In one of the most dramatic finishes to a world championship ever, Lewis took the title by a single point after securing fifth position on the final corner of the final lap of the final race of the 2008 season. Lewis finished the year with 98 points, one point ahead of Ferrari’s Felipe Massa, who won his home race at Interlagos. Massa led his home race from beginning to end, starting from a record third-year-in-a-row pole position on the starting grid. Once again this season, the dramatic weather conditions played a huge part in the race that saw the Brazilian take his sixth victory of the season ahead of ING Renault F1 team’s Fernando Alonso in second place, and Kimi Räikkönen in third place. Heikki Kovalainen finished seventh - a result that helped the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team to second in the constructors’ championship with 151 points. Ferrari amassed a winning total of 172 points. Lewis takes McLaren’s 12th drivers’ world title, and the third for the McLaren Mercedes partnership, which won the drivers’ title in 1998 and ’99 with Mika Häkkinen.

LEWIS HAMILTON

"The most dramatic race of my whole life. It’s pretty much impossible to put this into words: I’m still speechless. It’s been such a long journey, but I’ve always had the support of my family, the team, our partners and the fans. We did a fantastic job throughout the whole year and, with all the sacrifices we made, I’m so thrilled to be able to win this for everyone.

"Before it started to rain I was quite comfortable, and I was just focused on having a clean race. Then it started to drizzle and I didn't want to take any risks - but Sebastian got past me and I was told that I had to get back in front of him. I couldn’t believe it. Then at the very last corner I managed to get past Timo - it was just amazing. This was one of the toughest races of my life, if not the toughest. I was shouting, ‘Do I have it? Do I have it?’ on the radio. It was only when I took the chequered flag and got to Turn One that the team told me I was world champion. I was ecstatic."

HEIKKI KOVALAINEN

"The most important news is that Lewis pulled it off; he did exactly what he had to do to win the championship. Everybody in the team deserves this title, particularly after what happened here one year ago, but the guys stayed focused throughout so congratulations to everyone. I’ll now work even harder over the winter and hopefully next year's world champion will be on the other side of our garage!"

RON DENNIS

"Well, that was a really tough race. We never pushed hard, we never did anything silly, but of course the late rain made things extraordinarily tense. Even so, even when Sebastian got past Lewis, we never gave up, and Lewis never gave up, because we knew that Timo was on dry tyres. Lewis took his chance brilliantly, and the result was one of the most thrilling finishes in sporting history. I’m so proud of Lewis; I’m so proud of the team; everyone - every single one of them - did an absolutely fantastic job. Thanks, also, to Mercedes-Benz and all our partners - and, last but not least, congratulations to Ferrari on winning the constructors’ championship."

FELIPE MASSA

“It was an exciting day. We did everything to perfection and we almost managed to pull it off. Then, as I crossed the line, Rob told me that Hamilton had finished fifth and therefore he took the title by one point. Sport is like this and one has to accept that. Congratulations to Lewis: whoever gets the most points deserves the title. I am very proud of the whole team and how much support they have given me during this fantastic season. Now we must be happy with what have done, namely bringing home the Constructors’ title which I know is so important for the team. It was a season of highs and lows and we have learned a lot, from the good moments and from our mistakes. I can leave Interlagos with my head held high because once again I have won in front of my home crowd and because this is an unforgettable day. Now I want to celebrate with my family, my friends and my team. We deserve it!”

KIMI RAIKKONEN

“I am happy that the team has managed to win the Constructors’ title and I am sorry for Felipe, who has lost the title by a single point. That’s racing and we have to live with it. I am particularly happy for Stefano, in his first year as team principal as I know how much pressure he has had to deal with and I think that this result is a good reward for that. My race was not particularly exciting. At the start the track was wet, especially the first three corners, where I was being very careful not to make a mistake. Then, my first set of dry tyres gave me a lot of understeer and I was struggling to match the pace of the leaders. On the second set, things gradually improved and I managed to close up on Alonso. Then, when we went onto wets, I got very close but the team told me to avoid taking any risks as Felipe had a chance of winning the title and so I gave up on attacking him. A not very positive season for me has come to an end, but I will do all I can to make up for it next year.”

 

So that’s the racing over until next year, what will we do with our Sunday afternoon’s now?

 

www.spanishfootballsports.blogspot.com 

REAL MADRID IS DICTATOR FRANCO’S FOOTBALL CLUB.

