Allmendinger, Michael Shank Racing win Rolex 24 at Daytona
Autoracing Betting Lines
01/29/2012 -
Daytona Beach, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Michael Shank Racing pulled off a
stunning win in Sunday's Rolex 24 at Daytona, with NASCAR driver A.J.
Allmendinger behind the wheel of the team's No.60 Ford-Riley during the final
stint.
Allmendinger shared driving duties with Grand Am Rolex Sports Car Series
regulars Ozz Negri and John Pew, as well as IndyCar Series driver Justin
Wilson in the 50th anniversary of the 24-hour endurance race at Daytona
International Speedway. The 30-year-old Allmendinger crossed the finish line
5.2 seconds ahead of Starworks Motorsports' No.8 Ford-Riley, which was driven
by Ryan Dalziel during the last hours of the event.
With a little more than one hour to go, Allmendinger put the No.60 car in the
lead for good. However, Allmendinger had to swerve wide in turn one to avoid
hitting a GT car during the closing laps. He went at least 20 feet off surface
onto the paved skid pad.
"I'm so worn out," Allmendinger said in Daytona's victory lane. "We wanted to
win this for Shank. The motor was so fast. I am so drained.
"I knew those last three hours I was going to have to go flat out. It was fun.
When Dalziel got in the car...I knew I was going to have to drive my (rear
end) off. I pushed really hard to build up a gap and take those last 10 laps
to manage that gap."
It's the first time in nine attempts that team owner Michael Shank has claimed
the victory in one of the world's most prestigious sports car races. The No.60
team completed 761 laps around the 3.560-mile Daytona road course for a total
of 2,709 miles. It was one lap shy of tying the event's all time record, set
in 1962.
"I feel like we deserved [a win], to be honest, because we've worked hard, and
I don't make any excuses for that, and we've paid our dues for sure," Shank
said. "I hope it can take us to new, cool places in Daytona Prototype in the
coming years."
Last month, Allmendinger signed with Penske Racing to drive the No.22 car in
NASCAR's premier series this season. He drove for Richard Petty's team the
past three years. Allmendinger has yet to win a race in any one of NASCAR's
three national touring series (Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Camping World
Truck).
"I look at this year as being my best opportunity to win a Cup race, but
that's easier said than done," he said. "Right now, I'm just going to take
this for what it's worth and not think about anything for a couple of days and
enjoy it. Right now, it's the biggest win I've ever had, because we've worked
for seven years to get to this point with Mike Shank, and we've been so close
so many times."
Wilson competed for the first time since last August when he suffered a back
injury during a practice crash at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, which curtailed
his 2011 IndyCar season.
"We all managed to comprise enough to get by between all four of us in being
comfortable and being able to push the limit every single lap, because this
was a tough race," Wilson said.
Dalziel partnered with Allan McNish, Alex Popow, Enzo Potolicchio and Lucas
Luhr in the No.8 car.
Brazilian Felipe Nasr finished third in a second Shank car, the No.6 Ford-
Riley.
NASCAR driver Juan Pablo Montoya finished fourth overall -- one lap down -- in
the No.02 Chip Ganassi Racing BMW-Riley. It's the first time since 2005 that a
Ganassi car was not on the podium for the 24-hour Daytona race. Montoya teamed
up with fellow Sprint Cup driver Jamie McMurray and IndyCar champions Dario
Franchitti and Scott Dixon.
"It was a great race - an epic 50th Rolex 24," Ganassi said. "My
congratulations to Mike Shank and Ford for a fantastic race, but I don't want
them to get too comfortable in victory circle."
Defending race and Grand Am champion Scott Pruett finished sixth in Ganassi's
No.01 BMW-Riley. A transmission problem that occurred late in the race put
Pruett four laps behind.
The GT class victory went to Andy Lally, John Potter, Richard Lietz and Rene
Rast in the No.44 Magnus Racing Porsche. The team finished 11th overall in the
race.
Lally has returned to Grand Am after capturing the rookie-of-the-year title in
Sprint Cup last year.
"I absolutely knew we had the potential to do it," Lally said. "It was a
pleasure to be able to join the team. It was absolutely epic to come home."
<< Heat hold off Bulls
Miami, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - LeBron James ended with 35 points and 11
rebounds, and the Miami Heat held off the Chicago Bulls, 97-93, in a rematch
of last season's Eastern Conference Finals.
