Motorsport eNews Issue 102 - April 28-May 4, 2009

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Issue No. 102 28 April – 4 April 2009

t x e N s ’ a ali

R A C S N A ER V D RI

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y l l e t e w

and y h w , o ou wh

. . . e r e wh

Shannons nationals Full Wakefield Park coverage

Season of signing v8 endurance slots snapped up

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

Australasian

The ‘A’ Team

Production Graphic Design & Web: Jayne Uthmeyer design@mnews.com.au

Advertising National Sales Manager: Oriana Kennedy oriana@mnews.com.au P 03 9596 5555 F 03 9596 5030

Administration 357 Nepean Highway, Brighton East, VIC, 3187 (PO Box 7072, Brighton, VIC, 3186) P 03 9596 5555 F 03 9596 5030 admin@mnews.com.au

MD / Publisher

Chris Lambden publisher@mnews.com.au

Contributing Writers F1: Will Buxton, Mark Glendenning, Paolo Filisetti Europe: Quentin Spurring, David Addison US: Martin D. Clark, Phil Morris Speedway: Greg Boscato, Geoff Rounds, Darren Sutton, Tony Millard (UK) Drag Racing: Dave Ostaszewski (USA), Ken Ferguson, John Bosher, Luke Nieuwhof National: Lachlan Mansell, Mark Jones, Aaron Shaw.

Photographers Sutton Motorsport Images, Dirk Klynsmith, Marshall Cass, John Morris/Mpix, AF1 Images, James Smith, Peter Bury, Neil Blackbourn, Chris Carter, Coopers Photography, Geoff Gracie, Paris Charles, Neil Hammond, Joel Strickland, Ash Budd, Mike Patrick (UK) Motorsport eNews is published by Australasian Motorsport News ABN 55 125 120 702 Publisher: C Lambden

Issue No. 102 | 28 April – 4 May 2009

news 4 What Roger Wants 7 Long Distanceers 8 Top Gear Ratio 10 Whinning Favour 12 Talladega Frights 15 Mainland Only

chat 20 5 minutes with ... opinion 22 Holdsworth

Stock Car in Ryan’s future Latest pairs for PI and 1000 Collins tests HRT (who?)

JDub turns back time Crowd injuries in NASCAR No Shannons for Symmons Todd Kelly Jamie, I am coming!

Shannons Wakefield Holt, Parker and Foster race 3024 Talladega NASCAR Carl flies, Kes wins 34 Kansas IndyCars 38 Assen WSBK 40 BTCC

Dixon back to Work Spies, Haga do the splits Three races, three winners

trade 42 Classifieds Oversteer can be a much-maligned thing. Engineers hate it, drivers put up with it and the rest of us really, really love it. Some of our photographers, like Marshall Cass, know it when they see it.

Thank you, Holden, and thank you, Brett Holdsworth.

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.

Opinions expressed in Motorsport eNews are not necessarily those of Australasian Motorsport News or its staff.

Marshall Cass

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

!

IVE ENEWS EXCLUS

Aussie IndyCar specialist gets seat fitting and

Briscoe set for Pen NASCAR

T

HERE may soon be a second Australian driver in Sprint Cup, with Ryan Briscoe taking his first steps into NASCAR racing.

Penske Racing’s IndyCar star will drive a Penske Sprint Cup Dodge at an upcoming road course test at Road Atlanta in northeast Georgia. By all accounts Penske’s thoughts are that Briscoe can teach the three Cup drivers something about road racing, so he will be on hand at the test to ‘assist’ the other drivers,

much like road racing ace’s Scott Pruett and Boris Said have helped Cup drivers in the past.

However, it appears that more can be read into the test ...

Although Kurt Busch has a contract with the team beyond 2009, he is apparently ride shopping. eNews believes that Joe Gibbs Racing is planning to expand to a fourth Toyota next season, with Farm Bureau Insurance as a possible sponsor on a fourth entry alongside Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano and Kurt’s brother Kyle Busch.

FOR FORMULA 1, MOTOGP AND WRC NEWS, OPINION AND ANALYSIS CLICK HERE T

news

d testing date – is he being groomed for Cup debut?

nske NASCAR test And, despite the fact that Kurt Busch currently leads the Sprint Cup standings, it appears that he is not that comfortable within the team.

He vented his frustration on the radio at Martinsville while driving an ill-handling car so his spotter (whom he called ‘Dude’) – none other than Roger Penske himself – came back on the radio and told him he could find someone to replace him, should he prefer to vacate the ride!

While this was heat-ofthe-moment conversation, it nonetheless took place.

Penske looks on his team as an extended family and

values loyalty most highly, a fact aptly demonstrated by the rapid return to the fold

by Helio Castroneves. Busch’s words will not have gone down well.

There are other permutations. In his third season racing Stock Cars, Sam Hornish is not proving to be a natural and is still some way from matching his teammates for speed, despite scoring a top 10 finish at Phoenix a week ago.

Hornish is a long-time favourite of Penske, but taking the obvious step and returning him to the IndyCar team – as rival

owner Chip Ganassi did with looking for.

Dario Franchitti – appears While the idea of another problematic, as there are ‘foreign’ driver in Cup may already three drivers – not be the first thing many Briscoe, Helio Castroneves American fans think of, the and Will Power – and only successes of Marcos Ambrose, two full-time seats. and his ability to attract fans It came as a surprise to and sponsors cannot go some when the team named unnoticed by the rank and David Stremme as its third file any longer.

Sprint Cup driver at the end The astute Penske is of last season. well-placed to make such So far the likeable guy has judgements and all the yet to impress in his current talents one would want in ride and, obviously, the a Sprint Cup star – young, disparity between the drivers’ mediagenic and fast – are current standings – Busch sitting right under his nose. (first), Stremme (22nd) and And that Aussie accent has Hornish (31st) – is hardly been becoming more and what the team would be more of a NASCAR thing …

sutton-images.com

TO ACCESS GPWEEK – THE WORLD’S FIRST ‘VIRTUAL’ MOTORSPORT MAGAZINE ...

DJR/WR: Enduro deals sorted V8 SUPERCARS DICK Johnson Racing and Walkinshaw Racing have confirmed their endurance race driver line-up for 2009.

For the resurgent Jim Beam racing squad (DJR), Fujitsu Series regular Jonathon Webb has been scooped up, to be joined by Warren Luff.

Webb is excited about securing his enduro ride after moderate roles with Paul Cruickshank racing and Stone Brothers Racing.

“Jim Beam Racing is a great team to be partnered with right now,” he said.

“They are on top of their game and that is definitely an association I want to have. I’m looking forward to getting into the new FG at Winton –

they are an awesome car and I can’t wait to see how we work together. I’m just excited about being a part of the team”.

Three-time World Touring Car champion Andy Priaulx has been drafted into the Walkinshaw Racing factory Holden squad, with early suggestions putting him in the #22 HRT entry with Craig Baird. That scenario would put Garth Tander and Will Davison

together in the lead #2 car, “The signing of three-time Steve Owen in with Paul World Touring Car Champion Dumbrell in the #10 Autobarn Andy Priaulx is really exciting entry and Shane Price with and we are looking forward to David Reynolds. him joining us in the coming While official combinations months to reacquaint himself will be confirmed closer to the with V8 Supercars. date, WR’s CEO Craig Wilson is “Andy has an outstanding delighted with the team’s long- record in European distance signings. motorsport and having raced “We’re delighted to welcome at Bathurst in 2002 and ‘03 is back some familiar faces to the no stranger to V8 Supercars or Walkinshaw Racing line-up, as what is required to succeed in well as new blood,” Wilson said. Australia.”

news CONFIRMED V8 SUPERCAR ENDURANCE DRIVERS Jamie Whincup Craig Lowndes Allan Simonsen James Thompson

WR

Garth Tander Will Davison Paul Dumbrell David Reynolds Craig Baird Steve Owen Shane Price Andy Priaulx

TM

Jason Bargwanna Greg Murphy 2 x drivers TBC

SBR

Alex Davison Shane van Gisbergen Johnny McIntyre 1 x driver TBC

Dirk Klynsmith

T8

V8 Supercar enduro men get 30 minute session at Winton

Once a year? No more!

“I don’t tend to struggle that much with this sort of BM stuff. I just tend to go to the test days at Winton, do a dozen laps and I’m not that far off the money. It’s not GREG Ritter will get his first taste of V8 Supercar too bad. It’s probably frustrating more than anything, FPR power since Bathurst last year at Winton Motor not getting to do it more often and not being able to Raceway this weekend. push at 100 percent.

