Motorsport eNews Issue 115 - July 28-August 3, 2009

The world of MOtorsport Directly to your desktop

Issue No. 115 July 28- August 3 2009

LownDes, whincup, VODAFONE

answer the roar

How life will be different for t8 in 2010

! r e w o p e h t I have

HRT: power dominates edmonton

New deal for tom

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 Ruffini 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)

Issue No. 115 | 28 July - 3 August 2009

news 4 T8’s Holden link 6 New V8 home 8 A1GP coming 11 Fresh FV8 schemes 17 South Australly

chat 18 5 minutes with ... opinion 20 Branagan race 24 NASCAR 28 IndyCar 32 Superbikes 34 British F3 35 Spa 24 Hour

trade 38 Classifieds

CL, JW, Vodafone ... and GM Supercars score best seats Forget the rumours ...

Moffat and Walter’s new look Eight degrees of separation Will Power Dear Team USA ...

Is Johnson Indy Invisible?

How to handle Power Do you Spies what I see?

Ricciardo is lookin’ good!

Independants take win

The Geelong Cats have been the form team in the AFL over the past three seasons. Can some of their skill and luck rub off on Ford Performance Racing at Sandown this weekend?

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

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

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

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

They’ve locked in the drivers and the sponsor, next on the list is ...

... a Holden deal for Triple Eig V8 SUPERCARS

H

OT on the heels of the news that Triple Eight Race Engineering has locked in its drivers and key sponsor for the next three year comes new impetus to the speculation that the team will race Holden Commodores in 2010 and beyond.

Trusted industry sources are telling eNews that on top of the new deal, which will see V8 Supercar Champion Jamie Whincup and iconic driver Craig Lowndes stay in the colours of mobile communications giant Vodafone for the next three years, Triple Eight Engineering is close, if not signed, to a new Holden development program for the Queensland team.

It is suggested that the deal involves “some” backing from the car company, which is looking to tone down its over-all financial expenditure in motorsport as part of its global restructure. eNews believes that the move will see T8 not just continue its existing customer deals but expand on them. Alongside its existing arrangements, which see Dick Johnson Racing, Paul Cruickshank Racing and Marcus Marshall’s team run customer T8 Fords, and a number of other teams (including Holden teams) use T8built or supplied components, there will be T8 customer Commodores next season.

We believe that the likely team is Super Cheap

Autos Racing (Paul Morris Motorsport), and that there would a concurrent engine supply deal with KRE engines, which builds Ford motors for TeamVodafone and the Cruickshank and Marshall teams. eNews sought comment from both Holden Motorsport Manager Simon McNamara and T8 principal Roland Dane on Monday, but neither was forthcoming with a comment at the time this edition went ‘live’.

Should the speculation be confirmed, it will be an almighty setback for Ford. Regardless of the relationship between the company and T8, which was formally severed at the end of last year when the company cut back its motor racing expenditure, there have been considerable kudos associated with the race-winning performance of the red and silver cars, which are still identifiable as Fords, despite having no branding for the company whatsoever.

Lowndes has an ongoing Ford deal until the end of this season and his defection to Holden would be seen as something of a return of a prodigal son. Both Lowndes and Whincup started their V8 Supercar careers as Holden drivers, but both would be welcomed back to the fold by the red faithful. It would also cut the number of Falcons in the series to 10 – a third of the grid.

Three-year deal for Lowndes and Voda SPECULATION that Jamie Whincup might move on to an international career was exthinguished last week when he signed a new threeyear deal with TeamVodafone.

Whincup and team-mate Craig Lowndes will stay with the team until 2012, with Vodafone’s deal matching that of its drivers: “I am overwhelmed with the opportunities that have arisen since winning my first V8 Supercar Championship,” said Whincup.

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

news

HRT future secure V8 SUPERCARS

THE future of the existing two-car HRT race team has been secured by a new deal between Holden and Walkinshaw Racing.

Motorsport eNews understands that a new “multi-year deal” has been agreed in recent days that will see the iconic Team Red continue racing in the V8 Supercar series in its

current guise.

The deal is reportedly separate to, and not contingent upon, any other deals that Holden has in V8 Supercar racing.

However, while the HRT team itself is secure, the deal does not at this point include aspects of any other of Walkinshaw Racing’s activities.

Expect a formal announcement prior to Phillip Island’s V8 endurance race. sutton-images.com

Dirk Klynsmith

ght

r Whincup, afone

Marshall Cass

“This extension will see me at TeamVodafone for a total of eight years which will be the longest period I have spent with any team,” said Lowndes, who has previously driven for the Holden Racing Team, Gibson Motorsport and Ford Performance Racing.

“The continuity between Jamie and I will serve the team well into the future and having a global brand like Vodafone behind us will really help us to continue our quest to remain at the top of our game both on and off the track.”

Power’s Play INDYCAR WILL Power remains committed to continuing his American career, in spite of picking up his first IndyCar win at Edmonton as a ‘part-time’ driver.

The Indianapolis-based Queenslander dominated at the airport circuit in Western Canada, taking pole in a Team Penske 1-2-3 and leading all but a few laps in the event.

The only problem that Power, 28, had during the race was when lapping Marco Andretti – the American ‘racing’ the leader

and costing him much of his 7s lead.

Power has another four events with Penske this season, but even with no deal in sight for 2010, is concentrating on the upcoming races, starting under lights in Kentucky this weekend.

“I am not looking that far ahead [to 2010],” he told eNews.

“I am just really focused on doing a good job in the five races I am doing. What I want to do is to stay with Penske; it is a great team.

“I want a full-time ride next year. I do not want to come

down from that. It has been a bit tough this year and I want a full-time ride. Yes, I do want to stay at Penske. But if that is not possible, I will be looking everywhere else for a ride.”

While pitlane talk connects Danica Patrick to a third Ganassi entry, and other Silly Season moves are being discussed, all has been quiet regarding Power. However, he says that he will not look at returning to Australia to pursue and V8 Supercar career, and wants to chase a title next season.

For more on Will Power, see 5 Minutes, page 22

SS GPWEEK – THE WORLD’S FIRST INTERNATIONAL ‘VIRTUAL’ MOTORSPORT MAGAZINE ...

New SuperGP garages will be the home of V8 Supercars in 2009

V8s get the Surfers street upgrade Why TC calls Surfers ‘home’

V8 SUPERCARS

COMMENT TONY COCHRANE V8 Supercars Chairman

Peter Bury

V8 SUPERCARS will have a change of scenery at the Nitro SuperGP’s Gold Coast street race this year.

The V8 field has been moved up to the main pit area (formally occupied by the Champ Car/IndyCar teams), which will feature a brand-new pit complex.

The move has come about, in part, thanks to the new-for2009 re-fuelling races within the category.

V8SA Chairman Tony Cochrane says that the category’s fans are the ones who will benefit from the new location.

“It’s fantastic for V8 Supercars and fantastic for our fans,” Cochrane told eNews at last week’s launch of the October 22-25 event.

“Moving up to the main pit area allows us to do fuel stops, so from our point of view, it allows us to do a 200km race on Saturday and a 200km race on Sunday.

“It’s a big step up for V8 Supercars at this event and we are obviously very excited

about that and we think it’s a big step for our fans.”

The extended race format also means that the V8s will be on track for a longer period than previous seasons, again giving V8 fans greater value.

The A1GP cars – new to the Surfers Paradise streets in 2009 – have been given a practice session on Thursday as well, making it the first time that the major openwheel class at the event will be on track for all four days.

THE Surfers Paradise street circuit is our home event – this is where our headquarters is based, about half our teams are located in the Gold Coast region.

We all consider this to be our ‘home ground.’ Obviously, we’ve been a big part of it for a number of years, and we’re now having to take that extra step up to be a bigger part of it in the future, so it’s a great story for us and we’re delighted to be in this position.

There are about 700 people employed through V8 Supercars, the teams and allied industries based on the Gold Coast.