Miami was up by eight with 2 1/2 minute
<< Gaborik's hat trick gives Team Chara the win at NHL All Star Game
Ottawa, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Marian Gaborik notched a hat trick and an assist
as Team Chara exploded in the third period to take a 12-9 victory in the 2012
All Star Game from Scotiabank Place.
Jarome Iginla, Marian Hossa and Phil Kessel al
<< Mavericks' Kidd out at least a week
Dallas, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Dallas Mavericks guard Jason Kidd will miss at
least one week of action due to a strained right calf.
Kidd suffered the injury early in Friday's game against Utah.
Head coach Rick Carlisle said before Su
<< Algorithms finds winning formula for Holy Bull Stakes
Hallandale Beach, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Algorithms, ridden by Javier
Castellano, overtook a tiring Hansen down the stretch to capture Sunday's
$400,000 Holy Bull Stakes at Gulfstream Park. The 5-2 second choice covered
the mil
<< Malaga holds off Sevilla to snap skid
Malaga, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Malaga held off Sevilla on Sunday to snap its
six-game winless skid, even though Isco was sent off 11 minutes from time in a
2-1 win at the Estadio La Rosaleda in Spain's La Liga.
Weligton and Sebastian Fer
Tennessee uses big second half to beat Georgia >>
Athens, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Shekinna Stricklen had 24 points, seven rebounds
and two steals, as the seventh-ranked Tennessee Lady Vols used a big second
half to beat the 17th-ranked Georgia Lady Bulldogs, 67-50.
Ariel Massengale added
No. 10 Miami routs Boston College >>
Chestnut Hill, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Shenise Johnson netted a game-high 22
points and pulled down nine rebounds as 10th-ranked Miami-Florida thumped
Boston College, 88-57, on Sunday.
Riquna Williams had 18 points and eight rebou
Barnes helps North Carolina down Georgia Tech >>
Chapel Hill, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Harrison Barnes scored a game-high 23
points, as No. 7 North Carolina cruised to a 93-81 win over Georgia Tech on
Sunday.
The Tar Heels (18-3, 5-1 ACC) had lost four straight to Georgia Tech, but
No. 16 Indiana rolls past Iowa >>
Bloomington, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Cody Zeller scored 26 points on 11-of-12
shooting as No. 16 Indiana rolled past Iowa, 103-89, at Assembly Hall.
Christian Watford added 15 points, Verdell Jones III had 14 and Victor Oladipo
dropped in
Snedeker stuns Stanley in playoff >>
La Jolla, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brandt Snedeker stunned Kyle Stanley with a
par on the second playoff hole to win the Farmers Insurance Open on Sunday.
Snedeker fired a five-under 67 to finish at 16-under-par 272. He seemingly was
headed
Credit Card Sports Betting: Sportsbook accepts U.S. credit cards
Tired of credit card deposit hassles? Then this is the place for you! MySportsbook boasts the best rate of acceptance for credit card deposits in the whole sports betting industry! They give you an instant 10% bonus for doing so as well, where as many other online bookies do not award a bonus for credit card transactioned deposits.
Welcome to MySportsbook.com the biggest and best sportsbook on the web! If you need a sportsbook accepting US credit cards for deposits you've come to the right place because they are the best.
Are you the type that needs lots of wager offerings? Then keep reading! MySportsbook is one of the best at offering everything gambling related that you can think of! Their sportsbook has all the current football and basketball odds as well as auto racing, horse racing, boxing and hard to find sports as well. Their casino boasts tons of different options as well such as blackjack, video poker, slots and virtual games such as hi-lo and virtual horse derby.
Reasons to Play There: A little tip for you all.. This is a sportsbook promotions that has a tremendous volume of players. They also offer an online poker room. Many of these sports bettors hop over to the poker room once the days games are over. Many of these sports bettors are just that and NOT good poker players. In summary, often times you'll be able to get into some lower limit games with some very ripe fish in the late evening hours resulting in some very easy pickin's and nice wins.
Speaking of poker, they offer satellite tournaments where you can win a free seat to the World Series of Poker! Be sure to check out their cycle, no hitter and slaughter rule refunds too! Open an account today by clicking here!
