HOUSTON -- Not everything was bigger in Texas on a hot and humid weekend in which a pair of small IndyCar teams claimed the commemorative cowboy boots from the Grand Prix of Houston. Eric Weddle Pro Bowl Jersey . Sam Schmidts drivers went 1-2 on Sunday for the first time in team history as Simon Pagenaud grabbed the win and led rookie teammate Mikhail Aleshin to the checkered flag. Pagenaud used the win, his second of the season, to climb back into the championship race. He came to Houston trailing Will Power by 91 points, and cut it to 59 after the two races. "Its fantastic for the race team and the entire organization," said Pagenaud, who admitted after the race to feeling "a little faint" from temperatures that soared into the 90s. "The whole team has elevated to top team level." Aleshin, the first Russian to compete in IndyCar, was a career-best second for his first podium and said a tire problem nearly prevented him from making it to the finish. "Its definitely an amazing day for the team," he said. "We are one of the fastest cars on the track and I think we did an amazing job today. The whole team did an amazing job." Third went to rookie Jack Hawksworth, his first career podium. It capped a breakthrough weekend for the British driver, who finished a career-best sixth Saturday. "Its been rough this year, weve been fast sometimes and just not quite made it happen," said Hawksworth. "Weve not quite put it together and today we did." A day earlier, Dale Coyne Racing scored its first win of the year with rookie Carlos Huertas. The rookie led a Colombian sweep of the rain-soaked podium alongside countrymen Juan Pablo Montoya and rookie Carlos Munoz. It was a race Pagenaud thought he should have won. He spent the previous week training in California for the heat and humidity, and won the pole for the first race of the doubleheader. His race was ruined, though, first by a spin and then when he was collected in Scott Dixons crash. He finished 16th in the first race. "I was so disappointed Saturday because we had such a fast car this weekend," he said. Power, the points leader, rallied from another poor qualifying effort to put himself in position for a third-place finish. But he failed to make it to the finish line when a part broke on his car two laps from the finish. Pagenaud, Aleshin and Power had peeled away from the pack, leaving Hawksworth behind for a spirited battle to hold on for fourth-place. Then Power went off course and fell to 11th. Still, he entered the weekend with a 39 point lead in the standings and that was unchanged. Hoping to close ground on Power this weekend was Team Penske teammate Helio Castroneves, who was ninth Saturday but started from the pole on Sunday looking for a win. Instead, he was chasing Pagenaud from second for the lead early in the race when he drove into Sebastien Bourdais. Castroneves had been setting up his pass of Pagenaud and apparently didnt see Bourdais when he suddenly tried to cut into the same lane as Bourdais. Castroneves wound up 21st. "I was attacking and trying to pass Pagenaud, and I had no idea (Bourdais) was there," Castroneves said. "When I am attacking, I cant have my eyes on the back. Its absolutely ridiculous why the guy had to put the car over there. Its the rules of traffic, when a guy hits a guy in the back, its his fault. I am upset, yes, because we had a great car and its just a shame to have drivers like that who do not use common sense." The contact broke Bourdais front wing while he was running third, caused him to fall through the field, but he rallied to finish fifth, behind Charlie Kimball, despite the damage. It marked consecutive top-five finishes for the first time this season for Bourdais. "He changed lanes and we made pretty heavy contact," Bourdais said of Castroneves move. "That busted my front wing pretty good. After that it was a tough fight. I had to be really creative to compensate for the balance of the car." Huertas, winner Saturday, and Munoz, who finished third on Saturday, both failed to finish on Sunday and were the first two cars out. It was a topsy-turvy weekend like that in which Munoz was the only driver from the big three teams -- Andretti Autosport, Chip Ganassi Racing and Team Penske -- to earn a podium. Chargers Jason Verrett White Jersey . Raonic was beaten by Ferrer at the Australian Open and in Monte Carlo three months later. The Spaniard is ranked fifth in the world, compared to No. 31 for the Canadian. "I had my opportunities and came up short in both of the sets," Raonic said. Jeremiah Attaochu Jersey . Bedene replaced Dmitry Tursunov of Russia in the main draw and needed less than 2 hours to add to Davydenkos opening-round losses in Munich, Madrid and Rome. Seventh-seeded Viktor Troicki defeated Michael Russell of the United States. LAS VEGAS -- Middleweight champion Anderson Silva stopped Chael Sonnen at 1:55 of the second round in UFC 148 on Saturday night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. Silva has successfully defended his title 10 times and had a 15-match winning streak. In the second round, Sonnen fell to the canvas and up against the fence after missing with a wild spinning backfist and Silva capitalized, landing a knee to the chest and then a number of solid strikes, forcing the referee to stop the fight. The fight was a rematch of the 2010 fight of the year, where Sonnen dominated Silva for 4 1/2 rounds before losing by submission. On Saturday night, Sonnen had an early takedown and kept Silva on the mat for almost the entire first round, easily winning the round on the scorecards. Sonnen looked to take Silva down again in the second, pressing the action and forcing Silva up against the cage. The two separated and moved across the octagon, but Sonnens miscue led to his quickk demise. http://www.authenticchargersshop.com/Game-Chad-Rinehart-San-Diego-Chargers-Jersey-Womens-Nike-Nfl-78-Navy-Blue-Home-58. . Earlier, Forrest Griffin edged Tito Ortiz in a close unanimous decision in a bout matching former light heavyweight champions. Griffin was able to land a number of kicks to the legs and body and controlled most of the fight that ended with three judges giving him a 29-28 edge. Ortiz rocked Griffin in the second and third rounds, flooring him with right hands, but Griffin rallied to sustain the attack. On the undercard, Cung Le unanimously outpointed Patrick Cote for his first UFC victory, Damian Maia stopped Dong Hyun Kim in the first round, Chad Mendes rebounded from his first loss with an easy first-round victory over Cody McKenzie, and Mike Easton outpointed Ivan Menjivar. In the preliminary bouts, Melvin Guillard earned his 11th UFC victory, and Khabib Nurmagomedov remained undefeated at 18-0, both winning unanimous decisions. Rafaello Oliveira, Shane Roller and Costa Philippou also won by unanimous decision. ' ' '
