Motorsports

THE betting markets list James Courtney as the favourite for the V8 Supercars championship title. The Jim Beam Racing Falcon driver has led the championship since May and takes a 53-point advantage over Jamie Whincup (Team Vodafone) into the title decider at Homebush in Sydney this weekend. Courtney is tipped at $1.33 to $1.36 in three betting markets ahead of Whincup on $3-$3.30. The only other driver with a mathematical chance of claiming the title is Mark Winterbottom (Ford Performance Racing), who trails Courtney by 203 points and is $67 in the markets.FORMULA One protege Filipe Albuquerque scored a shock win in the Race of Champions in Germany over three-time event winner and seven-time world rally champion Sebastien Loeb at the weekend. The event features 16 leading drivers in a variety of race disciplines with Australia represented by five-time world motorcycle champion Mick Doohan. He failed to reach the eight-driver knockout stage. Former event winner and Finnish F1 driver Heikki Kovalainen took a precautionary trip to hospital after being knocked out in a crash on the Sunday.AUSTRALIA'S next Formula One racer will be Perth 21-year-old Daniel Ricciardo after he was named Toro Rosso's third and reserve driver for the 2011 season. The former Red Bull reserve driver will drive in the free practice sessions on the first day of each GP, alternating with regular drivers Jaime Alguersuari and Sebastian Buemi. If either is injured or their performance is diminished, Ricciardo is likely to get a drive.TEENAGER George Gutierrez has scored his first state championship at the South Australian Karting Championships at the weekend. The 14-year-old avoided the carnage to knock over a top field of drivers including including current national champion Joseph Mawson in the Junior Clubman category. Other category winners were Chase Wooley (Midgets), Tyler Morrison (Rookies), Todd Hazelwood (Junior National Heavy) and Danny Errigo (Clubman Super Heavy).ROBBIE Farr has forged ahead in the World Series Sprintcar Championship with his second win in the first two rounds. Farr won at Archerfield, Brisbane, last week and again in Toowomba at the weekend to head off Cameron Gessner and Matthew Reed.THE last Mini Challenge race for 2010 at Sydney this weekend will be the final for the series. Mini Australia boss David Woollcott has confirmed they are terminating their five-year contract with Toleman Motorsports after just three years. He cited the lack of TV coverage and growing expense of the series.DAREDEVIL rider Robbie Maddison has landed the world's first indoor "drop-in" at the Crusty Demons Thirst 4 Destruction finale in Sydney at the weekend. He launched his Yamaha YZ250F off a platform suspended more than 22m above the floor of the Acer Arena to land the bike on a specially built landing ramp. The Australian's previous feats include jumping on to and off the Arc de Triomphe replica in Las Vegas and jumping over London's Tower Bridge.TWINS Jake and Matt Moss won their classes at the penultimate round of the Super X series in Parramatta at the weekend. Jake became the first Australian to win an open round after Chad Reed returned to the US after the first round to secure his ride for the coming American and World supercross series. He moves to within 50 points of American Josh Hansen as the series hits Brisbane this weekend for the finale. His brother and Suzuki teammate continues to lead the lites class from American P.J.Larsen.HONDA will return to the Australian Superbike Championship in 2011 with Motologic. The partnership has netted five national road racing titles including back-to-back titles in Superbike and Supersport in 2004 and 2005, and the 2008 Superbike title. THE Aussie V8 ute will be turning Japanese in Sydney this weekend when Super GT driver Ryo Orime becomes the first of his countrymen to race in the V8 Ute series and the first to drive in a support category to the V8 Supercars. Mr Orime, who usually races a Mazda RX-7, will get behind the wheel of the Holden ute raced by Brendon Tucker at the Gold Coast 600 last month. "It's totally different from a GT car. There is no down-force and no grip," he said. V8 SUPERCAR driver Jason Richards will undergo chemotherapy after a rare adrenal gland cancerous tumour was removed from his abdomen last week. The Brad Jones Racing driver dropped out of the final two rounds of the series with his place taken by Andrew Jones. Richards is expected to leave hospital by the end of this week.