Ritter is one of many endurance race co-drivers “I’m looking forward to getting back into it. I can’t getting seat time at the rural circuit as part of the half KR wait. It’s a good chance to blow the cobwebs out.” hour endurance driver session on Friday.

Other drivers set to enjoy the extra seat time during The session is scheduled for four rounds this year Friday’s endurance session include Nathan Pretty, (Winton, Symmons Plains, Sandown and Queensland who will step into Rick Kelly’s Jack Daniel’s Racing Raceway) and allows teams the opportunity to place Commodore and David Wall in Fabian Coulthard’s their endurance drivers in their race cars for ‘hard-toWilson Security Falcon. come by’ mileage. One of the clauses in the session BJR Ford Performance racing’s enduro specialists Dean is that if a regular championship driver sits inside Canto and Luke Youlden will both get laps, as will the top 15 in the championship, that driver can not three of Walkinshaw Racing’s four enduro drivers compete, making the session vital for the teams to – Steve Owen, Craig Baird and Shane Price. British insert its co-drivers to gain data.

DJR Ritter will drive Lee Holdsworth’s #33 Commodore VE driver Andy Priaulx will not be at Winton.

Andrew Jones will get back into the Team BOC (running second on the championship) and says that Commodore, while Adam Macrow will get valuable these sessions are a case of not putting a foot wrong. seat time in Jason Bright’s Fujitsu Ford entry.

“This is the first time I’ve driven a V8 since Bathurst,” TFR – GRANT ROWLEY he said.

V8 SUPERCARS

Triple F set for V8 Supercar debut V8 SUPERCARS TRIPLE F Racing will be the newest V8 Supercar team, as soon as this week.

While no confirmation was forthcoming as eNews was published, Triple F Racing (Dean Fiore’s family team) is in the final processes of securing the former Team Kiwi Racing licence that was put up for tender by V8 Supercars Australia in early April.

Fiore could start this weekend’s

V8 Supercar meeting at Winton as a team owner if the V8 Board deems the sale of the licence to be adequate. If this is not the case, David John will need to enter the car, probably for the final time and likely with Fiore driving.

In summary, Fiore will drive a black PMM-prepared Commodore VE but, compared to the first two rounds, the entrant’s name and the stickers on the doors could be the only change … eNews understands that a new

Jason Bright Adam Macrow Mark Winterbottom Steven Richards Dean Canto Luke Youlden Todd Kelly Rick Kelly Jack Perkins Dale Wood Nathan Pretty 3 x drivers TBC Cameron McConville Jason Richards Max Wilson Andrew Jones Steven Johnson James Courtney Warren Luff Jonathon Webb Dean Fiore 1 x driver TBC

GRM Lee Holdsworth Michael Caruso Greg Ritter 1 x driver TBC

PMM Russell Ingall

Tim Slade Paul Morris 1 x driver TBC

mechanic has already been put on the car and that a new deal between Fiore and PMM will be formalised soon.

– GRANT ROWLEY

RNR

Tony D’Alberto Glenn Seton

TI

Marcus Marshall 1 x driver TBC

WSR Wilson Security Racing Fabian Coulthard Michael Patrizi David Wall Leanne Tander

Some say he wears HRT undies.

All we know is, he’s called ...

V8 SUPERCARS THAT fella in the photo with Garth Tander is the most famous racing driver in the world. Or, maybe not.

English driver Ben Collins got the rare opportunity to test drive a Holden Racing Team Commodore at Winton Motor Raceway last … well, we don’t know when, because there is something of a veil of secrecy about some of the matters with which Mr Collins is associated.

Collins is an accomplished driver, with much experience in open-wheelers and Sportscars, and was driving the car as part of a story for Britain’s Autosport magazine.

That part of it is all in the open.

The part that is not is Collins’s other … identity. Some publications have named him as The Stig, the tame racing driver in

white kit who flogs cars around the test track in the TV series Top Gear. But Collins himself steadfastly refuses to comment on whether he is Stig or Man, perhaps in mind of the fact that when Perry McCarthy outed himself as the Black Stig, the producers changed colours – and Stigs.

So, how did the test come up? We asked for a comment from The Stig, but heard nothing back, and an HRT spokesman suggested that Collins was in Australia “on business” and that it was all a matter of convenient timing.

On business? The new season of Top Gear Australia fires up next month; should we see some Down Under Stig-ging, we will be suspicious ...

Bigger Fuel Cells get reprieve for Winton V8 SUPERCARS LOOK for some different fuel and tyre tactics at Winton Raceway this weekend.

Due to the delay in the arrival of the new ‘Sprint Race’

fuel cell, V8 Supercars will enforce teams to continue to use the current fuel cell (120 litres), but each car will be required to complete a pit stop in Saturday’s Race 5, putting at least 50 litres of fuel into the

Car via the control refuelling tower.

V8 Supercars Australia will monitor the fuel rate using the sight tube on the side of the towers. As usual, teams will be permitted to change tyres

during this pit stop.

The new sprint race fuel cells, which reduce the car’s total fuel capacity to 80 litres, will be available to teams for the next round at Symmons Plains at the end of May.

news

Dirk Klynsmith

Changes made to Sunday Q schedule V8 SUPERCARS

D-FOR-DUNLOP-DAY FOR SPRINT TYRES V8 SUPERCARS DUNLOP’S new Sprint tyre makes it V8 Supercar debut this weekend at Winton – and all the talk is of tactics.

Drivers and teams are preparing to come to grips, literally, with the tyre that could provide as much as three seconds of increased speed per lap before it falls away.

The teams will get one set of the Sprints per car, which can be used at any time, for any number of laps, in either Saturday or Sunday’s races. For this first round only, they will also get a new set of the tyres to assist with setting their cars up on Friday.

“There are going to be some surprises,” predicts Dunlop Motorsport’s Kevin Fitzsimmons.

“One of the things that the drivers are going to have to look for is the marbles. They will have to be very careful; the current tyre is not like that in that regard. Garth Tander said that when he tested the tyres, he could hear the rubber peeling off and hitting the inside of the guards. He hadn’t heard that for a long time!”

Kelly Racing’s Todd Kelly told Motorsport eNews that he was looking forward to the challenge the revised rubber offers: “I would not be surprised if you throw the different tyre at it, to see guys like [Triple Eight], who are clearly quicker than everyone by a clear margin, being brought back to the field,” he said.

“A car that generally a little bit stiffer, a little bit sharper to drive – like our style of car – might be a better car on the new tyre.”

CHANGES have been made to the Sunday morning qualifying session of the V8 Supercar Championship Series, to prevent a repeat of the controversy surrounding the shortened session in Hamilton two weeks ago.

V8SA has extended the possible ‘window’ required in the event of an interrupted session from five to 15 minutes.

This effectively allows 35 minutes in which to complete the 20-minute session, rather than the 25 minutes allocated in Hamilton. The session will also be rescheduled to an earlier start time, with the session now to run between 10:35am and 10:55am.

That means that the time available between the end of that session and the opening of pit lane at the start of the Sunday afternoon race will be increased to about two hours, allowing the teams more time to effect any repairs or changes to their cars.

KISS: Keep it simple, Sladey SCAR rookie ditches the data for Winton after shakey start to maiden season V8 SUPERCARS

John Morris/Mpix

TIM Slade will take a back-to-basics approach to this weekend’s fifth and sixth races in the V8 Supercar Championship Series at Winton, after a car-crunching start to the season.

While there was chat that the South Australian rookie would actually be benched for the Winton meeting, the crew at Paul Morris Motorsport have instead taken the unique approach of limiting his data, in a bid to lighten his work load and keep the young gun focussed.

“We’re going back to basics with Tim, it’s just me and him this weekend – no engineers, no gizmos and no computer screens with squiggly lines,” Morris said.

“Having engineers and data helps a lot, but there’s no point if there’s a Supercheap Auto Racing Commodore hanging out of the fence.

“With all the pressure of stepping up he’s

over analysing everything and making mistakes. He did a good job running his own car in the Fujitsu Series last year when there were no expectations on him, but Sladey’s racing with the big boys now. With that comes major sponsors, and with those come commitments and expectations and we have to live up to them.

“No one’s interested in hard luck stories

Rat Junior chooses US WORLD RALLYING

10

Dirk Klynsmith

MATHEW Radisich is eyeing a new career path in America, thanks to four confirmed tests in the coming months with Team PBIR. Radisich, the nephew of former V8 Supercar star Paul, is heading to the USA next week to conduct the first of his tests at the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway, pending IndyCar clearance.

If cleared, the New Zealander will test at Indy on May 5, followed by another day at the Milwaukee Mile on the 7th, plus further laps at Palm Beach and Mid-Ohio.

