The Trans-Pacific Traveller

Chrysler looking at V8 Supercars

2012-01-26T08:40:00.000-08:00

V8 Supercars could return to the 'old days' where multiple manufacturers battle each other instead of just the two we have now. With the introduction of the 'car of the future' in 2013, the V8 big wigs are encouraging other car companies to enter. BMW, Mercedes and Toyota have all been touted as possibilities, but Chrysler are the first to actually confirm V8 Supercars is an option.

Chrysler are getting prepared to launch the next generation of 300C and the V8's are heading to America next year...could be a case of perfect timing.

It wouldn't be the first time the 300C has been used in a touring car series though. Back in 2008, the German group, Zakspeed, raced a 300C SRT 8 in the Italian Superstar Series.

How obvious is obvious?

2011-11-15T08:52:00.000-08:00

I'm going to borrow this from Jay Hart's article dated November 11.

Jimmie Johnson was questioned why Kyle got parked for the Texas weekend and, after some prompting, couldn't figure it out (not because he wrecked a title contender, not on probation and not because it was under caution). Jay felt it was because Kyle was too obvious about it: was wrecking Hornaday wrong? Absolutely. Did the punishment fit the crime? Yep. But the only reason Busch got parked was because he copped to it. Had he kept his mouth shut or simply played vigilante under green-flag conditions – you know, when they’re running full throttle – he’d likely have gotten little more than a slap on the wrist.

That’s the lesson NASCAR is teaching here: Boys, have at it, just don’t be so obvious about it.

Which raises a simple question then; why were James Buescher and Todd Bodine both allowed to race at Texas in the first place after their post-race shenanigans the week before at Martinsville...wasn't that just as obvious as the Kyle/Ron stunt was?

The 2011 'A&W Cruisin' the Dub 300'

2011-07-24T15:49:00.000-07:00

Well, it took me five years after my first NASCAR sanctioned series race, but I finally managed to break my 'road course only' mould when the Canadian Tires Series (formerly known as CASCAR) made their one and only trek to BC last night at MotoPlex Speedway, just north of Vernon.

She's a long drive from where I live (left home at 9, checked in at the hotel around 2:30)...the things us racing fans do, right?

Anyway, I got a bit worried when I saw the 'no cameras allowed' sign at the entry to that track but apparently that doesn't apply for the race (good thing too or Kristen would probably have shot me!) as I certainly was not the only person taking photos. The track itself is a half mile tri-oval (banking goes from 11 degreees to 14 in the corners), has seating for about 9500 people but only from turn 4 to turn 2...there was no seats on the back stretch that I could see.

Qualifying for the race started around 5:30 with the race itself going at 8pm. DJ Kennington (the 2010 champ) looked the man to beat before Scott Steckly (the 2008 champ) pipped him at the end. The order gets drawn out of a hat (helmet maybe since it's motorsport) the announcers told us. From memory, Scott went around in 18.3, a few tenths off the lap record.

Lining up for qualifying (there were 21 cars in total).

Kennington looked like he'd start from the pole...

...but Steckly had something to say about that.

After qualifying, all the cars were lined up on the front stretch where they allowed people on the track for a autograph session (it went for about an hour). Then it was driver intros, with a bit of a twist. JR Fitzpatrick, who races in the Nationwide series some times, told the officials that he thought it would be fun to have the drivers walk through the gap between the main grandstand and the uncovered one before going on to the track via the opening at the flag stand on the start/finish line as that meant the drivers would meander their way through the crowd.

So that's what they did (no photos of that since it was kind of hard to see them until they were at the flag stand). The spotters based themselves in the back row of the second uncovered stand...I thought they'd be on top of the main grandstand but obviously not.

The spotters get in position to call the traffic shots.

The cars all lined up on the front straight.
The autograph session in full swing.

Looking at the race results, it seems like it was rather dull; Scott and DJ started 1-2, and that's how they finished at the end of 300 laps...but it was anything but dull. A spate of early yellows occurred before they were finally able to settle into a rhythm saw DJ looking like the man to beat. But after the first round of stops, that changed as Pete Shepherd (driving car 7) charged his way into the lead.

The race gets underway...the first double file start of many.

The first round of stops...mainly just for fuel since you can't do both.

But just as it looked we might see a bit of an upset with none of the usual suspects winning, the favourites upped the tempo. Steckly drove to the front from 11th in about 30 laps as he elected to stop the latest and had the advantage of fresh Goodyears. That saw the others leave him stranded when, yet another, yellow came out. The final 100 laps or so saw lots of squabbling over track position...but no one could challenge Steckly.

Steckly leading Kennington on the final restart of the race.

Steckly takes the win as DJ's car just wasn't good enough on a short run to challenge.

Kerry Micks and JR Fitzpatrick got into it bigtime, with Micks turning Fitzpatrick coming out of turn 4 (he later said that JR got loose and he couldn't avoid him). Well, JR wasn't that thrilled about it, and after the race they decided to duke it out until their teams, and officials, dragged them apart.

Alas, as I said in the trifecta, my camera wasn't able to keep up once the sun went down and so all the photos from about lap 160 on were quite blurry...sorry about that. I did try with the flash on, but that didn't work very well either.It was a long day for me as the race didn't finish until 10:30 due to all the cautions...but it was worth the five hour drive. I didn't even get sunburnt this time!

The Aussies Are Coming...

2011-07-05T14:13:00.000-07:00

...in 2013 anyway.

It was announced last week that the V8 Supercars have inked a five year deal to race on the new facility at Austin. At this stage, it looks like it'll be a two-race weekend, both races being 124 miles (which, in nice round Australian numbers, is 200 kilometers).

For a brief rundown on the V8's...hmm, I guess you could read the wikipedia page or check out some videos on youtube, but basically the formula is to take a sedan from GM and Ford (that may change soon...other manufacturers are sniffing about as a new style car is launched for 2013), chuck a 5.0 litre engine with 650hp in the front, make it RWD, add a rollcage and some slicks and put it on the track.

One of the most promising 'newbies', Shane 'The Giz' van Gisbergen doesn't do conservative.

I suppose they would be similar to the GT class in the Rolex series except without having to worry about those pesky Prototypes that zoom around the place at the same time. Yes, that means proper head and tail lights, wipers and doors (are you listening, NASC...oh forget it, they never do anyway) for us to enjoy.

My main worry is how you guys will take to the series. I mean, it's not like there's any shortage of motorsport currently available and the last time an Australian sport branched out over this way, it didn't pan out that brilliantly (the 1987 Rugby League experiment in Long Beach) so we'll just have to wait and see I guess.

I wonder if Marcos Ambrose will push for it to be on an off weekend for the Cup guys...

The Difficult Third Album...

2011-06-27T21:40:00.000-07:00

Apparently it's hard to keep the success rolling so, for this (third time to this race for me, hence the title) edition of the 'Lugnuts hit Sonoma', I changed a couple things in the lead up (or forced to in some cases);

- gone was the quick gas and go to Lyndon a few weeks prior to pick up a cheap US cell phone as I changed onto a plan so I had global roaming this time.

- gone was the BART trip to meet up with Kristen as Orbitz changed my flights and had me getting in around 8pm Thursday...four hours at Sea-Tac was rather dull though, you can only walk by the same shops so many times before it gets old. Kristen said she'd just pick me up directly from the airport this time.

- gone also was my chance of getting sick (sore throat, blocked nose) at the hotel as I decided to do that the Friday before leaving...yes, I probably could have done with a session from our resident Doctor although she may have heard my frustrated screaming anyway.

- and last, but not least, gone was my trusty backpack that I bought about a month after I arrived in New Zealand back in January 2003...it bit the dust over Christmas so I got a new one when I was home. That backpack was very well travelled having been to the Australian Grand Prix twice ('05 and '07), Sonoma twice ('06 and '10), Arizona, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, BC, Alberta and Alaska, not forgetting the Can-Ams visit to NZ back in '07 at Teretonga Raceway near Invercargill and a few stages of Rally Otago since the company I worked for sponsored it back then.

But enough stalling, on to 'the weekend that was'.

I had been waiting a little while Thursday evening for Kristen who told me that she was stuck in traffic. Then some texts flew around, followed by a phone call or two asking me precisely where I was. I told her that I got spat out in front of the US Airway signs...of course, I did neglect to mention departures while she was doing laps in the arrivals a level below. After...how can I put this?...freshening up (a month at Googa in High School made me an expert of the deodorant shower), I just followed the people out of the airport, I didn't even think about what level I was on :S

The less said about bathrooms the better...right, Kristen?

Heading to the track Friday we bemoaned about the lack of a World Cup to listen to on the radio, how Marcos probably wasn't going to win due to the pressure (I agreed with that...my initial trifecta pick was going to be Menard but Kristen said how you all left me my boy, aww), how ticked the double deuce team were that Brad won a points race before Kurt this year, and the reasons behind just why someone would make off with Kristen's Dale Jr emblem that had been on her car last year but now wasn't...more to come on that later actually (no, I didn't have anything to do with it. Well I did, but not how you're thinking!)

As most of you probably saw, Ambrose was using a special paint scheme for the race; he had the name of one child from each State of the USA who had been in and/or are still in hospital for an extended stay. First thing I saw while wandering around after Kristen had rushed off to the garage had me thinking that 'The King' was on a seriously tight budget if this was their hauler.

But no, this had the demo car that was going to unveil the paint scheme in VL later that day. After scoping out exactly who had their merchandise here this year, I made my way to my seat to click merrily away while cars were put on the ramp and hopefully appease Kristen after what happened last year when none of us saw her pushing the car down pitlane on raceday as we were all at driver introductions.

The good thing about sitting there on Friday is you never know who might come out of the media room.

The last one was when Marcos came out for the deal in VL...won't put up many of it but I can say that on Ambrose's facebook album, in one of the photos, you can see me in the background!

After Marcos' time there, and after practice was done, the new inductees, Allison and Jarrett took center stage before Jarrett stayed to help David Ragan unveil his Brickyard paint job (the 6, not the 11 obviously...the 11 would never pass inspection *laugh*).

Kristen has already been over the issues that Kurt had before qualifying so I won't rehash that other than reiterate how much of a shock it was that Joey stuck the thing on pole...I don't think even he knew how he managed it. To the stage for 'Trackside' then where (can we just give it to him already?) the leading RotY, Andy Lally as well as Ambrose were the guests. They moved the stage around so where I was standing last year would have meant I'd be behind the stage for this one yet where Melissa stood last year meant she was in front this time...so I stuck with Melissa and hoping my trusty boxing 'roo flag could entice Marcos to visit after his segment was over.

It did (I think *laugh*), and in my attempt to remove the lid from the pen, I dropped the bloody thing and my "oh bugger" comment may have clued him into my nationality...the shiny new Ambrose shirt could have done it as well I suppose. Anyway, we had a little chat where he said it was great I was there and it was good to see me. Yes, you read that right, I thought that *I* was supposed to be saying that to him! Bottom line is he signed the hero cards that Kristen snagged earlier (one's heading your way soon, Indy!) and I left the track with a smile that rivals Marcos' usual one.

Saturday dawned and opting for the KTS (Kristen's Taxi Service) saw us at the track around 8:30 where we encountered the lawn mowers. Considering I moved from a place where sheep outnumber people by a significant margin, I can't say I was as enthused about it as Kristen was but, even so, it was pretty funny to see. I went down to turn 7 for both practices, you could tell who was 'on it' and who was cruising just by the how much kerb (same deal as 'tyre' I'm afraid) they were using...

...or by how much they messed up their braking point.

Not a whole lot really happened on the 'lazy day' I think Kristen said, but CR did show up between practices so we were able to get some good openwheel talk going before Melissa turned up (I *knew* I should have stuck with my Vettel jinx pick, grrr!) having been delayed by a slow pitstop for fuel I believe it was. Rest of the day we watched the Nationwide race in the hotel, then went to dinner with Kristen's inspection buddy...that sounds wrong, um, don't read it like that please...who explained things like what gears the teams could use this weekend and why Kurt's car didn't pass inspection before qualifying. Alas, he could not tell me exactly why Ambrose had to use the rookie stripe in 2009 while Keselowski didn't in 2010 when both were ineligible for RotY honours in those respective years having run too many races the year before. He thought it had something to do with Brad running more than half a season while Marcos didn't however.

To Sunday then, where, after a fair bit of deliberation and a lightbulb moment by Melissa, I went to the track with Kristen again since she would be taking me back Sunday afternoon...little did we know the events that were to unfold. For some reason, the nearest Starbucks couldn't get my name right and insisted on spelling it with a 'i' instead of a 'y'...I suppose that's how they roll in San Rafael, Kristen found it somewhat more amusing than me, have to say *laugh*

We got to the track earlier than the previous two days (by over an hour). Jeff Gluck was doing a 'tweet-up' at 8am just behind VL and his guest today was my (apparently, if the 'Trackside' thing was anything to go by) good mate; Marcos Ambrose. Kristen, being the legend she is, snapped a once-in-a-lifetime photo of 'us Aussies'...well, for me it was, Marcos probably not so much.

Why yes, this is now my laptop background...am I not that predictable?

After that was done, I went for a wander down pitlane and bumped into both CR and Melissa. I elected to skip going to the stage for driver intros this year and waited for Kristen's texts keeping me up-to-date over when the #22 would come rolling down the pits. Of course, when it did, she wasn't looking my way, so I have a shot of her going off at Tony (she probably was actually since he likes to tease her), one of the officials.

I then went back to my seat to watch the rest of the pre-race stuff...didn't miss the intros in the end so I snapped a fair few drivers this year and, with the aid of photoshop, I can bring you the Sonoma edition of Juan Smurftoya!

I believe that Kristen will have a blow by blow account of raceday from her perspective and it's highly likely that you guys watching it on TV could keep up better than Melissa, CR and myself so I'll close with seven more pictures before my final blurb.

Joey leading them off on lap 1.

Kurt taking off on a restart.

Kurt taking the win...and Kristen can finally breathe again!

Now, last year we took a group photo of the four of us but that didn't happen this year so you'll have to make do with me, Melissa and CR...

Three quarters of our group...Kristen wouldn't let me photoshop her head in place of Bobby's.

...as the final member of our group ditched us for a postrace date with 'Vicky'!

The new line of 'Where's Wally?' books featuring our very own Kristen! She's in that melee somewhere...

CR and Melissa left, leaving me the recipient of one of the biggest bear hugs I've ever gotten in my life when Kristen was able to tear herself away from the festivities (I told her to take as much time as she wanted). The drive back...I'm not sure I could do it justice really. Only word I can come up with is 'surreal' which is still pretty poor. For some reason I'm reminded of the movie 'Almost Famous'...which I've never seen but, from what I gather off the wikipedia page, it's basically about someone who is trying to bask in the glow of others. That's kind of how I felt, but not really...does that make sense?

In case you were wondering, yes, she did pilfer some victory confetti...and yes, she gave me some.

However, it was very, very, cool to share in her elation with 'her guys' finally winning a points race when she was there, and on her home turf no less!

So that was the race experience, but it's not the end of the story if you've been eagle-eyed and see only six photos, not seven like I said. For there is a hobby shop where I live that has NASCAR stuff from a few years ago so when Kristen said about her missing car emblem and not wanting any #88 Dale Jr stuff, I said I'd have a look when I got back. They had quite a selection and, hiding beneath a group of Tony Stewart #20's and Mark Martin #6's car doohickeys, was a lonely old #8.

Quite possibly the only piece of Dale Jr merchandise I'll buy in my life.

It's not a very fair trade though for everything she's done; driving me everywhere for the last two years here, got Marcos to siggie my flag last year, honoured our verbal (written?) bet over the NHL Conference final, got me into Gluck's tweet-up with Ambrose, dragged an inspector to dinner with us and nabbed some confetti from Kurt's win (along with, I'm sure, a gazillion other things)...and all I get her in return is, in her words; "HOLY CRAP!!! IT'S A PERFECT REPLICA!!!"

Yeah, I don't get it either...I'll post it down this week though, Kristen :)

I don't think the race itself was as good as last years but, personally, the overall experience was better (sorry Jon, wish you were there, mate!)...so thanks hugely to Melissa, CR and Kristen for making it possible. Nicking the NHL slogan; this is what we live for!

A slice of NASCAR hits Indycar?

2011-05-24T11:26:00.000-07:00

And so, a day after his teammate knocked him out of the Indy 500, Ryan Hunter-Reay will take the green flag next week after all...with Bruno Junqueira being given the boot as Ryan slides into the #41 for A.J. Foyt after a dismal weekend for Michael Andretti's team that saw two of his five 500 bullets misfire (Mike Conway, who sits 4th in points, is still out by the way) on bump day.

Here is the article on Yahoo! sports for those interested.

