Motorsport eNews Issue 14 - July 24-30, 2007

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THEY’RE BACK

Issue No. 014 24 – 30 July 2007

Webber, Stoner on fire

V8s RETURN TO THE GP – TV deal to be finalised 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

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Issue No. 014 | 24 – 30 July 2007

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V8s, new date and time 6 $25 grand T-shirts WPS cops big penalty 8 Dude, Where’s my Car? Police seize V8 Supercar 11 No more Saint Lewis Hamilton walls it, big-time

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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, Aaron Shaw, Daniel Powell

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The Art of Compromise QR Decoded Bloody footy. He’s lost it V8s at the Tanderclip Fernando splashes to win

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Aussie V8s back at

F1 race to lose opening round status, start later V8 SUPERCARS V8 SUPERCARS will return to the Australian Grand Prix – but, at this stage, with an agreement for just one year.

AGP Corporation Chairman Ron Walker announced yesterday (Monday) that the V8s, which pulled out of the 2007 event because of a scheduling clash, would return to the bill as the feature support event to Formula 1, on March 13-16.

“This is a great win for everyone and especially motorsport fans,” he said.

“The combination of the world’s most popular race cars, Formula 1, and the V8s – Australia’s number one national

category – is unique to Albert Park.”

The announcement also confirmed that the Melbourne race will be the second round of the Formula 1 World Championship, following a season-opening Bahrain event the previous week.

“Taking all factors into account, this is the best option for our event and the people who support it,” said Walker.

The V8s’ return to the iconic event has been welcomed by the Supercar community, led

by V8 Supercars Chairman, Tony Cochrane, who attended the pitlane announcement, along with Holden Racing Team’s Todd Kelly and TeamVodafone’s Craig Lowndes.

“Clearly, the Australian Grand Prix is one of the greatest events on the sporting calendar and we are delighted to be able to accept the invitation to attend,” Cochrane said.

“We are going to work hand in glove with the AGP (Corporation) and really work hard at giving this a rev.”

Details of what the V8 Supercars will do at Albert Park are sparse, with Cochrane saying only that there will be a “new format”, which will be announced in the coming months.

One question that remains unanswered is whether the V8 events will be televised.

Under the current agreement

with the AGPC and Formula One Management, the host broadcaster may nominate which two support categories it wishes to telecast and there will, obviously, be negotiations between the AGPC, Network 10 and V8SA to determine what those categories will be.

Despite the verbal jousting of some weeks back, it is considered unlikely that the V8 event won’t be part of the Network 10 broadcast.

There is also no confirmation of V8 involvement after the 2008 event but, given the positive comments made

by Walker and Cochrane at the launch, the environment appears positive.

– PHIL BRANAGAN

news

MW: Red Bull result 'due'

Dirk Klynsmith

Albert Park

What do the Drivers think?

TODD KELLY: “I can’t wait. It was tough for me last year because all of the sponsors were still in the corporate areas and we had to do almost as many corporate visits as we do on a race weekend.

“Not being able to drive on the track meant that it was no fun dragging yourself out of bed, to get to the circuit and watch!”

CRAIG LOWNDES: “We were here in March, but not driving. It is a great circuit and it is nice to have Big Brother in Formula 1.

“We have a connection with the sponsors and so do many of the V8 Supercar teams. It is great to showcase what we do in front of the Formula 1 teams – Dirk Klynsmith they think we are pretty crazy! I have met Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton, so I hope it is a dual victory!”

MARK Webber has hailed Red Bull’s 3-5 result at the European Grand Prix as just reward for the team, which is continuing to gear up for a serious 2008 challenge.

“It’s a great day for everyone at the team,” he told eNews on Monday morning.

“Clearly we’ve taken a bit of a hammering this year with some reliability issues, but everyone has continued to put in a top effort to get things right.

“This one is for the team.”

In a week in which former Honda technical director Geoff Willis signed on to join his former Williams co-worker Adrian Newey at the head of Red Bull’s technical team, and David Coulthard negotiated a further year’s contract, Webber too reiterated that his contract extends through to the end of 2008.

“Yeah, it’s always been a two-year deal,” he told us.

Webber also welcomed Willis’ arrival: “He and Adrian (Newey) clearly had a lot of success together back at Williams, so there’s a fair bit of optimism around the place – I’m optimistic there’ll be a good step forward next year …”

In the meantime, the team has what is described as an ‘update package’ coming for the Turkish GP.

Dirk Klynsmith

No night race, but later time THE 2008 Australian F1 Grand Prix will start at 3.30pm, to marginally improve the broadcast time into Europe and parts of Asia.

The change will mean that Europeans will need to fall out of bed at 5.30am rather than 4am to take in the Downunder action, while the US coverage will now start mid-evening (West Coast time), late evening in the East.

According to AGP Chairman Ron Walker, the cost estimates for a night race have ruled it out – for now.

BRIEFLY...

FORD Rising Stars Racing has been grouped with Ford Performance Racing.

The Sydney-based Fujitsu Series team debuted a new FPR Falcon at QR last weekend, and Michael Caruso promptly won on debut. The news means that the Jim Morton-run team will move its test track from Oran Park to Winton. n

n Three riders made their MotoGP debuts at Laguna Seca last weekend but one of them was unexpected. Roger Lee Hayden and Canada’s Miguel Duhamel appeared as planned but, when Alex Hofmann broke his wrist when he was spat off his Ducati in practice, Briton Chaz Davies, who competes in the AMA Supersport series, stepped into the fray to ride the Pramac d’Antin Ducati. n Ken Schrader, who was replaced by Bill Elliott at Wood Bros JTG Racing earlier in the year, has returned to BAM Racing as driver of the #49 Dodge and been reunited with former crew chief David Hyder.

V8 SUPERCARS YOU read it first in eNews last week; Team Kiwi Racing has joined forces with Stone Brothers Racing.

The Kiwi team, which has not contested the past three rounds after a contractual dispute with Ford Performance Racing in May, will make its comeback at Oran Park (in Russell Ingall's current car) with Kiwi youngster Shane van Gisbergen behind the wheel.

Oran Park will mark both van Gisbergen's tin top and V8 Supercar debut.

The 18-year-old has been a long-term project for SBR, who see him as a future star.

TKR team principle David John remains as the figurehead of the all-black squad, while Stone Brothers Racing will be prepare the car.

The world of motorsport every week – directly

SBR's Fujitsu Series engineer Lindsay Thompson will be in charge of the car at the track.

The #021 Falcon will remain in a similar to the way it was presented earlier this year, pictured above.

– GRANT ROWLEY

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Issue No. 013 17 – 23 July 2007

SBR LIFELINE FOR TEAM KIWI

... AND WE REVEAL WHO IS SET TO DRIVE THE

‘NEW’ TKR FALCON

INVESTIGATION THREATENS F1 WORLD TITLE THIS ISSUE OF MOTORSPORT eNEWS BOUGHT TO

BY THE ALL-NEW HONDA

coverD013.indd 1 18/7/07 1:55:35 PM

WPS Racing fined for 'designer shirts' V8 SUPERCARS WPS RACING has been fined $25,000 for bringing the sport into disrepute in V8 Supercar racing’s latest political drama.

Team Manager Keith Evers admitted that the team has breached Rule B6.5.4 by allowing T shirts to be distributed that were critical of TEGA Chairman, Dr John Hewson.

The offending shirts were emblazoned with the slogan, ‘Stay Out Of Our Sport HEWSON’ and were worn by members of the public during Saturday’s sessions.

– PHIL BRANAGAN

Branners Images

n Japanese Indy Pro Series driver Hideki Mutoh will make his IndyCar debut at Chicagoland Speedway on September 9. Mutoh, who won an IPS support race at the US Grand Prix, will drive a third Panther car alongside countryman Kosuke Matsuura and Vitor Meira.

Done Deal: SBR and TKR

news

V8 SUPERCARS EXPECT Matthew White to suit up for Team BOC at Sandown and Bathurst this year.

The Fujitsu V8 Supercar team owner is all but confirmed to start the endurance races for the Albury-based Ford squad, which is the final piece in the enduro driver puzzle.

But exactly whom White will drive with

remains a mystery.

While the team’s regular drivers Andrew Jones and Simon Wills are likely to share the lead car at the Sandown 500, the recently retired Brad Jones may be in-line for the lead car at Bathurst, a circuit where we has traditionally excelled. Should that be the case it’s probable that the Joneses will drive together at Mount Panorama, with Wills and White pairing up.

John Morris/Mpix

White joins Team BOC

White has made one outing this season in the Fujitsu Series, finishing seventh for the meeting at Winton.

He has also been a winner at Mount Panorama, taking victory in a nonchampionship development series race back in 2004. White’s best result in the 1000km race is sixth in 2002 when he paired up with Tony Longhurst.

– ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN

The Rat confirmed, but will Tander drive car #1?

V8 SUPERCARS WITH almost a full round’s lead in the V8 Supercar Championship Series, TollHSV is still to determine its endurance driver pairings.

Garth Tander and Rick Kelly are separated by only 10 points after the Queensland

Raceway round and, with third-placed Jamie Whincup 74 points behind even a zero score at Oran Park would have one of the two Toll men leading the series.

“I certainly have a preference to be teamed with Rick, whether I was trailing him in the championship or leading

him in the championship,” said Tander.

“It may happen, with Oran Park still to come. It is not as if we have got two slouches who are going to jump in with us, we have Paul Radisich and Craig Baird, who will jump in and be on the pace straight away.”

BRIEFLY...

n Mexican Mario Dominguez made a return to Champ Car in Edmonton on the weekend, subbing for the injured Tristan Gommendy at PKV Racing. The Frenchman crashed in qualifying on Satruday and suffered a vertebrae fracture. He will be sidelined for at least another race at San Jose this weekend. n IndyCar racing will disappear from Michigan International Speedway at the end of this season. The IRL hasn’t secured a date with the track for next year, meaning it’s the first time open wheelers haven’t visited the 2.5-mile oval since 1968. n Under pressure from sponsor NAPA, Michael Waltrip will step out of his self-owned Toyota for this weekend’s Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis.

Veteran Terry Labonte will take the reins. Labonte, the 1996 series champion, has the luxury of being the driver eligible for the past champion’s provisional at the race, guaranteeing the car a berth in the big race.

