What a year for the ASTAR!

We like to see the brands we stock excel, and my oh my, how well these guys have done this year. One of our good friends from Alpinestars was happy enough to write about their success this year. Enjoy the read.

 

Hello

And what a year it has been for Alpinestars. F1 World Champ, AMA Supercross Champ, AMA Moto X Champ, MotoGP World Champ, World Superbikes Champ, and that is just to name a few. With this comes worldwide mass exposure. Alpinestars as a brand has been going for the last 50 years and has enjoyed much success in various regions of motorsports, but it is amazing to see the amount of success we are now having at the same time across a much wider variety of these sports. It has allowed us to create a lifestyle apparel range for the commercial market and with this mass exposure our logo goes from strength to strength. So, as I haven’t written in a while, let me fill you in!

MOTOGP

Repsol Honda's Casey Stoner barely beat Yamaha's Ben Spies to the finish line with a full-on drag race to the checkers at the dreary and rainy Valencia Grand Prix. Stoner took off right from the start of the 26-lap season finale right from the out of the lights and took off like a scalded cat, racing away, his lead at one point over ten seconds. But as the drizzle turned to rain late in the race, and teams readied the rain motorcycles on pit lane, Repsol Honda's Andrea Dovizioso and Spies worked away at digging into Stoner's lead. Spies passed Dovi for second early on the 26th lap and took the lead when Stoner caught a false neutral and ran wide in the right hand turn six also on lap 28. For the final two laps the Texan controlled the pace, until the very end. Stoner got a much better drive out of the final turn 14 left-hander and drove past Spies to win his tenth race of the year by a scant.015 sec. "The conditions have just been really difficult to sort of deal with and the race was no different," Stoner, the 2011 MotoGP World Champion, said. "We started the race - it was raining the whole race, just little bits and pieces. It would change what corner it was and how hard it was lap by lap, so you didn't really know how hard to go into each corner as you were approaching. But we built up a really good lead, really comfortable, and every time I felt there was a bit too much rain, I'd back off, wait for the rain to sort of subside, they'd catch me a bit and I'd be able to increase the lead again. And I felt pretty good out there; the bike, everything was working well. Then it got to the point where it just started raining heavier and heavier and I went into a couple corners, the rear come around on me and I just really wasn't too keen on pushing any harder than what I was. And I thought, at least when they catch up, and if somebody does come past, I'll keep going at what I'm comfortable with. When somebody comes past I'll be able to sort of see then where the limits are and if they're getting a bit slippery or not. Ben (Spies) came past after I made a small mistake and hit neutral. He was looking great, to be honest. He was riding the corners really nice smooth. I was able to catch him a little bit on the brakes and out of acceleration points in a couple of areas. Other than that, he was just riding the track really nice, really smooth and I didn't think I was going to get a chance to do anything and I wasn't really willing to take any risks. And I suppose the last half of the last lap I thought, ‘This is it. This is the last lap of the year for us,' and I just decided to go for it and take some risks that I haven't taken all season. It came out very good for us. We were able to catch Ben going right into the last turn. Came out and got a fantastic drive. I don't think I think could've got any better run going into that last straight and managed just to pip him on the line. So sorry to Ben, but yeah we're very happy to end the season like this." If you missed this amazing race, catch the finish here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_97IUDFmywg

NASCAR

While only .526-miles in length – complete with 12-degree banks – Martinsville Speedway in Virginia may be the smallest track on in the NASCAR Sprint Cup schedule, but it’s history is larger than life. Created in 1947 by H. Clay Earles, Martinsville hosted its first true NACAR race on July 4, 1948, the track knows as the “paperclip” in the only track to have been on NASCAR’s premier schedule since 1948. Martinsville, yet again, lived up to its storied history and heritage on Sunday as in a late lap showdown, Tony Stewart gingerly motored around Jimmie Johnson on a restart with three laps left in Sunday's Tums Fast Relief 500. He then held off the reigning Sprint Cup Champion Johnson's charge for victory on the white flag lap to win. The victory was Stewart's third in the Chase for the Sprint Cup and vaulted him into second place in the standings, eight points behind leader Carl Edwards. Stewart won for the 42nd time in his career. "He'd better be worried," Stewart said of Edwards after the race, "that's all I can say. He's not going to have an easy three weeks." Amazingly, after twice being lapped on the race track, Edwards salvaged a decent run and retained his lead in the Chase standings with a ninth-place finish, as his two closest pursuers entering the race, Matt Kenseth and Brad Keselowski, both experienced late trouble and finished 31st and 17th, respectively. Jeff Gordon ran third, followed by Kevin Harvick, who climbed to third in the standings, 21 points behind Edwards. Denny Hamlin came home fifth, with Jeff Burton sixth and Dale Earnhardt Jr. seventh. After a wild first half of the race had settled into a 97-lap green-flag run after the midpoint, Hamlin squeezed past Gordon on Lap 320 and stayed out front in traffic until Burton's spin caused the 10th caution of the race. That started a spate of cautions that gave Harvick and Stewart a chance to move to the front with two-tire calls -- and allowed Edwards to return to the lead lap under the 12th caution with a free pass for the highest-scored car one lap down.
TRUCKING

“Showtime” leads the PRO 2 Unlimited class wire-to-wire on Saturday, topping Rob MacCachren and Brian Deegan for his first win of the 2011 season! The world’s greatest Monster Energy Supercross racer, Jeremy “Showtime” McGrath, put his season’s best run together on the Lucas Oil Off-Road Series (LOORS) on Saturday, winning the PRO 2 Unlimited class over Rob MacCachren and Brian Deegan – McGrath’s first win of the 2011 LOORS season. McGrath, running the No. 2 Monster Energy/ReadyLift/Ford, pulled a great start and got out to the lead early on the opening lap – with both Deegan and MacCachren in hot pursuit. Then following a crash and red flag on lap three, McGrath led the field into the mandatory competition yellow. The second half of the race would be much of the same as McGrath ran a fast yet steady pace, forcing those behind him to battle feverously to make up ground. And while MacCachren was able to get past Deegan, a near-crash in pursuit of McGrath late in the contest would force MacCachren to back ‘er down as McGrath took the checkers. With the win and Greg Adler’s 10th place finish, McGrath moved into 4th place overall in the PRO 2 Unlimited class standings after Saturday. See all the action here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucfF5jblDyg


Thats all for now folks... Have a great weekend!


The MoreCore Crew