same for everyone.  Highlights - Bahrain first practice The Ferraris of Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso were seventh and ninth in the afternoon after being fourth and second in the morning. Force India's Adrian Sutil stole the limelight in the morning session, beating Alonso to the fastest time in first practice, heading the double world champion by 0.325secs. Alonso said he had no idea who was in the best shape for Saturday's qualifying session and Sunday's race. "It's still completely unknown," he said. "For sure, out of the four big teams, any can be on pole. And there could be a surprise like Force India, who seem very quick on this type of circuit. "We are in a position to attack 100%. We are confident with the car - we need to make changes to improve the grip but there is nothing wrong." The gap between the fastest and slowest times was even bigger than expected, with Rosberg more than six seconds faster than the quickest car from a new team. That car belonged to Virgin's Timo Glock, who was 0.15secs quicker than his team-mate, the Brazilian novice Lucas di Grassi. Heikki Kovalainen, the quicker of the two Lotus drivers, was two seconds slower than Glock - a margin that is almost certainly not representative of the true performance of the cars. The Hispania team, who arrived in Bahrain having never run their car before, managed to put some mileage on it in the hands of Bruno Senna, the nephew of Brazilian legend Ayrton Senna. But Senna was more than 12 seconds off the pace in what is effectively a shakedown test for the car. Hispania missed all the pre-season test sessions as they battled to get themselves ready in time for the first race, following a change of name and ownership. Senna also suffered a scare when something broke on his car at the end of one of the straights in the closing stages of the afternoon session. His team-mate, the Indian driver Karun Chandhok, did not get out on to the track at all on Friday because the team could not make his gearbox work. It remains to be seen whether Friday's times are a reliable indicator of form, as practice sessions are even harder to read than usual following the banning of in-race refuelling this season. Cars will now go to the grid fully laden with approximately 160kg - about 210 litres of fuel - and teams have to use the practice sessions to learn about the behaviour of their cars and tyres on both heavy and light fuel loads. Cars will qualify with as little fuel as possible before filling up for the start of the race, and finding the best compromise between set-ups for the two conditions will be one of the major challenges of the season. As fuel loads, tyre choice and track conditions can have a dramatic effect on lap times, it makes the list of fastest times in practice virtually meaningless without further analysis. | |
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Michael Schumacher pledges to 'raise game' in Bahrain
Friday, March 12, 2010
Rosberg leads Brits, Schumacher at Sakhir
Nico Rosberg led Lewis Hamilton, Michael Schumacher and Jenson Button in second practice for the season-opening grand prix at Sakhir, Bahrain.
However both drivers will be pleased that they were able to occupy the top places, unlike the morning session.
Hamilton was second, like Schumacher half a second off top spot. Button was 0.2s further back.
Sutil fastest in F1 opening session for Force India
German Adrian Sutil upstaged all four world champions and the top teams on Friday morning when he clocked the fastest time in opening free practice ahead of Sunday's season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix.
Sutil fastest in F1 opening session for Force India
This also saw the new Hispania team, with Bruno Senna at the wheel, run in earnest for the first time just hours after being passed safe to take part.
Senna is the nephew of three-times champion Ayrton Senna and it was his debut in F1.
Sutil's best lap left him one-tenth of a second clear of nearest rival and two-time world champion Fernando Alonso, making his debut for Ferrari, after his move from Renault.
Alonso's last lap was not fast enough to dislodge Sutil.
Poland's Robert Kubica, who replaced Alonso at Renault after leaving former BMW-Sauber team, was third ahead of Brazilian Felipe Massa, in the second Ferrari, making his return for the first time since an horrific accident at the Hungarian Grand Prix last year.
Massa made light of the eye and head injuries that he suffered with a best lap that was just four-tenths of a second off the pace.
Defending drivers world champion Briton Jenson Button was fifth in his first outing with the McLaren team after leaving the former Brawn team, now taken over by Mercedes, ahead of his team-mate and compatriot Lewis Hamilton, the 2008 champion.
The two McLaren men had traded fastest laps early in the session.