His 2011 season was threatened when his new team, Richard Petty Motorsports, ran into financial trouble after defaulting on its $90 million loan earlier this year.However, his ride has been guaranteed by the sale yesterday of Richard Petty Motorsports assets to an investment group with seven-time NASCAR champion Richard Petty as chairman."Obviously it's a great relief to have my future secured. I can't wait for the year to kick off in earnest at Daytona in February," said Ambrose who cancelled his usual return to Australia for Christmas to help his new team sort out its financial woes."We have a point to prove in 2011. It's my third year in the top NASCAR's elite level, and our aim is to win races and make the end-of-year Chase."Ambrose won the 2003 and 2004 V8 Supercar championship driving a Gold Coast-based Stone Brothers Racing Ford and has finished his fifth year of NASCAR racing in 26th place in the Sprint Cup driving a Toyota Camry. He will line up next year in a Ford Fusion alongside 2004 Champ Car World Series Rookie of the Year A.J. Allmendinger.

The four-time Bathurst winner has confirmed that he and co-driver Kees Weel, of the Gold Coast, plan to compete again in 2011, possibly with a two-car team. "Kees is pretty adamant that he wants to do it," said Lowndes who won the September race in his first attempt. He's already bought a second Colorado and is going to start ripping it apart over Christmas and getting it up to spec. We just need to secure the funding and get the support to carry it through." Lowndes said Weel's son and former V8 Supercar driver Paul would drive the second car. The father and son team competed in the 2009 rally, but failed to finish because of mechanical problems. Paul didn't race this year as his wife was about to give birth. Lowndes said he expected Kees would continue to be his navigator, even if they entered a two-car team. "We had this discussion between the three of us and I raised that question who would have him (as co-driver) and Paul's response was 'you can have him'. Maybe they fight too much," he said. The two Colorado rally cars will be identical with the same driveline and suspension. "It's a proven car that's easy to copy," Lowndes said. "Expanding to a two-car team is easy, but expensive. You need more transportation, more mechanics, more personnel and more spares. There is a lot more organisation to be done yet to get to that point." Safari organisers have not officially settled on dates for the 2011 event, but it is expected to be held on the same weekend as this year, which would be straight after the Phillip Island endurance round on September 16-18. "So long as it doesn't clash with the V8 calendar, I'll be there," he said. Lowndes also confirmed he wants to compete in the gruelling Dakar Rally in South America as early as 2012. "Definitely I'd be keen and I'm sure Kees would be keen for it," he said. "It's just a matter of doing it properly. We don't want to go over there with a half-hearted attempt but with good equipment. This style of car doesn't suit the Dakar. You need a diesel engine vehicle. You can get away with it here but not at Dakar." Australia will next month field the biggest contingent yet to compete in a Dakar Rally with two car teams and five motorcycle riders. Lowndes said the growing interest in Australians competing in the world's toughest motorsport race would aid their efforts to put together a team to compete in the event. "There seems to be more interest every year, so that should help us with funding and support," he said.

But I won't play dirty and there are no team orders as such.  There has been no discussion yet about team orders or strategies. We'll have to see where Jamie, James, Frosty and I are positioned after qualifying on the Saturday before we even think about that. No doubt we'll cross that bridge when we come to it, but there won't be any orders to play dirty.  I'll do the best I can to help Jamie, but I won't change my style for this weekend.  I will attack James as hard as always and if he leaves a door open I'll put my nose up the inside and have a go. But I won't knock him out of the way. I know how gut wrenching that is after having it done to me at Phillip Island in 2006.  You want to win a championship honestly and on your own merits and not have it handed to you by other people's mistakes. Jamie is in a position where he has nothing to lose and will come out firing this weekend.  He's been doing all the usual PR stuff with me this week in the lead-up to the finale at Homebush, but he's also been very focussed on overtaking James to win the title. Jamie was pretty confident coming out of Sandown where the car was working well for him, but the red flags didn't help our cause.  The media pressure is on both of them, but I think Jamie will handle it a bit better because he's been here before. However, in the past two years he's come into this weekend leading, not chasing, so he'll have a different mindset this time.  