Sunday's racing was best of 2006

It was a fantastic Sunday for racing. My favorite drivers won in three of the four series I follow.

NASCAR Nextel Cup: Jeff Gordon got his first win of the year at Sonoma, moving him back into the top 10 in points. As usual, Robby Gordon and Tony Stewart smashed into a dozen cars between them. These guys are talented, but they are clownish hacks at the same time.

ChampCar: AJ Allmendinger won for the second time in a row, this time at Cleveland. Amazingly, AJ was fired from Russport three races ago after criticizing a pit stop. Since moving to Forsythe Racing he's won twice. The Cleveland win marked the first back-to-back win for an American driver since Michael Andretti. As a bonus, AJ broke an 8-year-old track record.

Also, yesterday's race was absurd from beginning to end. A turn one crash saw Paul Tracy's car launch into the air, falling directly on the head of Sebastien Bourdais, the 2005 series champion. On the last lap rookie Dan Clark dive-bombed Dominguez on turn one, was crossed by Dominguez on the exit, then Clark lost control and took out both cars.

MotoGP: Nicky Hayden beat Colin Edwards on the last lap to win the TT Assen, and increased his championship lead to 42 points. Hayden passed for the lead, went wide into the kitty litter, while Edwards oscillated onto the ground. It was the best MotoGP finish of the year.