Updates from the Rest of the Racing World
Atlas F1 Magazine Writers
Advice: The points tables for most series covered by Elsewhere In Racing are available here. Individual series are linked to their corresponding points table after each report.
Murphy And 'Kid' Kelly Conquer The Mountain
The traditional top ten shootout set the first five rows of the grid. With Larry Perkins crashing the car he was sharing with Steven Richards at The Cutting earlier in the day, there were nine cars left to battle it out for pole position. Jim Richards set the early pace for pole with a 2:08.1466, which stood until the seventh runner went out, John Bowe, lowering pole position below 2:08 for the first time ever in the shootout with a 2:07.9556. Mark Skaife was the next and penultimate challenger, setting a disappointing 2:08.5696 for the qualifying king, nearly half a second slower than his teammate Richards' run earlier in the session.
Now there was only one runner left, though most importantly it was the driver who had topped two of the three practice sessions and had set the fastest ever lap around the Mountain in qualifying, Bowe's shootout lap failing to eclipse Murphy's earlier effort by 53/10000ths of a second. Could he go even faster now? At the first split Murphy was four tenths up. At the second he was seven tenths up! As he crossed the line an unbelievable time flashed up: 2:06.8594. The first ever lap in the sixes, it bettered the previous fastest lap (his own) by over one full second! After the run, Murphy had some bad news for his competitors - the lap included an error on the exit of the Dipper. It could have been even faster...
Lap two saw Jim Richards/Longhurst fall from second to fifth place late in the lap, freeing B Jones/Bowe, Skaife/T Kelly and TanderWhincup to try to chase down the escaping Murphy/R Kelly car. At Griffin's on lap three B Jones/Bowe understeered wide, allowing Skaife/T Kelly to sneak through into second as Tander/Whincup zeroed in on B Jones/Bowe for third. Tander/Whincup attacked immediately, diving inside at Forrest's Elbow but B Jones/Bowe turned in, the ensuing contact sending B Jones/Bowespinning, dropping him to twenty fourth place while Tander/Whincup lost a place to Jim Richards/Longhurst. Skaife/T Kelly quickly closed in on Murphy/R Kelly, Skaife/T Kelly taking the lead from Murphy/R Kelly into Griffin's on lap five, though once Skaife/T Kelly moved ahead Murphy/R Kelly was able to match Skaife's pace.
Paul Morris was the first big casualty, out on lap five with driveline failure, while Steven Richards/Perkins was forced to pit early on lap nine after flat spotting a tyre, dropping to thirtieth. Meanwhile the top five remain unchanged as B Jones/Bowe made their way back up the order, up to sixteenth before the safety car came out on lap twelve after David Besnard/Owen Kelly and Simon Wills/Jason Richards made contact on the exit of Murray's corner, leaving Wills/Jason Richards stuck in the bunker. A few of the leading cars took the opportunity to stop, including Skaife/T Kelly, Jim Richards/Longhurst, Ambrose/Ingall, both Dick Johnson Racing cars and Paul Weel in the car he was sharing with Jason Bright.
It was back to green on lap 19, Murphy/R Kelly still leading from Tander/Whincup, Lowndes/Seton, Radisich/Rydell and Ellery/Youlden as Jim Richards/Longhurst and Ambrose/Ingall sat down in twelfth and thirteenth, while Skaife/T Kelly were way down in 29th! Not surprisingly the Bargwanna/Larkham car was issued with a drivethrough penalty just after the restart for causing the incident, as Murphy quickly opened a gap at the front while Radisich/Rydell led a train of cars for fourth place, which included the B Jones/Bowe car who spun early in the race, Ellery/Youlden taking the place into Griffin's on lap 22.
Further back Skaife was setting the track alight, setting lap records as he charged back up the order, quickly back inside the top twenty. After passing Radisich/Rydell, Ellery/Youlden closed in on the fight for second place between Tander/Whincup and Lowndes/Seton, Lowndes getting out of the sandwich and taking second place at Griffin's on lap 27. Lap 30 saw the beginning of pit stops for cars who had yet to stop, these stops running until lap 37 when Lowndes/Seton pitted from the lead. This handed the lead over to Jim Richards/Longhurst ahead of Steven Richards/Perkins, Ambrose/Ingall, Dean Canto/Matthew White and Skaife/T Kelly, those cars having pitted under the earlier safety car periods.
Back to racing on lap 48, with Steven Richards/Perkins leading Jim Richards/Longhurst, Murphy/R Kelly, Lowndes/Seton and Ambrose/Ingall, with Skaife/T Kelly in eighth and Ellery/Youlden down in 20th, but importantly still on the lead lap. The top three were immediately fighting for the lead, Murphy/R Kelly taking second into Hell Corner on lap 49 and immediately passing Steven Richards/Perkins for the lead into Griffin's. The fight for the lead made the battle for second a four car dice as Lowndes/Seton and Ambrose/Ingall joined the fight, Ambrose/Ingall taking fourth into Murray's later on lap 49, Skaife/T Kelly soon joining the dice. Lap 53 and Ambrose/Ingall took third from Jim Richards/Longhurst, before losing the place on the next lap at Griffin's with light contact thrown in for good measure. However before the lap was over Ambrose/Ingall were up to second, taking the place at Murray's, putting Steven Richards/Perkins down to third while Jim Richards/Longhurst fell to fifth as teammates Skaife/T Kelly moved up to fourth place.
This was the beginning of a steady fall for the Steven Richards/Perkins car, dropping to tenth by lap 59 as the train of cars followed their way past, the B Jones/Bowe the biggest gainer as it moved up to fourth place. All this dicing for second had allowed Murphy/R Kelly to open up a lead of nearly fifteen seconds, the lead slowly shrinking once the pack got free. Steven Richards/Perkins day wasn't helped when they went for a spin at Hell Corner on lap 61, losing four more places, while Ellery/Youlden did almost the same thing at the same corner two laps later while following Steven Richards/Perkins, also losing four places. Meanwhile Tander/Whincup, who had struggled after their early pace, hit the inside wall on the entry to Forrest's Elbow on lap 63, leading to problems which put them out of contention.
The safety car made another appearance on lap 76 after the Tony Ricciardello/Dale Brede car hit the wall over the top of the hill between Reid Park and McPhillamy Park, coming to rest on the outside of the circuit with the driver unable to exit the car. Ambrose/Ingall, Skaife/T Kelly and Jim Richards/Longhurst took advantage of this to make stops, the two HRT cars doing their pad change while Ambrose/Ingall did not, Ambrose/Ingall dropping to tenth, Skaife/T Kelly twelfth and Jim Richards/Longhurst seventeenth. B Jones/Bowe also took this opportunity to fix a problem witht the throttle, dropping them to eighteenth. This changed the top five once more, Murphy/R Kelly going back into the lead from Ellery/Youlden, Winterbottom/Noske, Greg Ritter/Marcus Marshall and Radisich/Rydell as the race restarted on lap 79.
