Drivers' Standings: Richard Burns 18, Colin McRae 17, Carlos Sainz 16, Markko Martin 13, Sebastien Loeb 12, Marcus Gronholm 10, Tommi Makinen 9, Francois Duval 8, Gilles Panizzi 4, Cedric Robert, Petter Solberg and Toni Gardemeister 3, Armin Schwarz 1

Manufacturers' Standings: Citroen 39, Peugeot 31, Ford 25, Subaru 13, Skoda 6, Hyundai 3

Junior Drivers' Standings: Brice Tirabassi and Kosti Katajamaki 10, Marcos Ligato and Salvador Canellas 8, Alex Broccoli and Guy Wilks 6 etc.

WRC points distribution

  IRL

Kiwi on the Homestead

There were more than a few potential winners embedded in the first IRL grid of the year, but buried twelfth on the grid, Scott Dixon didn't leap to mind. While those who've watched American open-wheel racing in the last decade would know never to discount a Ganassi car, Tomas Scheckter looked the more likely candidate. But as the race wore on Dixon came good, and when the final stint began, the young New Zealander was flying and would not be denied.

"That was lovely I couldn't believe it," said Dixon at the finish. In the press conference he later elaborated, "It was a great race. The car was good from the start until we got caught on one of the restarts there and had a few cars get by us, but the car in traffic was great. We started to struggle a little at the end of the race with rear grip, especially in traffic. Gil (de Ferran) was getting hot on our tails, but we were lucky enough that we could hold them off. I was just hoping that the race was going to be over soon."

Qualifying belonged to the 7-Eleven Andretti-Green squad with Tony Kanaan taking pole from his veteran team leader, Michael Andretti. Sam Hornish upset pre-season predictions for the Chevy runners by out qualifying all the Toyotas. Alongside was his to-the-death rival from last year, Helio Castroneves, just ahead of teammate Gil de Ferran with Scott Sharp putting Kelley Racing on the first three rows. Andretti led the field around on the warm-up laps, as part of a tribute to the retiring great of US open wheel racing that will continue right up to the Indy 500.

As the field leapt from the line Castroneves launched himself at the front. Three wide into the first turn, Andretti emerged in the lead from Castroneves while Kanaan decided discretion was the better part and backed out. At the back of the field it was just as fiesty as Shigeaki Hattori touched rookie Scott Meyer, Meyer crashing gently, bringing out the yellows.

At the restart they tried three wide again, Kanaan again backed out, but Castroneves pushed harder. The Brazilian spent half the lap alongside Andretti but got too high on the track and was forced to drop back allowing first Kanaan then Gil de Ferran to pass the recovering Penske.

Into the fourteenth lap and Andretti slowed and Kanaan blew by into the lead with de Ferran following into second. Some cars were sliding down the order quickly; Sam Hornish Jr and Dario Franchitti were notable absentees from the front of the field. One team on the up though was Chip Ganassi Racing. Tomas Scheckter took sixth position from Franchitti on lap 26.

Buddy Rice was the first to pit on lap 39. Rice had been off the pace and speculation was that the Cheever Racing Dallara was in tyre trouble. New tyres and a wing adjustment made no improvement. A.J. Foyt IV pitted soon afterwards, followed by Jaques Lazier. As Lazier came back up to speed again the leaders arrived at the Menard Dallara and Kanaan was baulked. On the inside de Ferran swept into the lead.

Hornish pitting on lap 55 was the signal for the majority of the field to start pitting. By lap 63 only a few cars had still to pit when the yellows flew for debris. It made little difference to the order and several cars snuck a stop in to top-up and refresh tyres. The pits had seen the Green cars drop back but lightning service from the Ganassi crew jumped both cars up the order.

At the restart de Ferran led from Castroneves, Scheckter, Andretti, Kanaan, Dixon and Sharp. Andretti was in aggressive mood though and jumped to third at the restart. The yellows were back on lap 90 after Lazier slid up track, hit the marbles and then the wall. The field pitted en masse.

At the restart Castroneves hit the front, taking de Ferran while behind the Ganassi team went three wide into turn one with Andretti, with the South African coming up trumps. Shortly afterwards Scheckter lost momentum and Dixon and Hornish swept past. A couple of laps later Scheckter fell to Sharp. Scheckter had tyre problems and would limp to the next stop.

