Motorsport eNews Issue 190 - February 1-7, 2011

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Issue No. 190 Feb 01 - 07 2011

S R A C R E V8 SUP

ARE BACK

FULL TEST DAY COVERAGE! NEW LOOKS, NEW DRIVERS, NEW TEAMS

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Issue No. 190 | Feb 01-07 2011

news 4

Testing Times Who said what after EC 7 V8’s #1 draft pick Thommo gets the plum gig 8 Creeking Forwards Big plans for Sydney track 12 Red Hot Racer The F150 ... it’s not a Ford 19 Buy a vowel Smrz tops WSBK testing

chat 26 Five Minutes With ...

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Greg Murphy

comment 28 Normoyle: EC Upgrade 29 Richards: My Comeback

race 30 V8 Supercar Testing 38 Top Fuel 42 Aus Sprintcar Champs 46 Daytona 24 Hour 50 Targa Wrest Point

trade 53 Classifieds

L! V8 TEST DAY SPECIA

WHAT THEY HAD TO SAY

Season 2011 is finally go, following Saturday’s official test day at Eastern Creek. STEVE NORM the sport’s big players about the crucial on-track sessions

Tim Edwards – Team Principal, Ford Performance Racing “It’s a promising start but there’s a long way to go yet.

“We finished last season with a couple of R&D bits on one of the cars, and we’ve worked on that and rolled it out across the three cars today. There have been some fairly substantial changes, not revolutionary, but certainly a reasonable investment in terms of time and hardware.

“Everybody feels like they’re in the right place; we had some good momentum through the back half of last year, and we’ve just got to really try to keep that going.

“We’ve had some internal changes, some new staff and some restructuring to try to address some of the issues we’ve had with production, or race strategy, or whatever. It’s a case of trying to tick all the boxes.

“Matt Nilsson’s been a really good addition to the business and I’m pleased with how that’s worked out. His role is more of an administration one. The thing is you have plenty of bright sparks working for you, but not all of them are great with process and documentation and all those sorts of things, and Matt’s job will be to administer the engineering group.

“Campbell Little is the guru who sketches up something on the back of a fag packet; but it then takes other techos and designers to make it a reality.

But you need to put a bit of documentation and process around these things, and that’s where Matt comes in.

“We’ve got to win Bathurst and we’ve got to win the championship. We’ve won Phillip Island, we’ve won a lot of races, we’ve finished second in the championship, third in the championship – we need to win it.

“That’s absolutely our goal, and we want to try to do it in a way where we all enjoy working with each other, and we respect each other – and that’s the kind of culture we try to foster and I think that’s what Will [Davison] meant when he said how welcome and how easy it felt to be here.”

Ross Stone – Team Principal, Stone Brothers Racing “Our race cars have been quite good, but our qualifying cars haven’t.

“At Homebush we had three cars in the Top 10 in qualifying, so we’ve taken that to here and it’s coming along pretty good.

“We set targets for the three guys individually. With Tim,

we’re happy with where he is; last year was his first season with us, and he and Wes [McDougell], who engineers his car, have really moulded together well.

“It’s Alex’s third year with us, so there’s a fair bit of pressure on us to deliver him a good car, and there’s a fair bit of pressure on him to make sure he steps up.”

Jason Bargwanna – Driver, Brad Jones Racing “It’s my first time in the car and it’s comfortable.

“We haven’t got much in the way of tyres, but today’s just a matter of settling in, getting some communication going, work together and understand the car a bit better. I’m comfortable with where it’s at and the car’s responding well.

“I haven’t lost Rock Energy Drinks as a sponsor – they’ve lost themselves. They’ve gone into voluntary administration at the moment. I’ve still got a contract with them so I don’t know how that’s all going to work out at the moment.”

Jason Bright – Driver, Brad Jones Racing “It was mostly good, but it’s hard to know with what tyres people have got – you don’t know. We haven’t got anything great – our

best set of tyres turned out to be not as good as we thought, so we’ve been running tyres that did 40 laps at Indy.

“Same car as last year; but this surface is bad compared to most other tracks we run on. They’ve resurfaced two corners, and they’re good, Turn 2 and the last corner, but the rest of the track there’s no grip. Abu Dhabi’s got very high grip, and you’d have to say that there is not much useful information we’re going to get testing here before we go to Abu Dhabi, because the track surfaces are so different. But you still gather information, and we’ve got to make our car better on this kind of surface, because there are other tracks, like Sandown, that are low grip.

“I reckon we’re about Top 7 on this surface, but Top 3 on a smooth, grippy surface.”

Jamie Whincup – Driver, TeamVodafone “We’re not really trying anything new apart from some technical stuff that’s different; things that don’t really need testing, they’re just better, engineering-wise they’re just done better.

“We do a lot of ride days here, so how it’s quite normal for us.

It’s an aggressive circuit on tyres – most motorbike tracks are.

Phillip Island is the same, with

FOR FULL COVERAGE OF THE TEST DAY, SEE OUR EXCLUSIVE REPORT STARTING PAGE 30 The world of MoTo

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MOYLE spoke to some of

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big long corners that work the tyres hard. They get too hot and then you start sliding around – these cars just don’t like those big long corners where you really load up the car.

“Abu Dhabi is way smoother than here, but it does have the same kind of long loaded sweeping corners.”

Dirk Klynsmith

James Courtney – Driver, Holden Racing Team “This place has deteriorated a bit over the years, and the bumps have got bigger, but the reality is you’re not going to find a track that’s suitable for testing before Abu Dhabi because Abu Dhabi is so different from any other place.”

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31/1/11 3:19:09 PM

L! V8 TEST DAY SPECIA

NEW LOOKS CONT.

Jason Bright

Craig Lowndes

Will Davison

Steve Owen

James Courtney

David Reynolds

Russell Ingall

Tim Slade

motorsport news

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TWO MINUTES WITH ...

ANDREW THOMPSON

After a horror 2010 season, Andrew Thomson has landed the best enduro drive there is – sharing a TeamVodafone Commodore with Jamie Whincup. STEVE NORMOYLE caught up two really good results. It’s a very different with him at Eastern Creek MOTORSPORT NEWS: You’re out of a drive, and yet in a way you’ve fallen on your feet for 2011.

ANDREW THOMPSON: Yeah, after a pretty tough year last year, and to almost be struggling to get a drive full stop, to end up with this drive, to team up with Jamie in one of the plumb seats for the enduros, I’m excited and really looking forward to the year.

I’ve got a lot to do on my side, a lot of areas to improve, but I just really want to repay the faith they’ve put in me by choosing me. I just need to get my head around the car and get comfortable, so that I can do everything they ask of me.

I’m looking forward to getting in the car and getting the year off to a start, and working with everyone here. It’s a great team.

You’re here today at Eastern Creek, but you’re not driving?

No, not today, but I’ll be getting a run at some of the remaining test days throughout the year. I’m not too worried; today it’s just Jamie doing what he needs to do, and I’m just here basically watching and learning how the team operates and getting comfortable with them.

Andrew Hall

Last year you raced the full season and never looked remotely like getting a result, but this year you’ll do maybe only two races, the two biggest races, and you could easily win both. That must be an odd feeling.

It is a strange feeling. Last year I struggled to get into the Top 15, but now I’ve got every opportunity, if I do my job right, to get

feeling and a different situation for me, and it’s one I’m looking forward to. If I can keep up my end of the deal, we could be on for a really good result, and knowing that is really good motivation for me to do everything I can to make it happen.

Did the struggle of season last year affect your confidence?

It didn’t help my confidence. When you have a year like that, it affects you. You’d be lying if you said it didn’t. I’ve had some pretty tough times before but last year was pretty tough.

Obviously I try to forget about last year as much as possible and move on, because ‘11 is different from ‘10.

As I said, I’d be lying if I said it didn’t affect me, but it’s now my job to get over all that and get back to where I’m good, and go from there.

What sort of things do you expect you’ll learn being with Triple Eight?

It’s hard to say, especially having not driven the cars yet. There will be a lot I will learn but trying to pinpoint one thing is a bit hard.

There’ll probably be hundreds of things I’ll learn from these guys.

Have you thought about 2012?

No, that’s too far away. Right now all I’m focused on is September and October of ‘11 and making sure I get those two months right.

Then I’ll see what eventuates from there. If I tried to think to far ahead that would be a big mistake on my part.

SABOTAGE? HOLDEN STAYS QUIET V8 SUPERCARS

Dirk Klynsmith

www.mnews.com.au

HOLDEN will not respond to a report in Saturday’s Daily Telegraph that suggested that Will Davison accused the Holden Racing Team of “negligently sabotaging” the latter events of last season.

In the report, headlined “Will Davison accuses Holden of Sabotage”, it was reported that Davison revealed that “the giant Holden team turned its back on him”

once it was clear post-Bathurst that he would not re-sign with HRT for 2011.

Motorsport eNews was told that there would be “no response” from either Holden or HRT, according to a spokesman.

However, eNews believes that Davison has personally contacted HRT management and apologised, and stated that he believes that the comments he made to the Telegraph reporter were taken out of context.

CASH INJECTION FOR THE CREEK NATIONAL

MOTORSPORT in New South Wales is set to receive a major boost, with the news that Eastern Creek will be upgraded to the tune of $9 million – $7 million of which will be provided by the NSW state government.

The Australian Racing Drivers’ Club will tip in the remaining $2 million required to undertake the club’s planned upgrade of the facility, designed to increase the circuit’s capacity.

The circuit will be reconfigured into four different layouts, with two circuits

being able to operate independently.

Included in the upgrade will be an additional pit-lane complex to cater for the two-circuit configuration.

Effectively doubling the venue’s capacity will ease what has become a chronic shortage of available motor racing circuit access in Sydney following the closure last year of Oran Park.

“Eastern Creek currently operates at full capacity year-round, providing facilities for driver training, cycling, concerts and other community activities, in addition to motorsport,” ARDC president Andrew Leithead said.

“This investment by the government will allow the ARDC to expand the capacity of the track to service demand from both club-level motorsport and broader community needs.

“The circuit upgrades will also allow us to service the growing demands for race circuits since the closure of other permanent circuits in Sydney.”

Eastern Creek is the sole remaining permanent circuit in Sydney. The only other permanent venue in NSW is Wakefield Park, which is two hours to the south of the capital.

– STEVE NORMOYLE

MACK JOINS THE SHOW V8 SUPERCARS

John Morris/Mpix

ALL you Mack and Disney fans, there is something to look forward to this season.

V8 Supercars Australia last week announced a partnership with Disney Pixar International that will see The Disney Pixar’s CARS Truck Tour 2011, featuring Mack the Truck from the movie Cars II. The display will feature a number of entertainment zones and themed activity stations.

Ford Performance Racing’s Mark Winterbottom was announced as the Ambassador for the DisneyPixar Cars Truck Tour at Eastern Creek last week.