Personally, our biggest meeting is now, and probably forever will be Bathurst, but that doesn’t diminish this Gold Coast race.

It’s a different meeting, obviously it attracts a huge crowd, and a huge corporate presence so it’s a very important event for V8s, our teams and the state of Queensland.

Dirk Klynsmith

news

Marshall Cass

Marshall buyer soon, likely for Sandown V8 SUPERCARS AS eNews went live, Marcus Marshall’s IntaRacing team was heading to Sandown Raceway, but the chances of the team competing at the Victorian circuit’s V8 round remain up in the air.

Marshall and the owners of IntaRacing are on the verge of selling the team again, after previously failing to finalise a buyer last month. eNews understands that a heads of agreement has

been draw up for a new buyer – believed to be an entity experienced in local motorsport. The deal, if it goes ahead, is likely to be finalised today (Tuesday).

If both parties agree to terms, the deal will need to be signed off by V8 Supercars, as per the Racing Entitlements Contract.

If the team competes, it will feature a one-off sponsorship which is not related to the new buyer.

– GRANT ROWLEY

Safety First HOLDEN Motorsport has upped its commitment to safety, providing two Commodore VEs for renowned race track safety specialists Team Medical Australia.

TMA is regarded as the leading provider of motorsport medical services. Pictured above, Holden Motorsport manager Simon McNamara hands the keys of the VEs to TMA’s Steve Lynch and Brent May.

Seto parts company with Bottle-O GLENN Seton has left The Bottle O Racing team, effective immediately.

The two-time Australian Touring Car Champion was Tony D’Alberto’s race engineer and scheduled to be his endurance race co-driver, but has amicably parted ways with the team.

The Bottle O Team, which competes under the Rod Nash Racing V8 licence, is searching for a new engineer to join the team, although a new co-driver may have already been sorted, with former PWR Racing driver Andrew Thompson stepping in as the man most likely.

Team driver Tony D’Alberto said he was “disappointed” that Seton has parted ways with his organisation.

“It’s disappointing,” he said.

“We get along really well and I’m not

aware what went on or why. He’s obviously got his reasons, but there’s been no bad feeling. It’s just a shame that we couldn’t continue to make progress.”

D’Alberto admitted that his 2009 V8 season hasn’t gone exactly to plan, but a few highlights have given him hope heading into the second half of the season.

“I think we started out the year OK for speed,” he said.

“We had a couple of rounds where we went backwards, and it’s difficult to put a finger on why. We’ve been knocking on the door, and I think Townsville showed we’re making the right calls. We had a broken gear lever in the first race, and then (Russell) Ingall outbraked himself at Turn 2 and hit me. We were looking pretty good for a top 10 if not for that.

“The season hasn’t been what we wanted, but the field is very close and the lap times are so tight. It’s a tough game.”

While D’Alberto’s green and white Holden car is unlikely to have a new engineer on board in time for Sandown this weekend, the Victorian will enjoy some minor engine upgrades for the Norton Sandown Challenge.

And speaking of Sandown, D’Alberto got some extra miles around the circuit two weeks ago, substituting for James Atkinson in the latest round of the Victorian Improved Production class.

Atkinson was away on business on the Saturday, and D’Alberto stepped into the VX Commodore, finishing third and second in the two Saturday events.

– GRANT ROWLEY

news

A1GP confirms:

We’ll be at the SuperGP Dirk Klynsmith

A1GP to get new investor, cars upgraded in time for Surfers Nitro SuperGP A1 GRAND PRIX

Dirk Klynsmith

A1 GRAND Prix Series officials have laid to rest the question marks surrounding the category, confirming the 20 identical Ferrari chassis will be ready to kick off its season at the Nitro Energy Drinks SuperGP meeting on the Gold Coast in late October.

Prior to last week’s launch of the popular Gold Coast street race, there were rumours that the A1GP class would not make it to the October race due to outstanding debts with creditors.

A1GP CEO Tony Teixeira was not at the launch, but A1GP General Manager Paul Cherry told eNews that Teixeira was in Europe at the time, concluding an investment program with a new partner for the category.

Cherry admitted that times had been tough for A1, but said that there is no doubt that the season will proceed, and prosper, in 2009/10 with the new investor.

“Series like ours costs in excess

of $100 million to run,” he said.

“We ran the last season very much on good will and fresh air. Our chairman supported it completely. When we got to the end of it, there’s no doubt we had some bills to clear up.

“Mr Teixeira isn’t here (at the SuperGP launch) because he has concluded an investment program with a new investor.

He will come in and that will help the series move forward.

“Whether that investor would have come in or not, we would have continued on, without a shadow of a doubt.

“We are now strong moving forward – we’ve always had fantastic property in the series in that we continue to grow our media coverage. We’re the only motorsport property that has TV numbers that are rising, not falling.”

At this stage, the 2009/10 A1GP calendar only has two dates confirmed, however, Cheery says that the calendar is finalised, pending FIA approval.

“The FIA is yet to ratify our calendar,” he said.

“We have one event that is to be finalised and I’m actually going from here to that country to finalise it. There will be 10 races, and yes, Surfers Paradise

will be the first race and it instantly becomes one of our marquee events.”

The A1 cars are currently undergoing a facelift, with cockpit sides being upgraded, as well as new side impact protection to satisfy the FIA’s new standards.

The launch of the Nitro SuperGP was highlighted by 24 parachutists, each with a flag representing the 20 countries competing in the A1GP Series.

The other four flags were one each for Ford, Holden, V8 Supercars and the Nitro SuperGP flag.

The event was attended by the race’s number one ticket holder Sir Jack Brabham, number two ticket holder Geoff Brabham and A1 Team Australia’s seat holder Alan Jones.

The Team Australia car could not make the event as it was being prepared to the new FIA standards. Instead, the Team Malaysia car was present.

– GRANT ROWLEY

BRIEFLY... n Wilson Security Racing driver Fabian Coulthard has launched a brand-new website.

The Kiwi’s site includes allthings Fab, including You Tube videos, Facebook and Twitter links giving fans upto-the-minute updates, as well as downloads and photo galleries. For more, click to www.fabiancoulthard .com n This August, ABC TV’s Australian Story will feature the legendary Sir Jack Brabham, celebrating the 50th anniversary of his first Formula 1 World Championship win.

Produced by Roger Carter, who created the awardwinning Craig Lowndes episode, Carter has dug deep into the ABC archives to find footage not seen for 40 years.

Featured interviews in the program include Sir Stirling Moss, Murray Walker, Alan Jones and, as a special treat, Australian Story flew Phil Kerr (friend and former manager to Sir Jack) over from New Zealand for a reunion.

Ian Lees (friend and former mechanic), Geoff Brabham (son) Lady Margaret Brabham and Sir Jack himself have also been interviewed. n The Toll Holden Racing Team is throwing open its doors for the very first time.

Toll HRT’s invitation to go behind the scenes of its multiV8 Supercar Championship and Bathurst winning racing operation is part of a mega Family Day to be held at its Clayton headquarters on Sunday, 20 September.

The first annual Toll Holden Racing Team Family Day will also give access to Holden Special Vehicles (HSV), Team Autobarn and the Bundaberg Red Racing V8 Supercar teams, which are also part of the Walkinshaw Racing stable.

10

Stanaway tests ADAC Masters FORMULA MASTERS RICHIE Stanaway has made his overseas ambitions clear with an ADAC Formula Masters test in Germany recently.

The young Kiwi took some time out of his Australian Formula Ford program to jump aboard one of the wings-andslicks cars, which are a version of the International Formula Masters series, but runs exclusively in Germany.

According to Stanaway, the

test went well, and “just the budget” is all that will stop him heading back to Germany for a tilt at the whole series in 2010.

“Yeah definitely,” Stanway told eNews when quizzed whether he would consider racing there next season.

