Motorsports

MARCOS Ambrose has led two consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup Races for only the second time in his career. However, luck was against him again with a 34th place at Talladega Superspeedway, Alabama, at the weekend. He was running competitively throughout the event, but a late race bump sent him into a spin, damaging his car, and any chance of victory. Clint Bowyer claimed victory from his Chevrolet teammate Kevin Harvick, in a race that featured 87 lead changes. There are three races left with Denny Hamlin and Harvick within striking distance of series leader Jimmie Johnson.AMERICAN riders continue to dominate in the Australian Super X series. Justin Brayton, Josh Hansen and Kevin Windham again claimed all podium positions in round three at Launceston at the weekend. Brayton won three of the four seven-lap sprints with Hansen winning the third race and remaining on top in the standings. Top Australians were Yamaha rider Jay Marmont, fourth, and Suzuki's Jake Moss who had the fastest lap time of the night and finished fifth. The next round is in Auckland on November 13.AUSTRALIA'S top kart racers are heading to Las Vegas to compete in one of the world's biggest karting events, the SuperNationals. Winner of this year's CIK Stars of Karting Series, Matthew Wall, of Victoria, received funding towards the trip. He will be accompanied on the 40-kart international grid by second-placed Kel Treseder of Bundaberg. They will race in the main event that last year attracted seven-time world Formula One Champion Michael Schumacher, F1 drivers Sebastien Buemi and Nelson Piquet Jnr and world karting champions Marco Ardigo, Bas Lammers, David Fore and Jonathan Thonon. The CIK Stars of Kartin Series was the starting point for racers such as dual V8 Supercar Champion Jamie Whincup and IndyCar Series star Ryan Briscoe.JOHN Bowe is in a race against time to have his classic 1969 Ford Mustang repaired for his home event at Symmons Plains, Tasmania, next week. A major engine failure sidelined him from the Bathurst round of the Touring Car Masters. He has since had difficulty sourcing replacement engine parts. Bowe is in third place in the series.

The two-time V8 Supercar champion signed with the high-profile Richard Petty Motorsport (RPM) in August, but the team now faces the prospect of not having enough money to finish the remaining three races this year, let alone compete next year.The team defaulted on its $90 million loan in February and is seeking investors to keep it running.  Ambrose says he is "fully committed" to the Ford team and for the first time since he moved to the US he will not return to Australia over the Christmas break."It's all getting pretty hot and heavy, so I've got to stay here and really get ready for 2011," he says.  "They're in a tight situation, no doubt about it. All I can do is voice my commitment to them and try to help them through it, if I can."Australian spokesman Mark Walker rejected rumours that Ambrose would return to V8 Supercar racing if RPM failed to race next year.  "Marcos is committed to racing in the USA, he won't be coming back over the summer time," he says.  "His eldest daughter has just started school in the US, and Marcos plans to be there for some time to come."Luck has not been on side this year for the Tasmanian who now lives in Miami.  In his first fulltime season in the premier league last year, he had four top-five finishes in the NASCAR Sprint Cup and finished 18th.Even better things were expected this year when he moved to a higher-profile Toyota team, but despite leading several races, he has been plagued by five crashes and three mechanical problems and sits in 26th with only two top-five finishes.At the weekend he was hit and spun out of contention while leading the race at Talladega Superspeedway, Alabama, at the weekend. He finished 34th.Meanwhile, RPM officials have not guaranteed employees they will make it through the rest of the season because of financial issues. Team co-owner Richard Petty is reportedly working on putting a deal together.If the team races next year, it is expected to drop from four to two cars.  Ambrose is signed to a multi-year deal to race alongside A.J. Allmendinger, ranked 20th this year."I wish I had answers," Allmendinger said. "I wish I could tell my team guys it's going to be OK. I wish I could have answers that everybody wants, but I don't."