The tests have come about thanks to Team PBIR manager Ron Dixon, the father of two-two IndyCar Champion Scott Dixon.

“It’s pretty exciting, I’ve never driven on an oval before so I’m looking forward to having a go,” he said.

“I thought getting one test day would be good, but to get three or four is

going to be pretty big.”

Radisich started the 2009 season in Australian Formula 3, and had talked about a mid-season switch to the crack F3 EuroSeries, but this testing opportunity America has put his European dreams on hold.

“We haven’t really been talking about America because we’ve been focused on F3 in Europe, but the team in America has given me this opportunity to drive in IndyLights, and I’d really like to drive in the IndyCars Series. That’s a big goal of mine.

“I can do EuroSeries. The team there wants me to drive for them , but it’s a matter of coming up with the bucks to do it. I don’t have the budget to do that.

We’ll still need to look for money to do IndyLights, but American racing much easier to do than Europe.”

– GRANT ROWLEY

so we have to make sure he doesn’t have any more. We’ll relieve some pressure and allow Tim to concentrate on his driving by running the car like we used to in the old days.”

Slade goes into Winton yet to score point, after failing to finish any of the four races from the Clipsal 500 and Hamilton 400 meetings respectively.

Jenson for Bathu

FUJITSU V8S TAZ Douglas unveiled his Fastaz Racing Commodore’s new livery at last week’s Winton test, mimicking the hues of surprise Formula 1 leaders BrawnGP. Douglas ran his VZ Commodore is plain white at the Clipsal 500, but has opted for the more colourful scheme for his ‘home’ round at the rural Victorian circuit. And just like Jenson’s car, the Fastaz Holden features very little advertising …

Australian Formula Ford Championship regular Ben Small, got a taste of the Commodore during the test.

– ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN

Whinners lends a hand FUJITSU V8s

Dirk Klynsmith

urst?

news

Hand over the keys: Whincup drove the BF he used to race, above, while Tander will drive a BF like the car she will race, left.

JAMIE Whincup went back in time at Winton last Monday, hopping in his title-winning BF Falcon at the Fujitsu Series test.

Whincup cut limited laps in the car as a favour to Bryce Washington, who races the car for Sonic Motor Racing Services in the FV8 Series.

Also testing at Winton was Jono Webb, Sam Walter, Damian Assaillit, Tony Bates and Geoff Emery. Steve Owen was also at the test, spending some time at the wheel of Emery’s Commodore.

Mark McNally will be back for Round 2, despite a car-crunching end to his first round campaign in Adelaide thanks to a moment with Chris Alajajian in Race 1.

“The car isn’t complete yet,” he said,

“but it should be ready. We won’t get a test or a shakedown, but Winton isn’t the worst place for that to happen because I know my way around.”

New names on the list include Aussie Racing Car regular Ben McCashney for Image Racing, and two-time Australian Formula 3 runner-up Leanne Tander.

For Tander, the Winton outing will provide valuable miles ahead of her upcoming enduro driver duties with Paul Cruickshank’s Wilson Security Racing. She will pedal a BF Falcon, run by her and husband Garth’s TanderSport operation.

Colin Corkey will miss the Winton round but is currently working on securing the budget for the rest of the series.

– ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN

Rally Oz full steam ahead ... still WORLD RALLYING REPCO Rally Australia officials are confident that it is full steam ahead for Australia’s return to the World Rally Championship later this year, despite a recent media report to the contrary published in South East Queensland.

On Friday, the Gold Coast Sun reported that there was unrest with some of the Tweed councillors ahead of the event’s upcoming development application, mostly to do with the environmental image of the area,

which will be the home of the new Rally Australia.

“Work on Rally Australia continues at full pace,” media Liaison Chris Nixon said on behalf of the event’s management.

“The management has no choice but to proceed as though the event will win approval from Tweed and Kyogle Shire councils.

We are confident the right things are being addressed to ensure it is approved.

“We are confident the environmental report will set a new high benchmark for other

big events in the region and, in particular, for motorsport anywhere. Rally Australia is confident the environmental situation can be managed successfully.”

“I’m waiting for the environmental report as I share the concerns raised by many people about these issues,” mayor Joan van Lieshout was quoted as saying in the article.

“But if there are no major problems I will probably vote to go ahead.”

– ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN

11

SEVEN HURT IN CUP CRASH Last lap melee sees car take off: drivers call for action NASCAR

Ford Racing

SEVEN fans were injured in a last-lap crash at Talladega, Alabama on Sunday.

Contact between race winner Brad Keselowski and Carl Edwards saw the Ford driver spin, before he was rammed by an unsighted Ryan Newman. The Aflac Ford Fusion took off and crashed into the debris fencing, and a number of spectators were struck by debris.

“None of the injuries are dangerous or life-threatening,” said Dr. Bobby Lewis, medical director at Talladega Superspeedway.

“It’s mostly bumps and bruises with possible minor fractures.”

“One has a lacerated lip and possible broken jaw.”

An eighth person was taken to hospital with what Lewis said were “unrelated medical problems.”

Restrictor plate races, in which cars run with smaller amounts of air and fuel and which do not allow drivers to greatly drive their cars on the throttle, have long been a concern because of the number of collisions common to these types of races.

Sunday’s Aaron’s 499 event saw three melees which, in total, involved up to half the field.

Drivers have been outspoken about the events for some time, with Edwards, who was not critical of Keselowski’s role in the incident, particularly outspoken.

“We’ll race like this until we kill somebody,” he said, “then, NASCAR will change it.”

“We’ll race like this until we kill somebody” Carl Edwards, above, who finished the race on foot

Ford Racing

12

news

Childress makes Changes

RCS makes major adjustments to try to find some winning speed NASCAR

Ditto for the HOFs

The Speedway hits 40

NASCAR

Honda Racing

FORMER series champion Bobby Labonte had a new crew chief at Hall of Fame Racing/Yates Racing last weekend at Talladega.

Ben Leslie, former crew chief for the 28 Yates Ford driven

by Travis Kvapil on top of the pit box where he will remain throughout the 2009 season.

Former crew chief Todd Parrot will remain with Yates in another position. Leslie joined Yates from Ford Racing where he was the liaison between Ford teams and the manufacturer, prior to that he worked as crew chief for Mark Martin at Roush Racing.

– MARTIN D CLARK

NASCAR Media

RICHARD Childress is making changes to his team.

After a lacklustre start to the season, RCR has switched the complete crews, including crew chiefs, between the Kevin Harvick and Casey Mears teams, starting at next week’s race at Richmond.

Gil Martin will crew chief Harvick’s Shell Pennzoil Chev and Todd Berrier will now work with Mears on the Jack Daniel’s car.

“The decision to interchange the 29 and 07 teams was made to make both programs stronger and more successful,” said Richard Childress. “Our main objective has always been to have all four of RCR’s teams qualify for the Chase for the Sprint Cup.” Martin worked with Clint Bowyer and took him into the Chase last season with great success, but this year has not had the same chemistry with Mears, while Bowyer is making strong moves with his new crew chief Shane Wilson.

Harvick, right, stands 16th in the points, while Bowyer is steady in sixth.

– MARTIN D CLARK

INDYCAR THE official entry list for May 24th’s Indy 500 swelled to 77 cars as released last week, which includes 40 entries with 28 named drivers.

Of late, Milka Duno’s Citgo sponsorship has come through for a partial season, returning to Dreyer & Reinbold Racing at Kansas in preparation for the Indy 500. Duno, above, becomes the third female to attempt the ‘09 race, joining Danica Patrick and Sarah Fisher.

Nelson Philippe is driving a second car for HVM at the 500 in a carbon neutral educational program, called ‘I Drive Green’.

Jaime Camara, who raced for Conquest Racing most of last season, has announced his retirement, hanging up his racing gloves to pursue a career in investment banking.

Rahal Letterman Racing hopes to enter Buddy Rice. KV Racing Technology has a third car listed, possibly for Oriol Servia. Other teams with third car entries but drivers listed as ‘To Be Announced’ include A J Foyt and Vision Racing. Driver/owner, Marty Roth, has two entries. Second cars are shown for Dale Coyne, Conquest, and Sarah Fisher. Hemelgarn Johnson likely will enter Buddy Lazier.

– MARY MENDEZ

13

Utes names a motor man V8 UTES THE Yokohama V8 Ute Racing Series has employed a control engine builder.

Renowned Queensland engine man Craig Hasted will conduct all of the engine rebuilds for V8 Ute competitors at his Cragsted’s Browns Plains facility. The aim is that by the first round of the V8 Ute series 2010, all engine’s will be built, sealed and provided by Cragsted.