I think the weather will play a big part in the two 250km races. It's been raining pretty heavily all week and is expected to continue up to and maybe into the weekend. Rain always mixes things up.  The wet conditions will mean a lot more strategy over the weekend with decisions on wet tyres and slicks.  We know what the track is like in the dry, but we have no idea of its grip levels and characteristics in the wet. For one thing, pit lane is downhill and it might be a bit awkward pulling up correctly in your pit bay.  The surface looks grippy in some sections, but dubious in other sections where we run across some old bitumen. I can only speak for myself, but the idea is to stay off the concrete walls. That will be difficult for Jamie and James who will be in a pretty heated battle to maintain track position.  Courtney won the Sunday race last year and the DJR cars go well in the wet so he will be confident.  But Jamie has also done well in the wet and while he didn't have the speed he wanted last year, he's pretty confident about his car speed now. The team PR machines have been running hot in the lead-up to our series finale.  One thing Team Vodafone has done to get a bit of interest going its to launch a Australia's first V8 fragrance. It's called Eau De Engine, but it should be called Eau De Pit Crew Sweat.  You can't buy it. It's actually just a joke and a marketing tool to raise some interest.  We've made 200 bottles of the fragrance, done some video and photos and we're giving it away to media and VIPs. The idea is you spray it on and smell like a Supercar pit garage with oil and rubber odours. It's quite disgusting. It makes you smell like a grease monkey.  I've also spent a lot of time signing my book which has just gone into its second printing. When I wrote it I didn't know how successful it was going to be. While I'm not yet prepared to write my autobiography yet because I still have a lot of years of racing yet and hopefully some other career in motorsport after that, I can now see that there might be another book or two in me. I could start with a follow up that includes this year's enduro wins at Phillip Island and Bathurst or delve back in history more and do my early days of racing.  There's still a lot to be said about my first shift of allegiances from Holden to Ford.

Webber, who finished third in this year's F1 championship, received a loud cheer as he drove his Red Bull onto the Wanneroo track for the inaugural AAC Festival of Speed just before midday. The 34-year-old was amazed by the strong turnout and praised festival organisers for luring him to WA."The last time I raced on this track I was 17, which was a long time ago," Webber said. "There is a great atmosphere and the weather is pretty warm, but it's great to see all age groups here.  It's nice to be able to wave to the fans and display the car. Formula One draws people like no other." The last time an F1 driver revved into Perth was in 1962 when three-time world champion Sir Jack Brabham visited the city.  Webber was scheduled to drive his Red Bull three times, but passed one of his drives onto Perth's Daniel Ricciardo, who on the weekend was announced as Toro Rosso's third and reserve driver for the 2011 Formula One season. Ricciardo completed Barbagallo's short track in quick time before sending the crowd into a frenzy with a series of burnouts in front of the main grandstand.  The 21-year-old from Perth endorsed future motorsport events for WA. "It's great for the first year of the festival that we've had such a big turnout.  It's a surprise, but a good surprise. To have so many people here and see so many familiar faces is really awesome." The WA Police put on a spectacular demonstration of a high-speed chase, with an aim of sending a safety message that "speed belongs on the track".  Former West Coast Eagle and motorsport competitor Troy Wilson defeated former Fremantle Dockers star Dale Kickett in an AFL-themed grudge race.  Webber, Ricciardo, 1980 world champion Alan Jones and driving expert Geoff Brabham were paraded in their cars at the end of the day. Meanwhile, many fans were left disgruntled by the parking arrangements and lack of shuttle buses to the racetrack as hundreds became caught up in a massive traffic jam. Some motorsport enthusiasts waited for up to three hours in traffic to reach Barbagallo Raceway and were then forced to walk more than 3km through rugged terrain to the venue as the mercury approached 36C. Others waited for almost an hour in the heat for shuttle buses to take them to the racetrack from listed stops.  Traffic banked up around the venue, with cars piling up on sections of the Mitchell Fwy and Wanneroo Rd. Festival chairman Terry Mader said motorsport fans could not expect to just "drift in" when there is only one access road to the racetrack. "Most of the motorsport guys got out here about 6-7am and (it's not like) you can just drift in like you would to the footy and then wait in the queue," he said.  "They've got to get an upgrade around here." Mr Mader said the traffic and parking issues would be reviewed for next year's event.