–MARTIN D CLARK/STAFF

Going to the impound Kelly's Fujitsu Series return ends after three laps as car dispute takes over V8 SUPERCARS OWEN Kelly’s return to the Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series lasted only one practice session after the Terry Wyhoon-owned AU Falcon he was entered to race was impounded by police last Friday at Queensland Raceway.

The car was seized as part of an ongoing financial dispute involving Paul Cruickshank and Phil Nicholls, and put a premature end to Kelly and Wyhoon’s weekend. It continues to be held by police.

The dispute harks back to the start of last year when Nicholls allegedly attempted to buy the car from Cruickshank, who was acting on behalf of the car’s owner Kevin Mundy. A legal battle has been ongoing since,

John Morris/Mpix

n American Ryan HunterReay is back in open wheeler racing, announced last week as the replacement for Jeff Simmons in the Ethanol/ Rahal-Letterman Racing IRL IndyCar. The former Champ Car race winner finished seventh in his first race on the weekend at Mid-Ohio.

The car in question: Wyhoon's ex-SBR Falcon, seen here at the Wakefield Park Fujitsu Series round last year, has been impounded and whether the former AUSCAR champ gets it back remains to be seen. and came to a head at QR when the car was seized.

The situation came as a shock to Wyhoon, who had fitted new components from Ford Performance Racing for Kelly’s return.

“I’m not accusing anyone of anything,” Wyhoon told eNews.

“I bought the car in good faith, paid in full, and I was totally unaware of what was about

to unfold. We were in shape for our best weekend and it’s a huge loss, including financially.”

Wyhoon is yet to find out when, or if, he will see the exStone Brothers AU again.

Meanwhile, the Nicholls/ Cruickshank dispute continues to be a police matter. eNews contacted Cruickshank, but he was unable to comment.

– ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN

news

sutton-images.com

COMING THIS WEEK

International Champcar – San Jose WTCC – Istanbul NASCAR – Indianapolis NexT Week (August 4 -5)

International

Speedy-cuffs in Germany FORMULA 1 SCOTT Speed’s future with Scuderia Toro Rosso appears in limbo after a reported postrace physical altercation with team boss Franz Tost after the European GP on the weekend.

The American was one of several drivers to spin off on lap three and tensions were

reportedly strained when he returned to the garage.

Speed apparently went to walk away when Tost apparently made a grab for him and what a witness described as an ‘assault’.

With Sebastien Bourdais lurking in the wings and Speed and Tonio Liuzzi appearing out of favour with Tost and

Gerhard Berger, whether the long-time Red Bull-backed driver remains in the car for the next race in Hungary remains to be seen.

“It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to read the press and know that Franz and Gerhard are pushing like hell to get rid of me and Tonio,” Speed told SpeedTV.com

That is one powerful Dude Peter Bury

PAUL Morris Motorsport made a big step forward on the weekend as the Queensland team’s engine program starts to pay dividends.

In Race 1, he was 12th and in the second race, he made it to ninth. In both cases, the PMM car was the best of the Commodores outside of Toll and HRT, Morris reporting better power and torque. His VE ran a new-spec engine on the weekend, the latest development from engine tuner Jamie Noonan. The former SBR Engines man has redone PMM’s blocks and further developments will see the top end of the engines updated.

– PHIL BRANAGAN

F1 - Hungary WRC – Finland WSBK – Brands Hatch NASCAR – Pocono Indycar – Michigan

Next ROUNd v8 SUPERCAR SERIES V8 Supercars - Oran Park – August 18/19

NEED A CAR? CLICK HERE FOR SPECIAL eNEWS DEAL

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The FIA asks ...

McLaren to front World Council over espionage claims FORMULA 1 McLAREN Mercedes will head to Paris later this week to answer questions in front of the FIA World Motor Sport Council.

The team has already sent a sizeable dossier to the FIA and we hear that the team will explain the full details of the FORMULA 1 ‘Mike Coughlan Affair’. There has been much speculation GERHARD Berger says that is recent days, notably in Italy, Scuderia Toro Rosso is not about what was known by for sale, despite constant McLaren at various dates. rumours for some months “Time will demonstrate the that the small Italian team truth of this matter,” McLaren was on the verge of being boss Ron Dennis said in sold to Nicolas Todt, the son Germany. of Ferrari boss Jean Todt.

“I refuse to move away “I did not offer to sell the from following the correct team and nobody asked me to procedures. The truth is the sell it,” said Berger. truth and if that hurts us then Berger, incidentally, says so be it.” that is very keen on Sebastien Our spies say that the team Bourdais and will decide in the willl argue that it had nothing next few days whether or not to do with the 780-page to take up the option on the document that was found Frenchman. This runs out at in Mike Coughlan’s house the start of new week.

“I think he has good potential,” in Surrey and that emails that were sent to McLaren said Berger. “He has delivered by someone at Ferrari were what we expect from him.” not leaks of information to – JOE SAWARD

Sale is Bull says Berger

help McLaren to be more competitive, but rather a Ferrari “whistle-blower” who was pointing out the way in which Ferrari was exploiting a loophole in the rules.

It seems that there will also be evidence that McLaren alerted the FIA to the information and that this led to a change in the rules to stop Ferrari using flexible floors. If this turns out to be the case, then it will be a very different interpretation to that which has appeared in the Italian press in recent weeks.

“The High Court ruling led to the three recipients of Mike Coughlan’s affadvait being told that it was privileged information and they could be committing a legal breach in the event if any of it was shared with third parties,” said Dennis.

“I am sure that the FIA understands the nature of the court order but distorted excerpts have appeared elsewhere.”

Dennis is known to be unhappy that McLaren’s reputation has been called into

I can't bare to look: Ron Dennis and McLaren will front the FIA World Council. question in recent days but he says he is confident that the team will be cleared.

It remains to be seen what else will be revealed at the World Council meeting but we may also hear the names of other engineers who were part of the package offered by Nigel Stepney to Honda.

– JOE SAWARD

Honda keeps drivers for '08

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employed – if he wishes to be – in the Indy Racing League.

De Ferran says that he is leaving because the role he joined the team to do is not what he expected to be doing and he was not happy in the situation in which he found himself. His role was to help the drivers to deal with the large amounts of data are work out how to improve the cars.

“A Formula 1 team is rather like a jigsaw puzzle in that every piece has to fit precisely in its place,” said Nick Fry. “Gil has become increasingly uncomfortable in his role and feels the time has now come to seek fresh opportunities.”

– JOE SAWARD

sutton-images.com

THE 2008 Formula 1 grid is now beginning to shape up with the news that Honda Racing F1 has decided to extend Rubens Barrichello’s, right, contract for one more season, while Jenson Button will also stay on.

The team has been busy restructuring and hopes that the new engineering team will be able to move the team forward on the grid after what has been a very poor season in 2007.

The structure has been thinned out somewhat with the news that Gil de Ferran has given up his role as Sporting Director of the team and is expected to return to America where he is likely to end up being

news

Gun failure leads to Hamilton crash

McLaren's wonderkid lucky to escape high-speed qualifying shunt in Germany

FORMULA 1

sutton-images.com

A MALFUNCTIONING rightfront rattle gun was quickly identified as the primary cause of Lewis Hamilton’s high-speed shunt during final qualifying for Sunday’s European Grand Prix, at the Nurburgring.

Hamilton’s team-mate Fernando Alonso had just called back into the pits to have a loose wheel-nut tightened, when Hamilton’s car suffered a catastrophic failure, as the loose wheel fractured and deflated

the tyre at some 240km/h.

The McLaren plunged into the tyre barriers head on, damaging the in-car radio along with just about everything outside the main monocoque at the front of the car, giving the team some anxious moments until it became clear that the championship leader was fundamentally uninjured.

Having wiggled his legs and feet around to ensure all was well, Hamilton was able to extricate himself from the car, but then lay down as medics

arrived on the scene.

After a chopper ride to hospital, he was given a clean

bill of health and was cleared by doctors on the morning of the race to take part.

eNews F1 Tech Editor Paolo Filisetti explains what went wrong with the McLaren's wheel ...

A FAILURE of the wheel gun, or incorrect pneumatic air pressure, was at the root of Hamilton’s accident.

It was not possible for the mechanic, to completely fasten the wheel nut (1), although the safety pin (2) prevented the wheel nut and thus the wheel parting company with the car completely.

As a result, between the central mounting of the wheel (3) and the disk holder (4), this generated a small gap (5 – in yellow).

This provided the wheel with a degree of freedom in relation to the aforementioned assembly. Hence the inner edge of the wheel rim started touching and scratching against the edge of the carbon fibre brake drum (6), damaging the wheel rim (7) and causing the sudden tyre deflation as consequence.

YOU CAN HOT LAP IN A FERRARI 360 GT2 AND HELP THE EPILEPSY FOUNDATION AT THE SAME TIME!

LA ST

CH AN CE

Ted Huglin’s Consolidated Chemicals Ferrari 360 GT team is offering TWO high-speed chauffered rides around Phillip Island during the upcoming (August 11/12) championship meeting, as a fund-raiser for the Epilepsy Foundation.

We’ll update you on the highest bids in eNews each week until the closing date (July 26). The two winning bidders will be notified the following day. They’ll need to get themselves to the Island, but tickets etc will be provided by the team.

A Hot Lap run, with team driver Alan Simonsen at the wheel, will go to the two HIGHEST BIDDERS in our Motorsport eNews email auction.

IT’S A WORTHWHILE CHARITY – SO HAVE A GO!

All you have to do is submit a bid (min $250) to comp@mnews.com.au – the two top bids on the closing date will win the rides (conducted late Friday afternoon, Aug 10).

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Red Bull: Technical rethink Willis in at Red Bull Technologies; Mark Smith on the outer FORMULA ONE

detailed development work.

It may also bring a little more order to the production and development processes as Newey is famous for having an endless stream of new ideas but in the past, these have not all been managed in the most efficient way.

Willis is very comfortable in this role while Smith was happier doing more creative work, which meant that he was not fully fitting into the role he was occupying. Willis and Newey worked together at Williams for many years.

