TMR Game – Week 14

Welcome to Week 14 of the Too Much Racing Game!

[picapp align=”right” wrap=”false” link=”term=DTM&iid=8624069″ src=”f/9/c/f/DTM_German_Touring_5a1a.jpg?adImageId=12670569&imageId=8624069″ width=”380″ height=”225″ /]

I didn’t think that was a great week in terms of racing action, the DTM race I watched via web feed seemed fairly flat though this may be unfair as I admit my attention was elsewhere at the time. Perhaps if my full focus had been on it I’d have enjoyed it more. [Photo – First lap of the DTM at Hockenheim, by Hasan Bratic of Getty Images, via Picapp]

As usual I missed the Cup race though this time partly because I don’t like restrictor plate tracks – but apparently it was a good race, better now they’ve changed the aero? I see they still had the big crash and the showbiz ending though.

This week sees the focus switch to the ovals with IndyCar and more NASCAR Cup.

Quick-Start

Racing this week:
IRL IZOD IndyCar Series – Kansas;
NASCAR Sprint Cup – Richmond;

Usual restrictions apply, pick up to 10 drivers, no more than 7 from one race.

The cutoff is Saturday 1st May at 4.59am BST (British Summer Time = GMT+1), that’s 11.59pm Friday night US EDT.

For the full results from Week 13, read on.

How To Enter

1. Reply to this post.

2. List up to 10 drivers, with no more than 7 from a single event.

3. Send your entry before the stated deadline, usually some time on a Friday. You can make as many changes as you like until the closing point, I’ll take your last entry.

Most weeks feature 2 or 3 races, some weeks may have more than that and some may only have one. There’s not a rule stating you have to choose a driver in each race, any combination of up to 10 drivers is accepted.

Further information can be found on the game sub-page which will be updated later in the week.

On to the results!

Top Tens – Week 13

Week 13 DTM NASCAR Cup
Points Hockenheim Talladega
1 50 Gary Paffett Kevin Harvick
2 40 Bruno Spengler Jamie McMurray
3 35 Jamie Green Juan Montoya
4 32 Paul di Resta Denny Hamlin
5 30 Mike Rockenfeller Mark Martin
6 28 Mattias Ekstrom David Ragan
7 26 Timo Scheider Clint Bowyer
8 24 Miguel Molina Kurt Busch
9 22 Ralf Schumacher Kyle Busch
10 20 Alexandre Premat Mike Bliss

Mercedes domination in Germany as the marque sweeps the first four positions, though with four Audis after that the top ten is an even split at 5 cars apiece.

A crash in the closing stages of the Talladega race meant some big names were classified in the minor positions, including Johnson, J.Gordon and Kenseth – the crash severely hit some TMR players.

Points Awarded – Week 13

Player DTM N-Cup Week 13
1 Sean 224 87 311
2 James 185 107 292
3 Pat W 223 53 276
4 Jon Waldock 176 83 259
5 Jackie 201 31 232
6 The Speedgeek 224 4 228
7 RG 176 50 226
8 Sebastian 201 23 224
9 Burwellian 138 74 212
10 Startledbunny 146 59 205
11 Dank 0 123 123

Well done Sean! A clear win with a strong DTM score backed up with a relatively good Cup score, and the latter made the difference compared to myself and The Speedgeek who scored just as well in DTM but lost out in NASCAR points.

James took the best Cup score of the ‘regular’ players because he picked 5 drivers and only lost out with Johnson in the crash, this put him a clear second in the week. Speedgeek was by far the worst hit as his Cup picks finished 28th, 31st and 32nd, hard luck Andy and good job you had those strong DTM picks!

The battle between Jon and RG was won by Jon this week.

5th to 10th was surprisingly close, and good to see Jackie mixing it with the field now, perhaps Mav’s influence really was dragging you back.. Game leader Sebastian could only manage 8th.

Overall Standings – Week 13

Pos Pre +/- Name Prior Wk 13 Total
1 1 0 Sebastian 2882 224 3106
2 3 1 Pat W 2796 276 3072
3 2 -1 The Speedgeek 2817 228 3045
4 6 2 Sean 2676 311 2987
5 5 0 Jon Waldock 2682 259 2941
6 4 -2 RG 2685 226 2911
7 7 0 James 2612 292 2904
8 8 0 Burwellian 2582 212 2794
9 9 0 Startledbunny 2211 205 2416
10 10 0 Jackie 1430 232 1662
11 11 0 Dank 1294 123 1417

Sebastian remains in the lead and becomes the only player so far to break the 3100 barrier.