The last time I recall something like that happening was a few years ago when Michael Waltrip did the same thing at, I think, Talladega.

TNQC and TNRC - Las Vegas

2011-03-14T13:09:00.000-07:00

Alright, as I am currently on a lunch break, and we've had an off week, I reckon I can post this as we're three rounds into the 2011 season.

The points were explained in my post in January so here's how they stack up thus far:

All up, 29 drivers have registered point in the QC with 30 for the RC.

Tez's NASCAR Qualifying championship - round 3:

1 - Carl Edwards, 123 points (1 pole)
2 - Kurt Busch, 111 points
3 - Kyle Busch, 108 points
4 - Matt Kenseth, 99 points (1 pole)
5 - Regan Smith, 93 points
=6 - Dale Earnhardt Jr, 72 points (1 pole)
=6 - Jeff Gordon, 72 points
=6 - Joey Logano, 72 points
=9 - Greg Biffle, 69 points
=9 - Kasey Kahne, 69 points
=11 - Marcos Ambrose, 60 points
=11 - Martin Truex Jr, 60 points

Jamie McMurray sits three points back from 12th but hey, early days and all that. Jimmie Johnson is currently 27th with just nine points after three rounds...I expect that will change before we get to round 23 though.

Tez's NASCAR Race Championship - round 3:

1 - Carl Edwards, 132 points (1 win)
2 - Tony Stewart, 105 points
3 - Kurt Busch, 96 points
4 - Kyle Busch, 90 points
5 - Juan Montoya, 87 points
6 - Ryan Newman, 78 points
=7 - Trevor Bayne, 72 points (1 win)
=7 - Jeff Gordon, 72 points (1 win)
=9 - Dale Earnhardt Jr, 54 points
=9 - Jimmie Johnson, 54 points
=11 - David Gilliland, 51 points
=11 - Denny Hamlin, 51 points

Marcos Ambrose and Kevin Harvick are next up on 48 and 46 points each then we have four guys on 45 points (AJ, Kahne, Labonte and Truex)...I expect this could be similar story as we get closer to the Chase cutoff.

99.94

2011-03-02T11:34:00.000-08:00

It is, perhaps, the most important four numbers in sport...and yet, outside of a select few countries, no one has much idea of what they refer to.

The best of the best. It's a bold statement to make, certainly. There are many factors that go into deciding whether a sportsperson stands out beyond the elite. Names like Jordan, Nicklaus, Cobb, Petty, Ruth and even Earnhardt I'm sure you are more familiar with...but as I'm not American, I have to stick up for 'my' man; Bradman.

I never saw Bradman ply his trade on cricket pitches as his playing career stopped some 30 years before I was born, so I can only imagine what it would have been like. Newspaper headlines from England just had to say 'he's out!' and people instantly knew what they were talking about. His test match playing career spanned twenty years, broken up by World War 2, and he ended up just four runs short of averaging 100.00. But still, 99.94 is leagues ahead of the next best.

An excerpt from his cricinfo page says, "unquestionably the greatest batsman in the game, arguably the greatest cricketer ever, and one of the finest sportsmen of all time, Don Bradman was so far ahead of the competition as to render comparisons meaningless and to transcend the game he graced."

Mathematics agree with this; Sir Donald Bradman was the best ever...if you go by standard deviations.

Bradman rises up above the elite with his number being 4.4. To put that into perspective, MJ would have needed to average a further 13 points per game, Jack would have added another 7 majors and Cobb needed a 0.392 batting rating instead of 0.367 to match that figure.

So, I hope you may forgive me for being callous about the ten year anniversary of the passing of Dale but, in my eyes, the world lost a far greater sportsperson a week later.

Sir Donald Bradman...no one will ever come close.

All Change for the TNC's

2011-01-13T09:05:00.000-08:00

Well, not really.

Having looked into things since Homestead, I'm only going to do one major change which is get rid of the half points idea (mainly since it's a PITA to work out *laugh*).

So, for those who have forgotten (including me), here is the way it works:

- Both titles for 26 rounds use an old V8 Supercar points system which only awarded the top 17 finishers (72, 60, 51, 45, 39, 36, 33, 30, 27, 24, 18, 15, 12, 9, 6, 3, 1).

- Once the Chase guys are set, those 12 use the old CART points (20, 16, 14, 12, 10, 8, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1). The remaining drivers use the V8 points, but these 12 are excluded from them (hypothetically, the 'winner' of a Chase race who isn't in the Chase could have actually finished 13th on the track).

- Washouts in qualifying don't count towards the QC.

- Bonus points for wins/poles are 4 x however many you start the Chase with (Hamlin, for example, started the '10 RC Chase off with 24 points since he had 6 wins). If a Chase guy wins a Chase race, they get an additional point (so 21 instead of 20).

- Leader after 26 rounds get 4 bonus points per round they clinched (eg: Harvick couldn't be topped in the '10 RC after race 23, so he got an additonal 12 points when the Chase started...not counting his wins).

Clear as mud? I'll try to remember to put the link for this piece in every update I do so people can check how it works fairly regularly.

TNQC and TNRC after Homestead

2010-11-22T09:06:00.000-08:00

Well, going into the final weekend there were a couple of good storylines with my titles; could Jamie McMurray come from the clouds and pip his teammate for the QC? Could Kevin Harvick or Denny Hamlin do enough to knock off Jimmie Johnson in the RC?

Ultimately, Jamie Mac will be doing his best Captain Kirk impression of "Kaaaaaaaaaaaahne!" after the Washington Wonder stole maximum points in the final race, denying McMurray the four points he needed once Montoya bombed out. Carl Edwards was best of the rest with, in possibly the surprise of the year, AJ Allmendinger edging out Greg Biffle for 14th.

All up, 52 drivers scored points in qualifying (and three washouts)...and yes, I shall list them all. Congratulations to Juan Montoya and the #42 crew for, finally, shoving Johnson off his qualifying perch.

Juan Montoya was the qualifying master for 2010.

Tez's NASCAR Qualifying championship - full field:
1 - Juan Montoya, 122 points (3 poles)
2 - Jamie McMurray, 119 points (4 poles)
3 - Kurt Busch, 101 points (2 poles)
4 - Ryan Newman, 95 points (1 pole)
5 - Kasey Kahne, 91 points (4 poles)
6 - Jimmie Johnson, 90 points (2 poles)
7 - Clint Bowyer, 88 points
=8 - Jeff Gordon, 79 points (1 pole)
=8 - Mark Martin, points (1 pole)
10 - Tony Stewart, 75 points (2 poles)
11 - David Reutimann, 74 points
12 - Kyle Busch, 67 points (2 poles)

13 - Carl Edwards, 807 points (3 poles)
14 - AJ Allmendinger, 677 points (1 pole)
15 - Greg Biffle, 640 points
16 - Martin Truex Jr, 606 points (1 pole)
17 - Joey Logano, 563 points (1 pole)
18 - Denny Hamlin, 515 points (2 poles)
19 - Dale Earnhardt Jr, 487 points (1 pole)
20 - Jeff Burton, 465 points
21 - Paul Menard, 462 points
22 - Sam Hornish Jr, 415 points
23 - Matt Kenseth, 378 points
24 - Marcos Ambrose, 357 points
25 - Elliott Sadler, 348 points (1 pole)
26 - David Ragan, 320 points
27 - Brad Keselowski, 309 points (1 pole)
28 - Kevin Harvick, 285 points
29 - Regan Smith, 271 points
30 - Scott Speed, 199 points
31 - Casey Mears, 147 points
32 - Dave Blaney, 136 points
33 - Joe Nemechek, 130 points
34 - Bill Elliott, 96 points
35 - Reed Sorenson, 81 points
36 - Brian Vickers, 78 points
37 - Aric Almirola, 75 points
38 - Bobby Labonte, 69 points
39 - Michael McDowell, 41 points
40 - Jeff Fuller, 30 points
=41 - Boris Said, 12 points
=41 - Michael Waltrip, 12 points
=41 - JJ Yeley, 12 points
44 - Robby Gordon, 10 points
45 - Chad McCumbee, 9 points
46 - Landon Cassill, 6 points
=47 - David Gilliland, 3 points
=47 - Jeff Green, 3 points
=49 - Trevor Bayne, 1 point
=49 - Mike Bliss, 1 point
=49 - Patrick Carpentier, 1 point
=49 - Travis Kvapil, 1 point

Now for the RC. 48 drivers scored points...which was an omen in the end as, by dint of finishing ahead of his chief rivals, Jimmie secures the 2010 TNRC. Even allowing my 'half points' system to be scrapped and full points awarded every Chase race, he still would have done it so don't grumble about that. Like his teammate did in the QC, Matt Kenseth ran away in the end over Mark Martin for 13th. So congrats to Jimmie Johnson and the whole 48 team on, yet another, great year.

Jimmie Johnson racks up another RC.

Tez's NASCAR Race Championship - full field:
1 - Jimmie Johnson, 138.5 points (6 wins)
2 - Kevin Harvick, 126 points (3 wins)
3 - Denny Hamlin, 117.5 points (8 wins)
4 - Carl Edwards, 82 points (2 wins)
5 - Greg Biffle, 81.5 points (2 wins)
6 - Clint Bowyer, 78 points (2 wins)
7 - Jamie McMurray, 72 points (3 wins)
8 - Tony Stewart, 69 points (2 wins)
9 - Kyle Busch, 64 points (3 wins)
10 - Kurt Busch, 55 points (2 wins)
11 - Jeff Gordon, 50 points
12 - Jeff Burton, 39 points

13 - Matt Kenseth, 762 points
14 - Mark Martin, 665 points
15 - Joey Logano, 643.5 points
16 - Juan Montoya, 611.5 points (1 win)
17 - Ryan Newman, 555.5 points (1 win)
18 - Kasey Kahne, 539.5 points
19 - David Reutimann, 519 points (1 win)
20 - AJ Allmendinger, 438.5 points
21 - Martin Truex Jr, 417.5 points
22 - Dale Earnhardt Jr, 393 points
23 - Paul Menard, 384 points
24 - David Ragan, 286.5 points
25 - Marcos Ambrose, 264.5 points
26 - Brad Keselowski, 196 points
27 - Regan Smith, 189.5 points
28 - Sam Hornish Jr, 151 points
29 - Elliott Sadler, 143 points
30 - Scott Speed, 142.5 points
31 - Aric Almirola, 106.5 points
32 - Reed Sorenson, 102 points
33 - Brian Vickers, 99 points
34 - Robby Gordon, 75 points
35 - Mike Bliss, 51 points
36 - Bobby Labonte, 49.5 points
37 - Bill Elliott, 45 points
38 - Casey Mears, 28.5 points
39 - Trevor Bayne, 24 points
40 - David Gilliland, 16 points
41 - Boris Said, 15 points
=42 - Steve Park, 12 points
=42 - Ken Schrader, 12 points
44 - Kevin Conway, 9 points
45 - Jan Magnussen, 7.5 points
=46 - Patrick Carpentier, 6 points
=46 - Chad McCumbee, 6 points
48 - Hermie Sadler, 0.5 points

Thus endeth the 2010 TN titles...whether I tweak it in the offseason is up for debate.

Will he or won't he?

2010-11-05T12:42:00.000-07:00

The 'he' in question being Mark Webber with the discussion being about, not the Championship funnily enough, what he will be doing in 2011.

Having stated the other day what everyone already knew (that being that the big wigs at Red Bull would prefer to see Vettel win the title if given the choice), he's now opened the way for further whispers about whether he will see out his contract with Red Bull next year in an interview with the BBC if you take the article title at face value.

Reading between the lines though, I'm not sure he's said anything out of the ordinary.

He's 34, coming towards the end of the shelf life for an F1 driver, has been having easily the best season of his career and, if he does what he did in May by taking two wins in the space of a week (Spain and Monaco), will be crowned World Champion in Abu Dhabi on November 14.

"Pressure? What pressure, mate? Oh, that..."

I mean, there is a substantial difference between being asked "why did you retire?" over "why didn't you retire?" and I'm not just talking about two letters and the apostrophe.

Rumours have been tossed around the Australian, despite signing a one year extension a few months ago; he's going to retire, he's replacing Felipe at Ferrari being the main two...but I don't believe he will do anything other than be plonking his butt behind the wheel of a Red Bull when the 2011 season starts in Bahrain next March.

This Aussie hopes it's with a '1' on the nosecone.

TNQC and TNRC after Lowe's

2010-10-18T08:54:00.000-07:00

Jeff Gordon's been heading in the right direction from last post (ninth to fifth) while Kurt Busch appears to be in freefall (fourth to eighth) at the moment. After storming to his fourth pole position last week at Fontana, Jamie McMurray nips past his teammate at the top of the table while the only guy to win this title is seemingly lurking back in fourth with five rounds to go.

Kasey Kahne, Kyle Busch and Kurt Busch get the nod over Jimmie Johnson, Mark Martin and Ryan Newman respectively by dint of having more pole positions.

Tez's NASCAR Qualifying Championship - Chase field after 5 rounds:
1 - Jamie McMurray, 65 points
2 - Juan Montoya, 63 points
=3 - Kasey Kahne, 55 points
=3 - Jimmie Johnson, 55 points
5 - Jeff Gordon, 51 points
=6 - Kyle Busch, 48 points
=6 - Mark Martin, 48 points
=8 - Kurt Busch, 43 points
=8 - Ryan Newman, 43 points
10 - Tony Stewart, 38 points
11 - Clint Bowyer, 37 points
12 - David Reutimann, 27 points

The EGR duo are still the ones to beat at this stage.

With his front row effort at Lowe's, Carl Edwards sneaks out a bit of a lead over Martin Truex Jr for 13th while only AJ Allmendiger, Greg Biffle and Joey Logano seem to be the only other drivers capable of spoiling Carl's party.

To the RC then where, with back-to-back third place finishes, Jimmie Johnson extends his lead over Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin. The biggest movers though are the last two winners as Tony Stewart jumps up from 11th to sixth while Jamie McMurray now sits fourth. Again, like in the QC, Kurt Busch has dropped back from last time (from fifth to ninth).

Tez's NASCAR Race Championship - Chase field after 5 rounds:
1 - Jimmie Johnson, 85.5 points
2 - Kevin Harvick, 68 points
3 - Denny Hamlin, 67 points
4 - Jamie McMurray, 53 points
5 - Kyle Busch, 45 points
6 - Tony Stewart, 43 points
7 - Greg Biffle, 40.5 points
8 - Clint Bowyer, 36 points
9 - Kurt Busch, 34.5 points
10 - Carl Edwards, 32 points
11 - Jeff Gordon, 31 points
12 - Jeff Burton, 28 points

Vader's got the inside line over the rest, headed up by Happy.

Matt Kenseth is still more than a race ahead of Juan Montoya for 13th but he needs to look behind him as Mark Martin and Joey Logano are closing in on the Columbian.

With five weekends left, both titles are still up for grabs...although the other guys better figure out a way to beat Jimmie in the RC if they want it to stay that way.

TNQC and TNRC after Kansas

2010-10-04T20:42:00.001-07:00

I wonder what odds you would have been given that Loudon would be the most exciting race of the Chase...or would you have been laughed out the door?

Anyway, three weekends down and while it's a familiar name on top in the RC, it's EGR leading the way in the QC. Juan Montoya has been 'the man' thus far and has opened up a small lead over Jamie McMurray. Jimmie Johnson, who's had a stranglehold on this thing from when I first started it back in 2007, has been somewhat quiet and sits sixth.

Tez's NASCAR Qualifying Championship - Chase field after 3 rounds:
1 - Juan Montoya, 46 points
2 - Jamie McMurray, 41 points
3 - Kasey Kahne, 37 points
4 - Kurt Busch, 34 points
5 - Tony Stewart, 33 points
6 - Jimmie Johnson, 31 points
7 - Kyle Busch, 29 points
8 - Ryan Newman, 27 points
9 - Jeff Gordon, 26 points
10 - Clint Bowyer, 24 points
11 - Mark Martin, 22 points
12 - David Reutimann, 19 points

Carl Edwards is hanging on to 13th but AJ Allmendinger is making a charge. Truex, Biffle, Logano and Hamlin seem to be the only other ones capable of getting there.

To the RC where, despite having an ordinary day at New Hampshire, Johnson was back in the lead after his win a week later at Dover. The main reason was that, like I've done with all races under 400 miles in length, he only lost 10.5 points on the field rather than the full 20. The biggest loser compared to the real points has to be Jeff Gordon who is 9th in mine while Greg Biffle is the big winner and sits 4th. Also, Jamie McMurray is hanging on in 7th, not bad for a bloke who didn't actually make the official Chase.