– JOE SAWARD

sutton-images.com

RED Bull Racing has added former Honda technical director Geoff Willis to its staff in the role of technical director.

The announcement means that the current incumbent Mark Smith is being pushed aside.

Red Bull says that Smith may stay on in a different role but it is hard to imagine that he will be happy with what amounts to a demotion.

Smith may well get offers from other teams.

The obvious team would be BMW Sauber, which needs a replacement for Jorg Zander, but Smith may not wish to move to Hinwil. He may also consider a role with Spyker F1 as that would reunite him with his old team and with Mike Gascoyne, but the team’s delicate financial situation may persuade him not to make that move.

Willis will have the role of pulling together all the organisational strands of the team, leaving Adrian Newey free to dictates the strategy and to be involved in more

Winkelhock’s wild F1 debut FORMULA ONE

sutton-images.com

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MARKUS Winkelhock was confirmed as Adrian Sutil’s team-mate at Spyker shortly before the European Grand Prix, although the deal was only for one race.

Winkelhock is the son of the late Manfred Winkelhock, a Formula 1 driver in the 1980s, before his death in a sports car accident at Mosport Park in Canada in August 1985.

Markus’s uncle Joachim was also an F1 driver in 1989 and made his name as a BMW touring car star.

Winkelhock qualified last on the grid but at the end of the parade lap the team decided to take a risk and called him into the pits and put him on to wet tyres.

“It proved to be exactly the right decision,” said Spyker chief technical officer Mike Gascoyne.

“We are one of the smallest teams at the back of the grid with the smallest budget, but we showed today that

thinking is free and got the calls spot on.”

As the race descended into chaos with cars flying off the track, Winkelhock was able to move to the front of the field.

As the rains got worse, he then pitted for extreme weather tyres and had extended his lead to over 30secs when the Safety Car was sent out to neutralise the race. The track dried and when the race restarted, Winkelhock fell back down the order.

“Starting on wet tyres was a really fantastic decision,” said Winkelhock.

“To lead a Formula 1 race is something that nobody can take away from you – you have if for your whole life. I am really happy about it.”

Winkelhock hopes to be able to continue with the team but there is strong competition for the drive from Nelson Piquet Jr, Christian Klien and Narain Karthikeyan. The team is expected to announce its plans in the next few days.

– JOE SAWARD

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BRIEFLY... n Daniel Schulz will step up a level in the Australian Formula 3 Championship round at Phillip Island next month. Schulz, who has been running the CeraSport entry in the National Class, will be in outright contention when he campaigns the Astuti Dallara F304 driven in the last round at Eastern Creek by Michael Trimble. n TeamVodafone’s Jamie Whincup racked up his 50th championship round start on the weekend and celebrated in style. His pole position was his first-ever and improved on his previous best of second at Adelaide in this year’s titleopener.

Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series rookie Drew Russell’s campaign received a boost before the Queensland Raceway round. Having scored points at Winton in his second V8 start, Russell’s elderly VX Commodore featured a new navy blue paint scheme and sponsorship from Perpetual Water at QR. The 19-year-old will be backed by the company, whose products recycle grey water for use around the home, for the remainder of the year. n

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Some extra backing helps Moffat Jr go further in Formula Ford title FORMULA FORD JAMES Moffat’s immediate future in the Australian Formula Ford Championship is secure following the announcement that the No Limits Group will fund part of his program for the remainder of 2007.

Moffat has been racing for Sonic Motor Racing and is currently sitting third in the championship. But so far it has been a stretch for the underfunded Moffat, who has so far been treating it as a round-byround season.

“It’s still a little touch-and-go, but this support goes a long way to making it all happen,” said Moffat.

“I’m just really grateful to have the No Limit Group on board, because everything helps in this game.”

Moffat finished fourth at last weekend’s Queensland round after missing Friday practice due to an electrical problem.

– ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN

AVL Photographics

n With Owen Kelly’s entry in the Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series hitting an unexpected snag on the weekend at Queensland Raceway, it was a different sight to see Paul Forgie in a Sirromet shirt for the rest of the weekend.

Initially on hand to help Kelly with the ex-SBR Falcon, the Queensland Holden team quickly snapped up Forgie to help for the weekend.

He plans on returning to the United States soon to continue working with ‘former’ driver Marcos Ambrose in NASCAR.

The Moff Limit

Another 12 Hours Enduro master Baird to tackle another one! This time in Malaysia!

CARRERA Cup drivers Craig Baird, Shaun Juniper and Max Twigg will tackle this year’s Merdeka Millennium 12 Hour Endurance race at the home of the Malaysian F1 GP – Sepang.

The trio will head to the Malaysian circuit the week following the Oran Park round of the Carrera Cup, and will take the wheel of Juniper’s new RSR Porsche for the 12-Hour classic.

“I usually do these sorts of enduro events with Quinny (Tony Quinn),” said Baird, who raced at this year’s Dubai and Nurburgring

24-Hour races with the Team VIP Petfoods team in addition to winning the Bathurst 12 Hour in a BMW at Easter.

“But he’s not going to this one so Shaun [Juniper] said ‘hey, you know what you’re doing! Anywhere where a Grand Prix car runs is great fun to drive.”

The last two MME races have had an Australian in the winning team, with Tony Ricciardello part of the outright honours in 2005 and Damien French doing likewise last year.

– ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN

Dirk Klynsmith

Speccie Satellites FORMULA FORD

VOLKSWAGEN is to return to Formula 3 in the F3 Euroseries.

The company is to debut a new engine in the seventh round of the series at the Nurburgring in early September. The unit will then contest selected rounds of the series, with RC Motorsport and a single entry from AM-Holzer Rennsport.

Volkswagen has a long and successful history in F3 competition, with 92 race wins in the German F3 series.

Seven champions including Michael Schumacher and Bernd Schneider drove VW engines to titles in 12 seasons. The marque has also been hugely successful in the British series, with five titles ending with David Brabham’s 1989 crown.

Mercedes Benz dominates the EuroSeries with every team in the field running its motors, with the exception of the AMHolzer outfit, which has thus far run using an Opel powerplant.

Suzuki Racing

VICTORIAN Formula Ford Minda Motorsport is set to expand for the 2008 season, with a move to the national series, a change of chassis supplier and a possible link to a V8 Supercar team.

Currently running predominately Van Diemen chassis in the Victorian series, Minda is likely to become a satellite Spectrum team in 2008. That will mean as many as three entries with Taylor Gore already confirmed and reigning Queensland FFord Champ Martin Swindells close to signing.

Minda will also run Spectrums

in the Victorian series, as well as continuing with its Historic program.

“Being a factory satellite team with full factory support is the best way to go,” Minda boss Bruin Beasley told eNews.

“We’ll get to share all of the data and that’s positive. At the end of the day, most of the chassis are good, so it’s about the level of support and Spectrum have offered the most.”

The Minda expansion doesn’t stop there. The team are currently in talks with a Ford V8 Supercar team, and are likely to become a ‘feeder’ team, creating a clear path from state Formula Ford to V8 Supercars.

– ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN

VW head to F3

Ham it up in FFord

Dirk Klynsmith

FORMER Motocross star Danny Ham is set to make his racing car debut next year.

The Suzuki rider is hanging up his bike leathers and preparing for a circuit racing career – first stop Formula Ford. The 29-yearold Novacastrian is preparing to drive a factory Van Diemen (run

by Prodigy Motorsport) next year in the national FFord title.

Ham has no four-wheel racing experience, but is looking forward to the challenge.

“It’s something I’ve always wanted to do,” he said. “It’s going to be a completely different concept, all new, but I’m pretty excited about the whole thing.”

It is expected that Ham will get his first taste of a Formula Ford at Wakefield Park next month.

– GRANT ROWLEY

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Glenney set for ARC return Local heads back to home event to uphold honour RALLYING

Phil Williams

No licence to kill DRAG RACING

Ash Budd

THE Western Sydney International Dragway hosted a test day last weekend, with Top Fuel’s heavy hitters preparing for the coming season.

Mark Mariani and Amanda Shepherd were out again license testing, but both walked away without a secured license.

Mark put down an impressive full-track pass of 4.86s@292mph on a run that was straight and clean. The mandatory second pass over 250mph was not reached

by Mariani, who suffered power problems in his

Wesco fueller from the start and shutting off before the finish line.

Shepherd was next out and recorded a pass of 5.16s@279mph.

Unfortunately, engine gremlins were found by the team after her run, preventing the Shepherd family from coming back for to secure her licence.

Phil Read was out in the trusted red car doing a couple of launches to gather data.

The Australian drag racing season kicks off at WSID for the AC Delco East Coast Nationals on August 31/ September 1.

– JOHN BOSHER

SOUTH Australian rally ace Steve Glenney will make his first, but not last, appearance in the NEC Australian Rally Championship for this year in SA in a fortnight.

Glenney stunned the ARC big guns last year by claiming outright honours in the Toyota Kluger Rally SA, but at the time he wasn’t registered for ARC points.

This year Glenney has registered to score points, and has a new toy to play with; the ex-Les Walkden Racing Subaru that Cody Crocker campaigned in last year’s Asia-Pacific Rally Championship.

Monarto kart track shaping up KARTS

John Bosher

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“We got the new car a couple of months ago, and we had a run with it in a state rally a while ago and it went really well,” Glenney told eNews.

“So it’ll be nice to try and give Simon [Evans] and the ARC guys a run.

“We’re hoping to do the remainder of the ARC rounds now, and after the fuss last year we thought we’d register to score some points.”

Glenney also revealed that a full ARC campaign may be on the cards for 2008.

“It’s always our aim, but it just comes down to the money. But if we can have some strong runs this year, then hopefully we can get some backing.”

– ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN

THE first competition kart track to be built in South Australia for three decades is taking shape near Murray Bridge.

The 1016 metre 11-turn circuit is being built by the Dublin and Go Kart Club

of SA at Monarto. Situated on undulating ground, the track will feature multiple circuit configurations as well as positive and negative cambered corners.

The first race meeting at the venue is scheduled for December this year.

– MARK WICKS

news

Rizla Suzuki

MOTOGP

New Deals for Vermeulen, Melandri

TWO of the most soughtafter seats in MotoGP have been settled, with Chris Vermeulen resigning with Suzuki and Ducati grabbing Marco Melandri to join Casey Stoner for the next two seasons.