With Dixon now chasing the Penskes up front, it was Sharp's turn to move through the upper order, taking fourth from Andretti on lap 126. Hornish was again the first of the leaders to pit on lap 141. It would be a fatal mistake. Robbie Buhl thumped the wall hard on lap 145 exiting turn two, bringing out the yellows and almost taking out Andretti as the wreck slid to the infield. The other leading cars could pit under yellows and Hornish dropped from contention.

Dixon had moved past Castroneves just before the yellows, and in the pits the Ganassi team vaulted their charge to the top of the queue. At the green Dixon took charge, racing away from the pursuing pack, quickly opening a two second gap on de Ferran. Sharp had a quick look at taking Castroneves but couldn't pull it off. Sharp would not get another chance as Kanaan moved up to challenge. Behind Kanaan were both his teammates, Franchitti at last making an impression.

As the laps wound down de Ferran started to haul Dixon back in again but Dixon had enough in reserve and the New Zealander won his debut IRL race. Castroneves was secure in third while Sharp lost fourth to Kanaan. Andretti and Franchitti were next ahead of two GForce-Toyotas driven by Scheckter and Felipe Giaffone in the Mo Nunn car. Hornish salvaged a tenth for his troubles and was the first Chevy home.

In three weeks time the Purex Dial 200 will gather the field at Phoenix International Raceway.

Result of Indy Racing League, Round 1 of 16, Homestead-Miami Speedway, Florida, United States:

Pos  Driver              Car
 1.  Scott Dixon         GForce-Toyota
 2.  Gil de Ferran       Dallara-Toyota
 3.  Helio Castroneves   Dallara-Toyota
 4.  Tony Kanaan         Dallara-Honda
 5.  Scott Sharp         Dallara-Toyota
 6.  Michael Andretti    Dallara-Honda
 7.  Dario Franchitti    Dallara-Honda
 8.  Tomas Scheckter     GForce-Toyota
 9.  Felipe Giaffone     GForce-Toyota
10.  Sam Hornish Jr      Dallara-Chevrolet

Drivers' Standings: Scott Dixon 50, Gil de Ferran 42, Helio Castroneves 35, Tony Kanaan 32, Scott Sharp 30, Michael Andretti 28, Dario Franchitti 26, Tomas Scheckter 24, Felipe Giaffone 22, Sam Hornish Jr 20 etc.

IRL points distribution

  NASCAR

Kenseth Hits The Jackpot In Las Vegas

It looked like being a Chevrolet day, but Matt Kenseth did what Roush teammate Kurt Busch couldn't do last week, which was to win. Mind you, Kenseth's Taurus was followed by four Monte Carlos, but they were forced to follow at the end, though Chevys had led for a long time earlier in the race. With points leader Kurt Busch and multiple series champion Jeff Gordon taken out in a mid-race multi-car incident, Daytona 500 winner Michael Waltrip now leads the points by three points over Las Vegas winner Kenseth.

Polesitter Bobby Labonte dropped back at the start as Jeff Gordon gapped the field immediately, leading his first laps of 2003, as Labonte fell back through the top ten. Meanwhile points leader Kurt Busch moved straight up from his second row starting position to second place. Within 40 laps cars were being lapped, as Busch dropped down the top five as the two DEI cars of Dale Earnhardt Jr and Michael Waltrip moved up to second and third.

Earnhardt Jr's march to the front ended on lap 51 when he took the lead from Gordon, as some cars made early pit stops. Lap 55 saw Waltrip move past Gordon to second, Bobby Labonte moving past Gordon for third a lap later, Gordon deciding to pit at this time, the leader Earnhardt Jr pitting on the next lap as most of the field began to pit. After the stops were completed, Earnhardt Jr was again in the lead, Gordon back in second place with Waltrip on his tail, taking the place on lap 68 as Earnhardt ran up on traffic trying to stay on the lead lap.

Gordon soon closed back in on to Waltrip's tail, as Jimmie Johnson and Labonte began to close in as well. Waltrip and Gordon then broke away a little as they closed in on leader Earnhardt Jr, then Waltrip dropped Gordon off a little as the two DEI cars battled for the lead, Waltrip finally completing the deal as he crossed the line to begin lap 91. The green run couldn't last, with the caution coming out on lap 101 when Ricky Craven and Larry Foyt colliding coming off turn four. The field pitted, with Earnhardt Jr leading teammate Waltrip off pit road, while Gordon dropping to twelfth after problems with a lug nut.

