2009 Breeders' Cup Classic
The Classic is run at a distance of one mile and one-quarter (approximately 2000 m). It is normally run on a dirt surface but in 2009 was run on a synthetic surface. It is run under weight-for-age conditions, with entrants carrying the following weights:


2009 Breeders' Cup Classic, Contenders
In 2008, European-based horses finished one-two in the Classic, a result that many attributed to the synthetic surface used at Santa Anita. California had adopted synthetic surfaces starting in 2007 due to safety concerns but many horsemen and bettors felt that the synthetics performed more like turf than dirt. As a result, a few East Coast racehorses who had only raced on natural dirt surfaces did not ship to Santa Anita for the Breeders' Cup. Most notably, the connections of the outstanding filly Rachel Alexandra announced that she would not race on "plastic".


2009 Breeders' Cup Classic, Contenders
Instead, the favorite for the race was Zenyatta, who in 2008 had won the Ladies Classic and was named the Champion Older Female Horse. Zenyatta came into the Classic undefeated in thirteen career starts and was, with Rachel Alexandra, one of the most popular horses in recent memory. However, some handicappers questioned her credentials. As a California-based horse, she had demonstrated her ability to win on synthetic but was viewed as having faced inferior competition to that on the East Coast. She also had never raced against male horses, had never run at 1 1⁄4 miles, and the Beyer Speed Figures that she had recorded in previous races were unexceptional for a Grade I winner.


2009 Breeders' Cup Classic, Contenders
She was part of a thirteen horse field that included eight other Grade I/Group One winners from three countries. The most highly regarded contenders were:


2009 Breeders' Cup Classic, Race Description
In post position four, Zenyatta was initially reluctant to enter the starting gate. Then Quality Road in post position twelve started acting up, delaying the start of the race by five minutes when he refused to load even after being blindfolded. When he injured himself kicking the gate, he was scratched. The rest of the field was unloaded due to the delay and then reloaded.


2009 Breeders' Cup Classic, Race Description
When the race finally began, Zenyatta broke poorly and got off on the wrong lead. As was her custom, she dropped to the back of the field and trailed by as much as fifteen lengths. Down the backstretch, she had passed only one horse and was still about a dozen lengths behind. She started her move around the final turn, with jockey Mike Smith keeping her close to the rail to save ground. Track announcer Trevor Denman had kept an eye on the mare throughout the race, noting she had a lot of work to do at the top of the stretch, and saying "If she wins this, she'll be a superhorse!"


2009 Breeders' Cup Classic, Race Description
Turning into the stretch, Zenyatta faced a wall of horses in front of her, so Smith angled her away from the rail. When she finally had running room in mid-stretch, she was still in sixth place but closed ground rapidly. As she moved to the lead, announcer Trevor Denman exclaimed, "Zenyatta is flying on the grandstand side! This. Is. Un-be-liev-ABLE! What a performance! We will never see another like this! "[52][53][54]


2009 Breeders' Cup Classic, Race Description
Zenyatta eventually won by a length. Gio Ponti, who had received an excellent trip on the rail, finished second while Twice Over was third.


2009 Breeders' Cup Classic, Race Description
After moderate opening fractions, the time for the race was a solid 2:00.62. Nearly seven lengths behind with a quarter-mile remaining, Zenyatta ran the final quarter-mile in 23 seconds flat. It was the first time that a female horse had "beat the boys" in the Classic. Zenyatta was given a hero's welcome on her return to the winner's circle, with many fans holding signs honoring 'Queen Z.'


2009 Breeders' Cup Classic, Race Description
After the race, Smith described the run. "I had to hit her out of the stall," he said. "Then she was on her left lead and you want to be on your right down the straight. Then she gathered herself up... At the half-mile (pole), they were stacked up... but then it was like the parting of the sea as it opened up down there. She won it well within herself, believe it or not." He also said, "I believe if there was another horse ahead of Gio Ponti, she would have caught him, too. She still had run left. "[50] "She is all heart," said trainer John Shirreffs. "The way the crowd took to her was just amazing. They cheered for her, they clapped for her. They love her. What a wonderful relationship."


2009 Breeders' Cup Classic, Race Description
Even veteran horsemen were moved by Zenyatta's performance and the crowd's reaction. "I switched camps at the eighth pole," said Bob Baffert, the trainer of Richard's Kid. "When I saw my horse wasn't going to win, I started yelling for Zenyatta... I have never seen a grandstand like that; nobody wanted to leave. The crowd was captivated. It felt like a horse had just won the Triple Crown." "She's a freak, what can I say?" said Gio Ponti's trainer Christophe Clement. "My horse ran a great race but he couldn't beat her."


2009 Breeders' Cup Classic, Race Description
The race was named the NTRA Moment of the Year.


2009 Breeders' Cup Classic, Results
Times: 1⁄4 – 0:24.16;  1⁄2 – 0:47.88; 3⁄4 – 1:11.88; mile – 1:36.16;  final – 2:00.62Fractional Splits: (:24.16) (:23.72) (:24.00) (:24.28) (:24.46)


2009 Brickyard 400
The 2009 Allstate 400 at the Brickyard, the 16th running of the event, was the twenty-first race of the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup season and the sixteenth NASCAR race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS). It was the first race under the ESPN/ABC section of the TV coverage for the 2009 season. The 160-lap, 400 miles (640 km) event took place on July 26 at the 2.5 miles (4.0 km) IMS located in Speedway, Indiana (a separate town completely surrounded by Indianapolis).


2009 Brickyard 400
Along with ESPN, the IMS Radio Network, working with Performance Racing Network, provided radio coverage on terrestrial radio, World Harvest Radio International also provided Shortwave feed of the IMS coverage, and with Sirius XM Radio holding the satellite radio rights. Juan Pablo Montoya dominated the race leading almost 120 laps, but after a pit penalty while under green flag conditions toward the end of the race, Jimmie Johnson held off a hard charging Mark Martin to claim victory, his third triumph at the storied venue. The race will be known as Allstate 400, as Allstate Insurance announced that it would not renew its sponsorship of the race.


2009 Brickyard 400, Tires
Following the fiasco surrounding tire wear in the 2008 race, infuriating the fans and everyone else involved, Goodyear held three tire tests afterward, with the most recent tire test held on June 15–16. The drivers there agreed that the tire wear was much better than last year, mostly because the Car of Tomorrow was not run at IMS in 2007.


2009 Brigham municipal election
The 2009 Brigham municipal election was held on November 1, 2009, to elect a mayor and councillors in Brigham, Quebec. All incumbents were re-elected without opposition.


2009 Brisbane Broncos season
The 2009 Brisbane Broncos season was the 22nd in the club's history and their first without foundation coach Wayne Bennett. They competed in the NRL's 2009 Telstra Premiership and by the 12th round were leading the competition, but then suffered one of their worst post-State of Origin form slumps ever and spent rounds 16 to 22 outside the top eight. The team managed to finish the regular season 6th (out of 16), qualifying for the finals for the 18th consecutive year.


2009 Brisbane Broncos season
The Broncos then came within one match of the grand final but were knocked out for the 3rd season in a row by eventual premiers the Melbourne Storm (who months later were found to have been cheating the salary cap over the previous four seasons and had all honours achieved during the period nullified by the NRL).


2009 Brisbane Broncos season, Results
The new post-Bennett Broncos era got off to a thrilling start when they defeated the North Queensland Cowboys 19–18 in round 1 at Suncorp Stadium in the first game under coach Ivan Henjak. Star signing Israel Folau scored his first try in Broncos colours and the first try of the season for the club in the 6th minute, followed by NRL debutantes Antonio Winterstein and Jharal Yow Yeh who also crossed. In round 2 the Broncos defeated the Melbourne Storm for the first time since the 2006 NRL Grand Final. Israel Folau was up against his old club for the first time and scored a try in the 11th minute and second for the year for the Broncos.


2009 Brisbane Broncos season, Results
For the second year in a row, The Broncos won the opening three rounds of the season when they defeated the New Zealand Warriors 26–10 at Mt Smart Stadium. In the following days Shane Webcke, who had been appointed assistant coach for Brisbane at the start of the season quit his post in the wake of controversy surrounding the release of his new book in which he was critical of some Broncos personnel. Later that week Wayne Bennett returned to Brisbane with the St. George Illawarra Dragons for round 4, coaching against his old club for the first time. Brisbane conceded their first loss of the season in what was also Darius Boyd's first match against his old club and the Dragons' 8th straight win against the Broncos.


2009 Brisbane Broncos season, Results
The following week, the Broncos continued their 7-year winning streak in the Good Friday match against the Roosters, surviving a strong 2nd-half comeback by the Sydneysiders. In round 7, Darren Lockyer answered his critics as he helped the Broncos to a 40–8 win over the Parramatta Eels at Suncorp Stadium. Lockyer had a hand in most of the Broncos seven tries with Karmichael Hunt scoring three of the seven tries himself.


2009 Brisbane Broncos season, Results
Darren Lockyer's 300th game did not go as planned when they faced the Newcastle Knights in torrential rain at EnergyAustralia Stadium and lost, the match punctuated by a 35-minute half-time break. In round 10, Israel Folau equalled the club record for most tries in a match when he scored 4 tries against the Gold Coast Titans at Suncorp Stadium.


2009 Brisbane Broncos season, Results
The following week, the Broncos survived a strong Wests Tigers side who were playing their 10th anniversary match, hanging on to win 20–18 at Campbelltown Stadium. In round 13, the Broncos suffered one of their worst defeats in the club's history when they lost 48–4 against the Melbourne Storm at Olympic Park. The loss is also equalled second in the Broncos worst defeats. In round 21, the Broncos were handed their worst ever defeat by the Canberra Raiders 56–0 at Canberra Stadium.


2009 Brisbane Broncos season, Results
The following week, the Broncos bounced back to keep their finals hopes alive with a 30–10 win over the Cronulla Sharks at Suncorp Stadium. In round 24, The Broncos won their first match against the St. George Illawarra Dragons since round 6, 2005, when they beat the Dragons 12–2 at WIN Stadium. In round 25, the Broncos secured their 18th straight finals appearance when they beat Queensland rivals North Queensland Cowboys 16–10 at Dairy Farmers Stadium. The Broncos were the first opponent for the Gold Coast Titans competing in their first ever finals series.


2009 Brisbane Broncos season, Results
The Broncos survived a late comeback from the Titans holding on to a 40–32 win at Skilled Stadium. The Broncos made it consecutive wins against the St. George Illawarra Dragons for the first time since 2004 and their first win against the Dragons at Suncorp Stadium since 2004 with a 24–10 win against the Dragons in the semi-final at Suncorp Stadium. Source: Their chances against Melbourne in the grand final qualifier suffered a major blow when in form halfback Peter Wallace broke his ankle toward the end of that win against the Dragons. The Broncos 2009 season came to an end in the Preliminary Final going down 40–10 to eventual premiers, the Melbourne Storm at Etihad Stadium.


