Motorsport eNews Issue 11 - July 3-9, 2007

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Issue No. 011 3 – 9 July 2007

GRABBED!

Toll hsv SIGNS ‘THE RAT’

HEARD THE ONE ABOUT THE GEELONG F1 GRAND PRIX?

RAIKKONEN:

FINAL FRENCH FLING

ROSSI: THE ASSEN ASSASsIN

THIS ISSUE OF MOTORSPORT eNEWS BOUGHT TO BY THE ALL-NEW HONDA

Editorial Editor: Grant Rowley grant@mnews.com.au Deputy Editor: Aaron Noonan noonz@mnews.com.au National Editor: Andrew van Leeuwen andrew@mnews.com.au Executive Editor: Phil Branagan editor@mnews.com.au

Australasian

The ‘A’ Team

Issue No. 011 | 3 – 9 July 2007

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news 4 Clayton traps The Rat Enduro deal for PR 6 Geelong F1 GP? 8 F1 Push-To-Pass 10 Another 500?

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MD / Publisher Chris Lambden

chat 18 5 minutes with ... opinion 20 Magee 21 Glendenning 39 The Punter

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Contributing Writers F1: Joe Saward, Mark Glendenning, Adam Cooper, Paolo Filisetti Europe: Quentin Spurring, David Addison US: Martin D. Clark, Phil Morris Speedway: Greg Boscato, Geoff Rounds, Darren Sutton, Tony Millard (UK) Rally: Ryan Lahiff Drag Racing: Dave Ostaszewski (USA), Ken Ferguson, John Bosher National: Mark Wicks, Mark Jones, Daniel Jordan, Aaron Shaw, Daniel Powell.

race 22 Kimi Comeback 28 Assen, Rossi

Motorsport eNews is published by Australasian Motorsport News ABN 55 125 120 702 Publisher: C Lambden Copyright: Material published in Motorsport eNews is copyright and may not be reproduced in full or in part without the written permission of the publisher.

Freelance contributions are welcome, and while all care will be taken, Motorsport eNews does not accept responsibility for damage or loss of material submitted.

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International photos supplied by Sutton Images, www.sutton-images.com – click here to check out their exclusive poster deals

Ute King Jack Elsegood PI and Stonermania Au revoir Magny Cours Why a Winter sport?

Ferrari on top en France Yup, he beat Casey

trade 36 Trade and Industry / Raceshop 38 Classifieds

Photographers Sutton Motorsport Images, Dirk Klynsmith, Marshall Cass, John Morris/Mpix, AF1 Images, James Smith, Peter Bury, Neil Blackbourn, Chris Carter, Coopers Photography, Paris Charles, Bob Potts, Neil Hammond, Joel Strickland, Mike Patrick (UK)

Yeah???

It could happen!

GTs go long

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Penske pilot Ryan Newman is the latest.

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David Lamont

Can The Rat win The 1000?

JUST when we thought that we had seen everything at Bathurst, this happens.

Phil Branagan You could argue a pretty strong case eNews Executive Editor that Glenn Seton and Paul Radisich are the best drivers ever to have raced in the Bathurst 1000 without having won it. One is a two-time Touring Car Championship winner, the other a double winner of the World Cup. Both have an impressive collection of trophies; both have started The Great Race as favourites.

Those achievements have one thing in common; they have been in Fords.

Seto and The Rat were both sons of the blue oval but the fascinating thing about this effort is not just that they are taking to the mountain in Holdens, they are doing it in Clayton Holdens – the Holdenest Holdens of them all.

And the fastest.

I daresay that a win for either The Rat or Seto would leave even the most ardent Ford fans with the trace of a smile on their faces. Surely, no-one would begrudge either a win? There are always plenty of reasons to go to Bathurst. Having these two line up, in potentially race-winning cars, just makes the 2007 Great Race a little … special.

OPINION

Marshall Cass

The Rat j

Radisich poached by leading Holden team for moved to PWR Racing – Toll HSV considers spl V8 SUPERCARS TEAM KIWI refugee Paul Radisich has scored a plum V8 Supercar endurance drive with the Toll HSV Dealer Team for the Sandown and Bathurst events as part of a switcharound by the dominant Holden squad.

The deal is expected to be inked this week and announced shortly thereafter.

‘The Rat’, who terminated his contract with Team Kiwi Racing on the eve of the Eastern Creek round in early June, and subsequently had discussions with Team BOC, will slot into one of the best cars in the field, irrespective of who he drives with.

Countryman Craig Baird, currently competing in the Carrera Cup, is already signed with the team and has tested with them earlier this year.

Following Radisich’s unexpected availability, the Toll team has made the call to move HSV-signed Carrera Cup driver David Reynolds, finding him a home with Supercheap Auto Racing for the two events, where he will team up with Paul Weel.

Reynolds has raced at Bathurst three times in a Porsche (twice in Carrera Cup and once in Australian GT), though never in a V8 Supercar.

The move by the Toll team locks in a highly experienced

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Peter Bury

joins HSV

r Sandown and Bathurst – Young gun Reynolds litting championship leaders Tander/Kelly James Smith

Dirk Klynsmith

V8 Supercar and Bathurst pilot, while at the same time it allows Reynolds to make his V8 debut without the sort of pressure that would be thrust upon him in a Toll car.

One question remains, and that is what driver pairings the rampaging Toll team will take into the endurance races.

While the team is not prepared to comment, its consistent preference has been to make as few changes to its routine as possible, and that would appear to indicate that Rick Kelly and Garth Tander will maintain their current seats – and race engineers – and not drive together.

That plan would appear to be certain if the team maintains its current position of having both drivers either 1-2 in the championship or, at the very least, in contention by the time Sandown and Bathurst roll around. But should there be a change to that scenario, and one driver fall behind in the championship points, Toll may choose to pair Kelly and Tander.

If the ‘worst case scenario’ is that Radisich and Baird team up in the #16 car, it would still allow both drivers to go into the enduros in the best seats they could have hoped for.

– AARON NOONAN

Third car on the way V8 SUPERCARS AS if running 1-2 in the V8 Supercar Championship Series is not enough to dispirit its rivals, the Toll HSV Dealer Team is building a third, improved Commodore VE racer.

Team Manager Rob Crawford confirmed yesterday (Monday) that the team was working on a new car which will, like the Holden Racing Team, give it a spare, race-ready car.

He also admitted that, unlike the four ‘bespoke’ Walkinshaw Performance VEs, which are identical, the new car will be

an updated version.

“It is a basic tidy-up of the car we have now, addressing some of the things within the car to make it easier to work on, from a mechanical point of view,” he said.

The team is preparing a new roll cage within the car, which is not expected to be raceready until November.

“We are not in a rush to finish it, and we may not race it this year,” Crawford said.

“We could probably race it in Tasmania, but we would only think about that if this (current) car started to struggle …”

– PHIL BRANAGAN

BRIEFLY...

n Renault F1 is restructuring its aerodynamic department with chief aerodynamicist Dino Toso being given a bigger role, leading the research and development teams while also overseeing the new CFD operations.

The management of the aerodynamic programmes is temporarily being passed on to Deputy Technical Director James Allison. n John Surtees, the 1964 World Driver’s Champion, wants the British government to provide US$7.5m to establish a University of Motorsport in the UK. Surtees plans to base the university at the Buckmore Park karting track in Kent. Surtees says he has been talking to government agencies about the initial investment but hopes to find private money.

– JOE SAWARD

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n A helicopter carrying five people from MagnyCours to a hotel to the north of Nevers, crashed on Saturday evening in a wooded area en route. There were five people related to Formula 1 onboard.

Quiksilver representative Emmanuel Longobardi, and a colleague Simon MacGill were killed as was the pilot Pierre Bennehard, who raced Formula 3 cars for Elf in the 1980s.

Formula 1 for Geelong?

FORMULA ONE GEELONG could become Australia’s motor racing capital, if a bold $200 million plan unveiled last week comes to fruition.

The Geelong Advertiser reported that detailed plans to build a major motorsport complex just over 20 kilometres from Victoria’s second city are underway, with a local consortium gaining international backing to fund the ambitious project.

Two potential venues have been identified for the new facility, both just outside the Little River-Lara area, adjacent to Avalon Airport and major highways.

One of the men involved with the plan is long-time motor racing identity Paul Hallam, who is the son of famed Repco engineer Frank Hallam. Hallam Jr is acting as

an advisor to the consortium, which proposes to build the complex, which would also include a business centre and a karting track.