... next weekend. Last year, he only had to finish to win the title, but twice ran into walls and limped home.  This year some of the walls have been moved back and the kerbs lowered on several corners. "We didn't prepare very much at all last year," admitted the TeamVodafone Commodore driver who this year is 53 points adrift of Dick Johnson Racing driver James Courtney. "Last year was more of a media focus for me than a race performance focus," Whincup said.  "It will be different this year."I can't guarantee I won't hit any walls, but I definitely should go a bit quicker. "I think there are some circuit changes that will also help."  V8 Supercars Australia spokesman Cole Hitchcock said the "teething problems" from the first year at Homebush were sorted out with feedback from drivers. "Changes to a new track are quite normal," he said.  "(Mark) Skaife has spent a fair bit of time working on it as chief consultant. He also played a major role in developing the tracks at Townsville, Hamilton and the Gold Coast." Courtney has been studying the track changes and believes it will be "nicer" to drive.  "The kerb profiles are a bit lower so it should be a bit smoother," the Ford driver said. "It will be nicer to drive, less aggressive on the car and allow the car to flow a bit better around the track."  Courtney won the Sunday race last year and declares he is "quietly confident" of winning the event and the championship next weekend.  "We had really good speed (last year) and should have been a podium on Saturday as well but the door latch broke and we had to pit for that," he said. "We've since changed the way the door latch works to stop it happening again, so I'm quietly confident." Courtney said the final event would be a "fairytale" end to the championship.  "You couldn't ask for a better ending with Ford versus Holden, the championship going down to the wire and Homebush with Guns and Roses and Tony Hawk. It will be a massive weekend." Whincup says the close title race would draw a bigger crowd than last year.  "The huge crowds are right on the side of the track and we can hear them as we go by," he said. "You can't help but feel that you're in a special place with the big stadium and big hotels around you."  Whincup says that apart from the mental strain of the close leader points it is also one of the physically toughest events on the calendar. "At 250km it's equally the longest race we do with a single driver and we have to back it up again on the Sunday so it's as long as Adelaide," he said.  "It's also compulsory for teams to run a cool suit if it gets over 30 degrees which you can almost guarantee for Sydney in December."  Whincup says he is not thinking about equalling Skaife's three consecutive championships from 2000 to 2002 nor his 10th placing in the top 50 touring car drivers. "I don't know how I feel about that. Those things while you are still competing don't mean a huge amount but I know that in 20 years time when l'm old, fat and retired they will mean everything to me," he said. "When you are a warrior in battle you don't think about your last fight, you think about the one you are having now."

STEVE Owen is set for his second Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series crown in Sydney in two weeks after victory at Sandown at the weekend. Owen won his sixth race of the season on Saturday and finished fifth in the reverse-grid race on Sunday to take the round. He now has a 218-point lead over David Russell with 300 points on offer in Sydney but will drive conservatively in the final round. "We were in this situation in '08 Fujitsu Series where we had a really big points lead and had mechanical problems in Race 1 of the final round," he says. "We'll be a little bit conservative, I'd imagine, in the first race of Sydney and have a bit of a go in the last race on Sunday and try to wrap up the round. The last thing we'll want to do is wind up with a DNF, which could cost you the championship, which is our number one priority." Owen partnered Jamie Whincup in the endurance rounds, with a win in the Gold Coast 600. THE V8 Supercar driver's championship is yet to be resolved, but TeamVodafone has wrapped up the team championship with one round to go at Homebush in Sydney in two weeks. The team of drivers Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup has scored 5446 points ahead of Jim Beam Racing with 4708 and Ford Performance Racing on 4159. ON the same weekend he was named fourth greatest Australian touring car driver, Jim Richards stamped his racing authority with a round win in the Touring Car Masters at Sandown. He also reclaimed the championship lead in his Falcon Sprint with his second pole position of the season and a first and second place in the three races. The second race was red flagged and declared a non-race. John Bowe won the first race and failed to finish the third race with a broken accelerator cable, dropping him to third place in the title behind Gavin Bullas. Leanne Tander sidelined her Falcon with engine failure in qualifying, ending her weekend and dropping her from fourth to fifth in the standings. The championship will go down to the wire at Homebush in two weeks with