2009 Brisbane Broncos season, Ladder
* Bulldogs stripped of 2 competition points after an interchange breach in round 2


2009 Brisbane Broncos season, Coaching staff
Shane Webcke was an Assistant Coach up until 6 April 2009, when he resigned from his role due to the controversy surrounding his auto-biography "Hard Road". In addition, international cricketer and long-time Broncos fan Andrew Symonds was adopted by the club in an unpaid role assisting the coaching staff following his exile from cricket.


2009 Brisbane International
The 2009 Brisbane International was a professional tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts in Brisbane, Queensland. It was the first edition of the event known as the Brisbane International and resulted from the merger of the Next Generation Adelaide International on the men's tour with the Mondial Australian Women's Hardcourts on the women's tour. The 2009 Brisbane International was a World Tour 250 series event on the ATP Tour and an International series event on the WTA Tour. Both the men's and women's events took place at the Queensland Tennis Centre in Tennyson from 4 January through 11 January 2009.


2009 Brisbane International
The men's draw was led by Novak Djokovic, who was the World No. 3 ranked player, 2008 Australian Open champion, 2008 Pacific Life Open champion, and 2008 Tennis Masters Cup winner. Joining Djokovic in the tournament was Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who was the 2008 Australian Open runner-up and the 2008 champion of the tournament in Bangkok and the Masters Series tournament in Paris. Fernando Verdasco, a member of Spain's 2008 Davis Cup championship team and the winner of the tournament in Umag, also played in Adelaide. Also lined up for this tournament were Lyon titlist Robin Söderling, Tokyo winner Tomáš Berdych, Mardy Fish, Richard Gasquet, and Radek Štěpánek.


2009 Brisbane International
The women's field featured Ana Ivanovic, the World No. 5 ranked player, a former World No. 1, 2008 Australian Open runner-up, and champion of the 2008 French Open and 2008 Pacific Life Open. Joining Ivanovic in the tournament was Victoria Azarenka, who was the runner-up at the 2008 Generali Ladies Linz tournament, the 2008 Gold Coast tournament and the 2008 Prague Open tournament the previous year.


2009 Brisbane International
Also present were Marion Bartoli, the runner-up at the 2008 tournament in Stanford; Daniela Hantuchová, 2008 Australian Open semifinalist; Amélie Mauresmo, a former World No. 1, champion of the 2008 tournament in Cincinnati, and semifinalist at the 2008 tournament in New Haven, Connecticut; World No. 26 Kaia Kanepi; and World No. 30 Francesca Schiavone. The seventh seed, Maria Kirilenko, had to withdraw because of a viral illness.


2009 Brisbane International, Review, Day one: 4 January
In women's singles, Victoria Azarenka, the second seed, defeated Kateryna Bondarenko 6–0, 6–2. The third seed, Marion Bartoli, overcame home qualifier and World No. 528 Monika Wejnert 6–1, 6–2. The only seed to fall was sixth-seeded Kaia Kanepi who lost to Russian Alisa Kleybanova 6–1, 6–4. In other first round matches, Jarmila Gajdošová advanced to face Azarenka after beating Peng Shuai, and Tsvetana Pironkova defeated Monica Niculescu in straight sets.


2009 Brisbane International, Review, Day one: 4 January
Four matches were played in men's singles. Seventh-seeded Richard Gasquet advanced to the second round with a 4–6, 6–2, 6–2 victory over fellow Frenchman Marc Gicquel. Robin Söderling, the fourth seed, also reached the second round, beating Sam Querrey 6–3, 6–3. Taylor Dent and Julien Benneteau also won against Steve Darcis and Robby Ginepri, respectively. Dent, who had thought his career was over following back surgery and sliding down to World No. 865 in the rankings from a career high of World No. 21, set up a second round match against Gasquet.


2009 Brisbane International, Review, Day two: 5 January
First round play in women's and men's singles continued on day two while the doubles events also started. Four matches were completed in the men's singles tournament. Third-seeded Spaniard Fernando Verdasco, aiming for his first career hard court title, defeated Australian wildcard Bernard Tomic 6–2, 6–4. The other seed in action, Radek Štěpánek from the Czech Republic, beat Russian doubles specialist Igor Kunitsyn 6–2, 6–2.


2009 Brisbane International, Review, Day two: 5 January
The other players to progress to round two were Finnish player Jarkko Nieminen, who took just over 2 hours to win 5–7, 6–1, 6–4 against Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis, the 2007 Australian Open runner-up who is just now returning from injury. The only seed to exit the tournament on day two was Mardy Fish, the sixth-seeded American who lost 6–4, 4–6, 7–6(4) to Jürgen Melzer of Austria.


2009 Brisbane International, Review, Day two: 5 January
The majority of first round matches in women's singles was played on day two, with three of the seeds failing to progress. Fourth-seeded Slovak Daniela Hantuchová was knocked out by Italian Sara Errani. After taking the first set in a tiebreak, she lost the next two sets 6–4, 6–0. Eighth-seeded Francesca Schiavone of Italy lost 7–5, 6–2 to Belarusian Olga Govortsova. Ai Sugiyama, who replaced Maria Kirilenko as a seeded player, was defeated by home-favourite Samantha Stosur 6–2, 6–3.


2009 Brisbane International, Review, Day two: 5 January
A couple of seeds did make the second round, however: top seeded Serbian Ana Ivanovic needed 1 hour, 45 minutes to win her match against Czech Petra Kvitová 6–4, 6–2 and former World No. 1 Amélie Mauresmo, the fifth-seeded Frenchwoman, triumphed 7–6(9), 7–6(5) over home player Jelena Dokić. Qualifiers Roberta Vinci (Italy), Melinda Czink (Hungary) and Bulgarian Sesil Karatantcheva advanced against Anna-Lena Grönefeld, Alona Bondarenko, and Iveta Benešová. Lucky loser Julie Coin of France, who was accepted into the tournament when Kirilenko withdrew, beat Belgian Yanina Wickmayer 7–5, 6–7(5), 7–6(3) in the longest women's match so far at almost 3 hours 20 minutes. Unseeded Czech Lucie Šafářová also won against Australian wildcard Isabella Holland 6–4, 6–3.


2009 Brisbane International, Review, Day two: 5 January
Just one match was played in the women's doubles and it saw unseeded duo Mervana Jugić-Salkić from Bosnia and Chinese player Peng Shuai defeat Akgul Amanmuradova from Uzbekistan and Yuliana Fedak of Ukraine 6–1, 6–4. In the men's competition, third seeds Simon Aspelin and Pavel Vízner saw off singles players Julien Benneteau and Michaël Llodra 6–4, 7–5 while in a match of the singles specialists, French duo Marc Gicquel and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga beat countryman Paul-Henri Mathieu and his Croatian partner Mario Ančić 7–5, 4–6, [10-4] (champions tiebreak).


2009 Brisbane International, Review, Day three: 6 January
First round play was completed and second round play was started in men's singles, resulting in several upsets of seeded players. World No. 3 and top-seeded Serbian Novak Djokovic lost his first round match to Latvia's Ernests Gulbis 6–4, 6–4. Gulbis, who reached a career-high ranking of World No. 38 during 2008 that included a maiden Grand Slam quarterfinal, was rewarded with a match against Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu who beat Russian qualifier Teymuraz Gabashvili 6–3, 6–3.


2009 Brisbane International, Review, Day three: 6 January
The other seeds to play their first matches were Frenchman Jo Wilfried Tsonga, who beat Argentinian Agustín Calleri, currently ranked World No. 62, 6–2, 7–5, and fifth-seeded Czech Tomáš Berdych who advanced 6–0, 6–4 to a second round match against Kei Nishikori, the Japanese player who beat U.S. player Bobby Reynolds 6–2, 6–3. Mario Ančić, Florent Serra, and Michaël Llodra all won their first round matches, against Amer Delic, Juan Carlos Ferrero, and home qualifier Joseph Sirianni. Fourth-seeded Robin Söderling and seventh-seeded Richard Gasquet won their second round matches: Gasquet defeated Taylor Dent 7–5, 6–4 while Söderling recorded a 6–3, 6–3 triumph against Julien Benneteau.


2009 Brisbane International, Review, Day three: 6 January
The second round started in women's singles. Second seed Victoria Azarenka took over 2 hours to win her match against Slovakian born but Australian based Jarmila Gajdošová 7–6, 7–5. The match between Tathiana Garbin and Alisa Kleybanova took 2 hours 20 minutes to complete, with the former winning 4–6, 6–4, 6–2. The fourth seed Marion Bartoli emerged victorious in a match lasting half an hour less despite taking three sets, beating qualifier Melinda Czink 5–7, 6–3, 6–1. Lucie Šafářová defeated home-favourite Samantha Stosur in the night session 6–4, 6–4 in under an hour to reach the quarterfinals. The Australian, whose ranking had dropped to outside the top 150 while she was ill with meningitis, lost despite feeling she had been hitting the ball well. Šafářová is due to play Azarenka, and Bartoli will face Garbin.


2009 Brisbane International, Review, Day three: 6 January
The men's doubles saw its first seeds eliminated as second seeds Marcelo Melo (defending champion with Martín García) and André Sá losing to American Travis Parrott and Filip Polášek from Slovakia. Their next opponents will be the new partnership of Briton Jamie Murray and Slovakian Dušan Vemić, who defeated the Austrian pair Julian Knowle and Jürgen Melzer 6–7(14), 6–2, [10-4] (champions tiebreak). Top seeds Max Mirnyi and Andy Ram needed three sets to defeat Czechs Radek Štěpánek and Tomáš Berdych 4–6, 6–2, [11-9].


2009 Brisbane International, Review, Day three: 6 January
The fourth seeded pair - Czech Martin Damm and Swede Robert Lindstedt - narrowly won against the South American pairing of Argentinian Lucas Arnold Ker and Brazilian Bruno Soares 7–5, 7–5. Their next match will be against Spaniard Fernando Verdasco and German Mischa Zverev who beat Australians Brydan Klein and youngster Bernard Tomic 7–6(4), 7–6(5). Home players Carsten Ball and Chris Guccione beat Americans Mardy Fish and Sam Querrey by the same scoreline.


2009 Brisbane International, Review, Day three: 6 January
Five more matches took place in the women's doubles first round, with all four seeds securing victory. Top seeded South African-American duo Cara Black and Liezel Huber beat France's Séverine Brémond and Olga Govortsova 6–3, 6–3 while the second seeds, Ukrainian sisters Kateryna and Alona Bondarenko, defeated Alisa Kleybanova and Monica Niculescu 3–6, 6–4, [10-7]. Italian third seeds Victoria Azarenka and Francesca Schiavone followed up their singles successes by knocking out Tatiana Poutchek and Anastasia Rodionova 6–3, 6–2. Sun Tiantian and Yan Zi, the fourth seeded Chinese pair, beat Iveta Benešová and Yaroslava Shvedova 3–6, 7–6(12), [10-6]. In the only non-seeded match, Daniela Hantuchová and Ai Sugiyama eased through against home wildcards Monika Wejnert and Sophie Ferguson 6–2, 6–3.