“Anyone with young children knows that Disney Pixar’s CARS is one of the most popular family movies of our time,” said Winterbottom. “I’m absolutely thrilled to present this worldfirst, full-scale replica of Mack the Transporter from CARS, built by Mack Trucks Australia.” motorsport news

news

MURPH HEADS HOME V8 SUPERCARS

For more with Jason Richards, see his exclusive personal column on page 29

For more with Greg Murphy, see ‘Five Minutes With ...’ on page 26

Andrew Hall

him out of the car.”

Richards completed two runs in the car. For his exclusive comments, see page 28.

However, it is still not clear what colours the car will wear at the seasonopening round at Abu Dhabi. One hint could be the Tour de Cure signage on the front of the car, highlight a bike ride from Sydney to Melbourne – via Mount Kosciusko – that will raise funds for cancer research.

“We are working through things,” said Jones. “It may be white in the Middle East, it may not. We have to fly the cars out Thursday, so we will have to have it sorted soon.”

IT’S official ... Greg Murphy is taking V8 Supercars to the max.

As exclusively revealed by eNews last December, ‘Murph’ will race a Pepsi Maxbacked V8 Supercar for Kelly Racing this season. The ‘Pepsi Max Crew’ was officially unveiled in Sydney last Thursday, with a striking graffiti-inspired livery on the car According to Danielle Westerbrink, PepsiCo Australia’s national promotions manager, the street art livery is about brining something new to V8 Supercar sponsorship.

“The Pepsi Max Crew will be the most striking V8 Supercar on the track in 2011,” she said.

“We are committed to the Australian V8 Supercar Championship, and we have got a very precise goal with this new sponsorship – we are going to bring something fresh and unprecedented to Australian motorsport fans.”

For Murphy, a return to working with the Kelly family, after several successful years in the early 2000s under the K-Mart Racing banner, is an easy transition.

“Yeah, it’s a very easy transition, to come and be a part of their team,” he told eNews.

“They make things very easy. My relationship with Rick and Todd has been great ever since we all started out, and the same can be said for my relationship with John and Margaret. We’ve had some good times in the past, and it will be nice to kick that off again.”

– ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN

JR BACK IN A CAR V8 SUPERCARS

BRAD Jones Racing turned into Triple Jason at the Eastern Creek test day, with Jason Richards making a surprise return to the cockpit of a V8 Supercar.

The Kiwi, who is undergoing treatment for abdominal cancer, completed two runs in the BOC Gases Commodore that Jason Bright will race this season. Not far away, the other Jason, Bargwanna, spent the day getting familiar with the team’s #14 car, which was also running in BOC ‘reverse’ colours.

“The whole thing was about him having time in the car,” said Kim Jones.

“Jase being Jase, he just went round and round. In the end, we had to drag

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BRIEFLY...

As first reported by eNews, Cameron McConville has been confirmed as a driver in the 2011 Australian V8 Ute Racing Series.

McConville’s ride in a Bundy-backed Walkinshaw Racing Holden was announced last week. n

n Formula Ford is getting extra speed.

Replays of the National Championship’s 2010 season will be broadcast on Foxtel’s SPEED TV across February and March ahead of the 2011 season opener on the streets of Adelaide. n Clemminger International Freight has signed on to back this year’s three-round Formula Vee Australian Series.

The series kicks off this weekend at Bathurst, with 45 cars entered.

10

RALLY

AUSTRALIAN Rally Championship front-runner Scott Pedder has retired from competition.

Pedder led last year’s ARC before breaking a leg in an accident at Rally SA. A comeback at the end of 2010 was initially Pedder’s goal, but he didn’t return and has elected to end his ARC career.

He’ll remain heavily involved in the championship, though, as its new CEO. “It’s stumps,” he confirmed.

“It’s a combination of [business commitments] and obviously I had the big

accident in Adelaide, which you don’t want to have too many of those in your life. “I’m also the CEO of the Australian Rally Championship now, so I’ll be heavily involved in the championship, just not from a competition perspective.”

Mark Pedder will continue to compete as a single car under the Pedders Suspension Rally Team. While acknowledging he’ll be jealous of his former competitors when the opening round kicks off in Western Australia in April, Pedder is excited about his new role and the direction of Australian rallying.

“Like seeing any car in the

forest, you want to drive it,” he said.

“Especially with some of the changes we’ve made this year with cars, with no turbo restrictors and things, certainly they’ll be very exciting cars to drive and good luck to the people who are doing it.

“There are lots of exciting things happening, which will come out in the next couple of weeks. What we’re calling ‘ARC cars’, which are unrestricted cars, a new junior championship, new naming rights sponsor new brand ambassador, new control fuel – lots of stuff.”

– MITCHELL ADAM

an effort to make the most of the situation and collect important information with the Desmosedici, even though I’m not in top form. Today I did a total of 25 laps on the 1198 Superbike, which is sort of a ‘historic’ motorcycle for Ducati: beautiful and fast. I liked it!”

Last July, Rossi make his return to racing, from a broken

leg, by testing a Yamaha R1 Superbike at Brno. In the test, he more than matched the times set the previous weekend by regular rider, James Toseland.

Rossi’s injury is not expected to feel a great deal better at Sepang, which has some serious stops from high speed …

Rossi back in action MOTOGP THE last time Valentino Rossi came back from an operation, he used a Superbike to test his mettle. At Ducati, he did it again.

Rossi returned to the track at Misano to ride a Ducati 1198 Superbike, 73 days after an operation to fix his right shoulder, injured in a crash on a dirt bike last year. In chilly conditions, Rossi completed 25 laps of the track, before crying enough.

“The track more or less confirmed what we expected,” said The Doctor, “the shoulder is painful – especially under braking, when the front area hurts, where they stitched the tendon. Movement is stable enough, and we’re also doing not so bad with endurance, but apart from that, it hurts a lot and isn’t very strong.

“Let’s hope it gets a little better in these next few days before the test in Malaysia.

Once we’re there, we’ll work with the riding position in

Ducati Corse

n Organisers of the popular Cootha Classic historic hillclimb, the Historic Racing Car Club (Qld) have cancelled the 2011 running of the event, choosing to concentrate on the 2012 event, possibly on a relocated date.

The Club’s organising committee cited the recent Queensland floods, its effect of Brisbane City Council resources and projected weather patterns for the coming months as the reason for the cancellation of the May 28/29 event.

The Cootha Classic is a revival of Brisbane’s earliest motorsport events, a hillclimb on the slopes of Mount Coot-tha in the western suburbs, and the only bitumen surface motorsport event held in Brisbane.

– MARK JONES / STAFF

Pedder bows out

motorsport news

news

CARRERA CUP PAUL Cruickshank Racing is still looking to run three entries in the Carrera Cup series this year.

PCR’s confirmed entries will be driven by Andrew Barlow, who has most recently raced a Ferrari 360 Modena in the

James Smith

CupCars hit track, PC wants three Australian GT Series, and long time NZ Porsche racer Paul Kelly.

“We are working on the third entry,” Cruickshank said on Monday. “I would like to announce something soon, and I will as soon as the deal is finalised.”

Our sources indicate that

one of the drivers in the frame for the third PCR seat has prior, race-winning form in Carrera Cup. Barlow shook down his Porsche on Sunday at Winton, following delivery of cars to their owners on Saturday. All 22 have now been sold and 13 owners took to the track,

with Barlow, mining magnate Nathan Tinkler, Rusty French and GT regulars Ray Angus and Ross Lilley joining those already confirmed as series starters.

Meanwhile, Craig Baird revealed his 2011 livery, above, with his entry to come out of Porsche Centre Melbourne.

PUTTING THE ‘8’ INTO FV8 FUJITSU SERIES

to a driver with his own sponsorship.

A rule introduced in 2010 means that Thompson looks likely to do three of the first four rounds of the Championship to qualify for the FV8 race at Bathurst. This would allow the team to give him extra miles at the circuit, in much the same way as Steve Owen raced in the FV8 races last October before finishing

Dirk Klynsmith

TRIPLE Eight Race Engineering looks set to run a Fujitsu V8 Supercars program this season.

The dual V8 Supercar Championship Series-winning team confirmed Andrew Thompson and Mark Skaife as its endurance drivers last week, and either or both of the drivers could be involved in T8’s

FV8 program.

“We are still deciding who is going to drive the car,” said team boss Roland Dane on Monday.

“All we have done so far is to enter the car. We are concentrating on Abu Dhabi at this stage.”

The entry’s sponsorship package is not confirmed, meaning that a seat at one of more races may be available

second in the Bathurst 1000 on Sunday.

GMR’S #4 ALMOST READY FUJITSU SERIES GREG Murphy Racing will debut their new VE Commodore in early March, as it continues to work towards locking in a fourth driver for the 2011 Fujitsu Series.

The build of a previously unraced VE at their Dandenong South base is almost finished, with the car set to join the www.mnews.com.au

team’s three existing VEs, which will be driven by Geoff Emery, Daniel Jilesen and Brandon Auby.

The new car is due to run for the first time on Monday March 7 in a 20-lap shakedown session, ahead of a test day with all four cars on the 8th. Team boss Kevin Murphy said work on signing a “top operator” for the fourth seat was continuing.

“I think a lot of what we’re going to do is hedging around corporate sponsorship activity that’s still being discussed at higher levels,” he admitted.

“Should that come across, we’ll be in a better position to take on someone that we really believe will take us to the front.

The more sponsorship we get, the more we can reduce the budget, the more likely we are

to get a top operator.”

Meanwhile, Marcus Zukanovic, who drove for GMR in the 2010 endurance races, will step up to a VE Commodore for the 2011 Fujitsu Series. Zukanovic will race the Paul Morris Motorsportbuilt ‘Janson’ chassis, used by Tim Slade in the 2009 Main Game.

– MITCHELL ADAM 11

L! IA C E P S R A C W E N 1 FORMULA

Sneak Peak: MercedesGP has offered the world a little glimpes of its W02, ahead of its formal launch, set for this Wednesday (Australian time).

12

motorsport news

news

LITTLE RED ROCKET

This is Ferrari’s F150, the car it hopes will take either Fernando Alonso or Felipe Massa to the World Championship in 2011. Note that the barcode, a clear nod to the team’s long-time sponsor Marlboro, is gone.

www.mnews.com.au

13

No Indy

for Ji

RPM

This is the paint that Marcos Ambrose will carry in Sprint Cup’s ‘DeWalt’ races for Richard Petty Motorsport this season. Nice, eh?

NASCAR

I

F any driver goes after the US$20m bonus for winning the Indy 500 and Coca-Cola 600 on the same day, it will not be NASCAR’s five-time Champion, Jimmie Johnson.

“I really want to do it,” Johnson told the IndyStar, adding that his wife is against it since he become a father last July. “I’m just not sure if it’s going to work for me. We talked about it and if the opportunity came along before we had kids, it was something I needed to do. I just wish we could have got GM to activate a few years ago. Then I’d

Ford Racing

Mustang

mooted for ‘13 Sprint Cup NASCAR

F

ord is reportedly considering replacing its Fusion model with the Mustang as its Sprint Cup car.

