Tristane Banon: March 2011

Thursday, March 31, 2011

CANADIAN RACER

JEFF PAPPONE

Globe and Mail Update Published on Thursday, Mar. 31, 2011 12:47PM EDT Last updated on Thursday, Mar. 31, 2011 2:43PM EDT

There’s no doubt that Canadian racer J.R. Fitzpatrick’s first NASCAR Nationwide race of the year didn’t go according to plan.
He squeaked into the field after qualifying 40th for the mid-February season opening DRIVE4COPD 300 and then left the Daytona International Speedway completely frustrated after his car broke down 10 laps into the race. He ended the day classified second-last in 42nd spot.
Not exactly the opening salvo he wanted in his part-time bid to convince NASCAR teams that he’s got the right stuff to get a regular gig in the top tier Sprint Cup.
But that’s all a distant memory after Toronto businessman Steve Meehan bought Fitzpatrick’s Baker Curb Racing Nationwide team in a deal that closed following the Mar. 19 race in Bristol, Tenn. Now the Cambridge, Ont., racer is a key element in a planned all-Canadian NASCAR outfit that promises to take him to the Sprint Cup.

****two cols maximum****John Ryan Fitzpatrick (born May 9, 1988 in Cambridge, Ontario) is a Canadian stock car driver. He is currently the youngest driver to win the CASCAR Super Series championship. He drives the #84 Schick Chevy for his father in the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series.J.R. Fitzpatrick

Certainly Fitzpatrick still needs to perform, but the team’s new ownership has got him pumped.
“I think it’s fantastic. Steve is a really good guy, he’s Canadian and he really wants to see Canadian corporate sponsorship and Canadian drivers, so I mean it’s really cool,” Fitzpatrick said.
“He really believes in me and that’s what I really like. Given that I do need the experience and the time at the tracks and, even if it can’t be a full year, he is definitely going to push my career along and I am glad to be a part of it.”
With NASCAR’s exposure and huge popularity, the team should be attractive to Canadian companies who want to use the series to promote themselves in this country and in the U.S., as well as companies from south of the border looking to get their names known in Canada.
But with the ink still fresh, Meehan will back the effort mostly with his “love for racing” until the business development part of the plan gets going and the team starts attracting sponsorship.
Although plans haven’t been completely finalized, the short-term goal is to run a limited schedule in 2011 with a long-term objective of getting into the top tier Cup Series by 2013.
“We will run primarily in Nationwide and likely a few Cup races in 2011 — I think J.R. is comfortable running the road courses in Cup and with a little bit more experience and practice I think he could run an oval or two in Cup,” said Meehan, 46, founder of the Investment Planning Counsel, which was acquired by IGM Financial in 2004 for $95 million in a cash and stock deal.
“Our focus is to quickly evolve to a full-time Cup team and I think J.R. is sufficiently talented to get there with the right people behind him.”
The 23-year-old racer has shown great potential in his stock car career after becoming the youngest CASCAR champion (now the NASCAR Canadian Tires Series) at 18 in 2006. He was runner up in the Canadian Tire series last year.
Fitzpatrick has raced nine times in Nationwide since 2007, with seven of those starts coming on road courses. He also has 13 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series starts under his belt.
Making the jump from Canada’s stock car series to Nationwide isn’t easy, especially since the cars, engines, tires and tracks are all completely different. The biggest adjustment is the speed in Nationwide, which at the larger NASCAR ovals can be as much as 160 kilometres per hour quicker than Canadian Tire tracks.
On the other hand, he gets to race Ford’s Mustang Nationwide car introduced last season, something that’s just plain cool, he insisted.
“The Mustangs and the [Dodge] Challengers look awesome. The Chevy looks good too,” he said. “I really like the fact that NASCAR brought these cars in because I can actually sit in them – I’m six-four, so it’s really hard for me to get in the old-style car – and they just look wicked, a lot of people like them and I just love them.”
He's also getting the hang of driving them, too.
Although things didn’t go well in Daytona, Fitzpatrick’s second Nationwide race of 2011 was a bit more satisfying. He qualified 25th for last weekend’s race at California’s Auto Club Speedway and then drove to a 20th-place in Saturday's Royal Purple 300.
“We went there with a set-up that really didn’t suit my style and I was happy to come out of there with a top-20 with the way the car was handling. I’m a very competitive person, Steve is too and so is the whole team, so we were happy but we’re not happy if you know what I mean,” Fitzpatrick said.
“I wanted a top-15 finish and that would have been like a win to me but I didn’t quite get my goal.”
Originally, he was slated to race April 8 in Texas, but the change in ownership has the team regrouping and instead planning to hit the stop three weeks away in Nashville.
While Fitzpatrick continues to champ at the bit for his next race, Meehan hopes Nashville is just the start of something bigger.
“We have an opportunity to represent a country as opposed to just being a team and I’m excited by the prospect of doing that,” Meehan said.
“It’s a feel good story and it’s my job to capture it and sell it to corporate Canada.”

Laurent Gbagbo home Attacked and State TV Station Taken Over by Forces loyal to Alassane Ouattara, the int. recog. president of Ivory Coast

Forces loyal to Alassane Ouattara, the internationally recognized president of Ivory Coast, attacked the residence of disputed incumbent Laurent Gbagbo and took control of state-run TV early Friday morning, a spokesman for Ouattara told CNN.