“It is an Australian group but with international backing,” said Hallam.

“But I want to emphasise that this is not me doing this, I do not want to own a racetrack.”

Hallam said that the aim of the project was to provide a facility for world-class events, including Formula 1, MotoGP and endurance racing.

“The GT racing could be an ideal thing to have at the track.

But beyond that, it is difficult to add anything else.”

Current contracts are in place for the F1 race to be held at Albert Park until 2010 and the MotoGP event at Phillip Island until the following year.

Both sites proposed for the project are believed to be around 500 ha and plans

are for as many as three track layouts to be included in the designs. Feasibility studies for the track’s design and construction have already begun and the group is in the process of discussing the facility with local authorities.

However, Hallam did state that there was no desire by the consortium to seek government funding for the project, other than maintaining discussions with the regional and state governments.

The Advertiser report suggested that because of the proximity of the Avalon Airport, no noise restrictions would apply to the track.

News of the Geelong project came a week after reports linked the New South Wales government to a bid to gain both GPs and the Australian Open Tennis from Melbourne to Sydney.

– PHIL BRANAGAN

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Fixed cars for Britek V8 SUPERCARS BRITEK Motorsport will have Alan Gurr’s Irwin Tools Falcon repaired for the next round of the V8 Supercar Series at Queensland Raceway, despite its massive crash at Hidden Valley.

The chassis is due back in the team’s workshop tomorrow (Wednesday) with new front chassis rails and everything from the rear firewall backwards replaced.

However, whether Jason Bright gets back his regular Fujitsu BF

remains to be seen. The team has it back from being repaired in Queensland and, if all the numbers match up on the repair jig, will test it at Winton on Monday with the view to racing it at QR. However, they will leave the leased BJR chassis half-assembled just in case they are not happy with the repaired car at the test.

Britek General Manager Chris Jewell estimated the Hidden Valley damage bill at $70,000, Gurr’s crash added to Bright’s ‘off’ in qualifying and involvement in the multi-car first race wreck.

– AARON NOONAN

New car for Ford Rising Stars V8 SUPERCARS MICHAEL Caruso’s Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series hopes will rest on a new car for the remainder of the season.

The Ford Rising Star Racing squad has purchased a Ford Performance Racing chassis and is selling its second car.

Caruso, currently second in the Development Series, will take control of the Sydney team’s new car, while Grant Denyer will get the car that Caruso has campaigned

for the first three rounds of this season.

The purchase of the car is the continuation of a technical a association that Ford Rising Stars has with FPR. “Getting the new car has happened earlier than what expected,” Morton said.

“But we’ve been keen to buy one of them for a while and the opportunity came up.”

Denyer will compete in all of the final four rounds, having missed two of the first three rounds due to television commitments.

– GRANT ROWLEY

Jack Elsegood: Ready for V8 debut FUJITSU V8S

For five minutes with Elsegood, see page 18

John Morris/Mpix

JACK Elsegood is set to make his debut in the Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series at Queensland Raceway this month.

The former Rugby League star-turned V8 Utes Series fast man and is poised to drive the second Prodigy Motorsport Falcon BA alongside Jose Fernandez for possibly all of the final four rounds of the Fujitsu V8s at Queensland Raceway, Oran Park, Bathurst and Phillip Island.

The car that Elsegood is likely to campaign is the Falcon that Kiwi Gene Rollinson used to score top 10 success in the last round at Winton.

Elsegood currently leads the Yokohama V8 Utes Series but will do double duties for the remainder of the season.

“I have a commitment to Coopers for this year and I’m going to fulfil that,” he said.

– GRANT ROWLEY

FORMULA 1 BERNIE Eclestone is trying to sell F1 to Las Vegas again.

On Sunday morning, the F1 czar’s motorhome at MagnyCours quietly departed indicating, for those who were paying attention, that Ecclestone had given up on the idea of dropping in on Sunday for the French GP. Instead, over recent days, Bernie has been in Las Vegas where he hopes to try to convince the casino barons that they need a Formula 1 race to help them fill their hotel rooms.

Vegas has flirted with the sport for many years, dating back to the 1980s, below, when F1 raced around the parking lots of Caesar’s Palace. Ecclestone tried again about 10 years ago when he came close to convincing the

sutton-images.com

Taking it to The Strip casinos that they should have an F1 race on The Strip. This was finally rejected because of fears that the racing would stop people walking into the casinos to spend money.

The geopolitics of Las Vegas has changed considerably since those days, but the man who was keenest on a Grand Prix back in the 1990s was Steve Wynn, who has since built the huge Wynn’s Las Vegas casino on the site of the old Desert Inn. In theory, Wynn could host his own Grand Prix if he really wanted to do so.

The conversations with magnates in Las Vegas will also put the pressure on Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which is not keen to meet the financial demands that F1 is asking at the moment.

– JOE SAWARD

Nick may Nick off FORMULA 1 WHILE Ralf Schumacher has survived to finish the year at Toyota (eNews #10) it is highly unlikely that he will stay with the team next year.

There is speculation that the team may end up with Nick Heidfeld instead. Heidfeld has done a very good job this year but it seems that his management and BMW can't agree on money.

There have been suggestions that if Heidfeld were to leave,

Honda chief on the J-O-B FORMULA 1

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Nico Rosberg could end up replacing him at BMW – but the German driver is under firm contract to Williams and looks likely to have his option taken up.

As for Ralf, there is talk of a deal with Scuderia Toro Rosso but much of the talk is based on the idea that the team will retain the same ownership.

We hear that Red Bull, which pays Toro Rosso’s bills, is not enthused about the idea of Ralf …

– JOE SAWARD

EXPECT to see some more improvements from Honda, following a busy weekend for Takeo Fukui.

The company’s President and CEO made a barnstorming trip to Europe last weekend, to oversee the company’s assaults on both Formula 1 and MotoGP. On Saturday, Fukui-san was at the Dutch TT at Assen and, on Sunday, he attended the final French Grand Prix at Magny Cours.

At both races, the company has its most competitive weekend of the year, with Jenson Button showing some speed and scoring a point for eighth in France, and Nicky Hayden leading home Dani Pedrosa for third at Assen.

However, both results are a long way from what Honda management considers to be successful.

Fukui, 62, came through Honda’s racing and R&D programs and is known to be demanding of results from those race programs.

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F1 going turbo?

FORMULA 1

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PUSH-TO-PASS in F1? Could be, if FIA rules consultant Tony Purnell (former Jaguar F1 boss) gets his way.

While the concept of turbo-diesel engines has been dismissed, the latest proposal features 1.3 to 1.5 litre turbocharged 4-cylinder engines.

Back in the 1980s, Formula 1 built 1.5-litre turbos that were capable of producing an astonishing 1500hp but the engines being discussed now would be much less powerful because of greater control on the electronics and, most importantly, on the fuels that will be used.

Purnell says that the engines will probably only be producing around 400 horsepower but will feature pushto-pass buttons that will unleash ‘regenerative energy’ created by the cars. This will potentially produce an

extra 250 extra horsepower, a huge step up in power that may well create much better racing.

The latest aerodynamic ideas include active front and rear wings that will change angle as they go down the straights, creating less drag and thus allowing the cars to go faster. Purnell says that these are now completely safe.

In addition, the FIA wants to introduce standard underbodies, which teams will have to bolt to their cars. This will reduce the aerodynamic efficiency of the cars while leaving them with different body shapes.

To assist with overtaking, Purnell is proposing that cars be fitted with aviation-spec turbulence sensors, which would change the ride-height and the pitch of the car to add or reduce downforce.

– JOE SAWARD

Blowing hot air: This Renault-Gordini was modern F1’s first turbo monster ... but there may well be more to come.

FORMULA 1

60 seconds of madness!

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GP2 driver Ernesto Viso emerged unscathed from a terrifying GP2 accident at Magny-Cours on Saturday after he ran over the rear of another car and was launched into a series of rolls along the top of a concrete barrier.

The crash was so violent that the chassis broke, just in front of the driver. However, the two parts stayed together, with

the result that Viso escaped without any breakages.

The lap one shunt followed a start-line collision between the front row cars of teammates Timo Glock and Andreas Zuber. Double yellows were already out around the circuit, with Viso’s shunt the result of some, but not all, drivers slowing.

Check it out via YouTube: http://youtube. com/watch?v=ASM74TUKFUM

THE Australian GT Championship has finalised plans to run a Sandown GT Classic over an estimated 500-kilometre distance to round out the 2007 series on December 7-9.