In a recent comment to the USA’s Sporting News, Ford’s director of motorsports Jamie Allison made it clear that the company is leaning towards making its Pony car its racecar at NASCAR’s top level – following the introduction of the Mustang at Nationwide level.

“We like what’s going on in Nationwide – we really do,” Allison told Sporting News. “The more brand identity we have and Mustang 14

is the most identifiable brand we have in terms of racing and motorsports. So we’ve made it known that we’d like to see Mustang in NASCAR. We’re going to see and track how the Nationwide Series is going and how the Mustang’s impacting that and how much we can bring more brand identity into these cars, and then we’ll make a decision on what we’re putting in Cup.” The Mustang will replace the Fusion as Ford’s NW’s Car of Tomorrow from this season.

The car made its debut, against Chevy’s Impala, Dodge’s Challenger and Toyota’s Camry at last summer’s Daytona race and was raced at Michigan, Richmond and Charlotte. motorsport news

IRL, Indy face

y day pass

court battle

immie

INDYCAR

C

Nascar Media

suppliers, because Honda is the sole engine supplier in IndyCar. That changes in 2012 when GM comes on board as an engine supplier in the IZOD IndyCar Series.

– MARY MENDEZ

IZOD Indycar Media

be telling you I’m going to Indy.”

Johnson likely won’t be alone among his Sprint Cup colleagues. The prospect of any NASCAR drivers competing in the Centennial Indy 500 this May is slim due to contractual issues with their engine

V Sports filed a law suit in Indianapolis last week against the Indy Racing League and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, alleging breach of contract, tortuous interference, and defamation.

CV claims they helped broker the IZOD title sponsorship deal and are suing for their 10 percent commission and additional licensing fees over the lifetime of the agreement, for a combined value up to US$100m. Further, the suit states CV represented Ryan Hunter-Reay and Andretti Autosport in searching for additional 2010 sponsorship when the IRL pressured the team into severing contact.

– MARY MENDEZ

IndyCar goes

Vernay’s Indy test nuclear INDYCAR

F

Suttons Images

RENCHMAN JK Vernay was due to participate in his first IndyCar test, starting yesterday [Monday] at Sebring with Conquest Racing.

Vernay, 23, hasn’t competed on a road course since last August where he raced in the Firestone Indy Lights series at Infineon, in Sonoma, CA. As part of his Lights championship package he received $500,000 towards an IndyCar ride and the team owner is guaranteed additional support worth over US$1m through the TEAM support program.

“I’m very happy to be taking part in my first IndyCar test and want to thank Eric Bachelart and Conquest Racing for giving me this opportunity,” said Vernay, who won five Lights races on his way to www.mnews.com.au

the 2010 championship.

“I’m also glad it is taking place at Sebring International Raceway. I tested there last year with my Indy Lights team so I will be able to concentrate on driving the car and not have to worry about learning the track.”

The man he beat to the title, James Hinchcliffe, completed his second twoday test with Newman-Haas Racing.

Voted the 2010 Canadian Driver of the Year, Hinchcliffe hopes to sign with the team for the 2011 season.

“We did a lot more development work this time rather than just getting me up to speed,” said Hinchcliffe. “It was great to be on track with some other drivers from other teams to have a baseline.”

– MARY MENDEZ

INDYCAR

H

VM has announced Entergy Nuclear, which promotes clean, low-cost and reliable nuclear energy, has agreed a three-year sponsorship deal for the 2010 Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year, Simona De Silvestro.

Entergy will use the IZOD IndyCar Series as a platform for its educational campaign promoting the benefits of nuclear energy as a source of carbon-free electricity and to attract quality engineers and professionals to the nuclear energy sector. The team’s #78 car was unveiled last week in Baltimiore.

– MARY MENDEZ 15

The End of the FA-18s No military for GP flyover – but Qantas will be there FORMULA 1 ONE of the traditions of the Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix, the flyover by RAAF jets, will be absent this year.

There will be no flyovers by military aircraft this year because of complaints about noise, which led Melbourne Ports Member of Parliament for the seat of Melbourne Ports, Michael Danby, to intervene.

“The decision to provide the RAAF jet flyovers at the Australian Grand Prix lies with

the Department of Defence,” said AGP Corporation Acting CEO Andrew Westacott.

“They have been a popular and iconic element of the event since the Grand Prix came to Melbourne in 1996 and we would be disappointed if they didn’t make an appearance in 2011.

Any exclusion of the flyovers would not be a cost cutting exercise for the Australian Grand Prix Corporation as there has never been a fee paid to the Department of Defence for this activity.”

However, the decision not to include military aircraft in the proceedings does not mean that the skies above Albert Park will be plane-free.

Naming rights sponsor Qantas will provide a civilian aircraft for a flyover on raceday.

“We can confirm that the Qantas jet flyover will once again precede Sunday’s big race in its traditional time slot just prior to the National Anthem,” Westacott told eNews.

And there still may be an element of involvement from

the RAAF, or other branches of the Australian Defence Force.

“Discussions are still taking place to finalise the scope of Department of Defence’s involvement in the 2011 Formula 1™ Qantas Australian Grand Prix,” said Westacott.

Also appearing at the AGP will be the always-popular Speed Comparison, which looks likely to again feature Vodafone McLaren Mercedes and TeamVodafone, and some of CAMS’s 2010 Champions, in a parade to highlight their achievements in the sport.

sutton-images.com

... but it’s the beginning for The Living End FORMULA 1 AUSTRALIAN bands will be the headline acts at this year’s concerts at the Australian 16

Formula 1 Grand Prix.

Melbourne legends The Living End will be the big attraction on Sunday night, while ARIA Award winners

Birds of Tokyo will headline the newly ‘amped up’ Sidetracked music festival on Saturday night.

“We can’t wait to be part of

the festival action in front of our home crowd, said TLE front man Chris Cheney. “We’ll be there with the fans cheering on Aussie champ, Mark Webber.” motorsport news

James Smith

DOUBLE FIGURES FOR NATS SHANNONS NATS THE fifth round of the 2011 Shannons Nationals will be the series’ biggest-ever.

A total of 10 categories are scheduled to appear at the July 15-17 event, up from the previous biggest program of seven. While Shannons Nationals rounds are traditionally conducted as twoday events preceded by circuitled private on Friday, Eastern

Creek will be the Nationals’ first fully-fledged, three-day event.

Formula Ford, Formula 3, Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge, Sports Sedans, V8 Touring Cars, Saloon Cars, Commodore Cup, Radicals, Suzuki Swifts and Superkarts form the big program.

Sandown is also likely to hold a ‘three-day event’ for Round 7 of 2011, with eight categories confirmed, including a 500km race for

the Australian Manufacturers Championship.

Series Director Rob Curkpatrick said expanded rounds to accommodate the demand were preferred over adding another round at this late stage.

“Rather than create another round where the calendar’s already a bit full, we’re just going to work harder on those weekends,” he said.

“We’re still working through

the schedule [for Eastern Creek], but official practice will start on Friday, rather than having a day of private practice, and it’s probably going to happen at Sandown as well.

“We just haven’t done it before; it’s a progression. It won’t happen all the time, but there’s an opportunity to do it and we didn’t want anyone to miss out.”

– MITCHELL ADAM

MORE MILES FOR MILES RACING PAIR BATHURST 12 HOUR CHAZ Mostert and Ash Walsh will get some bonus tin-top miles this weekend, ahead of their 2011 Fujitsu Series campaign with Miles Racing.

The Formula Ford graduates are late additions to the Armor All Bathurst 12 Hour field, and will drive the Ryan McLeodowned HSV Astra VRX in Class D alongside www.mnews.com.au

Gerard McLeod.

It will be Walsh’s first event at Mount Panorama, while 2010 Formula Ford Champion Mostert tackled the circuit last year in a one-off Fujitsu Series round, finishing fourth on debut.

“Any opportunity you get to have a drive at Bathurst you grab with both hands,” Mostert said.

“It’s all been a bit last minute but thanks

to Wayne Miles I have another opportunity to get some k’s under my belt at the country’s best circuit. Pairing up with Ash will be good too as we’re going to be spending a lot of time together this year in the Development Series, so learning to decipher how each of us is reading the car and track will be good practice.”

The 12 Hour kicks off with practice on Friday, ahead of Sunday’s race.

17

JOHN MORRIS

Garry and Barry Carry On PRODUCTION CARS FORMER Australian Production Car Champion Garry Holt will team up with Barry Mocrom in selected long-distance Production Car races this year.

The pair will share Morcom’s BMW 335i, the sister car to the chassis in which Holt won a pair of Bathurst 12 Hours, in at least the Phillip Island 6 Hour and Eastern Creek 8 Hour within the Australian

Manufacturers Championship.

While they won’t contest the full series, additional races could be added, including the Sandown 500 and races on the ‘AASA side’ of the new Production Car divide.

“We’re not going to enter the championship, I think it’s an Evo fest there, but we’re going to Phillip Island and Eastern Creek,” Holt said.

“We may do the Sandown race and we might even do the Calder one with the

AASA, we’re thinking about doing that.

We’ll select a race here and select a race there out of the major races. It should be good, I’m looking forward to it.”

Morcom’s son, Nathan – who is set to race open-wheelers in America this year – is a chance to make an appearance with the pair in the longer, three-driver races.

“I think Nathan might do one or two races with us, if not we’ll get someone to join us,” Holt said.

Debut delay for Baily’s Aston Martin SPORTS SEDANS THE maiden race meeting for Kerry Baily’s new Aston Martin Sports Sedan remains up in the air.

The five-time Kerrick Sports Sedan Champion reports his new ride is in “final assembly” and set to be completed before Mallala’s season opener in May. Whether it makes its debut there is yet to be determined, with Baily indicating he may wait until one of the following rounds at Winton or Eastern Creek.

“Probably Mallala wouldn’t 18

be one I’d like to debut it at, but it’ll certainly be finished before then,” Baily said.

“It’s a long way to take a car if it’s not going to be suitable, I’d probably rather it be Winton or Eastern Creek, but it will be going in the next few months.”

Baily’s long-time series rival Tony Ricciardello will return to the wheel of his Alfa in 2011, after contesting the V8 Supercars Championship last year. Meanwhile, the 2010 Kerrick Sports Sedan winner will have a significantlyreduced presence.

James Sera won the title in a

Dean Randle-owned Saab, but with Randle electing to focus on his son’s karting career, the car will remain idle for the majority, possibly all, of the year.

“It’s going to have a rest,” Randle said.

“I’m pretty committed to gokarting this year with my son and, time-wise, it’s going to be hard to do everything.

“We might do selected races, only one or two, maybe, but at this stage we won’t be racing it. There’s no time and the budget doesn’t allow for it.”

