Move Over Race of Champions...

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

**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

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

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

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!

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

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.