Run by the organisers of the Australian GT Championship in association with the Melbourne Racing Club, the event will be held over four days with a media day on the Thursday followed by three days of on-track activity.

“With the GT Championship going from strength to strength in term of drivers and manufacturer interest, this long distance race on a circuit like Sandown is a natural progression for GT,” said series co-director Terry Little.

“This year’s Australian GT Championship is booming with the Lamborghini Gallardos of Bryce Washington and Ian Palmer about to be joined by similar models for John Bowe.”

Bowe, who won the Sandown 500 in 2001 when it was run for Nations Cup (the fore-runner to the GT Championship) and GTP cars, is expected to line-up with a range of other high profile drivers.

The event will be round 10 of the Shannon’s National Racing Championship with five support categories to back up the GT event. Entries for the main race will be limited to 30 and driver pairings to be determined by seedings – only one ‘seeded’ driver, (ie. professional) will be permitted in each vehicle.

– AARON NOONAN

Oz GT finalise

A Dane in Germany LE MANS SERIES ALLAN Simonsen has scored a GT2 class victory in the latest round of the Le Mans Series at the Nurburgring 1000km last weekend.

The Aussie-based Dane paired with Rob Bell in a Virgo Motorsport Ferrari 430 to win the class from pole position, driving the opening stint and establishing a gap that Bell

10

held to win 90 seconds clear of the Porsche of Marc Lieb and Xavier Pompidou.

“My drink tube became dislodged towards the end and that made things hard but we got there,” said Simonsen.

“We have all worked enormously hard with Dunlop all year to get a tyre that works well for the Ferrari and now you can see our efforts are being realised.”

Simonsen and Bell lead the GT2 class, five points clear of Lieb and Pompidou.

Fresh from Le Mans, the Peugeot 908 diesels finished 1-2 outright, the Pedro Lamy/ Stephane Sarrazin car finishing clear of Nicolas Minassian and Marc Gene. The next round is at Spa on August 19, the first race held at the circuit since the new pits have been completed and several corners re-profiled.

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Dirk Klynsmith

es 500

COMING THIS WEEK

International

British F1 GP - Silverstone Champ Cars - Toronto WTC C - Porto NASCAR - Daytona INDY - Watkins Glen - NYC

NexT Week (JULY 14 -15)

International

MotoGP – Sachsenring NASCAR – Chicagoland

Australia

John Morris/Mpix

CAMS Nationals – Eastern Creek AMRS – Adelaide coming soon ...

More red?

Another Ferrari on the way for Australian GT? AUSTRALIAN GT

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ANOTHER Ferrari on the GT grid?

Latest rumour around the growing top-end of the GT grid is that Tony Raftis, whose Prancing Horse team was a pace-setter in the early days of exotic car racing, when it went under the name of Nations

Cup, may be about to return to the category with a brand spanking new Ferrari. eNews hears a car is on its way and that the driver could well be current GT contender Allen Simonsen, despite the fact that the pacy Dane is currently pedalling Ted Huglin's team 360GT Ferrari …

Watch this space.

July 20-22

V8 Supercars - QLD RACEWAY

NEED A CAR? CLICK HERE FOR A SPECIAL eNEWS DEAL

11

BRIEFLY... n West Australian Sporting Car Club Vice President John Hurney has resigned from his position on the club’s committee.

Hurney was temporarily suspended last week along with the club’s General Manager Adrian Chambers after a confidential document alleging management problems was forwarded to club members. Hurney has resigned, while Chambers is currently on leave. n The Australian Motor Sport Foundation has a new General Manager. After four and a half years with CAMS, most recently in the capacity of Member Services and Development Manager, Quentin Crombie crosses over to the AMSF. Crombie was one of the instigators of the CAMS Rising Star Program. n They may be a little greyer than they use to be but there is still fire in the bellies of Mick Doohan, Kevin Magee and Daryl Beattie.

All three former 500cc aces will complete demonstration laps at October’s Australian MotoGP at Phillip Island and gathered in Sydney last Friday to reminisce. For more from Magee, see Opinion, page 20. n Yamaha ace Jamie Stauffer, who clinched his second successive Australian Superbike Championship at Queensland Raceway on the weekend, is off to contest the two final rounds of the AMA Superbike Championship in the United States.

Stauffer will race at Road Atlanta on September 1-2 and Laguna Seca a fortnight later. The Yamaha Racing Team will purpose-build an AMAspec Superstock machine for Stauffer’s dual-round campaign.

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Percat jumps into a VD Walkinshaw's junior Formula Fordster makes a pre-QLD Raceway switch FORMULA FORD NICK Percat has cut his ties with Borland Racing Developments and Spectrum and will contest the rest of the Australian Formula Ford Championship with Team BRM. The young South Australian ran the first four rounds of the year in a factory-supported Spectrum 011, but will finish the year in the Van Diemen RF06 that has been abandoned

by Paul Pittam.

“The opportunity to test Team BRM’s Formula 3 cars was a big part of the decision,” said Percat.

“But it’s also about being comfortable with the car, and I think the Van Diemen chassis will be better in that way.”

Percat tested the car at Mallala last week, running under the Duratec lap

record. Despite this year’s championship being dominated by Mygales and Spectrums, he’s confident the Van Diemen will be a frontrunning package.

“The car’s good, so I reckon we should be pretty close to

the pace.”

Percat will continue to live in Melbourne and be supported

by Walkinshaw Performance.

He will debut for the squad at Queensland Raceway next month.

– ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN

Listec going local on FFord

A SECOND locally-built chassis could be competing in next year’s Australian Formula Ford Championship, with Sydney-based squad Listec starting work on a Duratec-powered car for 2008.

Listec is currently running in the NSW Formula Ford 1600 title, with the latest evolution of the

Kent-powered car to make its debut at Oran Park this month. But according to Managing Director John Calamos, Listec is aiming for the national series.

Glenn Welch, who drives for the squad in the NSW series, is the likely candidate for the drive.

– ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN

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Aussies for Festival Walsh and Scott to represent Australia at unofficial FFord world championship event John Morris/Mpix

John Morris/Mpix

CAMS Rising Stars Ashley Walsh, above and left, and Josh Scott will compete in the Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch later this year.

The duo, who drive locally-built and run Spectrums in Australia, will take part in two rounds of the British Formula Ford series before

the prestigious event in mid-October, racing a UK version of the Spectrum 011 chassis.

With the support of the Australian Motor Sport Foundation, both drivers will fly to the UK after Round Six of the Aussie series at Sandown in September.

Elfin on track

ELFIN Sports Cars is on the verge of entering road rallies this year.

The famous Australian Sportscar manufacturer, which was acquired by Tom Walkinshaw last December, is set to utilise its Clubman chassis in Dutton Rallies, selected car club days and hillclimbs later this year.

The program has been put together totally in-house at Elfin.

It is expected that HSV-supported drivers Tony D’Alberto, David Reynolds and Leanne Tander will conduct the driving duties.

Elfin CEO Chris Payne told eNews that entering the grass-

roots events was just the start of getting Elfin back into regular competition.

“It’s early days for us at this stage,” he said.

“We are coming into late in the year but the car will be very competitive and I’m sure they’ll be a lot of people out there surprised at what its capable of.

“Since the business was acquired by Tom Walkinshaw last year, we’ve had an ambition to take Elfin back to the track and this will be the beginning of our racing program.”

– GRANT ROWLEY

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THE Hendrick Motorsport teams of Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson were each penalised 100 points and US$100,000 and their crew chiefs Steve Letarte and Chad Knaus suspended for six races following the illegal front fender issues discovered at the Infineon Raceway road race.

The penalties match what had already been levied recently against Dale

Earnhardt Jr with the addition that both Gordon and Johnson were forced to start at the rear of the field after not being allowed to qualify at Infineon – they finished seventh and 17th respectively.

“The penalties are excessive,” said team owner Rick Hendrick.

“But we’re not going to put time and resources into issuing an appeal. Instead, we will direct that energy into our internal processes to make

sure we have full confidence that our cars will meet standards when presented for inspection each week.

“We've said from the beginning that this would be a learning process (with the new car) and there would be a lot of give and take between NASCAR and the teams to figure it out. That doesn’t seem to be the case now, and I don’t think it’s the right direction to go.”

The point deductions left Gordon leading Denny Hamlin by 171 points heading into New Hampshire, while Johnson fell from third to fifth, 366 points behind his team-mate.

Gordon’s current car chief Jeff Meendering and Johnson’s car chief Ron Malec have been named interim crew chiefs for their respective teams for the six race term.

