Motorsports

It would be in my top four or five wins and from the look on Skaifey's face after the race it was one of his favourite victories, too.  Skaifey surprised a lot of people. They didn't realise just how committed and keen he was. He hasn't changed his intensity since he was racing full time. He absolutely pestered our race engineer (Jeromy Moore) wanting to know every little detail of the weekend.  It's been 10 years between drinks with Skaifey and I'm absolutely delighted for him. He still has a lot to contribute to the sport, not just on the Car of the Future project or as a commentator, but as a driver.  The win was also a blessed relief for me after a long dry spell that goes back to Perth last year. I've now jumped from sixth to fourth in the championship and boosted my chances, but we still have two long distance races to go at Bathurst and the Gold Coast 600 and these are always a mixed bag. You can have great performances like last weekend or it can have a big impact like Jamie (Whincup) had at the Gold Coast last year.  He was devastated that weekend and I don't think I've seen him so upset until last Sunday. He's a great sport and he congratulated us, but you could see the disappointment and devastation on his face when I first walked up to him after the race.  They had put themselves in a great position and there's no doubt we were looking at a one-two finish. I want to get to things cleared up. I was not angry or frustrated when I was behind Jamie and there were no team orders.  At that point of the race our car was better, but with 31 laps to go we had to save fuel and conserve our tyres as they had dropped consistency early in the day and we weren't sure how they would last toward the end of the race. Then we noticed Jason Richards had closed the gap on us and I wanted to get going with the job. When Jamie made that braking mistake at Honda corner it opened the door. Our team principal Roland was dead keen on a 1-2 all weekend but there were no team orders. He always wants us to race and race fairly, but not end up in the gravel trap. So I got out in front and put my head down for consistent lap times, still looking after fuel and tyres, then mechanical problems struck JW.  At the end of the day we had a dream run from when we rolled the car out of the transporter on Thursday to the final lap on Sunday. We both commented from the start that it was an easy car to drive, very forgiving and we had a lot of confidence that we'd have a good weekend.  I didn't have much time to celebrate. After the race I helped pack up the transporter, had a team chat, thanked everyone and as soon as the back door was closed I drove off with some of the team to Broadford where we had a track day on our bikes the next day. RD whimped out because there was going to be a 90 per cent chance of rain but it turned into one of the best days with blue skies and no rain. It just topped off a great weekend.  Superbike rider Ben Henry came along and gave me a hand with setting up my Suzuki and he took it for a ride. The beauty was that his leathers and helmet look a lot like mine so I hibernated for about 15 minutes and everyone thought it was me out there setting scorching laps. Yesterday (THURSDAY) I flew over here to Perth for the start of the Australasian Safari and today we have the official launch then a 300km transport stage to start for the prologue.  It's my first time off bitumen and I'm feeling a bit nervous - no fear - just excitement. I'm not really looking for a victory or anything but just to complete it and if you do that you will be right up there anyway.  It will be the first time in a long time that I have gone into an event with so little testing, information or understanding about a car or the road or track. It's really going into the unknown. I'll just have to be sensible and smart and as the race goes on I should become more familiar with the car and terrain.  My co-driver Kees (Weel) was constantly in touch over the weekend to make sure I didn't wear myself out. Everyone is concerned about me wearing myself out. First there was the 500 to get through, then the bike day at Broadford. Well, I've ticked those boxes. Now I've got to get through the Safari and then on to Bathurst.