Every round from now until the end is do or die for me with less than 300 points separating me from James Courtney and Jamie Whincup and only three rounds to go.  I'm enjoying how close the top three are in the championship. It makes the season more exciting for the fans.If I can maintain touch with the leaders I will press all the way until the final Sunday at Homebush.  That round is another street circuit and we know what a high attrition rate they have, so don't count me out yet. Jamie only had to get a handful of points in Sydney last year and he almost threw his championship away running into the walls a couple of times.I'm looking forward to this weekend's racing in Launceston. I've won two rounds there before and had a couple of seconds two years ago. But last year we had problems with brakes.The Symmons Plains circuit is demanding on brakes because it's only 2.4km long with two really heavy brake applications about 30 seconds apart.  Also, because it's about 500m shorter than Darwin, Townsville or the Gold Coast, the key is track position. It's easy to go a lap down even if you have a bad pit stop, so you have to start with a good qualifying session and a prime grid position.There is also the big problem of lapped traffic on a short circuit and all the chaos that can create.  While I'm still focussed on these last three rounds, I'm also looking forward to next year with the 2011 V8 calendar being released this week.It was unfortunate that we couldn't fit in with Bahrain's busy international race calendar.  We've gone there for the past four years and had just started to get a good fan base among the ex-pats. They originally thought it was only going to be a one-off thing like China so they'll be disappointed. At least we still have Abu Dhabi.I was also disappointed that the expected round in Singapore has been postponed a year. Every time you go to a new circuit, especially outside of Australia, it's a great opportunity to showcase our cars and our sport.I'm still not sure whether our calendar clashes with the Australasian Safari. Apparently the Safari organisers are releasing their dates next week and are planning to move it forward to August.I'm hoping it will co-ordinate with a break in our calendar because my co-driver, Kees Weel, and I would love to go back and defend our title.Thankfully the huge mid-season break we had this year has been abandoned. I thought it was too long not only for us as race drivers, but more so for the fans who get itchy feet.It's good for the longevity of our sport that Perth is back in the calendar. It's also important for Western Australia to be included to make it a truly national sport. We have a great following over there.I can't wait to see the modifications they plan to do to the circuit.  The same goes for Ipswich which seems to be firmed up on the calendar for the next few years.They are doing some resurfacing at Christmas time. It would be good if they could not only smooth it out but also take the opportunity to extend it.My teammate and I are not only competing on the track but also on the bookshelves.  Jamie's new book, "My Championship Year" is written in personal diary style.I had a similar title, but his came out first so we changed mine to "Inside Line" which is a look inside a year around the team and the car.  It was a great opportunity to reflect and put pen to paper.Motorsport journalist Mark Fogarty came up to the farm at Kilcoy about four times during the year and we had endless conversations on the phone and Skype about it, so it was fairly time consuming.  Everything was in my brain and we just had to get it down on paper.There are a lot of V8 Supercar books out at the moment including Mark Skaife's and a new book about Peter Brock's early career.  I think it's a great demonstration of the sport's health and depth of interest in our sport that so many books can be on the market at the same time.

V8 Supercars Australia also announced a new agreement to continue to compete at Queensland Raceway. The Bahrain was dropped because of "congestion of the circuit's international racing calendar", however the season will begin again in the Mid East on February 10-12 at Abu Dhabi. Adelaide and Sydney will again start and end the Australian rounds in March and December. An anticipated round in Singapore has been postponed until 2012 when the new Changi circuit opens. The Gold Coast round remains in October, but will not clash with a Formula One race, allowing more ex-F1 racers to compete. The development series will compete at seven events. 2011 V8 Supercar calendar:Feb 10-12: Yas V8 400, Abu Dhabi Mar 17-20: Clipsal 500, Adelaide (F) Mar 24-27: Australian GP, Melbourne* April 15-17: Hamilton, NZ May 6-8: Barbagallo Raceway, Perth (F) May 20-22: Winton, Victoria June 17-19: Hidden Valley, Darwin July 8-10: Townsville 400 (F) Aug 19-21: Queensland Raceway, Ipswich (F) Sep 16-18: L&H 500, Phillip Island Oct 6-9: Bathurst 1000 (F) Oct 21-23: Gold Coast 600 Nov 11-13: Symmons Plains Launceston Nov 18-20: Sandown Challenge, Melbourne (F) Dec 2-4: Telstra 500, Sydney (F) Jan 29: Pre-Season Test Day, Eastern Creek, Sydney *Denotes non-Championship even, (F) Denotes Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series