– MARTIN D CLARK

FBMW merger

FORMER Australian National Drag Racing champion Romeo Capitanio has been arrested after drugs, cash and ammunition were allegedly found in his car in New South Wales.

Capitanio, who still holds the Australian Funny Car record, was pulled over by police at Hillston, 100km north of Griffith, for a random breath test last Wednesday.

Police allege that officers found 1748 grams of amphetamine or crystal methamphetamine (ice) with a street value of more than $200,000 in the car. The court was also told that police allegedly found scales, plastic bags, latex gloves and glucose in his car, along with 148 rounds of .22 ammunition and more then $3000 cash.

Capitanio, 49, was remanded in custody at Wagga Local Court last Friday on eight charges, including supply of a commercial quantity of amphetamines, possession of a prohibited drug and possession of a prescribed restricted substance.

BMW Motorsport is to merge its Formula BMW championships in Germany and the UK into one series – and the new series will be a support event for a string of F1 races in Europe.

“Formula BMW Europe marks the next step in the

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Drag champ in drug bust

14

NASCAR Media

Fender fines for Hendrick

internationally-oriented Formula BMW concept,” says BMW’s Mario Theissen.

“Formula BMW Europe will enable young drivers to get to know the major GP2 and Formula 1 circuits at the earliest possible stage.”

– JOE SAWARD

15

WRC: Shakier by the Dozen WORLD RALLY THE World Rally Championship is set for a shake-up with the FIA announcing a 12-event calendar from 2009 onwards.

It is expected that a rotation system will be used, with the championship covering 24 different events over two seasons. More details will be revealed following the October World Motor Sport Council meeting.

The FIA has also announced a change in technical makeup of World Rallying, with WRC cars expected to be based on Group N and Super 2000 from 2012 onwards in a bid to slash costs and get more manufacturers involved.

Ford Racing Media

SANDERSON VOTES FOR A GILLARD KARTING

Coopers Photographic

16

THE Gillard Karts Australian factory team has boosted its numbers with the signing of rising Melbourne star Ryan Sanderson.

The 21-year-old will join Gillard’s Rotax champion Hayden McBride and fellow Victorian Jono Taylor in the Leopard Light class.

“We were asked to try it and as I’d never driven a European kart before, I thought ‘why not?’ “ Sanderson said. “It’s designed for this tyre and grip level. I was impressed, it was very easy to drive.”

Sanderson will continue his association with Pro Karting using their engines for both Leopard and Clubman Light, where he will remain on Arrow.

Sanderson, the winner of the ’07 Central City Series (Clubman Light) and Geelong Winter Cup, will make his debut with Gillard at the Sun Centre Titles in Swan Hill this weekend.

– MARK WICKS

news Ducati Co rse Med ia

Kawasaki Racing

Is Hodgson Gresini’s Man?

Oh, Brother!

MOTOGP

MOTOGP FIRST, there were the Roberts brothers. Then, the Aokis.

Now, another Hayden is suiting up for some big bike action, with the news that Roger Lee Hayden will make his MotoGP debut at Laguna Seca later this month. The 24-year-old youngest of three racing brothers will compete against World Champion brother Nicky aboard a third Kawasaki alongside green regulars, Randy de Puniet and Ant West.

Hayden Jr , who had a gallop on a Kawasaki during a journalists’ test day at Valencia earlier this year, was due to test a Ninja ZXRR in Japan on Monday and Tuesday.

Honda Pro Images

Troy’s new buck-98 TROY Bayliss demonstrated Ducati’s new 1098 F08 World Superbike racer at the weekend.

The World Superbike Champion shook-down a development model of the new bike, which will be eligible to race from next season after the FIM approved a 1200cc capacity limit for twin-cylinder bikes last month.

“It looks and feels good and, although it clearly doesn’t feel like home, after a couple of laps, I’m sure Ducati are moving in the right direction and it will be soon.

“I’ve still got a few things to concentrate on at the moment, like winning this year’s title, but I’m really looking forward to testing the bike at a quieter moment in the future.”

The 1098, which is still in its factory development stage, sported black carbon-fibre bodywork and aluminum fuel tank during the demonstration, at World Ducati Week at Misano.

Ducati Corse Media

NEIL Hodgson may be on his way back to MotoGP, following the leg-breaking Assen crash of Toni Elias.

The Spaniard, who tumbled off his Gresini Honda in Thursday practice session, is expected to be out of action for up to three months.

The British media hummed with rumours that World Superbike points leader James Toseland would replace Elias for the next round at Germany’s Sachsenring.

Like Elias, Toseland rides a Hanspree-sponsored Honda but his team boss, Gerrit Ten Kate, hosed down rumours, leaving Hodgson, above, clearly in the frame.

Hodgson, who lost his Ducati AMA Superbike ride when the marque withdrew from the US series, has become something of a specialist ‘consultant’ rider this season, testing for both Ducati’s factory team (after test pilot Shinichi Itoh was injured in a fall) and Suzuki’s British Superbike squad.

With experience on Bridgestone tyres, the 33year-old, who raced for Ducati’s satellite D’Antin MotoGP team in 2004, could race at the next round at the Sachsenring in Germany on July 15. Interestingly, the entry list for the AMA Superbike race supporting the Laguna Seca MotoGP a week later includes Hodgson on a Honda CBR1000RR – and the former SBK champ was due to test for the Corona team this week.

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5 Minutes with ...

JACK ELSEGOOD

Former League star-turned Ute racer is eyeing a career in the V8 Supercars

GRANT ROWLEY

MOTORSPORT NEWS: You’ve had a racing desire since you gave away your former career as a professional Rugby League player ...

JACK ELSEGOOD: Yeah, I always had a passion and a likeness for speed, and leaving a competitive sport for a normal life without any competition was a difficult time. So heading straight back into a competitive field like motor racing absolutely suits me down to the ground.

Prodigy Motorsport is a new team but they’ve got some good results early …

Yeah. They are my preference.

They are a great team, they’ve got good cars and a good engineer.

Being my first time at it, it will be good to go to a team that you know are going to looking to improve me as a driver – I won’t be able to blame the equipment!

Racing drivers don’t do that!

You know what, they all do! I always make sure that everything that I do is spot-on.

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Dirk Klynsmith

And V8 Supercars has always been the target for you?

The faster the better, really. V8 Supercars is where it is at in Australian motor sport. I mean, I’d like to jump in Formula 3 car for the sake of it, but V8s is where I want to end up.

As far as Development Series this year is concerned, it is going to rely on sponsors, where next year I’ll have a bit more to throw at it. This year, I want to do selected rounds, and do the full season next year.

The only difference between making the main series OR not is money and opportunity JACK ELSEGOOD It’s much easier to find time in yourself, rather than in the car, especially while you’re at the race meeting.

If you race in teh Fujitsu Series this year, will you continue to race in the V8 Ute Series this year?

Absolutely. I have a commitment to Coopers for this year and I’m going to fulfil that.

Would you like to race in the main V8 Supercar Series one day?

The only difference between making the main series or not is money and opportunity.

I’m a naturally competitive person. Yes, I know I can get there, it’s just a matter of getting the opportunity, getting the funds behind you,

getting the right equipment and away you go. That’s my take on it.

I want to get in a car this year and get a couple of rounds under my belt and have a full assault next year in the Development Series.

Have you driven a V8 before?

Yeah, twice – both times at Queensland Raceway. I drove one of the Paul Morris Motorsport cars (Astro, currently driven by Fabian Coulthard). I also drove the Project Mu car a while ago.

What is going to be the hardest thing to get used to jumping between the V8 Ute and the V8 Supercar.

The difficult thing is going to be the gearbox – going from a six speed to a five speed.

And obviously the brakes will be an issue. With the brake assist in the V8 Ute, you don’t need to put too much pressure on it. When you get in the Supercar, with all the aero, you’ve gotta whack it as hard as you can. I dare say I’ll be locking a few brakes in the Ute! I think it will be harder going from the Supercar back into the Ute rather than the Ute to the Supercar.

Even though the two categories are totally different, can you see the V8 Utes as a series that you can genuinely progress from?

Absolutely. I think as far as the series’ popularity is concerned, it gets a lot of good support.

No race category is cheap, but for what you get for your money it’s fantastic.

chat

Dirk Klynsmith

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Back in the saddle AT the Phillip Island MotoGP, my main priority is going to be riding around the track and getting back to the commentary box safely!