“Even on a test day the atmosphere was different to anything else, so I can’t imagine what a race weekend would be like. The whole experience is fairly different to anything in Australia or New Zealand; just the way

the teams work and what is expected from you as a driver.

“The car was great to drive, just having so much grip. But probably the best thing was the circuits – Eurospeedway Lausitz and Hockenheim. It was my first experience with European-style tracks, apart from the Melbourne Grand Prix.”

Stanaway will be back in action this weekend for Team BRM at Sandown’s round of the Australian Formula Ford Championship.

– ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN

Former racer dies in NZ avalanche FORMULA MASTERS FORMER Group A Bathurst racer Lynden Riethmuller was the Sydney businessman killed in an avalanche while heli-skiing in New Zealand last Friday.

Riethmuller, 61, raced at national level throughout the late 80s, early 90s, with backing from his successful family Sephco electronics business.

In 1987 Riethmuller teamed up with Phil Ward (more recently of Aussie Race Cars fame) to create Reithmuller Ward International Motorsport. With the help of Bob Jane they secured the 2 Helmet Marko AMG Mercedes-Benz 190E 2.3 16 Group A cars Jane had brought out for Bathurst, which

were raced for a number of seasons, above.

Riethmuller also raced a Perkins-built V8 Commodore, but most recently had been enjoying racing Historic cars, especially his black Renault Spider.

Motorsport News extends its best wishes to the Riethmuller family at this difficult time.

news

Sandown race sponsor throws backing behind James Moffat’s FV8 Falcon

Norton 360 Commando FUJITSU V8s

JAMES Moffat has secured a one-off sponsorship deal with Symantec’s internet security brand Norton 360.

The Fujitsu V8 Series frontrunner, who dominated the last round of the series at Townsville two weeks ago, has endured a tough season financially. Each round is a

“race-by-race proposition,” and he told eNews that having Norton branding on the car in a one-off deal has secured his place on the grid.

“It’s great to have Norton support me for Sandown,” Moffat said.

“It’s gone a long way in securing my drive for Sandown. As you know, it’s a round by round proposition

for me so it’s great to have their support for the weekend.

“And the car looks fast, so hopefully it goes as good as it looks.

“It’s nice knowing more than a week out from the meeting that I’m going to be able to compete. When we went to Townsville with the car all loaded up and we didn’t know if we were going to roll it out

onto the track. That’s how tight things have been this year.”

Norton 360 is the major sponsor of this weekend’s V8 Supercar round, and the deal to sponsor Moffat’s car was a chance for the internet security brand to further leverage its involvement with the event.

– GRANT ROWLEY

Walter to be the first to use VE in Fujitsu V8s FUJITSU V8s THIS weekend during the fourth round of the Fujitsu V8 Series will see Sam Walter become the first person to compete in the Development Series with a Commodore VE. Walter, driver of the #47 Greg Murphy Racing Commodore, will take control of Sprint Gas Racing’s TM-04 chassis that Walter and Taz Douglas will use in the endurance races later this year as part of the team’s ‘Wildcard’ entry.

Greg Murphy used chassis TM-04 for

the first part of 2007, sharing the car with Jason Richards at Bathurst where the pair finished fourth (and best of the Holdens).

The Hobart-based driver is receiving substantial assistance from Sprint Gas Racing with the car, including access to the data and set-up information as to how the car has been run in the previous year and a half and the latest componentry.

“It is up to them to present us with the best car they possibly can because it is

something that they want to probably be able to sell in the future and also because it is not just a Greg Murphy Racing car, it is also theirs as well,” said Walter.

“We are all working together for the same goal and that is to get these Sprint Gas cars to the front of the field.”

Walter currently sits eighth in this year’s FV8 Series after a disappointing round in Townsville where he was involved in two separate incidents with Paul Morris.

11

Kanaan escapes Indy Fire INDYCAR

TONY Kanaan will know in the next 48 hours whether he will be racing next week in Kentucky after escaping a pitlane fire at Edmonton.

The Brazilian’s car caught fire when it pitted on lap 34 for a routine green flag stop. But when a fuel probe stayed open during the stop, ethanol flowed from the car and caught fire.

Quick work by the Andretti Green crew saw the fire damage limited. Kanaan stopped in the middle of pitlane and while he was undoing his belts and restraints, fast thinking crewmen from the adjacent Penske and Panther teams threw water onto him and over the flames.

“I have burns on my hands and face. In the next couple of days we will know the extent. I am glad we are ok, it was a scary moment,” said Kanaan. “I have to thank all the other teams, Penske, the Panther boys and everybody else who came to help me. It’s pretty remarkable and it shows the strength of the IndyCar family.

We are competitors over the weekend but when somebody needed help, we put the competiveness aside. I am glad I am OK.” The fire capped a disastrous weekend for the team, with Kanaan seen in a vigorous discussion with his engineers after missing out of the top-six qualifying shootout.

12

CHANGES COMING

Tech update to address processions INDYCAR THE IndyCar series has introduced several technical changes aimed at solving the follow-the-leader oval races this season.

Teams will now have alternatives in their aerodynamic choices for the superspeedways. Giving the teams up to 150kg more downforce, they can select from tyre ramps, side pod extensions, and curved skid plates under the car. The wing angles will be increased to generate more downforce depending on the track, from 10 degrees (Homestead) to 15 degrees (Motegi). Because the Dallara chassis has been used since 2003, teams should already have these parts, avoiding any additional cost to implement.

On the engine side, Honda has offered

the IndyCar series a Push to Pass system in order to improve the on track product.

Because their engine is a normally aspirated, 3.5-L overhead cam V8 engine, Honda will increase the rev limiter on the engine from 10,300 to 10,500 rpm, about 5 more hp. That should produce a 1.5mph difference to allow a pass at the end of a superspeedway’s straightaway.

The system was tested last week at Edmonton and will be introduced this week at Kentucky. Unlike Champ Car’s system, there will be no flashing light, or any other visual indicator, to show when the system is being used.

The system will allow 20 uses per driver per race, and each use of the system will be for up to 15 seconds.

– MARY MENDEZ

sutton-images.com

Will there be an Earnhardt-Ganassi Split?

Ganassi looks to Toyota: Will Junior go ‘home’ to save team?

NASCAR SPRINT CUP

sutton-images.com

CHANGES continue in NASCAR’s Sprint Cup division, with a split possible at the newly-merged Earnhardt Ganassi team.

Dale Earnhardt Inc and Ganassi Racing merged their efforts over the winter months, hoping to field a four-car effort for the full 2009 season. Instead once the season got into full swing, they whittled that effort down to two entries for Juan Pablo Montoya and Martin Truex Jr. However that association has all but ended and Ganassi Racing will return to being just that again in 2010. With Truex departing at the end of the year for Michael Waltrip Racing and sponsor NAPA, Bass Pro Shops will remain with Ganassi for 2010 with an as-yet-unannounced choice of driver.

Ganassi is looking likely to switch from Chevrolet to Toyota and enter into an engine leasing program with Joe Gibbs Racing. Montoya will stay with Ganassi through next season, while Jamie McMurray has also been named as a possible third driver at the team, perhaps

with his Crown Royal sponsorship he has currently with Roush Fenway Racing.

Danica Patrick has been widely tipped to drive a Ganassi IndyCar and to possibly run a limited schedule in a Ganassi Nationwide car, but these rumblings appear to be unfounded. Most inside NASCAR circles believe Danica, who visited and had meetings in a number of NASCAR shops in North Carolina recently, is just attempting to raise the level of her own stock within the IndyCar ranks.

So, what of DEI? What was a race team powerhouse will become an engineering facility for machine work and possibly a service centre for teams to rent time on its impressive equipment, such as their seven post rig or chassis dyno.

But there is also chat that, with Dale Earnhardt Jr’s lack of success at Hendrick Motorsports, the once-great team might continue to field an entry. Junior has always seen an entitlement to the team and could buy into to squad in a bid to return it to its former glory.