Seven-times champion Michael Schumacher returned to action after three years in retirement to clock the 10th best time for the 'new' Mercedes team - the first official entry by the German company since 1955 - but he was outpaced by his 17-years-younger team-mate and fellow-German Nico Rosberg, who was eighth.
Italian Vitantonio Liuzzi, of Force India, and Australian Mark Webber, of Red Bull, were seventh and ninth while another German Sebastian Vettel, who finished runner up last season behind Button, was down in 13th place for Red Bull at the end of the morning's running.
The first indications were that he and Webber had demonstrated that the Red Bull team was suffering most from tyre wear, a factor that is likely to be a major issue under this season's revised regulations.
The session began with Italian Jarno Trulli leading the way out in his Lotus, the famous old marque's name returning to F1 for the first time since 1994.
Both Lotus drivers, Trulli and Finn Heikki Kovalainen, took part along with the two Virgin cars and Senna's Hispania machine on a day of high anticipation.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Tsegay takes Lake Biwa crown
Breaking away from the lead pack after 22Km, Yemane Tsegay of Ethiopia won the Lake Biwa Marathon on Sunday.
The Lake Biwa Marathon, this year celebrating its 65th edition, is an IAAF Gold Label Road Race.
Although Tsegay, who was fourth at last year’s World Championships, was only 21 seconds behind course course record pace at 30Km, the weather was less than ideal forcing The Ethiopian to slow down in the final part of the race before reaching the finish in 2:09:34. The time was not very fast, but it was fourth straight sub-2:10 run for Tsegay, who has a 2:06:30 career best.
“I want to run the course record, so I increased the pace after the half way, but the weather was not good for me, and I had some problems,” Tsegay said.
Tomoyuki Sato, who was a dismal 31st at the Fukuoka Marathon, came back with a vengeance and finished a strong second with 2:10:07, the fourth fastest time of his career.
“I am happy to be the first Japanese, which was my goal for the day. I am not happy with my time, but I was able to break away from the chase pack despite some bad patches during the race, so it was a good race for me although I won’t give myself an ‘A’ grade,” said Sato.
Abraham Tadesse and Yukihiro Kitaoka ran together during the last part of the race before Tadesse broke away to finisht third in 2:10:46 ahead of Kitaoka, who clocked 2:10:51 in his Marathon debut.
194 runners started the race under light rain. The first notable event was that the pace makers almost forgot to exit the Ojiyama stadium after 1 and ¾ laps around the track. The lead pack of 39 runners passed 5Km in 15:10, on the pre-race plan. After passing the 10Km in 30:21, the first contender to lose contact was Takeshi Hamano, who has a marathon best of 2:09:18. The 15Km split for the lead pack of 33 runners was 45:35, and it was turning into the race of attrition. Soon after 20Km (60:41), Masaya Shimizu, fourth last year, started to drift behind the lead pack which now numbered 25. Then with the urging from Tsegay, the pace makers increased the pace (2:54 for 22 to 23Km) and the lead pack started to break apart. Soon three pace makers and Yemane Tsegay led the race, with South African Hendrick Ramaala several metres behind. The pace (2:57 for 23 to 24Km) continued to be hot, and Ramaala was absorbed by the chase pack, which was led by Tomoyuki Sato.
Pace maker Stephen Mokoka dropped out at 25Km (1:15:41) leaving Yemane and two pace makers (Samuel Ndungu and Wilson Chebet) in front with a 10-second lead.
Around 29Km, Ramaala and Tomoya Shimizu began to fall behind the chase pack. When Ndungu, the pace maker, dropped out at 30Km (1:30:31), Tsegay was now alone, leading the chase pack by 48 seconds. Tsegay continued to lead the race, but he was slowing down markedly, needing 15:40 to cover 30 to 35Km, but still carried a 70-second lead.
With Sato pushing, the remaining pursuers began to gain on Tsegay, but at the same time, the pack was falling apart. First before 37Km, Satoshi Yoshii fell behind, followed by Ken-ichiro Setoguchi and then Naoto Yoneda, leaving just three - Sato, Tadesse and Kitaoka - in the chase. While he kept slowing, Tsegay managed to hold on while the real estate ran out on Sato as he finished second 33 seconds back, but ahead of Tadesse and Kitaoka.