BRITISH driver Ben Barker has won the Formula 3 Australian Drivers Championship by the smallest winning margin in the series history and with the closest top three in series history. The 19-year-old scored the fastest lap in the final at Sandown Raceway last weekend by five one hundredths of a second claiming a bonus point and clinching the title from Mitch Evans. Barker's title is the third in three years for the dominating Adelaide outfit, Team BRM, and the third consecutive title for British-born drivers. Barker scored 220 points to Evans's 219, with Tom Tweedie on 208. Barker wasn't informed of his win until well into the cool-down lap following the race. "I couldn't believe it. It was a huge relief. I didn't know I had won and didn't know who had fastest lap so it was an amazing feeling to know that I had done it," Barker said. Tim Macrow won the race ahead of the three title contenders with Barker in fourth.BRISBANE teenager Chaz Mostert dominated the Formula Ford races at the Gold Coast 600 with pole position and a clean sweep of the three races to extend his championship lead to 83 points and his race-winning streak to six. The 18-year-old also secured a full-time drive in a Miles Racing Falcon in the V8 development series next year. He had his first race in the development series at Bathurst this month finishing fourth for the round. "Doing the development series next year seems to be the best way to go to get into the V8 Supercars," he said.There are two rounds to go in the eight-round Formula Ford series and 122 points up for grabs.QUEENSLANDER John Martin has wrapped up the Superleague Formula season with victory in two out of three races at Navarra in Spain, claiming more than $140,000 in prizemoney. Martin, 26, also charged from 18th to sixth in the reverse grid second race in his Beijing Guoan FC machine while his Alan Docking Racing (ADR) crew scored the fastest pitstop. It was the sixth time the 2006 Australian Formula Ford Champion had stood on the top step of the podium this season. The championship was won by Davide Rigon for (RSC Anderlecht ahead of Craig Dolby (Tottenham Hotspur) and Max Wissel (FC Basel). Martin was ninth in the series but fourth in the prizemoney with $516,000. He will return in 2011 with ADR.STUART Kostera took a clean sweep of race wins in the Australian Manufacturers Championship at Sandown at the weekend to clinch the title in his Mitsubishi Lancer EVO X. The West Australian took the title lead from Garry Holt (BMW 335i) who crashed out in the first corner of the first race and finished fourth in the second race. Kostera's teammate Inky Tulloch was second in both races, ahead of Jake Camilleri in his Mazda 3 MPS. Darren Hossack and James Sera finished one-two in the three Kerrick Sports Sedan Series races, with Sera scoring enough points to secure the title despite missing the opening round. Roger Lago wrapped up the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge after series rival Matt Kingsley crashed out in qualifying.THERE were three different winners in each V8 Ute race at the Gold Coast 600 at the weekend. Chris Pither won the first race and the round, rookie Rhys McNally claimed race two and series leader Grant Johnson won race three to extend his lead over Jack Elsegod by 86 points with one round to go at Sydney in December.PAUL Stokell won his first overall round of the Mini Challenge at the weekend in the Gold Coast 600. He scored a third, second and first place with former V8 Supercar racer Glenn Seton second for the round and local Beric Lynton third. The championship will come down to the wire in Sydney in December with series leader Chris Alajajian winning race one, but fourth in the second race and retiring with suspension damage in the third race. He leads Stokell inTHE absence of Chad Reed from the second round of the Australian Super X at the weekend allowed three American imports to dominate. Kevin Windham, Josh Hansen and Justin Brayton took out the open supercross on a slippery Canberra Stadium track. Best Australian was Jay Marmont in fourth. Hansen now leads the championship race followed by Brayton and Marmont in third. Reed won the first round in Newscastle with a one-off ride on a Honda, but flew back to the US last Sunday to stitch up a deal for the next season with either Honda or Yamaha. He is expected to miss this weekend's round in Launceston. Defending lites champ ion Matt Moss grabbed the holeshot and won the race to retain top slot.SEBASTIEN Loeb had already secured his seventh World Rally Championship in the previous round, but underlined his domination with his seventh victory of the season and 61st in his career by leading the Rally of Spain from start to finish in his Citroen. He was 35.3 seconds ahead of Petter Solberg with a slim 5.8 second margin over Loeb's teammate Dani Sordo. You Tube drifting star Ken Block finished ninth to secure his first WRC points. The final WRC round will be held in the UK next month.WAYNE Gardner's motorcycle racing legacy will continue with his son, Remy, following in his wheel tracks. The 12-year-old had his debut road race at the weekend in the Honda Racing Corporation NSF100 Trophy Worldwide Mini Bike race at Albacete Circuit in Spain. He raced against 35 other riders, but grappled with the reverse gear pattern shift and missed out by three places on the final for the top 18 riders. However, he finished fourth in the consolation final. "I loved battling against everyone. It was so much fun, I couldn't believe it," said the former World 500cc Champion's son.