Watch this space …

– MARTIN D CLARK

13

news

New team for Oz FFord Another Mygale team joins the ranks ...

FORMULA FORD A NEW team has joined the national and state Formula Ford ranks – starting this weekend at Sandown Raceway for Round 5 of the Genuine Ford Parts Australian Formula Ford Championship.

Evans Motorsport, headed by former Sonic Motor Racing engineer Joshua Evans, will make its National Formula Ford Championship debut at the upcoming Norton 360 Sandown Challenge.

The team will campaign two Mygale chassis in selected rounds, with Trent Harrison and Martin Short piloting the Evans Motorsport entries at Sandown.

Team owner Joshua Evans is thrilled that Evans Motorsport will be competing in the championship.

“Australian Formula Ford always provides

fantastic racing.” Evans said.

“I have been looking at entering my own team in the championship for some time now, and after witnessing the racing and the professionalism of the series – the decision was easy.”

“The assistance both the drivers and I

have received from Mygale Australia has made it possible for me to build the team at the most professional level. Mygale chassis, from a number of different teams, have won every race this year.”

Evans Motorsport also fields cars in the Victorian Formula Ford Championship.

Phil Williams

Big grids for remaining SSedan rounds SPORTS SEDAN THE Kerrick Australian Sports Sedan Series is looking strong for the remainder of the season, with big fields set to contest the next two rounds of the title.

Both rounds will be held at Oran Park, with New South Wales’ strong Sports Sedan

14

contingent set to converge on the meeting as racers take the opportunity to get their final race laps around the historic south western Sydney circuit before it shuts its doors.

A total of 29 entries are already in for Round 3 of the Kerrick-backed Sports Sedan Series (supporting Round 8 of the Shannons Nationas),

and even more are expected to confirm their participation in the coming weeks before entries close next week.

The Shannons Nationals round at Oran Park will be the last-ever national race meeting to be held at Oran Park. The fourth round of the Sports Sedan Series will be held with the NSW State

Championships.

In other Sports Sedan news, the Kerrick Queensland Sports Sedans will support Round 7 of the Shannons Nationals at Morgan Park, with 21 cars entered. Of those entries, national series regulars Kerry Bailey, Trent Young and Phil Crompton will take their place on the grid.

15

Chinese bid for Safari crown AUSTRALASIAN SAFARI

THE Australasian Safari has received a boost in the form of a late international entry – a three-car team from China.

The China Changfeng Motor Liebao Rally Team, and its drivers Lui Bin, Xu Weiyu and Zhou Yuande, will tackle the gruelling event in 3.8 litre, normally aspirated Changtong Motors – a Chinese variant of the Mitsubishi Pajero. The cars will be run by West Aussie business Perth 4X4.

“There are 15 Chinese coming out for the event, as well as a team of Australians who will assist in the servicing of the vehicles during the eight days of competition,” Russ Cullen, Perth 4X4 boss, said.

“We’ve had the expected language barriers to overcome during the planning process, but everything has come together really well.

“We’ll have a six-tonne truck following the event with all our tools and equipment, as well as having a separate service vehicle for each of the competition cars. In an event like the Safari you never know what might happen, so we’ve had to

try and plan for every eventuality.”

Lui, Xu and Zhou are no strangers to offroad racing, usually competing in China’s FASC cross country racing series.

Eventscorp Executive Director David van Ooran says he expects this latest overseas entry to really boost the profile of the event.

“Part of the Chinese team travelling to Western Australia include a Chinese TV group who will cover the progress of three drivers, generating additional media coverage in China, a massive market for potential visitors to WA,” he said.

The Australasian Safari kicks off in Perth on August 1.

A new kind of customer driver ...

RALLY AUSTRALIA REPCO has awarded winner of its Bloody Big Rally Promotion – the chance to compete in this year’s Repco Rally Australia in a fullyprepared and crewed Subaru WRX this September.

Ten state winners were selected to take part in rally training in each of their local states, to be assessed for their suitability. Five drivers were ultimately selected to be assessed on their ability to listen, their ability to translate information to smooth and precise action, and their ability to make the car do what they want it to do while retaining control at all times.

At the completion of testing the state winners, the driver is

16

Michael Patton from Southern Automotive Services (ACT).

“This is the most amazing opportunity,” Patton said.

“It is something that I still have trouble realising that I have won a drive in this incredible event simply for being a Repco customer.

“My family has a speedway racing background so motor racing has been a major part of my life as a fan. My three children are fanatical racing fans and my wife has been very supportive with me taking on this incredible opportunity to be the Repco team driver at this WRC event.”

Australia’s round of the WRC will be held on northern New South Wales’s coast from September 3-6.

news

Interesting entries for SA AUSTRALIAN RALLYING THE 2009 Australian Rally Champion will be crowned at this weekend’s Sprint Auto Parts Rally SA, the final round of the ARC. Just eight points separate leaders Simon and Sue Evans and reigning Champions Neal Bates and Coral Taylor, while Glen and Matt Raymond are just 25 points adrift of the leaders in third, setting up a thrilling three-way fight for the title.

“I think it will be a very interesting weekend and also a very tough one,” said Bates. “The title is on the line and whoever wins the rally will take it – it’s as simple as that.

“We have a very strong package, the car is as good as it can be for the rally, so it is now up to Coral and I to go there and do the job.”

Behind the leading trio, there are some interesting inclusions in the field. Becky Southam and Courtney Strawbridge will be doing their bit for the National Breast Cancer Foundation, the all-femme team running its VW Golf in pink and black, as well as selling merchandise at the Angaston superspecial stages and in the service park.

Meanwhile, South Aussie local Jack Monkhouse isn’t missing the chance to compete on home soil, taking the wheel of his old Datsun 180B in a bid to excite the

crowd with his flamboyant driving style.

“The last time I drove the Datsun at Rally SA was in 2002, and we were running after a group of front-wheel drive cars,” Monkhouse said. “There were people bowing down and going crazy cheering as we came past because they loved seeing rear-wheel-drive cars being driven as hard as possible.

“There’s just no other way to drive a Datsun other than going from lock-to-lock on the steering, sideways, at 7,000 RPM.” Steven Shepheard will be hoping his driving style will be spectacular in SA as well, having recently enlisted WRC driver Chris Atkinson for some driver training and car preparation tips. ‘Atko’ spent a day in Shepheard’s Mitsubishi Evo X recently, an exercise Shepheard says will be beneficial.

“We have made a lot of changes with the car, and I’m certain in my mind that we have the best possible handling and engine package going into the weekend,” said Shepheard.

“Having Chris is in the car at the test has taught me a lot about my driving style and how I attack corners. Rally SA will be the first time that we have run the car with a dog box combined with left foot braking, which is an area Chris said I should really concentrate on.”

Rally SA kicks off at Angaston Oval on Friday night.

Mr Sideways: The always flamboyant Jack Monkhouse will make his ARC return ... in a Datto 180B!

Glennie out of Safari AUS SAFARI LEADING Australian Safari contender Peter Glennie will be a non-starter after a serious accident last week, when running-in his Safari Landcruiser en route to dinner at his daughter’s house.

A tailshaft dropped out, causing the Landcruiser to cartwheel down the road, trapping him in the wreck.

A passing truckie pulled him out before the Landcruiser went up in flames totally.

He has three broken/cracked ribs, bad bruising, a damaged lung (that has responded to treatment) burns to his back and backside, a small skull fracture and broken hand and remains in John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle where he has undergone a number of operations.

17

news

Let’s make it a date!

SPEEDWAY

AUSTRALIAN speedway teams are frantically booking accommodation after the recent announcements of the 2009/10 Australian Championship dates.

In the major meeting department, Northern Territory will play host to the Australian Sprintcar Championships, to be held on May 27-29 in Darwin. NT fans will also see the National Formula 500 Title, a little further south, in Alice Springs on April 3-4.