Just like earlier in the race, the Steven Richards/Perkins car was proving somewhat of a road block at the bottom of the top ten as Ambrose/Ingall and Skaife/T Kelly pressured but couldn't pass for lap after lap, Lowndes/Seton the next to join the train as the group lost one to two seconds per lap to the leaders, the train getting longer and longer as the laps wound on, Seton/Lowndes losing a place to Canto/White while in the train. Lap 83 saw the Johnson/Luff lose any chance at a result when a gremlin stopped the engine, only for it to refire a few minutes later after some fiddling around by Johnson under the bonnet and inside the car. Up front Murphy/R Kelly was opening up a gap over second place Ellery/Youlden, who was a second or two clear of Winterbottom/Noske and Ritter/Marshall. While running in fifth place the Andrew Jones/John Cleland car had a spin just after the cutting as it suffered from the same throttle problem suffered by teammates B Jones/Bowe, dropping them ten places down the order.
Around lap 100 Murphy/R Kelly, Ellery/Youlden, Winterbottom/Noske, Ritter/Marshall, Radisich/Rydell and Steven Richards/Perkins all pitted. This handed the lead to Skaife/T Kelly for four laps before he triggered off another flurry of pit stops for the rest of the leaders, Ambrose/Ingall taking their pad stop at this point. After these stops were completed the order went under a major shuffle, Murphy/R Kelly still leading but some fast laps by Skaife/T Kelly moved them up to second about fifteen seconds back, with Ellery/Youlden just behind but falling back, well clear of the dicing Lowndes/Seton and Ambrose/Ingall, as those who pitted later made big gains, while Winterbottom/Noske saw their day end when their engine failed.
As the laps wound on the gap between the leading duo was steadily decreasing, Skaife/T Kelly slowly hauling the leader in lap by lap. Another car on the move was the B Jones/Bowe car, taking two places on lap 115, moving past Canto/White into Hell Corner and then Ritter/Marshall into Murray's at the end of the lap to take sixth place. After all the (somewhat justified) pre-race hype for the Ambrose/Ingall car, it had been a little disappointing all day. Their day got even worse when they were forced to pit from fifth on lap 119 with tyre problems, the premature nature of the stop forcing them into another stop for fuel later in the race as they dropped to eleventh in the order, the stop promoting B Jones/Bowe into fifth. Another car in trouble was the Wills/Jason Richards machine, losing the left rear wheel which not only put them even further down the order but earned them a drivethrough penalty as a bonus.
After the stops were completed it was still Murphy/R Kelly leading from Skaife/T Kelly, but B Jones/Bowe were close behind in third although they still needed to pit once more. Next up was Ambrose/Ingall, then Lowndes/Seton, Ellery/Youlden, Steven Richards/Perkins, Jim Richards/Longhurst, Canto/White and Ritter/Marshall in tenth. In fact B Jones/Bowe could've been leading the race had they not spun on lap 131, losing around twelve seconds in the process. He was right behind Skaife/T Kelly instead, and took a dive up the inside at Murray's as Skaife/T Kelly came up to lap the B Jones/Bowe's sister car of A Jones/Cleland on lap 135. B Jones/Bowe got almost completely alongside Skaife/T Kelly but had the door closed on them, with B Jones/Bowe going over the kerb in avoidance as well as making contact with the left rear door of the Skaife/T Kelly car. Though the contact wasn't very hard, it was heavy enough to break the locking mechanism on the rear door of the Skaife/T Kelly car.
With the rear door flapping open everytime the car went around a right hand bend, it seemed certain that the car would be forced by the officials to pit to secure the flapping door. The only thing in favour of the Skaife/T Kelly car was that the door was not opening to its full width, the air hose to the driver somewhat limiting how wide it opened. Meanwhile soon after on lap 138 the Ambrose/Ingall car was in the pits once more for its final fuel and tyre stop, dropping from fourth to ninth and losing another place to Ritter/Marshall on lap 142, the same lap B Jones/Bowe made their final stop, resuming in fifth place just ahead of Steven Richards/Perkins. Meanwhile Murphy/R Kelly continued to lead with around a steady ten second gap over Skaife/T Kelly, Skaife/T Kelly the only possible challengers unless the safety car came back out.
With eleven laps remaining the battle for fourth turned from fierce to nasty, causing the safety car to make another appearance after a long absence. Apparently frustrated with B Jones/Bowe, Steven Richards divebombed late down the inside of B Jones/Bowe into Hell Corner. Unfortunately he was only up to B Jones/Bowe's B-pillar when the two made contact, spinning the B Jones/Bowe car. Worse, it appeared that once Steven Richards made contact, he then pushed B Jones/Bowe car until it ended up in the sand, B Jones/Bowe left stuck in the sand, the car eventually extracted but now two laps down on the leaders. It appeared at best a racing incident, at worst an attempt to force the car out the way due to frustration.
The stewards deemed it to be the former, though the situation was inflamed by Steven Richards's co-driver and team boss Larry Perkins, who claimed that his co-driver was well past the A-pillar, that Bowe had brought the incident on himself by not giving room and that Bowe had been blocking him for ten laps. With contact around the B-pillar, the first statement was wrong; the second statement is a matter of judgement; while the third was both incorrect (they had only been dicing for seven laps) and showed Perkins had a short memory, for earlier in the race his very car had held up cars lap after lap including occasional defensive driving, which included an incident at Forrest's Elbow which saw minor contact from Skaife/T Kelly after the Steven Richards/Perkins car came across to take the extreme inside line on entry to the corner.
As news of a protest filtered in about Skaife's door, the stewards finally decided that the door was a safety hazard, some 45 mins and nearly 20 laps after the door began to flap... Apparently, with the field compressed by the safety car, the door was now a danger to other competitors, whereas when he was out in clear air it was not a danger to other cars, even if he was lapping them. One wonders what the decision would have been had Skaife been in a tight battle for position before the safety car, although there were actually a few laps after the door began flapping where B Jones/Bowe remained with a couple of seconds of it...
So on lap 154, Skaife thundered into the pits (to the roar of the crowd), with the HRT crew quickly applying large pieces of tape to the door to keep it shut. Interestingly, we already knew of these pieces of tape, having been alerted to their existence in the HRT pit just minutes after the incident originally occurred... Ironically, by applying the penalty so long after the door began flapping, it had a much greater effect on the standings, dropping Skaife/T Kelly from second to ninth, last car on the lead lap and with no hope of catching another car. This left Murphy/R Kelly untroubled in the lead, with Lowndes/Seton moving up to second, still just clear of Ellery/Youlden.
At about the same time eighth placed Ritter/Marshall retired in pit lane following contact a few laps earlier, costing them a bagful of points. And that was how it stayed to the chequer, Greg Murphy and Rick Kelly taking their third and first Bathurst victories respectively, with Kelly's win at age 20 the youngest ever. Second place was taken by the previous youngest winner Craig Lowndes along with Glenn Seton, followed in third by Steven Ellery and Luke Youlden, following on from their second place at Sandown, as Ford took second and third but failed to take the win. Fourth was Steven Richards and Larry Perkins, while fifth was Steven's father Jim Richards and Tony Longhurst, who teamed with Mark Skaife to win the 2001 and 2002 Bathurst 1000s respectively.