Tez's NASCAR Race Championship - Chase field after 3 rounds:
1 - Jimmie Johnson, 57.5 points
2 - Kevin Harvick, 48 points
3 - Denny Hamlin, 45 points
4 - Greg Biffle, 29.5 points
5 - Kurt Busch, 28.5 points
6 - Kyle Busch, 27 points
7 - Jamie McMurray, 26 points
8 - Carl Edwards, 23 points
9 - Jeff Gordon, 21 points
10 - Jeff Burton, 20 points
11 - Tony Stewart, 19 points
12 - Clint Bowyer, 15 points

It's not looking brilliant for the other 11 guys...but both Martinsville and Pheonix, while being good tracks for Jimmie, are also half pointers so we'll see. Outside the Chase, Matt Kenseth is looking good for 13th, more than a full race in front of Montoya in 14th.

And then there were three?

2010-09-27T09:50:00.001-07:00

Well, one more GP has gone by and it would seem my my comment about the McLaren having the third best car is holding true. Not only was Hamilton dropping back from Alonso and Vettel, he also got jumped by Webber at the pitstops. While he did slice the gap down from eight to four seconds before the safety car, it was all for nothing as the duo collided on lap 34, leaving Lewis with a broken left rear suspension while Mark escaped with a banged up front right wheel (there was a decent gap between the tyre itself and the rim...see the picture below). Further proof of that was that, despite Jenson being in a perfectly good car, he still couldn't do anything with Webber's wounded Red Bull.

Webber's wheel after the contact...see the gap at the top of the rim? It should be flush with the sidewall.

Considering Lewis' mishap at Monza with his right front being broken from contact with Massa's Ferrari, one has to wonder if McLaren have sacrificed robustness in their quest to keep up the pace of development...

Anyway, the table now sees Webber holding an 11 point gap over the hard charging Alonso, with Hamilton another nine behind that. Vettel and Button are still hanging in, being 21 and 25 points off Mark's tally. Meanwhile, Red Bull have pulled a bit of a gap over McLaren in the Constructors' Championship, with Ferrari really needing Felipe to step it up if they want to make it a three way tussle.

With just four races to go (three if Korea isn't ready in time), Webber is hanging on pretty well. He might not be winning, but he's still scoring decent points and they guys behind him keep swapping places so he's padding to his lead...but Alonso is coming fast and is, quite possibly, in better form now than what saw him claim back-to-back titles in 2005 and 2006. The wildcard is probably Hamilton who, after saying his chances were looking bleak, doesn't really have anything to lose.

If Webber can pull it off, it will be an amazing turnaround from 2009. Leaving Hungary second in the standings, he then went four races in a row without scoring a point. With Japan being the last of those, and considering how mighty the Red Bull was there last year in Vettel's hands, he's well on his way to banishing that stretch of races from his mind having gone second, sixth and third in the same three races this year.

Still anyone's title...but McLaren appear to be starting to fade a touch.

A belated 2010 Winter Olympics post

2010-09-18T15:42:00.000-07:00

Ok, first things first; yes, this post is some six months after the fact but I was hoping this particular day would come. See, there was a display here which had the Olympic medals and people were allowed to get up close and personal with them. Also, klv requested this and after the F1 fiasco last week, I thought I'd better pull my finger out and do this ASAP.

So, without further interruption, here's my experience of the 2010 Games from an Abbotsford perspective. Unlike the Sydney Games back in 2000, I was close enough to the host city to feel the vibe this time...and besides, I like the Winter Games more anyway.

At the time, I was working at the airport so we got a pretty good feel of both the Olympics and Paralympics. Not only did we get a brand new FBO (fixed base operator) that processed the private jets that came in, we also had a few 'names' pop by (the Governator, Vice President of Russia, hockey players, that kind of thing). February 28 was the busiest day, airspace-wise, in this regions history; Abbotsford processed some 80 jets alone.

She was a busy Sunday at YXX.

How we kept track of the planes expected at the FBO.

The torch swung by a few times, although the official torch relay date was February 7. I believe there was some small gridiron game played on that day as well but this was far more cooler. The airport itself got to see the torch a further two times, and yes we all got our pikkies taken with it. The torchhad a funky little maple leaf engraved on the side but none of the pictures I took of it really turned out very well so you'll just have to take my word for it.

Yes, that is an Australian National Ice Hockey jersey...and yes, it was worn to work a few times.

I had no idea I was at a changeover point until the bearer on the right turned up.

As far as Vancouver goes, I ventured in on the 20th to soak in the atmosphere...mighty glad I did since the buzz in the host city was amazing. Rather ordinary timing from me however as that was the one day Canada didn't win a medal. I suppose I could say I was one of the rare people to experience the Olympic rings in their typical blue colour rather than lighting up whichever colour medal Canada had won.

Downtown Vancouver during the Games.

The Olympic rings from across the water.

The first day people were allowed to get close to the flame.

Which brings us round circle to today where I was fortunate enough to get a photo of me with a gold medal...alas, that didn't bring Australia's tally up by one but frankly, I don't care. According to the little fact sheet I picked up today, 615 medals were handed out at the Olympics and 399 for the Paralympics.

Gold to Austral...wait, what do you mean 'no'?

All in all, the two months went by pretty well. It was both Australia's and Canada's most successful games in history and we got a ripsnorter of a hockey match as a finale...Sochi in 2014 has a bit to live up to.

Chase fields for the TNC's

2010-09-16T09:29:00.000-07:00

Ok, now that the first 26 rounds are done, we have the only 12 guys in with a shot to win the titles. In a rather dull twist, the QC dozen stayed the same after Bristol while Clint Bowyer snuck past Matt Kenseth in the RC. Ultimately, Jimmie Johnson ended up with the lead after 26 rounds of qualifying but it's Jamie McMurray who ranks first having scored the most pole positions. The RC saw Kevin Harvick unable to be caught after his win in Michigan and, coupled with his three wins, he and Denny Hamlin lead the way as we head to Loudon.

So to the resets then.

Tez's NASCAR Qualifying Championship - chase field with bonus points:
1 - Jamie McMurray, 12 points (3 poles)
=2 - Kurt Busch, 8 points (2 poles)
=2 - Kyle Busch, 8 points (2 poles)
=2 - Kasey Kahne, 8 points (2 poles)
=2 - Juan Montoya, 8 points (2 poles)
=2 - Tony Stewart, 8 points (2 poles)
=7 - Jimmie Johnson, 4 points (1 pole)
=7 - Mark Martin, 4 points (1 pole)
=7 - Ryan Newman, 4 points (1 pole)
=10 - Clint Bowyer, 0 points
=10 - Jeff Gordon, 0 points
=10 - David Reutimann, 0 points

The battle for 13th appears to be a seven man one with Carl Edwards holding onto it right now but I'd give down to Greg Biffle (95 points behind) in 19th a shot.

Tez's NASCAR Race Championship - chase field with bonus points:
=1 - Denny Hamlin, 24 points (6 wins)
=1 - Kevin Harvick, 24 points (3 wins + 12 bonus)
3 - Jimmie Johnson, 20 points (5 wins)
4 - Kyle Busch, 12 points (3 wins)
=5 - Kurt Busch, 8 points (2 wins)
=5 - Jamie McMurray, 8 points (2 wins)
=7 - Greg Biffle, 4 points (1 win)
=7 - Tony Stewart, 4 points (1 win)
=9 - Clint Bowyer, 0 points
=9 - Jeff Burton, 0 points
=9 - Carl Edwards, 0 points
=9 - Jeff Gordon, 0 points

Kenseth sits 13th, with Juan Montoya, Kasey Kahne and Mark Martin possibly being the only ones capable of knocking him off.

Remember, the points for the Chase guys now switch to the old CART system (20, 16, 14, 12, 10, 8, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1) with a bonus point for actually winning the race/nabbing pole position and half points for the races at Loudon, Martinsville and Phoenix as neither reach 400 miles.

Is the 2010 F1 title the one no one wants to win?

2010-09-12T09:32:00.000-07:00

Well, the European part of the season is over and the teams pack up and head to Singapore for the next round in a fortnight. As most predicted, Monza saw the Red Bull's struggle (though nowhere near as badly as 2009) but the rest of the cards fell off the table I think.

After having the car to beat at both Montreal and Spa, this should have been a slamdunk for McLaren...well, either they didn't get that memo or it lost something in translation as Ferrari delivered an uppercut to that idea. If Spa was brilliant for Lewis Hamilton and Mark Webber, Monza was just as good for Fernando Alonso, Jenson Button and Sebastian Vettel as Lewis had a brainfade and wrecked on lap 1 while Webber was left frustrated having stared at the rear wing of Hulkenburg's Williams for pretty much the entire race and had to make do with sixth.

With those five guys now back to being within a race win of each other, it begs the question; who wants it more?

1 - Mark Webber, 187 points
2 - Lewis Hamilton, 182 points
3 - Fernando Alonso, 166 points
4 - Jenson Button, 165 points
5 - Sebastian Vettel, 163 points

Red Bull - with the best car and, arguably, the most talented driver in Vettel, the team went into the year as favourites. While the car is lightning fast, it has proven a little fragile (Sebastian's lost a bunch of points in Bahrain, Australia and Spain) but it's been Webber who has been 'the man'. Both guys are brilliant when out front but only Vettel seems to have that killer instinct when needing to work up through the field (as he showed at Silverstone) while Mark tends to struggle (Valencia anyone?). However, Vettel has also shown signs of cracking under pressure (as he showed at Silverstone, Germany and Spa) while Mark's been pretty solid.

McLaren - they have the last two world champs in their camp, the strongest engine and possibly the best overall group of guys at the factory. They started off a little slowly in Bahrain but whenever the track got wet, the Lewis-Jenson duo quickly showed exactly why they have won the last two titles (both of Button's wins came in the wet while Lewis was supreme at Spa). But when things go wrong, they tend to go wrong in a big way (Jenson retiring on lap 2 at Monaco as the team forgot to remove one of the blankets on the sidepod and it overheated the engine, Lewis losing a certain podium at Spain when his suspension failed on the last lap). The thing is though, while this is the best driver pairing, they have, possibly, only the third best car on the grid and that might prove to be their downfall in the end.

Ferrari - throwing all their weight behind the two time champion, the weight of expectation and a team fired up after a dismal 2009. They got off to the perfect start, going 1-2 at Bahrain, then appeared to slowly disappear from radar until Germany when they did it again. Alonso's only weakness comes from within; he's on his eighth and last engine and, with all due respect to Felipe Massa, doesn't have a teammate capable of pushing him all the way like Red Bull and McLaren do. I think the Ferrari is the second best car...but whether that's enough will have to wait to be seen.

Of the tracks remaining, you'd have to give the nod to Red Bull (of the four used last year, they won on three), but will infighting between Webber and Vettel allow the other three the advantage they need to pip them at the post?

The last time I recall five guys gunning for the title was in 1986 with Mansell, Piquet, Prost, Senna and Rosberg...and that year ended with Nigel's spectacular tyre blowout at Adelaide which ultimately led to Prost nabbing his second title.

Personally, I think it'll be either Jenson or Mark...they seem to be the most consistant of the bunch. Obviously, I shall be cheering on my fellow Aussie.

Rookie, Sophomore, uh...Veteran?

2010-08-31T08:19:00.000-07:00

Lap 16 at Spa-francorchamps might just have been the pivotal point of the 2010 F1 season. With Fernando Alonso having a shocker, Jenson Button's McLaren was running second and was being stalked by Sebastian Vettel in the Red Bull. Jenson covered the inside so Vettel flicked hard to the left, lost control and speared into the sidepod of the reigning World Champ. That left Lewis Hamilton and Mark Webber to pick up the pieces as the points went from five guys within a race win to just those two.

McLaren were not amused and Red Bull boss, Christian Horner, responded back to the criticism over Vettel's driving, "He is a great racing driver, he is still a very young guy and it is easy to be very critical on somebody who is relatively inexperienced - but for sure he will learn a lot from what happened."

That got me thinking...how much experience do you need to shake off being labelled inexperienced; five seasons, ten, two, where is the cutoff?

I think it depends on exactly what type of experience you're talking about. Taking Red Bull as the example, Mark Webber started in F1 back in 2002 while Vettel came onto the scene in 2007 (for 8 races with BMW and Toro Rosso). However, both guys didn't have topline equipment until 2009, so one could claim that Webber was just as new at racing at the front as Vettel was, despite the five seasons' difference from when they made their debut.

Racing incident or a rookie mistake by someone who should know better?

So is that why the Australian has been more consistant this year than last, because he has those extra years? Maybe, maybe not. Two other 'big name' guys also started in 2007; Lewis Hamilton and Robert Kubica (ok, Bob had six starts in 2006 after Villeneuve left the team) and while Lewis missed out on nabbing the title in that year with a rookie error at Japan, he made up for it by winning it in 2008. Kubica meanwhile got a semi-topline car in 2008 with the BMW. It wasn't on the pace of the Ferrari or McLaren everywhere, only at a few tracks, yet that didn't stop Robert from taking the title fight, mathematically anyway, up to the second last race.

No then, perhaps that isn't the reason why Sebastian has been hot and cold in 2010. And the pressure can't be it either since I'd wager Hamilton was under more in 2008 than Vettel is this year (he's not considered 'baby Schumi' for nothing). Nor really can age as Lewis and Robert both were mighty consistant in 2008 when they were the same age, 23, as Sebastian is now...and they had less races under their belts.

Back to the original question then; just what defines being called an experienced racecar driver? Personally, I think that in F1, it's either four years or two with a great team, whatever arrives first.

Which means, Mr Horner, that I don't believe you can use that excuse with Vettel since he's at that point now. Basically, Mark's done the better job thus far this season, despite everyone saying Vettel would blow his doors off just like he did in the points last year. Either that or Sebastian is just trying too hard, which isn't an excuse either as I presume the team have more than enough resources to deal with that situation...if not, they can always phone Kristen I guess *laugh*

So what do you reckon the changeover point in NASCAR is, when does the guy behind the wheel become a grizzled veteran driver?

Better late than never...the TNC's are back!

2010-08-23T19:49:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned on Gene's blog, I wasn't intending on doing these this year...mainly since I'm lazy and keeping it up to date could be a pain in the butt *laugh*

Righto, the rules I guess:

- Both titles for 26 rounds use an old V8 Supercar points system which only awarded the top 17 finishers (72, 60, 51, 45, 39, 36, 33, 30, 27, 24, 18, 15, 12, 9, 6, 3, 1).

- Once the Chase guys are set, those 12 use the old CART points (20, 16, 14, 12, 10, 8, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1). The remaining drivers use the V8 points, but these 12 are excluded from them (hypothetically, the 'winner' of a Chase race who isn't in the Chase could have actually finished 13th on the track).

- Washouts in qualifying don't count towards the QC, while any races less than 400 miles (couldn't even get that right in my comment...sorry, Gene) or don't get to 75% distance only get half points.

- Bonus points for wins/poles are 4 x however many you start the Chase with. If a Chase guy wins a Chase race, they get an additional point (so 21 or 11 depending on race distance).

- Leader after 26 rounds get 4 bonus points per round they clinched (eg: Harvick couldn't be topped in the RC after race 23, so he will get an additonal 12 points when we start...not counting his wins).

I think that's it, so here are the top 20 of each.

Tez's NASCAR Qualifying Championship - after round 24:
1 - Jimmie Johnson, 723 points (1 pole)
2 - Juan Montoya, 654 points (2 poles)
3 - Kasey Kahne, 609 points (2 poles)
4 - Kurt Busch, 585 points (2 poles)
5 - Ryan Newman, 524 points (1 pole)
6 - Jamie McMurray, 520 points (3 poles)
7 - Jeff Gordon, 510 points
8 - Tony Stewart, 508 points (2 poles)
9 - Kyle Busch, 475 points (2 poles)
10 - Mark Martin, 474 points (1 pole)
11 - Clint Bowyer, 381 points
12 - David Reutimann, 370 points
13 - Martin Truex Jr, 306 points (1 pole)
14 - Dale Earnhardt Jr, 295 points (1 pole)
=15 - Joey Logano, 289 points (1 pole)
=15 - Greg Biffle, 289 points
17 - Carl Edwards, 273 points (1 pole)
18 - Sam Hornish Jr, 273 points
19 - AJ Allmendinger, 257 points (1 pole)
20 - Jeff Burton, 231 points

Interesting stat, considering his record of poles/start, Dale Jr was leading this after 9 rounds. Another nice point is that all the pole winners are in the top 20. Other notables; Hamlin is 21st on 227, Harvick 22nd on 219 and Patrick Carpentier brings up the back of the field in 42nd with a solitary point. So with two rounds left, the top six are all safe (Jeff and Tony are a handful of points off so they're pretty much locked in too, just not officially) while Bowyer and Reutimann will be looking over their shoulders if either have a poor effort at Atlanta.