Richards only 20 points in front of Bullas and Bowe another 54 behind. MARCOS Ambrose is still confident of starting the 2011 NASCAR season in Daytona in February despite financial troubles with his new Richard Petty Motorsports team. "I'm hungrier than ever to succeed with my new team," the Australian says. He finished his fifth year in the championship in 26th place after another 26th in the final round in Miami at the weekend. In a thrilling finish for the season, Jimmie Johnson came from behind to finish second to Carl Edwards and wrap up a record fifth straight NASCAR Sprint Cup Series title. PORSCHE Carrera Cup returns next year with the first race at the Australian Grand Prix in March. Porsche Cars Australia boss Michael Winkler says they have "substantial interest from a number of teams and the full support of the Porsche factory". Others who have signed up for next season are Mark Cini and 2008 Porsche Carrera Cup Australia champion Craig Baird. The 2011 racing calendar is yet to be confirmed. ALMOST 30 drivers have declared they will compete in the return of production car endurance racing next year. The new Australian Endurance Championship will run under AASA regulations and will include cars not previously eligible under CAMS rules. Each race is a day-night six-hour enduro, starting at Calder in April. Other rounds will be held at Winton in June, Ipswich in August and Wakefield in October. AMERICAN rider Josh Hansen won both motos in the fifth round five of the Australasian Super X on a wet and slippery Dunedin track in New Zealand at the weekend. The Kawasaki open rider scored both holeshots and stayed clean out the front of the pack. He leads the championship with two rounds to go ahead of Jay Marmont (Yamaha) and Jake Moss (Suzuki). Moss's brother, Matt (Suzuki), was the overall winner in the lites category and leads the series. The penultimate round will be held at Parramatta Stadium on Saturday, 27 November 2010. DAVID Wall has scored back-to-back Australian GT Championships, even though his Porsche Cup S, came in underweight at the end of race one at Sandown at the weekend. That put him at the rear of grid for Sunday's race. Both races at the weekend were won by veteran Queensland campaigner Tony Quinn who also set the fastest lap of the second race in his Mosler. CHAZ Mostert has completed a record-breaking Australian Formula Ford Championship season with a triple win in the final round at Sandown at the weekend. The Brisbane driver has beaten Steven Richards's 1994 tally of 13 race wins in a season and sits equal fourth of all-time race winners in the 41 year history of national competition. Mostert, who wrapped up the championship at the previous round in Tasmania, is tied on 15 wins with Ash Walsh, who'll join him at Miles Racing in the Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series next season. B8 SUPERCAR driver Jason Richards has undergone successful surgery to remove a tumour from his abdomen and is now recovering in a private Melbourne hospital. Tests are being carried out to establish what type of tumour it is; results are not expected until next week. Richards has pulled out of the last two rounds of the season with his Brad Jones Racing seat taken by Andrew Jones. SYDNEY teenager Pierce Lehane, crowned CIK Stars of Karting Series Champion earlier this year, recorded the best finish by an Australian junior driver in the 10-year history of the Rotax Max World Challenge Final in Italy at the weekend. The 14 year-old finished third in the event which attracted 250 drivers from 55 countries in identical Rotax-powered 125cc karts. Fellow Aussies Jonathon Venter and James Macken, finished 21st and 23rd. For the first time Australia had two representatives in the main event with Victorian Matthew Wall and Queenslander Kel Treseder lining up against world karting champions and IndyCar driver Raphael Matos. Treseder finished 14th and Wall 20th.

Not only will Australia field its biggest contingent yet in January's Dakar Rally, but at least two competitors have strong chances to make an impact at the front of the field. Our most successful entrant, Bruce Garland of Sydney, is back again in a stronger Isuzu D-Max and confident of running in the top 10 of the auto section after finishing 11th outright two years ago and first in class. "We've got a new engine coming from Isuzu, so we'll drop that in the car and go into the Andes to test it," the privateer says. "One of the Isuzu engineers will come with us, because the new engine will need to be re-tuned to work more efficiently at high altitudes." He will be joined in the auto section by Cairns resort owner Geoffrey Olholm and Victorian Steve Riley who will share the driving duties in their UK Rally Raid car. Competing in their first Dakar, the pair are no strangers to off-road racing. Olholm is a former motocross and motorcycle enduro champion and Riley is a former enduro motorcycle champion and two-time winner of the Australian Safari. The best chance of running in the top 10 in the bike category is Jacob Smith, 22, who won the 2009 Australasian Safari. He is the spearhead of the four-bike Mittagong-based Glenn Hoffmann Racing team which also includes seven