Vermeulen, who finished second behind Stoner at Laguna Seca, said that staying at Suzuki was a priority and he wanted to finish what he started when he joined the team in 2006.

“I discussed [moving] with other teams but Suzuki made it clear early that I was wanted,” said the 25year-old. “I just wanted to make sure that I was going to get on the best bike for my future and I feel like I’ve made the right decision.

“The main thing for me was to be on a factory bike. That’s really important at the moment the way things are developing and to be a part of

that development process. If you are in a non-factory team you don’t get things first.”

What is less clear is the identity of his team-mate.

Rumours persisted at Laguna that Loris Capirossi had either signed or agreed terms with Suzuki, which loses John Hopkins to Kawasaki at season’s end. But Capirossi is held in high regard by Ducati and the media release that announced the Melandri deal indicated that talks would be held soon with Capirossi and his management about a third Ducati next season.

This may or may not involve the Pramac D’Antin team, which has already scored a podium finish this season.

The other name to be connected to Suzuki continues to be Ben Spies.

The current AMA Superbike Champion won the race immediately after the MotoGP – in front of all the team bosses – and fellow Texan Kevin Schwantz is a strong supporter. Given the fact that fellow AMA rider Roger Lee Hayden had little trouble adapting to Kawasaki’s 800cc GP bike, you can bet that Spies, 23, is now well in the sights of Suzuki, at the very least …

... and Gresini is Fumin!

Honda Pro Images

VETERAN team boss Fausto Gresini has lashed out at Ducati for signing Melandri to a huge contract.

The Australian GP winner has angered his current team boss by accepting a deal worth a reported $2.2m a year. Gresini, who also lost Sete Gibernau to Ducati in 2005, has likened the money offered by the Marlboro-backed team to drug money.

“First Gibernau and now also Marco, and they had already tried in the past year,” he said.

Gresini was referring to the fact that the team tried to get the Italian’s services a year ago, to replace Gibernau. Ducati team manager Livio Suppo is close to Melandri, the two having worked together during Marco’s successful 2002 250cc title campaign in 2002.

Honda Pro Images

Okay, it’s a deal then: Fausto Gresini, middle above, is upset with Ducati. The bloke on his left is Sete Gibernau, who left the team to join Ducati. Melandri, left, was obviously taking notes at the time ...

MOTOGP

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5 Minutes with ...

JENSON BUTTON

Button and Honda have fallen off the radar in 2008. What's gone wrong?

MN: Red Bull has just signed former Honda technical director Geoff Willis. You have a senior technical director, but nobody who really fills the role that Willis did. Is that something that the team needs right now?

JB: I think that in their own departments, we have very strong people that are looking after, for example, the windtunnel. The heads of each department are very, very strong. And … it’s difficult, really. It’s difficult to know whether you need a person in that role.

Each department is doing their own thing, but yeah, I suppose you do need a person who is heading the whole thing. Each department might be doing their own thing and

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doing a fantastic job, but if they are not working together then it’s not going to move forward. So I suppose you do.

MN: Looking ahead, how optimistic can you realistically be about 2008?

JB: Did you ask that to Ferrari in 2005? You don’t always have a great year. This year we struggled with many things, one was the aerodynamics of the car and another was the stability of the car. And also the tyres, the move to Bridgestone tyres. For the team, and also personally for me, it took a couple of races to get used to that.

But it’s a top team and we can work though this. It’s not like we don’t have the resources. We have some fantastic people, we’ve employed some great people and there’s no reason to be negative about next year.

This year has been a tough season, and it’s tough for everyone that is working for the team. But you’ve got to be positive for the future, otherwise you might as well just pack up and go home. So yeah, I am positive for next year.

But we need to start working now, and that’s exactly what we’re doing. We’re employing the right people, and getting our heads down, and hopefully we’re going to build a very good car for next year. To do that, we need to be improving this year’s car, and understanding what works and what doesn’t.

MN: How do you evaluate 2007 in terms of your own results?

sutton-images.com

MOTORSPORT NEWS: Honda is recruiting a lot of technical staff from elsewhere. Is that going to be unsettling for the team?

JENSON BUTTON: We have to wait and see. You never know 100 percent, but the people that are coming in are very experienced in Formula 1, and the people within the team … all they want to do is win. So I think the atmosphere in the team will be good, and that they will all work well together.

There’s no reason why they won’t. It’s no use at all being too soft on each other; we need to be forceful and we need to work together to get the best out of the package that we do have, and to improve the package as quick as we can. We need to be working on it now for next year, otherwise it will be too late.

MARK GLENDENNING

JB: I think at a few of the races bit more fun this year? Most this year I have gotten to the races, you’ve been involved in end of the race and thought, a scrap … ‘that’s the maximum I can get JB: Most races, I’ve been out of the car.’ involved in a crash! I’ve hit At the start of the year I had someone at most races this a couple of races that weren’t year. that great, but that was just me getting used to the tyres, and I MN: But you’ve also been didn’t have a good feeling with in a lot of close, wheel-tothe car. But I’ve worked around wheel stuff. Does that dull that quite a bit, and now the some of the pain of being car is to my liking. The car is uncompetitive? more stable, and I can push it JB: It’s different. It has been fun to the limit. at times; we’ve had some great At a couple of races, I think races and some great battles we’ve got the best out of the – even with quicker cars, like package that we can. For me, when (Giancarlo) Fisichella was Magny Cours was like Hungary trying to come through at Indy.

[2006] – we got everything out So it has been fun in its own of it, we got the best strategy, special way, but it’s still not that and that’s as quick as the car great. It’s still not that special, was. It’s frustrating, when you finishing 10th. get home having finished in It doesn’t matter how you eighth position and you know got there; it’s not where you you’ve just driven one of the want to finish. You want to best races of your life. But that’s finish up the front. It’s OK, as quick as the car goes. and it’s reasonably fun, but I MN: Has it actually been a couldn’t do it for too long.

chat

sutton-images.com

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Walking in the Park IF necessity is the Mother of Invention, Pragmatism must be the Father of Compromise.

Phil Branagan In the none-too-recent past, Executive Editor there was much space between V8 Supercars Australia and a return to the hallowed roads of Albert Park. At the same time, the Australian Grand Prix Corporation was steadfastly committed to hosting the opening Formula 1 GP of each season, and last March, its Chairman Ron Walker spoke passionately about his support to hosting the 2008 race at night.

Similarly, a few weeks ago, V8SA Chairman Tony Cochrane fired some harsh words at Network 10 over what he saw as unreasonable treatment of V8 fans by the Network in its scheduling of AFL games.

None of that was very long ago. Yesterday, the AGP welcomed back the V8s, Walker spoke enthusiastically about the second race of the season – in a later-in-the-afternoon, but not evening, timeslot – and Cochrane made conciliatory noises about Network 10.

“Yes, I got upset at the time,” he said. “We are big people. Now that we have done the right thing here, I would like to think that, perhaps, other people would see their way to letting the fans in Adelaide watch us live three times a year, instead of having clashes that do not need to be there.

“I have never had a problem with Network 10 here [at Albert Park].

They are the host broadcaster here, that’s life.”

There is a point to all this. That point is, part of the ongoing processes that make up this sport is that things get said at one time, but that nothing is written in stone. It makes sense for the V8s to be back at Albert Park, and on a long-term basis. It makes sense for the races there to be telecast nationally.

As this is written, neither of those things is guaranteed. But, as long as there is the smell of compromise is in the air, it is probable that both of those things soon will be …

Dirk Klynsmith

opinion

Letters

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

SA/TV/Not Happy So we South Australians have been shafted again.

What a pathetic effort by Channel 7, yet again.

Please give Foxtel rights to present a decent highlights package of V8 Supercars.

That, a week after the event, would be more useful than that heap of crap we got yesterday.

Thank god we have

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Motorsport eNews so we can at least find out what happened to the Ford drivers, and even Skaife, Todd and Snivelling Rick.

Barry Hern BarryH@porternovellisa.com.au We didn’t write this …

Thanks for Motorsport eNews.

I look forward to downloading eNews each Tuesday morning to find out

what’s happening in the world of motorsport.

Motorsport coverage is sadly lacking in the mainstream media and your publication is great.

Congratulations also to your photographers.

On a 22” widescreen monitor the photos offer fantastic detail, for example the picture of Dani Pedrosa in your last issue.

Well done and thank you.

Bruce Elder belder@internode.on.net Aggro’s V8 Connection I am lost for words!

There was actual aggro in the second V8 Supercar race on the weekend, between two Holden drivers, and nothing was done about it!

I am talking about the Garth Tander versus Mark

THE news that Dunlop has retained the tyre contract for V8 Supercars, especially as it has been taken so early, offers an opportunity to enhance the role the control rubber plays in the racing.

While the current Dunlop has served the formula well, I hope, and hear, that there are discussions going on with regard to a change in the tyre’s spec and performance.

The current tyre has become something akin to a comfortable old sock – most teams are extracting the best from it – and so I’d encourage change, to encompass the strides made in tyre technology over recent times.

If it was me, I’d be looking to create a tyre that had a wider area of tolerance at the point where the tyre is performing at its maximum. With the current tyre, the switch from in-control to out-of-control is quite defined. It means that opportunities for passing, for pushing the limit, are relatively restricted – which leads to a number of the ‘clumsy’ passing moves we see these days.

It should be possible to create a tyre which encourages more ‘on the threshold’ passing, which allows for a push over the limit without locking, and flat-spotting, quite so easily. It’s a sure-fire way to add spice to the racing

Skaife stoush on the opening lap. It seems to be that the blame (or maybe that should be credit) was pretty well shared between the two but, I have to say, when I was watching the start of the third race, I was waiting for the commentators to say that either or both drivers had been penalised or put at the back of the grid.

Say to say, I am old enough to remember when Allan Moffat, Bob Jane, Pete Geoghegan and co used to have a bit of biff on the track and they go away with it. If there is now a policy to let the blokes race each other on the track, the way that men should,

I can only say that it is a step in the right direction.

To both drivers, it was fantastic to watch and to the officials, top effort.

More, please.