Result of V8 Supercar Championship Series, Round 10 of 13, Bathurst 1000, Mount Panorama, Australia:
Standings: Marcos Ambrose 1681, Greg Murphy 1605, Russell Ingall 1493, Mark Skaife 1487, Steven Richards 1388, Craig Lowndes 1382, Rick Kelly 1324, Jason Bright 1291, Todd Kelly 1256, Garth Tander 1176 etc.
Standings (after worst round dropped): Marcos Ambrose 1585, Greg Murphy 1491, Mark Skaife 1451, Russell Ingall 1411, Steven Richards 1388, Craig Lowndes 1324, Jason Bright 1291, Rick Kelly 1270, Todd Kelly 1256, Paul Radisich 1148 etc.
V8 Supercar points distribution
Rossi Wins MotoGP World Title In Malaysia
By Abdul Rahman
Spain's Sete Gibernau, the only rider who had any real chance of catching Rossi in the title race, was second on Sunday ahead of Rossi's compatriot and arch-rival Max Biaggi.
"I'm very, very happy," said Rossi, whose 57th grand prix win gave him a fifth world title as he took the 125cc title in 1997 and the 250cc crown in 1999. "It was a good fight throughout the year, winning some and losing some."
"We were quite consistent and so we were able to finish first."
Rossi's seventh victory of the season took him to 307 points, while Gibernau had 244 with only 50 points up for grabs in the two races remaining in the season. Biaggi was on 215 points in third place. All three were on Honda bikes. Last year Rossi ran away with the title, winning seven races and wrapping it all up with four rounds to spare, and the fact that this season was not quite as cut and dried was in the main down to Gibernau.
"The whole season we have tried to push Valentino as hard as we could," said Gibernau, who has won four races and finished second four times this season. "It has been a great season and congratulations to Valentino as he is the strongest guy in the championship."
Gibernau had a solitary race for second place with Biaggi forcing his way past Checa in the early stages to claim his third podium finish in the last four races. American Nicky Hayden had an impressive second half of the race, getting past the Yamaha of Spain's Checa and Ducati of Italian Loris Capirossi to claim fourth place and more points for Honda, who had already wrapped up the manufacturer's title.
Gibernau said he would not be easing off now the title had been decided and would be racing hard in the final two rounds at Phillip Island, Australian and Valencia. "There are two races to go and I will be trying to beat Valentino again," he said.
Result of World Motorcycle Championship, Round 14 of 16, Sepang, Malaysia:
Standings: Valentino Rossi 307, Sete Gibernau 244, Max Biaggi 215, Loris Capirossi 140, Troy Bayliss 119, Tohru Ukawa and Nicky Hayden 111, Carlos Checa 104, Makoto Tamada 91, Alex Barros and Shinya Nakano 90 etc.
Rossi Set To Leave Honda
By James Eve
Reigning MotoGP world champion Valentino Rossi is set to leave the Repsol Honda outfit with which he won his three titles over a contract dispute, according to team boss Carlo Fiorani.
Honda want Rossi to sign-up for the long term, but the Italian, who will won a third successive world title after winning last weekend's Malaysian Grand Prix, wants a rolling one-year deal.
According to La Gazzetta dello Sport on Friday, rival team Yamaha have already offered Rossi a contract worth nine million euros (US $10.56 million) a year plus sponsorship fees that would make him the most highly-paid Italian sportsman. Rossi admitted that negotiations with Honda had reached an impasse.
"Honda's contract was unacceptable," he was quoted as saying in La Gazzetta. "Right from when I started to compete it was my dream to ride the Honda NSR 500, so when they offered it to me it was an offer I couldn't turn down," he said.
"Now things are different, because I've already won with the bike. A new bike would represent a new challenge."
The dispute over Rossi's contract has been brewing since midway through the season. In July he spoke about his dream of competing for Italian manufacturer Ducati, who returned to Grand Prix racing this season after a 30-year absence.
Meanwhile, Rossi's MotoGP rivals shrugged off his latest declarations as no more than a stalling tactic designed to pressurise Honda into giving him the deal he wants.
"I'd be delighted if he did (move to Yamaha), but he won't," commented Rossi's compatriot Max Biaggi, currently third in the championship standings. Ducati's Loris Capirossi echoed those sentiments. "I don't believe he'll choose the Yamaha," he said.
Rossi Battling Distraction, Says Teammate Hayden
The ongoing speculation about World MotoGP Champion Valentino Rossi's future with Honda is sure to be a distraction for the Italian rider, his teammate Nicky Hayden said on Tuesday. Rossi, 24, won his third consecutive world title on Sunday with victory in the Malaysian Grand Prix and will compete the penultimate round, the Australian Grand Prix, at Phillip Island this week.
"We get along fine. I'd just as soon see him stay."
Rossi, who has 57 Grand Prix wins and five world titles to his credit, has yet to agree to an extension to his contract with the Honda team, sparking speculation that he may be open to offers.
Top Formula One team Ferrari's president Luca di Montezemolo has said he wants Rossi to take a test drive for the team. "A serious test, no joking," he told radio. "It's always been difficult going from two to four wheels, and it is even harder today ... But Valentino is a great champion and the symbol of a land of motorsports."
Alberto Ascari was the last Italian to win a world title with Ferrari. He took the championships in 1952 and 1953.
Hayden, 22, has risen to sixth in the standings in his debut MotoGP season and said he aimed to be a stronger rival for Rossi in the future. "He (Rossi) is the star and I didn't expect to be top dog in my first year but next year I definitely want to be winning races," the American said.
Pedrosa Wins Malaysian GP And 125cc World Title
The Honda rider, who turned 18 last month, crossed the line more than two seconds ahead of Finland's Mika Kallio in second and compatriot Jorge Lorenzo in third for his fifth race win of the season.
That gave Pedrosa his first world title as he took an unassailable 64 point lead in the standings over Italian Stefano Perugini, who failed to finish the race.
Reports above provided by Reuters
Rossi Hints Long-Term Future Is Motor Racing
Five-time motorcycle World Champion Valentino Rossi has hinted that his long-term future could lie in motor racing. Italian Rossi, who is currently in discussions with Honda over a new MotoGP contract as well as rivals Yamaha, said he intends to spend another two or three years on two wheels.
"I want to stay another two or three years in MotoGP but beyond that I'm not sure what I want to do," Rossi told Motor Cycle News. "I love to drive cars.
"I started my career in karts and the only reason I changed was because that was too expensive. But it has never left my mind to one day think about racing in cars."
Luca di Montezemolo, the president of the Ferrari Formula One team, earlier this week said the world champions were willing to offer Rossi a test, while Formula One ringmaster Bernie Ecclestone is also a fan.
