TMR Game 2011 – Week 41

Hello and welcome to TMR Game Week 41.

4 weeks to go including this one. This post accepts entries for these 2 events:

– MotoGP Valencia
– NASCAR Cup Texas

Housekeeping

Each week you pick 10 entries with a maximum of 7 of those coming from a single championship.
You can have any mix of races from those listed in this post, and you don’t have to use all of them.

See this page for the rules.

Email reminders will be sent on Thursdays or Fridays by either myself or Sebastian. Please leave a valid email address in the comment form.

Scores

Results

Week 40 F1 NASCAR Cup
Points Delhi Martinsville
1 50 Vettel Stewart
2 40 Button Johnson
3 35 Alonso J Gordon
4 32 Webber Harvick
5 30 Schumacher Hamlin
6 28 Rosberg Burton
7 26 Hamilton Earnhardt Jr
8 24 Alguersuari Truex Jr
9 22 Sutil Edwards
10 20 Perez Newman

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Player Scores

Player F1 NASCAR Week 40
RubberGoat 221 125 346
The Speedgeek 183 143 326
Sebastian X 221 105 326
Dylanpt24 183 132 315
Pat W 211 88 299
Jackie 221 73 294
Sean 193 76 269
Maverick 223 36 259
Startledbunny 183 71 254
Felipe Gana (80%) 203
Ryan (80%) 203
Crooked Cap (80%) 203
James (80%) 203
Jay (80%) 203
Mike Rice (80%) 203

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Three in a row for Gavin! Well done.

Andy and Sebastian tied for 2nd and it is good to see Dylan make an appearance at the top end of the table.

A couple of people were caught out by low scores from Matt Kenseth and Kyle Busch, and to some extent Brad Keselowski and Felipe Massa. Maverick in particular was let down as he had marginally the best F1 score, yet a poor Cup score sees him near the back this week.

Please see the score-by-score results produced by Sebastian. Interestingly – or maybe predictably – everybody picked the top four F1 drivers.

Leaderboard

Pos Pre +/- Name Prior Wk 40 Total +
1 1 0 Sebastian X 10366 326 10692
2 2 0 Sean 10338 269 10607 85
3 3 0 RubberGoat 10004 346 10350 257
4 5 1 Pat W 9837 299 10136 214
5 4 -1 Maverick 9854 259 10113 23
6 7 1 The Speedgeek 9751 326 10077 36
7 6 -1 Felipe Gana 9821 203 10024 53
8 8 0 Jackie 9673 294 9967 57
9 9 0 Startledbunny 9486 254 9740 227
10 10 0 Dylanpt24 8853 315 9168 572
11 11 0 Ryan 8633 203 8836 332
12 12 0 The Crooked Cap 8238 203 8441 395
13 13 0 James 7759 203 7962 479
14 14 0 Jay 7290 203 7493 469
15 15 0 Mike Rice 6774 203 6977 516

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Sebastian’s lead extends once more, and Gavin is striding away from that middle order pack. I think the top 3 are nearly confirmed unless Sean can mount a comeback.

I’ve retaken 4th position but only barely. Speedgeek has overtaken Felipe who didn’t place an entry. This whole midfield group is still fighting for position with just a few weeks to go!

Races This Week

MotoGP Valencia

The final round of the season and I’m sure it is one the riders and teams are not looking forward to. Marco Simoncelli’s Dad has called for ‘a minute’s noise’ rather than one of silence and I hope it is well-observed.
I do understand if people would prefer not to pick from this race, although you’ll leave yourself open to people who do..
Colin Edwards will not be racing, there is a substitute rider but I wouldn’t pick him as he doesn’t have experience at this level.

NASCAR Cup Texas

Back to the high-banks for the Cup drivers. Matt Kenseth won here in the Spring with Bowyer 2nd and Edwards 3rd.

Coming Soon

There are three weeks left after this one and these are the races coming up:

Week 42 – F1 Abu Dhabi GP, ILMC Zhuhai 6 Hrs, NASCAR Cup Phoenix

Week 43 – NASCAR Cup Homestead-Miami

Week 44 – F1 Brazilian GP

28 thoughts on “TMR Game 2011 – Week 41”

  1. Gavin’s third is looking a done deal, but with the lurches and runs of gains Sean and I have often had against each other this season, I am not feeling at all secure, although obviously the points in hand are a useful cushion. Looking back not that far through the scores I found weeks I lost sixty and eighty-four points to Sean. The pattern for much of the season has been my grinding my way back up to striking distance of Sean, perhaps even a small lead, and then crashing back again with one or two very bad weeks. Last time this happened, I knew I was reliant on good luck to catch up again, since when Sean has had rotten luck where our picks differed. The difference between us is less than one-per-cent of our total scores.