Bob Reynolds Email address withheld ED: Couldn't agree more, Bob, it was great to see a bit of biff going on at Ipswich. To be honest, that was about all that was going on around the Paperclip ...

But seriously it's nice to see V8s new freedom of expression rule extends beyond a few post-race sledges about 'Mid-field Morons' and the such.

and I’d love to see advantage taken of the opportunity.

T

here has also been chat about an ‘option’ softer tyre.

I’m actually a bit ambivalent about an option tyre as such, if it’s used in the way that F1 and Champ Car do. In both cases, teams soon figure out the best combination for the prime/option usage and you get no real difference – the predictability factor remains.

But how about this for a wild idea? Yes, let’s have a soft ‘option’ tyre, but let’s restrict it to, say, 3-4 sets per year per car.

And let’s not have any fixed requirement as to how and when it can be used (although

Dirk Klynsmith

Tyres and socks

OPINION Neil Crompton Driver / Commentator I’d keep it away from Sandown and Bathurst).

Teams would thus have an occasional ‘joker’, to be played as and when they chose.

It would introduce the sort of ‘random’ element that people are trying to achieve with the option tyre concept, and teams would have the occasional option to play that joker – to get themselves up the grid at a particular race for example.

With the option tyres clearly marked, I reckon it would add one form of unpredictability that would, could and should shake things up a bit …

BECOME A DIRTY DOG WHAT'S that? You think your opinion is better? And you want a new pair of sunglasses?

Motorsport eNews and the friendly bunch at Dirty Dog are giving away five pairs of sunglasses over the next five weeks. Woo Hoo! Free stuff rocks!

All you have to do is tell us something – anything! – and the best letter for the next five weeks will cop a pair of Dirty Dog's finest.

Competition starts from next week, so send your opinions to mail@mnews.com.au, or via snail mail Motorsport News PO Box 7072, Brighton, Vic 3186

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V8 SUPERCAR CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES ROUND 7 – QUEENSLAND RACEWAY

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race

Tollerance

On enemy territory Garth Tander delivered a perfect round and took the championship lead ...

By PHIL BRANAGAN

Dirk Klynsmith

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B

ARE statistics do not tell the whole tale of what happened at Queensland Raceway’s round of the V8 Supercar Championship Series – but they go close.

The first and final races were, as far as the determination of who would be the winner over the weekend was concerned, dull at the front and exciting behind. The middle race was a cracker as drivers leaned on each other, playing for keeps and then airing their opinions later.

But the constant in the mix was Garth Tander. The Toll HSV Dealer Team driver did not take pole but, once he got over whatever disappointment was involved with that, he was flawless. From the outset, the toughest thing he had to do was sweep past Jamie Whincup after a Race 2 pitstop, for the effective lead in the race.

“It was a tough weekend,” Tander countered. “A lot of people told me it looked easy but that was far from the truth.”

Tander arrived in Queensland with a 37-point deficit and after banking his second maximum score of the year, left with a 10-point lead. Along the way, he managed some hand-to-hand combat with Mark Skaife (“I gave him one, he gave me one, I gave him one, he gave me one and it’s not like we ended up upside-down and on fire, or anything”). Weekends do not get much better than that.

Whincup’s second was a little frustrating, having taken his first pole (see breakout) but along the way, his setup sacrificed a little race speed to his team-mate’s, a fact not helped by the fact that his set-up changes (made when it clouded over prior to the final race) failed to help the cause.

Lowndes was third overall, as ever, having more car speed as the races progressed and good enough on cold tyres for Tander to have everything focused on his restarts. Having his best rubber on board for Race 3 helped matters but in the end, he was not quite fast enough.

Behind the top three, there was plenty to watch as James Courtney and Mark Winterbottom took the battle to the Holden quartet, the former earning the ire of the stewards due to contact with Mark Skaife on the very final lap of the whole weekend. As a result, he was issued with a post-race time penalty that dropped him down the order.

Drive through penalties in the races made their presence felt, with the Kellys copping one each. Todd was not happy after his in Race 3 after contact with Richo, while Rick was more sanguine about his Race 2 indiscretion for contact in the pitlane when he got boxed in while trying to negotiate the pit lane marker.

But what that did set up was a great charge in the final outing. Starting 16th, he zotted through the pack all the way to sixth.

One criticism made of Ricko this season has been a lack of raciness and too much points-gathering, but this performance was compelling.

And oddly, a similar thing happened to Tander in Adelaide. The two men in orange and black are evenly matched in many, many ways.

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race

Dirk Klynsmith

V8 Supercar | Round 7 QUEENSLAND RACEWAY Pos # Driver

Dirk Klynsmith

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

Team/Car

Q

r1

r2

r3

16 Garth Tander Toll HSV Commodore VE 3 88 Jamie Whincup Team Vodafone Falcon BF 1 888 Craig Lowndes Team Vodafone Falcon BF 6 18 Will Davison Jim Beam Racing Falcon BF 7 5 Mark Winterbottom FPR Falcon BF 5 4 James Courtney Jeld-Wen Motorsport Falcon BF 4 9 Russell Ingall Caltex Racing Falcon BF 9 2 Mark Skaife HRT Commodore VE 2 1 Rick Kelly Toll HSV Commodore VE 8 51 Greg Murphy Tasman Commodore VE 26 33 Lee Holdsworth Valvoline Cummins Commodore VE 13 67 Paul Morris Team Sirromet Commodore VE 20 22 Todd Kelly HRT Commodore VE 10 3 Jason Richards Tasman Commodore VE 18 11 Jack Perkins Jack Daniel’s Commodore VE 22 34 Dean Canto Valvoline Cummins Commodore VE 11 17 Steven Johnson Jim Beam Racing Falcon BF 15 111 John Bowe Glenfords Racing Falcon BF 24 8 Max Wilson WPS Racing Falcon BF 17 6 Steven Richards FPR Falcon BF 12 23 50 Cameron McConville SCAR Commodore VE 10 Jason Bargwanna WPS Racing Falcon BF 19 7 Shane Price Jack Daniel’s Commodore VE 16 26 Alan Gurr IRWIN Racing Falcon BF 30 25 Jason Bright Fujitsu Racing Falcon BF 25 39 Steve Ellery Team Sirromet Commodore VZ 27 20 Paul Weel SCAR Commodore VE 29 55 Steve Owen Autobarn Commodore VZ 14 14 Simon Wills Team BOC Falcon BF 28 12 Andrew Jones Team BOC Falcon BF 21

1 4 5 6 10 3 9 2 7 19 dnf 12 8 dnf dnf 16 11 23 15 13 dnf 14 dnf dnf 17 20 22 18 21 24

1 1 2 3 3 2 5 4 7 5 4 18 6 9 8 17 16 6 12 7 10 10 9 15 11 19 13 8 19 11 15 13 22 dnf 17 12 14 dnf 22 dnf 18 14 dnf 21 24 16 20 20 dnf dnf 25 dnf dnf dnf dnf dnf 21 dnf 23 dnf

Dirk Klynsmith

Points: Tander 369, R Kelly 359, Whincup 285, Lowndes 263, T Kelly 261, Skaife 249, Davison 172, Winterbottom 172, Courtney 157, Ingall 155, S Richards 149, Johnson 142, Murphy 113, Holdsworth 81, J Richards 68, Morris 54, Bright 50, Wilson 39, Radisich 36, Owen 35, Canto 34, Bargwanna 28, Bowe 17, Price 16, McConville 16, A Jones 8, Perkins 6, Coulthard 2, Gurr 2.

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John Morris/Mpix Marshall Cass

Queensland Notepad n Paul Morris got a nasty shock when his rear window shattered on his out lap in qualifying. The Sirromet car completed the session and did well, The Dude making the top 20 for the first time despite, obviously, compromised aerodynamics. n Both Team BOC cars bore Jeans for Genes signage on their front splitters. Andrew Jones and Simon Wills and the whole team are supporting the charity, which raises funds for genetic research, a cause particularly close to AJ, who brother died of a genetic-related disease some years ago. Jeans for Genes Day is Friday August 3, so see www. jeans4genes.com.au for more details. n One of the side issues from Jack Perkins’s glasses problem earlier this year has been that the JDR driver has picked up Rip Curl as a spectacle frame supplier. However, that change is as far as Perkins Jr will take things, despite an offer to have laser surgery to enhance his vision – and throw away the specs – in the off-season.

“These [glasses] are a part of me,” he explained.

“I have had them since first year [ie, age six] and I would feel funny without them.”

It’s his call – but a Perkins without specs would take some getting used to for the rest of us …

There are VEs and VEs

ONE of the talking points about the 2007 championship is the performance of the Commodore VE. A new model racer is usually interesting enough but the microscope is on the VE as the first V8 Supercar to emerge from the Project Blueprint regulations and the ‘common’ floorpan design.

And there are VEs and VEs; the Walkinshaw cars of HRT and Toll HSV are clearly the best of breed, having had the most money and the longest development period of any Holdens on the grid.

A comparison of the Claytons and Other VEs at QR is interesting viewing. Mark Skaife topped qualifying within that sub-group with a 1m10.29s lap; Dean Canto was the fastest ‘non-Clayton’ VE in 11th, with a 1m10.76s effort.

The gap was almost half a second.

In Race 1, Garth Tander dominated but in the VE race, the closest ‘other’ was Paul Morris in 12th, 30 seconds back. That is a difference of about 0.79s per lap. Because of the Safety Car period, Races 2 and 3 were less conclusive but the subjects were the same in R2, Tander (P1) 16s ahead of Morris (P9). In the final outing, Tander was 16s clear of the leading ‘other’ VE, Greg Murphy’s, when the Chrysler 300 appeared on lap 18.

There are many interested eyes peering over the fence from the Ford side at the VE, with hopes that the difficulties and costs associated with sorting the VE have more to do with the car’s origins, rather than Project Blueprint itself.

– PHIL BRANAGAN

Weeling back out

Marshall Cass

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PAUL Weel faced a big task getting used to racing a V8 Supercar again, but fitness was not one of his dramas.

Together with his parents and a number of V8 Supercar identities, he recently undertook a trek through the Kokoda Trail in Papua New Guinea and when the call came to sub for the wounded Paul Dumbrell at QR, Weely was already 4kg lighter than his ‘old’ racing weight.