2009 Brisbane International, Review, Day four: 7 January
The biggest upset of the day was in men's singles, where Japanese Kei Nishikori defeated fifth-seeded Tomáš Berdych 7–6(7), 6–3. The other seeds won, with third-seeded Fernando Verdasco defeating Mario Ančić 6–2, 6–3; eighth-seeded Radek Štěpánek defeating defending champion Michaël Llodra 7–6(2), 6–3; and second-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga overcoming a first set bagel to defeat Jarkko Nieminen 0–6, 7–6(1), 7–6(5). In other matches, Paul-Henri Mathieu defeated the player who defeated Djokovic earlier in the tournament, Ernests Gulbis, 6–3, 6–4 while Florent Serra beat Jürgen Melzer 6–4, 6–3.


2009 Brisbane International, Review, Day four: 7 January
Both women's seeds prevailed, with top-seeded Ana Ivanovic saving match points to defeat Roberta Vinci 6–7(4), 7–5, 6–1 and fifth-seeded Amélie Mauresmo also saving match points and needing 3 hours, 15 minutes to defeat lucky loser Julie Coin 5–7, 6–2, 7–6(11). Olga Govortsova and Sara Errani also advanced by defeating qualifier Sesil Karatantcheva and Tsvetana Pironkova, respectively.


2009 Brisbane International, Review, Day four: 7 January
In the men's doubles quarterfinals, the unseeded French duo and new partnership of Tsonga and Marc Gicquel upset the third-seeded team of Simon Aspelin and Pavel Vízner 7–6(1), 6–4. In the other match, Travis Parrott and Filip Polášek defeated Dušan Vemić and Jamie Murray 6–3, 6–4.


2009 Brisbane International, Review, Day four: 7 January
In women's doubles, the top-seeded team of Cara Black and Liezel Huber lost to Daniela Hantuchová and Ai Sugiyama 7–5, 3–6, [10–3]. The fourth-seeded team of Sun Tiantian and Yan Zi also lost to Mervana Jugić-Salkić and Peng Shuai 6–4, 3–6, [10–7]. In the remaining first round matches, Polish pair Klaudia Jans and Alicja Rosolska beat Lucie Šafářová and Galina Voskoboeva 6–1, 6–3. Jans and Rosolska then reached the semifinals by walkover when Victoria Azarenka and Francesca Schiavone, the fourth-seeded team, withdrew from their quarterfinal match. Anna-Lena Grönefeld and Vania King defeated Coin and Hungarian Melinda Czink 6–3, 6–4.


2009 Brisbane International, Review, Day five: 8 January
Two of the men's singles quarterfinals were played on day five. The first saw third-seeded Fernando Verdasco defeat Florent Serra 4–6, 6–0, 6–3. Joining him in the semifinals was Paul-Henri Mathieu, who defeated Kei Nishikori 6–3, 6–4.


2009 Brisbane International, Review, Day five: 8 January
In women's singles, the story of the day was Amélie Mauresmo, as she routed top-seeded Ana Ivanovic 6–3, 6–2. Second-seeded Victoria Azarenka advanced with a 7–6(5), 6–4 victory over Lucie Šafářová while third-seeded Marion Bartoli defeated Tathiana Garbin 6–3, 6–3. The lone unseeded player to advance to the semifinals, Sara Errani, defeated Olga Govortsova 6–3, 6–3.


2009 Brisbane International, Review, Day five: 8 January
In men's doubles, home favorites Carsten Ball and Chris Guccione upset the top-seeded team of Max Mirnyi and Andy Ram, while fourth-seeded Martin Damm and Robert Lindstedt fell to Verdasco and Mischa Zverev. In women's doubles, Anna-Lena Grönefeld and Vania King defeated the second-seeded team of Alona Bondarenko and Kateryna Bondarenko 6–1, 6–3, while Klaudia Jans and Alicja Rosolska advanced to the final with a 6–3, 6–4 victory over Daniela Hantuchová and Ai Sugiyama.


2009 Brisbane International, Review, Day six: 9 January
The last two quarterfinals in men's singles were played, with Radek Štěpánek coming back from a set down to defeat fourth-seeded Robin Söderling 2–6, 6–4, 6–3. After losing the first set, Štěpánek recovered to pull ahead 3–0 in the second set with an early break, taking the set and then establishing a 5–3 lead in the decider. His semifinal opponent will be seventh-seeded Frenchman Richard Gasquet who defeated second-seeded compatriot Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 1–6, 6–4, 6–2 despite Tsonga's eight aces and Gasquet's four double faults.


2009 Brisbane International, Review, Day six: 9 January
In the women's singles semifinals, Amélie Mauresmo retired from her match with Marion Bartoli after just four games because of a thigh injury. Despite the retirement, she was expected to be fit for the Australian Open starting two weeks later. Bartoli will next play Victoria Azarenka, a 6–3, 6–1 victor over Sara Errani.


2009 Brisbane International, Review, Day seven: 10 January
The men's semifinals were played, with third-seeded Fernando Verdasco defeating Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu 6–2, 6–1. Verdasco was broken at the beginning of the match to fall behind 2–0 but then won six straight games to take the first set. In the second semifinal, eighth-seeded Richard Gasquet struggled in the first three games of the first set, giving Radek Štěpánek an early break. Gasquet was able to break back immediately and broke twice more to take the first set. Gasquet's errors allowed Štěpánek to win the second set, breaking Gasquet twice. In the third set, Štěpánek broke Gasquet's serve twice while losing his own serve only once to win the match 2–6, 6–2, 6–4.


2009 Brisbane International, Review, Day seven: 10 January
Verdasco's success at the tournament continued in the men's doubles semifinals. He and partner Mischa Zverev defeated home pair Carsten Ball and Chris Guccione 6–2, 6–4 to reach the final. Their opponents will be Marc Gicquel and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the all-French pair, who overcame Travis Parrott and Filip Polášek 7–5, 6–7(4), [10–7].


2009 Brisbane International, Review, Day seven: 10 January
Victoria Azarenka, a new top-20 player from Belarus, claimed her maiden Women's Tennis Association Tour title with a 6–3, 6–1 victory over third-seeded Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli. The 19-year-old won the tournament without losing a set. After falling behind 4–1 and two breaks of serve in the first set, Bartoli fought back to 4–3. Azarenka then won six consecutive games to take the set and lead 4–0 in the second before closing out the match in 29 minutes.


2009 Brisbane International, Review, Day seven: 10 January
With no seeds left in the women's doubles, Anna-Lena Grönefeld and Vania King overcame a first set loss to defeat Klaudia Jans and Alicja Rosolska 3–6, 7–5, [10–5],


2009 Brisbane International, Review, Day eight: 11 January
Czech Radek Štěpánek won the men's singles title, defeating third-seeded Fernando Verdasco from Spain 3–6, 6–3, 6–4. This was Štěpánek's third singles title on the Association of Tennis Professionals tour after Rotterdam in 2006 and Los Angeles in 2007. Štěpánek led 4–1 in the third set with a double break before Verdasco broke back to trail 4–3.


2009 Brisbane International, Review, Day eight: 11 January
Verdasco also was involved in the doubles final. Partnering Mischa Zverev for the first time, they lost to fellow new team Marc Gicquel and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6–3, 6–4.


2009 Brisbane International, Finals, Men's doubles
Marc Gicquel /  Jo-Wilfried Tsonga defeated  Fernando Verdasco /  Mischa Zverev 6–4, 6–3


2009 Brisbane International, Finals, Women's doubles
Anna-Lena Grönefeld /  Vania King defeated  Klaudia Jans /  Alicja Rosolska, 3–6, 7–5, [10–5]


2009 Brisbane International – Men's Doubles
Martín García and Marcelo Melo were the defending champions, but García chose not to participate, and only Melo competed that year. Melo partnered with André Sá, but lost in the first round to Travis Parrott and Filip Polášek.


2009 Brisbane International – Men's Doubles
Marc Gicquel and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga won in the final, 6–4, 6–3, against Fernando Verdasco and Mischa Zverev.


2009 Brisbane International – Men's Singles
Michaël Llodra was the defending champion, but lost in the second round to Radek Štěpánek.


2009 Brisbane International – Men's Singles
Radek Štěpánek won in the final 3–6, 6–3, 6–4, against Fernando Verdasco.


2009 Brisbane International – Women's Doubles
Dinara Safina and Ágnes Szávay were the defending champions, but chose not to participate that year.


2009 Brisbane International – Women's Doubles
Anna-Lena Grönefeld and Vania King won in the final, 3–6, 7–5, 10–5, over Klaudia Jans and Alicja Rosolska.


2009 Brisbane International – Women's Singles
Victoria Azarenka won the title, defeating Marion Bartoli in the final 6–3, 6–1.


2009 Brisbane Lions season
This article covers the 2009 AFL season results for AFL team, the Brisbane Lions.


2009 Brisbane Roar W-League season
The 2009 season was the Brisbane Roar's second season of football (soccer) in Australia's women's league, the W-League.


2009 Brisbane Roar W-League season, Season 2 – 2009, Fixtures
The season was played over 10 rounds, followed by a finals series.


2009 Brisbane Roar W-League season, Players
Squad retrieved from recent articles. Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


2009 Bristol City Council election
The 2009 Bristol City Council elections were held on Thursday 4 June 2009, for 23 seats, that being one-third of the total number of councilors. The Liberal Democrats who had been leading a minority administration, won an overall majority of the council, the first time the party had achieved this on Bristol City Council. The Liberal Democrats were defending 11 seats, the Labour Party 10 and the Conservatives 2.


2009 Brit Awards
The 2009 Brit Awards ceremony took place on Wednesday 18 February 2009. It was the 29th edition of the British Phonographic Industry's annual pop music awards. The awards ceremony was held at Earls Court in London, and was broadcast live on ITV on 18 February at 8pm (GMT). Duffy became the first female artist to ever win three awards in the same year, and only Blur, in 1995, have ever won more awards at a single ceremony.


2009 Brit Awards
The show was advertised as live by ITV but the broadcast included several audio deletions which means the show was shown on a time delay system. The 2009 Brit Awards ceremony was watched by 5.49 million people and was the 32nd most watched programme on TV on the week ending 22 February.


2009 Brit Awards, Hosts
Kylie Minogue, Mathew Horne and James Corden hosted the 2009 edition of the Brit Awards, with Fearne Cotton presenting backstage. Fearne also hosted the launch party for ITV2 in January.


2009 Brit Awards, Hosts
Johnny Vegas introduced and closed the event, as well as reading out the nominees in a pre-recorded voiceover. Emma B provided the live voiceovers as the artists came to the stage.


2009 Brit Awards, Hosts
Rufus Hound, Sara Cox, Melanie Blatt and Nicole Appleton presented the Red Carpet and Encore events on ITV2.


2009 Brit Awards, Hosts
Alesha Dixon presented a backstage programme, screened on ITV two days after the ceremony.


2009 Brit Awards, Memorable moments, Girls Aloud
British reality band, Girls Aloud, marked their first ever performance at the 2009 ceremony, by performing their single, "The Promise". The performance saw the band members, including Cheryl and Nicola Roberts appear as though they were naked, with their modesty being covered by pink feathers. This performance was nominated in the 2010 ceremony for the "BRITs Hits 30 – Best Live Performance at the BRIT Awards", alongside Oasis and The Who, which the Spice Girls eventually went on to win. "The Promise" won best British single, their first ever BRIT award.