– MITCHELL ADAM

2011 KERRICK SPORTS SEDAN SERIES 1 Mallala, SA May 13-15 2 Winton, Vic June 24-26 3 Eastern Creek, NSW July 15-17 4 Morgan Park, Qld August 12-14 5 Phillip Island, Vic November 4-6 motorsport news

Holder braves it out

WET PORT, HOT CREEK Smrz flies in Portugal, while Troy burns at Creek

WORLD SUPERBIKES

www.mnews.com.au

Corser dipping under the track’s qualifying lap record, set in 1997 by Alex Criville’s Michelin qualifier-shod Honda NSR500.

“I think with what we have learned here we are now very well prepared for the test next week, regarding the setup of the bike,” Corser said.

“It was nice to come back to Eastern Creek. The last time I was here was 18 years ago, in 1993. It was a good experience to ride on the superbike here.”

JOHN MORRIS

THE conclusion to be drawn from the latest round of Superbike testing is ... there are no conclusions to be drawn.

In Sydney, Troy Corser went fast on his BMW, inset, in very hot conditions. In Portugal, Jakub Smrz went fast on his Ducati, but rain meant that some of the opposition did not get to have a decent crack at the Czech’s time.

The skies opened over Portimao on two of the three days, leaving Smrz, below, with the fastest time. He was a tenth faster than Jonny Rea’s Honda when the going was good, while Eugene Laverty (Yamaha), Tom Sykes (Kawasaki) and Carlos Checa (Ducati) were right behind.

Max Biaggi was sixth fastest, having missed the second day of the test with the PR commitment and having only two runs on

the final day in changeable conditions.

In Supersport, newcomer Sam Lowes set the fastest time, only to fall twice, breaking a bone in his foot.

David Salom was second fastest ahead of Broc Parkes, the two Motocard Kawasaki riders looking capable of taking the fight to the allconquering Ten Kate Hondas.

In Western Sydney, Corser and new team-mate Leon Haslam logged almost 1500km between them,

SOLO SPEEDWAY CHRIS Holder has wrapped up his third Australian Speedway Championship, despite a serious shoulder injury sustained at Round 2 in Adelaide.

The British Grand Prix winner took out a difficult Round 3 at Broken Hill Speedway, before scoring just seven points at Mildura – losing a primary chain while leading one of his heats. Broken Hill finished well after midnight, and Holder shrugged off the effects of the earlier crash to lead home Davey Watt, the very impressive Kozza Smith and BFinal qualifier Rory Schlein.

The final round was all Darcy Ward – the double World Under-21 Champion was supreme in taking victory from local Cameron Woodward – who had flashes of brilliance in the title campaign. Englishman Kyle Newman, brought in for the final three rounds as a replacement, did enough to qualify for the A-Final but fell.

Despite winning in Mildura, Ward didn’t have enough points to eclipse Holder for the overall Championship.

Instead, he was pitched into a last chance run-off against Poole Pirates team-mate Watt.

The ‘elder statesman’ of the championship field had easily his best ever performance in Australia – however couldn’t get over the young charge.

While the championship really signified the changing of the Australian speedway guard, the over-riding sentiment from fans and riders alike was that track preparation issues and drawn out programs really prevented the four events from being as spectacular as they should have been.

– MATT PAYNE 19

YARWOOD INJURED IN FREAK TODD RD ACCIDENT KARTING

Coopers Photography

MULTIPLE Australian karting champion William Yarwood suffered a severe gash in his leg at Melbourne’s Todd Road during the Rotax Pro Tour on the weekend.

The Queenslander was debuting the new Exprit chassis – for which he is brand ambassador – when an interesting first lap of the Rotax Heavy heat saw a collision with another competitor, whose kingpin lacerated Yarwood’s leg.

Knowing there was an issue, Yarwood drove the kart back to the pit area where he received medical attention and was transferred to Royal Melbourne Hospital. He was operated on Sunday morning to repair the wound, doctors commenting that the cut was largely superficial and he narrowly avoided major injury.

“It’s unfortunate as we were really starting to get a handle on the kart,” Yarwood said from hospital.

“It was our first race weekend with the Exprit chassis and we were starting to move forward with it. I was confident that by the end of the weekend we would have been right on the pace.”

It is too early to tell how the injury will affect the remainder of Yarwood’s 2011 program, including the CIK Stars of Karting Series, which kicks off on February 26/27 at Ipswich.

– MATT PAYNE

YOUNG LIFE LOST KARTING KARTING has lost one of its young competitors, with Mackay Kart Club member Mark Burridge losing his life in a car accident last week.

Burridge, 14, was killed in a crash with a semi-trailer, 20 kilometres north of Rockhampton. His older sister Kristy and parents Peter and Diane were also killed. They were heading to Gympie for Peter Burridge’s father’s funeral.

“Mark and his family were fantastic

members of the karting community throughout Queensland and they will be sorely missed,” said AKA Queensland President Gavin Dicinoski.

“Since joining the sport a few years ago Mark was really developing as a driver and his mature attitude and willingness to assist others when required held him in a high regards with everyone in the Mackay region.

“Our sincerest sympathies go out to the Burridge family and friends.”

BAM! AKA TAKES THE LEE-D KARTING THE Australian Karting Association will take another step in its increased efforts to professionalise its activities when it employs its first full time Marketing and Media Manager in February.

Lee Hanatschek will leave his post at 20

PR firm BAM Media to take up the role.

Hanatschek has been managing the AKA account on BAM’s behalf since the governing body engaged the Gold Coast outfit’s services some years ago.

The move to an in-house role for Hanatschek capitalises on his nearly 20 years involvement in karting at various

levels. With a consultant working fulltime on marketing karting, the sport as a whole should take a significant step forward, building on the platform that has been built already, which has included the reintroduction of the CIK Stars of Karting Series in 2010.

– MATT PAYNE motorsport news

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TERMS AND CONDITIONS Competition starts 17/11/2010 00:01 ends 16/02/2011 23:59 AEDST. Open to Australian and New Zealand only. 1 Major prize to be won consisting of a Toyota Corolla Levin ZR hatch manual valued at AU$31,564 / Toyota Corolla GLX 1.8 litre auto hatch NZ$36,039. Drawn 22/02/2011 11:00 at nextmedia Pty Ltd, Level 6, 207 Pacific Highway, St Leonards NSW 2065. Winners published in The Australian on 03/03/2011. Promoter is nextmedia Pty Ltd, ABN 84 128 805 970 of Level 6, 207 Pacific Highway, St Leonards NSW 2065. For full terms and conditions go to www.mymagazines.com.au. Authorised under NSW Permit Number: LTPS/10/10310, ACT Permit No: TP10/04739.2, SA Permit No: T10/2615, VIC Permit No: 10/3891

Ford Media

Ashley out, for Motherhood NHRA FUNNY CAR

22

Courtesy Kurt Busch

ASHLEY Force Hood is stepping out of the cockpit of her Funny Car, for maternity leave.

Force Hood, 28, is expecting a baby in August.

“This past November, after watching my dad clinch his 15th championship, [husband] Dan and I decided we would try to start a family,” said the 2007 NHRA Rookie of the Year. “We knew it was unlikely to happen in such a short amount of time and, if it didn’t, I could still race the 2011 season and we’d try again next winter.”

Her place in the John Force Racing Ford Mustang will be taken by Mike Neff, who drove for the team in 2008 and ’09 (taking Rookie of the Year honours in ’08) and who was crew chief for John Force in his charge to the 2010 Funny Car title. When the team downsized from four cars to three for the 2010 season, Neff stepped out of the cockpit and into the role of crew chief, a role he will continue to fill with his own car.

John Force will ‘move over’ to the team’s entry run by crew chief Dean ‘Guido’ Antonelli and Ron Douglas, with Robert Hight continuing in the Auto Club car with Jimmy Prock.

Force Hood continued; “I will be taking off this season, but I will still represent Castrol, Ford, Auto Club, BrandSource and Mac Tools; will still be involved in media, commercials and interviews; and will definitely still be rooting on my teammates to go after that 2011 Championship.”

One of those team-mates will be her sister.

Courtney Force, 22, will step up to Funny Car this season, after having raced three seasons in a Top Alcohol dragster.

Busch turns Pro NHRA PRO STOCK KURT Busch is going straight – to Drag Racing.

The former NASCAR champion will park his Penske Dodge in March and have a crack at the National Hot Rod Association Full Throttle Series. And it’s not just any even, it’s the 41st GatorNationals in Gainesville, Florida.

Busch will run in the colours of his new sponsor Shell, driving a Dodge Avenger Pro Stock car for Allen Johnson and J&J Racing.

“It’s a whole different world than NASCAR,” Busch said in a statement.

“The toughest part is staging the car ... [O]f course cutting a good light, the thrill of the launch, and the speed at the top-end is why I’m so fascinated with drag racing. But I do know that heading to the GatorNationals and running with the pros, I will get a full dose of humble pie.”

With 16 spots up for grabs, just getting into the field will be a challenge. Then again, Busch spent much of his off-season testing, and managed to earn his NHRA Pro Stock license. His best test pass of 6.576s/210.43mph would have qualified him 11th in last year’s field. motorsport news

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DRAG RACING TOP Doorslammer competitor Daniel Gregorini has elevated himself in the WA Top Comp championship points following a win on Saturday

night in his Scratch and Match Motorsport Camaro.

Gregorini used a personal best 6.09s time in the final to eliminate Rob Pilkington and move up the rankings to well within striking distance. The

PUGLIA PULLS AHEAD DRAG RACING

PRO Stock driver Allen Puglia had his Ford Probe back at Perth Motorplex following a planned trip to race in the eastern states that never eventuated, due to the severe flooding in Queensland.

It didn’t take long for him to get back into the groove as he qualified third and took the win in the Super Comp final over Terry Stacy.

Puglia said the warm and humid conditions made things hard on everybody racing.

“I’ve been racing a long time and that was one of the hardest weekends I’ve ever raced,” he said.

24

“The car travelled nearly 10,000 kilometres, we had some gremlins and we still do.”

At the last event Puglia stayed in points contention by using a street car to race with. Though he was first round cannon fodder, he took home valuable points for a first round lose that helped keep him in the championship even without his race car in the State.

“Last meeting we had to do something we didn’t want to do to get some points, but you have to win at all costs; you have to use the rulebook and I used it to my advantage,” he said.

– LUKE NIEUWHOF

time was the quickest-ever recorded in the AA/Altered Production class, which runs a lower supercharger overdrive than Top Doorslammer.

Gregorini will be competing in ANDRA Pro Series Top

Luke Nieuwhof

Gregorini going great

Doorslammer at the Westernationals meaning it will be tough to keep in the points, but his newfound consistency could see him go rounds.