You may have heard that Mick Doohan, Daryl Beattie and myself will be riding at the track. I don’t know what they are going to be doing, but I know what I am going to do.

I think that there are only a few minutes between getting off the Yamaha R1 I will be riding and getting the telecast underway. I will quite possibly be sitting in the commentary box in my leathers …

After all these years, I think that Mick, Daryl and I are OLD enough and WISE enough not to do anything silly but I think that we all know the difference between reasonably fast and crazy fast!

Phillip Island is a special place. On a bike, the circuit unfolds in front of you in a brilliant fashion. There is no

OPINION Kevin Magee Former MotoGP rider other explanation. There are a couple of slow corners, some medium corners and some extremely fast corners. That mix makes it awesome.

The entry to the front straight is amazing. It is a blind entry, in fourth gear, your knee is on the ground and you are giving it as much as you can. About a third of the way into that corner, I line up the end of the grandstand as my marker. That’s how you work out that corner, because you cannot see the corner over the crest in the road. So long as the grandstand is in the same place as it has been for years, I will be right!

A

fter Assen, it looks like a battle between Casey

Stoner and Valentino Rossi for the rest of the year.

I cannot see Casey coming to Phillip Island with a lead of 76 points or more, so I don’t think he can win the title before then. Having said that, motor racing is a funny business and anything can happen. What will happen at the next race, and then the next race, and then the one after that? You cannot say.

But it is a possibility that Casey could tie up the championship at Phillip Island.

That would be fantastic – but we are only half-way through the season.

I think that the 800cc engine

rules this year have really levelled the playing field.

There was a big gap from Honda-Yamaha-Ducati to the rest – Suzuki and Kawasaki.

That is now reduced.

I also think that it is about bloody time that Anthony West has been given a chance to prove himself. He won the Japanese Formula Xtreme championship as a teenager and he has been pedalling a 250 well for a long time.

It is good for him, and for Kawasaki, to have a chance to show some form. They are on the outskirts of the winning ring, still, but it is getting better all the time.

Letters

Have your say, email us at mail@mnews.com.au. Keep letters to the point.

Turning the corner I have been a motorsport fan and competitor for many years and enjoy watching good quality racing such as what’s seen in Australia.

Of major concern to me is the practice of commentators and the media referring to corners at motor racing circuits as Turn 1, Turn 2 and so on.

I believe this is totally unimaginative and unprofessional.

Australia has a long and unique motorsport heritage

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with scores of drivers, administrators and long term sponsors who are deserving of having a racetrack feature named in their honour.

In addition, most of your race circuits have plenty of opportunity for remembering people or famous incidents in such a way.

Look at some of the world's most famous and historic racetracks like Brands Hatch, Silverstone and Monte Carlo and see how their history is preserved and remembered by

naming the corners and other circuit features.

It would be sad to see names like Murray’s Corner, Hell Corner and Forrest’s Elbow disappear, only to become Turn 1 and so on.

Remember your heritage Australia; don’t lose it at Turn 1!

Ted Clay Lower Hutt, New Zealand Darwin Theory So let me get this right; last year Craig Lowndes cops a

drive-through penalty for redressing his pass on Russell Ingall at Indy after half a lap instead of immediately, but now Mark Skaife takes half a lap to redress a position and everything’s fine?

Geordie Pugh Brisbane, QLD ED: There’s a few factors at play here Geordie, but it’s mainly to do with the Gold Coast circuit being a lot longer track than Hidden Valley, and the lack of safe

opinion

Goodbye to F1’s Ugly Duckling ENVIRONMENTAL groups figured out a long time ago that it’s a lot easier to rally sympathy for a cute endangered animal than it is for an ugly one.

The logic is straightforward – people are far more inclined to donate money to save a panda than they might be for a bug that lives in gazelle dung.

Race circuits are the same.

Imola’s departure from the F1 calendar was accompanied by a certain degree of sadness, and Spa’s recent sabbatical was met with outright grief.

By contrast, Magny Cours

The facilities are generally functional, if perhaps a little … rustic. But Magny Cours’ main crime, apparently, has Mark Glendenning Formula 1 Correspondent been its location. It’s bang in the middle of France, a short drive from the city of Nevers, went out with a whimper. and close to the famous The circuit has long been a wine regions of Sancerre and target for flack, although not Pouilly Fume. There are nice all of it has necessarily been little villages and farmhouses fair. A history of unpredictable dotted around the place, and weather has made for a few even nicer little restaurants. entertaining races there In F1 terms though – and and, even in the dry, it can you heard this phrase be exciting – just look at constantly last weekend – it is Fernando’s Alonso’s efforts last ‘in the middle of nowhere’. weekend, or Lewis Hamilton’s Admittedly, getting there move on Robert Kubica.

places to slow down around the back section of the Darwin circuit. Things like this are basically treated case-by-case, which is the smartest and fairest way to go about it.

V8s to Paris?

Great idea allowing the drivers to speak their minds, but if V8 Supercars wanted to create headlines and controversy, couldn’t they just hire Paris Hilton as their ambassador?

Josh Chatwin chatters_11@hotmail.com

and won, the Ford KartStars series, went on from there with a Ford-sponsored Formula Ford deal, and the rest is history.

It does show that there is still a (slim) chance for talented young drivers to make it without buckets of family cash.

Good on you Ford for backing it when you did.

What happened to the KartStars series – where did it go?

Michael Petrovic Geelong, VIC

Frosty reception Great news to read that a genuine young Australian talent – Mark Winterbottom – has had his contract with FPR extended for three years.

I remember when a younger Frosty was a competitor in,

ED: Budget cuts took Ford out a year or so later, and lack of sponsorship overall finally brought a great idea to an end. It worked brilliantly, once, and was a great advertisement for karting.

OPINION

takes some effort. Once you get to Paris you face a three hour drive; from the ferry terminal at Calais it is more than four.

But in light of other recent developments in the F1 calendar, such things are relative. Alonso made the point best.

“We all know Magny Cours is in the middle of France and the middle of nowhere,” the World Champion said.

“But we are going to Singapore, and we will take a flight of 14 hours. So I don’t know which one is more inconvenient.”

sutton-images.com John Morris/Mpix

We totally agree with reader Ted Clay's sentiments on corners having proper names – especially the great corners in Australian motor racing such as Winton’s ‘Motorsport eNews Esses.’

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FORMULA 1 FRANCE – ROUND 8

All over Red Rover

The final Formula 1 race at Magny Cours was a Ferrari riot

By JOE SAWARD

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race

sutton-images.com

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K

IMI Raikkonen struck a psycho;ogical blow for himself by winning the French Grand Prix, outrunning his Ferrari team-mate Felipe Massa on an afternoon when the Italian cars were in dominant form against the ‘solo’ McLaren of Lewis Hamilton.

Fernando Alonso had a hectic afternoon, trying to make up places after problems in qualifying but ended up only seventh – gaining just one spot after the opening lap.

In a car as capable as the McLaren, it was an illustration of some of the frustrations of modern F1 …

Hamilton increased his World Championship lead to 14 points, while Massa closed up to within three points of Alonso.

Hamilton’s chance of victory evaporated right at the start when he was slow off the line, on the ‘dirty’ side of the road.

Raikkonen easily went past him and Lewis was third.

“My start was quite poor and I don’t really know what happened,” he admitted.

“I definitely need to look at the data with my engineers, but it didn’t go very well and I lost a place to Kimi, who made

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an exceptional start. Whatever it was, we weren’t quick enough off the grid and I lost a bit of pace behind him.”

After that, McLaren was scrambling. As soon as it emerged that the McLarens were on three-stop strategies and the Ferraris were going for two stops, it was clear that it was over. Lewis pitted after just 16 laps and he was followed into the pits by Alonso – on the same lap. The Spaniard was so far behind that he was not delayed.

Massa went three laps further than the McLarens. And Raikkonen went three more than Massa.

When they were all back on track again, Hamilton had lost touch with the Ferraris.

From then on, it was the two Ferraris against one another. Hamilton had one important moment of danger when he emerged from his second stop behind Robert Kubica. He could not afford to be stuck behind the BMW and promptly dealt with his old karting rival.

After that he was always going to be third. The two BMWs could not keep up and the Renaults were not the threat that they had appeared to be in qualifying.

The decisive moment in the battle of the

Ferraris was in the second stint as Massa tried to work his way through the battling midfield of the Red Bulls, Alex Wurz and Ralf Schumacher.

“Traffic was a problem,” he confirmed.