2009 Brit Awards, Memorable moments, Mick Kluczynski
Ten days before the 2009 Brits, Mick Kluczynski, the production manager for the Brits since 1995 who assisted with the transition from the Fleetwood/Fox debacle to the scale of the current ceremony, died. Despite this setback the team he put in place ensured that everything went as planned, and the show was dedicated to his memory.


2009 British & Irish Lions tour to South Africa
The 2009 British & Irish Lions tour to South Africa was an international rugby union tour which took place in South Africa from May to July 2009.


2009 British & Irish Lions tour to South Africa
The British & Irish Lions played a three-match Test series against South Africa, with matches in Durban, Pretoria and Johannesburg, as well as matches against six provincial teams, and a match against the Emerging Springboks, South Africa's second national team. The Lions won all six provincial matches and drew with the Emerging Springboks, 13–13.


2009 British & Irish Lions tour to South Africa
South Africa won the Test series, defeating the Lions 26–21 in the first Test, and then 28–25 in the second Test. The third Test was won by the Lions 28–9. The highlight of the series was the second Test, which the Lions led until the 76th minute, when they fell 25–22 behind. Stephen Jones then scored a penalty to tie the score at 25–25 with only two minutes left, but two minutes into injury time, Morné Steyn scored a 52-metre penalty kick to win the match for South Africa, 28–25.


2009 British & Irish Lions tour to South Africa
The tour followed the 2005 British & Irish Lions tour to New Zealand and preceded the 2013 British & Irish Lions tour to Australia.


2009 British & Irish Lions tour to South Africa, Background
The tour was confirmed by the South African Rugby Union on 21 September 2007. The Lions chief executive John Feehan stated in November 2007 that no home Test match would be played prior to departure, as had taken place in 2005, and that fewer players and personnel would go to South Africa than had gone to New Zealand in 2005.


2009 British & Irish Lions tour to South Africa, Background
The Lions' tour manager was Gerald Davies, the head coach was Ian McGeechan, and the captain of the squad was Munster captain and Ireland lock, Paul O'Connell.


2009 British & Irish Lions tour to South Africa, Background
The tour schedule was announced by the Lions and the South African Rugby Union (SARU) on 10 April 2008. The final fixture confirmed was the game in Port Elizabeth; on 22 January 2009, SARU announced that they had received permission from the South African government to hold the match on the Youth Day national holiday on 16 June. This match marked the debut of the Southern Kings, a franchise formed in the Southern and Eastern Cape region, following the failure of the Southern Spears.


2009 British & Irish Lions tour to South Africa, Background
Head coach Ian McGeechan had planned to take the Lions squad to the Spanish city of Granada, at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains for a high-altitude training camp, but on 27 April he announced that it had been cancelled because of problems over player availability. The Lions flew to South Africa on 24 May, arriving the following day.


2009 British & Irish Lions tour to South Africa, Background
The format was similar to that of the Lions' 2005 tour of New Zealand. As in 2005, six games were played before the first Test, and a mid-week game between the first and second Tests; unlike 2005, there was no mid-week game between the second and third Tests. Due to its unpopularity, The Power of Four anthem was not used on the 2009 tour.


2009 British & Irish Lions tour to South Africa, Test series, First Test
South Africa won the first Test in Durban 26–21. Leading 19–7 at half-time and 26–7 after 50 minutes, the Springboks had dominated the scrum until the Lions made several substitutions. The Lions mounted a strong comeback, scoring late tries through Tom Croft and Mike Phillips, but South Africa held on. Inside the last ten minutes of the game, the Lions had two tries disallowed by the TMO. It was later described as an "unbelievable" Test match.


2009 British & Irish Lions tour to South Africa, Test series, Second Test
The second Test at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria was won by South Africa 28–25 with the last kick of the game – a penalty by Morné Steyn from inside his own half. The Lions had led 19–8 after an hour, but tries from Bryan Habana and Jaque Fourie allowed South Africa to tie the score before Steyn's series-winning kick. It was described as "devastation" for the Lions, with the team ending the game "looking more like a scene from [American television series] ER as opposed to a rugby team".


2009 British & Irish Lions tour to South Africa, Test series, Second Test, Controversy
The week of the third Test was marked by controversy and intense media interest surrounding the suspended Springbok players Schalk Burger and Bakkies Botha after a very physical second Test.


2009 British & Irish Lions tour to South Africa, Test series, Second Test, Controversy
Burger was yellow-carded in the first minute, after he appeared to gouge Luke Fitzgerald's eye. Burger was subsequently banned for eight weeks for "making contact with the face in the eye area." He was cleared of gouging, as his action was found to be "reckless" but not intentional.


2009 British & Irish Lions tour to South Africa, Test series, Second Test, Controversy
Burger was widely criticised, with many commentators believing he should have been sent off for the incident. Brian O'Driscoll was among many who criticised South Africa coach Peter de Villiers after he said Burger's actions should not even have led to a yellow card.


2009 British & Irish Lions tour to South Africa, Test series, Second Test, Controversy
Bakkies Botha was banned for two weeks for a dangerous charge on prop Adam Jones, which left Jones with a dislocated shoulder. SA Rugby expressed their confusion over the reasons for Botha's ban with the coach calling it a "textbook cleanout". An appeal was lodged but the initial ruling was upheld. Coaches and players expressed concern about the impact such an interpretation might have on a core component of the game, with Lions player Phil Vickery and forwards coach Warren Gatland lending their support to Botha's case. The injured Jones himself later came out in defence of Botha saying:


2009 British & Irish Lions tour to South Africa, Test series, Second Test, Controversy
The Springboks came out for the third Test wearing white armbands with the words "Justice 4" on, in protest over perceived inconsistencies in the citing process. This protest was investigated by the IRB for allegedly "bringing the game in disrepute", and the team and management were fined accordingly.


2009 British & Irish Lions tour to South Africa, Test series, Third Test
The Lions won the third Test on 4 July at Ellis Park in Johannesburg, beating the Springboks 28–9, in what The Times called "one of the best and most heroic performances in the history of the Lions". Having already won the series, the Springbok squad saw 10 changes from the previous week, and the Lions also saw substantial changes. The Lions led from the start, and Shane Williams scored two tries. England lock Simon Shaw was sin-binned for striking Springboks scrum-half Fourie du Preez with his knee in this test and received a two-week ban as a result. This was the first Test victory for the Lions in eight years, their last being in Brisbane in 2001.


2009 British & Irish Lions tour to South Africa, Test series, Third Test
Jamie Roberts was voted the Lions' sponsors' 'Player of the Series' by British and Irish journalists.


2009 British & Irish Lions tour to South Africa, Lions squad
The Lions announced a 37-man squad on 21 April 2009. Before the start of the tour Tomás O'Leary, Tom Shanklin and Jerry Flannery all withdrew because of injuries and Alan Quinlan was suspended. During the tour, Leigh Halfpenny, Stephen Ferris, Euan Murray, Lee Byrne, Adam Jones, Gethin Jenkins, Jamie Roberts and Brian O'Driscoll, as well as Ferris' replacement Ryan Jones, were forced to withdraw from the squad due to injury. Nathan Hines was suspended for one week because of a dangerous tackle against the Emerging Springboks.


2009 British & Irish Lions tour to South Africa, Lions management
23 backroom staff were appointed by the Lions, slightly down from the 26 on the 2005 tour to New Zealand. The Lions reverted to having only one management structure, rather than a separate team for the midweek side. The tour manager was former Wales and Lions player Gerald Davies.


2009 British 125 Championship
The 2009 British 125 Championship season was the 22nd British 125cc Championship season. The championship went down to the very last meetings at Oulton Park, James Lodge leading by 18 points from Martin Glossop with Rob Guiver 23 points behind; after Glossop fell, Lodge only had to finish 14th to take the title. Lodge took a 7th-place finish to secure the title while Guiver moved above Glossop into second place in the championship.


2009 British Academy Scotland Awards
The 2009 British Academy Scotland Awards were held on 8 November 2009 at the Glasgow Science Centre, honouring the best Scottish film and television productions of 2009. Presented by BAFTA Scotland, accolades are handed out for the best in feature-length film that were screened at British cinemas during 2008. The Nominees were announced on 17 October 2009. The list caused some controversy for the lack of film actresses making the nominations. The ceremony was hosted by Lorraine Kelly.


2009 British Academy Scotland Awards
Bill Forsyth, Jeremy Isaacs, David Jones and Patrick Doyle were honoured with Outstanding Contribution awards at this ceremony.


2009 British Academy Television Awards
The 2009 British Academy Television Awards were held on 26 April at the Royal Festival Hall in London. The event was broadcast live on BBC One and was hosted by Graham Norton. The nominations were announced on 24 March. Winners in bold.


2009 British Academy Television Craft Awards
The British Academy Television Craft Awards of 2009 are presented by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) and were held on 17 May 2009 at Hilton Hotel, Mayfair, the ceremony was hosted by Alexander Armstrong.


2009 British Athletics Championships
The 2009 British Athletics Championships was the national championship in outdoor track and field for athletes in the United Kingdom, held from 10–12 July at Alexander Stadium in Birmingham. It was organised by UK Athletics. It served as a selection meeting for Great Britain at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics.


2009 British Columbia Scotties Tournament of Hearts
The 2009 British Columbia Scotties Tournament of Hearts, British Columbia's women's provincial curling championship, was held January 20-25 at the Parksville Curling Club in Parksville, British Columbia. The winner represents team British Columbia at the 2009 Scotties Tournament of Hearts in Victoria, British Columbia.


2009 British Columbia electoral reform referendum
Following the 2005 electoral reform referendum, British Columbia held a second referendum on electoral reform in conjunction with the provincial election on May 12, 2009. As in 2005, voters in 2009 were asked were asked which electoral system should be used to elect legislators: the existing first-past-the-post electoral system or the BC single transferable vote electoral system (BC-STV) proposed by the British Columbia Citizen's Assembly on Electoral Reform to ensure more proportional representation in the provincial Legislative Assembly.


2009 British Columbia electoral reform referendum
The referendum was defeated, with 60.9 percent voting against the reform and 39.09 percent of voters supporting the change.


2009 British Columbia electoral reform referendum
BC later held another referendum on electoral reform, in 2018.


2009 British Columbia electoral reform referendum, Scheduling
The government of British Columbia initially scheduled the second referendum to be conducted alongside the 2008 municipal elections. On April 26, 2007, Premier Gordon Campbell announced that the referendum date would be shifted to May 12, 2009. Conducting a referendum alongside the May provincial election was estimated to cost between $1 million and $2 million. The chief electoral officer had warned that a referendum in tandem with the municipal election would have cost up to $30 million. The chief electoral officer had also raised concerns regarding to adequacy of facilities, a shortage of trained voting officials, and differing voter eligibility requirements for local and provincial voters' lists.