mechanics, heavily modified Honda CRF450X motorcycles and a support truck. The other riders who paid $120,000 each to compete are Safari top 10 finishers Warren Strange and Simon Harslett and Mark Davison who finished 29th this year. "They're not mugs. Realistically two of them can run top 20 if they have a good event," Hoffman says. "If Jacob doesn't have any penalties for getting lost, he'll run top five. He's fast, but we need to calm him down and remind him it's a two-week event. "We'd like to think that in a couple of years we'll get a front-running Aussie team with three A-level riders. Domestically the team has won everything in Australia - Hattah, Condo, Australian Off-Road Championship, Finke and six Safaris in a row. This is the last thing to do; the ultimate test. "Aussies have not had such a co-ordinated team in the past. We hope to do this for several years with the ultimate goal of putting Australia on top. Nothing short of winning the event eventually will do." Hoffman says they will run "a bit conservative" this year to get Jacob across the line. "We hope to generate some interest so we can go back there with an A level team and a big sponsor, turn the globe upside down and put Australia on top." The final Australian competitor is Dakar veteran Simon Pavey. He has competed six times and completed the rally four times. The ex-pat now lives in Wales where he runs a BMW off-road riding school and trained actors Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman before their Long Way Round global motorcycle adventure. He also trained Boorman to compete in the 2006 Dakar Rally for the TV series Race to Dakar. Another Australian entrant, Andrew Scott, has withdrawn. The ex-pat gold miner has been living in Canada but crashed in the Safari and kept riding not knowing he had broken his arm. He suffered complications and has had to pull out. He is expected to move back to Brisbane soon. French-born Sydney rider Christophe Barriere-Varju has also pulled out after last year becoming the first Australian to enter and complete the Dakar without assistance, finishing third in his category. "My next challenge will be to change category and compete in a single seater two-wheel-drive buggy.," he says. The buggy is currently being manufactured and will be ready in March. "I will use 2011 to race various FIA races and get ready to win the two-wheel-drive category in the 2012 Dakar Race."

Company chief Matthias Muller tells Carsguide there is not enough return on the spending for a grand prix program.  "Look at Abu Dhabi. Sebastian Vettel wins, Red Bull wins. We need Porsche to win," Muller says. There have been persistent rumours in the Formula One paddock for the past six months about a Porsche comeback as an engine supplier.  The company won with McLaren in the 1980s, with a V6 turbo it designed for badging as a TAG V6, in the time when Niki Lauda and Alain Prost fronted the team.But it also made a disastrous comeback attempt in the 1990s with the under-funded Footwork team, using a 3.5-litre V12 engine that was  overweight and underpowered.Porsche has been much more successful at Le Mans, where its sports cars are the most successful of all time with a win record stretching back to the 917 in the 1970s."But there is Audi," says Muller.  So Porsche is looking at its motorsport choices, but it yet to make a final decision."The only thing is that Porsche is very successful in motorsports... and, of course, we would be able to step into the top level of motorsport, but that is not just Formula One."

GARTH and Leanne Tander's TanderSport operation will make its debut in the final round of the Formula Ford Championship this weekend at the V8 Supercar round at Sandown. Tander has recruited West Australian Pete Major to drive the car and signed him for 2011. He will drive a new Stealth S311D chassis, designed and built by Brett Lupton's Fastlane Racing.Major's last national event was the Targa West where he won ahead of Jim Richards. Tanders said their company wanted to develop young talent. "And there is no better category than Formula Ford to achieve that," he said.SEBASTIEN Loeb capped off a dominant World Rally Championship season with yet another win in his Citroen in the final round in Wales at the weekend. Loeb beat Jari-Matti Latv's Ford Focus by more than 100 points for the drivers' title and the Citroen C4 WRC finished its career with its 36th win in 56 events to win the manufactures' title also with a 100-point margin. Loeb won points in every round, averaging 21 points per event, to claim his seventh WRC title in a row and his 62nd round victory in Wales. "This is the perfect way to end the season," he said.AUSTRALIAN Marcos Ambrose battled bad handling in his Camry to finish 22nd in the penultimate NASCAR Sprint Cup round in Phoenix at the weekend. He started in 13th and had run as high as ninth but the car's handling degraded toward the end of the race pushing him back in the field before regaining positions as several cars ran out of fuel. The race was won by Carl Edwards, taking a sweep of the Phoenix NASCAR Nationwide and Sprint Cup races for the weekend. Sprint Cup Series leader Denny Hamlin (Toyota) ran low on