John Surtees is the only man to win both the world titles in motorcycling and Formula One and he completed the double with Ferrari in 1964.
Gil-power
Gil de Ferran had a simple equation to consider if he was to win the IRL crown. Win the race, and get the lead lap bonus points if possible. Fifth of the five contenders for the crown, if he'd done all he could, then his destiny was in the hands of the other four. Late race problems struck three of the four, but when one of the series co-leaders shadowed de Ferran to the line under the yellow flag, the retiring Brazilian had done all he could.
Chip Ganassi Racing returned to the winner's circle they've owned for much of the last ten years in US-based open wheel racing. Scott Dixon first exploded out of Indy Lights three years ago and won his first major race in his debut year in CART in 2001. Now at the exceedingly young age of 23, New Zealand has a new hero to follow in the footsteps of Bruce McLaren, Denny Hulme and Chris Amon.
"The money doesn't really matter," explained Dixon. "The championship is great. The team has worked so hard, and I feel like I've got a huge weight off my shoulder. I'm just so proud of the team. It's just been a hell of a year."
Dixon won at Homestead, Pikes Peak and Richmond, and placed second five times, including a storming run home over the final three races at ChicagoLand, Fontana and at the Texas finale. But it was not a joyful press conference. Thoughts were elsewhere after a collision between Dixon's teammate Tomas Scheckter and Team Rahal's Swedish veteran Kenny Brack saw the 37 year old spun high in the air along the fencing. Brack received injuries to his legs and sternum and was flown immediately to hospital. The initial results of surgery have been positive.
Everything had pointed to a clash for all time, with five cars from four teams representing all three engine manufacturers fighting for the championship at the final event of the year. Scott Dixon and Helio Castroneves were in the box seat, both on 467 points, seven ahead of Tony Kanaan. Sam Hornish Jr was on 448, while Gil de Ferran was the long shot on 437.
After qualifying, de Ferran was doing his best to make his final race memorable, taking pole position at 222.864 mph, a new Texas Motor Speedway record. Chip Ganassi lined up beside and behind the Brazilian, Scott Dixon taking the front row with Tomas Scheckter in third. Felipe Giaffone completed the second row. Brazilians Helio Castroneves and Vitor Meira rolled to the green in the third row ahead of Kenny Brack and Bryan Herta, with remaining title aspirants Kanaan and Hornish comparatively off the boil in ninth and twelfth respectively.
The yellows appeared for debris on lap 31, and the field collectively dived for the pits. De Ferran led the pack from the pits with Kanaan jumping Dixon for second and Castroneves reclaiming fourth from Hornish with Dan Wheldon leading the plebs in sixth. Kanaan got the leap better than de Ferran and slid into the lead running into turn one at the green. Scheckter was moving up now, taking fifth from the Pennzoil Panther just before the yellows reappeared after Ed Carpenter's PDM Racing Dallara-Chevrolet stopped with a failed alternator. Again the field dove for the pits.
Kanaan stayed out along with Dixon and five other cars. This group led the field at the restart with Wheldon now third ahead of Giaffone and Roger Yasukawa. Hornish screamed through the field and climbed back into fourth ahead of the next yellow flag, which had appeared for the same reason. Having repaired the car, Carpenter's alternator failed again.
There was a brief restart then another yellow after Giaffone hit the wall in turn four. Alex Barron spun trying to avoid the GForce and hit the wall himself. De Ferran pitted to have his tyres inspected and dropped down field. At the restart Dixon and Kanaan raced away, chased by Castroneves and Hornish. De Ferran was buried well down field, but now had a stop in hand. Into the second half of the race and Scheckter pushed forward again, climbing through the title chase to hold second on lap 126 with Hornish following the South African past Kanaan into third. The defending champ moved into second a lap later and commenced his attack on Dixon. For five laps the pair circulated side by side, as if rehearsing for a desperate winner take all finish in another 70 laps.
Richie Hearn crashed after turn three, bringing out the yellows again with fewer than 30 laps to go. Nobody moved this time and the only pitter was Hornish. Chevrolet's unexpected shot at the title over as the defending champ climbed from the powerless car. It was a disappointing end to his career with Panther Racing.
Then there were four.
Just after the restart Kanaan pitted from third place with a puncture. In his fight for the championship he had gone too close to Castroneves and the pair had touched. Two laps later a deflating tyre from the same incident saw Castroneves pit.
Then there were two.
De Ferran led, doing everything thing right, but now, as it was on lap one, Scott Dixon was tucked in behind, leading a stream of cars. Scheckter had Dixon's back with Kenny Brack moving up into fourth place ahead of Dan Wheldon, Vitor Meira, Bryan Herta and Scott Sharp. Scheckter held the inside line coming out of turn two with Brack ranging up on Scheckter's outside. The two cars edged closer together with Brack edging downwards and Scheckter moving around slightly on his line.
The Simple Green safety crew and the medical crew flew into action, attending both wrecks. Scheckter climbed from his GForce almost immediately and walked unaided. Brack was transferred by helicopter to hospital. The yellows flew immediately. The damage Brack's Dallara did to the fence made the barrier repair a lengthy one. With twelve laps remaining as they ran behind the Safety Car, race organisers decided the race would not resume and shortened the race five laps to get the finish done with. De Ferran won from Dixon, Wheldon, Meira, Herta and Sharp with Tora Takagi leading the rest of the field.
De Ferran got his fairytale finish, but with Dixon second, the miracle was 28 points shy of reality. De Ferran did move into second place in the championship, finishing five points ahead of Castroneves. Kanaan and Hornish completed the top five in the championship, with Al Unser Jr winning the battle for sixth ahead of Scheckter.
Result of Indy Racing League, Round 16 of 16, Texas Motor Speedway, Texas, United States:
Final Standings: Scott Dixon 507, Gil de Ferran 489, Helio Castroneves 484, Tony Kanaan 476, Sam Hornish Jr 461, Al Unser Jr 374, Tomas Scheckter 356, Scott Sharp 351, Kenny Brack 342, Tora Takagi 317, Dan Wheldon 312, Roger Yasukawa 301, Bryan Herta 277, Robbie Buhl 261, Greg Ray 253, Buddy Rice 229, Alex Barron 216, Sarah Fisher 211, Felipe Giaffone 207, Buddy Lazier 201, A.J. Foyt IV 198, Vitor Meira 170, Jacques Lazier 120, Michael Andretti 80, Dario Franchitti 72, Sihgeaki Hattori and Ed Carpenter 43, Richie Hearn 39, Shinji Nakano 35, Tony Renna and Scott Mayer 26, Jimmy Kite 17, Robby Gordon 8, Airton Dare 6, Robby McGehee 5, Jimmy Vasser 4 and Billy Boat 1
Engine: Toyota 135, Honda 99, Chevrolet 96
Brack Undergoes Second Operation After Texas Crash
By Lewis Franck
Sweden's Kenny Brack, who suffered multiple fractures in a crash at the Texas 500 IRL race on Sunday, remains in a serious but stable condition after surgery on his lower back on Monday, doctors said on Tuesday. The back operation followed surgery on Brack's right thigh bone and both ankles in Dallas late on Sunday night, the Indy Racing League's director of medical services Dr Henry Bock said in a statement. Brack crashed on lap 188 of the 200-lap race.