“I am happy to attain my goal of running 2:10 marathon,” said Kitaoka. “I went for a broke from the start. Although it started to get tough after 30Km, I am happy to run the race as if it was an extension of a half marathon.”
Kitaoka was followed by another marathon debutante, Naoto Yoneda was fifth in 2:11:00.
A sense of crisis was rampant in Japanese marathoning circles after last December’s Fukuoka Marathon when Japanese failed to crack top eight. But after the Tokyo marathon where Japanese occupied the top five slots and Lake Biwa where Sato finished second and two debutantes finished fourth and fifth, the future of the Japanese marathon scene is little brighter.
Weather: Rain; temperature: 9.3C; humidity: 87%; wind: 1.5m/s SSW
1. Yemane Tsegay (ETH) 2:09:34
2. Tomoyuki Sato 2:10:07
3. Abraham Tadesse (ERI) 2:10:46
4. Yukihiro Kitaoka 2:10:51 Debut
5. Naoto Yoneda 2:11:00 Debut
6. Ken-ichiro Setoguchi 2:11:44
7. Satoshi Yoshii 2:12:24
8. Tomoya Shimizu 2:13:25
9. Munehiro Sugaya 2:15:07
10. Takeshi Ueno 2:15:26
Monday, March 1, 2010
Kenyan retains HK marathon title despite unpleasant weather
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| Cyprian Kiogora Mwobi of Kenya holds the trophy during the awarding ceremony of the Stardard Charter Marathon in Hong Kong, south China, Feb. 28, 2010. Mwobi claimed the title with 2 hours 20 minutes and 12 seconds. (Xinhua/Lo Ping Fai) |
HONG KONG, Feb. 28 -- Kenya's Cyprian Kiogora Mwobi retained his title at Hong Kong marathon here on Sunday, but failed to make a new event record due to the hot and humid weather.
Mwobi almost led from start to finish the 42.195 kilometers race in two hours 20 minutes and 12 seconds, over five minutes more than the men's record he set in the 2009 edition.
"It was very tough," he said. "The course here is tougher than the others I have raced, such as Dublin and Macao, and this year's route made it even tougher."
"However, when comparing to the weather, the course is not so tough." He added.
The men's and women's full marathon, starting at 7:15 am, 45 minutes earlier than last year, was carried out under a temperature of 24-25 degrees centigrade and a humidity of 95 percent.
"It was so hot and so humid, that's why I cannot make a better time," said Mwobi.
His compatriot Tubei John Chirchir also remained at the second position, followed by Ser-od Bat-Ochir from Mongolia.
In the women's race, Indonesia's Triyaningsih, 10km winner of the Southeast Asian Games last year, finished first in 2:47:35.
China's Jin Linlin, the third of the Xiamen Marathon early this year, was the second to cross the finish line with a time of 2:48: 40.
Jin, a junior student from Beijing, where is in cold and dry winter, said the weather and tough course made her exhausted at the final 4-5 kilometers.
Japan's Junji Konomi and Kuniko Nakamura took the men's and women's half marathon titles respectively.
According to the newly updated number from the organizing committee, this year's edition recorded a new high of over 52,600 starts in total, and there were 55 runners admitted to hospitals due to heatstroke or dehydration, among which three patients were in critical condition.
Bolt sizzles with sub-44 relay leg in Kingston
Kingston, Jamaica – Double sprint World record holder Usain Bolt produced two stunning anchor leg runs, but came up short on one occasion at Saturday’s (27) Gibson Relays in Kingston.
The most impressive of the anchor leg runs came in the 4x400m Relay, which saw him getting the baton in fourth about some 20 metres behind. However, despite making up a lot of ground on the leaders, some of whom he passed, his 43.58 split was not enough as UTech held on for the victory in 3:05.33.