WA will host the Late Models, Production Sedans and Street Stocks titles, while Tasmanian’s Bendigo Bank

Arena will be the scene for the Junior Sedans and Modified Production Sedans.

The first weekend in March will be a big one for South Australia fans, with the Australian Super Sedan at Speedway City in Adelaide on the Saturday night and the Wingless Sprint Championship at the Borderline Speedway in Mount Gambier on Sunday. Thankfully the Super Sedan final will be held on the Saturday night.

Earlier during the speedway season, the Australian AMCA National Championship will be held at the Murray Bridge Speedway on January 22-24 with the possibility of the riverside town hosting the Australian 360 Sprintcar

Championship again.

Across the border in Victoria, the 75th Anniversary Australian Speedcar Championship will take place at Avalon Raceway, Geelong. The first title was held at the Olympic Park Speedway, Melbourne in 1935.

New South Wales hosts the RSA Street Stocker Championship at Lismore, the Fender Bender Title at Gilgandra and the possibility of staging the very first Australian Title for the newly merged Lighting Sprint class.

Finally Queensland only has the one national title however it promises to be a big one with the Australian V8 Dirt Modified Championship on January 1-2.

Darren Sutton

Improved Production confirmed for Bathurst BATHURST 12 HOUR

18

Marshall Cass

IMPROVED Production race cars have been confirmed as the second support category for the 2010 Bathurst 12 Hour at Bathurst in February (19-21).

It will be the second year in a row that Improved Production will be competing at the prestigious meeting.

Event promoter James O’Brien and category officials from IPRA of NSW signed off on an agreement last weekend where Improved Production will contest three races, one on Friday February 19 and two further events on the Saturday.

IPRA category manager Garry Mennell predicts another quality field from across Australia will journey to the famous Mt Panorama circuit early next year.

“We had a full field of 55 cars there in 2009 and already the expressions of interest to go back have exceeded that,” he said.

“James was extremely pleased with our effort this year and was keen to invite us back and getting all this locked into place so early also has its obvious benefits with organisational planning, entries etc.”

19

5 Minutes with ...

WILL POWER

Will Power does not have a full-time job. But, so long as he gets to drive for Team PHIL BRANAGAN Penske, and win at Edmonton, that’s just fine with him MOTORSPORT NEWS: It must be good to be ‘back at work’, as it were, and get into a Penske car at Toronto and Edmonton.

WILL POWER: It was great to get back behind the wheel. I had been going to all the races and watching, and that can become a little frustrating. But I don’t mind, when I get to drive for Team Penske. When you do get back into a car, you know that you are in a really good seat.

At the races you don’t drive in, what is your role in the team? Do you sit in on debriefs with Ryan [Briscoe], Helio [Castroneves] and the engineers?

I do go in, mainly to listen in. I go up to the spotters’ stand and watch the race, and listen in to both spotters and both car radios. You can learn a lot from up there, and I do not have any specific role. So I go there, get amongst the guys and learn how the crew works, for when they are running me.

Do you vicariously drive the cars when you are watching them on the track?

Not really! I watch everyone,

20

IndyCar Media

Most racing drivers are not good spectators. I am guessing that you are not much different.

No, I am not that good at being a spectator. It is a tough role to fill, but I am getting used to it.

I was getting a little impatient. Watkins Glen was really tough, because that is one of my favourite circuits. But at the same time, I knew that I was going to be racing again the next week, so I guess it was not that bad.

that, every time you do run, you are in a good car. It is really a lot of fun.

and I learn what not to do as much as anything. You pick up little things, there is no substitute for being in the car.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not happy to be out of it, but you do pick up details and file them away. You get to watch the other drivers, notice where you can run with them on the track.

Toronto must have felt like a great result. That delay early on, to get on the podium …

I will tell the truth – I felt like we were in a bit of trouble there, after the first lap. I cut a rear tyre but the car was really quick.

I have never passed so many cars in a race. Apart from the lap 1 problem, we had a slow pit stop so we had to repass a heap of cars. It was a really good result and it was good that Ryan got second. I helped him out and we got a lot of good points, so that is the main thing.

It’s a bit of a funny season in IndyCar this year. AGR is down a bit, Justin Wilson won at the Glen, is there a feeling that things are changing in the competition?

There is. AGR is really struggling,

and Ganassi and Penske and still the two top teams. So it is mixed up, depending on the tracks.

Wilson is strong, but really only on road courses, and the KV guys have got very quick cars but their drivers always seem to hit other people. If they manage to finish a race, I think that they can be pretty strong. The competition is very close, it’s hard in qualifying, and it is really fun.

I am really enjoying my racing this year. I don’t feel that much pressure, I just go out there and have fun.

Is it weird? A part-time schedule removes any championship considerations, so do you feel ‘released’ to drive for the fun of it?

I do. You can be aggressive with your strategy because it does not really matter if you don’t win.

Also, because I have not been racing every weekend, I am really enthusiastic and motivated when I do get in the car. I am full of energy and ready to go. That’s good. I don’t mind missing out on some of the races, so long as you know

So where are you for next season, Will? What are the prospects of getting a fulltime ride?

I am not looking that far ahead.

I am just really focused on doing a good job in the five races I am doing. What I want to do is to stay with Penske, it is a great team … [phone goes quiet].

It can’t be the phone, this is a Verizon phone and they are the best in the business!

Mate, you are so good at this!

One of the aspects of being a Penske driver is speaking at functions, doing hundreds of interviews and that is a part of being a driver with that level of team.

Next year; how important is it to be in a full-time ride?

I want a full-time ride next year.

I do not want to come down from that – it has been a bit tough this year and I want a fulltime ride. That is why I am so focused on doing good job in these five races.

Yes, I do want to stay at Penske. But if that is not possible, I will be looking everywhere else for a ride.

Are you committed to stay in the States?

I want to stay in the States. I have worked really hard and IndyCar racing is something that I really understand, and I am good at it. I tell everybody that I want to be here, I look forward to coming back to Australia but it will be a while before I want to race in the V8s.

chat

IndyCar Media

21

Oh Say, Can’t You See?

WILL Power made us proud at Edmonton last weekend, winning his first IndyCar race from pole position.

I reckon that such a performance warrants a full-time drive. No, not in IndyCar; that series is too full of superstars, like Mario Moraes and Hideki Mutoh. And Penske is chockers with talent, with Helio Castroneves and Ryan Briscoe both doing a good job and keeping Power on the bench, except for a few selected outings in a third Dallara that Roger has sitting around.

So, if there is no IndyCar seat for our Willy, I say, give him a Grand Prix drive instead. With USF1.

Letters

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

Gee, this letter looks to be badly timed ...

Great to see both Craig and Jamie sign on with 888 for another three years.

They are great ambassadors for the sport and, as three Bathurst wins show, wellsuited as team-mates.

Vodafone has also signed on for another three years which shows the confidence they have in this team for marketing their brand.

Now I just wish Ford would reconsider their position and

22

throw some money at the team for the next 3 yrs. That way we would be guaranteed they will be driving Ford Falcons not Hogs Breath Pigs or, ‘cringe’ another manufacturer.

I would hope T8 would not jump manufacturers, given the success they have had/ are having with the Falcon, but stranger things have happened.

If Holden threw money at them, wouldn’t it be a tempting challenge to be the

first V8 Supercar team to win championships/Bathursts in different manufactured cars ?

Come on Ford, get your act together. Team Vodafone have been flying the Falcon flag for the last few years as the most successful team. Time to repay the success.

Ben Carr Via email Tyres Admirer In watching the MotoGP, I noticed more distinctly with the banding, the mixture of tyres. This is the norm in bike

racing but why can’t they mix sets in other four-wheel formats.

Surely, if the requirement is to use a minimum of one set of four, or whatever, remains the rule, why can’t the strategy be mixed to allow softs and hards together , on the front or rear, near or off or even only one?

Might make for more interest and variables into the mix.

Chris Young.

Baulkham Hills

opinion

I am serious.