The race went back to green on lap 107, with Johnson going past Waltrip on the first lap after the restart to move into second as Earnhardt moved away. Meanwhile Joe Nemechek's move upwards continued, taking fourth from Labonte on lap 110, and third from Waltrip two laps later. Mark Martin's engine blew up to bring out the caution again on lap 117. Despite the cars having completed less than 20 laps on the tyres, most of the field pitted again taking two tyres. Michael Waltrip stayed out and took over the lead again, Nemechek and Earnhardt Jr the best off pit road to be second and third for the restart on lap 121.

Lap 122 and they were three wide down the backstretch for the lead, with Earnhardt Jr being the winner, Joe Nemechek staying second and Waltrip dropping from first to third, soon losing third to Johnson. Lap 127 and the caution was back out when Elliott Sadler joined Martin with a blown engine. Only cars at the tail of the lead lap pitted, the leaders staying out on the track. Lap 131 and it was back to racing but it didn't last for long, Dale Jarrett hitting the turn two wall after Steve Park's car got loose mid-corner, running up the track and tapping Jarrett into a spin, the caution back out on lap 133. Some of the cars pitted again at this stage.

Lap 138 and it was back to green, Earnhardt Jr now leading Matt Kenseth and Todd Bodine, Junior pulling away, which is pretty much how it stayed, as Jeff Gordon steadily moved up from 22nd at the restart into the mid-teens as the laps wound by. Lap 167 and the caution came out after ninth placed Jamie McMurray spun off turn four in a cloud of smoke, spinning safely to the apron with no contact. The field pitted, Gordon taking two tyres to lead Kenseth and Earnhardt off pit road.

Restart on lap 171, with Kenseth taking the lead from Gordon two laps later, Gordon losing second to Earnhardt Jr a lap after that, continuing to slowly fade down the field. He didn't fade for much longer, as Mike Skinner ran up into Rusty Wallace through turns one and two, Gordon running into Skinner's spinning car, Kurt Busch tagging Wallace's car as it slid down the track, all four going behind the wall as the caution came out on lap 177. Larry Foyt, Todd Bodine and Jimmy Spencer were also involved. Those towards the end of the lead lap pitted as the leaders stayed out.

The race restarted on lap 184, Kenseth taking the lead from Earnhardt Jr very soon afterwards, with Kenseth, Earnhardt Jr and Johnson forming a breakaway trio with Marlin not far behind. Lap 198 Johnson passed Earnhardt Jr for second place, while on lap 202 Marlin took third from Junior. Lap 217 saw Earnhardt Jr lose fourth to teammate Waltrip, whose steady progress up through the top ten continued.

With 40 laps to go the final stops began, some drivers taking two while others took four. When the stops were over ten laps later, Kenseth was back in the lead with Johnson second, just as they were before the stops. Meanwhile Jimmie Johnson, who took two tyres was now coming under pressure from Waltrip who had taken four, Waltrip taking second with 19 to go, Earnhardt Jr doing the same to Johnson six laps later, teammates Labonte and Stewart taking fourth and fifth from Jimmie with nine and eight laps to go respectively.

Closer to the front, teammates Waltrip and Earnhardt Jr were battling, with Earnhardt Jr moving into second with seven laps remaining. Up in the lead Matt Kenseth was untroubled, taking a comfortable win ahead of DEI teammates Dale Earnhardt Jr and Michael Waltrip, followed by Joe Gibbs teammates Bobby Labonte and Tony Stewart, both having recovered from up and down days, Stewart again suffering fender damage. Someone whose day ended on a downer was Jimmie Johnson who was tapped into a spin exiting the final turn by Sterling Marlin, dropping him from eighth to eleventh place after spinning through the grass on the frontstretch, while Ryan Newman recovered from falling off the lead lap early in the race to finish seventh. Jeff Gordon and Kurt Busch both got their cars back on track to try to gain a couple of spots but failed to improve.

