MotoGP 2016: Grand Prix of Spain

All Weekend the leading three were in a league of their own. Rossi, Lorenzo, and Marquez had filled the top three spots of almost every practice session and lined up next to each other on the front row of the grid. The three biggest names in MotoGP were alongside each other once more and everything in practice had indicated that there was almost nothing to choose between them.

As is typical of the Spanish GP, the grid was packed with mechanics, guests and officials but the riders did their best to block it out and run through their race plans. With all three on the same hard front and medium rear tyres, managing tyre life could very well decide the race but those concerns would came later. Race can’t be won in the first corner, but they can certainly be lost.

Across the line they went as the second lap began as the Movistar Yamaha MotoGP pair stretched their lead. Marquez attacked Pedrosa into Turn 6, running wide as his line was blocked. Through Turn 9 Lorenzo launched a similar attack on Rossi, the Italian holding off his teammate as the Hondas clawed back the gap with Marquez now in third.

After a terrible start to the race, lannone set about making up for lost time and quickly got past Pol Espargaro and ran away with seventh place. This would be one of the last battles of the race as the field stretched out, only a handful of riders within a second of each other. For the 113^th time in his career and the 87^th time in the premier class, Valentino Rossi pulled a wheelie across the line to celebrate victory. Behind him Jorge Lorenzo took his 100^th premier class podium finish and Marquez was able to keep the lead of the championship, his lead reduced slightly to 17 points.

Nico Rosberg wins China Grand Prix 2016

Nico Rosberg left the drama and chaos of the Chinese GP in his wake to claim a commanding sixth win in a row and open up a big lead at the top of the driver championship. Lewis Hamilton finished seventh after starting from the back of the grid, but his chances of a stronger result were compromised by a broken front wing on an accident filled opening lap.

Rosberg now leads his Mercedes team-mate by 36 points in the World Championship after three races. Sebastian Vettel finished second for Ferrari but a whopping 38 seconds behind Rosberg after being involved in the chaotic opening lap most controversial moment when he crashed into his team-mate Raikkonen. Vettel blamed the fast starting Daniil Kvyat for triggering the incident, with the pair later meeting on track as the Ferrari made his way back through the field after his own front wing change.

Vettel overtook the Red Bull, but Kvyat still claimed Red Bull first podium of the year in the third. Red Bull team-mate Daniel Ricciardo finished fourth for the third consecutive race was left to rue what might have been after a puncture scuppered his podium hopes when leading from Rosberg in the early stages. Raikkonen dropped to the back of the field after his tangle with Vettel but fought back to fifth, ahead of Massa and a frustrated Hamilton.

However, that was as good as the race would get for the Woking team, as both the Spaniard and team-mate Jenson Button steadily dropped down the top 10 order and eventually out of the points. Toro Rosso pair Max Verstappen who finished right on Hamilton tail and Carlos Sainz along with the second Williams of Valtteri Bottas, rounded out the points finisher instead.

MotoGP 2016: Grand Prix of the Americas

All eyes were on Marc Marquez as the MotoGP World Championship lined up at the head the grid for the Red Bull Grand Prix of the Americas. The Spaniard went into the race with a perfect record on America Soil, winning every MotoGP race he started in the United States. While Marquez was quietly confident, there were a number of riders who were looking to return to the front once more.

Amongst them was Jorge Lorenzo, the 2015 MotoGP World Champion having suffered an uncharacteristic crash during Warm Up. Andrea Lannone was another ready to make an impact; having qualified fourth he started seventh after his penalty from the Argentina GP. All of the factory Yamaha and Ducati riders opted for medium tyres front and rear while pole man Marquez chose the soft front with medium rear.

Roaring off the line, Lorenzo grabbed the lead into Turn 1 but ran wide on exit, allowing Marquez to move ahead. The field all make it through the opening corners safe, Lorenzo in the second with Valentino Rossi hot on his tail. Andrea Dovizioso also made a good start and used the power of the Ducati Slide into second down the back straight. The third lap began with Rossi crashing out of the race at Turn 2, losing the front mid corner.

All the while Marquez and Dovizioso ran away at the front, Lorenzo defending his third place position. For the first time in 25 races, Rossi failed to finish the top five. Lap after lap, Marquez extended his lead and after only five laps his fourth straight win in Texas looked certain. But the remaining two spots on the podium were wide open, Lorenzo getting past Dovizioso with Dani Pedrosa waiting patiently behind. Round 4 of MotoGP World Championship takes place on the 24^th April at the Gran Premio Red Bull De Espana.

MotoGP 2016: Argentina Grand Prix

Argentina delivered a bizarre race befitting an equally bemusing lead up, Marc Marquez taking his first MotoGP win of 2016 simply by staying out of trouble. The Honda rider seized the lead early and held off a feisty Valentino Rossi ahead of compulsory pit stops at the halfway point of the shortened 20 lap race, both measures due to tyre issues suffered by Michelin during practice.

Marquez was peerless after the stops, Rossi unable to match his early pace and allowing his chief rival to race to a comfortable 7.6 second victory. There should have been a pair of Ducatis between them but, in a total disaster for the Italian team, Andrea Lannone took out teammate Andrea Dovizioso at the final corner as he tried to nab second place. The pair went tumbling into the gravel, allowing Rossi through to second and a surprised Dani Pedrosa into third.