Take a look at what’s under the skin of the TeamVodafone V8 Supercar Holden Commodore. Jamie Whincup lets us peel back the metal for a bare bones peek at the technology… SpecificationsTriple Eight Race Engineering5-litre V8635 + BHP limited to maximum 7500rpm120 litres1355kg (category minimum without driver)298km/h (185mph)3.55 secondsMotec and Freewave 900Mhz spread spectrum radio

But what lies behind the amiable façade? The book, 'My Championshop Year',  goes some way to conveying to us mere mortals the mindset of a young man to risk his life banging door handles at 300km/h. It picks up at last year’s Bathurst 1000 where Whincup and partner Craig Lowndes were aiming for a historic fourth straight win and follows him for the year in which he claimed his second consecutive driver’s championship, dealt with the fallout of swapping from Ford to Holden. Told in a diary format it’s more than a banal list. Whincup can't help but speak his mind, resulting in some interesting revelations. A deep thinker, he reveals the motivations of top sportspeople. Reflecting on his dismal display at last year's Gold Coast race, he says: “Why does it always take something bad to make you realise what is important? Why does someone decide to eat healthily and exercise after a heart attack, or treat a new partner better after a split?” Each chapter is based around an event in the V8 Calendar and starts with a layout of the relevant circuit and ends with his round statistics and a quote. Between each diary chapter are interesting sub-chapters about a range of issues such as what he really thinks about his teammate Lowndes, the reasons for a track walk, and the purpose of the team, the pay, the tribal Ford versus Holden war, the controversial sprint tyre rule and even the fans. He also demystifies some of the technical aspects of the sport and the book wraps up with several pages of comprehensive results from each of the rounds and a glossary of technical terms. This is not only one for the diehard Whincup fans, but also for those who wish to see inside the mind of a true champion.

Molly Taylor, 22, of Armidale in NSW, and Brendan Reeves, 22, of Wedderburn in Victoria, have won two of six coveted spots to race a Ford Fiesta R2 in six World Rally Championship events next year. They won their places in the WRC Rally Academy with impressive performances in a 16-team Pirelli Star Driver Shootout in Spain at the weekend."I am overwhelmed and incredibly excited," says Taylor who drives with her mother, Coral, reading the pace notes. "It's not every day an opportunity like this comes along! I don't think it has fully sunk in yet. My focus has always been working towards the WRC, so to be sitting here today knowing that this is actually a reality is surreal. This is just the beginning and the hard work starts now, I'm buzzing."Taylor began rallying in 2005 and has won two state titles, two Australian Rally F16 Championships and is the 2009 British Ladies Rally Champion. Reeves also started rallying in 2005 after karting and has won several rallies, scored a class second in Targa Tasmania last year and has been racing this year in the Australia Pacific Rally Championship with navigator Rhianon Smyth, 29. He was the first selected to join the inaugural WRC Rally Academy, a new series replacing the Junior World Rally Championship."This is a dream come true for me," he says. "I'm still pinching myself but I realise that the hard work hasn't even started yet."The global Pirelli Star Driver Shootout involved three days of lectures, driving tests on gravel and tarmac, and media presentations.