    Spies’s inclusion is provisional. I will keep an eye on news about his condition. I am hoping he is OK as I dread the choice between Harvick, Hamlin and Kyle to replace him.

    MotoGP:
    Casey Stoner
    Dani Pedrosa
    Ben Spies
    Andrea Dovizioso
    Nicky Hayden
    Valentino Rossi
    Hiroshi Aoyama

    NASCAR:
    Jimmie Johnson
    Carl Edwards
    Matt Kenseth

    Like

  2. Jorge Lorenzo will not be racing either this weekend, he’s still recovering from the injury that saw him miss the last two rounds.

    Like

  5. MotoGP:
    1. Stoner
    2. Pedrosa
    3. Dovizioso
    4. Rossi
    5. Hayden
    6. Aoyama
    7. Crutchlow

    NASCAR:
    8. Jimmie Johnson
    9. Jeff Gordon
    10. Tony Stewart

    Like

  6. Grrr! I was almost starting to like NASCAR! Screwed me over good and proper. Can only blame myself for picking Massa though – I should have trusted my gut instincts.

    MotoGP:
    Casey Stoner
    Dani Pedrosa
    Andrea Dovizioso
    Ben Spies
    Alvaro Bautista
    Nicky Hayden
    Valentino Rossi
    (in that order)

    NASCAR:
    Matt Kenseth
    Carl Edwards
    Jimmie Johnson

    Come on Kenseth, you owe me big time.

    Like

  7. MotoGP:
    Casey Stoner
    Dani Pedrosa
    Andrea Dovizioso
    Nicky Hayden
    Valentino Rossi
    Karel Abraham (yeah, you heard me)

    NASCAR Cup:
    Jimmie Johnson
    Matt Kenseth
    Kyle Busch
    Biff Riffle

    Like

  9. MotoGP: Josh Hayes! (what do I have to lose?) Ben Spies (hope springs eternal), Valentino Rossi, Casey Stoner, Andrea Dovizioso
    NASCAR: Kevin Harvick, Tony Stewart, Carl Edwards, Brad Keselowski, Kyle Busch

    Like

  11. Crap, I forgot Edwards existed.. I’ll sub him for Hamlin. Might be a mistake.. but then so might be picking 5 Cup guys at Texas.

    Like

  12. Somehow I forgot to play last week. Big Doh.
    Now I’m back.:-)

    MOTO GP
    Andrea Dovizioso
    Dani Pedrosa
    Valentino Rossi
    Casey Stoner

    NASCAR
    Kyle Busch
    Kevin Harvick
    Jimmie Johnson
    Brad Keselowski
    Tony Stewart
    Jeff Gordon

    Like

  14. MOTOGP
    Dovizioso
    Stoner
    Pedrosa
    Rossi
    Hayden

    NASCAR:
    Jimmie Johnson
    Matt Kenseth
    Carl Edwards
    Kevin Harvick
    Brad Keselowski

    Like

  15. I know it’s already Saturday, but can I change my freaking Kyle Busch pick?

    I never, and I mean NEVER, expected a suspension for rough driving for the entire weekend (expected a probation), especially when I’ve seen way worse things than that (Edwards/Keselowski at Atlanta last year, Stewart/Kenseth in the 2006 Daytona 500, even Burton/Gordon last year at Texas) go almost completely unpunished, simply because those drivers have cleaner “images” (which are mostly a joke, as in my opinion no NASCAR drivers are actually clean). Since I think this is major-level inconsistency from NASCAR (unless they start penalizing everybody who causes a wreck like that, which I don’t think they’re going to do), I think people who picked Kyle (including, but not just me) should be allowed to change their picks before the race tomorrow. Although I suppose that would be inconsistency on your part, Patrick, especially as you didn’t seem to allow anybody to replace the injured MotoGP riders a couple weeks ago…

    Oh well, THAT decides the title for sure now. I had to pick different drivers from Sebastian to create volatility and well…the volatility bit me in the behind big time this time. But it still blows my mind that Kyle would be suspended for an entire weekend for this. It’s not even the worst thing HE’s done (which would be wrecking Casey Mears under the red flag at Charlotte, in my opinion), and other people have done worse things than him and not gotten punished.