Jorge Lorenzo, the Yamaha Man got the holeshot off the start but immediately began to slip down the order as he struggled with Michelin emergency spec rear tyre. His day ended early with a crash on the sixth lap. A promising race for Jack Miller also ended with his machine tumbling through the gravel. The Australian made a lighting start to pass the fading Lorenzo for sixth on the third lap, only to endure his fourth crash of the weekend on the next tour.

The upshot of it all is that Marquez now leads the championship on a machine that locked in all sorts of trouble in pre-season testing, with Rossi eight points in arrears, Pedrosa 14 points back and Jorge Lorenzo 16 behind. The next race is the Grand Prix of the Americas in Austin in one week’s time.

Nico Rosberg won Bahrain Grand Prix 2016

Mercedes Nico Rosberg made it five wins on the trot with a dominant victory in 2016 Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix. Rosberg took the flag 10 seconds clear of Ferrari Kimi Raikkonen after an incident filled Sakhir Race. Rosberg team mate Lewis Hamilton dropped to ninth on the opening lap after Turn 1 contact with William Valtteri Bottas but in a damaged car fought his way back to secure a lonely final podium place.

The second Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel failed to start after a suspected engine failure on the formation lap. As Hamilton and Kimi made poor starts, he sped into a lead that was never seriously contested, thus increasing his championship lead. Kimi and Rosberg switched back to supersofts in their second stops, as did Hamilton, but it was clear the race lay between Kimi and Rosberg. They shadowed each other yet again in their final stops, back to softs, but in the end the Mercedes driver was 10.2s ahead.

Rosberg thus leads the world Championship with 50 points to his team mate 33, with fourth place Daniel Ricciardo, now third overall for Red Bull, on 24 after another fast and fighting race. Romain Grosjean and Haas again proved stars. As a result, he is ahead of Vettel in the championship, and equal with Kimi on 18 points. In 10^th place Stoffel Vandoorne fulfilled all his promise on a day when team mate Jenson Button McLaren let him down, to score the final point on his debut for the Working team after a swift and intelligent performance.

Felipe Nasr brought the second Sauber home 14^th as Force India had a horrible race which yielded only 16^th and 17^th places for Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg, the latter making four stops and the former suffering debris damage early on. Rio Haryanto was the final finisher in the second manor, as Toro Rosso Carlos Sainz, Haas Esteban Gutierrez, Button and Renault Jolyon Palmer joined Vettel on the side lines.

West Indies won T20 World Cup 2016

A Brilliant knock from Carlos Brathwaite and Marlon Samuels gave West Indies their second World T20 Champion title in Eden Gardens, Kolkata. Carlos hit four sixes in last over in four balls to win the title. This year Under 19 World Cup Trophy, Women T20 World Cup Trophy and Men T20 World Cup Trophy are lifted by West Indies Team.

So far, in World Cup West Indies lost only one match to Afghanistan in Super 10 round. They beat England twice including Final match, South Africa, Sri Lanka and India in Semi-Final. England was in game till 19^th over and set a target of 19 runs in last over. Ben stokes went for the final over and Carlos Brathwaite smashes four sixes in four balls to clinch the title and created history.

Virat Kohli was the top scorer in the World Cup with 273 runs in five matches in knockout rounds. Marlon Samuels was awarded Man of the Match award for his brilliant knock in Final. Samuels walked to the crease in the second over of the chase, when England had surprised West Indies by using Joe Root with the new ball, and he duly claimed Johnson Charles and Chris Gayle in his first over.

Virat Kohli won the Man of the tournament award in 2016 World T20 Final. He scored 273 runs at an average of 137. This was the sixth edition of the tournament. Next T20 World Cup will be hosted by Australia in 2020. 

West Indies Women won Maiden WT20 title

Two sides that are known to play aggressive faced off in what promised to be a thrilling finale. Australia threw the early punches, West Indies then counter punched in the chase as the might of their explosive batting line-up resurfaced their maiden entry into the Women World T20 final ending in a blaze of glory at the iconic Eden Gardens in Kolkata.

West Indies were run ragged in the first half as half-centuries from Elyse Villani and Meg Lanning helped Australia post an imposing 148 for 5. Enter Hayley Mathews and Stafanie Taylor and a daunting chase was clinically brought into the realms of possibility courtesy an opening stand of 120 in 15.4 overs. Once within striking distance, Taylor and Dottin brought all their experience to the fore by seeing off the highest successful chase in Women T20 history with three balls to spare.

Something about the last overs of their bowling stint, off which they conceded just one run, fired West Indies. Despite having the momentum with them, it was going to be a mountain to climb. For the first three overs of their chase, Australia had a lid on the runs, having conceded just eight. Then they relaxed, only to see Mathews unfurl boundary after boundary to leave Australia ducking for cover.

Halfway through the chase, Lanning called her team into a huddle in a bid to regroup. But that was to no avail. The wicket of Mathews, who miscued a pull off Kristen Beams to midwicket with West Indies 29 off 26 balls, came as relief, more than joy. That allowed Dottin, who had an off day with ball, a shot at redemption, which she gleefully accepted as West Indies celebrated a historic triumph in style.