And don’t forget, in those days, he was fit enough to finish on the podium at the brutal Adelaide 500, twice.

race

It’s not all going Tom’s way Tander, Davison standouts, as Triple 8 threatens

T

HE weekend didn’t quite turn out to be the HRT/Toll whitewash that I predicted – three of the four Clayton cars encountering some drama along the way – but Garth Tander’s purple patch continued with a pretty comprehensive win.

Of the other top Holdens, I thought Skaifey was pretty unlucky. A wheel nut problem is always unfortunate, and having it compounded by being hit by James Courtney didn’t help.

While Tander was the individual standout, the team that caught the eye was Triple Eight. To have both cars

ANALYSIS Tomas Mezera Bathurst champion virtually running bumper-tobumper for most of the three races, having qualified at the sharp end, is a great result. To me it suggests there are no agendas within the team, both cars are equal, and both drivers are doing a good job.

This duo will, I believe, keep the pressure on Clayton from here on – making it very hard for Clayton to dominate quite as much as they have been.

The other individual star was, I thought, Will Davison,

DAVISON CONTINUES TO TAKE OUT HIS REVENGE FOR THE DARWIN 'PAYOUT' who continues to take out his revenge for the Darwin ‘payout’ by comprehensively overshadowing Murph and Ingall. Davo is starting to put together a good string of results and will become one of those ‘in demand’ drivers over the next couple of seasons.

While there are a number of Ford teams contributing, you would have to say that without Tom’s Clayton cars, Holden would be pretty-well in trouble right now. I’m not

sure why that is – there are a few who start to come into the picture as the weekend goes on and as tyre performance goes away, but really, there is a gap there.

The GRM cars and, at home, Paul Morris, were probably the best of the rest this week, while at Tasman, Murph just doesn’t seem able to put together a good ‘green tyre’ lap, but works his way forward, while for Jason Richards it’s the opposite ... Quite strange!

Peter Bury

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FORMULA 1 ROUND 10 – EUROPEAN GP

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race

(Dis)organised Chaos What a strange old race the European Grand Prix was. Lewis Hamilton didn’t score points, Markus Winkelhock led on debut, and Mark Webber scored his first podium of the year. Oh, and the reigning World Champ won ...

By JOE SAWARD

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T

HE European Grand Prix of 2007 was an amazing race, with everyone having a bizarre story to tell, thanks to a lap one cloudburst.

Formula 1 debutant Markus Winkelhock had a moment of glory having taken a risk on wet tyres at the start, ending up more than half a minute ahead of everyone.

But the conditions were so bad – with a lethal stream of water across Turn 1, that the race had to be red-flagged.

When things kicked off again Winkelhock disappeared down the field and drenched race fans were left, eventually, with a single Ferrari versus a single McLaren. Felipe Massa versus Fernando Alonso ... And what a race that transpired to be.

Massa appeared to have it all under control mid-race, in the dry, a few seconds clear of Alonso – who had conceded that second was going to be the result for the day. With Kimi Raikkonen out (hydraulic failure), Mark Webber looked similarly comfortable, a few seconds clear of Alex

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Wurz. But then it rained again.

Most timed their dive for intermediates correctly but both Massa and Webber later complained they’d picked up a huge vibration – possibly because their tyres were new and unscrubbed.

In Massa’s case, it allowed Alonso to zoom in and, after a couple of dummies, to sweep around the Ferrari at the fast esses.

Massa appeared to understeer into the side of the McLaren, but both emerged intact – albeit prepared for a verbal stoush post-race …

Webber similarly struggled on his inters, almost handing the rare podium to Wurz after a difficult final lap (see Webber breakout).

T

he real madness came shortly after the start. Apart from Winkelhock’s moment of glory, it was mayhem at Turn 1 on Lap 2 – Jenson Button, Lewis Hamilton, Adrian Sutil, Scott Speed and finally Tonio Liuzzi all in the gravel before the Safety Car, and subsequently the red flag, came out.

Amazingly, Hamilton kept the McLaren

engine running for nearly five minutes in the trap, was winched out and simply drove off to rejoin. It was that sort of day!

He was even allowed (as per the rules) to unlap himself before the restart, and it was only a rash early call for slicks which robbed him of some race points …

That he was able to start the race at all was a testament to the strength and inbuilt safety features of the modern F1 car. The consequences of his qualifying ‘off’ could have been much worse.

While the wily, experienced heads – Webber, Wurz, David Coulthard – kept it all together, there were mistakes galore further back. The two BMW drivers had collided at the original start and, while there appeared to be little damage, ran out of the top five – as did the Renaults.

A bizarre early switch to inters four laps before everyone else was Renault’s attempt to gamble and get Kovalainen into the frame, but it failed dismally. What were they thinking …

As usual, a bit of rain transformed an F1 race. This one was truly spectacular …

race

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Car Park: A chaotic start to the European Grand Prix saw a bunch of cars, the Championship leader included, bedded deep in the Turn 1 sand.

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What happened then? Felipe Massa, left, tries to make sense of the madness after the race. Markus Winkelhock had a dream debut on home soil, leading the race at the start, above. Alex Wurz slipped and slid his way to fourth, below. sutton-images.com

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Good onya, mate!

When two of the the McFerraris hesitated, Mark Webber grabbed the available spot on the podium

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WHEN the red and silver cars falter, an opportunity pops up – and it was Mark Webber who grabbed the opportunity for a rare non Ferrari/McLaren podium on Sunday.

In the end it was the closest of finishes, Webber keeping Williams driver Alex Wurz at bay by just 0.2 seconds, courtesy of rear tyres which were “gone” …

“We’ve had our reliability problems along the way, but this time, everything went just about entirely to plan,” a contended Webber told eNews late on Sunday evening.

“The car was mechanically perfect throughout, we made all the right calls – the only real problem was the final set of inters that we put on. They were brand new, unscrubbed and, apart from a huge vibration, the rears were pretty much gone with a couple of laps to go.

“On the last lap I had a couple of monstrous lock-ups as a result – one at the hairpin, where I locked the inside front, and then at the final chicane. I think the rears were so heavily grained

that the engine braking was having a bit of fun trying to cope. I locked the rears quite heavily and then I had to be quite defensive to finish the lap. But Alex was fair, we fought hard and clean and we both enjoyed the battle.

“That aside, everything went almost faultlessly all weekend – which is a great boost for everyone in the team.

“When we went to grooves (dry tyres), we went heavier than we’d run all weekend in order to make it a long second stint. That way, anyone who thought they were going to pass us was going to have to do it on the road, and not in the pits.

“It was the right call. The timing of the switch back to inters for the last laps was the tricky one – I pretty much called it from the cockpit, but it was really tricky – there were sheets of rain on some parts of the track and blue skies on others, but in the end we got it right.”

Qualifying too had gone well.

“Q1 caught us a bit – I didn’t get a second run – but we’d done enough. Q2 went perfectly and we got in the 10 okay.

“From there, I think most went with a similar fuel strategy for the race – 18-20 laps worth – and I was pleased with our final lap.

“Those opening laps were unbelieveable – the aquaplaning at Turn 1 was amazing – but we kept our head and came out of it intact.

“Just a great day for the team. Along with David’s result, we banked 10 points for the team – and this time it was a podium to sit back and enjoy …”

The result moves Webber into the top 10 in the Driver’s Championship, and Red Bull to sixth in the Constructor’s.

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Handles like a ‘Barge’ F1 Tech Editor PAOLO FILISETTI keeps an eye on Ron’s latest tweak

WHILE revised bargeboards were introduced by McLaren a couple of races ago, a refinement of the lower section of the barge boards provided a worthwhile contribution to the Nurburgring’s requirements.

This track is neither a slow one, nor a fast one, but features a continuous series of smoothly linked corners and short straight lines. This kind of configuration requires a perfectly-balanced aero package, especially in terms of efficiency of the underbody of the car.

The development of the lower section of the barge boards provides exactly this, improving the quality of the airflow passing under the car.

The top edge winglets at the side of the chassis, on the other hand, are airflow ‘conditioners’ for the upper section of the airflow impacting the car and sidepod ducts.

In this way, these elements reduce the ‘lift’ effect provided by the airflow coming out of the front wing, and improve not just the quality of the airflow directed to the rear, but also the cooling efficiency.

F1 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP | Round 10 NURBURGRING Pos #

Driver

Team

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1 1 Fernando Alonso McLaren-Mercedes 2 5 Felipe Massa Ferrari 3 15 Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 4 17 Alexander Wurz Williams-Toyota 5 14 David Coulthard Red Bull-Renault 6 9 Nick Heidfeld BMW-Sauber 7 10 Robert Kubica BMW-Sauber 8 4 Heikki Kovalainen Renault 9 2 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 10 3 Giancarlo Fisichella Renault 11 8 Rubens Barrichello Honda 12 23 Anthony Davidson Super Aguri-Honda 13 12 Jarno Trulli Toyota Not Classified dnf 6 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari dnf 22 Takuma Sato Super Aguri-Honda dnf 11 Ralf Schumacher Toyota dnf` 21 Markus Winkelhock Spyker-Ferrari dnf 7 Jenson Button Honda dnf 20 Adrian Sutil Spyker-Ferrari dnf 16 Nico Rosberg Williams-Toyota dnf 19 Scott Speed STR-Ferrari dnf 18 Vitantonio Liuzzi STR-Ferrari

Fastest Lap: Massa on Lap 34, 1:32.853

Time

Qual

2:06:26.358 +8.1secs +65.6secs +65.9secs +73.6secs +80.2secs +82.4secs +1 lap +1 lap +1 lap +1 lap +1 lap +1 lap

2 3 6 12 20 4 5 7 10 13 14 15 8

34 laps 19 laps 18 laps 13 laps 2 laps 2 laps 2 laps 2 laps 2 laps

1 16 9 22 17 21 11 18 19

F1 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP | DRIVER'S points Points: Hamilton 70, Alonso 68, Massa 59, Raikkonen 52, Heidfeld 36, Kubica 24, Fisichella 17, Kovalainen 15, Wurz 13, Webber 8.

F1 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP | Constructor’s points The taste of success: Webber finally got to spray the champers for the second time in Germany.