Gbagbo's residence is near the state-run television station taken over by Ouattara forces in the early morning hours Friday, said Patrick Achi, the Ouattara spokesman. Gbagbo apparently was not there.

The takeover occured less than three hours after a Gbagbo spokesman appeared on the same network declaring that Gbagbo had no intention of leaving the presidential palace, according to a witness who saw the broadcast. The presidential palace is not Gbagbo's personal residence and is located elsewhere.

Gbagbo has refused to cede power after a disputed November election.
The takeover of the government network, which had previously been accused of inciting violence against protesters opposed to the Gbagbo government, came as Ivory Coast's internal war appeared to enter a decisive and final phase, with forces loyal to Ouattara making a final push to oust a defiant Gbagbo.

Ouattara on Thursday declared a curfew in Abidjan as forces loyal to him moved closer to taking control of the city. The curfew, Ouattara said, will remain in effect until Sunday. Also Thursday, Ouattara's interior minister announced on radio that the air and sea borders of the country would be sealed until further notice.

The curfew, however, did not seem to be universally recognized as Abidjan residents reported hearing sounds of heavy gunfire Thursday night.

"It seemed there was a battle going on," said Diallo Ibrahim, adding that the "heavy gunfire" appeared to subside by midnight Thursday.

Ibrahim, an accountant, said he watched the Gbagbo spokesman appear on TV and declared that Gbagbo would not leave the presidential palace. After the announcement, however, the station went dark, Ibrahim said.

Ouattara's spokesman, Patrick Achi, told CNN earlier Thursday that rebel forces were patrolling some streets of Abidjan and were fast closing in on Gbagbo.
It will be only "hours, maybe days" before Gbagbo falls, Achi said. "The army does not want to fight for Laurent Gbagbo."

Residents in Abidjan told CNN that people were frightened at the prospect of an all-out war and were huddled in their homes Thursday. At sunset, they could still hear the sound of gunfire outside. Smoke could be seen in some parts of the city.
"We can tell the fighting has gone to another level," said one resident who did not want to be named because of security reasons. "We are watching to see what will happen next."

Humanitarian agencies warned Abidjan is on the brink of catastrophe.
"The international community must take immediate steps to protect the civilian population," said Salvatore Sagues, Amnesty International's researcher on West Africa.

Choi Young-jin, head of the United Nations' mission in Ivory Coast, said on France Info radio that U.N. peacekeepers have taken the place of army and police who abandoned Gbagbo on Thursday.

Choi said that the siege laid on the Abidjan hotel where Ouattara was confined has been lifted.

Ouattara was recognized as the winner of a November presidential election but had been holed up in the U.N.-protected Golf Hotel since then as the political stalemate led to escalating violence and turmoil.

Meanwhile, Gbagbo's army chief, Gen. Philippe Mangou, asked for asylum at the residence of the South African ambassador, the South African government said Thursday. Achi said it was a sign that the armed forces now stand fully behind Ouattara.

Republican Forces wrested control of much of the capital, Yamoussoukro, and other key cocoa-producing and port cities earlier in the week before marching to Abidjan, the commercial center of Ivory Coast.

Ouattara issued a statement saying that despite numerous attempts to end the violence, Gbagbo had refused. He said Ivory Coast is now at a turning point in its history and called for unity.

"In order to end the escalating violence in our country, the Republican Forces of Ivory Coast have started to put in place, in accordance with their missions, the protection of people and their property against the militia men and mercenaries paid by Laurent Gbagbo," Ouattara said.

"They have decided to restore democracy and to respect the vote of the people," he said. "In every city where they went, they were greeted in jubilation."
Human rights agencies have documented the deaths of 462 people -- some in heinous fashion -- and the displacement of more than 1 million from their homes.
Many residents in Abidjan fear Gbagbo will not go down easily.

Koffi Kouakou, a citizen of Ivory Coast who now lives in South Africa, said his family members were stocking up on food and waiting for the battle they feel is inevitable.

"Everybody is calling it the battle of Abidjan," said Kouakou. "There will be a battle and people will be killed, unfortunately. Nobody knows when it is going to happen but it will happen soon."

Concerned about the rising tide of violence, the U.N. Security Council voted unanimously Wednesday to impose sanctions on Gbagbo, his wife and three associates, as well as give U.N. peacekeepers more authority to protect civilians.

The U.N. resolution demands that Gbagbo step down immediately and that all state institutions, including the military, accept Ouattara as president. It also authorizes U.N. peacekeepers "to use all necessary means to carry out its mandate to protect civilians under imminent threat of violence."

The resolution imposes targeted sanctions and travel bans on Gbagbo, his wife, Simone, and three others: Desire Tagro, Pascal Affi N'Guessan and Alcide Djedje.
The resolution accuses all five of "obstruction to the peace and reconciliation process" and of rejecting the legitimate election of Ouattara. All but Laurent Gbagbo are accused of "public incitement to hatred and violence."

Laurent Gbagbo home Attacked and State TV Station Taken Over by Forces loyal to Alassane Ouattara, the int. recog. president of Ivory Coast

The man with the Longest Hair in Vietnam - Rare Amazing Photos

After more than 42 years of not having a hair cut, 73-year old Tran Van Hay in Hoa An Village, Mong Tho Commune, Chau Thanh District, Kien Giang Province of Vietnam. He has recently been recorded in Vietnam’s Guinness Book for his hair of 6.3 metres (over 20 feet long) in length and 9kg in weight. Now he is waiting to be recorded in the World’s Guinness Book.