The latest chat connects Alex Wurz with the team. Great guy Alex, genuinely one of the most intelligent, and friendly blokes I have met in motor racing. He’s 35 and on a good day, exactly a second shy of the pace. Great development driver, but not good enough for a full-time seat.

Jacques Villeneuve? The same, except older. For reasons not to hire him, watch his last F1 races, three years ago. Merci, mais non merci.

Americans? Clearly, Danica is good on ovals but struggles on right-handers.

Marco? Nice kid, has time but, if he wanted to be in Europe, with his name, he would have done it by now. RHR? Fast but streaky. JR Hildebrand? Now, there is a talent, but he needs time, yet.

Power is ready to roll. This season, he has shown massive maturity, speed and patience. At Edmonton, he simply killed the opposition; from pole, in two laps, he was more than a second clear of Briscoe – clearly, no bozo on a street course – in clean air and a class of his own.

He has done Europe, fighting out a World Series Renault season with the likes of Robert Kubica. When he got to Champ Car, he was on a par on the road and street circuits with such as Sebastien Bourdais. Seabass has a much better weapon that Power but that never stopped him from taking the fight all the way, and beyond, at Surfers, where he should have won twice.

And … what a name. Will Power? Every American race fan must wonder whether

opinion Phil Branagan Executive Editor he tried it on, changing his name from something boring, Portia de Rossi style.

He didn’t. And now, more than ever, it is a good fit.

So, Messrs Windsor and Anderson, the upshot is this; there are no American standouts ready, just now. Money is, apparently, at issue. Bang for buck, I can’t think of anyone much who would do as good a job.

In the words of another fine Australian, you know it makes sense.

Honda Racing

eLETTER OF THE WEEK In the interest of all motorsport enthusiasts, this year I attended two completely different events and sampled the food on offer.

The first was the V8 Supercar round at Winton in April. I stumped up the extra for a pit pass and ventured inside in search of lunch. What I ordered was a “hamburger” from a stall run by one of the service clubs.

I took one bite and trashed it immediately. It was a piece of

thin fried offal between two stale slices of buttered bread with a blob of tomato sauce to give it some flavour. I did not have the heart to ask for a refund.

The other event was The Goodwood Festival of Speed in July. Pure organic beef burgers and fresh salads. It was reasonably priced and the punters were queuing up for miles. What a difference it makes when a promoter

shows some respect for their customers.

I’m not seriously suggesting we get the Earl of March to do our catering but surely we can do more than the mediocre attempts we are making to nourish the fans who are the backbone of Australian motorsport. We all deserve better.

Chris Ford Via email

Chris Ford is this week’s winner of the DVD Transporter 3, starring Jason Statham, compliments of Icon Film Distribution Australia.

Send yours to mail@mnews.com.au, or Motorsport News PO Box 7072, Brighton, Vic 3186 23

NASCAR SPRINT CUP ROUND 20 – BRICKYARD 400, INDIANAPOLIS, IN

All Hendri All the Tim

24

ick, me

race

Sprint Cup’s resident powerhouse team finished 1-2 at Indy, and Jimmie Johnson has a fourth straight title in his sights.

By MARTIN D CLARK

Toyota Motorsports

25

J

IMMIE Johnson became the first back-to-back winner of the Brickyard 400 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday taking his third win at the track over his Hendrick Motorsports team-mate Mark Martin.

Johnson took the lead around the outside of Martin (who at age 40 became the oldest pole winner in the 100-year history of the track) on the final restart with 23 laps to run and held Martin off after a spirited battle in the final laps.

“I had to drive it so hard to stay in front of the five (Martin),” said Johnson.

“That was a heck of a battle.

Damn, is he fast for an old guy!

He had me pretty worried. I was better in one and two than he was and he was better in three. Clean air was everything today you could only get so close to the car in front of you.”

Juan Pablo Montoya dominated to lead 116 of the 160 laps and had a five-second advantage over Martin when he entered pit road with 35 laps to run. However NASCAR nabbed him for speeding entering pit road and after a passthrough penalty he returned to the track in 12th protesting his innocence.

“I came in slower than the previous stop,” said Montoya, “once it happens you can’t change it. It’s pretty frustrating, but shows

26

where we’re going with the team and I was cruising, the car was super fast.”

Montoya caught a break when, a lap later, Dale Earnhardt Jr. blew his engine with 33 laps to run, something he admitted could have been self-induced when he dropped the clutch. Montoya lost two spots on the final restart and fought hard with Joey Logano in the closing laps to bring his Earnhardt Ganassi Chev home 11th. Rookie Logano, who started at the rear after an engine change, came home an impressive 12th.

Point leader Tony Stewart came home third after passing Greg Biffle on the final lap as the latter conserved fuel. Brian Vickers, in the midst of his contract negotiations with Red Bull, was good for fifth and Kevin Harvick finally having a good run in seventh.

Two Chase contenders that had issues were Denny Hamlin, who broke a driveshaft early, and Kyle Busch, who cut a right front tyre and hot the wall hard. Hamlin dropped one place to sixth, while Busch plummeted four spots and of the important top 12 to 14th.

Marcos Ambrose qualified an impressive 11th and ran in the top 20 through the halfway point, but fought handling issues through the end, although he did pass David Ragan and Bobby Labonte to make a few spots in the final laps.

SPRINT CUP | BRICKYARD 400, INDIANAPOLIS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

48 5 14 16 83 29 9 00 24 17

Jimmie Johnson Chevy Mark Martin Chevy Tony Stewart Chevy Greg Biffle Ford Brian Vickers Toyota Kevin Harvick Chevy Kasey Kahne Dodge David Reutimann Toyota Jeff Gordon Chevy Matt Kenseth Ford

Hendrick/Lowe’s Hendrick/Carquest Stewart Haas/Office Depot Roush Fenway/3M Red Bull Racing Childress/Shell Pennzoil RPM/Budweiser Waltrip/Aaron’s Hendrick/National Guard Roush Fenway/DeWalt

Q16 1 7 12 6 19 9 5 22 25

NASCAR | DRIVER’S points Stewart 3054, Johnson 2862, Gordon 2847, Kurt Busch 2608, Edwards 2556, Hamlin 2518, Newman 2506, Kahne 2482, Martin 2471, Montoya 2461, Biffle 2445, Kenseth 2429, (Ambrose 2175, 18th).

NASCAR Media

NASCAR Media

Sights and Sounds: Johnson’s crew got to kiss the bricks, again; Kyle Busch scraped the wall; Montoya should have won; Ambrose looked at home under the imposing Brickyard pagoda.

NASCAR Media

Toyota Motorsports

Carl beats Kyle in shootout

NATIONWIDE

NASCAR Media

CARL Edwards led the most laps for the first time this season en route to victory at O’Reilly Raceway Park just outside Indianapolis on Saturday night, heading his points rival Kyle Busch to the checkers for his second win of the year.

Busch exited pit road ahead of Edwards on the final stops, leaving a 26 lap shoot out in the most exciting race of the.

“I don’t know what it looked like on TV, but that was one of the most fun races I’ve been a part of,” commented Edwards after

dueling with Busch side by side for six laps before he completed the winning move.

Both Edwards and Busch started at the rear of the field due to commitments with their Sprint Cup cars at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Matt Kenseth finished third holding on under tremendous pressure from Brad Keselowski and Wallace in the closing laps, with the previous nights Truck Series winner Ron Hornaday sixth and rookie Trevor Bayne an impressive seventh in a Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota.

– MARTIN D CLARK

27

INDYCAR ROUND 11 – REXALL EDMONTON INDY

The Yellow Pow Pole, a dominant win and the right end of a team 1-2.

Will Power made an already memorable July even better for Aussies on the world stage with an emphatic performance in Edmonton

28

wer Ranger

Honda Racing

29

F

OR the second time in a week, Advance Australia Fair was the anthem of choice in a major international open-wheeler race.