As part of implementing the category’s sustainability strategy,

the V8 Ute Board has undertaken an extensive search to find a qualified engine builder who can help deliver cost savings without loss of performance, and tighten the eligibility requirements. Following a formal tender process - Cragsted’s facilities, capability, experience, service, preparedness to work with the category and value for money resulted in the company being awarded the contract.

V8 Ute Chairman David McCowatt said that this decision is a significant step forward for the category.

“I am confident that this decision is the best option for the category, shareholders and competitors alike.

“The concept was unanimously endorsed by our Board and our shareholders through their elected technical representatives, Andrew Miedecke representing Ford entrants and Steve Hodges Holden.”

Over the past 17 years, Cragsted has been successful in preparing engines for Steve Ellery Racing, Paul Weel Racing and WPS Racing. More recently, customers have included Porsche Carrera Cup competitors.

Bates not locked in, but Atko’s in for QLD AUSTRALIAN RALLYING NEAL Bates is still working on a rally-byrally basis, despite retaking the lead of the Australian Rally Championship at the last round in Western Australia.

Bates and his Neal Bates Motorsport team head to this weekend’s Rally Queensland still unsure whether or not they will be able to compete in the final two championship rounds in Coffs Harbour and South Australia. And according to the reigning Champion, leading the title doesn’t make the decision any easier.

“It’s like someone is dangling a carrot in front

of me to make sure I’m broke,” he joked.

“At the moment, I’m still taking it one rally at a time. And if you’re leading it makes it a lot harder not to go to the next one.”

NBM will return to a one-car outfit in Queensland, with Darren Windus still recovering from his crash in WA. Bates is hopeful the team will expand back to two cars before the season is out.

Meanwhile, World Rally Championship driver Chris Atkinson will drive the ‘Zero’ car at the event. He will be paired with experienced co-driver Iain Stewart in a Subaru Impreza.

– ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN

Hopkin’s SBK career crashes to a halt WORLD SUPERBIKES

14

Honda Pro Images

THE short World Superbike career of John Hopkins has come to a crashing and, for now, temporary halt after a heavy crash at Assen.

The American was getting to grips with his Stiggy Racing Honda CBR1000RR last Friday when he was thrown off in a major high-side accident after four laps.

He suffered a dislocated left hip and a hairline fracture close to the top of his femur, and flew to the USA on Saturday for treatment.

“It looks like I am continuing my bad luck here in Assen two years

in a row,” said Hopkins, who had a major crash at the track last year in MotoGP. “I had a huge high-side and landed feet first, which dislocated my hip and cracked the top of my femur. For about three hours, until they placed me in the operating room and put my hip back into place, I was in the most excruciating pain I have ever been in my life.”

The drama for Hopkins is the ligament and muscle damage, which may keep him out of racing for two months. Should he require surgery, he will undergo it today, US time.

news

Dirk Klynsmith

Nationals not fan-tas-tic D SHANNONS NATIONALS

Joel Strickland

THE ninth round of the Shannons Nationals at Symmons Plains in October has been cancelled, leaving the Australian Formula 3 Championship looking for a replacement round.

The round has ultimately been a flowon victim of Carrera Cup’s demise earlier this year. The Australian GT category has taken two spots on the V8 Supercar support bill at Bathurst and Homebush (replacing Carrera Cup), and in turn, withdrew from the Symmons Plains meeting.

AGT’s withdrawal has forced Shannons administrators to abandon the round after F3 and Formula Vee were the only remaining national categories on the bill.

Shannons Nationals Rob Curkpatrick told eNews that missing Symmons Plains is a shame: “We’ve come to an agreement with Motorsport Tasmania that we’ll give it a miss,” he said.

“We’ve been committed to Tasmania, and they are very supportive and we get a good crowd, but it’s the age-old problem of cost of freight, time away etc.

Unfortunately, not everyone wants to go there all the time.

“We’re already working on dates for next year and we are committed to going back better than ever.” eNews understands that a date is being sorted for next year already, with six categories confirmed – Formula 3, Saloon Cars, Commodore Cup, Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge, Manufactures Championships, plus the Victorian Porsche 944 Series.

Formula 3 is currently trying to find a replacement, with the options being linking with a State series, probably in Victoria, or having the final two rounds of the series on the same weekend at Sandown.

John Morris/Mpix

Parkes back in Oz for surgery BROC Parkes is on the sidelines after returning to Australia for surgery on his injured shoulder.

Parkes took a tumble off his Paul Bird Kawasaki at Snetterton last week. He was originally intending to race at Assen but it soon became obvious that the 27year-old Aussie would need medical attention to a broken collarbone.

The team drafted in Stuart Easton, Kawasaki’s official development and test rider,

John Morris/Mpix

WORLD SUPERBIKES

to make his WSBK debut alongside Makoto Tamada. The 24-year-old Scot, who normally races in the British Superbike Championship for Hydrex

Honda, finished 18th in Race 1 and 25th in Race 2.

Parkes is expected to return to the team for the next round of the series at Monza.

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Willowbank Whinnernationals V8 SUPERCARS MEETS DRAG RACING!

THREE-time and reigning Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 winners and TeamVodafone team-mates Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup will go head-to-head for the ultimate bragging rights at this year’s Castrol EDGE Winternationals at Willowbank Raceway on June 4-7.

The pair will put its team allegiances to the side as they face-off over the quarter mile aboard their Triple Eight Race Engineering V8 Supercars.

In three match races on Saturday June 6, Whincup and Lowndes will complete burnouts and race their actual V8 Supercars down the quarter mile during the largest drag racing event outside of North America.

Whincup, the reigning V8 Supercar champion, said he couldn’t wait to take his 640 horsepower TeamVodafone V8 Supercar down the strip.

“Winning the V8 Supercar championship last year was a big tick off my goal list and I am in the midst of defending that title, however drag racing my V8 Supercar isn’t something I ever thought I would get the chance to do,” said Whincup.

“I am looking forward to what will be a very different experience – it will be interesting to see how the ‘Hogster’ takes to the quarter mile.

“The top guys of the sport can do some pretty impressive burnouts before their runs, so hopefully I can muster up some smoke to put on a good show for the fans and outdo Lowndesy at the lights!”

Three-time Australian Touring Car Champion and four-time Bathurst winner, Lowndes said he wouldn’t be letting his team-mate intimidate him

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at the starting tree.

“Jamie may be the reigning Champion and he may be younger, but I still think I will be able to match him when it comes to the starting lights at Willowbank Raceway,” said Lowndes.

“This is something neither of us have ever done before and it will be a challenge both for us and our cars, but one I am really looking forward to – all forms of motorsport fascinate me and drag racing is certainly something I have had my eye on for some time.

“When Jamie and I aren’t concentrating on thrashing each other on the strip I am sure we will be catching lots of the action over the weekend. I am really looking forward to soaking up the atmosphere and checking out the cars of the guys who do this for a living.”

The pair’s date with their drag racing destiny will come the week following the Tasmanian round of the V8 Supercar Championship Series and two weeks ahead of Darwin’s event.

Their team boss Roland Dane has worked with his crew to make this event one of the real highlights of the 2009 Australian motorsport year.

“This certainly isn’t what you would call routine preparation for either the boys or the cars, but it will be something I can see being a lot of fun and it will be good to mix it up before the TeamVodafone train heads up to the Territory,” said Dane.

“Performing those burnouts for the crowd, attempting to cut a good light and then racing each other as fast as possible in a straight line to the finish line is sure to get the guys’ blood boiling and that is just what we want ahead of what is sure to be an action-packed round at Hidden Valley.”

news

Massive turnout for Newcastle Drag Racing Roadshow last weekend

Drag Racing Knights DRAG RACING

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he Australian drag racing Roadshow rolled into Newcastle last Sunday in what was billed as the biggest expose of drag racing teams outside of a national event.

In excess of 3000 people saw interactive displays of 14 group one cars and bikes, including current Australian top fuel champ Phil Read and his Auto One dragster and Darren Morgan’s Wicked Quick nitro beast.

The Roadshow saw the entire contingent of cars fire up for a simultaneous eruption of horsepower at the Newcastle Showgrounds as well as team tech talk sessions, engine building competitions, autograph sessions.

Newcastle-based car clubs also provided over fifty show cars for a Show n Shine.

The ANDRA initiative, which has been supported by Shannons Insurance, has been declared a huge success for

drag racing fan development in the Hunter Region.

The success of the Australian Drag Racing Roadshow in Newcastle has proven that the concept of taking a slice of drag racing to regional centres is very much worthwhile,” said ANDRA spokesperson Dale Brittain.

