Briscoe wins season-opener at St. Petersburg

Autoracing Betting Lines

04/05/2009 - St. Petersburg, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ryan Briscoe passed Justin Wilson with 13 laps remaining and never looked back en route to capturing the inaugural race of the 2009 IndyCar Series on the streets of St. Petersburg. The No. 6 Team Penske driver crossed the finish line 0.4619 seconds ahead of Ryan Hunter-Reay of Vision Racing.

The victory was Briscoe's third of his IndyCar Series career. Briscoe's win gave Team Penske their 30th win in the series.

This was the first time in the history of the series that the opening race has been held on a street course. It was also the first time that the inaugural race of the season was on the Streets of St. Petersburg, Florida. After holding down the number two stop on the schedule the past three years, St. Petersburg became the third Florida venue to host the opener.

The 2008 IndyCar Series champion, Scott Dixon, crashed in turn three with just 19 laps remaining. Dixon wasn't having a good day prior to the crash and settled for a disappointing 16th-place finish.

Wilson led Briscoe, Hunter-Reay, Dario Franchitti, and Tony Kanaan to the restart with 13 laps to go. Briscoe made the eventual race-winning pass as he used the outside lane to get around Wilson in turn one. Hunter-Reay also got by Wilson, dropping him to third.

Just moments later, Dan Wheldon, Robert Doornbos, and Hideki Mutoh were involved in a multi-car wreck to bring out the caution.

Briscoe led Hunter-Reay, Wilson, Franchitti, and Kanaan to the green flag with eight laps left. Briscoe opened up a one-second gap before Marco Andretti and Alex Tagliani crashed with four laps to go.

The race went back to green flag conditions with just two laps remaining. Briscoe had a solid restart and maintained around a half-second margin over Hunter-Reay for the remainder of the race to secure the victory.

Wilson, Franchitti, and Kanaan rounded out the top-five.

After becoming the youngest pole winner in the IndyCar Series, Graham Rahal led the 22-car field to the green flag for 100 laps of racing.

Rahal, the defending race winner, failed to make it through the first turn cleanly. The 20-year-old Rahal was hit from behind and went spinning onto the infield grass to bring out the first caution flag of the afternoon. Rahal dropped to 21st, ahead of rookie Mike Conway, who also spun during the accident.

It was last year at this race when Rahal became the youngest race winner in the series at age 19 when he took the checkered flag. But Rahal never really recovered from his early wreck this year, giving him a seventh-place finish.

Wilson, Franchitti, Briscoe, Will Power, and Kanaan assumed the top-five spots following the incident.

Wilson was still the race leader when Raphael Matos collided with Danica Patrick on lap 33 to bring out the caution. Dixon and Power had an incident on pit road under the caution.

Briscoe, Wheldon, E.J. Viso, Hunter-Reay, and Doornbos rounded out the top- five following a round of pit stops. Wilson found himself in the seventh position.

After the restart, Briscoe built around a two-second gap over Wheldon. Meanwhile, Wilson eventually made his way into the third spot and Rahal settled into the seventh position.

Briscoe led Wheldon, Wilson, Hunter-Reay, and Franchitti after a Stanton Barrett crash on lap 55. Briscoe and Wheldon started a final round of green flag pit stops on lap 68.

Once all the stops were complete, it was Wilson that held onto the first position. Briscoe, Wheldon, Hunter-Reay, and Franchitti followed behind.

Ed Carpenter's hard crash brought out the caution flag with 27 laps to go. The caution period was lengthy because the tire barrier that caught Carpenter had to be repaired. And Dixon's accident shortly followed.

The next race is scheduled for Sunday, April 19, at Long Beach, CA.

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American Idol odds : Blake Lewis the Early Standout

An important American Idol betting lines recap from February 20 Guys episode. The 12 men came out flat overall with Blake Lewis appearing to have the early edge after the first hour and a half.

Rudy - was quite good singing "Free Ride" to start off.  Randy was not impressed though.  Paula thought he started off fantastic.  "Never had anyone stop off so lively" said Paula but Simon (who does not like Rudy) does not feel he has a distinct voice and was not impressed either. 