– LUKE NIEUWHOF

Henning heads North DRAG RACING

NORTHERN Territorian Bronte Henning travelled to Perth Motorplex on the weekend to compete in the Mobil 1 Supercharged Outlaws bracket up against 21 other competitors from around Australia.

After a lull in Top End drag racing due to the facilities upgrades at Hidden Valley, Henning is one of a number

of racers who are travelling interstate to get their adrenalin fix.

Henning is no stranger to Perth, but it was his first trip with his newly painted Corvette.

“Perth is a favourite of mine and I try to make the trip down as often as possible,” he said.

Henning qualified tenth with a 7.26 but was a late withdrawal from eliminations.

– LUKE NIEUWHOF

motorsport news

news

Change in Sydney DRAG RACING UNCERTAINTY concerning the March ANDRA Pro Series meeting at Sydney Dragway has been removed with newly appointed Sydney Dragway chairman Sam Sofi announcing that the meeting will go ahead as planned.

Mr Sofi said the meeting would now be held on Friday March 18 and Saturday March 19. The ANDRA Pro Series event featuring rounds of Top Doorslammer and Pro Stock will be the first major event to be held at the raceway since a new management structure was implemented.

Sofi said the overwhelming support that he had received from competitors, fans and

sponsors towards staging the meeting had convinced him that cancelling the event was not an option.

Mr Sofi added that preparation has begun for the Nitro Championships scheduled for May and he believes that event will be equally successful.

There has been confirmation of a naming rights sponsor for the event to help it over the line. To be known as the Aeroflow by Rocket Industries Pro Series event, the announcement gives both Sydney Dragway and the facility’s fans a fix of top-level competition at the popular

Western Sydney venue.

“This is fantastic news for the venue,” Mr Sofi said.

“We have some big plans for Sydney Dragway this year, and to see such iconic names as (Graeme) Cowin and Rocket Industries step up to the plate almost immediately to support these events shows just how strong support for the facility really is - we’re very excited about what the coming few months will bring.”

From Cowin’s perspective, the announcement of further support to the sport he and his family have made their own, comes in addition to his recent

return to top-flight competition with son Andrew in both Top Fuel and the Nostalgia ranks.

“We’re very pleased to be involved with Sydney Dragway in presenting the ANDRA Pro Series event during March,” he said.

“Drag racing is integral to our business and my family has lived it and competed in it for over 40 years - for us it’s a way of life.

“Sydney Dragway is integral to the future of the sport in Australia, and an important part of Sydney’s motorsport culture. If it’s successful, we’re all better for it, so I’m more than happy to be involved in the event and looking forward to what promises to be a great weekend of competition.”

– LUKE NIEUWHOF

John Morris / Mpix

Next ANDRA Pro Series Round: Westernationals, Perth Motorplex, March 5-6 ANDRA Pro Series on TV: Friday February 25 Top Fuel Championships www.mnews.com.au

25

Five Minutes with ...

GREG MURPHY He’s not the youngest driver in the field, but in 2011, Murph will have the hippest looking racing car. He spoke to ANDREW VAN LEEUWEN about living life to the max MOTORSPORT NEWS: Murph, the hip and happening youngster; that’s got a nice ring to it.

GREG MURPHY: (Laughs) I can play that part, no problem. I still act like a kid most of the time anyway.

The car looks great, a fresh new start ...

Another one!

That’s true, you are getting good at starting over again. What are the expectations for this year?

You have internal expectations that you dream will happen, then there are the realities, and then there is what actually happens.

We all know what we want to achieve, and we all say the same thing, I’m sure of it. It’s the same with all the launches here in 2011.

But this is another change, and there have been a few changes around the traps this year. We expect to do well, and provide the team and the sponsor what their expectations are. But it’s hard to say what we can and will achieve ..

It’s no like the sport has gotten any easier over summer.

No, exactly. It’s only got worse. There are young guys that have another year under their belt and are improving, the quality of the machinery keeps getting better, so, you know, we’ll leave the talk to those who want to talk it up.

But, in saying that, we want to do well. We want to have to work hard for it, and if we can limit our mistakes and be consistent, then who knows?

This team has some serious goals, and they want to be successful, and that makes for a good feeling within the team.

It’s no surprise you’re back with the Kellys. I think we all knew it would happen eventually.

We certainly talked about it a lot, by which I mean myself and the Kellys have talked about it a lot.

26

So, does it feel like coming home, having worked with the family so closely in the past?

Yeah, it’s a very easy transition, to come and be a part of their team. They make things very easy. My relationship with Rick and Todd has been great ever since we all started out, and the same can be said for my relationship with John and Margaret.

We’ve had some good times in the past, and it will be nice to kick that off again.

So yeah, walking through the door last week at KR was a great feeling.

There was a point towards the end of last year where there was a lot of uncertainty about whether you’d have a full-time ride or not.

There certainly was.

How much a relief was it when this deal came together, and you knew you were staying in the game as a full-timer?

It was a change of mindset, because I’d already clicked into endurance driver mode, and clicked into accepting that that was the way it was. Initially I wasn’t happy about it, but I’d accepted it, and was looking to the fact that it might open up some other opportunities, because you never know.

But I didn’t want to be backing out of the sport, especially having not made that decision myself. It would have just been a case of how the cards had fallen, and you want to do those things on your own terms.

So it was all a bit sad, and then out of the blue ... nothing ceases to amaze me anymore. And it’s not like this is a compromise. This is another fantastic brand to be associated with, and I was lucky last year to be associated with great brands and sponsors, and this year is exactly the dame. That’s something to be thankful for.

It’s pretty much full circle, because you went from looking like you’d be out, to being back in with this unique marketing concept, unlike anything we’ve seen in the sport before.

Yeah, that’s right ... it’s not a compromise, we’re into something brand new.

Do you feel invigorated by that?

Yeah, I’ve knocked 10 years off!

Look, everyone is so enthusiastic, and that makes you enthusiastic. It’s all about what you surround yourself with. That’s the meaning of the word team, and that plays a huge part. That’s the feeling I’ve got here. motorsport news

chat

www.mnews.com.au

27

THREE RING CIRCUITS

T

HAT the NSW government has given the green light for the redevelopment of Eastern Creek is fantastic news for NSW motorsport.

It’s also surprising, because few seriously expected the ARDC’s bid for government assistance would actually be successful after all the taxpayers’ money they’d already spent on motor racing at Homebush. On the other hand, the government does own Eastern Creek, so it must bear some responsibility to ensure the place is kept in good shape and meets the needs of the public.

The other good news is that the upgrade will go ahead no matter whether Kristina Keneally or Barry O’Farrell is the Premier in a few months time. Word is that the Coalition will honour the commitment in the (likely) event that it forms government after the March election.

The upgrade comes at a critical time for motorsport in 28

NSW. The closure of Oran Park has left only Eastern Creek and Wakefield Park as places to race in NSW, and the latter is two hours drive south of Sydney.

The various ride day and driving school businesses in NSW have been hit hard by the demise of Oran Park. Eastern Creek is significantly more expensive to hire than Oran Park, but it is in any case not an option anyway, because the joint is already fully booked.

They can use Wakefield Park, but that means asking their customers to spend four hours of the day just getting to and from the venue.

To underline the scale of the circuit shortage crisis for motorsport in NSW, Eastern Creek has for many years been operating at full capacity – and that was while Oran Park was still there.

Turning Eastern Creek into a twin-circuit facility will go a long way towards easing the situation. It’s also going to give us a much improved Eastern Creek.

OPINION Steve Normoyle – Editor at Large Looking at the draft plans, I reckon they’re going to end up with an absolutely brilliant shorter main circuit. This won’t be part of the plan, but I think this new layout will end up becoming a more appealing option for big events than the full 3.93km.

The ‘short’ circuit has been used before, namely for the ‘96 ATCC round under lights, and a later NASCAR event.

But the new short circuit will be different – and better – because the draft plans include a reprofile of the road that links Turns Four and Nine.

The old link section was an afterthought; it was clumsy, blind and downright dangerous. The new one will comprise a simple left-right flick that will fire them off the downhill run from Turn Three

and onto the straight section that runs up to Turns 10 and 11.

Bypassing the Corporate Hill section makes for a shorter and faster lap. With lap times on this layout some 30 seconds less than the full circuit, the spectators will see the cars flash past more often and at reduced time intervals.

The other thing that’s going to come out of this is a special treat for competitors in the NSW state championship meetings. The ARDC is already planning to use all layouts for the state meetings, and that means three of next year’s State Championship rounds at Eastern Creek will be held on three different circuit layouts.

Work starts at the end of next month and the club hopes to have it all done by September. motorsport news

Back in the Seat

I

T was good to get back into a V8 Supercar at Eastern Creek at the weekend.

At the moment I’m going through chemotherapy. I’ve had my first cycle, and that finished on Thursday. Then we’ll do another cycle in about 20 days time, and then we’ll reassess and see what sort of success rate that’s been having.

I’ll still be at a crossroads at that point, and we’ll then have to make a decision on what the next course of action is. If it’s working, there’ll be more chemotherapy, probably up to six cycles, and if not, then I’ll probably go onto a

new trial drug.

So far from what we know it looks like the tumor will respond to the new trial drug, but it’s so hard to get information because this form of cancer is very rare.

The Alfred Hospital has only seen one case in 10 years, and there’s only a few hundred people world-wide with this form of cancer. In comparison there’s 4500 people in Australia with Prostate Cancer.

The challenge is actually getting information, and everyone else that has this, has it in a slightly different form from me, so it makes it more difficult to get answers.

FIRST PERSON Jason Richards Team BOC I’m certainly not laying back, and the support from my family and everyone in V8 Supercars, has been just fantastic. Everyone has been massively supportive of me and given me every encouragement to fight this.

This was a milestone I aimed for – I wanted to be at Eastern Creek, to be able to drive, and mentally it’s been great for me, and it’s good to catch up

with everybody. It has been excellent to have a drive of the BOC car again and it felt really good to be back. I was pleasantly surprised to see how close I was in times, too.

The car feels very similar to when I last drove it, unfortunately. I was hoping they’d made some big improvements but they haven’t! – I think they must have needed me testing it! ...

Andrew Hall

www.mnews.com.au

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OFFICIAL V8 SUPERCAR TEST DAY EASTERN CREEK, NSW

WILL

BE GOOD

Former Holden driver Will Davison was fastest Ford man in the morning, but a former Ford team turned the tables in the afternoon to put the General on top at the end of the Eastern Creek pre-season V8 Supercar test day. STEVE NORMOYLE was there

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Dirk Klynsmith

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Dirk Klynsmith

I

T feels like only yesterday that they were pounding round the streets of Homebush Bay. The 2010 seasonending Sydney Telstra 500 was eight weeks ago, in fact – which must be close to a new record for the shortest offseason in professional world sport.