“During my first stint I was supposed to be four seconds ahead of Kimi before my stop and I was 4.8s ahead, so that worked perfectly. In the second the traffic delayed me. I lost the victory because of that. The people ahead were fighting, but we are the leaders and sometimes when you make your strategy you don’t count (on) traffic, and it can change all that.”

Alonso did what he could but from 10th on the grid. It was always going to be a struggle. He charged hard, risked a great deal but ended up with just two points for seventh place, after all that …

Of the rest, happiest was possibly Jenson Button, who scored a point for Honda. A good start, a clear run, and a point. Small mercies.

Less so was Red Bull. After a promising test at Silverstone, further mechanical woes and a race pace that was surprisingly modest produced a dud weekend, Mark Webber finishing 12th behind Rosberg, Ralf Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello.

race

First lap fracas: Above, Luizzi and Davidson clashed, before Trulli turned Kovalainen around at the Adelaide hairpin, top.

mypointsdream.com: Above, Honda's Jenson Button picked up his first points of the year. Below, Kimi secured 10 big ones ...

Holding off the Champ: BMW’s Nick Heidfeld resisted the advances of Fernando Alonso in the opening laps.

All images: sutton-images.com

Underperforming: Ralf Schumacher and Mark Webber, above finished 10th and 12th respectively.

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Like it never

So Long ... won’t miss you

happened

SUNDAY’S Grand Prix was the last Formula 1 race at Magny-Cours and many of the F1 circus left the track with few regrets.

It has never been a popular place and the weekend was not a pleasant one. On Saturday there was a fearful accident in GP2 when Venezuela’s Ernesto Viso flew over the back of another competitor and rolled along the top of the concrete wall beside the track. The car broke in half just in front of the driver but miraculously stayed together and Viso escaped without serious injury.

And then on Saturday evening a helicopter ferrying some racing personnel from the circuit to a hotel to the north of Nevers went down in the forest. Three people died, including the pilot, former Formula 3 driver Pierre Bennehard and Quiksilver’s representative in F1, Emmanuel Longobardi. Bridgestone Europe’s Public Relations director Nicolas Duquesne suffered very serious facial injuries.

– JOE SAWARD

THE unsung hero of Magny Cours was young Pole Robert Kubica, who shrugged off any effects of his huge Canadian GP crash to finish a strong fourth.

Kubica finished a slightly lonely fourth, ahead of his more experienced team-mate, and almost, almost, had a sniff at third during one of the pit stop sequences.

“I made quite a good start but we were on the dirty side, with Lewis Hamilton, so had no chance to overtake. After that I was close to him just once when he was coming out of the pits and we had a short fight, but he had new tyres, braked later into the hairpin and overtook me again.

“The last 20 laps were about bringing the car home for a good result for the team, as Lewis was a long way in front and Nick behind.

“The car was very good, physically I am a hundred per cent and mentally too, and I could do another race now.”

Webber’s Weekend:

sutton-images.com

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A QUALIFYING error consigned Mark Webber to a frustrating Sunday, caught up in the also-ran midfield contest, and seemingly (like Alonso further up the road) unable to do much about it.

Webber started the race in14th position after an out-ofsorts qualifying performance and by virtue of a collision between Toyota’s Jarno

Trulli and Renault’s Heikki Kovalainen on the opening lap, inherited two positions to move into 12th, where he stayed for the entire 70 laps, in the middle of a Schumacher/ Barrichello/Webber/Coulthard/ Wurz train.

Webber’s Friday running was cut short after just eight laps when the Red Bull-Renault’s gearbox failed in the second

race

Front wings –not getting simpler Technical Editor PAOLO FILISETTI unravels the latest aero nuance THE recent Silverstone test is one where equipment for both the French and British races are developed – both circuits are quite similar.

A typical example is the revised front wing introduced by BMW at the weekend on its everimproving F107.

It utilises a squared central spoon profile. The main difference from the previous version is related to the adoption of a completely new flap, wider so as to provide an adequate downforce level at the front, but balanced by the shortening of the additional upper profiles placed over the main one.

The first change increases the downforce generated, while the second one reduces drag so as to keep it stable with the new change – otherwise drag would have been slightly increased. sutton-images.com

Lost in the ruck practice session. Saturday proved trouble-free in terms of reliability but he was never happy with the grip level from the car and ended the session in 20th position.

He managed to produce the sixth fastest time (1min 15.746) in Q1 but an error in the last sector of his first timed lap in the second session saw him abort the lap and return to the pits: “I had a big moment through the second chicane so I aborted the lap and then on my second run, I didn’t seem to have the same level of rear grip I had had on my other runs,” he said.

F1 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP | Round 8 MAGNY COURS Pos #

Driver

1 6 Kimi Raikkonen 2 5 Felipe Massa 3 2 Lewis Hamilton 4 10 Robert Kubica 5 9 Nick Heidfeld 6 3 Giancarlo Fisichella 7 1 Fernando Alonso 8 7 Jenson Button 9 16 Nico Rosberg 10 11 Ralf Schumacher 11 8 Rubens Barrichello 12 15 Mark Webber 13 14 David Coulthard 14 17 Alexander Wurz 15 4 Heikki Kovalainen 16 22 Takuma Sato 17 20 Adrian Sutil Not Classified dnf 19 Scott Speed dnf 21 Christijan Albers dnf 23 Anthony Davidson dnf 12 Jarno Trulli dnf 18 Vitantonio Liuzzi Fastest Lap: Massa, 1:16.099

Team

Time

Qual

Ferrari Ferrari McLaren-Mercedes BMW BMW Renault McLaren-Mercedes Honda Williams-Toyota Toyota Honda Red Bull-Renault Red Bull-Renault Williams-Toyota Renault Super Aguri-Honda Spyker-Ferrari

1h30m54.200 +2.414s +32.153s +41.727s +48.801s +52.210s +56.516s +58.885s +1m08.505s 69 laps 69 laps 69 laps 69 laps 69 laps 69 laps 68 laps 68 laps

3 1 2 4 7 5 10 12 9 11 13 14 16 18 6 22 21

Toro Rosso-Ferrari Spyker-Ferrari Super Aguri-Honda Toyota Toro Rosso-Ferrari

55 laps 48 laps 1 lap 1 lap 0 laps

15 20 19 7 17

F1 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP | Driver’s points Points: Hamilton 64, Alonso 50, Massa 47, Raikkonen 42, Heidfeld 30, Kubica 17, Fisichella 16, Kovalainen 12, Wurz 8, Trulli 7, Rosberg 5, Coulthard 4, Sato 4, Webber 2, Schumacher 2, Button 1, Vettel 1.

F1 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP | Constructor’s points Points: McLaren-Mercedes 114, Ferrari 89, BMW 48, Renault 28, Williams-Toyota 13, Toyota 9, Red Bull-Renault 6, Super Aguri-Honda 4, Honda 1.

27

MOTO GP ASSEN – ROUND 9

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Retro Rocket Valentino Rossi may have been dressed like a 1950s jukebox at Assen – but his Yamaha and its Michelins were straight out of the 21st century

Yamaha Racing

29

T

HE 1950s were such a happy time. Just ask John Howard.

Or Valentino Rossi.

With Yamaha running a special ’50s livery to celebrate the launch of the retro Fiat 500, Rossi survived the wet qualifying, picked his way through the pack and hunted down Casey Stoner for almost half the race before taking the lead with three laps to run.

The race was about tyres.

Stoner led by almost 2s within three laps and Rossi, who started 11th, took his time to get his tyres up to speed.

But when he did, he was unstoppable, closing down the championship leader by up to a second a lap.

“Last night I didn’t sleep so well and I couldn’t have imagined that the race could turn out like this, in fact I was really a little bit worried after the qualifying and didn’t know what to expect today!” said Rossi after his win.

“Once I got going though I saw that I had a great pace and so I just rode as hard as I could to get past everyone because I knew then that I could come back to Casey. When I finally got there I was quite tired, as were my tyres, plus he was riding very well and it was hard to overtake him.”

For his part, Stoner was affected by crosswinds and

slightly downbeat after being beaten but was aware that there is a long way to go in the championship. It could have been worse; after the chequered flag, his Ducati GP7 ran out of fuel.

“I was getting pushed around in a few of the fast turns and had a couple of front-end loses, so I wasn’t willing to push the bike in the braking points,” he said.

With Honda President Takeo Fukui looking on, Nicky Hayden and Dani Pedrosa could hardly have picked a better time to return to form, the Kentucky Kid taking his first 2007 podium after moving from grid 13 to fifth by the first corner. The two RC212Vs circulated almost as one, to finish third and fourth.