“A large number of people that attended on Sunday had never been to a drag racing event and we feel that Coming in their droves: Newcastle residents supported the Drag Racing what we had on offer will Roadshow like no other. convert them into fans. What better way to showcase the excitement of drag racing than to their first drag racing event. the Newcastle community. to give the public a chance to “The support of Sydney and “Shannons is excited about get up close and personal with Hunter Region drag racers has being part of the Australian our sport. been fantastic and these teams Drag Racing Roadshow “There’s no coincidence need to take a lot of credit initiative. We see it being a that we timed the Newcastle for the success but a special major part of developing drag Roadshow to coincide with mention should go to those racing at the grass roots level the Karcher Nitro Champs at teams that travelled long and that’s where Shannons has Western Sydney International distances like Darren Morgan built our business from.”

Dragway this coming weekend. from Mildura and the Parker eNews understands that We are hoping that some Top Bike outfit from Geelong.”

ANDRA has plans to undertake of the thousands of people Shannons Insurance National further Roadshows in regional that made their way to the Sales Manager Paul Gates Victoria, Melbourne and Showgrounds will be back in added – “We are pleased with Queensland’s Gold Coast over their car this weekend heading the support we received from the next 12 months.

Big discount on Karcher Nitro Champs tickets DRAG RACING With the Karcher Nitro Champs presented by Shannons shaping up to be the biggest drag racing event on the Sydney calendar this year, newly announced platform sponsor, Auto One are offering spectators a great opportunity to save on ticket purchases.

With the event on this coming weekend,

all Auto One outlets in Sydney and regional NSW have general admission tickets to the Nitro Champs at a genuine 33% discount.

“There’s no gimmicks or conditions, it’s just a genuine 33% discount offer for drag racing fans,” said Auto One General Manager, Peter Henry.

“Our increased involvement with ANDRA Championship Drag Racing is creating a lot of excitement within Auto One and our

store owners and we hope that we can equally excite drag racing fans with our ticket offer.

“Fans just need to pop into their local Auto One store and mention our Karcher Nitro Champs offer and they will receive an automatic one third off ticket purchases. All of our locations are listed on our website; autoone.com.au,” Henry concluded.

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news

Who will be the King of the Creek?

KARTING ENDURANCE karting has a new event – the King of the Creek 4 Hour at Eastern Creek Raceway.

The ‘Rotax only’ race will be held at the western Sydney circuit on September 5 – two weeks before the prestigious Rotax

Sera to make return at Vic Open KARTING James Sera is back!

The recently retired karting champ is making a return at the Victorian Open, driving an Arrow in Leopard Light at the Hume International Raceway on May 8-10.

A total of 421 entries have been confirmed for the rescheduled Victorian Open Sprint Kart Championships.

Junior National Light has received a massive 49 drivers – all vying for the available 40 spots on the grid.

Twelve of the 15 categories at the championships have received over 20 entries.

Due to a lack of confirmed numbers in the Formula 100 class, the category has been cancelled.

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Nationals at the same venue.

Many of Australia’s top Rotax drivers are eyeing this event off as the perfect test session before the Nationals, including Matthew Wall, Kel Treseder, Reif Corbett, William Yarwood, Peter Laylor and Aaron Rintal.

Forty entries will be initially accepted for the inaugural

4 Hour race, but if demand exceeds that, Eastern Creek’s North Shore Kart Club will apply to the AKA to have that number lifted to as many as 50 entries, making it the largest Rotax karting enduro grid in Australia.

The race has also secured prime sponsorship from Australia’s Rotax importer IKD.

Three classes will contest the race – Outright, Over 40s Masters Class and Womens. The Over 40s will run red number plates, while the ladies will run, you guessed it, pink!

More information on the race is available at http://www. northshorekartclub.org – GRANT ROWLEY

Surprise entries for CIK KARTING THE 2009 Australian CIK Karting Championship will kick off at Newcastle’s Mt Sugarloaf Circuit on May 30/31 – and there could be some surprise entries.

There are suggestions that former karting champions returning Josh Hunt and Paul Laskaszeski could make special appearances at the Newcastle meeting, adding to the 15plus entry list for the return of the internationalstandard class.

Laskaszeski, the 2008 Australian Formula Ford Champion, says that he is looking at options of the CIK Series.

“It looks like a step back, but if I can find the right deal, I’ll do it for sure,” he said.

“It would be great if they had 50 people in the class, like in Europe. They are a totally different to drive compared to other forms of karting. They really rip.

“I’d be happy to get into a seat. It’s better than doing nothing but it’s just about finding a bit of cash for it.”

The 2009 Australian CIK Championship will be contested over four rounds at the same venues as the Rotax Pro Tour beginning on the final weekend in May at Newcastle.

Round 2 will be held at VACC Park, followed by Raleigh, NSW, and Ipswich, Qld. Some of the former champs include Jamie Whincup, Mark Winterbottom, Neil McFadyen, Ryan Briscoe, Phillip Scifleet, Troy Hunt, Adam Graham, Glen Powles, Ashley Walsh, pictured above, and Barclay Holden.

– GRANT ROWLEY

5 Minutes with ...

TODD KELLY

The Man in Black is licking his lips to get onto V8 Supercars’ new ‘Sprint’ tyre this weekend

Is there a temptation for you and Rick, in particular, to run different strategies as far as the tyre is concerned? One conservative, one radical …

I don’t know yet, we have our

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DO WE WANT TO BE DOING THE COMPLETE OPPOSITE OF WHAT EVERYBODY ELSE IS DOING? TODD PONDERS TO NUANCES OF THE NEW SPRINT TYRE Some say a second, some two, some three …

If that is the case, your set-up is not going to be anywhere near right. We will be so far out that we will be making as many changes as possible at the pit-stop.

Phil Williams

MOTORSPORT NEWS: From a driver’s point of view, is having an option tyre a bit of a double-edged sword?

TODD KELLY: Through the whole event, I will be looking forward to driving on it. I have been looking forward to driving the car on a grippier tyre.

The more grip that these cars have, the more enjoyable they are to drive. A lot of the places that we go to, even on a new tyre, there is not always a lot of grip. There is not that much grip built into the cars and they are not an easy thing to get around, at the best of times. So with a good tyre, they will be better to drive.

We will also be able to have a real go at passing. A lot of times, there is the car in front and you cannot do a lot about it, even if you have nearly a second a lap more pace than them. At a lot of tracks, we get stuck behind them and you are there because of the grip available to you to push, brake and turn-in.

This could cause a heck of a lot of passing at Winton, especially if you have differences in groups in traffic.

Blokes will be trying to pass from three car lengths back. It will be an interesting weekend andi am sure that there will be a lot of contact!

They might have to throw a couple of sets of tyres at the Safety Car because it will be out there a bit!

big meeting Tuesday morning about how we will be entering the weekend. Everyone will be burning up the brain cells about how it will work, so I am not sure. We need to be smart about how we use it.

It is interesting. Do we want to be doing the complete opposite of what everybody else is doing? It will be hit-andmiss a little bit too, in race trim, the tyre degradation and where the tyres cross-over in times – you want to maximise its use. We will spend most of Tuesday on that.

would not be surprised – if you throw the different tyre at it, to see guys like that, who are clearly quicker than everyone by a clear margin – to see them brought back to the field.

A car that is generally a little bit stiffer, a little bit sharper to drive – like our style of car – might be a better car on the new tyre.

So there is a lot in the mix.

All the stuff that people never think of might mean that the faster guys might not still be the faster guys when you throw a new tyre into the mix.

You sound pretty excited as a driver about this.

It will be good to drive on a different tyre.

Look, Triple Eight is, obviously, the current benchmark with what they are doing with their car – it is that dialled-in to the grip level with the older tyre. But I

This is like a season-withina-season.

It is, a bit. The development that has gone into the cars, to make them work on the current tyre, is massive. Over the period of time that we have had this tyre, there has been a lot of thinking going on. What is the margin – a second a lap?

Where is the team at the moment, compared to your pre-season targets? Up a bit, down?

Championship-wise, we are nowhere near where we hoped to be. That is through dramas.

But so far as the cars and the speed, and how the team is coming together, we could not have done a lot more than we have done to this point.

We have thrown a lot at the cars, so far as development is concerned, and there is still a heap to come that is in the pipeline. So far, it has been about getting to the race meetings, and getting spares up tp scratch. At the same time, we have gone into hardware development, making as much stuff as we can in the machine shop, new stuff to go into the cars. We can’t be going any harder than we already are.

We have started to show some pace, especially in practice in New Zealand, and we will keep chipping away and be solidly in the top 10 for most of the year, and into the top five in the second half of the year. That is a realistic goal and I think that we are trucking away to be able to achieve it.

chat

Peter Bury

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Whincup can be beaten, and I want to be the one to do it ...