This time, though, the national anthem was a power track. Will Power smashed his way to the top step of the podium, leading a Team Penske 1-2-3 in qualifying and streaking away from the pack.

Only traffic slowed him, and his winning margin was modest only because of a late-race yellow caused by Thomas Scheckter.

It was his first win in an IndyCar, and first since winning in what was the final Champ Car race at Long beach in 2008.

“I’m very happy,” said the Queenslander after the race.

“The Penske Racing crew did an incredible job. I’m really enjoying being a part of Penske Racing.

Power led 90 of the 95 laps in a truly dominating performance. At one stage, in a race that ran 93 laps with no yellow flags, he had pulled out a 7s lead. Not bad for a bloke who does not, oddly, have a full-time

30

seat. Hello, Mister Windsor?

Second was Power’s ‘alter ego’, Helio Castroneves.

The Brazilian led two laps and moved past Scott Dixon with 10 laps remaining. Dixon had another Penske driver behind him, Ryan Briscoe admitting that he clipped a wall during the race and, thereafter, making sure of a points finish.

Fifth was a fair result for Dario Franchitti, the NASCAR refugee having missed the previous races at the Canadian airport, while Paul Tracy brought out the Maple Flags with a gritty drive to sixth. The KV Racing part-timer showed that he has lost little of his flair, though the team did maintain its somewhat ‘off’ tradition of having its cars drive into each other when Tracy bumped Mario Moraes – on the opening lap of the race.

The race was a disaster for Andretti Green. The struggling team was nowhere close to the pace of the Penske and Ganassi cars and Tony Kanaan was caught in a pit fire. The Brazilian suffered minor burns but is expected to be OK to race in coming events.

Honda Racing

Advance Australians: Will Power and Ryan Briscoe led the field away, left, and the yellow car was never headed again, except in pit cycles.

Scott Dixon got the best of Briscoe, above, while Paul Tracy, right, gave the locals plenty to smile about with a strong drive.

Graham Rahal got some air under the NHL Dallara, below, and eked out a seventh-place finish.

Honda Racing Honda Racing

INDYCAR | REXALL EDMONTON INDY 1 12 2 3 3 9 4 6 5 10 6 15 7 02 8 18 9 06 10 26

Will Power Aus Helio Castroneves Br Scott Dixon NZ Ryan Briscoe Aus Dario Franchitti GB Paul Tracy Can Graham Rahal USA Justin Wilson GB Robert Doornbos Ned Marco Andretti USA

Team Penske 95 laps Q1 Team Penske -1.0936s 3 Target Ganassi -1.3212s 4 Team Penske -1.8266s 2 Target Ganassi -4.4652s 6 KV Racing -6.3941s 9 Newman Haas Lanigan -26.5700s 5 Dale Coyne/Z-Line -26.9169s 15 Newman Haas Lanigan - 1 lap 10 Andretti Green/Venom -1 lap 18

Fastest lap: Mike Conway on lap 39, 1m02.4340s (113.765 mph) sutton-images.com

INDYCAR | DRIVER’S points Dixon 380, Franchitti 377, Briscoe 366, Castroneves 309, Patrick 285, Andretti 259, Wheldon 255, Wilson 241, Kanaan 239, Rahal 235.

31

WORLD SUPERBIKE CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 10 – BRNO, CZECH REPUBLIC

Max loves Brno

No, it is not a new movie about an Austrian fashionista.

Biaggi broke through for his first Superbike win for Aprilia, and Ben Spies set up a thrilling finish to the 2009 season

32

BMW Motorrad

Yamaha Racing

MAX Biaggi has won a lot of motorcycle races.

So has Ben Spies.

But even so, seeing those two names in the ‘Win’ column after the Brno round of the World Superbike Championship comes as something of a surprise. Spies won the second race after he was hit by Michel Fabrizio in the first. Biaggi won that, and took second in Race 2. No wonder he likes Brno so much.

“It’s a great result, I’m quite pleased,” said the Italian later, “it’s not a victory but we proved that we have a lot of muscle and could fight with Fabrizio and Spies all the time.

“I stopped behind Fabrizio for quite a time, while Spies managed to pull away. In the end I passed him and went to catch Spies. I tried to brake very late, but I didn’t want to take him out like it was in the first race.”

So, the results were Biaggi-Carlos Checa-Jonny Rea in Race 1, and Spies-Biaggi-Fabrizio in Race 2. The devil was in the detail; the name missing from the podiums was that of Noriyuki Haga. The points leader was in little condition to race, but finished eighth in the first race and sixth in the second. His lead may have been cut to seven points, but with eight races remaining and a

The New Age: Max Biaggi’s Aprilia and Ben Spies’s Yamaha shared the wins at Brno, leaving the American only seven points shy of series leader Noriyuki Haga. Troy Corser scored his best result since joining BMW, taking fifth in Race 1, left.

summer break to recover, you can never count the Ducati ace out.

With Aprilia taking its first win with his RSV4, BMW could feel a little aggrieved that its best results were somewhat overshadowed. Troy Corser was fifth in Race 1 and 10th in Race 2, and the German bike looked fast. The bad news was that Ruben Xaus broke his leg in a Race 1 fall and looks to be out for a few rounds. Aussie Steve Martin, who replaced Corser earlier in the season, may have to dust off his BMW leathers once again.

Points: Haga 326, Spies 319, Fabrizio 273, Rea 206, Biaggi 200, Haslam 180, Sykes 150, Checa 145.

FABIEN Foret picked up the pieces for Yamaha and led a four-bike train to the flag to win Brno’s Supersport race from Ant West.

The Aussie had a great race, leading the Kawasakis of Joan Lascorz and Katsuaki Fujiwara to the flag. Eugene Laverty, who crashed during the warm-up, was fifth, while title rival Cal Crutchlow had 25 points go up in smoke when his Yamaha R6 broke down while leading.

33

West Aussie extends British F3 championship lead with convincing Spa weekend BRITISH F3

34

sutton-images.com

DANIEL Ricciardo’s impressive season in the British F3 International Series continued at Spa-Francorchamps with a win and a second place to extend his championship lead over Walter Grubmuller.

Ricciardo was able to build a lead in Race 1 despite late race attentions from non-points scoring, invitation class driver Jules Bianchi. Ricciardo started from pole position and was chased early on by Hitech’s Renger van der Zande until his car lost power and the Dutchman was easy prey for Bianchi and Valterri Bottas.

Like Bianchi, he was guesting in the series for ART Grand Prix and as a result wouldn’t

score points. That meant that Ricciardo could have let Bianchi by had he been pressured and still scored points, but the French driver was never able to close sufficiently.

Race 2 was delayed by rain before the start but when the race began it was Adriano Buzaid’s T-Sport run Dallara that headed Ricciardo. Daniel tried to go with him but with the cars on slicks on a wet (but drying) road he needed to be careful. He did close the gap and even led for a corner, but then it rained again and he took no risks.

“I took the lead for a while but Adriano outbraked me, which was a good move,” Ricciardo said. “Then the rain came and I had a few moments and I

thought that if I can end the race second then that’s good result for the championship.”

A late race shuffle from the Hitech team-mates elevated Walter Grubmuller to third to assist him in his bid for the crown. Again, van der Zande sacrificed a good result ...

It means Daniel is 37 points ahead with Silverstone the venue for the next two races.

– DAVID ADDISON Points: Ricciardo 177, Grubmuller 140, van der Zande 125, Buzaid 99, Chilton 90, Christodoulou 86, Nick Tandy and Nakajima 68.

sutton-images.com

sutton-images.com

Ricciardo’s Spa treatment

race

Cruise and Collect

Independant Corvette overcomes tough competition to win the Spa 24 Hour

SPA 24 HOUR WHAT began as a stunning six-car fight for the lead of the Spa 24 Hours ended as a three-hour cruise for winners Anthony Kumpen/Mike Hezemans/Jos Menten/Kurt Mollekens (Corvette C6.R).