I am now in second position, overtaking The Speedgeek and gaining on the leader though it’ll probably be short-lived! The top three are separated by 61 points.

Sean isn’t far behind, having retaken his position from Jon and also jumping RG this week. Jon and RG are waging their own battle and this week Jon jumps ahead in the standings. James joins this bracket too with his good score this week. This group are all in the 2900s.

Burwellian is still in touch with the field, but Startledbunny will have to hope people miss a week while Jackie is just playing for fun at this stage which she is more than welcome to do – it’ll be interesting to see if those gaps can be closed during the year and you’re still playing for weekly wins!

Full results sheets will be available on the TMR drop.io shortly.

Week 14

This week we have the first of a run of oval events in IndyCar, their first of the season is at Kansas. The NASCAR Sprint Cup visits Richmond.

IRL IndyCar – Their first oval of the year is the 1.5 mile Kansas Speedway. Penske has dominated the road and street course opening swing, but Ganassi are strong on ovals. Chances are the top few places will be fought out between these five cars but I wouldn’t count out some of the others to score a top 3 result – a win may be asking too much of them, perhaps. Info at www.indycar.com

NASCAR Cup – A change of scenery this week, from the big superspeedway at Talladega to the small Richmond oval. Traffic ought to be a factor here. Info at www.nascar.com

I think that’s everything, any questions just ask in the comments, and good luck!

20 thoughts on “TMR Game – Week 14”

  1. Right so…this technique has worked so far…

    –Nascar–
    Jimmie Johnson
    Kevin Harvick
    Greg Biggle
    Matt Kenseth
    Kyle Busch

    –Indycar–
    Will Power
    Helio Castroneves
    Ryan Hunter-Reay
    Justin Wilson
    Scott Dixon

    Like

  2. I was shocked to go back later and see that I picked the same 7 DTM guys as Sean had. That, I assure you, was not on purpose. Great minds…

    You didn’t miss much with the Cup race. I’ll try to limit my rant, but I tuned in with 14 laps to go (after purposely skipping the first 3 hours of the race), and then it was 58 more minutes before we had a checkered flag. Sorry, but that’s just a mess. And I’m enjoying (sarcastically) everybody ignoring the fact that Harvick only won by shoving McMurray out of the way in the last corner. Hey, it was the greatest race of all time, though, so who cares!?!

    OK, rant over. Picks to follow later today.

    Like

  3. I know very little about DTM, so I just picked the top seven in the points standings from last year. Trust me, it had little to do with my “knowledge”. I did know to minimize my number of Cup picks for a plate week, though…

    Actually, the Cup race was mostly good until they threw a moronic caution for Bobby Labonte spinning all by himself and recovering with about 10 or 15 laps to go when there were three distinct packs, which THEN led to the crazy carnage. Had they not thrown that caution, there would have been no other cautions and the race would have been about as good as plate racing can get (only about 4 cautions and only one really minor big wreck); as it is, though, it was disgusting. I watched a couple of Talladega races from 1993-95 on YouTube once. Although there were some famous and grotesque wrecks in that era as well, the races were much more sedate with tons of separation, multiple packs, and usually three or fewer cautions. They really weren’t all that bad, although still not real racing… It was when they added the wicker bill and changed the restrictor plate size after happy hour the night before the race at Talladega in 2000 (the plate race before Dale Earnhardt died) that plate racing truly and forever jumped the shark. I doubt a truly ’90s style plate race will ever happen again anyway because the teams are too equal now. 33 cars more or less are well-funded, so you won’t see gaps between the big dogs, the second-tier teams, and the privateers anymore.

    Anyway:

    IndyCar

    Ryan Briscoe
    Scott Dixon
    Ryan Hunter-Reay
    Tony Kanaan
    Will Power

    Cup

    Kyle Busch
    Jeff Gordon
    Denny Hamlin
    Matt Kenseth
    Tony Stewart

    Like

  5. With only 18 cars and perhaps 6 or 7 of those likely to score a podium, there isn’t a great deal of choice if you’re going to pick 7 drivers from the DTM. Perhaps things will be shaken up when there are more pressing demands from other championships – that said, DTM races don’t seem to clash with that many others.