2009 British Columbia electoral reform referendum, Proposed electoral boundaries
In the 2005 referendum, voters cast ballots for or against BC-STV without knowing how the new system would affect their electoral ridings. This uncertainty led to voter concerns that, to create ridings large enough to support the multiple representatives preferred under BC-STV, ridings would be merged into unmanageably-large districts, particularly in the less densely populated north and interior of the province.


2009 British Columbia electoral reform referendum, Proposed electoral boundaries
The post-election Speech from the Throne identified this as a critical piece to be addressed for the second referendum: "One task that was never assigned to the Citizens' Assembly was to show precisely how its proposed STV model might apply on an electoral map. This was arguably a design flaw in its terms of reference that in retrospect may have impacted how people voted in the referendum. Your government believes that establishing STV constituency boundaries may provide the public with a critical piece of information that was missing at the time of the referendum."


2009 British Columbia electoral reform referendum, Proposed electoral boundaries
The ensuing electoral boundaries redistribution prompted significant controversy for reasons largely unrelated to the BC-STV system, and on several occasions it seemed possible that the commission's work, including its STV recommendations, might be rejected altogether. Ultimately, a bipartisan agreement between the governing Liberals and opposition New Democrats saw the passage of the Electoral Districts Act, 2008 on April 10, 2008, which implemented, with modification, the report of the Electoral Boundaries Commission. 20 STV electoral districts returning a total of 85 MLAs were accordingly established.


2009 British Columbia electoral reform referendum, Question
In 2005 voters had been asked:"Should British Columbia change to the BC-STV electoral system as recommended by the Citizens' Assembly on Electoral Reform?"


2009 British Columbia electoral reform referendum, Campaigns
Legislation to allow a second referendum on an alternative electoral system, the Electoral Reform Referendum 2009 Act, was introduced in the provincial legislature on March 8, 2008 by Attorney-General Wally Oppal.


2009 British Columbia electoral reform referendum, Campaigns
Public funding was available to groups who are supporters or detractors of both the single transferable vote (STV) and the first-past-the-post election systems. Through the chief electoral officer, registered groups were to be given funds to provide information and educational material about their positions. Each side had access to a total of $500,000 in public funding and an equivalent amount funded neutral public information campaign.


2009 British Columbia electoral reform referendum, Campaigns
On January 12, 2009, the Attorney General issued an information bulletin announcing the proponent and opponent groups. The officially recognized proponent group was Fair Voting BC, which operated under the campaign name "British Columbians for STV", while the recognized opponent group was the No STV Campaign Society led by Bill Tieleman, which campaigned under the name "No STV". The Citizens' Assembly Alumni group, representing the bulk of the original Citizens' Assembly members, continued to play an active role in promoting their recommendation working in close cooperation with Fair Voting BC.


2009 British Columbia electoral reform referendum, Results
The referendum would have required 60 per cent overall approval and 50 per cent approval in at least 60 per cent (51 out of 85) of the province's electoral districts in order to succeed. If the vote had been in favour of BC-STV, the new electoral system would have been scheduled to be in place for BC's 2013 election. However, the province's voters defeated the change with only 39.09% of 1,651,139 votes in favour of BC-STV (representing a 55% voter turnout).


2009 British Columbia electoral reform referendum, Opinion polls
On April 15, Yes for BC-STV published a press release stating that an Angus Reid Poll, conducted between March 9 to 12, showed 65% support for BC-STV, but that awareness for the referendum was at 44%.


2009 British Columbia general election
The 2009 British Columbia general election was held on May 12, 2009, to elect members of the Legislative Assembly in the Canadian province of British Columbia. The British Columbia Liberal Party (BC Liberals) formed the government of the province prior to this general election under the leadership of Premier Gordon Campbell. The British Columbia New Democratic Party (BC NDP) under the leadership of Carole James was the Official Opposition.


2009 British Columbia general election
The election was the first contested on a new electoral map completed in 2008, with the total number of constituencies increased from 79 in the previous legislature to 85. Under amendments to the BC Constitution Act passed in 2001, BC elections are now held on fixed dates which are the second Tuesday in May every four years.


2009 British Columbia general election
A second referendum on electoral reform was held in conjunction with the election.


2009 British Columbia general election
The election did not produce a significant change in the province's political landscape. The BC Liberals, who had been in power since the 2001 provincial election, were returned to power, constituting the first time in 23 years a party has won three elections in a row. As a result of the seat redistribution, both the Liberals and the New Democrats gained seats, and both parties increased their popular vote by less than one per cent over 2005. Each party lost two incumbent MLAs: the BC NDP's Jenn McGinn and Charlie Wyse, and the Liberals' John Nuraney and Wally Oppal were defeated. All other seat changes in the election resulted from the new seats or from retiring incumbents.


2009 British Columbia general election
Voter turnout was 50.99% of eligible voters (1,651,567 registered voters).


2009 British Columbia general election, Political parties, British Columbia Liberal Party
The BC Liberal party dropped from 72 to 46 seats in the legislature after the 2005 provincial election. Having formed a majority government since 2001 the party promoted its own track record as the government. Much of the party's platform was revealed in the 2009 Budget which included a three-year fiscal plan including revenue expectations, tax measures, and spending priorities. The budget proposed cost savings from reduced budgets in half of the ministries, 76% less government advertising, public sector wage freezes, and less spending on government travel costs, contracted professional services, and discretionary spending.


2009 British Columbia general election, Political parties, British Columbia Liberal Party
The budget plan proposed to increase spending by $4.8 billion over 3 years for healthcare, $300 million over three years for social services, and $800 million more annually for education, as well as some new funding for childcare, policing, victims services, and social housing.


2009 British Columbia general election, Political parties, British Columbia Liberal Party
The BC Liberal platform, some of it already promised in the budget, advocates hospital improvements in Surrey, Victoria, Vernon, Fort St. John and Kelowna; travel and accommodation assistance to families who must travel long distances to be with their children when they are receiving care; new measures to help remote communities get new access to fresh fruit and vegetables; provide citizens electronic access to their health records; establishing voluntary five-year-old kindergarten classes; establishing a law school at Thompson Rivers University, a medical school at UBC Okanagan, and a Wood Design and Innovation Centre at UNBC; doubling the BC Training Tax Credit; exempting the first $20,000 of seniors' pension income from income tax; legislating a Residents Bill of Rights for seniors living in residential care facilities and a registry for residential care aides; installing cameras to monitor school yards and high-risk public areas; outlaw dumping of raw sewage into the Strait of Juan de Fuca and help build a new sewage treatment plan for Greater Victoria.


2009 British Columbia general election, Political parties, New Democratic Party of British Columbia
Under Carole James' leadership the NDP won 33 seats in the 2005 election and two by-elections in 2008.


2009 British Columbia general election, Political parties, New Democratic Party of British Columbia
Among other points, its platform involved repealing the carbon tax, instituting a cap and trade plan of greenhouse gas emissions, adopting California's tough vehicle tailpipe emission standards, expanding the capacity and efficiency of public hospitals, instituting health care wait time guarantees, a 1-year small business tax holiday, freezing post-secondary tuition fees, hire more Crown Prosecutors, restoring public oversight to BC Ferries, restricting raw log exports, increasing the minimum wage to $10/hr indexed to inflation, placing a moratorium on new private run-of-the-river power projects, reinstating the Buy BC program, creating a new Rural Economic Development Fund, and promoting farm gate sales of agricultural products (including meat).


2009 British Columbia general election, Political parties, Green Party of British Columbia
The Green Party ran a full slate of candidates, as it did in 2005 when it won over 9 percent of the vote but no seats in the legislature. Its new leader was Jane Sterk, a former Esquimalt councillor. It supported the BC-STV proposal in the referendum. The party released its platform in a book titled British Columbia's Green Book, 2009—2013.


2009 British Columbia general election, Political parties, Green Party of British Columbia
Amongst other points, it advocated balanced budgets, reducing taxes on industry and business while increasing taxes on pollution, creating a Green Venture Capital Fund to invest in green collar jobs, directing 1% from the PST to municipal governments, allowing municipalities to issue municipal bonds, creating a provincial police force, reducing tuition fees by 20%, increasing funding to post-secondary institutions, refunding full tuition fees to graduates who work and live in the province for five years after receiving their degree, banning use of cosmetic pesticides, expanding the Medical Service Plan (to cover chiropractic, physiotherapy, eye exams, massage therapy, routine physical exams, and counselling for addictions), creating a Guaranteed Livable Income by unifying all current income support programs, supporting harm reduction practices, regulating cannabis, halting river-based hydro projects pending a review of the environmental assessment process, re-establishing BC Ferries as a Crown corporation, halting the Gateway Program, using usage based insurance for ICBC rates, and creating a BC Legacy Fund from oil and gas royalties for municipal and rural community projects.


2009 British Columbia general election, Political parties, Minor parties
The Conservatives nominated 24 candidates, up from seven candidates in 2005 when they won 0.55% of the vote. In spite of his low profile party leader Wilf Hanni participated in a leaders' "Forum" in May 2009.


2009 British Columbia general election, Political parties, Minor parties
Their platform advocated, among other points, competitive and performance-based healthcare delivery within a publicly funded system, opposing the Recognition and Reconciliation Bill with Aboriginal peoples, returning treaty responsibility to the federal government, repealing the carbon tax and opposing a carbon trading system, expanding resource development (including offshore drilling), reducing the PST by 1%, harmonizing the PST with the Federal GST, eliminating the Property Transfer Tax, rolling back salary increases of MLAs and senior government employees, permitting parents more choices in which schools to send their children to and funding the schools accordingly, repealing the Corren Agreement, reducing tuition fees for students who meet certain standards in post-secondary education, light rail transit in southern Vancouver Island and in Chilliwack, eliminating tolls on bridges (including a proposed toll on the Port Mann Bridge), work requirements on public projects for criminals serving time in jail, a new program to address small crime separately from more serious crimes, creation of a program called Communities That Care to strengthen family dynamics and reduce negative youth behaviors, publishing a Criminal Offenders Registry, creating a substantive appeal process beyond the BC Human Rights Tribunal, enact a 'Right to a Free Vote' legislation for MLAs to freely vote in the Legislature, hold votes for federal senators, and implement a preferential voting system for provincial elections.


2009 British Columbia general election, Political parties, Minor parties
The Libertarian Party ran six candidates in this election, as it did in 2005. The party supported reducing government involvement in delivery of health care, education, and car insurance; reducing taxes as services are privatized; and reducing government regulation on guns and drugs.


2009 British Columbia general election, Political parties, Minor parties
The Marijuana Party ran one candidate in this election and endorsed the Green Party. In 2005 it ran 44 candidates, while in 2001 it ran a full slate.


2009 British Columbia general election, Political parties, Minor parties
The Refederation Party nominated 22 candidates, up from four candidates in 2005 under its previous name the "Western Refederation Party of BC". The party mainly advocates for direct democracy based on the Swiss model, the creation of a provincial constitution, and re-negotiating with the federal government the terms of confederation.