To the RC where, as I said, Kevin Harvick clinched the pre-race title before last week after his win at Michigan. While 11 of my guys are in top 12 of the actual points, their positions are a bit changed up.

Tez's NASCAR Race Championship - after race 24:
1 - Kevin Harvick, 765 points (3 wins)
2 - Denny Hamlin, 563.5 points (5 wins)
3 - Kurt Busch, 544.5 points (2 wins)
4 - Jimmie Johnson, 495 points (5 wins)
5 - Jeff Gordon, 486 points
6 - Kyle Busch, 473.5 points (3 wins)
7 - Carl Edwards, 468 points
8 - Greg Biffle, 452 points (1 win)
=9 - Jeff Burton, 450 points
=9 - Tony Stewart, 450 points
11 - Jamie McMurray, 425.5 points (2 wins)
12 - Matt Kenseth, 393 points
13 - Clint Bowyer, 384.5 points
14 - Juan Montoya, 348 points (1 win)
15 - Kasey Kahne, 346 points
16 - Mark Martin, 321 points
17 - David Reutimann, 298 points (1 win)
18 - Joey Logano, 255 points
19 - Dale Earnhardt Jr, 246 points
20 - Ryan Newman, 230 points (1 win)

As with the QC, no one who isn't listed above has won a race this year. The anomly with my Chase is, obviously, Jamie McMurray...but having won two of the biggest races, I think it would be fitting if he can sneak in. Harvick's tally outstrips Jimmie's QC points, despite there being eight half point races (so far...Richmond is the last before the Chase starts) which doesn't affect the QC...I can almost picture Jon doing cartwheels *laugh*

All in all, 40 drivers have scored points, with Bobby Labonte and Bill Elliott tied on three points at the bottom. With two to go, down to Mark Martin sit (barely in Mark's case) only a race behind for the battle for the last Chase spot.

Move Over Race of Champions...

2010-08-17T12:15:00.000-07:00

For the Aussies are coming.

As posted a couple of weeks ago, the V8 Supercars have eased up on their 'one off appearances' restrictions. Now while this particular post doesn't validate that fact (it's been that way for the enduros for a while now), I think it certainly might play a part in the aftermath of what is going to happen on the Gold Coast in a couple months time.

Since the Indycars, in their infinite wisdom, dropped Surfers Paradise from the schedule, the V8's picked up the slack by running an extra race. This year though, they've decided to make it an endurance race instead. So how does that previous blog fit into the 'Gold Coast 600' weekend?

Simple really, particularly when you look at the names on the entry list so far; Will Power, Ryan Briscoe, David Brabham, Scott Dixon, Dario Franchitti, Jacques Villeneuve, Scott Pruett...the list goes on. Why did I wait until today to post? Honestly, I didn't know until I saw that Heinz-Harald Frentzen (who so very nearly won the 1999 F1 title...in a Jordan!) had pulled out and some bloke called Helio Castroneves would replace him instead. The full list of international drivers that are pencilled in can be found on this website.

Here is Pruett's take on the event: “I don’t need any excuse to come to Australia, so when I received a call to be part of this program I jumped at the chance. I think the opportunity to drive a V8 Supercar on one of the world’s greatest street courses will be pretty attractive to plenty of the world’s great drivers.”

The race will take place over the weekend of October 24, same weekend as Martinsville. If only the race was shown live on TV here, that weekend would be an absolute blast...maybe someone will pick it up and we won't have to wait a week until Speed shows it.

Hat-trick Hunting at Watkins Glen

2010-08-09T10:36:00.000-07:00

**the pikkies are from 'Getty Images' by the way**

Three very different drivers were trying to achieve their own little piece of history in the Nationwide series on the weekend. Last years' champ, Kyle Busch, was gunning for his third consecutive race win in the races he'd actually bothered to do this year. Carl Edwards was going for his third win in a row on road courses dating back to the 2009 Montreal race. While Marcos Ambrose was aiming to be just the second driver in series history to win three straight races at Watkins Glen.

All signs were pointing to an absolute classic race between the three of them as they all started in the top five...lest we forget about the two 'spoilers' in Harvick and Logano who are both pretty handy in a NW car themselves.

Ambrose leads the field to the green flag.

Yes, this could have been epic...until the Australian decided to stink up the show by leading 60 of the 82 laps on his way to winning for the first time from pole position.

The words of the legendary F1 commentator, Murray Walker, when Damon Hill won the Japanese GP to clinch the title in 1996 come to mind; he took the lead, he stayed there. Logano was able to hang with him for the first 20 odd laps, Carl wasn't a factor as his engine had a meltdown, and Kyle made Marcos work hard to get around him, the chance finally coming when Ambrose used traffic as a pick to box Kyle in. But, ultimately, there was simply no one capable of beating him. Not even the added pressure of having the race sponsor on his car could slow him down.

Marcos Ambrose driving into Victory Lane for the third year in a row.

Like the two previous years, Ambrose couldn't quite sweep the weekend but a solid third does gain him a couple spots in the Cup standings. As for the NW drivers...well, there's always next year to see if someone can knock him off since the following equation makes for pretty good reading right now: 3(MA + NW + WG) = VL.

Next up for Marcos is the race in Montreal where he should already have three wins as well...hopefully this will be the year.

V8 Supercars Playing Tennis

2010-08-03T08:33:00.000-07:00

Well sort of; they're borrowing the idea of the 'wildcard'.

All this means is that they can avoid the situation that came up at the end of last year when the Cup season was over and Ambrose was back home and hoping to drive in the final race...he couldn't due to the rules so the V8 bigwigs changed the rules.

It's posted on the yahoo site and, I reckon, is actually a good idea.

NASCAR sort of have it already given you can swap drivers about as often as the teams swap tyres, so they probably won't 'borrow' this idea like they have with a bunch of others (the wing, the 'have at it boys' mentality...still waiting on the Cup boys racing in the rain though).

Nifty thinking and could be a great way to boost the international awareness of the series.

The Silly Season Gets Kick-started Again

2010-07-28T09:40:00.000-07:00

First it was the Kasey Kahne to Hendrick Motorsports announcement in April. That was followed up by the "will he, won't he" saga of Brian Vickers (ever racing again) and Elliott Sadler (staying at Petty). Lately it's been what Red Bull will do with the #82 and who Bobby Labonte is going to be driving for each week. And now, a new name has been thrown into the ring.

JTG Daugherty's announcement yesterday (as fireball posted) that, after five seasons by years end, they will part ways with Marcos Ambrose was a shock to me - although not to other people...don't you hate being out of the loop? - since I just figured he'd stay until the end of his contract next year. However, while the reasons given were simply a case of wanting to go in different directions, that means all we have is speculation.

Ambrose drove for Ford in his V8 Supercar days. Ford also unlocked the door for him to come into NASCAR in 2006 (was still up to him to open it and walk through though). As Brad Daugherty said in his interview on NASCAR Now yesterday, while we all believe the #47 is part of MWR, they aren't really. Which therefore means they're a second year team, still finding their feet in the Cup series whereas, perhaps, Marcos desires results now.

Now, the technical alliance with MWR meant they needed to switch from Ford to Toyota and while this made a lot of sense in late 2008 (after all, Kyle won a bunch of races that year), it might not be the best option now. Why? Well, it's a bit complex really. The Chevy seems to be the best car in the field (whether it's down to having the majority of top teams or it's just the 'easiest' to set up, I don't know), Ford appears to be making big strides with their new engine package and the Dodges, despite only fielding three fulltime cars, are stunningly quick when the setup is spot on.

That leaves Toyota in a bit of a bind (my thoughts only). Yes Denny and Kyle have been on fire at times this year, and yes Reutimann scored a hugely popular win at Chicago...but what about the rest? Truex has shown flashes of brilliance at times, Red Bull haven't been the same since Vickers was forced out while Ambrose has been fluctuating between having solid races, mechanical issues or crashes.

I don't think anyone can say the Marcos Ambrose of 2009 wasn't a surprise. Not only was he a rookie, but no one really thought he'd do a whole lot on the ovals...well, it took him half a dozen races to chuck that theory out the window. Had things gone his way, the Aussie could easily have wins at Bristol, Sonoma, Watkins Glen and Homestead on his resume before we started 2010. But, that didn't happen and while last year he was certainly the second best 'MWR' driver, he did, at times, prove to be better than Reutimann.

But that all changed with the signing of Truex (again, just my opinion). Here was a driver who has won Nationwide titles, won a Cup race, been in the Chase...in other words, a proven talent behind the wheel. So that meant Marcos was demoted to being third in line, and that's a situation that is rather difficult to get out of. Basically, Ambrose made the only real choice he could; fly the nest.

However, there is a problem here (and yes, I didn't really like writing this next part but they are the facts).

While most agree that the Aussie is a PR dream with his huge smile and how his sponsors adore him, what exactly has he done? He has 3 pole positions (1 Truck, 2 Nationwide) and a pair of wins in the Nationwide series, neither on an oval. He led more laps at this years Sonoma race (35 I believe) than he did all of last year and, unlike a Paul Menard, he doesn't bring any sponsors with him. That's not exactly lighting the racing world on fire when you put it like that, is it? His one saving grace is that while his statistics don't back it up, he is a very handy little driver as he proved last year and if he's given the right environment, he would probably flourish.

It's just that finding that right environment is so often the hard part...

Red Bull Gives You Wings...Mark Webber's Actually

2010-07-13T16:48:00.000-07:00

We've seen it happen before; Driver 'X' knows their contract is up at the end of the season so they'll put in a couple dazzling displays to showcase their talent so teams will want to snap them up before someone else does. Well, Mark Webber already did that...a couple months ago in fact when he blitzed the field in Spain and Monaco. He and Red Bull did the easy thing and inked an extension that will see the Aussie drive for them until the end of 2011.

Probably not beyond it though, not with the current dynamics in the team anyway.

Sebastian Vettel is a superstar already, he proved that with his surprise victory at Monza in 2008. He consolidated that by finishing runner-up is the 2009 Championship. And he landed a dent in Mark Webber's title chase a couple weeks ago at Valencia as he thumped the opposition, leaving Webber flying over a Lotus in his wake, leapfrogging his teammate in the points. Meanwhile, Mark Webber seems to be more of a journeyman, a driver who can produce the odd great result, but not able to maintain a season long challenge for the title (after Hungary last year, he was ahead of Vettel but then had four straight races where he didn't score a point).

And so, when Vettel had a front wing failure in Saturday practice at Silverstone, the team decided to give him the one Webber was using. Mark's response to this was a storming start on Sunday from second on the grid, leaving Seb no choice but to yield going into turn one lest he run wide and risk getting a puncture (which he duly did...dang near ruined my trifecta too!), leading every lap (like he did in Spain, like he did in Monaco) to become the only driver this season to rack up three wins. In the process, he now sits third in the standings behind the McLaren duo...so back in front of Vettel in other words.

Was this the turning point for Webber's season; sculpting the anger from Saturday into a win on Sunday?

However, it was a unique situation Saturday. Red Bull brought a new front wing and only had two of them. So, when the one on Vettel's went snap, they figured that, as he was ahead in the points, they'd take the one from Mark...it's nothing personal, just business. Webber acknowledged that in the post race interview, not that it stopped him from saying a classic "not bad for a number two driver," over the radio as he took the chequer, but he does want to sit down with the team to discuss what happened this week.

He has a point I reckon. The easiest way to have resolved the front wing deal would have been to do the old coin toss, rock-paper-scissors or some other option where both sides of the garage had a chance to put their case to why they should have the upgraded part, not just nick it from one to give it to the other...ahh well, hindsight and all that.

Webber and Vettel have already clashed this season with their infamous coming together at Turkey while running 1-2. Is it time for team orders or do you want your drivers to be pushing each other? McLaren don't seem to be having any issues with Jenson and Lewis, but then again, it's a slightly different situation there given that both guys have won the title before while the 'Bulls' want to both be the first to land the big prize.

So the question is this; will Mark Webber channel the anger he felt into a year long charge for the title, or was it just used up at Silverstone?

I think the scariest thing we learnt from Silverstone was that the Red Bull is still the class of the field...even without the trick new front wing.

Queenslander!

2010-07-08T22:02:00.000-07:00

For the fifth straight year, Queensland have beaten New South Wales to keep the State of Origin trophy tucked firmly north of the border. They actually did that a few weeks ago after winning game two, but I was somewhat preoccupied with a little trip down to California and forgot about it until now...my bad.

Never in the thirty year history of Origin has one state won for more than three years in a row. Queensland's dominance can put down mainly to the world class backline they have with Darren Lockyer and Johnathan Thurston steering the ship in the halves.

Now, I know most of you guys don't have much idea about Rugby League, so I have included the following link that shows patches of, arguably, Queensland's best ever player:

Darren Lockyer in action - 2001 to 2009 SOO highlights

Not really sure how best to explain Origin footy, but it basically boils down to players from all the NRL clubs being picked to represent the State in which they made their 'senior' debut in a three game series. In many ways, these games blow the NRL finals and international matches out of the water with its speed of play and intensity.

With a 23-18 win in game three Wednesday night, the Maroons became the first team to sweep a series since 2000 when NSW did it. Funnily enough, ever since I first came over here, Queensland have yet to drop a series...I think I'll stay at least another year then ;)

As former Queensland Origin player, Paul Vautin, says; go you good thing!

Fourth Time's a Charm

2010-07-05T09:09:00.000-07:00

It's a trek that has become somewhat of a ritual to one Australian; go to Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, one of the toughest tracks on brakes in the world. He started going in 2007 when NASCAR decided to race the Busch series there and he's been back every year.

Not that he's had much good luck there.

Safe to say that Marcos Ambrose has dominated Montreal as in the 199 laps raced at the place, the Aussie has led 123 of them. He should have three wins but the racing Gods have conspired against him each time with last year possibly being the most heartbreaking. JTG Daugherty will, once again, provide the equipment that Ambrose hopes to drive to victory lane on August 29.

Event promoter, Francois Dumontier, is delighted Marcos is coming back and wishes him all the best in his quest to land the win. He had this to say on the matter; “If Marcos finally wins here, I am asking fans to celebrate his victory – first because he will have earned it, but also to give him the desire to come back again over the course of the next few years to try and win it again.”

I hope it's a case of fourth time lucky for him since I don't think there are any other ways for him to not win here. He's been punted on the last restart, beaten out by the weather and passed on the final corner. Doesn't leave many options left, does it?

As for Marcos, his target is simple; “We have only one goal, and that’s to win the thing.”

Strong words, but his history here shows he does have the ability to pull it off...if he gets a little good luck on his side for once.

The match that never ends...

2010-06-24T10:16:00.000-07:00

Were these the most evenly matched tennis players ever in the history of the sport?

After three days, the American, John Isner, finally managed to make it into round two of Wimbledon after outlasting the Frenchman, Nicolas Mahut, in a...well, the term 'marathon' doesn't even cover it. There were just three breaks of serve in the entire match; the first set, second set and, finally, the fifth set.

Now I'm sure you're thinking 'you mentioned three days, does that mean the match was affected by the weather?' and you'd be right. They did stop play due to that pesky thing called 'nightfall'...nothing to do with rain. The final score read 6-4, 3-6, 6-7, 7-6, 70-68 having started at 6:18pm on June 22 before ending at 4:49pm June 24, local time.

Allow me to provide some of the stats on the official Wimbledon site from this battle of wills:
Aces - 215 (103 for Mahut, 112 for Isner)
Points won - 980 (502 for Mahut, 478 to Isner)
Unforced errors - 112 (60 and 62...that is hugely impressive over such a long time)
Games played - 183
Match duration - 665 minutes (yes, that is over 11 hours of just playing time!)

It's not every day you see a scoreboard reading that...and it wasn't even over yet!

The final set finished (eventually!) 70-68 having been deadlocked overnight at 59 games apiece. Along the way, the duo set numerous record including longest ever match (smashing the paltry 6 hours 40 minutes...an hour and a half shorter than the fifth set alone!), most number of aces by a player (previous was 78) and most number of games played (it was 112).

There was a rather funny moment when the scoreboard died, IBM saying it only went up to 47 but this was soon rectified...they might have been worried about needing triple digits! Serena Williams and Roger Federer were asked about the match during their press conferences, both just saying that; oh yes, they'd be pretty silly if they didn't know what was going on.

When the match ended, the two players as well as the chair umpire received special awards for their participation in this historic match. Isner was in fact scheduled to play in the doubles yesterday but, obviously, that match got rescheduled.

"It stinks someone had to lose," Isner said after the match, "but to share this day with (Mahut) was an absolute honour." He added, to a few laughs, that he hopes to play Mahut in the future and hopefully that match won't go quite as long.

