The ABC Supply 500 was run at the Pocono Raceway in Long Pond Penn. on Sunday. Will Power won the pole with teammate Josef Newgarden lined up next to him. Alexander Rossi started third. When the green flag dropped Rossi quickly took command and was nearly unbeatable. He led 180 of the 200 laps to take his third win of the season. Power held on for a season and championship point leader Scott Dixon finished third. Sebastian Bourdais was fourth and Newgarden was fifth. The win placed Rossi within twenty five points of leader Dixon and will make for an exciting finish for 2018 IndyCar Championship.
Of the incident that all the racing world is talking about is the terrifying crash of rookie Robert Wickens when he bumped Ryan Hunter-Reay on lap seven. Wickens’ car vaulted into the air and hit the retaining fence and came crashing back down, sending carbon fiber debris and fiery fuel all over in a horrific display of racing mayhem. Hunter-Reay went into the wall but dodged a large piece of Wickens’ broken car flying inches above his head. Wickens’ teammate James Hinchcliffe, no stranger to life-threatening race car crashes hit Hunter-Reay. Takuma Sato hit the wall trying to avoid Wickens and Pietro Fittipaldi hit Sato. All this happened in about 30 seconds. Memories of the Sage Karam crash, which took the life of Justin Wilson in the 2015 Pocono 500, came flooding back to observers.
Almost unbelievably all but Wickens sustained minor injuries and were treated and released from the infield hospital. Wickens, however, sustained two broken legs, severely bruised lungs, and significant trauma to his spinal cord. An operation to insert rods and pins into the cord was successful but his recovery will be lengthy. Wickens was experiencing a banner rookie year. The 29 year old Canadian was the Indy 500 Rookie of the Year with a ninth place finish and will be the series rookie of the year. Sadly now he may never walk again, let alone drive a race car.
Colts Lose to Ravens
In their second preseason game of 2018, the Colts lost 20-19 to the Baltimore Ravens. Andrew Luck looked a bit rusty and hit 6 of 13 passes for yards and an interception. He was sacked twice. As usual the offensive line was mediocre. They couldn’t plug holes for the running game. Le’Raven Clark started at left tackle for injured Anthony Castano. He was awful. The rest of the line was not much better. The wide receivers without T.Y. Hylton are hopeless. They have no power runners. The big moment for the Colts offense was Adam “Golden Leg” Vinatieri banging a 57 field goal.
The defense was drawing penalties all over the place. Encroachment, helmet to helmet, you name it. Pass rush is still a problem. Special teams. Nyheim Hines fumbled a kickoff return to set up the Ravens second score.
As for the rest of the game, Jacoby Brissett showed why the Colts turned down a second round draft pick from the Seahawks for him. He was sharp and effective leading the second unit.
Why the closeness of the game? The Colts third team outplayed the Ravens third team. With a little over two minutes to go, third string quarterback Phillip Walker found rookie free agent receiver Zach Pascal for a nine yard touchdown pass. The Colts went for a two point conversion but failed, so it finished 20-19. The Colts meet the 49ers Saturday night.