BRAZILIAN Helio Castroneves has won his second IndyCar race of the season after inheriting the lead through a clever pit strategy at the Kentucky Indy 300 at the weekend. The three-time Indy 500 winner has also been added to the list of internationals to compete at the V8 Supercars Gold Coast 600 in October, driving with Tim Slade. Castroneves edged out pole sitter Ed Carpenter, while Toowoomba's Will Power finished eight, his championship lead whittled down by Dario Franchitti's fifth position. Power leads by 17 with two races left in the season. "We have our work cut out for us for the championship," Power said. The next race is the Indy Japan 300 on September 19 at Motegi.DICK Johnson is celebrating 30 years since "the rock" incident at this year's Bathurst 1000 with a special website tribute to his fans. Donations to help the young Queenslander flooded in after his race-leading drive was halted by an errant rock on the mountain in 1980. The www.jimbeamracing.com.au website includes images of some of the original letters from fans who donated.MALAYASIAN racing driver, Nabil Jeffri, has become the youngest Formula One test driver with a day of aero testing for Lotus Racing in the UK. "I have had an incredible day, one of the best days of my life," he said, admitting to being scared. Jeffri is an Asian and Malaysian kart champ and races in Formula BMW Pacific. Finnish F1 driver Heikki Kovalainen was on hand for the test, saying Jeffri did "a great job".YOUNG South Australian Scott Pye claimed a double victory in the wet for Triple Eight Race Engineering at the Dunlop MSA Ford Championship at Snetterton UK at the weekend. The Mt Gambier 20-year-old is now the series leader with nine wins from 17 starts. Triple Eight boss Roland Dane says Pye is "an extremely promising young driver".TWO-wheeled action will share the spotlight at the V8 Supercars Phillip Island round this weekend. The Australian Superbike Championships will be staged at the event and will be broadcast along with Channel 7's coverage. The bikes return at the V8 Supercars Symmons Plains round in November. The championship is being led by Honda rider Bryan Staring after clean sweeps in the last two rounds at Queensland Raceway.NEW South Wales drivers Jonathan Venter and Simon Meyer dominated in the wet at Ipswich on the weekend to claim their maiden Australian karting championships. Venter, 14, of Sydney, who began racing at age four in South Africa, claimed his first Formula JMA title in the Sparco Rotax Nationals with an easy win, while Meyer had a race-long battle with CRG team-mate Jason Pringle for the Heavy National crown. Venter said it was "the biggest win of my career".ITALIAN MotoGP Honda rider Marco Melandri will move to Yamaha for the World Superbike 2011 season. The 28 year-old who is currently 10th in MotoGP will replace current Yamaha rider Cal Crutchlow moving to MotoGP to replace American Ben Spies who takes Valentino Rossi's position on the factory Yamaha team. Rossi moves to Ducati replacing Australian Casey Stoner who will ride for Honda next year.CHAMPION V8 Supercars team Triple 8 Race Engineering has shifted from the track to the water to compete in Hamilton Island Race Week. Despite their boat "Jessandra" being the smallest in the competition, the five-man team crossed the finish line in fourth.AUSTRALIAN Troy Corser was on target for a World Superbike podium finish on his BMW when he was caught up in the collateral damage of Leon Haslam's race one crash at the Nurburgring in Germany at the weekend. Corser restarted, but was forced to retire with his injured elbow. He laboured through race two for 11th position. The two 20-lap races were won by Jonathan Rea (Honda) and Noriyuki Haga (Ducati). Haslam scored sixth and third, trimming Aprilia rider Max Biaggi's lead to 58 points with two rounds to go.