However, it wasn’t until noon on Sunday that they could think of relaxing.

The pace of the opening hours was intense as three independent Corvettes took

on the three Vitaphone Racing Team Masearti MC12s. But the first to fall was Roberto Streit who destroyed his Corvette at Eau Rouge early on Saturday evening. Next was the Maserati of Andrea Bertolini which crashed during the night; the second Maserati plunged into the gravel during the night, suffered damage and was delayed while the final car lost a wheel on Sunday morning.

That left the Peka Racing Corvette against the SRT car,

pedalled brilliantly by Oliver Gavin with James Ruffier, Maxime Soulet and Bert Longin.

Gavin was the driver of the race but an oil leak that proved hard to trace the source of, caused the car to drop from contention at Sunday lunchtime.

A great effort gave GT2 victory to Gimmi Bruni/Toni Vilander/Jaime Melo/Luis Perez Companc, while a stunning third overall was the G2 (nonFIA homologated) Audi R8 LMS of Marcel Fassler/Marc Basseng/

Henri Moser/Alex Margaritis.

But for a gearbox containing just fifth and sixth at the end of the race, their 24 hours would have been perfect.

G3 honours (for GT3 cars) fell to the Matech Ford GT of Thomas Mutsch/Peter Wyss/ Marc Hennerici/Maxime Martin but a late-race electrical glitch and loose diffuser allowed Aussie Rodney Forbes to close in his Porsche en route to second in class.

– DAVID ADDISON

Pole, victory and the championship lead INDY LIGHTS J.R. Hildebrand was too strong in the Firestone Indy Lights round at Edmonton last weekend.

Hildebrand had the car, didn’t make any mistakes and won by 14.0154s on the 1.973-mile, 14-turn Edmonton City Centre Airport circuit.

Hildebrand, who recorded his fourth pole start of the season, led from the green lap and won for the third time this season.

With a third-place finish by team-mate Sebastian Saavedra, Hildebrand increased his lead in the championship points standings from 51 to 69 heading to the Kentucky Speedway oval on Aug. 1.

Front-row starter Richard Philippe

finished second, ahead of Saavedra, James Hinchcliffe, Charlie Kimball, Wade Cunningham, Andrew Prendeville, Mario Romancini, Daniel Herrington and Australian racer James Davison in 10th place. Davison qualified third, finishind 10th and maintained sixth place in the title chase.

The next round is at Kentucky Speedway.

35

Fellows wins, takes title lead Toyota-backed team leads home the AORC pack in Mildura AORC DAVID Fellows and Andrew Kittle have taken the lead in the Australian Off Road Championship after a dominating performance this weekend at the PWR Sunraysia 500.

Held just outside Mildura at Tapio Station, Fellows charged through the bull dust and fast station tracks in the Peter Kittle Motorsports Jimco, to take the

36

outright event win ahead of reigning Australian Champions Shannon and Ian Rentsch and the Outerbounds Racing Jimco of Travis Robinson and Adam Trewella.

The foundations of Fellows performance were established when he took pole position in Saturday’s prologue. Fellows posted a 9m18.16.

“We had to win the prologue, so we tried as hard as we could to get a good. There ended up

being only 4 seconds in it, so it was pretty close.” said Fellows, who also thought that his win wasn’t going to be as easy as it was.

“We didn’t think we would pull away from Shannon. We thought he would have caught us in the tight sections as his car is light and nimble. But we managed to hold him off.

“The car was awesome and will just need a freshen up before heading to the next

round of the championship at the ARB Teagle Pines Enduro.”

Starting second on the road on Sunday morning, Rentsch was always going to have a challenging time hunting down Fellows.

“We were going well until the final lap when we had a bit of trouble with the accelerator sticking, which made it difficult,” he said. “So we were glad to get back in one piece really. It has been a good weekend.”

race

Western Domination NHRA

David Ostaszewski

Antron Brown became the eighth driver in NHRA history to sweep the three-race Western Swing with a win at the 22nd annual FRAM-Autolite NHRA Nationals at Infineon Raceway, near Sonoma, California.

After taking down back-to-back wins in Denver and Seattle, Brown, the current NHRA Full Throttle Series point Top Fuel point leader, used a final-round 3.99/299 to defeat past Western Swing sweeper Cory McClenathan’s close 4.00/290. The Matco Tools dragster, right, advanced into the day’s finale after taking earlier round victories over Troy Buff, Joe Hartley, and J.R. Todd.

Tim Wilkerson made it two straight as the driver of the Levi, Rey, and Shoup Ford Mustang powered to victory in a repeat of last week’s Seattle final over

Tony Pedregon, 4.24/284 to 4.32/259. After getting past Jeff Arend in the first round, Wilkerson took out team-mate Bob Tasca III and Gary Densham and sits fifth in the standings.

Pedregon, with his runner up finish and early exits by Ashley Force-Hood, and Ron Capps, vaulted into the Funny Car point lead. His Wicked Quick Chevy Impala was

able to get around Del Worsham, Mike Neff, and defending event Champion Robert Hight prior to the final.

In an all Summit Racing Equipment team final, Jason Line won the final on his better 0.024s to 0.068s reaction time at the start, as both drivers clocked identical 6.63/208 passes in the final round.

Line’s Pontiac GTO advanced through eliminations with victories over Vieri Gaines, Johnny Gray, and Jeg Coughlin.

In a class that is being dominated by the two lone Harley Davidson’s, Andrew Hines reversed the tables on teammate, and current point leader Eddie Krawiec, with a final round 6.97/189 to 7.01/187 victory. This marked the third straight final between the two teammates, as Hines had defeated Katie Sullivan, Hector Arana, and Matt Smith in the early rounds.

– DAVID OSTASZEWSKI

Quick Time sets the pace in maiden races SPEEDWAY

Paris Charklles

AFTER just two outings with the all new Quick Time Chassis (revealed in eNews #115), Queensland’s Allan Woods and his team have had plenty to cheer about.

Woods notched up the chassis’ first feature race victory, and what made it more impressive was that he used second hand tyres and still proved to be the dominant force all night at Mackay Speedway.

After recording two firsts and a second from his three

heat races, Woods earned pole for the 20 lap feature and led for the entire journey to take the Quick Time to its first win.

Following him to the flag was Lawrence Quagliata andf Adian Gee. “I really must thank Paul Gislingham for the great work he is doing as crew chief and co creator of the Quick Time Chassis,” he said.

All through the night the team and car received lots of attention in the pit area as many other teams were keen to checkout the chassis design and try to workout how it

differed from the other chassis on the market.

The week prior, Woods debuted the new chassis at

the Cairns Speedway where he claimed third behind Quagliata and Gee. – PARIS CHARLES

37

38

rear of grid

Football Season in V8 Land Odd Spot WE don’t know where to look, here at eNews.

First, it was the footy. The Cats, which according to our own Andrew van Leeuwen in either an AFL team, a religious experience or both, are celebrating 150 years of being cruel to Sherrins this year. Geelong is the defending AFL Champion – oops, sorry, that would be Hawthorn, who flogged the fur off them last September.

Anyhow, Ford Performance Racing has promised a bit of Cat-work this weekend, running a special livery to mark the occasion and bring a tear to all at Sleepy Hollow.

Look for Steven Richards and Mark Winterbottom to appear in special blue-and-white colours at Sandown.

Next, Craig Lowndes. Yep, Junior delivered the match ball for AFL Rivalry Round clash between Richmond and Essendon at the MCG on the weekend. CL and Jamie Whincup raced radiocontrolled V8 Supercars against Essendon’s David Hille and Richmond great Matthew Richardson on a scaled-down version of Sandown’s layout.

Lowndes was dressed for the occasion in yellow and black – and the similarly-liveried Tigers took an upset win against the Bombers.

Terry Wallace could not get the team to win, but some fella in a racesuit can. What is the world coming to?

39