Around the tracks 4 March 2011

STEVEN Richards has signed to race the V8 Supercar endurance races with former full-time employer, Ford Performance Racing. The two-time Bathurst winner will partner Mark Winterbottom while long-time enduro racer Luke Youlden will drive with Will Davison in the other FPR car. Winterbottom and Richards have driven together before with Bathurst and Sandown 500 victories.

AFTER 15 years as a full-time V8 Supercar driver, Steven Richards will follow his father, Jim, into racing Porsches.  He will compete in a full season of the Porsche Carrera Cup in a 911 GT3 Cup. His first race will be at the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix from March 24-27. "Our aim for this year is to win the championship. It won't be easy. It's a competitive field," he says.

SPANIARD Carlos Checa became the first rider to score a world Superbike clean sweep at Phillip Island since 2008 when he won both 22-lap races at the weekend. The Ducati rider was followed by world champion Max Biaggi of Italy on his Aprilia in both races. Briton Leon Haslam (BMW) and MotoGP convert Marco Melandri (Yamaha) claimed the final spots on the two podiums. The last rider to win both races at a Phillip Island WSBK round was Australia's Troy Bayliss. It is now the longest period since a local rider won at the island. Australians Troy Corser (BMW), Josh Waters (Suzuki), Mark Aitchison (Kawasaki) and wildcard entry Bryan Staring of Perth (Kawasaki) finished well down the order. Round two of the championship will be held at Donington from March 25-27, where Australian Chris Vermeulen is expected to compete after sitting out round one to allow his injured left knee more time to recover.

NEWCASTLE'S Broc Parkes was pipped by 0.009 seconds for victory in the 21-lap World Supersports race at the weekend, but it was still his best result at Phillip Island. The Kawasaki rider was beaten by Yamaha's Luca Scassa, with Briton Sam Lowes (Honda) and Spaniard David Salom (Kawasaki) also involved in the drag to the finish line. It was Scassa's first World Supersport victory.

BMW rider Glenn Allerton dominated the two Australian Superbike races at Phillip Island at the weekend. In the first race he gambled with slicks on a damp circuit to win by more than 20 seconds. He also won the second race on a dry circuit by a comfortable margin. Allerton is 13 points ahead of Suzuki rider Troy Herfoss who is only one point ahead of Arpilia rider Ben Atard. The championship continues this weekend at Symmons Plains in Tasmania.

THE Formula 3 Australian Drivers Championship will support two V8 Supercar rounds this year at Winton, Victoria, in May and Darwin in November. Organisers are also negotiating for a seventh round to be added to its 2011 calendar and have announced a "budget" race entry fee of $1600 per car, per round.

FORD stalwart Dick Johnson will drive a GM product in his fourth Targa Tasmania. The five-time Australian Touring Car Champion and V8 Supercars Hall of Fame member will drive a V8-powered 2009 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 in the the 20th anniversary of the Targa in April.  The only Ford link for Johnson is that the car is owned by Yellow Cab owner Neill Ford, one of Dick Johnson Racing's sponsors.

CHAD Reed has clung to third in the American and World Supercross after a dramatic clash with rival James Stewart in Atlanta at the weekend. The Australian led for 16 of the 20 laps, but collided with Stewart to finish third for the main event and hold on to third in the standings behind Americans Ryan Villopoto and Ryan Dungey. The next event is at Daytona this weekend. (March 5) ITEM DEFENDING kart champions Matthew Wall, Cian Fothergill and Pierce Lehane dominated their categories at round one of the CIK Stars of Karting Series in Ipswich at the weekend. Round two of the national series will be held in Adelaide on April 2-3.

MARCOS Ambrose has jumped 10 places in the NASCAR Sprint Cup standings with a 16th at Phoenix at the weekend following a 17-car pile-up in the opening-round Daytona 500 the previous week. At one stage he was running second until a race caution put him a lap down. "I know I've got great stuff and I know I can really do well," the Ford driver said after the race. The race was won by Jeff Gordon (Chevrolet), while second-placed Kyle Bushc (Toyota) leads the standings. The next round is this weekend in Las Vegas.

LUKE Ellery leaves for Florida next Saturday (March 12) to race in the first round of the F2000 series at Sebring March 17-18 and Petersburg on March 26-27. The 21-year-old Victorian will then fly home and return to the US for the third round in Indianapolis in May. The IndyCar hopeful is a former national kart champion and three-time state Formula Ford champion. He will drive a Van Dieman for JDC Motorsports in the US series.