John Hopkins was fifth but Suzuki team-mate Chris Vermeulen was not so fortunate. After skating to his third career pole position on a wet Friday, he was running with the lead bunch until Randy de Puniet clanged into him. The Kawasaki rider was out on the spot but Vermeulen chugged back onto the track to continue, finishing just out of the points in 16th.

Anthony West impressed on the second Kawasaki, taking ninth after an epic battle with Alex Hofmann, Marco Melandri and Carlos Checa.

Party like it’s 1955: Valentino Rossi was a happy man, in his 1950s leathers and helmet, right, though team-mate Colin Edwards, far right, looked more Memphis than Texas. Nicky Hayden and Dani Pedrosa made a timely return to form in third and fourth, below.

Honda Pro Images

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MOTO GP | RIDer’s points Points: Stoner 185, Rossi 164, Pedrosa 119, Hopkins, Vermeulen 88, Melandri 87, Edwards 75, Barros 69, Capirossi and Hayden 57.

Tyre Trek: The Next Generation Michelin bounced back with f irst, third and fourth. But Bridgestone made a long-term statement REMEMBER 2000? Course you do; the new millennium, the Sydney Olympics, George W. Bush. Nicky Hayden rode a Superbike for the first time.

Garry McCoy was a contender in the 2000 World 500 Championship, having been Michelin’s only rider to opt for its experimental 16.5inch rear tyre. He was fifth in the championship after taking three wins – which prompted every other rider to beg Michelin for some of his tyres.

Fast forward seven years, and tyres are still the talking point of the paddock. Both Bridgestone and Michelin are working hard to develop 16-

Honda Pro Images

inch rear slicks, to provide their riders with a larger tyre footprint, particularly important with the extreme lean angles provided by the quicksilver 800s.

The Japanese are winning this race. Last week Colin Edwards admitted that he did not expect to be racing on Michelin’s 16 before the end of the year. But at Assen, Bridgestone debuted its 16 inch tyre; in fact, Marco Melandri, right, raced on it, finishing 10th.

McCoy and 500s may be long gone from motorcycle racing’s premier class but the lessons of 2000 live on.

Aprilia Racing

Rizla Suzuki Racing

Assen Assassins JORGE Lorenzo bounced back from his Donington disasters with a win from pole position at Assen.

Lorenzo roared home from Alex de Angelis while Alvaro Bautista took his fifth podium of the year with third.

Captain America: John Hopkins, above, got out of the blocks well and led the Hondas until his Bridgestones gave best to Hayden and Pedrosa.

Kawasaki Racing Team

Gaining miles: Anthony West got to race in the dry and mixed it up with some of the big names, like Marco Melandri, Carlos Checa and Makoto Tamada, right.

Points: Lorenzo 178, Dovizioso and de Angelis 155, Bautista 116, Barbera 80, Simon 61, Kallio 58, Luthi 56.

MATTIA Pasini ran away with the 125 GP, his Aprilia 6s clear of Hector Faubel, Gabor Talmasci and Sergio Gadea.

Points: Faubel 138, Talmasci 131, Gadea 105, Pesek 103, Koyama 98, Corsi 97, Pasini 66, Olive 63.

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GLOBE TROTTER SPEEDWAY GP AUSTRALIAN riders Jason Crump and Leigh Adams both won their way through to the final at Cardiff’s round of the Speedway Grand Prix series, but the glory belonged to the young Englishman Chris Harris, who won his first Grand Prix.

American Greg Hancock was second, with Crump and Adams finishing third and fourth respectively.

– TONY MILLARD

The Dawn of Doornbos CHAMP CAR

NHRA NITRO category victors Tony Schumacher and Mike Ashley claimed the inaugural Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals at Ohio’s Summit Motorsports Park last Sunday.

The pair were joined by Pro Stock Car and Motorcycle winners Dave Connolly and Andrew Hines.

– DAVID OSTASZEWSKI CCWS Media

F3 EUROSERIES A TWENTY second penalty for not slowing down under yellow flags left Michael Patrizi 22nd in Race 1 at Magny Cours last weekend.

He finished 18th in Race 2.

FORMULA RENAULT

GP2 GIORGIO Pantano won a chaotic GP2 race at Magny Cours from Lucas Di Grassi and Bruno Senna.

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Points: Bourdais and Doornbos 145, Power 131, Wilson 113, Alex Tagliani 112, Pagenaud 96, Oriol Servia 91.

Dario: Richmond Tiger IRL INDYCAR DARIO Franchitti has well and truly staked his claim for the 2007 IRL IndyCar title with another win, this time the Sun Trust Indy Challenge at Richmond.

Franchitti found himself starting from pole after qualifying was rained out and the grid was determined on entrant’s points.

And once in front, Franchitti was in another league, setting two IndyCar records on the way to the win; one for the track’s average race speed (133.408 mph) and one for most laps led in one race (242).

IRL Indycar Media

YOUNG Aussie hopeful Daniel Ricciardo celebrated his 18th birthday last weekend by scoring his first podium finish in the Italian Formula Renault 2.0 series.

He was third in the first race at Valencia, and backed it up with fourth in the second.

AN Australian-owned team took victory at Le Circuit Mont-Tremblant’s Champ Car round last weekend, but it wasn’t Team Australia.

Rookie sensation Robert Doornbos was on top of the game at the Canadian circuit, braving the wet conditions for a break-through victory for he and Paul Stoddart’s Minardi Team USA squad.

“What a great feeling to win!” said Doornbos.

“I am very happy for the team, and I feel that they deserve it, and I deserve it, and I couldn’t be happier.”

The slippery conditions played havoc with the field, with three different drivers sliding off the track while leading.

The first was Sebastien Bourdais, who recovered to finish second and even mounted a late challenge on Doornbos.

Next, it was Justin Wilson’s turn to slide out of the lead, in-turn handing it to Team Australia’s French rookie Simon Pagenaud. But ‘Aussie Pag’ went the way of Bourdais and Wilson, slipping off the road.

Will Power finished third, a good result given that he stalled his Team Australia Panoz on the grid and dropped to the back of the field.

A late caution made the final margin back to secondplaced Scott Dixon 0.4s at the finish. Dixon’s team-mate Dan Wheldon was third. “[It’s] too early in the season to point race,” said Franchitti,

despite having a healthy lead.

“I’ve just got to keep getting the maximum, week in, week out, that I can.”

Points: Franchitti 359, Dixon 294, Wheldon 287, Tony Kanaan 287, Hornish Jr 257.

race

NASCAR Media

Hamlin’s New Hampshire NASCAR DENNY Hamlin gave Joe Gibbs Racing its first win of the year at New Hampshire Speedway on Sunday, scoring his first Nextel Cup win in 32 races as he held off Jeff Gordon by half a car length.

A strategy call of two tyres for Hamlin and four for Gordon and third-placed Martin Truex Jr at the final pit stop proved to be the difference.

“I thought it was a good call,” said Hamlin of the pit stop.

“Up until I saw the four-tyre stops

behind me and that really worried me and all I was thinking was, ‘man let us finish in the top five here.’ I knew Jeff was coming, but Martin held him up long enough.”

The depth of personnel at Hendrick Motorsports was showcased with Gordon’s runner-up slot and Jimmie Johnson’s fifth place minus their crew chiefs who are sitting out a six-week suspension, while Truex continued a strong run of late in third.

His DEI teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr came home fourth after leading some laps and scored his fourth top-five of the

last six races under interim crew chief Tony Gibson while his cousin and full-time chief Tony Eury Jr is out on suspension. He will return this week at Daytona.

Chevy took the top eight positions with the Ford of Matt Kenseth ninth and Ryan Newman 10th. Again the Haas CNC team scored a good finish for Jeff Green in the ‘new car’ races with a well-deserved sixth placing, while Dave Blaney – who earned Toyota’s first pole in Cup – came home a disappointing 29th.

– MARTIN D CLARK Points: J Gordon 2613, Hamlin 2457, Kenseth 2248, Johnson 2232, J Burton 2230.

Twenty-one times three BUSCH SERIES

Points: Edwards 2861, David Reutimann 2052, Harvick 1993, David Ragan 1949, Jason Leffler 1895, Dave Blaney 1891, Bobby Hamilton 1856, Ambrose 1829.

NASCAR Media

KEVIN Harvick, driving the #21 Chevrolet, became the 21st different driver to win in 21 Busch Series races at New Hampshire last weekend.