"Kenny's spine is stable and he's moving his legs and toes," Morrill said. "We will continue to watch him closely over the next couple of days. Kenny is a world-class athlete and his physical conditioning will really aid him in this situation."
Brack, the IRL champion in 1998 and Indy 500 winner in 1999, locked wheels with South African Tomas Scheckter, the son of ex-Formula One world champion Jody, on the back straight heading for turn three and his Team Rahal car was flipped into the air. He crashed into the catch fencing, tearing the fence, before bouncing back on to the track where his car spun on its side before stopping at the Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth.
Brack was taken to the infield care center at the track before being airlifted to the Parkland Memorial Hospital. Brazil's Gil de Ferran won the event, which was shortened by the accident with five laps to go, while Scott Dixon of New Zealand, who finished second, clinched the IRL series title.
Brack report provided by Reuters
Tracy Charges Clear Of Junqueira
Canadian Paul Tracy's CART series title hopes soared after a convincing win from pole position at the Mexico City Grand Prix on Sunday. Tracy, leading for all but six of the 70 laps, extended his series lead over Brazil's Bruno Junqueira with only two races left to go.
Tracy now has 226 points in the overall series. Junqueira, who finished seventh, has 197 and Mexico's Michel Jourdain Jr is third with 183.
"I had a perfect car today and I was able to pace myself," Tracy told reporters. "Bruno had a good run on me at the start but I was able to outbreak him at the first corner and I managed to pull away after that."
It was Tracy's second victory of the year in Mexico. He also won the second race of the season in Monterrey.
Result of Champ Car World Series, Round 17 of 19, Circuit Hermans Rodriguez, Mexico:
Standings: Paul Tracy 226, Bruno Junqueira 196, Michel Jourdain Jr 183, Sebastien Bourdais 158, Patrick Carpentier 136, Mario Dominguez 115, Oriol Servia 108, Adrian Fernandez 104, Alex Tagliani 91, Darren Manning 87 etc.
Report provided by Reuters
Stewart Chases Down Newman
Tony Stewart hasn't had the most successful of season's as he backs up his 2002 Winston Cup championship, but he and his team showed some of the championship-winning form on the weekend as he took the victory at Charlotte after chasing down and passing Ryan Newman in the closing laps. Jimmie Johnson was another contender all race long, though his race was compromised by a pit error mid-race. As the race for the championship comes closer to its conclusion, Matt Kenseth extended his lead by a few points over Kevin Harvick though Ryan Newman and Jimmie Johnson moved closer. Kenseth still has a comfortable break with five races remaining, but two more slips like at Talladega and Kansas and it could be anyone's title.
Johnson was still leading Elliott and Stewart when green flag stops rolled around about lap 60. When the stops were completed Johnson had increased his lead, now over Stewart with Elliott third, while Kenseth had continued his climb upwards and was into sixth place, taking fifth from Rusty Wallace on lap 82. The first caution of the day followed soon after on lap 87 after Kurt Busch spun coming off turn two. In came the field for stops, heading out in the order Johnson, Stewart, Elliott, Labonte and Kenseth. Back to green on lap 95, with Kenseth losing positons soon after the restart as Newman climbed back into the top five three laps later. The top five settled down at this point in this race until Stewart took the lead from Johnson on lap 131 and steadily opens a small lead.
A second round of green flag stops begin around lap 150, with the order after the stops unchanged at the front, Stewart still leading Johnson, Elliott, Labonte and Newman. Just after these stops are completed the caution comes out on lap 161 after Mike Skinner and Elliott Sadler make contact in turn four, sending Skinner into the outside wall. The leaders stayed out but about half the lead lap cars pitted, including Kenseth, who had a power steering problem fixed, dropping him to sixteenth. The race resumed on lap 165 but it was back to yellow four laps later after Robby Gordon hit the turn four wall. Most of the leaders stayed out except Johnson, and Johnson then missed his pit box to make matters worse, forcing him to come around again to make his stop, dropping to seventeenth place.
In came the field for stops again, Elliott taking over the lead ahead of Stewart, Labonte, Newman and Earnhardt Jr. Back to green on lap 214, as Johnson moved back into the top five on lap 219 as he passed Earnhardt Jr and quickly closed in on Labonte and Newman who were fighting for third place. The race was back under caution on lap 232 after Kurt Busch grazed the wall, then had a tyre fail, hitting the wall again, Busch pulling the car up on the apron of the track. More pit stops ensued as the drivers closed in on the end of the 334 lap event, Stewart moving back in front of Elliott,
followed by Newman, Jeff Gordon and Earnhardt Jr.
The race restarted on lap 239, Labonte taking fifth from Earnhardt Jr in a similar move to the one he performed two restarts earlier, though Earnhardt Jr took the place back from Labonte on lap 245. Up at the front Newman took second place from Elliott on lap 247, only to see Elliott take the place back nine laps later. By lap 260 Johnson was in the top five again, having recovered from a poor pit stop. Eight laps later Newman was in the pits, pitting early due to a tyre problem, and on the very edge of making it to the end without pitting again. Sound familiar? This stop moved Gordon up to third, Johnson fourth and Labonte to fifth.
Inititally this appeared to be an impossible task, as the leading duo matched lap times. But then Stewart began closing in at a rate of half a second to three quarters of a second per lap. As Stewart got within a second or so of Newman with around 20 laps remaining, the gap steadied once more before eventually getting onto Newman's tail with twelve laps remaining. Ten to go and Stewart got almost alongside off turn four, having worked Newman loose in turns one and two, but couldn't make the pass.
Eight to go and Stewart got inside Newman off turn four, taking the lead down the frontstretch. Newman made a determined challenge through turns one and two but couldn't wrestle the lead back, and despite his best efforts over the closing laps was unable to challenge for the lead again, Stewart taking the win ahead of Newman, Johnson, Elliott and Gordon. For a change, the fastest cars during the race filled the leading positions, rather than some of the economy runs in the last couple of months.
Result of NASCAR Winston Cup, Round 31 of 36, Charlotte Motor Speedway, North Carolina, United States:
Standings: Matt Kenseth 4424, Kevin Harvick 4157, Dale Earnhardt Jr 4100, Ryan Newman 4093, Jimmie Johnson 4072, Jeff Gordon 4017, Tony Stewart 3801, Bobby Labonte 3800, Terry Labonte 3620, Kurt Busch 3615 etc.
NASCAR Races To Top Of US Sporting World
By Ros Krasny
NASCAR racing is the biggest sports success story in the United States and wants to get even bigger - leaving behind its rural roots for a more urban, more affluent audience.