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  16. And yes, I certainly agree that you Patrick, Felipe, Dylan, startledbunny, and Speedgeek should be likewise allowed to change your picks, simply because I think Kyle’s penalty is so out-of-the-blue and random, if they’re not going to reprimand Edwards, Stewart, and Burton for those aforementioned incidents. Although I can certainly see if Sebastian disagrees…

    Like

  17. If NASCAR had a history of consistently punishing drivers like this for stuff in other series, I wouldn’t be whining like this at all. But I think considering their record, I think I’m justified, as I honestly think this penalty was wrong (unless they’re going to use these new standards for everyone, which they probably should do).

    Like

  18. I thought the penalty was totally and completely fair and if anything it doesn’t go far enough – just because they’ve wrongly not punished people before doesn’t make it right for them not do it now. I agree that earlier incidents should’ve attracted penalty and Edwards etc should’ve been parked too. I hope the happenings of the last month in racing have changed NASCAR’s mind about the way they handle intentional crashing. I hope this kind of retaliation is stamped out from the sport completely via whatever means necessary.

    you didn’t seem to allow anybody to replace the injured MotoGP riders a couple weeks ago

    I’ve always taken the view that if something happens to a driver/rider after the deadline that’s the same as him crashing out of the race and scoring a DNF. If that driver is replaced then I might very likely award the points of the replacement and I’m tempted to do just that. Sadly they decided to replace him with McDowell and I don’t see him scoring a top 15.

    I’m in a position where as the person running the game I cannot win – the people who picked Busch are upset if they can’t change, but if I allow it, the people who didn’t pick him will be upset that everyone else gets a free change.

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  20. If it helps, I will support your decision, Patrick, whichever way you go. Do let me know for co-scoring purposes. I agree it was more than time they did something, but it was outrageously inconsistant by NASCAR.

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  22. Pat,

    AFAIK, the judge’s decision is final. I’ll support your decision whichever way you go.

    As for the KB penalty, yes there have been worse incidents but I was shocked to see the crash and it made me feel sick after all that’s happened recently. NASCAR need to stamp this sort of rubbish out of the sport as it is unacceptable. It’s yet another reason why I am over the 2011 season and just want it to end…

    Like

  23. Bear in mind also that everyone who could benefit from the change may not be available to do so – it would be doubly unfair on those who are not.

    And you could throw Dovizioso’s dislocated thumb into the whole can of worms.

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  24. I will take McDowall’s points. It might not be a lot but it is better than no points at all and is what I would do if say Nico Rosberg was taken ill and Sam Bird took over his car for the race. If something like this has happened this year and I missed it or scored it incorrectly do let me know.

    I think the difference between this and other instances is that people specifically changed their picks because it happened before cutoff, or they knew it was likely to happen so avoiding picking them entirely. Just as with Ben Spies this week – a lot of us avoided picking him (including me) because he might not have raced, as it turns out he is and he actually qualified well.

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  25. “I will take McDowall’s points. ”

    I think that makes sense as in LMS we pick the car not the driver. Only problem with that is that Hunter-Reay was in Junqueira’s at Indy…
    😀

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  27. I was reflecting on the basic car-backing theory

    MotoGP did their best to address the balance on the first corner though.

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  28. Nah, screw that. As far as I’m concerned, you play with the bull (i.e. pick a moron like Kyle Busch, who can fly off the handle at any given second), you get the horns (i.e. suffer for it, on the off-chance that NASCAR decides that this particular incident is the 1 out of 100 incidents that they’re actually going to enforce a penalty with at least a couple of teeth, although I’d vote that Kyle should be suspended for Phoenix and Homestead as well, along with a hefty fine). As I say (or hint, at least) in the rules package for the original ARFL game, taking a driver who is prone to crashing out of a weekend during Friday practice or getting himself suspended for future weeks, you pay the penalty. That’s part of the risk/reward ratio with guys like that. And, yes, I am saying this as a guy who not only picked Kyle in this game this week, but has him on his regular ARFL squad (as my first round pick, no less).

    Anyway, I’m all up on my high horse about this topic. As I said in the comments at Leigh O’Gorman’s place, the fact that these types of incidents almost never carry a punishment is one of the multitude of reasons I only watch about 100 total laps of any given NASCAR season after the Daytona 500, at least since about 2003.

    However, with all of that said, I’ll certainly accept the one point that I’ll get for McDowell, if that’s the way you decide to go, Pat.

    Like

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