There has been terrible flooding in Victoria this week and we're still not sure what the weather will be like for the weekend.  It's a big unknown but most teams will have wet-weather strategies on standby anyway because it's always so unpredictable at the Island. The other unknown will be fuel economy because we go back to 120-litre tanks like we used to have.  This year we went to 75-litre tanks for more pit stops in the sprint races and we've just got used to our range from these tanks and now we go back to the 120-litre tanks for the endurance rounds. So we don't quite know how many laps we'll get out of a tank and that will affect our pit strategies.  The format for the weekend is the same as last year and it's quite complex. We have separate qualifying on Friday for the A and B drivers, then two sprint races on the Saturday. In only one of those we have a compulsory pit stop. The combined finishing positions will determine the grid for Sunday's 500km race. It's all very confusing, but after the first race you have a much clearer idea of who will pit in the second race and who your main competition will be.  I suppose for drivers we'd like a bit more certainty but for teams and spectators it's quite exciting because it adds an element of surprise to the race weekend. We'll have a strategy going into Sunday, but it will probably change during the race. You really have to think on your feet.  Skaifey and I haven't worked out yet who is the A and the B driver, who will do the pit stop sprint race or who will start in the Sunday race. We'll see who's comfortable in the car and wait to see what the economy is like before we make any decisions. I have no issues if Skaifey wants to start.  Not only will we have to look after fuel economy during the main race, but also the tyres. It's not a sprint race so you have to conserve the front right-hand tyre, in particular, because of the last few high-speed left-hand corners.  Phillip Island is one of my top three circuits in the country. It's fast and flowing and you need to be confident with the car at high speeds, especially around the back at the Hayshed. You need a car that flows through the corners and you've got to have the confidence to brake deep and late into Honda, Siberia and over the top into MG.  You get a lot out of it if you commit deeply into the corners. You have to be brave on the brakes and carry your corner speed especially coming into the last corner on to the main straight or you can lose a lot of time. It's a ballsy track.  I'm looking forward to seeing the Australian Superbikes at the Island this weekend. It's like back in the old Triple Challenge days of the late 1990s with drag racing, motorbikes and the cars. Having cars and bikes combined is good for the spectators.  I'll be hanging over the fence watching them race and I'll go down and say hello to the Suzuki guys, although Josh Waters won't be racing after his accident in the US. I don't know how they'll go if it's wet. I will certainly be a lot more comfy in my race car than they will be sitting on a racebike in the rain.  The race drivers won't have any problems sharing a race track with the bikes, but I wonder what the riders think about all the rubber we leave behind on the track. I get a chance to do some riding myself on the Monday after the race.  Our team have all their bikes loaded on to the transporter and we're heading to Broadford with the Suzuki team to blow off a bit of steam. Then I'm home for two days for a debrief and on Thursday I set off for Perth and the Australasian Safari the following weekend.  I had my final test in the Holden Colorado at John Hederics' property at Mildura earlier this week. We had a full day of running around and I didn't roll it this time like I did at the first training day at Jimna.  I'm more in tune with the car now and it was good to be on sandy, limey soil like we'll experience in WA. Hederics is a former Safari winner and he was on hand to offer some good advice and insight into the feel of the truck, suspension and tyre bounce.  We also practised tyre changes. It's a bit different to V8 Supercars pitstops. My navigator Kees Weel has a lot of the tools on his side and I operate the jack and retrieve the spare wheel.  It's definitely no eight-second stop.

YOUNGSTER David Reynolds is the big winner in the endurance driving line-up for the Holden Racing Team at Phillip Island and Bathurst.Reynolds has been promoted to the seat alongside Will Davison, and veteran Cam McConville partners Garth Tander.DANIEL Gaunt, the young New Zealander recently dumped by Lucas Dumbrell, could bounce back on the V8 Supercar scene with a guest drive in Greg Murphy's Castrol Commodore at the L&H 500 at Phillip Island. Murphy has been sidelined by a back injury and Gaunt tested this week in readiness for a race start, though Murphy plans to be healed and ready to race at the Bathurst 1000 in October.MARCOS Ambrose lost another clear shot at Nascar success when he had electrical and suspension dramas in the Nationwide Series race at Montreal last weekend. Ambrose qualified on pole position and was leading before his problems, which took him out of the event and allowed one-time Bathurst 1000 visitor Boris Said to win.AUSTRALIAN championship rallying returns to Victoria on November 12-13 with a new organising team from the Cerberus Car Club under clerk of course Alan Mackay and a new base in Warragul. The event will wrap up this year's series and is likely to have a giant field with the state championship and Excel series both joining the action through forests in the Noojee and Neerim areas.THE head of Volkswagen's motorsport division says the German manufacturer could be competing in the World Rally Championship as early as 2013 if plans are given the green light in coming months. Volkswagen has revealed the Race Touareg III (below) it will use to defend its Dakar Rally championship in South America in January, but is looking to join Mini in a return to the world series.THREE of the world's top riders will exchange their 150kW, 300km/h superbikes for something with half the engine capacity and one quarter the number of cylinders when they contest the 2010 Australian Historic Championships at Victoria's Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit this weekend. Reigning New Zealand Superbike champion Andrew Stroud, Isle of Man TT hero Cameron Donald and 2008 World Superstock 1000 champion Brendan Roberts are three of a record 335 entries for the event from September 3-5.