Numerous College Basketball teams take final big step to March Madness betting
So, what turned on the lock spigot? Well, after what felt like weeks of teams treading water and slipping back into the bubble muck, a bunch of them finally decided to say "to heck with parity" and won games that should put them into the Big Dance.
Disagree with some of these? Then here's the challenge. Take all of the "should be ins" and make a legit case that each should be ahead of the team that's a lock. Then find 10 more teams that also should be placed in the bracket ahead of that lock team. Not so easy, is it?
If you want more evidence that these locks should be good to go, check out what our research department dug up. Since the NCAA Tournament went to 64 teams in 1985, only six teams from a "big six" conference have had a record of 10-6 or better in conference play and not been selected: Colorado (2004) and Nebraska (1999) from the Big 12, Boston College and Seton Hall (both 2003) from the Big East, Indiana (2005) from the Big Ten and UCLA, which somehow went 12-6 in the Pac-10 in 1988 and still missed out. (Note: Five teams went 11-7 and didn't get in, the latest being last season's Stanford team, which had a brutal nonconference run.)
Yes, 10 conference wins doesn't always mean what it used to because of unbalanced schedules, but this season, it should be plenty good in all but the extreme cases (see: Iowa).
In a way, this is a welcome development, because this is a bubble watch, not a lock watch. We can finally be done with teams like Maryland and Virginia Tech and start really bearing down on at-large battles such as Syracuse-West Virginia and Appalachian State-Georgia Tech.
Interestingly, all the shifting of teams into lock status appears to be more administrative than impactful. The number of remaining available at-larges didn't change one iota. The only difference is that teams on the bubble now have a clearer idea of which team(s) they are competing with for those precious bids.
As always, I've tried to be as inclusive as possible while only including teams that would have a reasonable chance of at least being discussed if this were Selection Sunday. If your team's not on here, there's probably a good reason (or three) -- start with the RPI and SOS numbers and work your way down.
(Please remember, per selection committee criteria, that records displayed are Division I only. Next update: Feb. 28)
If you have a legitimate grievance, or just like talking bubble, send an e-mail. Polite ones with fact-based arguments have a much better chance of receiving a response. I apologize in advance if I can't get back to all of you.
Atlantic Coast Conference
Work left to do: Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech
The ACC moves to six locks as BC, Va Tech and Virginia all got their 10th ACC wins, which should be more than enough this season, and Maryland rallied past North Carolina to get the final piece the Terps needed. After that? It could end there unless FSU, Ga Tech or Clemson picks things up in a hurry.
Work left to do:
Clemson [19-9 (5-9), RPI: 41, SOS: 42] The Tigers are closer to locking up the collapse of the year award (in a good battle with OK State) than they are to grabbing an at-large. Clemson's been very competitive, but there's no really positive way you can spin nine losses in 11 games. They now cannot get to .500 in ACC play and still must head to Virginia Tech in the season finale (after hosting Miami). Unless the Tigers win both and/or do some serious work in the ACC tourney, they very well could be left out. There are no great nonconference wins, but ODU, App State, Miss. State, South Carolina and Georgia are all respectable W's.
Florida State [18-11 (6-9), RPI: 48, SOS: 14] The Noles got thrashed at Maryland to run their losing streak to five, but then pounded NC State at home to set the table for what likely is an elimination game at Miami. You can at least make a case for the Seminoles at 7-9 in ACC play (and some work in the ACC tourney), but 6-10 is not going to cut it. Wins at Duke and over Florida will resonate, but the computer numbers remain questionable. Beyond Florida, FSU thrashed bubble buddy Providence, but there's not a ton beyond those two games that will help. They didn't show well in big-time opportunities against Pitt and Wisconsin (before the Florida win).
Georgia Tech [18-10 (6-8), RPI: 51, SOS: 46] The Jackets beat Wake on Wednesday but couldn't get it done at UVa on Saturday, which could be a crucial loss with UNC and BC (both at home) remaining and 8-8 almost a certain need for at-large consideration. A nonconference win over Memphis helps, but the RPI and SOS are not at-large quality right now; if you combine those with a sub-.500 ACC mark, that could spell NIT for GT.
For more College Basketball betting lines go to MySportsbook.com
Additional basketball lines can be found at: www.MySportsbook.com
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com - this sportsbook accepts credit cards.
|