Biggest winners and losers from each race this weekend

Biggest winners and losers from each race this weekend

Published Jan. 9, 2017 12:09 p.m. ET

It’s the middle of winter, but there’s already been plenty of racing action in 2017.

To break it all down from you, here’s a look back at the biggest winner and biggest loser from each race last weekend:

Anaheim 1 Supercross:

Winner: Ken Roczen. Winner of the heat race, winner of the main, and possibly the winner of the 2017 championship? Obviously it’s way too early to tell, but after winning two of the three races at the Monster Energy Cup and dominating the Anaheim 1 main event, it’s safe to say that Roczen on the Honda is a threat to Ryan Dungey this season.

Loser: Mike Alessi. Alessi went down hard in the 450SX Main and had to be carried off the track. While he was conscious following the incident, he had already had a rough start to the season, only making it into the main with a fifth-place finish in his Semi. There have been no official updates on Alessi’s condition as of the time of writing.

Dakar Rally:

Winner: Mother Nature. Bad weather cut short Stage 5 and cancelled Stage 6 of the event, while Monday's Stage 7 had to be rerouted. On track, Stephane Peterhansel (Cars) and Sam Sunderland (Bikes) headed into the rest day with their respective race leads.

Loser: Carlos Sainz. The 2010 Dakar Rally winner had a dramatic exit from this year’s event when he rolled into a ravine during Stage 4 on Thursday, narrowly avoiding two spectators. Fortunately, everyone was OK.

Visa Vegas eRace:

Winner: Bono Huis. Huis started on pole and took home the win and the $200,000 in Formula E’s first ever virtual eRace. However, Huis did not cross the line in first place. After pitting early, Olli Pahkala used FanBoost to set some hot laps on a clean racetrack and emerge as the race leader after the round of stops. Pahkala took the win but both he and Huis knew something was amiss. After it was confirmed that a glitch with FanBoost had occurred, Pahkala was handed a 12-second penalty, dropping him to third.

Losers: Graham Carroll, Aleksi Uusi and David Greco. In the virtual world or the real one, three wide into a chicane doesn’t work, and these three drivers proved that the hard way mid-race:

https://twitter.com/FIAformulaE/status/817895902706827264?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Roar before the 24:

Winner: DragonSpeed Oreca. The No. 81 machine turned the fastest lap during the final preseason test ahead of the Rolex 24 at Daytona with Ben Hanley behind the wheel, but only by 0.020 seconds over Jonathan Bomarito’s best time in the No. 55 Mazda RT24-P.

Loser: Corvette Racing. The No. 4 Corvette went up in flames on the final day of testing. While Chevrolet U.S. Vice President, Performance Vehicles and Motorsports, Jim Campbell said the fire was triggered by an issue with the fuel line, the team was unable to identify the root cause of the issue at the track, and so packed the No. 3 Corvette up early to be safe.

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