I loathe to say it since you never know, but I doubt we'll see a match going longer than this one in our lifetime. It truly was one for the ages...epic by any standard you want to throw at it.

Tez's Sonoma Weekend Report

2010-06-21T20:57:00.000-07:00

**Ok, I won't be putting all my pictures up...this will be far too long as it is just with the ones I've picked**

Since Kristen nicked the race and qualifying titles, this shall have to suffice :P

I suppose that's as good a place to start really. For the second time in my life, I catch a plane to hook up with people I've only previously known online. Worked out just fine the first attempt, so I figured I'd approach it the same way in the hope that, unlike the song by Split Enz, history does repeat. And, lo and behold, from the instant Kristen laughed off my rant about the BART tunnels cutting my phone coverage at the critical moment, to the look she gave me that basically said "is that it? Where's the rest of your luggage?", I had a good feeling this weekend was going to be a classic (as I said at the time; if I can last two weeks out of that same backpack, five days is easy).

Being a morning person, much to the chagrin of my girlfriend who prefers to sleep until the crack of noon at the earliest, getting up at six on Friday didn't bother me much. After picking up RA6AN and dumping some of our stuff at the hotel, we ventured out for qualifying day. RA6AN and I were seated right alongside Victory Circle, so we had a pretty good view of the haulers and we were able to snap some shots of unsuspecting people (none as good as that shot of Chad though)...eventually, after we realised who the heck they were and got the cameras ready in time *rolls eyes*

Rick Hendrick being inducted.

The defending race winner.

The prerace favourite.

The Brew Crew going through their final checks before qualifying.

Clint must like getting his photo snapped...saw him a few times.

Who'd have picked Joey to be the highest finishing JGR driver?

Jeff giving tips to the rookie...maybe on the bump and run?

Yes, I was hoping Jeff turned to his left as well but he never did...the nearly shaved head next to him was Jan Magnussen by the way. And yes, that is our very own Kristen in the Blue Deuce shot. She claims she heard someone calling her name which is why she turned around...I say she saw Dale Jr and was wondering if anyone would notice if she bolted off after him ;)

We moved down towards the flag stand for qualifying which was rather strange for me since I assumed that, since he's from California, Jimmie 'Vader' Johnson (I'm sticking to the Yahoo! nicknames for them now) would have gotten cheered when he went to the top of the timesheets but the roar when Kasey knocked him off left me scratching my head before RA6AN said he's from the wrong part of California. It was around this time that my 'Team Kiwi Racing' shirt got recognised and we chatted to the people behind AmbroseChick's twitter (I think I'm still part of that group on nascar.com actually) which was a very cool deal.

After deciding to go early again on Saturday - Kristen picking my weakness and stopping for coffee - I wandered, which soon became staggered, up the hill to turn two since I wanted to snap some pikkies of the cars coming through there at relatively slow speeds. We didn't stay for the West Series race in the end and managed to catch the last 20 odd laps of the Nationwide race from Road America once Jon got booked in.

Speed leads Truex and Hornish up the hill.

David and Jimmie heading to three.

Ambrose starting a hot lap.

An RCR and MWR truck minus the trailers.

Last shot was from the hotel on Friday night while the one before it is what I was hoping would happen Sunday afternoon (it was taken during Friday practice) *sigh*

The link (told you I'd find it, guys!) and photo below probably won't make a lot of sense since they both really were "you had to be there" moments we talked about on the way to dinner Saturday night.

The boys from 'Top Gear' discuss the Hyundai Genesis.

The morning after Marcos announced he was heading over the Pacific.

Sunday dawned and, again, taking the offer of Starbucks in the morning, I arrived at the track with Kristen. After the hardest working non-payroll person in the Penske organisation went off to the garage, Jon and I went out onto pitlane, passing the time by chatting to a few of the many Aussies in attendence - it almost felt like a V8 Supercar race for me - before meeting up with RA6AN and Hoosier who managed to not get as sunburnt as us at Pebble Beach the day before...it must be all those trees that litter the golf courses. Just before that, Kristen gave us a world class tour of Kurt's pit area which was highly impressive.

I'll confess to not taking many shots during the race since I figured that, between the four of us, we'd have enough photos over the course of the three days so I'll just put up two; my boxing kangaroo flag on the start/finish line during the prerace and the race winner taking the chequered flag.

It brought him luck for a while...and it got on 'Trackside'!

Jimmie ticking off a place he hadn't won at before.

Now, I want you to take a good look at that group photo that Kristen posted on her race day blog. See my smile and wonder if that's how I really felt? Well, the photo below I took in my hotel room (with the aid of the camera timer of course) after Jon and I had got back is a better reflection of my feelings I reckon...they say a picture is worth a thousand words but I'm pretty sure this has just one; bugger.

Marcos gave it his all, but came up empty in the end.

However, I've moved beyond it now. I am very proud that Marcos took the fight to Vader since it had all the makings of another Phoenix 2009 Autumn (hey, I still write 'tyre', you're not getting me to call it 'Fall') race until then.

The story doesn't end there for who should I run into at SFO but Mr M. Waltrip. Had a very brief chat with Mikey since our lines were moving in the opposite direction, he just gave me a rueful nod and a "thought we had it" before I wished his teams all the best for next week...even me with my limited knowledge on personalities could tell he was still crushed over the ending (heck, so am I!).

I'll close with this; I thoroughly enjoyed going to this race in 2006, no question about that. But the 2010 version was so much more special as I went with three amazing NASCAR fans that I have no issues at all adding to my met-in-real-life-so-they're-not-only-online-anymore friends list. Thank you Kristen, RA6AN and Jon for making a very cool weekend even better.

And that is why, despite my having a sore throat (remind me to never use the air conditioners in that place again), despite my legs feeling like lead and despite my boy fluffing the best chance he's had yet to win a Cup race, my smile in the group shot was 100% genuine.

Swapping more than paint

2010-06-07T09:22:00.000-07:00

Jeff Gordon and Marcos Ambrose.

One a bonafide NASCAR star, the other just getting into his stride having rebooted his career for the third time. Including Ambrose's V8 Supercar stats, they have racked up 110 wins and six championships in their careers between them.

So we're talking about two pretty handy racing drivers.

Last week at the Watkins Glen tyre test, Polaris met Southern Cross (for all you Astronomy buffs out there) as Gordon handed Ambrose the keys to his #24 Dupont Chevrolet while Ambrose did the same with his #47 Little Debbies Toyota...don't worry, they both cleared it with the manufacturers.

Jeff should be old hat at this since he did a similar thing around a decade ago with Montoya's F1 car at Indy but I don't think Marcos has experienced swapping cars - paint, words and ends, yes, but not cars - before, so I'm sure behind his cheshire cat grin there would have been a tiny pang of worry.

After climbing out, the Aussie had this to say: “There’s probably only a handful of people in the world that can say they drove Jeff Gordon’s race car. It was a real thrill for me. I will never forget it. He’s a pretty small guy, he’s not that tall and he’s got a narrow waist. I wasn’t that comfortable in the car, but I was squeezing in that bad boy no matter how hard I had to try.”

“It was remarkable how similar in feel they were. There were differences of course between the two. I’m glad I could help him if he needed it to get around that place. I’m no expert. I’m just out there driving a race car. Just to be asked in the first place was a massive thrill for me. I will never forget it.”

He did have one regret though; no one managed to take a photo of him in the #24.

As for Gordon, he reckoned he finally figured out Marcos' secret on road courses: “I learned two things there at the test. One is that when Marcos Ambrose goes really fast through the road courses, it’s not his race car. He’s just really fast. He got in my car and went really fast. I got in his car and went slow. It was just basically that Marcos is fast and that we’ve got really good power. That’s what I learned. Our Chevys haven't been as good as we felt like they needed to be so just gathering information plus I like Marcos. He's a good guy and a heck of a road course racer.”

Now, before we all get excited over this and rumours start circulating about Rick scoping out someone to replace Jeff when he finally chooses to hang up his helmet, I don't think this was anything more than two drivers just wanting a chance to do something a touch different and I'm sure the respect each have for the other probably went up a notch.

Besides, as Marcos said, there are very few people on the planet who can lay claim to have driven Jeff Gordon's race car...even if it was just for a handful of laps.

'The greatest day of my life'

2010-05-17T10:06:00.001-07:00

I think he summed it up wonderfully in the post-race interview; it was the best day of his life thus far.

It took 51 years, but an Australian driver finally reigned supreme around the hallowed streets of Monte Carlo. For the first time in his career, Mark Webber managed to snag two consecutive pole positions and translated it into two consecutive wins.

Things didn't look quite like that, however, as while the Red Bull chassis was the one to beat through all of practice, qualifying and the race at Spain, it wasn't until the final moments of qualifying in Monaco did they put their stamp on this, the most prestigious race on the F1 calender.

Robert Kubica in the Renault was the man to beat, setting a blistering lap to be sitting some four tenths clear of, then second place man, Lewis Hamilton (and over a second ahead of Schumacher who was third!) until Webber produced the proverbial rabbit out of the hat. He then did it again, slicing even more time off his lap to wind up on the pole by about 0.3 seconds, with his teammate, Sebastian Vettel, settling for third a further tenth back.

Webber is closing in on Raikkonen's record of most consecutive laps lead having gone flag-to-flag in the last two races.

Mark got away well enough on Sunday, leaving Kubica to battle into the first corner with Vettel, Felipe Massa and Hamilton and that was pretty much the story of the race really. Yes there were four safety cars over the course of the day but all those did were cut Webber's lead over Vettel and allow for Fernando Alonso to close up after starting 24th and last from the pitlane after a crash in Saturday practice (he managed to finish sixth).

It was Red Bull's second 1-2 finish for 2010 and with the way things panned out for the others, they now lead the Constructors' and Drivers' standings for the first time in their history. Maybe now all the pundits whispering about Mark being over the hill and being replaced with Kimi Raikkonen next year will stop for a while to wipe the egg off their faces since Webber doesn't look ready to quit right now.

Rugby League's Darkest Day

2010-04-22T18:34:00.001-07:00

April 22, 2010 will forever be etched into the minds of every NRL fan. One of the competition frontrunners, Melbourne, the team who had won the title in 2007 and 2009 got hit with the largest ever penalty in Australian sporting history. Over a period of five years, they managed to conceal over A$1.7 million worth of payments to the players, breaching the salary cap.

Their punishment for this was that they were stripped of both titles, their minor premier status (winning the most points before the playoffs start) from 2006-2008, all their points in this current season and can't win any points for the rest of the year, fined A$500,000 and forced to repay over A$1 million in prize money.

At this stage, the NRL are pointing the finger at the officials, not the players.

Where this now leaves the club that has had to fight its way into peoples hearts given the fact that it's the AFL, not the NRL, that Melbourne gears up for remains unknown as there are talks the team will fold in the light of these revelations.

Congratulations Hank!

2010-04-12T08:42:00.001-07:00

This weekend saw the end of the two scoring titles in the NHL and they both went right down to the wire. Ultimately, Sidney Crosby and Steven Stamkos tied for the Rocket Richard trophy with 51 goals apiece, while Henrik Sedin banished the Vancouver demons of 2002/2003 that saw Markus Naslund pipped for the Art Ross trophy on the final day of the season.

This time though, the Canucks wouldn't be denied as it became quite obvious early on in the game against the Flames what their game plan was; don't shoot the puck unless the pass came from Henrik.

Henrik became the first Canuck player to win the Art Ross trophy.

He ended up with four assists to move three points ahead of Ovechkin, then had to wait for the Sunday games to be over before knowing if he'd done enough. Yes, 'the great eight' played ten less games this year, yes both he and Crosby scored a lot more goals than Henrik...but Henrik's red hot form around Christmas proved to be the difference in the end.

Whether or not this lifts a somewhat flat Vancouver team going into the playoffs remains to be seen, but, for today at least, they know they have the best player in the league.

The Ambrose Angle - 2010

2010-01-31T18:09:00.000-08:00

Well, after my brilliant predictions last year where I said Marcos would be lucky to finish in the top 25 by the end of the season, I'm not sure exactly how accurate this will be either.

Oh well.

They say that drivers are only as good as their last race...so that means either 35th (Homestead) or a DNF (Dubai 24 hours) for the Aussie, but that doesn't really tell the whole story. Ignoring Dubai since that has no impact on NASCAR, Ambrose qualified third at Miami and made short work of the eventual champion by passing Jimmie around lap ten. That's when, first a punctured Goodyear, and then mechanical gremlins struck the #47 Camry forcing Marcos to pootle around some 15 laps off the pace despite having one of the fastest cars in the field. But it doesn't end there either as a couple weeks before that at Texas, he was looking good for a top five but asked too much of his fuel and wound up 11th.

Marcos himself has said his goals are to win races and make the Chase in 2010, something he admits in the next sentence is a tall order. Yet his performances on tracks no one really thought he'd do a whole lot on (you don't get much more diverse than Bristol, Talladega and Pocono for the ovals) says that he could have a pretty good shot at it. Having Truex join MWR will boost JTG Daugherty as well since, despite being an exceptionally good marketing man, Michael Waltrip didn't really push Marcos to produce his best on those weekends that Reutimann struggled.

Marcos will be hoping to repeat his late-2009 pace to get off on the right foot in 2010.

But enough about his teammates, exactly what do I think will Marcos Ambrose do in 2010?

Well, it would be quite easy for me to say that he'll win since he has more seat time now and those road courses are coming up in the middle of the year...but I reckon he might win before then.

Yes, that's right. I believe that Ambrose will do what Montoya has yet to do; win on an oval (possibly as early as the Las Vegas race). I'm not quite as confident as he is to predict he'll make the Chase, however if MWR and JTG Daugherty have their reliability issues sorted (and Denny Hamlin doesn't decide to play steamroller again), he would have a good shot at it.

All in all, if he can improve upon 2009 and finish in the top 15, I'll be a very happy man.

TNQC & TNRC - Chase results

2010-01-18T11:17:00.000-08:00

I'm sure everyone has been waiting for this with baited breath...the Chase results of both the TNQC and TNRC. I will put up the rest of the points later (someone switched the sugar for salt at work today. Never try coffee with salt, you won't like it, bleah).

Tez's NASCAR Qualifying Championship - final Chase standings:

1 - Jimmie Johnson, 127 points (4 poles)
2 - Mark Martin, 124 points (7 poles)
3 - Jeff Gordon, 96 points (1 pole)
4 - Martin Truex Jr, 86 points (3 poles)
5 - Kasey Kahne, 84 points
6 - Juan Montoya, 81 points (2 poles)
7 - Ryan Newman, 77 points (2 poles)
8 - Greg Biffle, 76 points
9 - Kurt Busch, 72 points
10 - David Reutimann, 61 points (2 poles)
11 - Kyle Busch, 58 points (1 pole)
12 - Brian Vickers, 55 points (6 poles)

So, after tieing for the most poles coming into the Chase, Vickers bombed out big time while Johnson continued on his merry way in being undefeated in the QC since I started it in 2007. Special mention must go to Truex who, after a big finish, managed to snag the best non-HMS spot as well as Martin who would have pipped Johnson had he managed to outqualify him at Homestead but it just wasn't to be.

Tez's NASCAR Race Championship - final Chase standings:

1 - Jimmie Johnson, 135 points (7 wins)
2 - Mark Martin, 102 points (5 wins)
3 - Jeff Gordon, 92 points (1 win)
4 - Denny Hamlin, 86 points (4 wins)
5 - Kurt Busch, 86 points (2 wins)
6 - Tony Stewart, 77.5 points (4 wins)
7 - Matt Kenseth, 74 points (2 wins)
8 - Juan Montoya, 72 points
9 - Kasey Kahne, 69.5 points (2 wins)
10 - Greg Biffle, 64 points
11 - Carl Edwards, 44 points
12 - Brian Vickers, 41.5 points (1 win)

Well, Johnson and Vickers bookend these standings as well while the defending champ, Edwards, will be quite disappointed he didn't finish higher. Kenseth made the most of his bumping of Newman from the real Chase by nabbing seventh due to Montoya's dismal race at Homestead while Hamlin got the nod over Busch for fourth due to winning more races.

Congratulations to Jimmie Johnson, Chad Knaus and the entire #48 crew as they swept both titles for the second time in three years.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and New Year...less than a month until the season kicks off again! :)

The 2009 Motorsport Awards...well, the ones that count anyway

2009-11-26T21:55:00.000-08:00

Okey dokey, let's get this thing done...yeah, I know what you're thinking and trust me, I already know so here's the apology; I'm sorry for posting this before the final round of the V8 Supercars is raced.