Bolt took his team across the line in 3:05.77 ahead of the Jermaine Gonzales-led Racers Track Club (3:06.55).
Earlier, Bolt anchored his team to victory in the 4×100m. Yohan Blake, Marvin Anderson and Kenroy Anderson were a part of the team with Bolt that ran 38.08 ahead of Racer’s B with Antigua’s Daniel Bailey.
Bolt at the time told journalists, “we just went out to have fun (in the 4×100m). We (Racers Track Club) had two teams in the final, so it wasn’t about proving anything. It was about fun.”
“The real race would be in the 4×400m where sprinters will square off with quarter-milers,” said Bolt, who holds the 100m and 200m World records at 9.58 and 19.19.
Meanwhile, UTech with Anneisha McLaughlin and Christine Day, two of Jamaica’s representatives at last year’s World Championships, ran 3:36.21 to beat MVP (3:44.46) in the women’s 4×400m.
Team Bickle USA, an all-star high school girls team from United States, stole the show in the High School section. They first won the 4×800m in a record 8:41.92 ahead of Edwin Allen (8:51.57) and returned to close the show by taking the 4×400m in 3:37.23 ahead of Manchester High (3:39.91).
Vere Technical won the boys’ 4×400m in 3:14.29 while Holmwood took the 4×800m in 7:45.55.
In the 4x100m, Manchester High girls took Class One in 45.52 and St. George’s College the boys’ section in 40.24.
Fujiwara and Biktimirova collect Tokyo Marathon wins
Tokyo, Japan – Running in dismal conditions, Masakazu Fujiwara of Japan and Alevtina Biktimirova of Russia won their respective titles at the 4th edition of the Tokyo Marathon today.
The Tokyo Marathon is an IAAF Gold Label Road Race.
Fujiwara, the Japanese marathon debut record holder, clocked 2:12:19 to become the first Japanese male runner to win here. “Because it was so cold, I knew I cannot run fast time. So I concentrated on winning the race,” Fujiwara said.
Biktimirova won the women’s race comfortably in 2:34:39. “Before the race, I was hoping to improve my personal best and that’s why I went out fast. However, because of the weather, I had to give up that goal and go after the win only.”
Cold rain and wind hampered the race throughout and in fact worsened as the race progressed, killing any ambitions for fast performances. The start time temperature was 7 C, but the mercury continued to drop. Arata Fujiwara, who was second in the men’s race in 2008 finished second again, outkicking Atsushi Sato. Sato, one of the pre-race favorite, finished third. Robe Guta was second in the women’s race in 2:36:29, nearly two minutes behind the winner.
How the races unfolded -
Men -
A huge pack of more than 40 passed the first kilometre in just over three minutes. The first 5K, which is mostly downhill, was covered in 15:11 - not very fast for downhill – and the pace slowed even more in the middle of the race. From 15K to 30K the 5K splits barely dipped below 16 minutes. Despite the slow pace, Julius Gitahi, Shigeru Aburaya and Andrey Sokolov fell behind the pace early.
As the leaders passed half marathon point in 1:05:13, the race turned into a one of attrition. At 27K, the lead pack was slimmed down to 24. A kilometre later, Akinori Shibutani surged to move significantly to the front but was soon absorbed by the chase pack. Soon the chase pack led by Salim Kipsang, the defending champion and co-favorite Atsushi Sato, began to stretch out. At about 31.5K, Kipsang made a move to break away and opened a significant gap.
However, the chase pack led by Fujiwara worked their way up to the Kipsang’s shoulder. At the same time, Rachid Kisri, the fastest runner in the field, started to fall behind, reducing the lead pack to eight. Intending to break up the lead pack, Fujiwara surged at 33K to open the gap on Kipsang and Sato. The pace stayed slow, however, and soon Kisri re-joined the leaders. With the runners approaching Tokyo Bay, the wind began to pick up. Although runners took turn in front, it was Kenyan Joseph Mwaniki who did much of the leading. Then Fujiwara threw off his baseball cap and surged hard at 40Km to open a significant gap. Sato tried to stay close, but Kipsang and Kisri seemed to be out of it.