2009 British Columbia general election, Political parties, Minor parties
According to its website its platform also includes the creation of a provincial police force, homogeneous schools and classes of students with similar abilities, reinstating alternative medical options (such as physiotherapy, dental, and chiropractic) into the Medical Services Plan and placing the Medical Services Plan under the jurisdiction of Insurance Corporation of British Columbia, making WorkSafe an enforcement agency only by moving its insurance component to ICBC, a moratorium on run-of-river hydro projects and fish farms, holding a referendums on the Trade, Investment and Labour Mobility Agreement and the sale of Crown Corporations, and a judicial review of the sale of BC Rail.


2009 British Columbia general election, Political parties, Minor parties
The Communist Party of BC is the provincial branch of the national Communist Party. It had three candidates running in the 2009 election, as it did in 2005. The CPBC campaigned against BC-STV in favour of Mixed Member Proportional representation.


2009 British Columbia general election, Political parties, Minor parties
It advocates progressive tax based on ability to pay, raising the minimum wage to $16/hour indexed to the cost of living, ending the $6/hour training wage, holding a public inquiry into the sale of BC Rail, banning raw log exports, requiring by legislation the processing of timber locally for export, banning evictions for the purpose of renovation, scrapping the Gateway Program, holding elections for the TransLink board with a $1 single zone fare for the Lower Mainland, removing guns and tasers from transit police, eliminating tuition fees, expanding the apprenticeship program, lowering the voting age to 16, withdrawing from the Trade, Investment and Labour Mobility Agreement, and reintegrating BC Transmission Corporation back into BC Hydro.


2009 British Columbia general election, Political parties, Minor parties
The Nation Alliance Party is a new party that nominated two candidates in this election, both in Richmond ridings. The party seeks to promote the rights of ethnic minorities and recent immigrants. Among other points, it advocates promoting participation in the public affairs, promoting non-violence, and opposing racialism.


2009 British Columbia general election, Political parties, Minor parties
The People's Front is the provincial wing of the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) which generally advocates, among other points, increased spending on health, education and other social programs, a moratorium on the debt, hereditary rights of the Aboriginal peoples, recognition of the equality of all languages and cultures, instituting recall elections, and rights for individuals to initiate legislation. It nominated four candidates in this election, down from five in 2005 and 11 in 2001.


2009 British Columbia general election, Political parties, Minor parties
The BC Reform Party nominated four candidates. It had only one candidate in the 2005 election but nine in 2001 and a full slate of 75 in the 1996 election. According to its website, its platform includes, amongst other points, replacing the provincial income tax with a sales tax and a business tax on gross receipts, use of an employee payroll credit, repudiation of any carbon taxes and carbon credit trading, re-establishing public equity in BC Investment Management Corporation, re-establishment a Grand jury system, restrictions on judicial reviews of legislative actions, and elections for local provincial court judges.


2009 British Columbia general election, Political parties, Minor parties
Billing itself as "the world's first sex-positive party", the Sex Party nominated three candidates in Vancouver ridings, as it did in 2005.


2009 British Columbia general election, Political parties, Minor parties
According to its website, its platform includes, amongst other points, requiring sexual health and hygiene education in schools, requiring school districts to establish professional support programs to address discrimination of sexual minorities, providing provincial funding for institutes studying and teaching human sexuality or researching sexuality policy issues, reserve designate areas for nudists on all public parks and beaches larger than one hectare, establish a Sex Worker Empowerment Program as an agency providing counseling, education, and advocacy to sex workers, requiring municipalities to treat sex toy businesses as other retail businesses, repeal sex negative regulations, requiring all long term care institutions to articulate a sexuality policy that is non-judgmental about residents' sexuality, creating a Sex-Positive Press Council to expose overt and subtle censorship in BC media, changing Victoria Day to Eros Day to celebrate and encourage sex-positive expression, and proclaiming Valentine's Day a statutory holiday.


2009 British Columbia general election, Political parties, Minor parties
The Western Canada Concept had one candidate running in this election, down from two candidates in the 2005 election. The party strongly advocates independence for western Canada, and amongst other points advocates for anti-abortion legislation, strong private property rights, balanced budgets, promotion of cultural assimilation rather than multiculturalism, and compulsory public service with a volunteer armed forces.


2009 British Columbia general election, Political parties, Minor parties
The WLP is an anti-materialist political movement that hopes to achieve socialist and green ends through, among other things, the promotion of a four-day, 32-hour work-week. The party had 2 candidates down from 11 in 2005. The 2005 BC election marked the debut in Western politics of any registered party expressly driven by the ideology of voluntary simplicity.


2009 British Columbia general election, Political parties, Minor parties
The party nominated one candidate in 2005 and two in 2009.


2009 British Columbia general election, Political parties, Minor parties
Among other points, it advocates publishing reports explaining where every tax dollar is spent, free votes in the legislature, making all campaign promises legally binding, requiring MLAs hold public townhall-style meetings at least once every four months, labelling products sold in BC indicating environmental standards, adding generating capacity to existing dams, opening run-of-river dam project areas to recreational use, providing periodic written statements detailing the cost of each citizen's use of the health care system, provide forgivable loans to post-secondary students who continue to live and work in BC after graduation, permit more private post-secondary institutions, requiring all people serving time in jail to work to pay for the cost of their incarceration, legalization of marijuana, eliminate the property transfer tax, disallow restrictions on secondary suites and minimum home sizes, harvesting all Pine Beetle affected timber immediately, limiting the total allowable yearly fishing catch (rather than regulating length of the fishing season), require weekly educational programs for anyone receiving welfare payments, provide before and after school childcare, permitting private insurance companies to compete with ICBC.


2009 British Columbia general election, Timeline of the campaign
April 10, 2008, passage of the Electoral Districts Act, 2008 moving BC from 79 to 85 constituencies.


2009 British Columbia general election, Timeline of the campaign
October 29, 2008, by-elections in Vancouver-Burrard and Vancouver-Fairview, both won by the New Democrats.


2009 British Columbia general election, Timeline of the campaign
April 14, 2009, the campaign will officially begin when the writ is issued.


2009 British Columbia general election, Timeline of the campaign
April 24, 2009 1pm close of nominations for the election.


2009 British Columbia general election, Timeline of the campaign, Debates
There was one TV debate featuring the leaders of the three major parties: Gordon Campbell, Carole James, and Jane Sterk on all three major BC networks on Sunday May 3 at 5:00 p.m.


2009 British Columbia general election, Timeline of the campaign, Debates
CKNW had a debate of the three leaders on April 23 from 8:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.


2009 British Columbia general election, Timeline of the campaign, Debates
CBC Radio One had a debate of the three leaders on April 21 at 7:30 a.m.


2009 British Figure Skating Championships
The 2009 British Figure Skating Championships took place from January 11 to 16, 2009 in Nottingham. Skaters competed in the disciplines of men's singles, ladies' singles, pair skating, ice dancing, and synchronized skating across the levels of senior, junior, and novice. The results were among the criteria to determine the British teams for the 2009 World Championships, the 2009 European Championships, and the 2009 World Junior Championships.


2009 British Formula 3 International Series
The 2009 British Formula 3 International Series (for sponsorship reasons, the Cooper Tires British Formula 3 International Series) was the 59th British Formula 3 International Series season. It began on 13 April at Oulton Park's Easter Monday meeting and ended on 20 September at Brands Hatch after 20 rounds in four countries. Australian driver Daniel Ricciardo won the title with two races to spare, at the penultimate round at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve in Portimão. Daniel McKenzie sealed the National Class title during the same race.


2009 British Formula 3 International Series, Calendar
The calendar for 2009 saw the total number of races drop from 22 to 20. Three overseas events remain, with the 24 Hours of Spa-supporting event the only one to remain from 2008. However, the Monza 1000km-supporting races and the FIA GT-support event in Bucharest were dropped to be replaced by the series' first visit to Germany and to Hockenheim, and also a visit to the brand-new Autódromo Internacional do Algarve in Portugal. Thruxton and Croft have also been dropped to be replaced with a second meeting at Silverstone. Donington's meeting was originally scheduled for 26 April, however due to ongoing issues with the circuit's track licence, the meeting was rescheduled for 19 July.


2009 British Formula Ford Championship
The 2009 British Formula Ford Championship was the 34th edition of the British Formula Ford Championship. It began on 13 April at Oulton Park's Easter Monday meeting and ended on 4 October at Castle Combe Circuit after 9 rounds and 25 races, all held in the United Kingdom. James Cole won the series, taking seven race victories with team Jamun Racing to finish 47 points ahead of Josef Newgarden in the final standings.


2009 British GT Championship
The 2009 Avon Tyres British GT season was the 17th season of the British GT Championship. The season began at Oulton Park's Easter Monday meeting and finished on 20 September at Brands Hatch after 14 races. 2009 saw the debut of the new Supersport class. Twins David and Godfrey Jones won the GT3 title during the final race of the season. Jody Firth sealed the GT4 title, while Phil Keen and Marcus Clutton won the Supersports Class.


2009 British GT Championship, Standings
Points are awarded to the top eight finishers in the order 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1. Drivers in bold indicate pole position. Drivers in italics indicate fastest lap.


2009 British GT Championship, Standings, GT3
† — Drivers did not finish the race, but were classified as they completed over 90% of the race distance.


2009 British Grand Prix
The 2009 British Grand Prix (formally the 2009 Formula 1 Santander British Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race held at the Silverstone Circuit in Northamptonshire, United Kingdom, on 21 June 2009. The 60-lap race was the eighth round of the 2009 Formula One season. It was scheduled to be the last British Grand Prix to be held at Silverstone, before the event moved to Donington Park for the 2010 season. However, due to Donington being unable to raise the required funds the event returned to Silverstone again in 2010, on a new layout. The race was won by Sebastian Vettel, who started on pole, with championship leader Jenson Button finishing in sixth position.


2009 British Grand Prix, Report, Background
Home driver Jenson Button led the Drivers' Championship by 26 points from Brawn teammate Rubens Barrichello. Barrichello was 8 points clear of Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel, who lay 1.5 points ahead of his teammate, Mark Webber.


2009 British Grand Prix, Report, Background
Brawn GP led the Constructors' Championship by 39.5 points from Red Bull Racing and were a further 24 points ahead of Japanese manufacturer Toyota.


2009 British Grand Prix, Report, Background
Home favourite and reigning World Champion, Lewis Hamilton, had won the previous year's event for McLaren. As well as Hamilton, the British Grand Prix has a history of native success. Down the years these include wins for David Coulthard, Johnny Herbert, Damon Hill, Nigel Mansell, John Watson, James Hunt, Jackie Stewart, Jim Clark and Stirling Moss. Britain was to be represented this year by Hamilton and Jenson Button.


2009 British Grand Prix, Report, Background
Due to the continuing political dispute between the Formula 1 Teams Association (FOTA), the FIA and Formula 1 Management (FOM), there was talk that the teams against the proposed 2010 season budget cap would not compete in the 2010 season.