C

AN Jamie Whincup be beaten this weekend at Winton?

Definitely!

Something has to break his run. He’s on a huge confidence roll at the moment, and unless someone can break that, it could continue for a while!

Triple Eight is in amazing form at the moment – they have brilliant car speed and are unstoppable when it’s at its best, and I do believe that someone will need to beat him a few times to rattle him. Either that or something has to go wrong with the car. Regardless, it’s going to be difficult.

Exploiting a Whincup weakness is difficult. At the moment, I don’t see any fragile areas in his game – it’s hard to criticise him. He’s doing everything right and the team’s doing everything right.

I guess the best thing going my way

opinion LEE HOLDSWORTH V8 Supercar driver is that we have our home track this weekend. We’ve got an advantage, and obviously the Holdens do really well at Winton as well.

To be honest, I don’t see him winning this weekend. I don’t think he’s qualified that well there in the past and that will be critical this year.

As we saw in Hamilton, if he doesn’t qualify well, he slows to everyone’s pace. I think that’s where we can get him.

And I’m riding on my own confidence wave as well. Running second in the championship feels pretty good.

I’m feeling good about this weekend and I think Winton is our best shot at winning a round. I’m out there to win, basically.

I’ll be pushing as hard as I can. We’re always one of the quickest – there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be up the front and be somewhere on the podium.

My aim at the start of the year was top five each round, and to be in a position to challenge for the title.

Garry (Rogers) wants me to win it, obviously, and I’d love to win it, but you’ve got to take one step at a time.

I believe we are getting closer and closer to becoming one of the top teams. Obviously, there are a few things we need to do to be a consistent front-runner. There are a couple of rounds that I’m worried about with our car’s performance on particular circuits.

As it’s turned out, the tracks that

Letters

Have your say – email us at mail@mnews.com.au.

Bundles of joy Would it be practical to completely remove tyre bundles from all race tracks then implement a different approach?

Officials could determine a ‘safe’ zone on the kerbs in question, and paint them

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green. On the ‘unsafe’ zone, the kerb could be painted red. An intermediate strip between the two could be painted yellow.

All drivers would be free to use the kerbs as per their usual habits; which makes for exciting vision. Provided they

remain within the green zone, there is no problem.

However, should they stray into the yellow zone, as determined by spotters on either side of the track, they will receive a caution signal.

If they go wider still, onto the red zone, then they cop a

drive-through.

This would seem to be a simple, cheap and effective way to eliminate the dangerous practice of having unsecured targets on the racetrack.

Matt Treacey matttreacy@bigpond.com

opinion

Well, they are just race drivers ...

I’ll give you a little tip. See if you can guess who I’m talking about – he’s young and drives a green car.

His team manager got a call at 5.30am NZ time on the morning after Hamilton asking where the airport was? He had just driven from Hamilton and had made it all the way to Auckland City and was right next door to Sky City Casino and couldn’t see any planes.

The conversation went something like this: Manager: you need to get back onto motorway and head towards Hamilton again.

Driver: What? That’s where I have just come from!

Manager: drive back that way and look for the plane signs on the motorway.

Driver: Is that on State Highway One??

Manager: That’s right.

Michael Hawkins michael@snikwah.co.nz

Dirk Klynsmith

we perform best at are at the start of the year. The best thing is that we’ve taken advantage of it. If we can keep the ball rolling, we should be able to remain at the front.

It has increased expectations – it’s hard not to, because when you’re up the front, you want to be there all the time ...

In future, book early Hi there Team MNews. Thanks for your great read each Monday night. I say Monday night because I read it cover to cover before I hit the hay!

I just wanted to offer some advice to your readers before Winton’s V8 Supercar round in 2010. Book your accommodation NOW! I have spent the past two weeks calling every hotel and motel from Benalla to Bourke, and it took me a long time to

secure something. It seems every northern Victorian hotel, motel, B&B and pub has been booked out for ages. Maybe I was being a little naive not booking earlier – this is my first tour to Winton.

But don’t stress, I’ve found something. I may as well be staying in Melbourne, but at least I’m going to be there. I’m just hoping that the weather stays nice ...

Brett O’Bree Bradbury, NSW

23

SHANNONS NATIONALS ROUND 2 – WAKEFIELD PARK, NSW

High & Dry Shannons Nationals action sprung back into life at Wakefield Park last weekend.

LACHLAN MANSELL was there

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race

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No fault by Holt

Holt dodges other’s dramas to snatch Australian Manufacturer’s honours

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at the faster tracks like Phillip Island, so it was good to take this weekend’s round.”

Holt also won the A2 class for high-performance rear-wheeldrive cars, while Lee Castle was first car home in the A1, highperformance all-wheel-drive class.

The Class B win went to Jake Camilleri, who put in a giantkilling performance in his Mazda 3 MPS to take the fight right up to the more powerful cars. The greasy conditions that afflicted the first two races suited Camilleri perfectly, and he finished second outright in Race 2.

Stuart Jones won class C in his Toyota Celica after a consistent run throughout the weekend.

The most controversial incident of the weekend occurred towards the end of the second race. It started when Irish driver Gerard Keogh ground to a halt on the main straight with fuel problems in his HSV Clubsport R8. A number of drivers narrowly missed rear-ending

John Morris/Mpix

arry Holt came out on top in an action-packed second round of the Australian Manufacturers Championship at Wakefield Park on the weekend.

Holt, driving his BMW 335i, won his class in Race 1 and finished first outright in Race 2, before finishing third in Race 3 behind the Mitsubishi Evo X of Rod Salmon and the Subaru STi of Lee Castle.

“The car was really competitive this weekend,” Holt said. “We had lots of engine management problems in the Bathurst 12 Hour, but we imported a new engine management system from the States last week, and the car performed a lot better. We softened the suspension up a lot as well, to make the car put its power down better as well, and it was certainly a lot nicer to drive.”

Holt was somewhat surprised to win the round at a circuit that normally suits the all-wheel-drive cars.

“The BMW is normally better

(Almost) king of the Castle: Lee Castle, above, was involved in a laterace altercation with Rod Salmon, pictured top.

the stricken Clubsport, and the safety car was deployed, allowing Mitsubishi Evo driver Rod Salmon to close onto the tail of race leader Lee Castle.

When the race restarted, Salmon dived at Castle under brakes into the final corner, and nailed the back of the Subaru, causing both cars to spear off the circuit. Salmon was docked 15 points for the indiscretion, but that was little

consolation for a disgruntled Lee Castle.

“After a very good start to the second race, it was an unfortunate ending to get used as a brake point for an Evo 10,” Castle said. “It was unfortunate because we were beating a far superior car, but we ended up with substantial damage to the rear of the car.”

The next round of the series is at Eastern Creek in July.

John Morris/Mpix Dirk Klynsmith

Creek king: Holt was a surprising round winner, above. Steve Briffa, left, ran towards the front, while Shaun Jones leads Stuart Jones, below.

James Smith

James Smith

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Dirk Klynsmith

In for the long haul Tim Macrow and Joey Foster shared the spoils in Round 2 of the F3 Driver’s title

T

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Goulay-built Audi A4, Hossack was relegated to second by Ricciardello in Race 2, and then suffered a deflated tyre in Race 3, ending his hopes of a round win. Kerry Baily and Des Wall battled for the minor places, with Wall spinning out of contention in the final race, while state championship competitors Scott Butler and Chris Jackson rounding out the top-five. Graham Smith’s weekend ended with a big shunt in Race 1.

Adam Wallis took out the opening round of the V8 Touring Cars, which featured a mixture of wet and dry conditions. Wallis won the first race, and Terry Wyhoon won the second race, setting up a showdown for the round win in Race 3. A shower shortly before the race made the track very slippery, but Wyhoon gambled on slick tyres, hoping the track would dry as the race progressed. At one stage, Wyhoon’s gamble looked like paying off, but a late shower

John Morris/Mpix

im Macrow and Joey Foster each won races in the Australian Formula 3 Championship, with Foster holding his series lead.

Foster, pictured leading above, qualified on pole for both races, but jumped the start of the first race and copped a drivethrough penalty, allowing Macrow (right) to take victory from Mat Sofi.

Foster took a lights-to-flag win in Race 2 ahead of Sofi and Ben Crighton, who recovered well after spinning off the track in Race 1 and triggering a red flag. Foster’s results allowed him to extend his series lead ahead of the next round at Phillip Island in May. Tom Tweedie won the National class in both races, including a fine fourth outright in Race 1.

Tony Ricciardello and Darren Hossack resumed their intense battle from last year in the Sports Sedan races. After winning Race 1 in his John

ruined his strategy. Jonathan Beikoff capitalised to finish second for the round.