The issue at the Gold Coast with Garth Tander getting a black flag and then having that decision reversed is bad for our sport. There is no consistency. There were bits of car falling off all over the lap and I ran over his headlight, yet I've seen black flags issued to cars with bumpers hanging but not falling off. We've all had black flags before and done the drive-through no matter what we thought, but to stay out on the track when there are bits of car flying off everywhere while you argue the point is not right. As for the James Courtney black flag, I didn't see his restart, but I understand there were several issues with erratic braking and accelerating and his distance behind the safety car. There are rules and you simply have to abide by them or pay the penalty. For me, it was a bit of and up-and-down weekend with a second on Saturday and ninth on Sunday, ending up on virtually the same points margin from the leaders as before I started. But we're still in third and still in the hunt for the title because, as the weekend shows, anything can happen in this sport. Certainly anything can and will happen on street circuits and we still have the streets of Sydney to race in the finale, so who knows? My teammate Jamie (Whincup) almost threw it all away in Sydney last year. Most importantly we have come away from the weekend virtually unscathed except for a few Kiwi nibbles in the sides and back of Jamie's car from his dramatic duel with Cheeseburger (Shane Van Gisbergen) and a smack in the rear of our car from (Warren) Luff on pit entry. That hit on my co-driver Andy Priaulx ruined our chances in the Sunday race as it put our rear wing out of alignment and reduced the downforce which chewed up our rear tyres. It was a shame as we were running in third at the time and ended up ninth. The Sunday race was just so unpredictable. Who would have thought there would be six safety car periods with five in the first half? At one stage we had done more laps under safety car conditions than race conditions. The safety car driver almost drove further than the co-drivers. It really played havoc with our strategy and in the end Andy drove more laps than me. Not that his driving caused us any problems. He certainly deserved his award for the best international driver. Andy did a fantastic job and I'm sure our team principal Roland Dane would have him back next year. His whole approach to the event was level headed and he kept improving from the moment he got in to test the car at Queensland Raceway.Actually, I think that is one of the reasons for all the carnage on the Sunday the international drivers got braver and more aggressive as they started to learn the track and understand the cars. Thankfully Andy kept his nose clean, kept up the pace and brought it home clean. I was glad to see the shortened track and newly resurfaced sections didn't break up. The only bit I recall breaking up was at the back of the kerb in the fast chicane on the beach straight. I also like the new hairpin fourth corner which provides an extra passing opportunity. With the shorter layout, you really had to keep your wits about you and concentrate the whole time as there is nowhere to relax or take a breather. Also, because it's so short, it is easy to go a lap down which means lapped traffic fights very aggressively not to be overtaken, making it difficult to deal with backmarkers. In all, I think they've done a good job with the layout. After all, with a street circuit you have to work around the streets that are already there. I believe the State Government and V8 Supercars Australia have a three-year contract, but let's hope the Gold Coast event continues for longer than that. V8 boss Tony Cochrane is very confident it will stay. I think the Gold Coast race is definitely justified as a V8-only event judging by the 170,000 people it attracted over the three days. I don't think there is too much V8 racing in Queensland. Two of the three events are street circuits at opposite ends of a very large state. Plus we still need a permanent facility in southeast Queensland as a test track for all the teams based here. There has been some talk about another permanent track in southeast Queensland. Being a selfish race driver, the more tracks the better. And I'm sure our economy could support another permanent track. After all, QR and Lakeside are almost fully booked all year with motorsport, driver training and other private and corporate activities. Too many tracks are closing down, yet there is still a need for permanent tracks to provide a safe environment for speed-related issues and driver training. If another track is built it would be advisable to have people from open wheelers, karts and bikes to be involved in the design so it suits all disciplines, not just V8s.

BMW Australia has confirmed it is interested in competing in the series against Ford and Holden under the coming Car of the Future project. However, BMW corporate communications manager Piers Scott said the guidelines for the new race car would have to allow them to bring in a race car from overseas without major modification. "I can confirm we have spoken with project leader Mark Skaife and that we are interested at this moment, but it's a bit early to make any decisions," he said. "If possible we would like to be in the series when the new cars begin racing in 2012, but there are so many things to finalise first it's a bit premature to put a starting date on it.  "However, it would be better to be in at the start rather than later." The talk of BMW's move into V8 Supercars comes as the company announced it would return to German touring car racing (DTM) next year after an absence of 16 years. "The current V8 format wouldn't work for us, but if we could bring our DTM M3 race car here under the new rules, then we could take part," Scott said.  I'm not sure if he (Skaife) could make the other manufacturers agree to rule changes that would allow us to participate." While Skaife confirmed he had talked to BMW, he refused to comment.  However, V8 Supercars Australia board member and Team Vodafone principal Roland Dane said it was "highly unlikely" that the Australian format would be similar to DTM. Scott said V8 Supercar racing would be a "good fit" for BMW.  "Motorsport is one of the three pillars of our company," he said. "In Australia we don't have a means to participate and it would be brilliant if we could be involved.  But we wouldn't do one (race car) that was unique to this market. It would have to be compatible with what we have in other countries." Scott said they had not yet discussed budgets or whether they would run a factory team or support a privateer.  Other companies that have been rumoured to be interested are Mazda, Hyundai and Toyota. Hyundai recently rejected any interest in joining the series and Toyota Australia spokesman Mike Breen yesterday said they hadn't  been approached.  "We don't know anything officially about their proposal," he said. "Until we understand what the proposal is, we can't say yes to anything that hasn't been finalised."