Manchester United Manager Sir Alex Ferguson has given an interview to "GQ" where his comments have let SFS down. So much so, that my estimation of this Football professional has fallen to a level that I believe this man is a complete idiot, a clown & a moron. It hurts me to say this, really, but to comment in 2008 that Real Madrid is the Football team of Dictator Franco is absolutely absurd. But it gets even worse, he has called the team a Fascist Club, this explains why they always get their way... Rubbish, what the f**k is this man talking about?

It all seems to come from Real Madrid´s attempts to sign Cristiano Ronaldo, who by the way is an individual old enough to decide for himself & take decisions on his future for himself. Real Madrid made an offer, the player took the decision to try and leave Manchester United because it was his dream to play at Real. The fact that he decided to stay has nothing to do with the outrageous comments made by Ferguson. Why say it if you or your Club got its way? Keep Ronaldo at Manchester, you won the battle!

It seems that he has an obsession with the Spanish Club, an inferiority complex that maybe becoming a psychological problem. Using terms such as Fascists & mixing it with Football & Sport is appalling & shows no knowledge what so ever of anything outside of his office & the Old Trafford sideline. No respect at all for honest folk who suffered at the hands of Franco during the Spanish Civil War, folk who are Real
Madrid fans. By the way, SFS is not defending Real Madrid, all SFS regular readers know SFS is Atletico. But this man has no limits, as clowns do when on a roll. He states that Real Madrid signed Heinze only because he is Cristiano´s best mate & it was a way to get to Ronaldo. A sick mind indeed & dangerous. SFS is really sadden by this & it could be a sign that the reign of Ferguson at Manchester & in Football is coming to an end. Lets hope so, because the man is insane!

Ferguson is a Buffon! A stupid primitive in a track suit who has put a serious stain of shit on the term "SIR" that the Queen of England has given him.

See you in a fortnight!

Striker

El Cid’s Northern League latest results are as follows: Our Sabres squad played at home against the BBC Jaguars. This was a very close match with Sabres winning on two rinks, well done to those teams; unfortunately Sabres narrowly lost out on a win after a shot difference of 4 against them. The final score was 6 points to BBC Jaguars and 4 points to Sabres.  El Cid Swords played an "away game” against El Cid Scimitars on Friday 31st Oct. This was a re-arranged game due to bad weather. In the writers view this game was treated by some Sword players rather casually as if it were a club roll up as the opponents were fellow club members. Whether the above is correct or not, some of the Sword teams played well below their normal standard and this was reflected in the overall result. On one rink on the final end the Swords were holding three shots for a draw but decided to go for a win but unfortunately knocked a bowl up with the last bowl played and lost by one shot. One other Swords rink was well down but fought back in the second half of the game but ran out of ends. Two rinks had resounding wins which ensured the overall win for the Swords. The score was Swords 6 points Scimitars 4 points.

All League match fixtures, results and tables can be found on our club website (www.elcidbowlsclub.com) which is updated with all the latest news every week. Keep an eye also on the “Club News” page on the website for last minute changes to any scheduled match.

New members are always welcome and training sessions can be arranged for new bowlers, please contact El Cid Bowls Club on 96 640 4364. Have a good week of bowling!

Weekly Round Up for 1st November

with Alan Phillips

Sponsored by MATRIX 35 finance

Let’s start with the good news, with the Quartz winning 8-2 against the Calpe Egrets. Captain Dave Sackman was pleased with this result, as only days earlier the Egrets had recorded an impressive win over the Onyx on this carpet. Fortunately the Quartz were on form and even the Captains team returned to winning ways! Ken Davey’s team won again & continued their very impressive start to the season; there were also wins for skips Graham Muir & John Pittaway. The Captain will be looking for the results from afar for the next 4 matches & sends good luck to the team.

So to the bad news, the Onyx enjoyed another sunny day, more good company, further successes in the raffle & another 8-2 defeat! Scribe Barry Jowett is always looking for a positive spin on any result, but even he admits to struggling this week. Let’s lift the mood for the moment & congratulate Mick Brownlow, Gill Nobbs & Barry Jowett on a fine win. Even this was in doubt for much of the game, however a 6 on the 14th end changed the momentum & they ran out 19-14 ahead. The friendly’s shared the spoils, with Joy Jowett completing the family double as she & Doreen Collins, supported skip Emily Bolger to a 19-10 win. Having lifted the mood let’s stay that way & not dwell on the past. Next week the Onyx travel to El Cid & are looking forward to winning more than just the raffle, now that’s fighting talk!

The Winter league match versus La Siesta had to be postponed, due to the heavy storms during Tuesday night. Apparently the green was still under water at 10am on Wednesday. Fortunately the Captain was up bright & early and was able to let La Siesta know in good time, to avoid travelling.

Enjoy your bowling.