2009 British Grand Prix, Report, Background
Other former British GP winners in the field were Ferrari's Kimi Räikkönen, Renault's Fernando Alonso and Brawn GP driver Rubens Barrichello.


2009 British Grand Prix, Report, Practice and qualifying
Sebastian Vettel was fastest in both the first and second practice sessions, with Mark Webber coming second in both. The final session saw Nico Rosberg top the time charts.


2009 British Grand Prix, Report, Practice and qualifying
Qualifying began in some of the coolest conditions experienced all year, with an air temperature of just 16 °C (61 °F). The session was mostly dominated by the Red Bull drivers, until a late flying lap by Kazuki Nakajima saw him fastest by a tenth of a second. The session ended prematurely in the final minute when Adrian Sutil crashed heavily at Abbey, forcing reigning World Champion Lewis Hamilton to abort his final lap and leaving him nineteenth with Giancarlo Fisichella, Sébastien Bourdais, Sutil and Sébastien Buemi also eliminated. Sutil's accident was later found to have been a result of brake failure.


2009 British Grand Prix, Report, Practice and qualifying
The second session did not begin until the remains of Sutil's car were removed from the circuit, with track conditions remaining constant and Red Bull continuing their pace, with Mark Webber remaining unchallenged for most of the session with teammate Sebastian Vettel only out-pacing him on his final run. Championship leader Jenson Button only narrowly missed elimination, setting the eight-fastest time at the end of the session when he had previously been sitting eleventh. Felipe Massa, Robert Kubica, Heikki Kovalainen, Nelson Piquet, Jr. and Nick Heidfeld were all eliminated.


2009 British Grand Prix, Report, Practice and qualifying
The third and final session saw most of the cars switching to the softer option tyre. Sebastian Vettel took pole from Rubens Barrichello, with Webber third. Button qualified sixth – his worst of the season – after Nakajima found some of his first-session pace to steal fifth place out from under him, resulting in his career-best qualifying position. When the weights of each car was published post-qualifying, it emerged that Vettel was 9 kg heavier than the Brawn of Barrichello and 7 kg heavier than teammate Webber. After qualifying, it was announced that BMW Sauber would be abandoning their KERS program for good.


2009 British Grand Prix, Report, Race
Vettel and Red Bull dominated the Grand Prix, with the young German driving away from the field from pole position, often pulling away from Barrichello at the rate of one second per lap.


2009 British Grand Prix, Report, Race
It was a good day for the Red Bull drivers from the moment the lights went out, with championship rival Button dropping down to ninth position at the end of the first lap after a poor start. Fellow home driver Hamilton was having more success, albeit from 19th on the grid, gaining four positions in the first two laps. The mixed-up race order was perhaps reflective of the season as a whole, with the only World Champions in the field – Raikkonen, Alonso and Hamilton – at one point battling for 13th, 14th and 15th positions.


2009 British Grand Prix, Report, Race
At the front of the race while Vettel was setting fastest laps, teammate Mark Webber was unable to pass Rubens Barrichello for second position until the Brazilian pitted on lap 20. Webber pitted a lap later but produced a good enough in-lap to emerge from the pits ahead of Barrichello. Nico Rosberg also benefited from the pit stop phase, emerging in fourth position, ahead of Felipe Massa.


2009 British Grand Prix, Report, Race
Hamilton's eventful race at the back of the field continued, running off track on several occasions. He was able to pass teammate Heikki Kovalainen who had just emerged from the pits on lap 34. The following lap, Sebastian Bourdais attempted a similar manoeuvre at the Abbey chicane, however the Toro Rosso driver was less successful, colliding with the Finn and causing both cars to retire.


2009 British Grand Prix, Report, Race
At the second round of pit-stops, Button was able to take advantage of a long middle stint to move ahead of Raikkonen and Trulli and up to sixth position, behind Massa, who had in-turn leap-frogged Rosberg for fourth. Button was on the faster tyre compound and pressured both cars until the finish, but was unable to pass Rosberg despite being just 0.3 seconds behind the German at the start of the last lap. Rosberg was himself just 0.8 seconds behind Massa.


2009 British Grand Prix, Report, Race
As Vettel took the chequered flag, he was 15.1 seconds ahead of teammate Webber, who was a further 25.9 seconds ahead of Barrichello. Jarno Trulli finished in 7th ahead of Raikkonen, who had to endure late pressure from Trulli's teammate Timo Glock. Hamilton finished a lowly 16th.


2009 British Grand Prix, Report, Post-race
The combination of the fast sweeping circuit suiting the updated Red Bull RB5 and cold conditions hampering the Brawn produced what was a disappointing result for pace-setting Brawn. Button's championship lead was reduced to a still substantial 23 points over Barrichello, who was now just 2 points ahead of Vettel. Webber was a further 3.5 points behind, while Brawn's Constructors' Championship lead was also cut.


2009 British Grand Prix, Report, Post-race
Red Bull's Christian Horner declared his team could mount a serious title challenge following the successful showing of their updated car, claiming it should be quick on the remaining circuits. Vettel declared his car to be "fantastic" while Mark Webber praised the team but admitted a mistake in qualifying cost him any chance of winning. The race also saw Vettel claim his first "hat trick", with pole, fastest lap and the win. Button dismissed talk of Red Bull now having a sizeable advantage, saying Brawn looked weaker than they were because of the cool conditions.


2009 British Grand Prix, Report, Post-race
There were contrasting emotions for 2008 title contenders Felipe Massa and Lewis Hamilton, Massa describing his race from 11th to 4th as good as winning the race while Hamilton said he was pushing his hardest despite finishing 16th.


2009 British Grand Prix, Report, Post-race
Away from the track action, the talk of the paddock was the threat of a breakaway series, with FIA President Max Mosley confident of a solution to the dispute. Commercial rights holder Bernie Ecclestone admitted for the first time the British Grand Prix would be returning to Silverstone if Donington Park was unable to host the 2010 event.


2009 British Indoor Athletics Championships
The 2009 British Indoor Athletics Championships was the 3rd edition of the national championship in indoor track and field for the United Kingdom. It was held from 13–14 February at the English Institute of Sport, Sheffield, England. A total of 24 events (divided evenly between the sexes) were contested over the two-day competition.


2009 British National Track Championships
The 2009 British National Track Championships were a series of track cycling competitions held from 20–24 October 2009 at the Manchester Velodrome. They are organised and sanctioned by British Cycling, and were open to British cyclists.


2009 British Rally Championship
The 2009 MSA British Rally Championship season was the 51st season of the British Rally Championship. The season consisted of six rounds and began on 28 March with International Rally North Wales. The season ended on 26 September, at the International Rally Yorkshire. Irishman Keith Cronin won the title at his first attempt after a season-long battle with Mark Higgins.


2009 British Rally Championship, Calendar
The calendar still has six rounds in 2009. Last years season climax, Wales Rally GB is no longer a round of the BRC and is replaced with a new season opener, the Bulldog International Rally North Wales.


2009 British Rally Championship, Drivers' Championship standings
These results are based on overall positions in the rally, in which there may be entries which are not eligible for BRC points. Only the five best results from the six rallies count towards a driver's final score. (*) denotes the dropped score.


2009 British Rowing Championships
The 2009 British Rowing Championships were the 38th edition of the National Championships, held from 17–19 July 2009 at the National Water Sports Centre in Holme Pierrepont, Nottingham. They were organised and sanctioned by British Rowing, and are open to British rowers.


2009 British Speedway Championship
The 2009 British Speedway Championship was the 49th edition of the British Speedway Championship. The Final took place on 20 May at Wimborne Road in Poole, England. The Championship was won by Chris Harris, who beat Edward Kennett, Tai Woffinden and Lee Richardson in the final heat. It was the second time Harris had won the title.


2009 British Speedway Championship, Results, The Final
m - exclusion for exceeding two minute time allowance •  t - exclusion for touching the tapes •  x - other exclusion •  e - retired or mechanical failure •  f - fell •  ns - non-starter •  nc - non-classify


2009 British Superbike Championship
The 2009 British Superbike season was the 22nd British Superbike Championship season. It began at Brands Hatch on 13 April, ending at Oulton Park on 11 October after 26 races held in England and Scotland.


2009 British Superbike Championship
None of the top four from the 2008 championship returned, as Shane Byrne, Leon Haslam and Tom Sykes moved into the Superbike World Championship, with Cal Crutchlow leaving for the Supersport World Championship.


2009 British Superbike Championship
Having lost his MotoGP ride, Sylvain Guintoli moved into the championship,  joining the Worx Crescent Suzuki team on a GSX-R1000. HM Plant Honda had an all-new all-Australian line-up, with former World Supersport Championship front-runner Josh Brookes and reigning British Supersport Champion Glen Richards. Reigning champions GSE Racing switched from Ducati to Yamaha, retaining Leon Camier and adding James Ellison to the team. Chris Walker made a return to the championship on a Motorpoint/Henderson Yamaha.


2009 British Superbike Championship
Camier won the title in dominant fashion, winning a series record nineteen races during the season. Team-mate Ellison finished as runner-up with Stuart Easton third. Gary Mason was just as dominant in the Privateers Cup, winning eighteen races en route to the title.


2009 British Supersport Championship
The 2009 British Supersport Championship was the twenty-second running of the British Supersport Championship. The top two runners in the 2008 championship, Glen Richards and Ian Lowry both moved up to the British Superbike Championship, with HM Plant Honda and Relentless Suzuki respectively. Steve Plater and the returning Billy McConnell were early season contenders for the championship, with Plater eventually going on to claim the championship at the final round, at Oulton Park.


2009 British Touring Car Championship
The 2009 HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship season was the 52nd British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) season. It began at Brands Hatch on the Indy layout on 5 April and finished after 30 races over 10 events on the Grand Prix layout at Brands Hatch on 4 October. Colin Turkington won the championship for the first time, ahead of Jason Plato and Fabrizio Giovanardi.


2009 British Touring Car Championship
The season also saw Airwaves BMW score their first win in the series when Rob Collard won the second race of the day at the opening meeting at Brands Hatch. The team seemed to have added a second win in race three as Jonathan Adam crossed the line first but he was demoted to second after making contact with Jason Plato handing Plato the win.


2009 British Touring Car Championship
Andrew Jordan became the youngest driver to qualify on pole at Donington after team-mate Fabrizio Giovanardi was excluded for failing technical checks.


2009 British Touring Car Championship
Also, Stephen Jelley took his first win in the series at the first race at Rockingham. He followed this up with another victory in race 3, a race that saw Tom Chilton become the first driver to score a podium position in a Ford Focus following a collision between Plato, Turkington and Plato's team mate James Nash.


2009 British Touring Car Championship
At the final meeting at Brands Hatch, Chilton took pole position becoming the first Ford driver to do so since 2000. All three races were won by Jason Plato, becoming only the second driver to do so following Dan Eaves' hat-trick at Thruxton in 2005; but this was not enough to win the title. Colin Turkington became British Touring Car Champion for the first time, coincidentally becoming the first Northern Irishman to do so.