The Brisbane team rolled out their two cars with the new Series II bodywork at official two-day testing which began on Monday at Queensland Raceway.  However, few would have noticed the exterior differences that consists of a new boot lid, a bigger grille and slightly different-shaped headlights. Jamie Whincups car is the same one he has raced in the last two rounds, but with Series II modifications, while Craig Lowndes' new race car was having its first run.  Triple 8 chief engineer Ludo Lacroix said the team was "super happy" with the cars which have been set up for the coming two endurance rounds at Phillip Island and Bathurst. "Weve done around 400 klicks and not had a single problem because we do a lot of pre-tests at home," he said.  "You just get used to making them. We built eight last year and six this year." The two days of testing also gave the endurance round co-drivers a chance to do some laps.  Five-time Bathurst winner Mark Skaife, who will partner Lowndes in the next two rounds, said it was an opportunity to improve his "match fitness". "Ive never been fitter since retiring, but I needed to brush up on my match fitness," he said.  His lap times were equivalent to Lowndes and slightly better than the other side of the garage where Whincup and co-driver Steve Owen concentrated on fine-tuning their driver-change routine. "Its not quite there, but well get it right," Whincup said.  At the other end of the pits, a relaxed and tanned championship leader, James Courtney, was setting scorching times. "This is only our second test day of the year so we have a lot of set-up changes to get through that we dont normally get a chance to do at a race meeting, so were fairly busy," he said. "Im not personally feeling any extra pressure. Its harder when you are chasing. I feel like the pressure has been lifted now that Im leading."  The V8 Supercars return to racing at Philip Island on September 10-12 after a nine-week mid-season break.

OWEN Kelly and Dale Wood will partner Rick and Todd Kelly in this year's V8 Supercar endurance events at Phillip Island and Bathurst.   Wood is the Jack Daniel's team's final signing, and comes after top-15 finishes in his first two starts at Mount Panorama.SEBASTIAN Loeb continued his unbeaten run in Rally Germany with his eighth straight win last weekend at the head of a Citroen sweep. Loeb was never headed and beat home his team mates Dani Sordo and Sebastian Ogier in Citroen C4s.Bryan Staring is on track to win the Australian Superbike Championship after sweeping both events at Queensland Raceway last weekend for Honda. The victories stretched his winning streak to four straight and gives him an 18.5-point lead in the series with two rounds to run.Scott Pye is pushing hard for the British Formula Ford Championship with a 1-2-4 record in the latest Brands Hatch triple-header. Pye is in second place in the series and the Triple Eight junior driver is also aiming to score a record number of individual race wins in a single season in the UK nursery series.KYLE Busch swept all three Nascar categories - Truck, Nationwide and Sprint Cup - in a record run on the high banks of Bristol speedway   last weekend. Marcos Ambrose was only 20th in the Nascar feature race after starting 22nd in his Toyota Camry.NICK Heidfeld will lead the test team bringing Pirelli into Formula One as the sole tyre supplier from the 2011 season. The former BMW F1   racer has been released from his test contract with Mercedes GP to take up the spot as chief test driver for Pirelli.TOP Fuel drag racer 'Aussie' Dave Grubnic (Subs: Correct) has taken the final place in the NHRA's 'Countdown to 1' field for 2010 in the USA. He made the cut by racing to the semi-finals of the most recent event in Minnesota, behind leader Larry Dixon, with the points now re-set for the final six races of the year.