fuel, finished 12th and now leads by just 17 points from Jimmie Johnson (Chevrolet) with the final round in Miami this weekend.HEAVY rain brought the Rally Victoria to a premature halt at the weekend. The final round of the Australian Rally Championship was won by Glen and Matt Raymond in a Mitsubishi Lancer, 40 seconds in front of Justin Dowel and Matt Lee (Lancer) who were 30 seconds ahead of Mark Pedder and Lee Tierney (Lancer). The last five forest stages were cancelled to prevent road damage in the wet conditions. The ARC was won by four-time champions Simon and Sue Evans (Suabru) and the manufacturer title by Mitsubishi.AMERICAN riders continue to dominate the Super X championship with Josh Hansen winning three of four races in the fourth round at North Harbour Stadium in Auckland at the weekend. The only Australian to win a round so far has been Chad Reed in the first event in Newcastle before he flew overseas to sort out his 2011 American ride. Hansen leads the series with his first win and three runner-up finishes. Australian Jay Marmont (Yamaha) won the final moto and came second for the round ahead of Jake Moss (Suzuki). The series heads to Dunedin for the fifth round this Saturday. (NOVEMBER 20) ITEM SOUTH Australian driver Scott Pye will again compete in the New Zealand Toyota Racing Series he competed in last year. The five-round series runs from January to March, after which Pye expects to return to the UK to compete in the British F3 Championship having won last year's British Formula Ford title.AN endurance component has been added to the five-round Australian Manufacturers Championship next year. The Production Car Australian Endurance Championship will comprise a six-hour race at Phillip Island on May 28-29 and eight hours at Eastern Creek Raceway, Sydney, on December 10-11. The endurance title will have a separate champion, while dovetailing into the manufacturer championship. The Australian Endurance Championship will make up more than 70 per cent of the total distance of the Production Car Championship. Organisers expect 25 Gp3E production cars in the endurance field.BRISBANE teenager Chaz Mostert clinched the Australian Formula Ford Championship in the seventh and penultimate round of the series at Symmons Plains at the weekend. Fellow Queenslander Geoff Uhrhane finished second despite winning the round in tricky wet conditions. The final round of the series will be held this weekend at Sandown. Mostert will move to the V8 Supercars development series next year.THE 24th annual World Series Sprintcars Championship starting in Brisbane on Saturday (NOV20) has been thrown open with the withdrawal of defending champion Brooke Tatnell. The eighth-time titleholder is unavailable for the first four rounds because of family commitments in the US. His seat in the Krikke Motorsport car will be taken by World Of Outlaws regular Jason Sides from Tennessee. Top title contenders include seven-time champion Max Dumesny, American Darren Pittman who won in 2002/03 and five-time runner-up Robbie Farr of NSW.PERTH rider Bryan Staring weathered appalling conditions at Symmons Plains at the weekend to become the first to win three national motorcycle road race titles in different categories. Staring only had to finish the last race of the Australian Superbike season to claim the historic triple crown. He braved a breath-taking moment in lapped traffic on a slippery wet Tasmanian track to finish eighth. The final race was won by fellow Honda rider Wayne Maxwell who needed Staring to fail to finish to claim the title. Staring won the 125cc title in 2004 and Supersports title in 2009.A CRUSTY Demon hopes to drive a V8 Supercar in next year's Gold Coast 600. American freestyle motocross rider Brian Deegan says he would like to compete in the race as one of the invited international drivers. Deegan is no slouch on four wheels having won the American off-road truck series in his debut season last year and hoping to back it up this year before moving on to V8 trucks next year and possibly NASCAR. "I've been on four wheels more than two lately," he said. While in Australia for a Crusty Demons tour, Deegan said he talked with teams about lining up a test in a V8 Supercar.THE American IndyCar series will add a manufacturer competition in 2012 with Chevrolet returning to the series. Chev will introduce a new twin-turbocharged, direct-injected V6 racing engine running on E85 fuel. Chevrolet last competed in Indy car racing as an engine manufacturer in 1986-93 and 2002-05 with V8 engines, winning 104 races, powering six driver champions and scoring seven Indianapolis 500 victories. They join Honda who will build a new V-6 engine. Next year's rules limit manufacturers to six cylinders and 2.4-litre displacement, but they will be turbo charged produc ing up to 522kW of power.BRISBANE driver Andrew Hagen will race a full season in the American Must See Racing Extreme Sprint Series next year. (MSRXSS). The 24-year-old will race a Wilshe Motorsports sprint car in the 10-round short-track speedway series. "I was fortunate enough to race in the last two winged sprint car events of 2010 and I was hooked straight away," he said. "The cars are phenomenal."