Points: McLaren-Mercedes 138, Ferrari 111, BMW 61, Renault 32, Williams-Toyota 18, Red Bull-Renault 16, Toyota 9, Super Aguri-Honda 4, Honda 1.

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MOTO GP ROUND 11 – LAGUNA SECA

The United States of Australia Ducati Corse Press

About the only thing better than Casey Stoner’s sixth win of the season was seeing Chris Vermeulen chase him home at Laguna Seca

T

HE Curse is over. All season, pole position has been a poison chalice, as no MotoGP rider has been able to convert a #1 on Saturday into a #1 on Sunday.

Inevitably, Casey Stoner was the man to end that streak. He dominated Laguna’s practice and qualifying sessions and led every lap of the 32-lap race, with it ending Nicky Hayden’s domination on home soil. It was a perfect weekend.

“Yeah, it would have to be,” he said after winning the race by just under 10s.

“Today, everything was perfect. We broke the long run of no polesitter winning a race.

The last person to do it was Loris [Capirossi].”

The added bonus for Aussie fans was that Chris Vermeulen was second on a track where, at the very worst, he should have been second a year ago.

“It’s a circuit I enjoy,” the Suzuki ace grinned. “I tried to give Casey a run today but he had too much speed.”

Just to add to the notion that America is a land that opens its arms to immigrants, the two Australians led home two Italians in the race, and banged-up Italians at that.

Both Marco Melandri and Valentino Rossi came off prior to the race but the Gresini

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Stars, no Stripes: Casey Stoner, above, led Dani Pedrosa on the opening lap, though Chris Vermeulen was quickly past. Roger Lee Hayden impressed as he mixed it up with his more senior Kawasaki team-mates, left.

Kawasaki Racing Team

Honda man had too much for The Doctor, leading both men past Dani Pedrosa. In the end, HRC’s rider was fifth.

To underline the quality of MotoGP, 2007style, Kawasaki made it five makes in the top six, Randy de Puniet topping Anthony West. Even more impressive was Roger Lee Hayden’s 10th place, Nicky’s baby bro’ 5s behind the Frenchman on his GP debut.

The three green machines were split by Alex Barros, a solid ninth for Pramac D’antin, and eighth-placed Makoto Tamada, whose Dunlop Yamaha was more than a match for Michelin’s Colin Edwards. That, pretty much, shows that this was a race where all sorts of

things that could have happened did …

But it was a tough weekend for the locals.

American hopes were dashed from the start when a fired-up John Hopkins banged into Nicky Hayden at the first corner, the Suzuki pitting immediately and the World Champ carrying on for a few laps before his broken bike cried enough.

Now, with a three-week break before the next race at Brno, you can bet that Michelin Men will be sweating, Yamaha’s dynos will be humming with the sounds of pneumatic valves, Clinica Mobile will be treating all the ailing riders and Honda will be hoping its latest version of the V4 continues to make ground.

Because Casey Stoner will be resting at home, counting his wins and the points by which he leads the World Championship.

He now needs two hands for the first category –and he tops Rossi by a whopping 44 points, with a long way to go …

race

Rizla Suzuki Racing

Honda Pro Images Rizla Suzuki Racing

Yamaha Racin g Team

Clockwise from far left: Marco Melandri got a trophy and an injured ankle. Vermeulen doused a Britney Spears lookalike after wheelying his way to second. Valentino Rossi was off the pace – and off the podium. Colin Edwards ran special livery but he could not outpoint fellow Yam man Makoto Tamada, who was eighth on the Tech 3 bike.

Yamaha Racing Team

Producing exciting, unpredictable V8 Supercar racing is as simple as adding MOTOGP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP | RIDer’s points water ... By GRANT ROWLEY

Yamaha Racing Team

Points: Stoner 221, Rossi 177, Pedrosa 155, Melandri/Vermeulen 113, Hopkins 104, Edwards 93, Capirossi 77, Barros 76, N Hayden 73.

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FUJITSU V8 SUPERCAR SERIES ROUND 4 – QUEENSLAND RACEWAY

It’s a new car!

Michael Caruso jumped into a new Falcon and FV8 title contention at QR

ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN

Marshall Cass

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race

A

CHANGE is as good as a holiday … just ask Michael Caruso.

Having won the opening round of the Fujistu V8 Supercar Series in Adelaide, then spent the last two rounds battling in the midfield while Tony D’Alberto built a championship lead, Caruso was back on top at Queensland Raceway last weekend.

Not coincidentally, the QR round was also the debut of the Ford Rising Star’s new BA Falcon, fresh from Ford Performance Racing.

Caruso’s weekend started as any good round win should; with pole position. That was quickly converted to a Race 1 win, and things were looking good.

But the Top 10 reverse-grid race was a wobble for Caruso, who, from 10th on the grid, failed to make an impression at the front, finishing seventh.

Instead it was Kiwi Kayne Scott who took the win, benefiting from an unlucky John McIntyre (who slipped out of the lead on the run to Turn 3 with just a couple of laps to go), and a cautious Tim Slade (who was happy to settle for second for MW Motorsport) to grab the race win and seal pole for the 26-lap final.

It was a blinding start from second on the grid that secured the round win from Caruso, the Sydneysider vaulting straight into the lead and gapping the field with ease on his way to Race 3 and round honours.

“I suppose the new car played a major part,” said Caruso.

“And the FPR support is good because we are racing some good cars, like Tony [D’Alberto’s] Commodore. You really need a current-spec car. It’s a level playing now and we’re showing what we’ve got.

“We didn’t get all the way through in Race 2, but I was really just doing enough to be on the front row for the last race. There wasn’t any point throwing it up the inside of someone and bending panels.

“The championship’s not over. This is a major boost, so now we’ve got to keep concentrating. I’m still getting comfortable with the car and the team, but there’s lot more to come.”

Scott held on to second, withstanding pressure from Luke Youlden, who was impressively quick in the ex-Dexion HPM BA before falling off the road late in the final race.

For the first time this season Tony D’Alberto never looked in outright contention. Having been third and fifth in the opening two races, D’Alberto was cruising on the edge of the top five in the final. But, as so often happens in a championship year, he found himself third for the race and the round thanks mostly to other’s misfortune (such as Youlden). It was damage limitation at its best, restricting the impact of Caruso’s dominance on the pointscore.

‘So then I grabbed the steering wheel ...’ Kayne Scott and Tony D’Alberto compare notes after finishing second and third respectively for the round, top. Pre-season favourite Andrew Thompson’s weekend took a turn for the worst when he made contact with Marcus Zukanovic and had a rubbing tyre, above. Meanwhile, Shannon O’Brien had his best race finish with second in the opener, below.

Points: D’Alberto 228, Caruso 181, Scott 149, Jonathon Webb 122, Slade 93, Andrew Thompson 91, Jose Fernandez 90.

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Bairdo’s birthday wish CARERRA CUP CRAIG Baird celebrated his 37th birthday in style last weekend by winning all three Carrera Cup races at Queensland Raceway.

On home turf for the VIP Petfoods squad the reigning Carrera Cup Champion was on fire, leading home David Reynolds three times over.

“It was a good weekend for us, obviously,” said Baird.

“To start from pole is great, and a clean-sweep is the best you can hope for. It was similar to what Reynolds did at Hidden Valley.

“And it’s good for VIP at our home track, which some may say was expected, but I was kept pretty honest all weekend.”

Keeping Baird honest was Reynolds, but while the Sonic driver could shadow his archrival, at no point during the opening stanza could he get past. Reynolds then had his chance at the start of Race 2, beating Baird into the first corner before running wide and

losing the lead straight away.

And with that race finishing under Safety Car conditions thanks to Steven Ellery’s stranded car (stranded because, strangely, it’s suspension collapsed), Reynolds was forced to wait until the final.

But even then he was unable to find a way past, although the youngster did pressure Baird enough to force the leader into copping a bad sportsmanship flag for blocking.

Alex Davison went into the round a chance to equal Jim Richards’s record of round wins in Carrera Cup, but never really looked in the hunt. He was, however, fast enough for third for the round, finishing fourth in the opener behind Marcus Marshall and then filling the final podium spot in Races 2 and 3.

The championship is now interestingly poised, with Davison’s lead now depleted.

Baird and Reynolds are equal on points, setting up a threeway fight for the 2007 title.

– ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN Marshall Cass

John Morris/Mpix

The VIP treatment: Baird led the pack at Queensland Raceway, above, while his team boss Tony Quinn got caught up with Shaun Juniper.

Mazdas and Paperclips MAZDA MX5

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Marshall Cass

TWO seconds and a first saw Brian Ferrabee’s 2B lightweight Mazda win the MX5 class at Queensland Raceway’s V8 supports.

Class of the field was Brian Whitaker, taking victory in Races 1 and 3, but he missed Race 2 after the turbo ingested part of the air filter. Russell Schloss

and Henri van Roden had each taken a third heading into turn 1 of the third race when the pair tangled spreading the field, allowing Ash Lowe to escape in Ferrabee’s wake where he just held on long enough for fourth place behind Whitaker, Ferrabee and van Roden just ahead of rival David Gainer to claim second for the round.

– MARK JONES

FORMULA FORD ASH Walsh has now won the last six races of the Australian Formula Ford Championship by a collective margin of 25s after dominating Round 5 of the series at Queensland Raceway last weekend.

Walsh’s home-track cakewalk started in practice, the Ipswich local leading both sessions comfortably.

But once the racing started, so did the Walsh white wash, the Ipswich local a breakaway winner in all three races.

“It’s pretty easy when your car’s so good,” said Walsh of his factory Spectrum 011b.

“We haven’t changed a thing on the car since before Adelaide, and all we’ll change

for Sandown is a new engine cover we’ve got coming.”

“It was pretty much the same each race.

The first half of the race I did fast laps to break the tow, and then back off while the guys behind me fought it out.”

And they did. All weekend the fight for second place was tight and clean, a product of a pre-Race 1 drivers briefing warning the Formula Fordsters about blocking.

In Race 1 it was Walsh’s CAMS Rising Stars team-mates, Josh Scott and Kristian Lindbom, who went wheel-to-wheel, Lindbom getting the better. In Race 2 the Sonic pair of Tim Blanchard and James Moffat joined the fight, Lindbom getting the place ahead of Moffat and Scott after

Marshall Cass

The Walsh Whitewash

an exciting dice.