Result of UAW Daimler-Chrysler 400, NASCAR Winston Cup Round 3 of 36, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Nevada, United States:

Pos  Driver                Car
 1.  Matt Kenseth          Ford Taurus
 2.  Dale Earnhardt Jr     Chevrolet Monte Carlo
 3.  Michael Waltrip       Chevrolet Monte Carlo
 4.  Bobby Labonte         Chevrolet Monte Carlo
 5.  Tony Stewart          Chevrolet Monte Carlo
 6.  Jeff Burton           Ford Taurus
 7.  Ryan Newman           Dodge Intrepid
 8.  Sterling Marlin       Dodge Intrepid
 9.  Joe Nemechek          Chevrolet Monte Carlo
10.  Steve Park            Chevrolet Monte Carlo

Standings: Michael Waltrip 461, Matt Kenseth 458, Jimmie Johnson 447, Jeff Burton 412, Tony Stewart 409, Kurt Busch 399, Kevin Harvick 372, Ricky Rudd 362, Johnny Benson 357, Dale Jarrett 354 etc.

NASCAR points distribution

  Superbikes

Hodgson Hot In Valencia

With the departure of Colin Edwards, Troy Bayliss and Noriyuki Haga to MotoGP, it was expected that Neil Hodgson and Ruben Xaus would be the frontrunners in World Superbike this year. And so it proved at Valencia, where the duo took a dominant one-two in both races as Ducati filled almost the whole top ten in both races.

The front row for the first round of 2003 consisted of Neil Hodgson on the new 999 Ducati, James Toseland on HM Plant's 2002 Ducati, Hodgson's teammate Ruben Xaus and Troy Corser on the inaugural race for the Foggy Petronas FP1. At the start of race one Toseland got the jump, leading Xaus, HM Plant's other rider Chris Walker third with Hodgson down to fourth with Corser in fifth. Just a few turns into lap one Hodgson snatched third from Walker, and began to look for a way past teammate Xaus, who was looking left and right to get past Toseland into the lead, as the top four broke away from the rest of the field.

After a couple of laps sitting on Xaus's tail, Hodgson finally made it past Xaus halfway around lap four. As they completed lap four and began lap five Hodgson pulled out of Toseland's slipstream and took the lead, immediately opening a gap over the chasing trio. Having watched his teammate pass him and then Toseland, Xaus passed Toseland as they entered the last corner on lap five to take over second and try to chase down his teammate, as Walker closed right in on his teammate Toseland.

The leading duo were separated by less than a second as they set fast times including several fastest laps, while Walker was right on Toseland's tailpipes. Lap 10 saw the end of Corser's debut on the Foggy, entering a corner too fast, sliding, running wide before throwing the bike into the gravel to save himself and the bike. Up front Hodgson and Xaus continued to fly less than a second apart, while further back Walker finally passed Toseland. As they passed half distance Hodgson finally broke Xaus, beginning to open a gap over him. Further back Pierfrancesco Chili was moving up the field, up to seventh place on his privateer Ducati.

This was pretty much how it stayed, Hodgson maintaining the lead he had built up to win from Xaus, Walker, Toseland with Laconi a long way back in fifth, Toseland catching Walker and right on his tail for the last two laps but unable to pass. Late in the race Chili suffered a DNF, dropping him out of the points, while further back in the field James Haydon scored the first points for the Foggy FP1 by finishing in 12th.

Race two saw Hodgson lead Toseland, Xaus and Walker through turn one, before Xaus bullied his way into second at turn two as Hodgson streaked away. Toseland and Walker were dicing hard, as Chili running in sixth received a stop-go penalty. A promising early run for Regis Laconi, just behind the two HM Plant riders, ended early with a DNF. After taking his stop-go Chili received another one for speeding in pit lane!

Up front Hodgson opened up a comfortable gap which he held to the end, Xaus second, with Toseland holding off teammate Walker successfully in this race. Meanwhile Corser had a much better race in race two, beating Haydon's race one effort as he finished in seventh place after dicing race long with Gregorio Lavilla and Steve Martin.