I just want to get back in the car and driving again.  It's been the biggest break I think we've ever had; even longer than Christmas.I've been able to do a lot of stuff around the farm and finalise a lot of things, but I've been getting a little frustrated.  Right now I'm in Europe to see the Belgian F1 at Spa this weekend.Well, not quite. I'll get to see the qualifying, but then I have to hop back on the plane on Saturday night and fly home so I can be ready for our test day next Tuesday at Queensland Raceway.I've been concentrating on my fitness in preparation for the tough enduro rounds at Phillip Island and Bathurst.  And for me there is the added challenge of the nine-day Australasian Safari in between them.As most readers would know, a couple of weeks ago I had my first test in the Holden Colorado I'll be sharing with Kees Weel in the Safari. It didn't turn out the best with me rolling it half way through the day.Anyway, the Colorado is just about back together again and we plan for a final test at Albury on the Monday before Phillip Island.  Then I head home for a few days, before flying to Perth for the Safari, so there really isn't a lot of preparation. However, Kees and I are still pretty confident. He and the car are proven veterans in this sort of racing.I know a lot of V8 drivers have been taking advantage of this long break to holiday overseas.  I've been able to keep up with everything they are doing because 19 out of the 29 drivers have a Twitter account and are quite active on it.Nat and I use my Twitter and Facebook accounts to keep our fans updated on what we're doing.  Some of the other drivers also use it to chat to each other, but I think it's a great way for the fans to stay in touch with us.If anyone wants to follow what's happening in my life on the farm and at the track, they can go to twitter.com/craiglowndes888.  There have been a couple of things that have happened in V8 Supercars recently that I would like to comment on.The first is the strengthening rumours that we will race a non-championship round in Singapore next year as a support act to the F1.  That would be fantastic. Our category has always spoken of having four overseas races.For V8s to be showcased beside F1 again would be a great opportunity. It's also a brand new track which should be interesting.It will certainly be a better timeslot for the fans back home than the Mid-East rounds.  The Mid-East is great in some aspects such as coverage in Europe, but back here in Australia it's poor. The timing is all wrong and some fans hear about the results on the net or phone before they see it on the TV. Singapore would be a lot better proposition.The other great news is that the Perth round has been saved for next year.  It is a great city and we enjoy going there, so it was pretty sad we missed out this year.Triple 8 still went over to fulfil our sponsor requirements and the fans showed us just how much they love the sport. There is a great support base for V8 Supercars over there.I'm also delighted that the deal includes the government spending millions of dollars on permanent motoring facilities rather than another temporary street circuit.More money should be spent on keeping and improving permanent circuits.  Sydney's Oran Park closed down this year, Perth's Barbagallo Circuit missed out on a V8 round because of poor track facilities and Ipswich nearly missed out on a round for the same reasons.We need more circuits, not just for racing series like ours, but also for training, track days and corporate events.  Circuits such as Queensland Raceway could become international-standard tracks with the injection of funds.If money was spent lengthening and improving the Ipswich circuit it could host an international event like World Superbikes.  We'd also end up with a better permanent facility that could also be used for driver training.About a year ago I was part of a group that looked at improvements to the Ipswich track and we found we could also integrate a motocross track which would be good because they're also closing down all over.

Marcos Ambrose improved 22 positions in his latest Sprint Cup start in the USA, finishing 15th after starting 37th at the high-speed Michigan International Speedway. His Toyota Camry faded again at the end of the race, after he ran as high as fifth, as Kevin Harvick won the Nascar round for Chevrolet.Ben Barker is the new leader in the Australian Formula 3 championship after two wins from three starts on the Shannons Nationals program at Morgan Park in Queensland last weekend. At the same event,Matt Kingsley stretched his advantage in the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge with his ninth straight win, while James Sera cut Darren Hossack's points lead in the Australian Sports Sedan championship after his rival blew an engine in his Audi and failed to score.The new-look Holden Commodore, the VEII, will hit the track at Phillip Island at the end of September. The body changes on the new model - which are relatively minor - will be reflected in the V8 Supercsr to be raced by the Holden Racing Team, TeamVodafone and Paul Morris Motorsport.A hospital visit has put Jason Crump back on track in the World Speedway Championship. The Australia flat-track racer had a damaged arm repaired three weeks ago and bounced back with second place at his latest event, the Scandinavian Speedway Grand Prix in Sweden.Bruce Garland and Harry Suzuki took a hard-fought second place in the Asia Cross-Country Rally in Thailand after a massive struggle against rivals and the weather.The Isuzu D-Max crew were denied a final shot at victory because of flooding on the course but are still happy with the result as they prepare for the Australian Safari in Western Australia from September 17 and then the Dakar Rally in Argentina and Chile in January, 2011.A lack of support and time has forced the postponement of the CAMS CARnival event planning for the first week of October. The Euchua-Moama based event, intended as a celebration of all areas of motorsport and motoring, will now be run in the second half of 2011.