2009 British Touring Car Championship
Former British Grand Prix winner Johnny Herbert contested the final three meetings in a Team Dynamics Honda Civic.


2009 British Touring Car Championship, Calendar
All races were held in the United Kingdom. The 2009 season had ten race weekends with three BTCC rounds at each. Provisional dates were announced by series organisers on 11 July 2008. The calendar was finalised on 17 March 2009, when all race timetables were announced.


2009 British motorcycle Grand Prix
The 2009 British motorcycle Grand Prix was the tenth round of the 2009 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. It took place on the weekend of 24–26 July 2009 at Donington Park. It was to be the final motorcycle Grand Prix at Donington, with the race moving to Silverstone for the 2010 season.


2009 British motorcycle Grand Prix, MotoGP race report
This race was most notable for the wet-weather conditions the race took place in, Andrea Dovizioso's shock win and Colin Edwards' and Randy de Puniet's shock podiums.


2009 British motorcycle Grand Prix, MotoGP race report
After nine rounds, Valentino Rossi is narrowly leading the title hunt with 176 points. A close second is Jorge Lorenzo with 162 points and a bit further back in third is Casey Stoner with 148 points.


2009 British motorcycle Grand Prix, MotoGP race report
Indicating the end of an era, this was to be the final race at the famous Donington Park circuit as it would be the Silverstone Circuit that would host the MotoGP race from 2010 onwards.


2009 British motorcycle Grand Prix, MotoGP race report
Valentino Rossi took pole position on Saturday - the fourth of the season - with a time of 1:28.116. Second is Dani Pedrosa who is +0.095 seconds behind and third is Rossi's teammate Jorge Lorenzo who is +0.286 behind. The second row of the grid consists out of Casey Stoner, Andrea Dovizioso and Colin Edwards in fourth, fifth and sixth place.


2009 British motorcycle Grand Prix, MotoGP race report
While the 250cc was a wet-dry race and it had stopped raining for a while, the rain started to fall again as soon as the pit lane was opened. The bikes are all going out on slicks on the sighting lap but many riders are uncertain given the now mixed conditions. Riders are also waiting for race control whether they will declare the race wet or dry. As the race is eventually declared 'wet', one rider who takes the gamble is Stoner, who has changed his tyres to full wets on both the front and the rear. Rossi chooses the Soft - Soft tyres, Pedrosa the Medium - Soft and Lorenzo also goes with the Soft - Soft combination. Stoner has the Rain - Rain combination instead.


2009 British motorcycle Grand Prix, MotoGP race report
All riders except Pedrosa get away without problems on the warm-up lap. The Spaniard needs help from his Repsol Honda team as his bike has stalled. Eventually, all the riders line up on their respective grid slots. As the lights go out, Rossi has a good start and maintains his lead heading into Redgate (Turn 1). His teammate Lorenzo swoops around the outside to dive into second position, Pedrosa fighting with Toni Elías though Redgate and Hollywood (Turn 2) for third place.


2009 British motorcycle Grand Prix, MotoGP race report
Fifth is Dovizioso and sixth is Marco Melandri, who has gained one position from the start of the opening lap. The biggest loser is Stoner, who has lost five places and is now down in ninth position as it looks like his tyre gamble does not pay off for now. At the Craner Curves, Lorenzo takes a tighter line and passes Rossi for the lead, followed by a surprising Elías who not only manages to pass Pedrosa at the outside of Hollywood but also blasts past Rossi on the outside, outbraking him at the Old Hairpin (Turn 4).


2009 British motorcycle Grand Prix, MotoGP race report
Entering Starkey's Bridge (Turn 5) and the Schwantz Curve (Turn 6), the duo at the front has now opened up a gap to Rossi already, though he manages to close it relatively quickly. Elías then dives down the inside of Lorenzo at McLean's (Turn 7), surprising the Spaniard and taking over at the front halfway into the first lap. Both Repsol Honda riders - Pedrosa and Dovizioso - then pass Rossi on the short straight before Coppice (Turn 8). ' The Doctor' has now been demoted from the lead of the race to fifth position in just half a lap.


2009 British motorcycle Grand Prix, MotoGP race report
James Toseland makes a move at Starkey's Straight for sixth position as Pedrosa has a moment and runs wide upon entry of The Esses (Turn 9). This allows fourth place Dovizioso to try and take him around the outside but he rides upon a damp kerb and loses traction, not allowing him to make the move. At the Melbourne Hairpin Rossi lunges down the inside of Dovizioso and with Pedrosa avoiding the Italian, he passes both and moves up into third spot.


2009 British motorcycle Grand Prix, MotoGP race report
Pedrosa then loses out to teammate Dovizioso as well, the Spaniard being demoted to fifth in just one turn. Behind him, Toseland also goes up the inside of Randy de Puniet, who has made progress from tenth on the grid, to overtake him for sixth position. At Goddards (Turn 11), Toseland goes up the inside of Pedrosa and takes fifth position from him, with Melandri doing likewise on de Puniet for seventh place.


2009 British motorcycle Grand Prix, MotoGP race report
On lap two, Pedrosa retakes fifth from Toseland at the Wheatcroft Straight. It now starts to rain at the start/finish straight, the conditions now really being mixed as another part of the circuit is still dry enough for slick tyres. At the Old Hairpin, Melandri goes up the inside of Toseland for fifth, running wide upon exit and gifting the place back to the Englishman. Dovizioso has closed up to Rossi and tries a very daring move down his inside at the entry of Starkey's Bridge, running on the damp kerb and having a moment as a result.


2009 British motorcycle Grand Prix, MotoGP race report
This allows Rossi to keep his lead going into Schwantz Curve, Pedrosa trying to take fourth from him as well but failing. Elías, who by now has opened up a gap to second place Lorenzo, looks back at Starkey's Straight to see how far behind he is. Dovizioso has a look at the outside of Rossi but does not make a move.


2009 British motorcycle Grand Prix, MotoGP race report
Lap three and Pedrosa sets the fastest lap of the race. Stoner has dropped further down the order and is now in a lowly thirteenth place. Dovizioso again has a look up on the outside of Rossi upon entry of Redgate but decides to stay behind for now. Pedrosa has also opened up a gap to sixth place Toseland. At the Old Hairpin, Dovizioso goes up the inside of Rossi and snatches third place from him. He then overtakes Lorenzo for second at McLean's as well.


2009 British motorcycle Grand Prix, MotoGP race report
Pedrosa then lines up a pass on Rossi as he takes a wider line going into Coppice, then goes up his inside at the exit of the corner and promotes himself up into third. At Starkey's Straight, Dovizioso then takes the lead as he goes side-by-side with and easily overtakes Elías. Lorenzo does likewise at the end of the straight, snatching second going into The Esses. Behind them, de Puniet also makes a lunge up the inside of Alex De Angelis and takes eighth place. At the Melbourne Hairpin, Pedrosa dives down the inside of Elías and overtakes him for third.


2009 British motorcycle Grand Prix, MotoGP race report
Lap four and Dovizioso sets the fastest lap of the race. By now, Stoner has dropped another two places and is fifteenth, behind Chris Vermeulen. Rossi is now right behind Eliás, stalking him for a few corners and then passing him for fourth spot at the Old Hairpin. Pedrosa has opened up a gap to Rossi, who was held up by Elías. Toseland is also being shadowed by Melandri and de Puniet at the exit of Coppice but neither makes a move at Starkey's Straight. Toseland now has created a train of four riders whom he is holding up, consisting of Melandri, de Puniet, de Angelis and Loris Capirossi.


2009 British motorcycle Grand Prix, MotoGP race report
On lap five, Lorenzo takes over at the front thanks to a dive down Dovizioso's inside at Redgate. Stoner has lost another position on the previous lap, being overtaken by Gábor Talmácsi and now lingering at the bottom in sixteenth position, only ahead of his teammate - also on rain tyres - which is Nicky Hayden.


2009 British motorcycle Grand Prix, MotoGP race report
Lap six and Pedrosa makes a move on teammate Dovizioso, going up his inside to pass him at Redgate and promote him up to second. Elías in fifth now has a gap of +1.707 seconds over sixth place Toseland. Lorenzo has opened up a gap to Pedrosa, who himself is now coming under pressure from Dovizioso, Rossi and Elías - who has closed the gap to the Italian.


2009 British motorcycle Grand Prix, MotoGP race report
On lap seven, Lorenzo is in the lead with Pedrosa chasing him. Elías is now losing ground to Rossi but still has a gap of +2.996 seconds back to de Puniet, who has passed Toseland for sixth. All the teams are warming up their second bikes, with the Ducati Marlboro Team preparing theirs with slick tyres whilst everyone else is preparing them with rain tyres. At the Old Hairpin, both Dovizioso and Rossi lunge past the inside of Pedrosa, demoting him from second to fourth in one corner. Elías has caught right up to the back of Pedrosa at Starkey's Bridge, stalking him but not making a move for now. Rossi then makes a pass on Dovizioso for second at the end of Starkey's Straight, entering The Esses ahead of him.


2009 British motorcycle Grand Prix, MotoGP race report
Lap eight and Rossi is now making up ground on teammate Lorenzo, taking Dovizioso with him. Eliás now has a +3.856 second gap back to de Puniet in sixth. Behind the trio, Elías passes Pedrosa for fourth at the exit of the Craner Curves. It is now drizzling on most parts of the circuit, making the conditions very tricky. This is shown when Elías goes a bit wide entering Starkey's Bridge, gets on the damp kerb, loses the bike and highsides out of contention and into the gravel at high speed.


2009 British motorcycle Grand Prix, MotoGP race report
The Spanish rider walks away unhurt but disappointed as he is being assisted by a marshall, with the other marshalls removing his bike from the grass. Capirossi overtakes Toseland for seventh meanwhile. Melandri also passes Mika Kallio at the Melbourne Hairpin for eighth position, diving down his inside and hitting him slightly in the process.


2009 British motorcycle Grand Prix, MotoGP race report
On lap nine, Lorenzo gap back to Rossi is +0.449 seconds. The top six is as follows: Lorenzo, Rossi, Dovizioso, Pedrosa, de Puniet and de Angelis. Just before Lorenzo enters Goddards, he touches the white line and immediately loses the bike, sliding him out of contention. He runs to his bike to see if he can continue on, the marshalls checking it for him but upon realisation that it is damaged, he was away disappointed as a marshall assists him.


2009 British motorcycle Grand Prix, MotoGP race report
Lap ten and Rossi now leads in the tricky conditions, followed by Dovizioso in second. Pedrosa is in a lonely third, having dropped off the pace from the group a few laps ago.


2009 British motorcycle Grand Prix, MotoGP race report
On lap eleven, Dovizioso's gap back to teammate Pedrosa is +6.169 seconds. The Spaniard meanwhile is coming under threat from a rapidly closing de Puniet, who is only +1.181 seconds behind. Exiting Coppice and coming onto Starkey's Straight, de Puniet is very close to Pedrosa. At the end of the straight, the Frenchman goes up the inside of Pedrosa, taking third from him at The Esses. Toseland has also passed Capirossi and is up into sixth place.