Brandon was a little pitchy according to Randy and Paula agreed.  Simon said he was a good singer but the song was "too safe" and he needs to make an impact.  He was listed at +1200 odds or $1200 paid out on a $100 bet should he win the competition. 

Big favorite Sundance came in with a flat version of "Knights in White Satin" and the judges let him have it, including Paula.  Randy claimed the song was out of pitch throughout.

Korean American - and a Jenny Woo favorite - Paul Kim was up next.  Another pitchy flat one but Randy said he still liked his potential.  Kim at +3000 odds was said to have sung a "third rate version of that (George Michael) song" according to Simon Cowell.  He sang "Careless Whisper".

22 year old Chris Richardson was up next.  He was listed with +1100 odds coming in.  He got the best response from the judges though Simon did not believe the vocal was that great. 

Nick was boring and pitchy.  Simon didn't think he was that bad though and predicted he would be back next week.  Nick Pedro was a big +3000 dog coming into this competition. 

Beat boxer Blake Lewis was listed with early +1000 odds or $1000 payout on a $100 bet if he were to become the next American Idol winner odds .  These of course were the early odds.  He was considered original for picking an "odd song".  He did not beat box and the judges felt it was the best vocal of the night. 

Sanjaya came in as the second biggest favorite after Chris Sligh but his performance Tuesday night was not very good. 

Chris Sleigh was the early favorite at +450 odds.  Great voice and a great sense of humor.  He's a real standout.  Randy felt it was on point but maybe ahead of the chorus a little bit.  Simon Cowell said he felt like he was in some "sort of weird student gig". 

Jared Cotter followed.  He was listed with +2000 odds early on to win the competition.  The judges felt he needs to take more risks but looked good. 

22-year old AJ Talbado, who has tried out for American Idol five times, was up next.  "Kind of a theme park performance" said Simon.  Though the judges felt he performed okay.  Simon did feel AJ might be better than he originally thought.

Phil - this season's military favorite - came into this competition with +1200 odds to win the competition.  He was the last to perform.  He was certainly strong enough to get through this stage of the competition and perhaps the best one after a shaky start. 

Tomorrow night, the ladies perform and I sure hope they do a better job than the boys.  Check out all the American Idol betting odds here.

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Brandon Roy Favorite to Win 2007 NBA Rookie of the Year

Portland TrailBlazer’s guard, Brandon Roy, is MySportsbook.com’s overwhelming favorite to win the NBA Rookie of the Year odds.

Despite missing 20 games due to an injury earlier this season, Roy has definitely put up the best numbers of his 1st year peers. In 32 games, Roy is averaging 15.3 PPG, 4.2 boards and 3.5 assists in over 33 minutes of play per game. While most rookies breakdown as the season progresses (see Morrison), Roy is only getting stronger as his playing time and scoring average has increased each month.

With 30 or so games left in the regular season, Roy isn’t a lock for the award by any means. Other rookies are putting together some pretty impressive campaigns and a few could give Roy a run for the award with increased playing time. Heading the list is first pick, Andrea Bargnani of the Toronto Raptors. Even though he has started only two games all season, Bargnani is averaging 10.3 PPPG while shooting 35% from deep.

Randy Foye of the Minnesota Timberwolves could be set to give Roy the best competition NBA Rookie of the Year betting lines. With the benching of Mike James, Foye looks like he could be the starter in the T-Wolves backcourt for the rest of the season. So far, Foye has averaged 9 PPG and 2.4 assists in just under 21 minutes per game. With his new role of starter, Foye’s numbers will definitely increase. In his first game as the new starting guard this past Sunday, Foye had 10 points; five rebounds and 8 assists. More importantly, he logged 34 minutes of playing time; his third highest run of the season.

Adam Morrison, of the Charlotte Bobcats, was the favorite early on in the season after averaging 15+ PPG through the first month of the season. Ever since his torrid start, Morrison’s point production has declined each month. This really isn’t surprising, considering at 6’8” he only weighs 205 lbs. Obviously he will need to hit the weights big time during the off-season in order to keep from breaking down in the future.

Be sure to log on to MySportsbook.com to bet on the NBA. With the regular season about to hit the homestretch, it is important to point out that MySportsbook.com has the highest credit card acceptance rate in the industry.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com - this sportsbook accepts credit cards.