THE Qantas Australian Grand Prix will again run second on the world championship program next year, based on a preliminary calendar. The provisional date for the AGP at Albert Park is Sunday, March 27, following Bahrain on March 13 as part of a 20-race season that includes an Indian Grand Prix for the first time in October.PERTH is back on the V8 Supercar calendar, with a return to Barbagallo Raceway set for next year. A new format, with three 120km races, will be run next year after an agreement for major improvements at the West Australian circuit.SECOND place at the Mid-Ohio course last weekend keeps Will Power in the lead of the IndyCar World Series, though race winner Dario Franchitti slightly narrowed the points gap. The other Aussie in the field, Ryan Briscoe, was sixth to stay in fourth in the IndyCar standings.THE first two "Car of the Future'' prototypes for V8 Supercar racing will be up and running before the end of the year. V8 Supercars Australia has commissioned the two cars, one Falcon and one Commodore, before passing the blueprint to teams to build their own racecars.AMERICAN Ben Spies looks like replacing Valentino Rossi in the Yamaha MotoGP squad for next year. Yamaha has named Spies as its first choice to partner Jorge Lorenzo next year if - as expected - Rossi confirms his switch to Ducati.RED Bull design ace Adrian Newey was taken to hospital last weekend after crashing during a celebrity guest drive in a Ginetta sports car race. It's not the first time Newey -- designer of Mark Webber's pacesetting RB6 -- has had a major crash -- he also trashed his personal Ford GT40 several years ago while competing in a historic race at Le Mans.DANIEL Erickson celebrated a return of Australian Motor Sport Foundation funding with another podium result in the American F2000 series last weekend. Erickson was second at Mid-Ohio and moved to fifth in the championship, despite running a limited program in the US.DAVID Brabham (above) suffered a rare defeat in the latest round of the American Le Mans series at Mid-Ohio last weekend. But he and Simon Pagenaud still comfortably lead the sports-car championship after taking second with their Honda-powered prototype.HIGH-PROFILE guest drivers will be welcome at major events on the V8 Supercar calendar after a rule change. Teams will be allowed to run a third car for guests at some events, though there will be strict conditions.

His loyalty to Holden in recent years has been a total red wash, even if he began his topline racing career with Nissan and also did some long-distance cameos with Mazda. And now I think I know why.Skaife injured one of his eyes in a massive crash early in his career and has never completely recovered his normal eyesight. He's adjusted and it's not a drama, but Skaife did the damage when he upended a Nissan GT-R Godzilla in 1990 during practice for a supporting race at the Australian Grand Prix in Adelaide, on the same high-speed right-hand bend where Mika Hakkinen was almost killed after a tyre failure on his F1 McLaren.Even though I've known him for more than 25 years it's something Skaife has never mentioned, or felt the need to mention. But it's one of the gems which pops out from his new book, 'Skaifey - Life in the Fast Lane'.There have been several Skaife books in the past but this one, written in partnership with long-time race fan Andrew Clarke, finally digs deep enough to satisfy people who want to know more about the most successful racer of his generation. He goes soft on details of the final years with the Holden Racing Team, and the lead-up to his decision to retire, but otherwise it is rich on detail and insight.'Skaifey' can get a bit muddled and repetitive at times, as the author tries to wrap his story around the years and races of his long career, but the book covers all the big-ticket items, from his early motivation and training to his on-track rivalries and his business dealings.It's the first in a series of race-theme books to be published in coming months and sets the bar pretty high.Craig Lowndes is also working with veteran journalist Mark Fogarty on his first book, Jamie Whincup has a diary of his championship year, and there will be another Peter Brock book with a new perspective before Christmas.As usual, Skaife has taken pole position and - although it's not perfect - 'Skaifey' is a good read with plenty of genuine insights.The book is published by Ebury Press and is priced at $34.95.Follow Paul Gover on Twitter!