Some suspect dreams of global domination for NASCAR, the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, which started in 1948 with drivers racing on the streets and beaches of Daytona, Florida.
Race attendance has doubled since 1990, helped by new stadiums such as the 80,000-seat Kansas Speedway in Kansas City which opened in 2001. Ultimately the track plans to have grandstand seating for 150,000. Many fans travel vast distances to watch their idols. In 2002, 17 of the top 20 U.S. sporting events in terms of attendance were NASCAR events.
"People identify with what we do - driving a car. They sense that what we do is real and genuine. We have the most competitive sport out there. We're genuine people doing what we love to do," veteran driver Dale Jarrett told Reuters.
NASCAR has its eyes on the country's largest media markets and on maximising prime-time exposure, a trend that rankles some long-time fans. Critics howled when NASCAR switched a Labor Day race series to the Los Angeles area in 2004 after more than 50 years in Darlington, South Carolina. The move seemed designed to sell more seats at a bigger stadium owned by ISC.
Public Grief
A single event propelled NASCAR into the mainstream -- top driver Dale Earnhardt's death in a crash on the last lap of the 2001 Daytona 500 race. The public outpouring of grief showed that suddenly everyone knew about, and cared about, NASCAR.
Part of NASCAR's appeal is that is has avoided the ugly personnel scandals common in other sports. NASCAR has no equivalent to Kobe Bryant, the Los Angeles Lakers basketball player accused of rape. The sport's publicity gurus guard that homespun image, knowing that fans and parents appreciate it.
"You don't hear about these guys having drug problems or being busted for drunk driving or having illegitimate kids," said fan Barb Carlson of Wheaton, Illinois. "It's fan friendly and it's family friendly. And it's pure competition."
At a time of professional sports mega-contracts and of multimillionaire players securely roped off from fans, NASCAR's leading lights seem more like regular guys. Fans can see the cars and crews up close with pre-race pit passes - a programme that has cemented a strong bond between fans and drivers. Races often come down to the wire in contrast to many professional sport mismatches where the richest teams routinely dominate their poorer rivals.
Viewing Figures
As a television spectacle, NASCAR now ranks second only to professional football in the U.S. and it has snagged lucrative network deals with NBC and Fox in recent years. Viewing figures rose 20 percent for the 2003 Southern 500 race in Darlington in September, when the race was broadcast on NBC rather than on a cable-television network.
The glamorous Formula One championship has held races in 14 countries this year and its top drivers are international celebrities. But Formula One has never been the phenomenon in the United States that NASCAR now is.
Another NASCAR tradition ends in January when wireless phone provider Nextel takes over as lead sponsor from R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. After more than 30 years, there will be no more Winston Cup.
Brian France, NASCAR chairman, said the move would help NASCAR to go after the youth market. NASCAR video games also target the coveted youth demographic. Advertisers love NASCAR, whose fans are said to be three times more likely to try a sponsor's product or service than that of a non-sponsor.
From UPS and Coca-Cola to McDonald's, Home Depot, Eastman Kodak and the U.S. Army, NASCAR's "official partners" are cut from the cloth of Middle America.
Earlier this year, hundreds lined up at a Chicago department store to buy men's fragrance and have their bottles signed by Dale Earnhardt Jnr, son of the former champion and one of NASCAR's young guns. It was the biggest sales day ever for Drakkar Noir cologne.
NASCAR business report provided by Reuters
Double Gaby, Baby
Gabriele Tarquini took two victories from two starts at the Estoril round of the European Touring Car Championship, taking maximum points from the Portuguese round of the series, setting up a four way title fight at the season finale in Monza. Jorg Muller, series leader since Anderstorp, had a somewhat bad day, restricted to a fourth and a fifth, leaving the series tied with a pair of races still to be run.
Colciago launched well, but Dirk Muller was better, nosing briefly into second before Tarquini and Larini got their act together to take up second and third into turn one, the Muller 'brothers' were next ahead of Thompson, who quickly deprived Jorg Muller of a spot. Tarquni then Larini pushed past their younger teammate, giving Dirk Muller ambitions. The BMW driver punted the Alfa wide and Muller, Thompson, Muller and Garcia swarmed past. Jorg Muller started pushing Thompson hard, trading paint with the Vauxhall-cum-Alfa Romeo driver. The pair were allowing Garcia and Colciago to keep a very close watch, and Tom Coronel was closing. Colciago took Garcia at this point while Thompson and Muller battled for fourth.
The battle was suddenly for third as Dirk Muller was sent pitwards for a drivethrough penalty after his incident with Colciago. As Muller pitted, Colciago picked his way through the Thompson-Jorg Muller fight, returning to the third place he had lost at the hands of Dirk Muller. Jorg Muller hit Thompson twice, the second time sending him spinning off track. The Englishman recovered and when the chequered flag fell had regained eighth position. Up front there was no troubling Tarquini, racing home to win from Larini, Colciago and Muller. The desperate fight behind Jorg Muller saw collisions and retirements, Duncan Huisman surviving to claim fifth from Ruberti and Andy Priaulx.
Larini was next, climbing into third by lap five. Priaulx was the only one resisting an Autodelta 1-2-3-4, but Thompson's fifth place was under threat from Jorg Muller. Muller again pushing the Alfa out of the way to the base of the points. By this stage, Priaulx was too far ahead to catch and Muller had to settled for fifth with Huisman and the charging Dirk Muller next.
Into the final round Jorg Muller and Tarquini share the championship lead and are most likely to fight out the championship. Seven points adrift, with twenty points left is Priaulx who took very little home from Estoril and Larini is breathing down his neck, just two points behind, and within a win of the leaders. As if Muller and Priaulx don't have enough to think about, the finale will be held at Autodelta's home track of Monza, where the vocal home crowd will be pushing Tarquini and Larini. Its sure to be a clash for the ages.
Result of European Touring Car Championship, Rounds 17 & 18 of 20, Estoril, Portugal:
Standings: Jorg Muller and Gabriele Tarquini 96, Andy Priaulx 89, Nicola Larini 87, Dirk Muller and Roberto Colciago 66, Antonio Garcia 42, Duncan Huisman 43, Fabrizio Giovanardi 36, Rickard Rydell 18 etc.
An Extra 25
JMB Racing debuted their new Ferrari 575M Maranello at the ninth round of the FIA GT Championship, and Fabio Babini and Phillip Peter took a win first time out, their first of the year, and the first of any Ferrari outfit other than the series leading BMS Scuderia Italia squad.
The grid didn't suggest such a dominant result was in store for the Prancing Horse. A Viper sat on pole as Mike Hezemans, now in the only Force One Viper, glowed in the extra attention and took the pole, four tenths ahead of the 550 Maranello of Gollin. Walter Lechner Jr pushed his Saleen S7-R to the utmost to get third ahead of the first of JMB Racing's pair of 575M Ferraris in the hands of Christian Pescatori.