Although he didn’t look very comfortable, Fujiwara continued to pull ahead of Sato and Arata Fujiwara. By 41Km, he was some 30m ahead of the last remaining challengers and continued to pull away. Arata Fujiwara outkicked Sato to finish second.
“I surged with intent of breaking the lead pack at 33Km,” the winner said. “Then I went to the back of the pack, which was also planned.” Fujiwara’s marathon debut was a sensational one, clocking 2:08:12 at 2003 Lake Biwa Marathon. However, after he joined the Honda track team, by his own admission, he trained too hard and became plagued with injuries. He ran only one other marathon, again at Lake Biwa in 2008, where he was ninth with 2:12:07.
Women –
The lead group of nine which included most of the invited runners, covered the first 5K in 17:34, before reaching the 10Kmarker in 34:56. By 15K (52:04), Bikitimirova broke away from the lead pack and continued to extend her lead through the 35th kilometre. Although the Russian slowed after 35K, she was so far ahead that her victory was sealed.
After losing contact with Bikitimirova, Mizuho Nasukawa, Robe Guta and Julia Mumbi formed the second group. At 25Km, Akemi Ozaki passed all three to move into second position. However, later Ozaki was reduced to a walk and Guta and Olaru began to contend for the second place. Guta moved ahead of Olaru by 35Km and finished second in 2:36:29, 13 seconds ahead of Olaru. Unheralded Maki Kono covered the 35 to 40K split the fastest (19:36) and finished fourth, the first Japanese to reach the line.
Biktimirova said she was comfortable with her run after breaking away from her pursuers.
“I like to run among the men,” she said. “If I am surrounded by women only, I feel like I am surrounded by my rivals. In fact, I would like to thank male runners who ran with me.”
Unlike all other marathons in Japan, prize money in Tokyo is disclosed. Today's winners each won 8 million yen in prize money, plus an additional 3 million yen from Tokyo Metro, for 11 million total on the day, more than USD 120,000.
Click here for race website
Leading Results -
Men:
Masakazu Fujiwara 2:12:19 (15:15, 15:11, 15:25, 15:52, 15:59, 15:56, 15:37, 16:24, 6:40)
Arata Fujiwara 2:12:34
Atsushi Sato 2:12:35
Yuki Kawauchi 2:12:36
Tomoya Adachi 2:12:46
Joseph Mwaniki (KEN) 2:12:53
Rachid Kisri (MAR) 2:12:59
Takaaki Koda 2:13:04
Salim Kipsang (KEN) 2:13:16
Women:
Alevtina Biktimirova (RUS) 2:34:39
Robe Guta (ETH) 2:36:29
Nuta Olaru (ROU) 2:36:42
Maki Kono 2:39:01
Yang Jing (CHN) 2:41:04
Yumi Sato 2:43:01
Wakana Hanado 2:44:03
Julia Mumbi (KEN) 2:45:11
Splits (Men):
5Km 15:11 Masatomo Sugimoto
10Km 30:24 (15:13) Sugimoto
15Km 45:49 (15:25) Sugimoto
20Km 1:01:41 (15:52) Cyrus Njui (KEN)
Half 1:05:13
25Km 1:17:41 (16:00) Elijah Sang (KEN)
30Km 1:33:36 (15:54) Akinori Shibutani
35Km 1:49:14 (15:36) Arata Fujiwara
40Km 2:05:39 (16:25) Salim Kipsang (KEN)
Finish 2:12:19 (6:40) Masakazu Fujiwara
Splits (Women):
5Km 17:34 Alevtina Biktimirova (RUS)
10Km 34:56 (17:22) Biktimirova
15Km 52:04 (17:08) Biktimirova
20Km 1:09:30 (17:26) Biktimirova
25Km 1:27:24 (17:54) Biktimirova
30Km 1:45:43 (18:19) Biktimirova
35Km 2:04:46 (19:03) Biktimirova
40Km 2:25:17 (20:31) Biktimirova
Finish 2:34:39 (9:22) Biktimirova
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