Nick Parker won his second Commodore Cup round, bouncing back from differential problems which resulted in him qualifying 10th. Parker moved up to fifth in Race 1, and then won the second, top-10 reverse-grid race with some fine race-craft.

Another win in the final gave Parker a great start to his 2009 title campaign.

Brett Holdsworth looked like winning the round after a dominant pole position and Race 1 win, and a strong charge to third in Race 2.

However, broken differential welding in the final race dropped Holdsworth to 13th, but he still finished second for the round ahead of the consistent Jason Domaschenz.

Last year’s champ Michael Tancredi did not get his title defence off to the best start, with a blown gearbox in Race 3.

Dirk Klynsmith John Morris/Mpix

Wintery Wakefield: Top, Nick Parker had differencial problems in qualifying, but fought back well to take two race wins and open his series account on top. Above, in Sport Sedans, it was a case of ‘You know who.’ Tony Ricciardello and Darren Hossack fought out the honours. Left, Adam Wallis fought off the challengers in the V8 Touring Car class, beating Jonathon Beikoff.

Dirk Klynsmith

29

NASCAR SPRINT CUP ROUND 9 – AARON’S 499, TALLADEGA, AL

SMASH and GRA

It took Brad Keselowski five races to take his first Sprint Cup win. But he had to launch Carl Edwards into orbit to do it.

MARTIN D CLARK reports on a wild race at ‘Dega

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race

AB

NASCAR Media

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B

RAD Keselowski led one lap at Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday. It was the first lap he has led in a Sprint Cup race – and he won it.

In just his fifth Cup start, Keselowski tapped leader Carl Edwards into a spin, which became a roll, and while the Ford starred somersaulted into the catch fencing, the 25-year-old steered his exHendrick Chevy owned by Phoenix Racing to the win.

Keselowski and Edwards restarted 10th and 11th following a late race caution that left a four lap shoot-out, but on the final lap they passed to the high side of the Chevrolets of Ryan Newman and Dale Earnhardt Jr. Keselowski went high to pass Edwards Roush Fenway Ford entering the front stretch, Edwards moved up to block. Brad then went low and Edwards moved down, not realizing he was already inside his left rear quarter, sending Edwards into the fence and down onto Ryan Newman’s hood.

Junior finished second, Newman breezed in for third totally out of control and Edwards out of the car and – literally – running across the finish line to come home 24th.

“We got together and got hooked up [drafting],”

said Keselowski. “Everyone knows the deal [that] you can’t pass below the yellow line. I tried him high and he blocked high, I tried him low and he blocked low and I was not going below the yellow line, that’s the rule. Carl knows the rule, [and] tried to force me into it and I wasn’t accepting it, no way man. We’re here trying to win Talladega, we’re not going for points. I feel bad for Carl and I hope everybody’s OK.” “Brad did everything right,” countered Edwards.

“He faked high and went low, I tried to block him and I got turned. NASCAR puts us in the box and we’ve got to race this way. You aren’t going to win the race unless you’re pushing the guy around the racetrack, and that’s where we’re at. I’m just glad no one got hurt.”

With three and four wide racing the first ‘big one’ occurred on lap seven, when Jeff Gordon and Matt Kenseth made contact resulting in a multi-car wreck that left cars visiting the garage area and Mark Martin, Clint Bowyer, Jamie McMurray, Scott Riggs and David Gilliland out of the event.

The ninth and final caution aired with nine laps to run when Denny Hamlin bumped first-time polesitter Juan Pablo Montoya and for the second time all hell broke loose.

Tasmaniadega!

Ambrose scores career-best fourth place AMID all the mayhem around him, Marcos Ambrose did not get enough credit for running fourth.

Yes, a lot of drivers crashed, but the Australian drove a solid race. After starting 34th, he ran towards the back early before moving into the top 10, then dropping to the rear again.

Savvy and fast driving moved him back into the 10 before the

final melee.

After scraping through the carnage, Ambrose now sits 19th in points, up seven.

“It was a wild finish I just hope everyone’s alright,” said Ambrose on his first Talladega start.

“It was the most spectacular thing I’ve ever seen in my life, coming across the finish line looking at Carl upside down

like that. This is crazy racing, we can try and legitimize it as much as we like, but it’s insanity on four wheels.

“I didn’t really work with anyone. I probably made three good choices all day to get myself up there and from that point I was just hanging on.

I’m just so thankful to my crew we’ve got such a great posse and we’re really gelling.”

Toyota Motorsports

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Ragan against the Machine NATIONWIDE SERIES

NASCAR Media NASCAR Media

NASCAR Media

Restrictor Plate Racing: As usual, there was a bunch to see at Talladega, like this early-race wreck, top. Brad Keselowski got to celebrate his maiden win with mentor Dale Earnhardt Jr, above.

Scott Speed was fifth, left, while Carl Edwards did a Ricky Bobby and jogged to the finish line, below.

THE surprises came thick and fast at Talladega, with David Ragan coming out the surprise winner of the Nationwide race.

Ragan took his first win in any of the top three NASCAR divisions with a spectacular three-wide move in an exciting race. Polesitter Ryan Newman looked to have the win sewn up coming off the final turn, but as he blocked Dale Earnhardt Jr, the pair touched, allowing Ragan to thread the needle through the middle and to Newman’s outside for the lead, but not before the two sideswiped each other coming to the finish line.

Ragan’s win came at the expense of his Roush Fenway Racing team-mate Matt Kenseth, who flipped violently complete with flames after a tap from Ragan on the front stretch with 13 laps to run in the 117 lap event. To be fair to Ragan it looked like he was bump drafted from behind to trigger the incident that Kenseth walked away from.

– MARTIN D CLARK

SPRINT CUP | AARON’S 499, TALLADEGA 1 09 2 88 3 39 4 47 5 82 6 2 7 16 8 83 9 20 10 31

Brad Keselowski Chevy Dale Earnhardt Jr Chevy Ryan Newman Chevy Marcos Ambrose Toyota Scott Speed Toyota Kurt Busch Dodge Greg Biffle Ford Brian Vickers Toyota Joey Logano Toyota Jeff Burton Chevy

Earnhardt Ganassi/Miccosukee Q9 Hendrick/National Guard 11 Stewart Haas/Prelude to the Dream25 JTG Daugherty/Little Debbie 25 Red Bull Racing 8 Penske/Miller Lite 28 Roush Fenway/3M 2 Red Bull Racing 30 Joe Gibbs/Home Depot 22 Childress/Caterpillar 20

NASCAR Media

NASCAR | DRIVER’S points Kurt Busch 1299, Gordon 1294, Johnson 1235, Stewart 1232, Hamlin 1193, Kyle Busch 1124, Edwards 1119, Bowyer 1098, Burton 1092, Biffle 1081, Reutimann 1077, Kenseth 1063 [Ambrose 937, 19th].

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INDYCAR SERIES ROUND 3 – ROAD RUNNER TURBO INDY 300

Honda Racing

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race

After two bad rounds, Scott Dixon got his title defence on the right track with victory in windswept Kansas

BACK ON TARGET 35

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pit road, the pits were closed after Long Beach winner Dario Franchitti hit the wall and triggered a caution.

It was a telling blow for the Aussie, who had led the race for more than 50 laps. He was forced to drive around to get service; he dropped three positions as a result.

“It’s a solid result, but it’s really disappointing,” said Briscoe.

“We had the car to win and we had the track position until we got caught out with that yellow, so it’s really unfortunate. But I’m happy to be disappointed for that reason, that’s for sure.”

The speed looked to be even between the Ganassi and Penske cars on fresh tyres, but the further the cars went into a stint, the better Dixon looked.

Danica Patrick had another good weekend with fifth, Marco Andretti put a third AGR car in a top six behind her and Rahal was seventh, after losing track position during a pit cycle.

Reddy to fire: Scott Dixon got back on message at Kansas, taking his first win of the 2009 season.

He claimed the trophy and a welcome kiss from wife Emma, right.

IndyCar Media

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Honda Racing

COTT Dixon’s IndyCar title defence is back in business after a strong drive in Kansas.

Despite the threat of wild weather – a tornado hit the area on Saturday night – the Kiwi scored some revenge on the track with an emphatic victory, to leap from a lowly 17th in series points to fourth.

“It’s been a tough couple of weeks,” said Dixon.

“We made a few changes to the car and trimmed it out. We were trimmed to win today, and it definitely worked.”

Last year, Dixon dominated the race, leading 75 percent of the laps, only to be stopped by an ill-timed caution period. This time, there was no living with the flying Ganassi car.