Rookie of the Year - a reasonably tough choice in the end to be honest as I'm not going to go with logic and, instead, give it to the man who won it last year (albeit in a lower category); Joey Logano. Not only did he have big shoes to fill by stepping into the car that Tony Stewart drove for a decade, he also had the weight of expectation resting on those young shoulders with all the whispers about him being 'the next great thing'. He got off to a slow start, but soon found his groove to put in several strong races, including his win at Loudon. A possible threat to make the Chase next year.

Best Race of the Year - the Indycars at Kentucky. A spine-tingling duel for the win between Ryan Briscoe and Ed Carpenter that lasted the final 10 laps fully justified the mid-season changes to make the oval races more exciting. The final F1 race along with the Bristol night race went close...but not quite close enough.

Qualifier of the Year - Sebastian Vettel knew he had to pull out all stops at Japan to keep his slim hopes alive for winning the championship. He didn't do a whole lot of laps since he was saving his engine but he still easily planted his Red Bull Renault on pole, then set about winning the race the next day.

Team of the Year - Brawn GP for winning both the drivers' and constructors' title after only becoming a team a few weeks prior to the season starting.

Pit Crew of the Year - Brawn GP gets the nod for this as well. Many times Jenson found himself behind a driver, only for his crew to squeak him ahead at the pitstops. Often times it's those vital tenths of a second that win or lose you the championship.

Driver of the Year - Dario Franchitti. Having spent a year trying to make it in NASCAR, he eventually went back to the thing he's best at; winning races, and the title, in Indycar.

Person of the Year - Rick Hendrick...1, 2 and 3 in the points, nuff said?

And now the fun ones -

Personality of the Year - Valentino Rossi. The charismatic Italian just keeps on keeping on in the MotoGP series. His sense of humour can be rather difficult to follow at times but no one can doubt that he is one of a kind.

Crash of the Year - Nelson Phillipe and Will Power at the Sonoma Indycar race during practice. Yes, the Talladega crashes were more spectacular, but nowhere near as horrifying.

Surprise of the Year - that Marcos Ambrose didn't win my RotY award! No, seriously I am giving it to Marcos for his stunning drive at Bristol in March...the first glimpse we got that he was more than just a road course guy.

Miracle of the Year - that, for the third straight year, winning the Daytona 500 seems to be a jinx on that driver. Do you think we could get a petition going demanding Jimmie win it next year just to see if it really is a jinx?

Worst Looking Car Livery of the Year - Jeff Gordon's 'Transformers 2' car at Lowe's. I'm sorry, but Jeff Gordon...as the decepticons...the evil guys? Come on, give me a break!

Bone-headed Overtaking Attempt of the Year - a tough category as there were a few good candidates (Hamlin wrecking both Reutimann and Ambrose on his way to winning at Pocono and Scott Dixon at the start of the Indycar race at Sonoma spring to mind) but it's going to Jarno Trulli. The Italian thought he'd take advantage of Adrian Sutil at the Brazilian GP when Sutil slowed as Kimi had no front wing in front of him. Alas, Jarno didn't get the memo about there being no vision out of the side and back of a F1 car as its mirrors are nothing more than token gestures. So it was no great surprise when he ended up on the grass before careering back on to the track, slamming into Sutil and taking them both out on turn 4...of lap 1. Trulli then had another brainfade as he proceeded to blame Sutil for the whole thing for the remainder of the season.

The Dental School Award (aka, the award that made the most jaws drop) - Matt Crafton decided the only way he could make points up on Ron Hornaday at Gateway was to barge his way to the front. First he took out Todd Bodine when Todd blocked on a restart, then, after I'm sure most people went "he won't do that again" did the same thing to Hornaday. NASCAR gave him a penalty for rough driving...possibly the easiest decision the officials made this year.

The 'Carved from Stone' Award (aka the person that stood up when the heat was on) - might be a touch early, but it's going to Jamie Whincup. Not only did he have to put up with all the talk about what he'd be doing in 2010, he also had to race with a team who knew they were switching manufacturers for the next season. Despite that, he looks set to repeat as V8 Supercar champion.

The 'Red Bull' Award (since it gives you wings) - Quite a few people clearly wanted to win this award but it came down to three (sorry Matt Kenseth but you missed out); Joey Logano, Carl Edwards and Ryan Newman. In the end, I went with Mr Newman for his acrobatics at Talladega. hopefully the US Army will redeem him some frequent flyer points :)

The Lucky Bugger Award - Carl Edwards for being in the right place at the right time when Marcos Ambrose made his one and only mistake at Montreal.

And that's all she wrote for 2009...let me know of any candidates I may have missed :)

New Zealand to take on the World...Cup

2009-11-15T08:28:00.000-08:00

Until this weekend, never in the history of the FIFA World Cup have both Australia and New Zealand qualified.

The main reason is that both those countries were in the Oceania group and therefore had to battle each other before getting to a two-game playoff with either a team from Asia or a team from South America.

Up until 2005, there had only been two times in the Cups' history that either team made it; 1974 in Germany for the Aussies and 1982 in Spain for the Kiwis. However, the goalposts got moved a little after Australia broke ranks from Oceania and were allowed to be included under Asia. This left the reputation of Oceania's incredible 2005/2006 (Australia's qualification and subsequent performance at the World Cup is one of Australia's greatest sporting memories) squarely on the shoulders of New Zealand's 'All Whites'.

They didn't disappoint.

Facing off against Bahrain, they were able to keep the score to 0-0 in the desert before the return leg in Wellington this weekend. It took a strong header from Rory Fallon and a brilliant performance by goalkeeper Mark Paston, but it was enough to send the Kiwis into a similar euphoria that Australian football had in 2005 after pipping Uruguay in a penalty shoot-out.

The hero of the night; keeper, Mark Paston, saves a penalty shot in the second half.

While the chances are pretty slim, I dream of being able to post an article called 'The (formerly known) Trans-Tasman Traveller presents a Trans-Tasman Battle!'...we can only wait until the draw is done I guess. One thing is for sure though; if Australia were the underdogs in 2006, New Zealand will have that title this time around.

The Aussie is staying!

2009-11-04T09:18:00.000-08:00

At least, for a little while. This is straight from the article on Yahoo! Australia:

Australian driver Marcos Ambrose has cemented his place in the competitive US NASCAR series with a new two-year deal. Ambrose, who was at the centre of a controversial and spectacular multi-car collision last weekend, is secure after an agreement between his JTG Daugherty Racing outfit and the Michael Waltrip Racing stable.

The two companies agreed that they would operate in partnership under a technical alliance for 2010-11. Ambrose said he was encouraged by the continuity that this deal brings to his racing program. He said he had already gained a lot from the relationship as part of an impressive first season in the top-flight NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

JTG Daugherty Racing operates out of the Michael Waltrip Racing facility in Cornelius, North Carolina, with engineering and mechanical responsibilities all fully-integrated into the MWR operation.

"It's great news that we have realigned with MWR," Ambrose said. "We've been very successful this year and we even came close to winning a race or two. We've been solid in the points all season long and this was just our first year working together as a full-time Cup operation. We are really looking forward to 2010 and continuing our work with MWR."

This is great news and I hope that Marcos escapes the dreaded 'sophomore slump' next year :)

10 years on...

2009-11-03T08:31:00.000-08:00

While today doesn't mark it to the date, it does mark it to the day for me; the first Tuesday morning in November holds a fair bit of memories for me. It's the day of the Melbourne cup (arguably the most famous horse race in the Southern Hemisphere) and it's also the day that I saw the crash that claimed the life of Greg Moore, my racing idol.

Greg drove for the Forsythe team in, back then, the CART series. He was but 20 when he made his debut at Homestead in 1996, took his first podium a few weeks later at the Gold Coast (the first openwheel race I'd seen live...well, I went for qualifying, not the race but you know what I mean). He lost out on RotY honours to some bloke called Alex Zanardi...who went on to win the next two championships before a failed move to F1 in 1999.

Moore didn't capture his first win until 1997 at the famed Milwaukee Mile, holding off a fast finishing Michael Andretti and becoming the, then, youngest race winner in a major racing series. He backed it up a week later around the streets of Detroit when the guys running 1-2 ran out of fuel on the final lap. He wound up seventh at years end, an improvement from ninth in his rookie year. He bettered that in 1998 when he finished fifth...but 1999 wasn't going to continue that trend.

Greg Moore in his 'office'.

He started off that season with a bang, winning the season opener at Homestead but that was as good as it got. The Mercedes-Benz engine that powered his #99 Players Reynard was past its prime and Greg struggled with trying to compensate for it. He ended up finishing the year in tenth and was set to join Penske Racing for 2000, partnering Gil deFerren.

But it never happened.

Going into lap 10 of the final race at Fontana, Greg lost control of his car and as it hit the access road, rolled upsidedown and smashed into the concrete wall without scrubbing off much speed. The commentators knew the accident was a bad one and didn't show any replays of it. Upon impact he suffered massive head, brain, neck, and other internal injuries. He was extricated by the medical team, and airlifted to a hospital nearby. All efforts to resuscitate him failed and, at the age of just 24, Greg Moore was pronounced dead while the race was still on. The Forsythe team retired their second car, driven by Patrick Carpentier, mid-race on finding out while all other drivers were unaware of Greg's death until the end of the race. The track put all flags at half mast, and CART ordered that there would be no victory celebrations for either the race, or the newly-decided championship.

CART retired his car number (although since the merger, the number is not retired by the Indy Racing League. The Atlantic Championship, which is still owned and operated by the former Champ Car organisation, has kept the number retired), and presented a trophy annually called the Greg Moore Legacy Award. It is given every year to a driver who best typifies Moore's legacy of outstanding talent on track, as well as displaying a dynamic personality with fans, media, and within the CART community. Since Greg was a product of the CART ladder system, having competed in the Indy Lights Championship from 1993-95 and won the series title in 1995 (winning 10 of the 12 races), drivers from the Atlantic Championship series were also eligible for the award. Moore was posthumously inducted into the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame in 2000.

To this day, I have only ever watched the crash twice; the first being when I saw the race on that Tuesday morning. I live, not even half an hour from where Greg grew up...but I'm not sure I could go there without breaking down. Moore was a well liked guy, who all of his competitors agreed that he'd probably go on to win multiple titles. He was also one hell of a race car driver and I will remember him for the move he made on Zanardi to win at Rio in 1998.

Thank you for reading.

Greg Moore (April 22, 1975 - October 31, 1999)

Nationality - Canadian
Team(s) - Player's Forsythe Racing
Race starts - 72
Championships - 0
Wins - 5
Podium finishes - 17

Pole positions - 5
First race - 1996 Grand Prix of Miami
First win - 1997 Milwaukee 200
Last win - 1999 Grand Prix of Miami

Does parity produce better racing?

2009-11-02T11:11:00.000-08:00

**please note this is not about yesterdays Cup race, it is more about the racing in general. I'm refraining from saying anything about yesterday since I never saw the race**

It's an interesting question. Most of us believe that seeing the entire field being covered by the blink of an eye in qualifying should lead to a cracker of a race, yes?

But why?

When you really sit down and think about it, parity means equality...equality means the better drivers should be able to work their way through the 'lesser' drivers...but equality also means you have virtually no chance of passing the guy in front as they're, theoretically at least, spitting out identical lap times to you.

The only way any overtaking happens is when the guy behind is significantly faster than the guy in front, yes? So how can that happen when the cars are equal? Different tyre compounds has been used in F1 and Indycar the last few years and has been a hit or miss deal but it's not practical for NASCAR. Slipsteaming/drafting can work...except that the guy you've just passed can also use the same tactic. Outbraking also works...provided you don't overshoot and let them by on the exit. What about that 'push to pass' button then? Given that a similar system is being scrapped in F1 for next year and NASCAR refuses to be dragged into the 21st century with technology, that means the Indycars can keep that idea to themselves.

Besides, it's not like their championships ever go down to the wire or anything *rolls eyes*

So to answer the question, does it?

In the lower formulae, certainly (watch a formula ford race and you'll see what I mean). But it doesn't work at the highest level of the sport. So where does it all go wrong? Personally, I think it is the tyres...the lower classes don't have as wide a tyre yet provide amazing racing (as does the motorcyle racing now i think about it...same thing though, very small contact patch between the rubber and the road).

Perhaps it's time to trial a narrower wheel. Yes, the teams and drivers will whinge and complain about having less grip and how the car is undriveable but hey, they are supposed to be the elite so they'll adjust given enough time.

Besides, a narrower tyre may not work and it'd be a moot point anyway...only one way to find out though *shrugs*

Woohoo!

2009-10-13T10:49:00.000-07:00

Not sports related in any way, shape or form...apologies if you were expecting that. Instead, here's a little section from the WHP Canada/Australia website:

"I am currently in Canada on a WHP work permit, can I re-apply to the WHP?
Yes. There will be no limit to the number of times you can participate under the program as long as you continue to meet the age criteria and all other admissibility and eligibility requirements. You do not have to wait for your current work permit to expire before reapplying."

That means as soon as the 2010 permit stuff goes up, I can reapply and all I have to do, from reading the rest of the FAQ list, is go to the Sumas crossing and get a new shiny permit. I'm rather chuffed now :D

TNQC & TNRC - Loudon

2009-09-24T14:43:00.000-07:00

Alrighty then, the Chase field for both titles are set and these are the drivers who made it and by how much driver 13 missed out by in the order of their standings after Richmond.

Firstly, the QC - Mark Martin, Jimmie Johnson, Brian Vickers, Kyle Busch, Jeff Gordon, Kasey Kahne, Kurt Busch, Juan Montoya, David Reutimann, Ryan Newman, Martin Truex Jr and Greg Biffle.

Denny Hamlin missed out by 46 points in the end but had no shot at making it in anyway once Truex planted his #1 Chevy on the front row (Denny needed to take the pole and hope Martin qualified no better than 17th). Actually, Denny did leapfrog over Tony Stewart as Tony could have settled for second on the grid in that scenario and knocked out Denny as he was 51 points behind Truex before Richmond...but neither happened so it doesn't matter.

To the RC then - Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Mark Martin, Denny Hamlin, Kurt Busch, Brian Vickers, Greg Biffle, Carl Edwards, Kasey Kahne, Matt Kenseth and Juan Montoya make it in.

Ryan Newman was the unlucky guy this time as it was all set up for him; Montoya didn't score a point at Richmond so had Ryan won, he'd have bumped Juan...oddly enough, the other 11 guys were locked in regardless (I accept cheques, Mr Kenseth *grin*).

No bonus points were given to the points leader after Richmond as neither 'pre-playoffs' title was already wrapped up.

As it stood prior to the Loudon weekend, here's how the top 12 lined up via the bonus points (4 per pole/win).

Tez's NASCAR Qualifying Championship - Chase field:

=1 - Mark Martin (24 points, 6 poles)
=1 - Brian Vickers (24 points, 6 poles)
=3 - David Reutimann (8 points, 2 poles)
=3 - Martin Truex Jr (8 points, 2 poles)
=5 - Kyle Busch (4 points, 1 pole)
=5 - Jimmie Johnson (4 points, 1 pole)
=5 - Juan Montoya (4 points, 1 pole)
=5 - Ryan Newman (4 points, 1 pole)
=9 - Greg Biffle
=9 - Kurt Busch
=9 - Jeff Gordon
=9 - Kasey Kahne

Tez's NASCAR Race Championship - Chase field:

1 - Mark Martin (16 points, 4 wins)
=2 - Jimmie Johnson (12 points, 3 wins)
=2 - Tony Stewart (12 points, 3 wins)
=4 - Denny Hamlin (8 points, 2 wins)
=4 - Kasey Kahne (8 points, 2 wins)
=4 - Matt Kenseth (8 points, 2 wins)
=7 - Kurt Busch (4 points, 1 win)
=7 - Jeff Gordon (4 points, 1 win)
=7 - Brian Vickers (4 points, 1 win)
=10 - Greg Biffle
=10 - Carl Edwards
=10 - Juan Montoya

So it's the ol...uh, experienced guy out front as the cars rolled off the transporters.

And, after the first round of the Chase, here's how things sit.

Tez's NASCAR Qualifying Championship - after Chase round 1:

1 - Mark Martin (29 points, 6 poles)
=2 - Brian Vickers (25 points, 6 poles)
=2 - Juan Montoya (25 points, 2 poles)
4 - Martin Truex Jr (22 points, 2 poles)
=5 - Kyle Busch (16 points, 1 pole)
=5 - Kurt Busch (16 points)
7 - David Reutimann (14 points, 2 poles)
8 - Jeff Gordon (10 points)
=9 - Jimmie Johnson (8 points, 1 pole)
=9 - Kasey Kahne (8 points)
11 - Ryan Newman (7 points, 1 pole)
12 - Greg Biffle (2 points)

Hamlin (393) leads Stewart (372), Marcos Ambrose (261) and Scott Speed (241) for the, probably not-so, coveted 13th spot.