The brief hiatus meant the V8 Supercar circus barely had time to pack up the tent before going back on the road for 2011, which it did at Eastern Creek for the January 30 pre-season test day. The V8s’ return to the Creek was of course only the practice run before the actual commencement of hostilities at Abu Dhabi in two weeks time, but with seven new driver/team combos and a swag of shiny new liveries, this free-to-the-public official test day was always going to be an interesting – and crucial – exercise.

What can be gleaned from the Creek in terms of pre-season form? Among no major shocks, there was the odd standout performer.

As expected, the fastest times were under Mark Skaife’s 11-year-old lap record of 1:31.7301s, with Craig Lowndes ending the afternoon session on top at 1:30.1877s.

But this wasn’t a straightforward case of TeamVodafone superiority, because the afternoon’s quick laps came from those who had access to serviceable sprint tyres left over from 2010 – something which

not everyone enjoyed.

Will Davison, for instance, was fastest in the three-and-a half hour morning session in what was his first hit-out with FPR, but with no sprint tyres, he would end the day only 19th (Davison mused that he hoped James Courtney would thank him for the fresh set of sprint tyres he’d left him at the HRT…).

The further complicating factor was that as a pre-Abu Dhabi test circuit, Eastern Creek was not exactly the ideal location; it has a low-grip, bumpy surface (apart from the just-resurfaced turn two and the final corner); Abu Dhabi is high grip and super-smooth.

Jason Bright was one driver who thought there wasn’t much Abu Dhabirelevant data that could be pulled from the Creek, although at least for Brad Jones Racing it was a chance to do some miles on the sort of track surface on which they tend to struggle.

But struggle they did not, and with Bright and Jason Bargwanna ending the day third and sixth respectively (albeit with the help of sprint tyres), there’s every indication that their excellent run towards the end of 2010 will continue into the new season.

But the big news at BJR on the day was the unexpected presence of Jason Richards. Jason had always planned on being – and driving – at Eastern Creek

after being diagnosed late last year with a rare form of cancer, and he kept his promise. He ran laps in both morning and the afternoon sessions and enjoyed every minute of it – and, fittingly, he was fast.

The morning was where it was at in terms of form indicators. Will Davison was simply superb, and with Mark Winterbottom fourth and Paul Dumbrell sixth it was a rock solid showing from FPR. Likewise in the Ford camp, the Stone Brothers also had three cars in the top 10, with Shane van Gisbergen a close second fastest. But the challenge for the SBR trio in 2011 will be, as Ross Stone conceded, to extract regular qualifying pace from all three drivers.

The GRM pair of Michael Caruso and Lee Holdsworth were solid in both sessions and used their sprint tyres to be second and fourth in the afternoon, while David Reynolds put the Stratco Commodore higher up a time sheet than it had ever been with his opening hit-out of 10th fastest, just a shade slower than team mate Todd Kelly.

Again, you wouldn’t put your house on anything to have come from the Creek sessions, but FPR and the Stones looked good and should be good in the Middle East. As also should the fastest Holden team from both sessions, which was, no surprises, TeamVodafone. motorsport news

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Fast and Fiction: While times were somewhat skewed by soft tyres, Mark Winterbottom and FPR looked the goods on the harder rubber, left. Craig Lowndes, far left, was quickest on the softs, while Jason Bright, Tony D’Alberto and Michael Caruso, inset, were also fast on the sprints.

Dirk Klynsmith

SETTLING IN

Dirk Klynsmith

JAMES Courtney’s predecessor at the HRT, Will Davison, might have hit the headlines in his first outing with his new team, but Courtney was more concerned about merely settling into his new work environment.

“Everything’s been going really good,” he said, “everyone’s been really welcoming.

Today’s just about getting to know the car, and myself getting comfortable in it.

“I’ve driven it at a ride day but this is my first real fang in it, so it’s about settling in, and getting to know my engineer, Scotty.

“I’m not looking for race setups or outright speed today; it’s more about finding out more about the car and what sort of things it responds to.

“It’s just like starting a new job; you’ve got to learn where all the light switches are, what switches do what. Just getting yourself familiar with a new environment and a new bunch of people, and that’s really what I’m doing today.”

For the record he ended the morning 14th fastest and the afternoon 16th.

– STEVE NORMOYLE

Dirk Klynsmith John Morris/Mpix

Dirk Klynsmith

www.mnews.com.au

33

WATCH OUT FOR DAVO THE last time the V8 Supercars came to Eastern Creek, in 2008, Will Davison drove a Dick Johnson Racing Ford to victory in what was maiden V8 Supercar triumph.

Fast forward to the 2011 test day and he’s back in a Ford after two seasons in Holdens – and also back on top at the Creek.

Impressively, he topped the lengthy morning session. FPR could hardly have got off to a better start with its new driver, and Davison himself could scarcely conceal the joy he was feeling after a thoroughly dismal 2010 HRT season.

“It is only a test day,” Will said, “I’m well aware of that, but we were legitimately quick, whether it was on the fresher tyres or the old tyres. We were just very quick – but I just really love the feel of the car!

“I don’t want to get carried away; I don’t really worry too much about the lap time, I just worry about how I feel in the car – and it feels great.

“It’s completely different from the HRT car. You ask yourself all the time when you race these cars; where are the different strengths in different areas and how can you get the best out of it. You definitely have to drive this car in a completely different way, 34

but when you get your head around it, it all makes sense.

“I don’t have any sprint tyres to run today. There’ll be a few teams who have some. I think I’ve left Courtney a pretty fresh set after my engine let go in Tassie last year – they only did four laps. So I won’t be up the time sheets in the arvo, but we know where we are on the hard tyres, and that’s probably a more meaningful result.”

For the record, he wasn’t at the top of the afternoon time sheets; he was only 19th, but no one was taking the later session order seriously.

“It’s a dream start. Confidence is a big thing, and you really need to feel good in the car. I don’t think I lost confidence last year but I think I was more mystified as to why I wasn’t getting results. I know there were races last year, particularly towards the end of the year, where I was driving better than ever, but not getting a result. I thought I was driving well last year but I think I just wasn’t at one with the car I was driving.”

It was only day one, but if this is any indication of what we’re in for, then Will Davison is back, and back in a Ford.

– STEVE NORMOYLE motorsport news

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Andrew Hall

www.mnews.com.au

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WHO’S #1?

DICK Johnson Racing raised eyebrows at the Creek with its number treatment on the doors of the Jim Beam Falcons.

With the large black #1 dwarfing the key-lined white #7 and #8 on the respective Steven Johnson and James Moffat cars, from anywhere beyond 50 metres away the visual impression was that both cars were only running #1.

It is an unsubtle jab at former DJR driver James Courtney, who as the series champion has taken the hard-earned number 1 to his new home at the HRT. “Not any one thing wins races and championships,” Dick Johnson pointed out. “It’s the team that wins.”

He was unconcerned at critics who see the DJR door number graphic as a shameless attempt to cash in on the team’s former driver’s defending champion status.

“Doesn’t worry me,” Dick shrugged. “It’s perfectly legal, and the punters just love it.

“To me, it just shows it as what the car is supposed to look like.”

Maybe they could have gone even bolder on the black 1s, because seemingly not everyone at Eastern Creek was aware of DJR’s numerical mischief.

“Yeah, I saw it before,” James Courtney said. “They have huge numbering on the sides. I didn’t really notice the number 1 standing out.

“But we’ve got a number 1 on our thing and we don’t have to hide it…”

– STEVE NORMOYLE

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FANS FLOOD THE CREEK

Andrew Hall

“CHECK that out,” Jamie Whincup said, pointing to the almost-full Eastern Creek grandstand. “The last time we raced here I think we had less people here than what we have today! Admittedly it is free, but then there is also no racing.”

There’s no way of knowing what the attendance was, but clearly the opportunity to get the first glimpse of the cars in their 2011 liveries, as well as the various new driver/ team combos, was something

thousands of Sydney fans weren’t about to miss.

In fact, the whole day had the look and feel of a normal V8 Supercar race meeting – a substantial crowd, queues at the food and merchandise trucks, a grid walk for the fans, radio station MMM doing a live broadcast, and even a performance from the XXXX Angels.

As Whincup noted, the only thing missing was actual motor racing …

– STEVE NORMOYLE

Results :: Eastern Creek Test Day (fastest individual times in bold)

Andrew Hall

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

# 888 34 8 33 3 14 2 5 12 19 4 88 11 16 49 1 39 17 6 9 30 47 7 21 15 18 61 55

Driver Craig Lowndes Michael Caruso Jason Bright Lee Holdsworth Tony D’Alberto Jason Bargwanna Garth Tander Mark Winterbottom Dean Fiore Jonathon Webb Alex Davison Jamie Whincup Greg Murphy David Reynolds Steve Owen James Courtney Russell Ingall Steven Johnson Will Davison Shane Van Gisbergen Warren Luff Tim Slade Todd Kelly Karl Reindler Rick Kelly James Moffat Fabian Coulthard Paul Dumbrell

Team/Car TeamVodafone Commodore Fujitsu Racing/GRM Commodore Team BOC Commodore Fujitsu Racing/GRM Commodore Wilson Security Commodore Brad Jones Racing Commodore Toll Holden Racing Team Commodore Orrcon Steel FPR Falcon Tripple F Racing Falcon Mother Energy Falcon Irwin Racing Falcon TeamVodafone Commodore Pepsi Max Crew Commodore Stratco Racing Commodore VIP Petfoods Commodore Toll Holden Racing Team Commodore Supercheap Auto Commodore Jim Beam Racing Falcon Trading Post FPR Falcon SP Tools Racing Falcon Gulf Western Oil Commodore Lucky 7 Racing Falcon Jack Daniel’s Racing Commodore Fair Dinkum Sheds Commodore Jack Daniel’s Racing Commodore Jim Beam Racing Falcon Bundaberg Rum Racing Commodore The Bottle-O Falcon

Prac 1 1:31.8444 1:32.9719 1:32.4901 1:32.0379 1:33.4642 1:33.2032 1:32.6117 1:31.8991 1:33.1700 1:32.9896 1:32.2371 1:32.9301 1:33.5116 1:32.3930 1:33.1682 1:32.8717 1:34.9009 1:32.9956 1:31.4551 1:31.5008 1:33.2148 1:31.9152 1:32.3430 1:32.9719 1:32.7706 1:33.5448 1:32.9886 1:32.2050

Prac2 1:30.1877 1:30.7552 1:31.0567 1:31.3764 1:31.5306 1:31.5983 1:31.6048 1:31.7871 1:31.8212 1:31.8624 1:31.8991 1:31.9481 1:31.9532 1:31.9753 1:32.0869 1:32.1090 1:32.3193 1:32.4046 1:32.4532 1:32.5928 1:32.6106 1:32.6204 1:32.6519 1:32.7584 1:32.7888 1:32.8920 1:33.0692 1:34.3309 37

TOP FUEL CHAMPIONSHIP PERTH MOTORPLEX

Morgan takes a whopper of a win 38

motorsport news

race Luke Nieuwhof

The ANDRA Pro Series headed West again last weekend, for the Top Fuel Championships at Perth Motorplex, with Darren Morgan emerging victorious.