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  6. I can’t understand why they throw the yellows when a car spins and immediately continues, if he spins to the apron and gets going again within half a minute that’s fine to me, but what do I know.. Surely they must know the risk from bunching the field in this way on these tracks is probably higher than the risk of someone hitting the spinner so give him a chance to get going.

    Like

  7. Indycar

    Will Power
    Helio Castroneves
    Ryan Hunter Reay
    Justin Wilson
    Dario Franchitti

    NASCAR

    Jimmie Johnson
    Kevin Harvick
    Greg Biffle
    Matt Kenseth
    Kyle Busch

    I thought I was alone in this new tactic for me. I think Jon is using it too. I have a big gap to close.

    Like

  8. I’m certain the reason they threw the yellow on Sunday was to bunch the field. There was literally no other explanation. I knew right away that the reaction in race control when Labonte spun was along the lines of “Woo-hoo! Throw the yellow! Bunch the field!” I don’t think NASCAR cares one whit about the risks involved with the two scenarios you laid out, it’s about maximizing the potential for chaos and a crazy, fan-pleasing finish. Likewise, protecting a potential green flag finish has led NASCAR over the last year or so to begin leaving the track in a green flag state, even as the field bears down on a stationary car on the start-finish line. That happened twice in a 5-week span last year. They are playing with fire by sacrificing the safety of their drivers for the entertainment of their fanbase. It’ll all be OK until a driver gets killed by NASCAR’s failure to act in a rational manner. Or until a car goes into the stands on one of these restrictor place G-W-C finishes.

    OK, that’s my soapbox for today. Seriously, picks to come later.

    Like

  9. I need my luck to return or I’m going down. Here is my list of drivers that will do badly this week:

    Indycar:

    Dario Franchitti
    Scott Dixon
    Ryan Briscoe
    Will Power
    Helio Castroneves
    Justin Wilson
    Danica Patrick

    NASCAR:

    Jimmie Johnson
    Jeff Gordon
    Tony Stewart

    Like

  10. IndyCar Series:
    Scott Dixon
    Dario Franchitti
    Will Power
    Ryan Briscoe
    Helio Castroneves
    Justin Wilson

    NASCAR Cup:
    Jimmie Johnson
    Jeff Gordon
    Matt Kenseth
    Kevin Harvick

    Killer team, if I don’t get lots of points this week something has gone wrong..

    Like

  12. IndyCar:
    Scott Dixon
    Dario Franchitti
    Ryan Briscoe
    Tony Kanaan
    Ryan Hunter-Reay
    Helio Castroneves

    NASCAR Cup:
    Tony Stewart
    Kasey Kahne
    Jimmie Johnson
    Denny Hamlin

    Like

  13. Indycar

    Will Power
    Scott Dixon
    Dario Franchitti
    Ryan Briscoe
    Helio Castroneves

    NASCAR
    Jimmie Johnson
    Tony Stewart
    Greg Biffle
    Matt Kenseth
    Kyle Busch

    Like

  14. Indycar
    Scott Dixon
    Dan Wheldon
    Dario Franchitti
    Helio Castroneves
    Tony Kanaan

    NASCAR
    Denny Hamlin
    Clint Bowyer
    Kyle Busch
    Jimmie Johnson
    Mark Martin

    Like

  15. IndyCar

    Scotty Dixon
    Will Power
    Ryan Hunter-Reay
    Helio Castroneves
    Justin Wilson
    Ryan Briscoe

    NASCAR

    Kyle Busch
    Jimmie Johnson
    Jamie McMurray
    Matt Kenseth

    Nearly, nearly forgot about it. Cheers to Sebastian for reminding me.

    Like

  17. Thanks Sebastian for the reminder – I was out all yesterday evening so I didn’t have the chance. Seems we’re missing Burwellian.

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  18. I e-mailed Burwellian last night but it was pretty late and I guess he did not see it in time. I e-mailed RG at the same time but also spotted him a bit later in Sidepodcast comments so nudged him.

    I still feel bad about James missing the Sebring week. Since then I have been trying to remind people. The problem is I only have e-mail addresses for some players and others I can contact through their sites. If I had hit a situation whereby I could not contact all of the late entrants, I would not have contacted those I could. Just to complicate it, I feel bad for Startledbunny who could use folks missing the odd week.

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  19. I don’t mind, it’s my own fault I’m near the lower end of the table.
    I missed a week or two early on. Had I not missed those weeks I’d probably be doing better.

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