Tez's NASCAR Race Championship - after Chase round 1:

1 - Mark Martin (27 points, 5 wins)
2 - Jimmie Johnson (18 points, 3 wins)
3 - Denny Hamlin (16 points, 2 wins)
4 - Tony Stewart (14.5 points, 3 wins)
=5 - Matt Kenseth (9 points, 2 wins)
=5 - Kurt Busch (9 points, 1 win)
7 - Kasey Kahne (8.5 points, 2 wins)
=8 - Brian Vickers (7 points, 1 win)
=8 - Juan Montoya (7 points)
10 - Jeff Gordon (6 points, 1 win)
11 - Greg Biffle (4 points)
12 - Carl Edwards (1.5 points)

Ryan Newman (407) has a slender lead over Clint Bowyer (400.5), Kyle Busch (379) and David Reutimann (356) as we head to Dover for round 2 or 28...depending on which title you're looking at :P

At this stage, things aren't looking that great for the defending champions (Jimmie in the QC and Carl in the RC) but there's a lot of action still to be played out.

A Prodigal Son Returns?

2009-09-11T14:46:00.000-07:00

At least, that's what Ford are hoping will happen with the announcement this week that Richard Petty Motorsports have signed a letter of intent to merge with Yates and race under the Ford banner next year. That means that Kasey Kahne, after seven years, will have the blue oval on his suit rather than the funky ram...and that my stuff will all be out of date I just realised, thanks Kasey *rolls eyes*

So what does that mean (my sulking over the aforementioned merchandise not included)?

Well, that should give Ford a second organisation capable of running at the front reasonably often. However, it will also leave Penske as being the sole Dodge team and, as Chevy have proven over the years, putting your eggs in more than one basket tends to give you better options should a team not be up to snuff in a particular year (DEI last year for example).

Being the top team for a manufacturer does have its perks; just look at the stunning, pre-chase, season JGR had with Kyle Busch and Toyota last year but it remains to be seen whether Penske can pull off the same kind of thing. One has to remember though that while JGR were, without a doubt, the top Toyota team, Red Bull and MWR were able to snap at their heels on the odd occasion...Dodge won't have that luxury next year now Petty have jumped ship.

The Bud man is set to become a Ford man too.

As far as I can tell, Kahne left Ford in 2003, citing the reason that they weren't giving him the support needed for him to ascend to the Cup level. Ford didn't really like that and, in the end, things turned ugly and Kasey was forced to pay an undisclosed amount to Ford as compensation. So will the old saying of 'time heals all wounds' be proven true or will salt get poured onto said wound instead? We shall see I guess.

But what about 2009, will this hinder a late season charge by Kahne?

Possibly not given it was this team who, with Evernham's help, managed to get Dodge back into NASCAR. It was Kahne who scored the new Charger's first win at Richmond in 2005 and it was also this team who lured the, arguably, most recognisible paint scheme when Budweiser became their main sponsor last year. That's not a bad list of achievements car #9 has behind them and, with Kurt Busch's recent poor form in comparison, it may very well be Kahne who provides Dodge with their best shot of a title.

And I highly doubt Dodge would mind rubbing that in Ford's nose next year if he can pull it off.

It's the Finals

2009-09-04T09:37:00.000-07:00

Not that I'm expecting anyone to really read this given the contents but I haven't done a non-motorsport blog on here since...uh...since I joined apparently. Ahem, moving on.

Ahh yes, September. The month where Spring is, supposed to be, brought into action to fend off the evil dryness of a Southern Hemisphere winter. It's also the month where both the NRL and AFL seasons reach their conclusions with the top 8 teams qualifying for the playoffs.

NRL first since I've been into that for longer than the AFL *laugh*

With the final round currently under way, only the top six are assured of playing next week. The battle for the last two spots hinges entirely on the Newcastle vs Penrith match as the West Tigers shocked the second-placed Bulldogs last night to be sitting in eighth right now. However, that is only on points difference over Newcastle and a single point ahead of Penrith and since you get two points for a win and one for a draw, that rules out Wests from making it.

On the other end of the spectrum, the Dragons clinched the top spot due to the result last night. Not bad for a first time coach...well, with this team anyway. Wayne Bennett joined the team this year having spent the last 20 at Brisbane. Under his reign, the Broncos won the title in all six appearances (1992, 1993, 1997, 1998, 2000 and 2006) and have not missed out on September action since 1991. Since the swap to a top 8 playoff in 1995 (1 plays 8, 2 plays 7, 3 plays 6 and 4 plays 5...the two lowest ranked teams that lose are eliminated), I think I'm right in saying that no team that has finished eighth has managed to knock off the minor premiers and I see no reason why that trend won't continue this year.

As usual, the Broncos will rely heavily on their captain; Darren Lockyer.

So a prediction then...well, recent history suggests that St George will bomb out so I'd have to say the final will be between the Bulldogs (2nd) and Melbourne (4th). I'd put your money on a different combination given my apalling record of tipping though ;)

To the AFL now where the finals started last night with Adelaide smashing (and thus eliminating) Essendon. The other elimination game pits Brisbane against Carlton in Brisbane. The AFL top 8 system works far better to me...the bottom four do the elimination games while the top four battle it out for the week off. That leaves no room for the potential bottom four all winning, thus booting out the teams who finished third and fourth like in the NRL.

Anyway, I digress. St Kilda go into the finals as the clear favourite having only lost a couple games all season so I'd expect them to make the grand final. Their opponent...I'd have to go with the second placed Geelong to be honest. They've been red hot the last few years and I see no reason why they can't make the final again.

All of Brisbane will be hoping that Voss can translate his playing days to his coaching ones.

As for 'my teams' from Brisbane...well, the Broncos did better than I thought given the first coach change in the clubs' history while the Lions (also with a coach change as Leigh Matthews, the man who led the team to four straight grand finals from 2001 to 2004, winning the first three left, replaced by former club captain and legend, Michael Voss) reached the finals for the first time since their loss to Port Adelaide in the 2004 grand final. I think the Broncos might make it to week two but I'm not sure the Lions can overcome their injury woes to beat Carlton.

Either way, it'll be a big month in Australia...and for the second straight year, I will be unable to watch any of it, dagnammit!

Shocked into silence

2009-08-31T09:10:00.000-07:00

To quote Anthony Hudson, AFL commentator, "I see it, but I do not believe it!"

I reckon every driver must have that nightmare; to have thoroughly dominated a race, only to have to taken away in the blink of an eye. It happened to Denny Hamlin at Richmond last year, it happened to Felipe Massa at Hungary last year, it happened to Juan Montoya at Indy a few weeks ago...it's a never-ending list for sure.

But I'm not as sure if it's happened to one driver at one track for three straight years...until yesterday at any rate.

It's safe to say that Montreal and Marcos Ambrose have a somewhat love-hate relationship as the track appears to fit Ambrose's driving style like a glove. When the, then Busch series, came to play in F1's sandbox in 2007, it was the rookie who looked set to take the win. When the, now Nationwide series, made history by racing in the rain for the first time, it was the sophomore who looked set to take the win. And just when it looked like Marcos would finally get redemption, we saw that lightning doesn't just strike twice, it does it three times.

It started so well with Marcos scoring his second career Nationwide pole.

I don't think anyone can say that Carl Edwards didn't deserve to win yesterday. For sure, he was close enough to make Marcos protect the inside line and that could only happen if he was close enough to make him do that in the first place (ahh, good old circular reasoning...have to love it at times *laugh*). However, I also don't think that anyone would say Marcos Ambrose deserved to not win yesterday.

He was sublime in the wet qualifying session on Saturday, being over a second faster than Carl who started alongside him for this race. He was equally good on every single restart, whether he was the guy who had to pick when to nail the throttle pedal or when he was making his way up the field after pitstops. And he was incredible to watch during the green flag laps, regardless if they were dry or wet, often leaping out to a lead that very few were able to reel back in.

I must say that seeing Carl closing on Ambrose in the final two laps, I was concerned. As good as Marcos is on any road course, he seems to be slower than most drivers at the apex of turns when you have to brake heavily. Once beyond that point though, there are very few areas where anyone can touch him...but, as any driver can attest to, it only takes a tiny slip on corner exit to lose momentum down a straight, and Marcos did appear to lose out a liitle most of the day off the hairpin. Not that it mattered as he had built up a comfortable enough lead through the rest of the lap to keep everyone behind him.

Until lap 76 anyway.

I don't confess to being a race technician so I don't know exactly how much work the #47 team did in comparison to the #60 team when changing over to a wet setup, but I do know that the more a car is changed for the rain, the worse it is to drive when it isn't raining. So maybe Carl had the benefit of a slightly better car in the conditions we had at race's end? Whatever the case, he managed to force Ambrose to make his one and only mistake all day and, yet again, a win at Montreal slipped through those Tasmanian fingers.

Unfortunately for Ambrose, this wasn't the order they finished in.

Marcos summed it up like this: “I'm jinxed around this joint, I'll tell you now. I mean, we had 15,000 restarts and got away with them all. I feel pretty devastated because I’ve let my boys down and we came here to win and anything less than that was a disappointment.”

While that could be considered a little harsh given the clinic he put on all race, you can't argue the devastation he was feeling. But isn't that why we watch the theatre that is motorsport, to see how the story plays out? Sometimes the guy with the best car wins, other times he doesn't.

That is a part of racing...it always has been and it always will be.

So, kudos to Carl Edwards for doing what so many must have thought was the impossible yesterday; snatching victory from the jaws of defeat...he better have bought Marcos a Molson last night. Although, given how stunned and numb I was, maybe the Aussie wouldn't have felt it anyway.

Was this the turning point?

2009-08-23T08:11:00.000-07:00

Every driver has one; a race that can be pin-pointed as being the one that moved them from pretender to contender.

The last few months have seen some interesting things written about Marcos Ambrose; the two most intriguing, to me anyway, was the debate on nascar.com whether Ambrose or David Ragan will be next in line to score their first Cup win and the other being a poll taken yesterday during the race on yahoo if Tony Stewart or Marcos was the surprise of the year.

Let's address the first article; will it be the man everyone was raving over at the last third of the 2008 season or will it be the tough-as-nails Aussie who, even when he has a bad day, says how lucky he is to be in NASCAR?

On paper prior to the Daytona 500, it was a no-brainer; Ragan was with the top Ford team while Ambrose was driving for a brand new team that had raced in less Cup races than I have fingers. Indeed, I predicted David to make the Chase while Marcos would be lucky to end up in the top 25...I couldn't have been more wrong if I tried now, could I? *laugh*

Ok, hands up if you had Marcos in with a shot for the Chase this year?

For whatever reason, the #6 UPS Ford Fusion has been struggling for the majority of 2009 while the #47 Little Debbie Toyota Camry has been flying high. It wasn't much of a surprise to anyone that Ambrose would challenge on the road courses of Infineon and Watkins Glen, but the way he has taken to the ovals has raised more than a few eyebrows and dropped even more jaws. He arrived at Bristol in March and, using strategy to get to the front, somehow came away with a top ten even though he drove the last 100 odd laps on six cylinders. He backed that up with great drives at Martinsville, Talladega, Richmond, Daytona and Pocono (ignoring the road courses) before arriving back at Bristol last night.

And boy, did he put on a show.

Starting mid pack, he steadily made his way towards the front, content with following in Jimmie Johnson's wake. Ambrose's charge didn't halt when he got to the top ten either as he brushed aside Chase contenders Juan Montoya, Greg Biffle and David Reutimann, then had the audacity to come on the radio and say "Jimmie who?" when Johnson let him through - yes, the three-time Champ let this rookie go, that's how good the #47 was at that stage of the race - and just to add a cherry on top of his cake, passed Kyle Busch around the outside for third...all before we reached half distance. Over a long run, I doubt there was a car quicker than his, even Mark Martin would have had trouble keeping pace with Ambrose.

Marcos proved that the March race was no fluke.

Unlike in March, Ambrose kept all eight cylinders to the end and, in his best race of his NASCAR career so far, he wound up a career-oval-best third and his stock rose some more notches. While his 2010 semi-teammate, Martin Truex Jr, had a strong run going until blowing a tyre, he must have been grinning from ear-to-ear inside his helmet with the way all the MWR cars were running. This has been a breakthrough year for MWR with Reutimann getting their first win and still a mathematical chance of making the Chase but it's been Ambrose who has been the star in my mind.

Oh yeah, I nearly forgot about the poll. The end result went in Tony's favour as I expected...but only just; 52% plays 48%.

I think it's easily safe to say that Marcos Ambrose has arrived. He's no longer a road-ringer, but a fully-fledged NASCAR driver and I do believe he'll get that first win before David Ragan does. If he can escape the pesky 'sophomore slump' that has struck a few drivers in the past, he could very well find himself in the Chase for 2010...complete with bonus points for winning a race or two.

And if that is the case, it can be traced back to that one hot August night in Bristol; the race Marcos Ambrose cemented his place in the Cup series.

TNQC & TNRC - Michigan

2009-08-18T15:19:00.000-07:00

Righto, I haven't updated this since Mr Keselowski shocked us all by winning at 'dega...not fun adding all these up let me tell you *laugh*

A quick recap of the way this works;
- points are awarded as per an old V8 Supercar points system that only went down to 17th place.
- races less than 400 miles in length or do not achieve 75% of the scheduled distance get half points.
- washouts in qualifying do not count.

I'll just list the top 20 of each one as there are 51 drivers who have scored points in the QC while 43 have done so in the RC.

Tez's NASCAR Qualifying Championship - after round 23:

1 – Brian Vickers, 601 points (6 poles)
2 – Jimmie Johnson, 594 points (1 pole)
3 – Mark Martin, 582 points (4 poles)
4 – Kyle Busch, 558 points (1 pole)
5 – Jeff Gordon, 444 points
6 – David Reutimann, 426 points (2 poles)
7 – Juan Montoya, 420 points (1 pole)
8 – Kasey Kahne, 399 points
9 – Kurt Busch, 395 points
10 – Ryan Newman, 394 points (1 pole)
11 – Greg Biffle, 319 points
12 – Tony Stewart, 285 points
13 – Martin Truex Jr, 279 points (1 pole)
14 – Denny Hamlin, 258 points
15 – Marcos Ambrose, 240 points
16 – Scott Speed, 183 points
17 – Matt Kenseth, 172 points (1 pole)
18 – Joey Logano, 156 points
19 – Sam Hornish Jr, 153 points
20 – Clint Bowyer, 145 points

Tez's NASCAR Race Championship - after 23 rounds:

1 – Tony Stewart, 712.5 points (3 wins)
2 – Jeff Gordon, 669 points (1 win)
3 – Jimmie Johnson, 586.5 points (3 wins)
4 – Mark Martin, 467 points (4 wins)
5 – Denny Hamlin, 438 points (1 win)
6 – Kurt Busch, 437 points (1 win)
7 – Carl Edwards, 421 points
8 – Brian Vickers, 399 points (1 win)
9 – Greg Biffle, 390.5 points
10 – Matt Kenseth, 374.5 points (2 wins)
11 – Clint Bowyer, 360 points
12 – Juan Montoya, 346.5 points
13 – Kasey Kahne, 345.5 points (1 win)
14 – Ryan Newman, 320 points
15 – David Reutimann, 291 points (1 win)
16 – Kyle Busch, 275.5 points (3 wins)
17 – Marcos Ambrose, 221.5 points
18 – Kevin Harvick, 214 points
19 – Dale Earnhardt Jr, 208.5 points
20 – Jeff Burton, 205.5 points

I suppose the main surprises is exactly how different my top 12 in the RC is from the official one and how close Gordon still is to Stewart...all to play for with three chances left for those outside to sneak in.

Ambrose goes back-to-back at Watkins Glen

2009-08-13T18:55:00.000-07:00

First things first, big thanks to everyone on here since it's been a few days and anyone could have posted but I'm going to have to believe you're letting me do the honours since it's 'my guy' :)

Ok, last years Nationwide race at Watkins Glen saw Marcos score his first victory in the States...but he was incredibly lucky since the guys he was racing ran out of fuel. He led just a handful of laps all day, one around the time of his final pitstop and then at the end. This wasn't quite the drive one had expected of the Aussie given his dominance in the rain of Montreal the week before. However, he hadn't gotten any wins by being dominant and every driver would gladly take a win on fuel mileage over none at all. But it was still via fuel mileage...and, like rain-shortened races, there is always a debate amongst fans whether winning like that should count.

Well, Marcos certainly ended any doubts over that last weekend.