LUKE NIEUWHOF was there www.mnews.com.au

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Luke Nieuwhof

D

Stamatis in the next race as a 5.02s, the slowest full pass of the ARREN Morgan gave his championship chances a massive boost at Perth Motorplex on January 28 and event, defeated Stamatis’ run which spun the tyres on the hit of the 29 as he took out the fourth round of the ANDRA Pro throttle.

Series Top Fuel Championship.

Terry Sainty, driving for Santo Rapisarda at this event, scorched to Morgan used a 4.83s pass in the final to defeat Phil Lamattina, a 4.89s to eliminate Perth’s own Damien Harris who went 4.99s. In who smoked the tyres at about quarter track. It wasn’t all over the final pairing of the first round, Phil Lamattina’s Fuchs dragster there for Morgan, as his parachutes failed to release and he went scored an upset, eliminating Cowin in a 4.82s to 4.99s race, with a deep into the sand trap for the second time in two passes. late pedal by Cowin seeing him lose the lead.

“Drag racing is up and down and it’s full of tears and smiles,” he In the semi finals, Morgan was again fortunate as Sainty was said. leading by a tenth of a second at half track before a big 316mph “We’ve been in the sandpit twice, I told the kids we were going to charge catapulted Morgan past for a 4.81s to 4.89s win. the beach for two days but it ain’t happening now.”

Lamattina and Read’s race, meantime, was a thriller. Phil Read’s Lamattina was upbeat about finding some form at last. .085s reaction time was the quickest of eliminations but Lamattina’s “We’re in the championship hunt now so we will see what .087s was only just behind. Lamattina made up the difference with happens, it’s good to make a final for the first time this season,” he a 4.806s pass against a 4.808s, a .000 margin with the computer said. working out the two cars were just four centimetres apart at the “Congratulations to Darren, he’s doing an exceptional job this year.” finish line.

Qualifying saw Morgan’s Hungry Jack’s/AEG Powertools dragster It set up a final between Lamattina, coming back from eighth leading after the second session with a 4.86s run until being position in qualifying, and his former driver Morgan. Lamattina put bumped first by Damien Harris’ 4.83s in the Best Tractor Parts car a tenth of a second holeshot on Morgan and looked on his way and then a 4.77s from Andrew Cowin’s Rocket Industries team. until tyre smoke just before quarter track saw Morgan sweep by for Eliminations saw Top Fuel debutant Mark Sheehan taking on Phil a 4.83s pass at 313mph.

Read in the first pairing. Sheehan got out well but burnt up the car The win, which comes with bonus points for being a Perth round, around three-quarter track, while Read’s motor lasted just a little has seen Morgan able to stretch his lead, especially with points longer before going up in flames to take a 4.89s to 4.91s win. rival Cowin exiting in Round 1.

It was still an impressive performance by Sheehan, who qualified The privateer racer is now in a hot position to take his first fourth with a first session 4.89s, the quickest of that round. championship as team owner as the championship moves on to Morgan dodged a bullet against the reigning champion Martin Willowbank in April.

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BW Media

Left: Phil Lamattina, closest to camera, couldn’t quite defeat Darren Morgan in the final.

Earlier, Lamattina beat Phil Read, above, in a thrilling semi-final. Read had his own excitement, sneaking home against Top Fuel newcomer Mark Sheeham despite a fire in the opening round, right.

Bottom: Substitute driver Terry Sainty, right, knocked out Andrew Cowin before going down to Morgan in the semis.

Luke Nieuwhof

BW Media

www.mnews.com.au

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AUSTRALIAN SPRINTCAR CHAMPIONSHIPS WARRNAMBOOL SPEEDWAY

Brooke makes it four Even with an ailing car, there was no stopping Brooke Tatnell in the 49th Australian Sprintcar Championships.

GEOFF ROUNDS watched Tatnell take his fourth title.

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Geoff Gracie

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A

N oil-soaked helmet, broken rocker cover and the brave choice to race with a softer tyre than his opposition has not stopped Sydney’s Brooke Tatnell winning the 49th Lucas Oils Australian Sprintcar Championship at Premier Speedway, Warrnambool on Saturday night.

The dominant drive saw Tatnell clinch his fourth national championship with previous wins in 2005, ’06 and ’07. Tatnell started the 40-lap title decider from position six in his Krikke Motorsport Cool and had to get past the strong pacesetting trio of two-time national champion Max Dumesny on pole, three-time Grand Annual Sprintcar Classic winner Kerry Madsen, also off the front row, and six-time Australia No. 1 Garry Brazier from three.

Tatnell did it with eventual ease at the start, passing three cars and moving into

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second behind Kerry Madsen and he was never headed after hitting the lead on Lap 9. With 10 laps remaining, Tatnell had cleared out to a third of a lap lead over Madsen, with a hole in his rocker cover after a rock had flown into it, sending smoke billowing from his machine.

Dumesny and Brazier fell back through the field and out of contention and it was left to last weekend’s Classic winner, Steven Lines, to provide the excitement.

With just three laps remaining, Darren Mollenoyux blew his left-rear tyre, prompting a yellow caution light and restart.

That was what Tatnell didn’t need, as the field of 15 remaining cars were compressed and Lines having charged from 10th to fourth. But Tatnell need not have worried. He blasted off the start line and went on to win comfortably. Lines

took a couple of laps to get past Anderson and his chance to challenge for victory had past.

“That’s bloody awesome,” Tatnell said after a victory wing-dance to celebrate a fourth national title crown.

“I can’t say enough about it. We rolled the dice, using a softer tyre than anyone else.

The plan was to run the first few laps hard, back off for 15 laps and then come home.

“We got out the front early and there was no back-pedaling, it was twelve-tenths all the way. We were either going to win or not finish. I had 25 tear-offs on my helmet and I only used one for dust; the oil from the motor was making it hard to see but we got her home.

“Sprintcar racing is the greatest form of motorsport in the world and Warrnambool is the best place to race.”

Tatnell admitted to wearing his heart on

motorsport news

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Geoff Gracie

Geoff Gracie

Kerry Madsen, top right, took second, while Steven Lines, right, starred in his charge to third.

Geoff Gracie

his sleeve and revealed he and his team decided to take a massive gamble on the softer tyre holding up.

During some of the earlier 10-lap heats, tyres were smoking on a track that had hosted 64 heats during the Classic and titles, plus five divisions of main events just for the previous weekend’s Classic. Tatnell realised there were risks involved in going with the softer compound on a surface showing signs of the heavy traffic.

“We took a gamble. I was scared to death when we put it on but there was no holding back,” he said.

“When I got behind Belly (lapped

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Warrnambool driver Stephen Bell) I played it straight and wouldn’t look at the scoreboard or the big screen.”

At the restart Tatnell admitted to looking to see where Lines was in the field, and was more than a little concerned the young gun had climbed through the field to fourth.

“I just thought, ‘bloody hell’,” he said.

Lines said the effort to get past Anderson was telling.

“I was wearing myself out just getting past Ando and when I did there was only two laps left,” he said.

“It’s been a great last couple of weeks

but this weekend we didn’t start from where we wanted. Track position was allimportant. I had the car to do well.”

Runner-up Madsen never really threatened Tatnell, explaining he was losing tyre pressure from the fifth lap.

“It’s no excuse, Brooke just smoked us on the night,” he said.

“The guys gave me a great race car but we came up short. We were probably fortunate to run second.”

Beyond fourth-placed Anderson, Jamie Bricknell, James McFadden, Garry Brazier, Robbie Farr, David Murcott and Max Dumsney rounded out the Top 10 finishers.

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GRAND AM SPORTSCARS DAYTONA 24 HOURS, DAYTONA, FL

T

HE astonishing winning form of Chip Ganassi Racing continued at Daytona, with America’s latest racing dynasty taking its first 1-2 finish in the Rolex 24 at Daytona.

The win capped a storybook 12 months for owner Chip Ganassi, having won the Daytona 500, Indy 500, Brickyard 400 and Coca Cola 600 with his drivers.

In a dramatic race, the team’s lead entry took over the lead from its sister entry in the final hour, and held on to take a 2s win. It was all the more remarkable because the winning Scott Pruett/Memo Rojas Graham Rahal/Nick Hand BMW Riley suffered two setbacks during the race.

The first came almost before the race started. During the opening stint, Pruett found the car hitting the rev limiter on the banking, prompting the team to pit him early so that they could change the gear cluster. The car resumed in a remarkably short time, and the chase was on.

With under two hours of the race remaining, the car was in contention for the win – until Hand hit a tyre in pitlane. He served a 30s stop-go penalty and charged back into the race, halving a 50second deficit in the process. With just over an hour remaining, crew chief Tim Keene pitted the car under yellow, allowing it to short-fill and take the lead during the final round of stops.

Scott Dixon closed the gap in the final stint but he, and his All Star co-drivers Dario Franchitti, Juan Pablo Montoya and Jamie McMurray had to settle for second. Action Express Racing, which won the 2010 Rolex 24 with its Porsche Cayenne-engined Riley, completed the podium in third for Joao Barbosa, Christian Fittipaldi, Max Papis, Terry Borcheller and JC France, 0.3s behind Dixon.

For Rahal, it was historic; his first Daytona win came 30 years to the day his father Bobby found himself wearing a Rolex in victory lane.

The other car within a shout of winning was that of United Autosports. Zak Brown and Mark Patterson were joined by former Le Mans winners Martin Brundle and Mark Blundell, and despite Brundle clashing with his own team-mate in the opening stint, the came back from a lap down to finish 3.1s from the winners. Ryan Briscoe was fifth in the SunTrust Dallara-Chevrolet he shared by Max Angelelli and Ricky Taylor, a lap down.

In GT, TRG scored its fourth class win, Andy Lally nursed home a clutchless #67 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car he shared with Spencer Pumpelly, Brendan Gaughan and Wolf Henzler to the class victory.

The team’s biggest challenger looked to be the Dempsey Racing Mazda RX-8, which lost three laps with electrical problems, not to mention that owner/driver Patrick Dempsey was unwell.

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MARTIN D CLARK watched a Daytona 24 Hour race that provided spills, thrills, a close finish and an ending that was ...

Blue Chip motorsport news

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Martin D Clark Martin D Clark

Martin D Clark

Blue Heaven: The 2011 Rolex 24 was another win for Chip Ganassi’s lads, left. Flying Lizard’s Porsche led the field away after qualifying on pole (on the team’s DP debut); TRG won the GT class, top, after a battle with Patrick Dempsey’s Mazda, above; veterans Brundle and Blundell were fourth outright, below.