With the field released to the green, Lechner quickly moved past Hezemans and Gollin ahead of him to take a short lived lead. Before the end of the lap, Lechner had spun and so Hezemans led across the stripe the first time from Gollin, Babini, Bobbi, Boris Derichebourg in the second JMB 575M, Thomas Erdos (Saleen), and Andrea Piccini in the first Lister. As Hezemans started to get away, Gollin closed the lead down and took the lead away on lap 9. Gollin then proceeded to bolt away from Hezemans and Babini. Piccini had climbed to fourth by lap 15 ahead of Derichebourg and Bobbi.
The battled for third tightened as the first stop approached, with Babini, Piccini and Derichebourg running together. Hezemans pitted immediately and handed the big Chrysler to Anthony Kumpen and was followed in by Thomas Erdos. Bobbi stopped a lap later, followed a lap later by Jamie Campbell-Walter who had climbed to third as he stopped. The race leader finally stopped on lap 38 and Luca Cappellari resumed in the lead from Kumpen, Biagi, and Derichebourg, but the 575M did not last another lap beyond lap 40, gearbox causing the new car's retirement. This promoted Phillip Peter into fourth.
Gollin stepped back into the race leading car on lap 68, Peter pitted from second and handed back to Babini two laps later. Bobbi and Stefano Livio took over the other BMS cars, leaving Bobbi leading from Babini, Gollin and Livio. Rob van der Zwaan was next in the Viper. Babini started the pursuit, which ended on lap 87, the new model overtaking the old. From there Babini ran away to win, with Bobbi falling victim to Gollin. Livio abandoned the third BMS car with 20 laps to go. This brought Franz Konrad's Saleen into a fourth it would take to the chequer ahead of the Vipers of the Zwaans and Roos Optima teams.
In N-GT JMB Racing won again with Andrea Bertolini and Fabrizio de Simone returning to the lead late in the race after having to serve a stop-go penalty for receiving a push start. Second place for the Maranello Concessionaires Ferrari has given Jamie Davies the chance, the slim chance, of taking the N-GT championship away from the Freisinger Motorsport pair of Marc Lieb and Stephane Ortelli. The gap between the three drivers is nine points. First Porsche home was the EMKA machine of Tim Sugden and Emmanuel Collard ahead of the Freisinger car of Ortelli/Lieb.
Its been a while since a Ferrari won a major sports car series, but the Maranellos have been the class of the field all season, and just when their rivals thought they might have had a handle on the 550, the 575M arrives and recalculates everyone's development time. One thing is for certain, there will be quite a party after Monza for Scuderia Italia.
Result of FIA GT Championship, Round 9 of 10, Estoril, Portugal:
Standings: Thomas Biagi and Matteo Bobbi 66, Luca Cappellari and Fabrizio Gollin 51, Lilian Bryner and Enzo Calderari 49, Andrea Piccini 37, Stefano Livio 34, Bobby Verdon-Roe 27, Jamie Campbell-Walter and Nathan Kinch 26 etc.
N-GT: Marc Lieb and Stephane Ortelli 65, Jamie Davies 56, Fabrizio de Simone 54.5, Andea Bertolini 49 etc.
Franckly Fantastic
For Gabord Competicion, twelve months on it is a different driver, but the same story. And like last year their then lead driver Ricardo Zonta secured a test contract with Toyota in Formula One. Similarly Franck Montagny is now a Formula One test driver, his services secured by Renault. He learned from Zonta how to win a championship, and demonstrated that knowledge on a field studded with emerging and fading names in open wheeler racing.
The series battle is now for second place. Carlin Motorsport's Indian driver Narain Karthikeyan leads that battle after a fourth and a second on the weekend put him 20 points clear of Racing Engineering's Stephane Sarrazin. Sarrazin failed to score in the first race and was only sixth in the second, and this allowed Gabord's second driver, the Renault-backed Finn Heikki Kovalainen to close withing two points, just a point clear of Bas Leinders in the second Racing Engineering Dallara. The weekend's top scorer, Ander Vilarino, with a second and a first, vaulted into sixth place and into the fight for the minor placings. With four races left even Jean-Christophe Ravier has a mathematical chance, but for him or Bruno Besson to get up calls for retirements on a grand scale.
Result of World Series by Nissan, Round 8 of 10, Catalunya, Spain:
Standings: Franck Montagny 227, Narain Karthikeyan 115, Stephane Sarrazin 95, Heikki Kovalainen 93, Bas Leinders 92, Ander Vilarino 82, Bruno Besson 77, Jean-Christophe Ravier 75, Bruce Jouanny 59, Enrique Bernoldi 57 etc.
Loeb Aims For Fourth 2003 Asphalt Win In Corsica
France's Sebastien Loeb is firm favourite to win the Rally of Corsica this weekend and bolster his bid for a first world title. Loeb's Citroen has won all three of the season's events on asphalt, including the Sanremo Rally 10 days ago which took Loeb to within two points of championship leader Richard Burns.
"(Citroen team principal) Guy Frequelin says that to win the title, it's preferable to finish all three races and he's right," said Loeb. "Anyone who thinks it's going to be a mere formality had better think again. The competition is very real."
Burns's Peugeot finished seven minutes off the pace in the Sanremo and he reckoned it was probably his worst rally ever. Once again, however, the Briton finished in the points although he knows he will do well to retain his lead after the Corsican race.
"I don't think Sanremo was representative of what we can do but if it is representative of what Seb can do, we're going to struggle," Burns said. "With two tarmac rallies coming up, Sebastien is the favourite."
The Corsican race is followed by the asphalt rally in Catalunya in late October and the season-ending British rally on November 6-9. Citroen's Carlos Sainz, twice a world champion in the 1990s, is third in the standings on 53 points, two behind Loeb after finishing fourth in the Sanremo - a fine effort by the Spaniard after he had kidney stones removed in the week before the rally.
Citroen expects the biggest challenge to come from Estonia's Markko Martin as it did in the Sanremo rally. Martin's Ford finished third after winning all four stages on the Saturday when he was also given a 30 second penalty for a late start.
"Had Markko not been hampered by the problems, he would most probably have made life much more difficult for us. He is a real threat," said Frequelin. Martin is fifth in the standings on 43 points behind Subaru's Petter Solberg on 48.
After a ceremonial start on Thursday, the Rally of Corsica gets underway at 0705 GMT on Friday, ending at 1220 GMT on Sunday and covering a total distance of 397 km of racing.
Report provided by Reuters
V8 Supercar
After setting a blistering pace throughout practice, qualifying and the top ten shootout, the combination of Greg Murphy and Rick Kelly looked set for a good day on race day. But many a pre-race favourite has failed to convert on race day. But that wasn't for this duo, who led the majority of the race on its way to a fairly dominant victory. Their day ran so smoothly that the only things likely to snatch victory from their hands was ending up in someone else's accident or safety car periods falling at the wrong time. Neither happened, though a late safety car period temporarily gave others a chance to throw out a challenge, a challenge which didn't come. The win has boosted Murphy into second place in the standings, as Marcos Ambrose with co-driver had an average day, though still managed to come away with a sixth place finish and keep a buffer over the chasing pack.