Result of World Superbike Championship, Round 1 of 12, Communitat Valencia, Spain:

Race One

Pos  Rider                 Motorcycle
 1.  Neil Hodgson          Ducati 999F03
 2.  Ruben Xaus            Ducati 999F03
 3.  Chris Walker          Ducati 998F02
 4.  James Toseland        Ducati 998F02
 5.  Regis Laconi          Ducati 998RS
 6.  Steve Martin          Ducati 998RS
 7.  Gregorio Lavilla      Suzuki GSX 1000R
 8.  Lucio Pedercini       Ducati 998RS
 9.  Marco Borciani        Ducati 998RS
10.  David Garcia          Ducati 998RS
 
Race Two

Pos  Rider                 Motorcycle
 1.  Neil Hodgson          Ducati 999F03
 2.  Ruben Xaus            Ducati 999F03
 3.  James Toseland        Ducati 998F02
 4.  Chris Walker          Ducati 998F02
 5.  Steve Martin          Ducati 998RS
 6.  Gregorio Lavilla      Suzuki GSX 1000R
 7.  Troy Corser           Foggy FP1
 8.  Juan Borja            Ducati 998RS
 9.  Lucio Pedercini       Ducati 998RS
10.  Marco Borciani        Ducati 998RS

Standings: Neil Hodgson 50, Ruben Xaus 40, James Toseland and Chris Walker 29, Steve Martin 21, Gregorio Lavilla 19, Lucio Pedercini 15, Marco Borciani 13, Regis Laconi 11, Juan Borja and David Garcia 10 etc.

Superbikes points distribution

  Briefs

• Skoda have taken the wraps off their latest WRC weapon. Unsatisfied with the performance of the Octavia, Skoda has re-invented itself in a smaller package, creating the Fabia WRC in which Didier Auriol and Toni Gardemeister can hopefully soon threaten Peugeot, Ford, Subaru and impressive newcomers Citroen.

• With Sebring now just over a week away, the seats are rapidly filling. Previously with no drivers listed, the JML Panoz team have announced Max Papis will race one of the team's LMP01s while Emanuele Pirro and JJ Lehto will join Stefan Johansson in the Champion Racing Audi R8.

• Abt Sportsline have announced the signing of their final driver for the 2003 season. 19 year old ADAC VW Lupo Cup Champion Peter Terting will join defending champion Laurent Aiello, Mattias Ekstrom, Christian Abt, Martin Tomczyk and Karl Wendlinger in driving for the six car Audi TT-R outfit.

• German Formula 3 racer Frank Diefenbacher has been snapped up by SEAT for its European Touring Car Championship campaign. 20 year-old Diefenbacher will join Jordi Gene in SEAT Toledos during the ETCC season, where they will compete against teams from BMW, Honda, Nissan, Skoda, Volvo and Alfa Romeo. Alfa's Nordauto squad will feature strongly in the series under its new identity, the reborn badge of Autodelta, the name given to Alfa Romeo's long standing motorsport operation.

• After last week's bad news for HRT's competitors, there has been some good and bad news for HRT this week. The good news is that, along with K-Mart Racing and Team Brock, their financial future has been secured with Holden buying all shares of TWR Australia from PricewaterhouseCoopers, the receivers appointed to the five UK TWR companies. TWR Australia includes the racing division managing Holden Racing Team, K-Mart Racing and this year Team Brock, and the engineering division which has contracts with Holden, HSV and other clients.

  There is some bad news however, as TEGA rules state that a manufacturer cannot own a team in the V8 Supercar series. Meetings this week with TEGA's management board, which includes two Holden directors and two Ford directors, have agreed to allow the teams to race in the non-championship events at this weekend's Australian Grand Prix. However, whether the teams will race in Adelaide a fortnight later is still yet to be decided.

  Upcoming Events Calendar

• March 9 - NASCAR Winston Cup Round 4 of 36; MBNA Bass Pro Shops 500, Atlanta Motor Speedway, Georgia, United States
• March 15 - American Le Mans Series, Round 1 of 10; 12 Hours of Sebring, Sebring International Raceway, Florida, United States
• March 16 - NASCAR Winston Cup, Round 5 of 36; Carolina Dodge Dealers 400, Darlington Speedway, South Carolina, United States
• March 22 - V8Supercar Championship Series, Round 1 of 13; Clipsal 500, Adelaide Street Circuit, Australia
• March 23 - NASCAR Winston Cup, Round 6 of 36; Food City 500, Bristol Motor Speedway, Tennessee, United States
• March 23 - Champ Car World Series, Round 2 of 19; Tecate Telmax Grand Prix, Fundidora Park, Mexico
• March 23 - Indy Racing League, Round 2 of 16; Purex Dial Indy 200, Phoenix International Raceway, Arizona, United States
• March 23 - All-Japan Formula Nippon Series, Round 1 of 10; Suzuka, Japan