The final race for second place was between Scott and Taz Douglas, who was recovering from a DNF thanks to a broken gearbox in the opener. Scott got the place, But Douglas held on for his best AFFC race finish with third.

Glen Wood was the only driver other than Walsh to top a session, beating Lindbom to pole. But he didn’t have a chance to convert the pole to a win, Wood getting caught up with Douglas’s gearbox dramas and failing to finish Race 1.

– ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN Points: Blanchard 232, Walsh 199, Moffat 196, Lindbom 158, Scott 128, G Wood 113, Percat 61, Douglas 60, Kipper 38, Doulman 30.

Back to Baxter V8 UTES

had looked in better condition than Elsegood, but a black flag in race 2 after he was deemed to have overtaken at a Safety Car restart, although the car he overtook, Scott Jennings’ Falcon, had a broken third gear and was subsequently penalised for a slow restart. The reverse gride race was won by Andrew Fisher (Falcon).

– MARK JONES Points: Jack Elsegood 452, Grant Johnson 428, Gary Baxter 415, Kim Jane 360, Andrew Fisher 322

John Morris/Mpix

HOLDEN SS racer Gary Baxter put his championship challenge back on track in the V8 Utes series, taking out the Queensland Raceway round for the second successive time after hard fought weekend, beating Ford racer Kim Jane by a single point to the round win.

Baxter launched best from the front row of Race 1 only to have Kim Jane overhaul the South Australian from fourth

on the grid as the race went on, snaring the lap record along the way. The pair were joined together again in the reverse grid race with Baxter leading Jane to sixth position. In the final a defiant Baxter kept Jane at bay.

Jack Elsegood (Falcon) was third for the round with a consistent run,scoring the same points over the weekend as Colin Corkery (Falcon).

Elsegood firmed in the points race as Grant Johnson (Commodore) faltered. Johnson

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GLOBE TROTTER GP2 TIMO Glock became the first driver to win two races in this year’s GP2 series, and he did so on home soil at the Nurburgring.

But Javier Villa spoiled Glock’s party in the sprint race, joining Glock on the multiple winners list.

ALMS FRESH off the back of victory at Lime Rock, Ryan Briscoe has finished second in last weekend’s ALMS round at Mid-Ohio. Briscoe and codriver Sascha Maassen followed home the sister Penske-Porsche of Romain Dumas and Timo Bernhard, while David Brabham was third in the P2 class.

It takes two (years) BUSCH SERIES REED Sorensen celebrated the two-year anniversary of his last Busch Series race at Gateway by winning last weekend’s Busch Series race at the same circuit.

IIn an incident-filled race, Sorensen slipped past David Reutimann immediately after the eighth caution period. He then put in a blinding restart

following the ninth and final caution to win the 250-miler from Scott Wimmer and Reutimann.

“It’s been a long couple of years in the Busch Series,’’ Sorenson said.

“We felt last year we let ourselves down and this year we’ve been letting ourselves down. But the [last] couple of weekends we’ve been pretty consistent.’’

Marcos Ambrose struggled for pace throughout the race, quickly dropping from his 14th grid spot to 30th on the track. But his cause was helped by the carnage, and he was 18th by the finish.

Points: Carl Edwards 3229, Reutimann 2377, Kevin Harvick 2358, David Ragan 2271, Jason Leffler 2257, Dave Blaney 2252, Bobby Hamilton Jr 2183, [Ambrose 2048].

CARRERA CUP ASIA

NASCAR Media

AUSSIE Christian Jones sits third in the Porsche Carrera Cup Asia championship after a win on the weekend at Sentul in Indonesia.

Former Porsche Cup champ Geoff Morgan was seventh in both races and Peter Boylan took out Class B in both events.

NHRA TONY Schumacher (Top Fuel), Jack Beckman (Funny Car), and Dave Connolly (Pro Stock) were victorious as the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing series made the long trek to Seattle, Washington, for the second event of the western swing at Pacific Raceways.

– DAVID OSTASZEWSKI

SGP AUSTRALIA ended Speedway’s World Cup in third place in a tremendous final at Leszno, Poland.

The locals won the title, which was in doubt until the final race.

– TONY MILLARD

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England and Italy draw in SBK WORLD SUPERBIKES IT was James Toseland 1, Max Biaggi 1 at the Brno round of the World Superbike Championship.

Toseland took the first race on his Honda but Biaggi, a man so at home on the Czech Republic track that he has beaten both Mick Doohan and Valentino Rossi there, brought his own special talents to the fore to take the wet second race.

By finishing second in Race 2, the Honda rider has stretched his lead in the World Championship to 43 points, and Biaggi has now edged Noriyuki Haga out of second.

It was a tough weekend for Troy Bayliss, who crashed out of the first race before finishing sixth in Race 2 on a track where the Ducatis were out-sped by the Japanese fours.

Points: Toseland 305, Biaggi 262, Haga 260, Bayliss 249, Corser 191, Lanzi 150, Xaus 140, Rolfo 131.

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Bourdais is Back CHAMP CAR AS the Champ Car World Series readied itself for the Rexall Grand Prix of Edmonton, things were tight, points wise, between Sebastien Bourdais, Robert Doornbos and Will Power.

But as the series left the final round of the Canadian swing last weekend, Bourdais was 20 points clear at the top of the table.

It shouldn’t have been that way. Power was in contention for most of the race, running second to Bourdais in the early part of the race before jumping into the lead at the first round of stops.

He stayed in front until the second round of stops, at which point a broken steering assembly left him sitting on the sidelines. As a small consolation, Team Australia still wrapped up the Canadian Triple Crown title for performing best during the three northern races.

Doornbos finished the Edmonton race, but was a lap behind the leaders after contact with Alex Tagliani on lap 69, and therefore couldn’t retain his series lead.

And, with his two closest championship rivals out of the game, Bourdais cruised to victory.

“It was a fun race,” said Bourdais at the finish. “[But] it was tough, as usual. It’s a place that beats you up, drags you down to your knees, but when you can pull it off, it feels really good.

“I think everybody was tired towards the end. But the McDonald’s car was fast, and that’s really all that matters.”

Justin Wilson finished second while Graham Rahal equalled his best finish in Champ Car with third.

Champ Car Media

Points: Bourdais 194, Doornbos 174, Power 169, Wilson 165, Simon Pagenaud 143.

Happy Birthday to Scott IRL INDYCAR

Points: Franchitti 474, Dixon 450, Tony Kanaan 363, Dan Wheldon 357, Sam Hornish Jr.

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WHAT is it about Kiwis, birthdays and winning?

While Craig Baird was busy celebrating his birthday by winning in a Porsche in Queensland, Scott Dixon did likewise aboard his Targetbacked IRL IndyCar at Mid-Ohio in the US of A. Dixon was a big winner from a lap 1 incident, which ended Danica Patrick’s chances from the front row. Dixon, however, was vaulted from sixth to second behind pole-sitter Helio Castroneves, setting up victory.

“We saved fuel,” explained Dixon.

“I could tell Helio was doing the same thing. We just kept saving a bit more. Luckily, we got the extra lap (when Castroneves pitted on Llp 70, handing the lead to Dixon). That enabled us to jump them in the pits, and make our day a little easier.”

Dario Franchitti kept consistency on his side with second place while Castroneves was third.

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rear of grid

Too much sport is never enough!

W

ATCHING a bunch of sport on television isn’t an uncommon practice around The Punter’s house, but the weekend just gone was exceptionally full of ball and track sports.

It was a smorgasbord – V8s, Rugby, AFL, League, Soccer (err, football), The Tour, Golf, Formula 1, Moto GP – when too much sports is never enough!

Usually, I’d watch the V8s with either a few of my racing buddies, or if I’m lucky enough, Mrs Punter takes the Kid Punter out for a day trip, leaving me to enjoy some quiet time on the couch.

On this occasion, I had a mate from outta town with me. He loves his Rugby, and doesn’t quite understand the racing stuff – or for that matter, anything other than fly halves and Waltzing Matildas.

It didn’t help that the V8s from Queensland Raceway on Saturday weren’t particularly inspiring, so in some ways I was glad to see the end of Supercar coverage and watch the Bledisloe Cup – just to stop my mate whining!

Anyway, the point I want to raise here is how motorsport coverage stacks against up other sports.

Rugby coverage, for example, is quite simple and intelligent. There

are a few rules that not everyone understands, and the commentators will go out of their way to explain things for you. punter@mnews.com.au Likewise V8s. Neil Crompton I'm not an AFL fan by any stretch, is great at delivering a but some of their callers assume simple answer you know what's happening for a complex issue. Maybe it's because I’m used to him, but he is easily V8s biggest asset on screen.

But for other sports, particularly AFL, both my mate and I were confused at some of the rules, and the commentators don’t help. I’m not an AFL fan by any stretch, but some of the callers assume you know exactly what’s happening on the field.

I’m sure that anyone could switch on the V8s and understand, to a degree, what’s going on, thanks largely to the informative and intelligent comment.

It’s refreshing to know that while V8s aren’t Australia’s biggest sport, at least its viewers are treated with some respect.

No disrespect to the AFL, it’s Australia’s most popular sport, and for good reason, but maybe I’d care more if I knew a little more Why is the Safety Car out? The Punter reckons you'd know about what was happening …

tt SSppo OOddd o d Odd Spot

Useless rocks

TITLES within titles can sometimes be tacky, a grab for some PR miles and newspaper space or simply just a good idea that didn’t quite come to fruition.

The Canadian Triple Crown, held over the last three Champ Car events in Canada was a good idea.

A teams’ championship determined over events at Mont-Tremblant, Toronto and Edmonton, it ended up in the hands of Team Australia’s through the efforts of Will Power and Simon Pagenaud.

You would expect something cool from winning something like this.

Ah yes, the lads scored trophies representing Inuksuks, which are a symbol of co-operation and team building as well as leadership, achievement and strength.

Yep, that’s what we thought when we saw them.

Surely they rank as the worst-looking trophies for a long time! We’d hate to see what you get if you don’t win the Canadian Triple Crown!

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