In his first start in a Nationwide car since Homestead last November, Marcos proved that 2008 was no fluke and qualified second, shaking the rust off with a lap record that Kevin Harvick only just managed to beat right at the end of qualifying. I won't bore everyone with a full race-recap as there's only one part of the race that got people talking; Marcos' bold pass on Kyle Busch with a dozen or so laps to go.

There are those who will say it was dirty and those who will hail it as a fantastic piece of opportunistic driving and I'm not going to bother trying to sway you either way. It takes huge confidence in your fellow racer to put your entire race in their hands, forcing them to choose between letting you go or wrecking both cars. Marcos knew this, heck, he's tried some spectacular moves in the V8's...with varying degrees of success.

Who says you can't pass the leader on a road course anymore?

But the main reason why he figured this pass would work was who he was racing against; a title contender.

Ignore, if you can, Kyle's reputation, and put yourself in his shoes for a minute. You're racing a full season in an effort to win the championship and have a handy points lead over the guy in second. Are you really going to risk a collision with a driver who's only going to race a couple times in the year and losing, more or less, half that points gap? On such momentum can a title be decided.

I didn't think you would.

Kyle did exactly what he had to do; stay in the race to consolidate his points lead over Carl Edwards. Marcos did exactly what he had to do; put Kyle in a position where he had to back off. In doing so, he erased the murmurs from a year ago and proved that yes, Marcos Ambrose is indeed a racer and will fight against the best when he has the equipment. This is his fourth year in NASCAR so he's got a decent amount of experience now and most people expected him to contend for the win on road courses in the Cup series this year, let alone the two Nationwide events he was booked in for.

Last Saturday, Marcos proved those expectations were put on the right guy...and gave his fans some funky new pictures to have as their computer background at the same time *laugh*

Team Vodafone switches sides for 2010

2009-08-04T10:55:00.000-07:00

There were grumbling in the V8 supercar paddock last year about the possibility of the Champion team changing from Ford to Holden given that Ford were not putting their support behind them. Indeed, such was the strength of that rumour that Team Vodafone ditched the large blue 'Ford' decal that dorns the front windscreen (Australian sport, Australian terms so deal with it *laugh*).

Fast forward some eight months and we find the rumour to be true.

Jamie Whincup (the 2008 champion and current points leader) and Craig Lowndes (three time series Champion, ironically all with Holden) will be swapping the blue oval for the red lion. Ordinarily this wouldn't be such a huge deal...teams flip flop depending on who looks to be the better option after all (why else would Robby Gordon go through each manufacturer in the last 4 years?)...but this isn't a midfield team. The equivalent would be Rick Hendrick holding a press conference tomorrow saying they'd be using Dodges for 2010.

Lowndes behind the wheel of his Triple Eight Ford.

Now, unlike a lot of V8 fans, I'm not all that fussed over which brand to support as I have my favourite drivers and follow them, regardless of what they drive. But this is a pretty big thing as it also answers the question of whether Whincup would head offshore or stay in V8 Supercars.

Team Vodafone came into the series in 2004, under the umbrella of Triple Eight Racing. They had a proven pedigree in motorsport, having won 12 British Touring Car titles but struggled in their debut year, the drivers finishing 19th (Paul Radisich) and 28th (Max Wilson) in points. 2005 saw Craig Lowndes join the team in place of Radisich and Steve Ellery replacing Wilson. Lowndes nearly snatched the title away from the, at the time, all-conquering Stone Brothers Racing duo of Russell Ingall and Marcos Ambrose but still, second place in the points was a huge form reversal from the year before.

Jamie Whincup was then put in Ellery's seat for 2006, making an immediate impression by winning the first race of the season at Adelaide. This also marked the beginning of their Bathurst domination. 2007 saw no driver changes but the sponsor did; out went Betta Electrical and in came Vodafone. This didn't really slow them down but the championship eluded them yet again, this time Whincup got beat out by Garth Tander.

Whincup leads the field...a usual sight in 2009.

Which leads us nicely to now.

Having thoroughly dominated 2008 and the first half of 2009, why did Ford let them go? Only they know but Holden must be relishing the idea of rubbing Ford's noses in it when the 2010 season opener comes around.

Statistics for Triple Eight Racing/Team Vodafone since 2004:
race wins - 11
round wins - 20
pole positions - 4
driver titles - 1 (2008)
constructor titles - 1 (2008)

Have the wheels fallen off Brawn GP?

2009-07-27T08:17:00.000-07:00

For the first seven races of the 2009 F1 season, Brawn (and Jenson Button in particular) could do no wrong. They thumped everyone in all but the torrential rain-affected race in China, even when others looked to have the car to beat (namely Vettel at Turkey). As the circus hit the summer months, most people expected that form to continue, despite the recent updates to their closest challenger; Red Bull Renault.

However, that hasn't eventuated. Ok, so the Silverstone and Nurburgring domination by RBR can be explained away by the colder temperatures while the Brawn chassis seems to be like Jack Lemon and likes it hot...please note I said 'like Jack Lemon', not 'the car is a lemon'. However, the last race at Hungary can only be explained by one thing; they no longer have the best car on the grid.

RBR, Williams, Ferrari and, now, McLaren as well as Renault have seemed to, at the very least caught up if not surpassed the Brawn in performance. In a race where the Brawns were hoping to turn the tables on RBR, it didn't happen. Not only did one of their cars miss Q3 for the first time, the championship leader could only manage the eighth best time, giving him a few KERS cars in front of him as well as the dirty side of the grid...not the best place to start. Then in the race, things didn't get much better and the second best thing for Button (the best being Vettel having to retire obviously) was he was able to find a bit of speed in the second stint which allowed him to leapfrog Trulli for seventh while Barrichello could do no better than tenth.

The demonstration that was Australia now seems so very far away.

So what's going on?

Once a shoe-in for both titles, Brawn suddenly find themselves looking over their shoulder as RBR have come on strong and another couple of races like Hungary will see that lead reduced to nothing. As it stands, Button has 18.5 points over Webber while it's 15.5 between the two Constructors...still healthy, but not exactly the dead-certs it was before Silverstone.

This is starting to remind me a little of 1998 when McLaren bolted out of the gates, yet Ferrari were able to close the gap as the season went on, taking the title race to the final round in Japan. The only difference is that, unlike McLaren back then, it's doubtful that Brawn have the resources and/or money necessary to fight off RBR.

There is one saving grace....and that is RBR haven't yet thrown their weight behind just one of their drivers so Webber and Vettel have been taking points off each other. However, it might not matter as the title fight may be between those two now anyway.

We'll find out soon enough once their month hiatus is done.

If at first you don't succeed...

2009-07-15T18:36:00.000-07:00

Mark Webber entered F1 in 2002 with a bang, netting fifth place (worth two points back then) in his first race driving a Minardi. Yes he was helped by a first corner accident which, basically, took out 8 of the 22 cars but he still had to fend off a hard charging Mika Salo for the final ten laps. The rest of the year didn't quite continue that incredible result (that was Minardi's first points since Marc Gene's sixth place effort at the Nurburgring in 1999) but the platform was set and Jaguar snapped him up for the next season.

Mark produced one of his finest drives in his debut race; 5th at the Aussie GP in '02.

After producing the qualifying lap of his, then short, F1 career in Brazil (third), he then equalled it at Hungary later in the season, causing most people to believe he was just a 'one lap specialist'. That form continued on in 2004, where he hauled the underperforming 'big cat' onto the front row for the first time. Such was his ability to get more out of the car than was thought, Williams wasted no time in signing him to fill the shoes of McLaren bound, Juan Montoya.

At Jaguar, Mark proved that given the right car, he could match it at the front.

2005 also saw the first year Mark was up against some seriously good opposition in the other team car; namely Nick Heidfeld...who, as most of you already know, I say is the most underrated driver on the grid. It was a frustrating year all in all, given how well Williams finished 2004. Monaco was the highlight when he outmuscled the Champion elect, Fernando Alonso, a few laps after watching his teammate do the same, to score his first podium, following Nick home in third. The lowlight came, ironically, the next race where, having started on the second row, he collided with Montoya at turn one, and then watched as Heidfeld finished second.

Mark finished that year with his "must beat your teammate" record still intact, scoring 36 points to Nick's 28 but 2006 saw the BMW powerplant leave Williams and follow Heidfeld to Sauber, meaning yet another new teammate for Webber. Nico Rosberg was the man and, with Cosworth power, both drivers started the year with a hiss and a roar. They were helped that Williams were the next best Bridgestone shod team, behind Ferrari, so any weekend when the Bridgies were the tyre to have, the Williams' were able to hang near the front. A point proved at Monaco where Mark was in a position to win the race, being as close as he was to both Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen...but it wasn't to be as, not for the first time that year, mechanical issues sidelined the Australian.

Sadly a common sight during his time at Williams; another breakdown.

He was touted as the driver to replace Alonso (who had signed for McLaren) at the all-conquering Renault team, but instead chose to join Red Bull as teammate to David Coulthard...a move that, until this year, one couldn't really figure out why he went as he passed up the same seat in favour of the Williams in 2005. Mark said he was a little awed at going to "Fernando's team" and possibly felt he wouldn't be able to produce his best. 2007 saw him get his second podium finish, again a third, and his second chance of a potential win. This time, it was the youthful exuberance of Sebastian Vettel who ruined that opportunity as he clouted Mark while under safety car conditions. It wouldn't be the the last he heard the name 'Vettel' either.

The Red Bull 'B' team, Toro Rosso, had Ferrari power for 2008 while Red Bull had Renault. While Vettel flourished in the second half of the year, Webber began to struggle as the Renault's lack of horsepower started to make things difficult to make progress with the car. Indeed, some pundits were curious as to why Vettel was picked as Coulthard's replacement at Red Bull when his current car was faster.

Enter Adrian Newey; design genius.

The man behind the Williams' of the early 1990's and the McLaren's of the late 1990's...in other words, whenever tricky rules were put in place, Newey tended to find the best design...2009 saw a lot of rule changes.

Finally, Mark gets his paws on a competitive car.

It also saw what most people expected to be Webber's downfall, a catch 22 situation as, for the first time, he had a fast car capable of producing the results but the guy he had to beat was being hailed as the next big thing in racing. And oh yeah, he suffered a broken leg and shoulder from a bike crash during the offseason so the first half of 2009 he's driven with a metal rod in his leg.

He watched as Sebastian scored Red Bull's first win in China, with Mark coming home second. But he wasn't about to go quietly into the night and, while Vettel had the upper hand in qualfying, Webber started to turn the tide during the races. Going into last weekends' race at the Nurburgring, Vettel had just 3.5 points on Webber...not bad for a bloke who no one gave much of a chance to match the young German.

It was Mark who got the pole on Vettel's home turf, and it was Mark who drove away from everyone during the race. Such was his performance, that had he not backed off at the end or been hit with a drivethrough penalty for 'rough driving' at the start, Webber would have gone close to beating Vettel by 30 seconds...or half a second a lap. Either way you want to put it, Mark thumped everyone at Germany and it was a very popular win for a guy who is pretty well liked. Webber has a knack for getting the most, sometimes more, out of the car and that kind of driver usually doesn't have to wait seven years to be given the equipment his talent deserves...but that just made it all the more special.

It took 8 years for Mark and 28 years for Australia, but the Aussie anthem got dusted off at last!

Hearing his emotion over the radio on the cool down lap, hearing that Australian anthem being played on the podium and the flag hoisted high above for the first time since 1981 made this Aussie very, very proud.

I think BBC commentator and ex-F1 driver, Martin Brundle, summed it up best; he's been a nearly-man, and now he's turned it into a really-man. And here's an interesting stat to finish off with - until last weekend, there had been only two Aussies to have won a Grand Prix; Sir Jack Brabham and Alan Jones...and both of them went on to win F1 championships.

The Milwaukee Mile - birth of a legend

2009-07-05T19:23:00.000-07:00

I just heard on 'Windtunnel' that Milwaukee may be losing its Indycar race from next year. If that is the case, seeing as though NASCAR don't visit there (for the Cup boys anyway), I must say that will be a horrible day in motorsport to lose, in my mind anyway, the real 'magic mile' (sorry, Loudon, but you're far too boring to have such a title).

The mile is the oldest racing facility in the USA and was also the place where my racing idol scored his first win in CART...yes, I know I said I'd wait until later in the year to do my tribute to him and I think I still will anyway but this was too good an opportunity to pass up on.

So who was it and why did they become my idol? Well, if the 'gm99' in my username doesn't give you the answer, allow me to explain; it all began on March 3, 1996. Being an F1 fan, I was curious to see the series that Jacques Villeneuve did so well in before moving to F1. Now, the free-to-air TV coverage showed all the CART races Monday at midnight...which was rather poor timing given I was still at high school so the VCR got a work out that year with all those races as well as the F1 ones *laugh*

Anyway, the first race of 1996 was also the first race of the CART/IRL split but that wasn't the only change. Firing up the race after school on the Tuesday and I saw the telltale light blue/dark blue/white livery of, what I thought, was Villeneuve's replacement. I was wrong as Team Green was using a yellow and red scheme with the number 1 signifying them as the defending years champion...the guy I was watching turned out to be a 20 year old debutant Canadian by the name of Greg Moore.

Moore strapped into his #99 Forsthye Racing Mercedes Benz Reynard.

Greg rallied from a lap down to finish seventh...no lucky dog in CART and eventual race winner, Jimmy Vasser, said after the race that he was happy they didn't do another 30 laps or so since Greg's #99 Reynard was easily the fastest car on the track. He followed that up with third place at 'my track' a few weeks later at Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast. That race marked my first ever visit to an openwheel race and after that I was pretty much hooked.

However, I digress...the Milwaukee Mile. Yes, that was the place Greg took his first win in 1997 becoming, at the time, the youngest ever winner of a major race series at the tender age of 21. I must confess to not recalling much of the race but I do remember that pitstops were crucial as was fuel mileage.

Michael Andretti had the best car but it was the #99 who pushed their fuel all the way and Greg somehow was able to keep Michael behind him. Greg managed to go back-to-back, winning the next race at Belle Isle, again on fuel mileage...the guys running 1-2 both ran out on the last lap gifting him the win.

Greg may have only had 5 wins and 72 starts in his career but that only told part of the story for he was set to get the equipment his talent so richly deserved when he joined Penske for the 2000 season...unfortunately, we'll never know how that would have panned out.

I attribute Greg as being the reason I became interested in oval racing in the first place so if Milwaukee does go, I will most certainly be rasing a glass to toast it...and to remember that day in 1997.

The Ambrose Angle - Halftime hooter

2009-07-05T09:24:00.000-07:00

Ok, first things first; my usual panther avatar (for the 'follow' thingy) has taken a backseat on this website so far as it is a bitmap which isn't an 'allowed' file on here. Once I find the right program on the laptop to change it, I shall have Diego back and roaring.

On to business then. As the season is now 50% done, Ambrose has the following stats; 2 top fives, 5 top tens, 18th in the points and still ahead of past race winners McMurray, Harvick, Truex Jr and Earnhardt Jr...not bad for a bloke who is a rookie in all but the Raybestos eyes. Had things gone differently at Infineon, Marcos may very well have walked away with the win and had his team decided to 'do a Rueti' and gamble more, he may have even pipped Joey Logano to the line a week later at Loudon.

Not sure about making many saves, but he's certainly been getting a fair few shots on goal this season.

But neither happened. Ambrose had to make his way from the back at the first road course of the year and opted for the safety of a fuel stop at Loudon so his win column still remains blank...but for how much longer?

The Australian has been the surprise of the year, surpassing his semi-teammate, David Reutimann, as he continues to punch well above his weight, particularly on the tracks I fully expected him to struggle at. His top tens include places like Bristol, Daytona and Talladega...he never showed that kind of performance in the Trucks or Nationwide series but it seems he was either bluffing or the Cup car suits his driving style. I think the latter given the resemblence between the 2009 Cup car and the 2005 V8 Supercar (his last year before heading Stateside).

After Richmond, his crew chief believed Marcos could win on an oval before a road course. Now I had my doubts about that, even after his 4th place at Talladega at that time, but now I just don't know. The only tracks he seems to be struggling with are the 2 mile ones but I am having a tough time thinking of many left in the season (Fontana has one as does Michigan but is that it?) so that leaves him a good dozen places in which to spring a...well, it probably wouldn't be a surprise anymore as Marcos has shown he does belong in the highest level of the sport. Even his pitcrew have picked up their performance as was evidenced at Pocono, Sonoma and Daytona.

For what's it's worth, I still believe Watkins Glen will provide him his best shot at a win but Pocono is before that and who knows what can happen at that track...but overall, I'd rate JTG Daugherty's first half of 2009 a solid B+, pushing into an A- at times.