Kool Advert Final OL - Digital.indd 1

Ford Racing

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www.mnews.com.au 30/11/2010 13:16:43 Sill Advert v3 Final OL Digital.indd 1

30/11/2010 13:14:21

NZ FESTIVAL OF MOTOR RACING II HAMPTON DOWNS

Fast Company / Alex Mitchell

Oh, Canada!

After a washout a week earlier, Formula 5000 finally got enough dry weather at Hampton Downs for the second leg of the New Zealand Festival of Motor Racing.

But it wasn’t a local who ended up on top this time ...

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V

ISITING Canadian driver Jay Esterer completed a stunning comeback win at the second New Zealand Festival of Motor Racing meeting at Hampton Downs over the weekend, claiming a hat trick of MSC NZ F5000 Tasman Cup Revival Series wins, including the 15-lap feature, only a week after a heavy accident at the rain-shortened first meeting at the same track.

Monaco-based British driver Peter Dunn (March 73A/05), below, had earned pole position after topping the time sheets in the final Top Ten Shootout on Saturday afternoon, but Esterer (McRae GM1) won the weekend’s first race on Saturday afternoon from Mark Dwyer (Lola T400), the second from Ken Smith and the 15-lap Tasman Grand Prix final on Sunday afternoon from series young gun Michael Lyons (Lola T400) and newcomer Clark Proctor (March 73A-1).

The Tasman Grand Prix final was a cracker, with Ken Smith taking over pole position from Esterer, after bettering his qualifying time (as he chased down a runaway Esterer) in the second race on Sunday morning.

The pair were neck and neck off the rolling start but with the inside line through the daunting downhill first turn, Smith held the initial advantage. Esterer was in front when the field thundered across the finish line at the end of the first lap, but for the next three he came under intense pressure – not just from Smith either.

As he tried everything he could to find a chink in Esterer’s armour, both Dwyer (who started third) and Lyons (who started fifth) joined the fight. Smith finally found a way past Esterer on the fourth lap

but his lead was short-lived, the Canadian back in front before another lap was run.

The action remained fast and furious, however, with Mark Dwyer shuffled back down the field and eventually out of the race with a bent front wing, before Lyons got the better of Smith to claim second.

Last season’s MSC series runner-up, Steve Ross (McRae GM1) was also part of the leading group early on but spun and clouted the armco on Lap 5.

At that stage the order was Esterer, Lyons, Smith with a small gap back to the duelling March 73s of Clark Proctor and Peter Dunn then a slightly larger margin to Aaron Burson (McRae GM1) and Amon F101 F1 car driver Ron Maydon.

Lyons continued to worry Esterer but the Canadian remained resolute, eventually crossing the finish line just over twohundredths of a second in front of Lyons who in turn had a 14second buffer on Proctor.

“I feel fantastic and for that I have to thank all the people who have helped me since I arrived here,” beamed Esterer.

“After last weekend, obviously, we needed to fix my car and everyone has been so good about it.”

And though he struggled to find a suitable balance between under and oversteer in qualifying, Esterer reported that changes to his car’s set-up between Friday’s and Saturday paid off and each time he went out in the car he felt more comfortable driving it.

“I was definitely getting more used to it and the track by the Grand Prix,” he said.

Fast Company / Alex Mitchell

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Drama at Pro Tour KARTING

THE Rotax Pro Tour returned with a bang at Melbourne’s Todd Road over the weekend, with several big crashes and breakout performances being the big talking points.

Aside from William Yarwood’s injury (see news pages), there were several large incidents on Saturday, including some-time Formula Fordster, Sam Howard – who rode out a wild flip during the second round of Rotax Light.

Another to be flung from his machine was Canberra racer Jackson Delamont.

Howard was unable to continue after precautionary x-rays cleared him of any breaks, whilst Delamont went on to finish fourth in the Rotax DD2 final. Young Melbournite,

Liam Bellamy was knocked unconscious on Sunday morning after ploughing fullnoise into a tyre wall. He was released from hospital Sunday afternoon.

On track, the Junior rivalry between Pierce Lehane and Joseph Mawson continued, with this one going the way of the latter. A Pre-Final move to take the lead backfired on Lehane, who had an off and drifted to mid-pack. A Turn 1 incident in the final dropped the world number three to last. He fought back to 10th.

Meantime, Mawson had his own problems with Melbourne racer Liam Morey and female racer, Renee Gracie. Morey challenged early but drifted backwards as the laps wound on, whilst Gracie just got faster. Shadowing

Mawson, she passed him with just over a lap to go – however left the door open for the Sydneysider to get back past her and take the win by just one tenth.

David Sera was another to score a comprehensive win on debut for the new generation Arrow kart. Severe jetlag combined with 40plus temperatures didn’t hamper the current Australian champion who took victory over Josh DeMaio and the DR Kart of Adam Lindstrom. Brad Jenner and the impressive Jaymee Frampton completed the top five – Frampton another lady racer to impress in a 38-strong field.

DD2 fell the way of Jason Pringle, who overcame a mechanical issue in Saturday’s heats to comfortably win the

category from Queenslander Kyle Ensbey and former Champion, Brinley Gread – who executed a last lap pass to stand on the podium after a difficult weekend.

Troy Woolston was too good in Rotax Heavy, putting in a solid performance to take victory over Lee Mitchener and Paul Rodgers.

Sydney’s Mick Robson took out Rotax Over-35s from Cameron Harch and Danny Woodland, whilst Mitchell Kennedy led a trio of Pro Tour debutantes in Junior MAX Heavy, Joshua Crossingham and Jack Richardson completing the podium. The Super Heavy division went to Canberra racer Sean Reeves over Bruce Otter and Steven Lalas.

– MATT PAYNE

Madsen wins Prelude SPEEDWAY

Geoff Gracie

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KERRY Madsen loomed as the pre-race favourite for the 2011 Australian Sprintcar Championships after a very narrow win in the $5000-to-win Prelude to the Championships race last Wednesday.

He led home Jason Johnson in a thrilling finish to the 30-

lapper, the pair separated by just 0.06s at the chequered flag.

Stephen Bell was third, ahead of Brooke Tatnell.

“I’ve had a lot of luck here before, so I can’t complain,” Madsen said.

“Anytime you can be up here on the podium is a great thing and we’ll take it on this Prelude to the Championship.

“It’s a privilege for me to win

a race for these guys and I’m really happy for my sponsors.

He (Johnson) was quick but we got a lucky start and got the right line to slide him and cut him off.

“He (Johnson) definitely tried to stick it in there and I cut him off. I actually thought we were going to be tied together rolling across the finish.”

– GEOFF ROUNDS

motorsport news

race

Whites take Wrest Point ATC JASON and John White have added another tarmac rally victory to their collection, taking out Targa Wrest Point, Round 2 of the 2010/2011 Australian Targa Championship.

The Tasmanian was in the thick of a Lamborghini battle at the head of the field, fighting it out with Targa High Country winners Kevin Weeks and John Allen. In the end, honours went to White, after an off-road excursion and subsequent repairs dropped the Supaloc entry to 17th overall, with White winning by 29s.

“It was very rewarding to win,” Jason White said.

“There was a lot of pressure on us and it’s the most hard fought win we’ve had in our lives. We’ve got just a few

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things to work on, mainly putting the side mirrors back on the car because we managed to knock both of them off on the Pelverata stage this morning.”

Steve Glenney and Bernie Webb were second in their Mazda R8, a further 29s clear of the Nissan GT-R of Tony Quinn and Naomi Tillett. The victory moves the Whites to top spot in the ATC standings, ahead of Dean Herridge and Glenn Weston, who took fourth in a Subaru WRX STi. Adam Newton and Daniel Lemish (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IV) won the Early Modern Class, Nick Ellis and Travis Lacey (1997 Porsche 911 Carrera) finished on top in Classic Outright, while Brendan Reeves and Simon Vandenberg gave Mazda the Showroom 2WD honours in a Mazda 3 MPS.

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Porsche 993 Race Car

Evo 3 RS 1995 Winner Dutton Rally Outright twice Class winner Targa Tasmania CAMS and AASA logbooks.

Complete respray 2010. Fitted with 17" OZ wheels with Formula R's and Brembos throughout. DMS coil overs. LSD's front and back.

Terratrip and Terraphone installed.

Autronic ECU. Bullet proof and ready to race. 0417 582 053

BA V8 Supercar & Transporter Complete V8 Supercar package *BA Falcon ready to race *Race Transporter P/Mover & Trailer *Race Crew tool boxes and trolleys *loads of spares = rims, panels, windscreens etc. Will split package $$ POA $$ 0419 993 155 www.my105.com/3534

Ferrari F430 Aust GT3 Spec Recently rebuilt to brand new condition using a new Ferrari factory body and over 100 new components! Without doubt the best F430 in Australian GT3 spec on the market. Ideal for the serious GT racer or club enthusiast. This car has won many Aust GT races. Huge spares package included. $315,000 ono. +61 (0) 417 462 664 www.my105.com/3783

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Price reduced 1995 Porsche 911. 993 race car, LHD, stripped lightweight body, 3.6L, ceramic coated pistons, Unichip ECU, RSCS 6 spd gearbox, 993 turbo brakes, Tilton brake bias, Tilton pedals, twin oil coolers, proflex shocks, 60/40 LSD, 2 sets wheels, parts, email for details. Near offers considered. $45,000. 0418 955 785 www.my105.com/2703

Mustang 1968 Rllay Car Nissan 200sx Drift Car Selling as I have purchased a S15 for competition in 2011. Selling with 2 sets wheels and tyres, TEIN adjustable suspension, SuperPro bushes, slotted rotors, ceramic pads, Exedy clutch, R35 diff centre, Nismo 1.5 way LSD, 2.5 inch exhaust, aftermarket fuel pump, rocker stoppers, spares included 07 3801 3222.

Tarmac PRC rally car fully engineered and NSW registered.

This car would have to be the best handling road registered Mustang.

10,000kms since full bare metal re-build, brand new 347 stroker AFR alloy heads, TKO 600 G/box, F350, 9inch McPherson strut front end, rack and pinion steering, extensive roll cage.

0422 028 985 www.my105.com/3797

BMW E30 Ready to start for the 2011 season, multiple trophy winner, front running car within E30 racing series, also set up to run improved production. Motor is about 10 rounds old, gear box 5 rounds old, new LSD hasn't seen any track time as yet. Full suspension overhaul.

0400 848 496

Dodge Ram Dodge Ram 3500 Laramie 4x4, 6.7L Turbo Cummins, 6sd Auto, 22inch Rims, Leather interior, huge HP and Torque. Awesome truck to discuss further contact Mark Webster 0417 965 330 www.my105.com/3765

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motorsport news

rear of grid

Odd Spot

Daytona Daze

sutton-images.com

We always get some arty images from the Rolex 24 Hour at Daytona and these are no exception. The winning Ganassi BMW Riley shines up a treat in the setting sun, above, while a heavy fog prompted officials to mandate a long (two-hours-plus!)

Yellow Flag period after dark, below.

Ford Racing

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