Harvick led 166 of the 200 laps on his way to victory at the loudon track, and had to stave off series leader Carl Edwards late in the race.

“We kind of geared up for short runs, hoping it would come down to that kind of run at the end,” said Harvick.

“I knew he (Edwards) was

going to come after me on the bottom, try to get underneath us, and we were able to hold him off.”

Marcos Ambrose finished 30th and nine laps down after an early clash with David Gilliland ruined any chances of a good result. He dropped from seventh in the standings to eighth, but retains his second place in the rookie pointscore.

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Dirk Klynsmith

Macrow’s Mallala magic Tim won the second race at Mallala, but it was his clash with Leanne Tander in the first that got everyone’s attention. The result? A five-point fight for the Gold Star SHANNONS NATIONALS

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Dirk Klynsmith

MORE than 4000 race fans braved cold and often damp conditions at Mallala Raceway for the fourth round of the 2007 Shannons Nationals last weekend.

In the Kumho Tyres Formula 3 Championship, British driver James Winslow won a wild opening race.

On a rapidly drying circuit, half the leading contenders chose wet rubber, and it was Winslow who jumped to an early lead despite starting from sixth.

Polesitter Michael Trimble, on his F3 return, briefly stalled the car and went on to finish outside the top five.

There was controversy in the form of a Leanne Tander/Tim Macrow clash at the end of the first lap, which resulted in Macrow being ousted from the race after hefty contact with the Fleetcare car on the run into the hairpin. ”I’d have won it, if he (Macrow) hadn’t had punted me off,” Tander later said.

“She seemed hell-bent on having me off in the dirt,” replied Macrow. “Then, when I was off, she finished the job.”

Tander recovered superbly, however, with second place ahead of Stuart Kostera.

In a straightforward second event, Macrow bounced back to win from Hollings and Trimble.

Daniel Richert, Michael Graham and Brett Holdsworth split the wins in the Commodore Cup. However the day’s strangest incident came in Race 2 when, running in the top three, Geoff Emery was turned into the wall just metres from the finish.

He rebounded from the serious damage to contest the third race.

It was a South Australian benefit in the Saloon Cars, Bruce Henrich finally returning to his form of last season with a crushing three wins from three starts.

Steven Zammit (Kenworth) won the Biodiesel Supertruck Super Prix by over 20s after John Bomberle, Bob Middleton and Zammit split the preliminaries between them.

Shane Hart’s fire-breathing Jabiru dominated the National Formula Vee Challenge, while Rob Vanderkamp’s flying Falcon won the SA Historic Touring Car Cup – although the podium featured former V8 Supercar driver Mark Poole on his racing return.

– RICHARD CRAILL

The British Invasion continues: James Winslow took the Race 1 win at Mallala, carrying on the recent ‘Brits winning Oz F3’ trend

race

Ash Budd

Chris Horne

Super Sera dominates QLD KARTING

Chris Horne

Crash and bang: Macrow and Tander clashed at the hairpin in Race 1, causing a war of words between the two.

Dirk Klynsmith

Shane Hart’s FVee was flaming fast at Mallala, above, while Geoff Emery’s weekend ended in bizarre circumstances when he hit the wall

DAVID Sera annihilated his opposition at the Queensland Championships in Toowoomba on the weekend, winning two state titles.

Such was his domination he never lost a race on the way to picking up the Clubman Light and Leopard Light titles.

“I had a point to prove this weekend and I believe I made it loud and clear,” Sera said.

A double was also scored by Kel Treseder, the Queenslander getting up to win Rotax Heavy and Leopard Heavy. William Yarwood starred in the Rotax

final, coming through from last place to take second.

Yarwood was also second in Clubman Heavy, where Matt Wall said hello to the class with a win. Jason Hryniuk came off grid spot 10 to win Rotax Light, while Matthew Brabham carded his maiden state title with victory in Rookies.

Other winners were Brendan Nelson (Senior National Light), Corey Lean (Senior National Heavy, Ryan Fulcher (Clubman Super Heavy), Remo Luciani (Over 40s), Dylan Higgins (Midgets), Nicholas Foster (Junior Clubman) and James Whitley (Junior National Heavy).

– MARK WICKS

Morgan Park on the record QLD STATE

Dirk Klynsmith

LAP records fell at Morgan Park last weekend for Round 3 of the Queensland Championships.

Kevin Heffernan was a class apart in Historic Touring Cars, taking both wins and the lap record.

Steve Morcombe claimed a record in Sports Cars, edging close to the outright record.

Gary Bonwick also lowered his HQ Holden record in taking a pair of wins ahead of Dale Youd.

Brett Phillips and Matt Picken took Gemini wins.

Steve Murray swept the Superkart races from Russ Jamieson.

Bob McLoughlin took the Sports Sedan wins over Robert Coutts.

Falcon drivers Tim Young and Lindsay Kearns shared the Saloon Car victories.

Martin Swindells and Andrew Hagen shared the Formula Ford wins while Scott Andrew was the top performer in Formula Vee. – MARK JONES

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rear of grid

Summer V8s to avoid Footy?

W

ITH this pretty average spell of weather we’ve been getting in NSW (as well as Victoria), and four weeks between V8 races, there’s a bit too much time for the brain to tick over – and something that this recent deluge started me thinking on was why Australia is about the only country in the world to have its motor racing season in winter rather than summer?

Ah, you say, it gets too hot in the summer! Well it gets pretty hot in a number of countries which have F1 races, in summer. And those with long memories will remember when the Tasman Series used to take place in NZ and Australia in January and February.

So why is Aussie motorsport locked in to winter – and some pretty miserable race meetings – and is it actually locked in?

I reckon it’s time for the V8 Supercar boys, who we all know effectively run motorsport in this country,

to give it some thought as they look at ways to boost the audience and atmosphere at races – something both recent soggy Winton and Eastern Creek events might well take a liking to.

Australian Football (the round ball game) took a major decision two years ago to move its season away from winter, away from AFL and Rugby, to summer and it has proven to be a huge winner.

Could the V8 Supercar Championship (and by definition Aussie motorsport) do the same. I reckon the answer is YES, YES. Imagine a season starting in September with the Sandown 500/Bathurst long distance races, then switching into ‘sprint mode’ for the rest of the season, through to the F1 Grand Prix and Clipsal 500, and a grand finale in early April?

Imagine a 14-15 race schedule, with races every couple of

punter@mnews.com.au

IT WORKED FOR SOCCER, SO WHY WOULDN"T IT DO THE SAME FOR MOTORSPORT? weeks, not every three, or four?

Imagine (if you’re a V8 team owner) then having a real MayJuly off-season (with a testing ban) holiday before preparing for the new one?

Imagine the crowds you might well get with races over the December/Jan/Feb holiday period, basking in 30-degree warmth? Imagine the odd twilight race?

Imagine the TV ratings if you don’t compete/clash with footy? Imagine not having a scheduling drama with your broadcaster over AFL clashes (yeah, I’m sure V8s could also avoid Seven’s two week ‘Summer of Tennis’!).

Is there a down-side?

Struggling to think of

something. Yes, there might be a hot race or two. Easy.

Compulsory real air-con in the cars.

But what about the ‘crossover”? Easy too. The 2008 season is a short (seven race?) one – starting a fraction earlier (February?) and finishing in, say, July. A shorter break than will then become the norm, before the 2008/9 season kicks off with the 2008 Sandown 500.

Anything else? No? Well it worked big-time for soccer – sorry, football – so why wouldn’t it do the same for motorsport? Is there anyone out there prepared to take a deep breath and make a big decision?

Odd Spot Valentino and The Chihuahas WHAT the hell were Valentino Rossi and Colin Edwards on at Assen?

The Doctor and The Texas Tornado both appeared at the Dutch TT looking like they have been thrown off the set of American Graffiti, men and Yamahas adorned in 1950s colours and themes.

But there is sense to all this nonsense. This week, Yamaha sponsor Fiat rolls out its long-awaited 500 – a retro revival of its famous ‘Bambino’, which was launched exactly 50 years ago. So, it makes sense to give the 21st century 500 a special paint scheme – and Rossi delivered with a timely win.

Rossi’s helmet bore allegiance to Valentino and his Chihuahas while Edwards had tasteful guitars painted on his. And, if you want a closer look, you can bet that both limited edition lids will be available very soon at your local motorcycle emporium.

And, with the US Grand Prix coming up at Laguna Seca this month, more craziness is just a few weeks away …

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