Brazilians scored second and third, Helio Castroneves second, a position he was all too familiar with last season. Tony Kanaan took third and with it, the series lead. It was a great performance from the former, whose third-fastest qualifying time was negated when he dropped below the white line, forcing him to start 21st.

The first oval race of the season started with Graham Rahal on pole for the first time, alongside team-mate Robert Doornbos. Dixon was in the lead by lap eight, and through the middle of the race the Penske pair both were set back, Castroneves taking on a new nose after smashing a front wing and Briscoe getting trapped when, already on

INDYCAR | ROAD RUNNER TURBO INDY 300, kansas 1 9 2 3 3 11 4 6 5 7 6 26 7 02 8 27 9 20 10 4

Scott Dixon Helio Castroneves Tony Kanaan Ryan Briscoe Danica Patrick Marco Andretti Graham Rahal Hideki Mutoh Ed Carpenter Dan Wheldon

NZ Br Br Aus USA USA USA J USA GB

Target Ganassi Team Penske Andretti Green Team Penske Andretti Green Andretti Green Newman Haas Lanigan Andretti Green Racing Vision Racing Panther Racing

Q4 22 8 7 3 5 1 13 10 9

INDYCAR | pointS Kanaan 100, Briscoe 99, Franchitti 96, Dixon 81, Hunter-Reay and Patrick 74, Andretti 73, Rahal 72, Power 69, etc.

IndyCar Media

First Lady: Danica Patrick backed up her Long Beach result with fifth. Here, her Motorola car sweeps around the outside of Mario Moraes, above.

Helio Castroneves overcame this lap 15 pitstop, left, to claim second. Countryman Tony Kanaan, below, claimed the points lead with third.

Honda Racing

IndyCar Media

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WORLD SUPERBIKE CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 4 – ASSEN, NETHERLANDS

It took almost a decade – and Ben Spies falling off – for Noriyuki Haga to become a repeat winner at Assen

Nine Years Later

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Ducati Corse

NORIYUKI Haga is going to win the 2009 World Superbike Championship. And he is going to do it because the only man who can beat him keeps falling off.

The Ducati ace won the second race at Assen after finishing second in the first.

Ben Spies beat him after a thrilling battle, but the Texan tumbled off his Yamaha early in Race 2 and Nori cantered home to win it.

The two riders are, clearly, the class of the field by a huge margin, and turn on some great battles.

“It’s been a great day for us and after nine years, I have finally won again at Assen; I am very happy,” said Haga.

“The bike felt very normal and I was able to get into the lead,” Spies said.

“On the second lap coming out of [turn] one I just barely touched the edge of the track on the grass and had a big highside. It was unfortunate

because I felt like I was riding well and the bike was great. I mean I barely got the bike off the edge and that was the end of the race. That’s just how it goes.”

By far the best of the challengers is Leon Hasman, third in Race 1 and second in Race 2, the Stiggy Honda man riding solo after team-mate John Hopkins was hospitalised after a heavy crash on Friday.

Yamaha’s second rider Tom Sykes came good with a fourth and a sixth, while Troy Corser was 10th twice despite nursing a painful left hand.

Points: Haga 180, Spies 120, Haslam 94, Fabrizio 80, Neukirchner 75, Sykes 70, Biaggi 65, Laconi 64, Rea 53, Smrz 44.

THE Aussies had a day to forget in Supersport, with Eugene Laverty taking his second win of the season on his Honda.

Cal Crutchlow was second from Joan Lascorz’s Kawasaki.

Mark Aitchison was the best Australian in sixth, one spot up on Ant West. Andrew Pitt crashed.

Yamaha Racing

Red v Blue: Haga has taken a stranglehold on the series, main pic, but it was Spies who had the edge in speed, taking Superpole and Race 1.

Haslam, #91, is proving to be the ‘other’ find of the season.

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sutton-images.com

Three’s a crowd

Three different winners highlight close British Touring Car racing at Thruxton BTCC

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sutton-images.com

THE HiQ MSA British Touring Car Championship produced three different winners Thruxton with Fabrizio Giovanardi, Colin Turkington and Mat Jackson sharing the wins.

Pole-sitter Giovanardi took his Vauxhall Vectra to honours in race one heading home a Vauxhall 1-2-3 as Matt Neal and Andrew Jordan chased him home. Turkington bagged Race 2 after a late charge as the Vauxhalls struggled for tyre life, first passing Neal for second and then grabbing the lead from Giovanardi on the last lap. With the maximum

ballast of 45 kgs on board, Giovanardi was struggling out of corners, and the weight, plus his chewed tyres made him easy prey for Turkington who pounced with half a lap to go.

Race 3 was a stormer with Paul O’Neill (Honda Integra) starting from pole position with Mat Jackson (Chevrolet Lacetti) starting alongside him. O’Neill made a tardy start allowing Jackson to lead and Adam Jones (SEAT Leon) up to second. O’Neill passed Jones before a safety care period (for a crashed John George’s Honda Intregra) but was unable to take advantage of the restart as Jackson made everyone else slow before flooring the

throttle.

O’Neill then suffered a puncture allowing Jones back past with James Thompson (Honda Civic) taking third

from Jason Plato’s Chevrolet.

Giovanardi took eighth on the bootlid of Neal who still leads the championship.

– DAVID ADDISON

race

Scott impresses with pair of fourths FORMULA RENUALT

sutton-images.com

AUSTRALIAN driver Josh Scott took fourth place in both Formula Renault UK Championship races at Thruxton last weekend.

In the first race he was embroiled in a duel with Oli Webb which resulted in Scott over-forcefully squeezing Webb onto the grass at high speed.

Race 2 was punctuated by a

battle with team-mate Lewis Williamson (until Williamson ploughed into the barriers) and then another fight with Webb. A last lap puncture slowed Webb allowing Josh an easier run to another fourth place.

Dean Stoneman and James Calado took poles for both races, with Calado winning Race 1 while Race 2 was taken out by Jesse Krohn.

– DAVID ADDISON

Seb-sational!

INDY LIGHTS

Points: Jonathan Summerton 130, Junior Strous 126, Sebastian Saavedra 123, JR Hildebrand 116, James Hinchcliffe 116, Daniel Herrington 104, Ana Beatriz 101, Mario Romancini 91, Jay Howard 91, James Davison 87.

indycar.com

Sebastian Saavedra secured victory in the third round of the Firestone Indy Lights Series at Kansas last weekend.

New Zealand driver Wade Cunninham turned around a disappointing start to the season with a second place finish, ahead of third-place finisher Mario Romancini.

But the weekend was all about Saavedra, who bolted up to third in the championship table.

“I think it was unbelievable. Cannot be better,” he said.

“The car was great since the first time we touched this track. Very happy for AFS/AGR Racing. I think the guys did an awesome job. I think the Firestone

Firehawks were unbelievable during the whole race. Just happy, not only for me, but for my whole team.

“It’s important points for the championship, which for us is the most important thing right now. Looking forward to the next races.”

Australian contendewr james Davison started and finished in eighth place, holding down his top 10 series points position.

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rear of grid

IT’S a Big Country, Australia, full of Big Things, like The Big Pineapple, The Big Banana and The Big Merino.

These large animals and veggies are just the thing to inspire motor racing greatness.

Or, so Joey Foster and Ben Crighton were hoping when they visited the last-named enormous critter in Goulburn, while they were in town for the local Formula 3 festivities at Wakefield Park.

Which brings us to this; why no Big Dallara? Is it that the Italians are too far away to be inspired by such Big Things? Or, are they just not man enough to go large?

Think of it; a 30-metre long Dallara F3 car, complete with huge Mercedes-Benz engine, gracing one of the less interesting parts of Tuscany.

Tourists would make a beeline for the place like … er, bees.

If we can do an Ovis Aries Maximus, surely our Italian buddies can whip out the carbon fibre and have a dip.

Forza, lads!

Dirk Klynsmith

More than they can Baaaa Odd Spot

SPEAKING of having a dip, we could not let this pass.

Biante Touring Car Masters driver Steve Makarios has assumed fishing immortality by reeling in a 128kg southern bluefin tuna, the largest in Victorian history.

Makarios battled the monster for six hours in a 5.6m boat before overcoming the leviathan of the deep. The 2.3m creature put up a pretty good fight, but had obviously never witnessed Makarios wrestling a Falcon GTHO around the streets of Adelaide ...

“It was a pretty epic battle with the fish and we thought we’d never get it in the boat,” said Makarios.

In other related news, eNews editor Grant Rowley recently set a record of his own. After an intense battle, Growler landed a 3.3kg bottle of Wasabe paste and a 44gallon drum of Soy sauce.

Hey, have you two guys met?

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