This saw the top ten line up as follows: Greg Murphy/Rick Kelly on pole, followed by Brad Jones/John Bowe, Jim Richards/Tony Longhurst, Garth Tander/Jamie Whincup, Marcos Ambrose/Russell Ingall, Craig Lowndes/Glenn Seton, Mark Skaife/Todd Kelly, Steven Johnson/Warren Luff, Paul Radisich/Rickard Rydell and Steven Richards/Larry Perkins rounding out the top ten. And so they lined up this way for the start on Sunday morning, the Steven Richards/Perkins car fully race ready after Perkins' crash the day before. The start itself was a fairly clean affair, Tander/Whincup getting an initial good jump to move to second before understeering wide at Hell Corner, dropping back down to sixth as Jim Richards/Longhurst moved up to second, B Jones/Bowe making a poor start to drop to third as Murphy/R Kelly led the field. Meanwhile there was contact at the rear of the field on the exit of Hell, Cameron McLean in the car he was sharing with Andy Priaulx shunted hard into the wall after contact from one of the backmarkers, effectively ending both of their days. Before the end of lap one Skaife/T Kelly and Tander/Whincup both advanced past Ambrose/Ingall, the Stone Brothers car not showing the speed it had throughout most of the season.
The top five was now Murphy/R Kelly, Tander/Whincup, Lowndes/Seton, Radisich/Rydell and Steven Ellery/Luke Youlden as the race restarted on lap 15. Into Murray's at the end of the lap, Jason Bargwanna, in the car he was sharing with Mark Larkham, had a dive inside the second Stone Brothers car of Mark Winterbottom/Mark Noske, losing the rear end and spinning, lightly clipping the front of Skaife as he went through. Not content with this, Bargwanna had a dive inside David Brabham/Max Wilson into Skyline at the top of the hill on the next lap, barely getting the nose past Brabham's rear bumper. Both cars spun in the first part of the Esses, blocking the circuit, leaving Nathan Pretty/Allan Simonsen and the Bates twins with nowhere to go, joining the pile-up and temporarily blocking the track. Out came the safety car again, with Skaife/T Kelly the only one of the leaders to head to the pits, replacing the damaged front airdam.
Skaife continued his move forward, taking fourth on lap 41, just before the safety car returned to the track on lap 45 when the Robert Jones/Peter Doulman car ran through the sand at the Esses before crashing at the Dipper, blinding Nathan Pretty who spun into the tyres in the Esses, blocking the track, leaving Bright/Weel with nowhere to go, slamming hard into the side of Pretty, ending the day for all three cars. For those cars who had pitted under safety car periods earlier, this was nicely timed, as they were due to stop soon anyway as they came into pit at this opportunity. It was also good timing for Ellery/Youlden who effected a front spoiler change to replace the one which had begun to flap soon after their last stop.
Up front it was pit stop time again as Darren Hossack/Adam Macrow brought out the safety car on lap 65 when they hit the wall in the Dipper, with those not pitting under the last safety car period taking stops at this time, with most teams also doing their compulsory brake pad change at this time, handing the lead to Ambrose/Ingall ahead of Skaife/T Kelly, Jim Richards/Longhurst, Lowndes/Seton and Johnson/Luff as the race restarted on lap 68. Former leader Murphy/Kelly dropped to eighth after their stop, but they quickly climbed their way back up to fourth by lap 73, while the Euro duo of Nicolas Minassian and Jan Magnussen were running well in eighth despite an earlier penalty for speeding in pit lane before spinning at Hell Corner on lap 69, costing them ten positions.
By lap 90 the Steven Richards/Perkins car was up to seventh place, as the cars of Jim Richards/Longhurst and B Jones/Bowe car joined the train before B Jones/Bowe moved up a place the following lap, the train now seven cars long and about half a minute behind the leader. On lap 92 Skaife/T Kelly passed Ambrose/Ingall to take seventh when Ambrose/Ingall tried to lap some traffic at Forrest's Elbow, Skaife/T Kelly somehow splitting Ambrose/Ingall and the lapped car to take the position. On the following lap Skaife/T Kelly took sixth from Steven Richards/Perkins into Murray's, which triggered off a rapid fall down the order for the Steven Richards/Perkins machine, down to twelfth by lap 95.
By lap 120 the lead Murphy/R Kelly held over Skaife/T Kelly was down to about ten seconds and closing, with Ellery/Youlden another 15 seconds further back and fading towards Lowndes/Seton almost fifteen seconds behind Ellery/Youlden and fifth placed B Jones/Bowe less than ten seconds behind Lowndes/Seton as the rest of the field sat almost a minute or more behind as the Steven Richards/Perkins car moved up the order for a change, moving up from eleventh on lap 110 to seventh on lap 122. Around lap 130 the final stops began, with everyone except Ambrose/Ingall and B Jones/Bowe pitting. These stops were initially triggered by the Besnard/Owen Kelly car clouting the wall at Griffin's following a misunderstanding with two cars battling for position, with teams suspecting the safety car was about to make an appearance. However, the damaged Besnard/Owen Kelly car managed to limp back to the pits and so the race continued under green flag conditions.
As Skaife/T Kelly's door continued to flap, there was a deafening silence from the officials, apart from that they were "monitoring the situation". After a safety breach by the same car and team being penalised post-race at the previous round at Sandown, some people wondered if something similar was going to happen again. A little further back, B Jones/Bowe had Steven Richards/Perkins in a situation similar to earlier in the race, except Steven Richards/Perkins were the ones looking for the way past this time. As the race came closer to a conclusion, the lack of action on Skaife/T Kelly's door was beginning to rile other teams, including Ford Performance Racing, who had one of their cars prevented from returning to the race two rounds ago until it was fixed. Just as it looked like everyone still running would finish the race, the Canto/White car went up in a cloud of smoke with 14 laps remaining.
The race returned to green on lap 153 for a nine lap sprint to the flag. Murphy/R Kelly led Skaife/T Kelly, Lowndes/Seton, Ellery/Youlden and Steven Richards/Perkins, though the way lapped traffic was intermingled it meant that only Skaife/T Kelly were Murphy/R Kelly's only challengers for the win, though Steven Richards/Perkins was about to have a fight on his hand as Steven's father Jim in the car he was sharing with Tony Longhurst quickly closed in on to fight for fifth and Lowndes/Seton had Ellery/Youlden not too far behind for third.
All eyes were now on the battle for third, fourth and fifth between Ellery/Youlden, and Steven Richards/Perkins and Jim Richards/Longhurst. With four laps remaining, Ellery/Youlden and Steven Richards/Perkins were very close. Three to go and Jim Richards/Longhurst had joined them, his presence allowing Ellery/Youlden to just edge away as he looked to take fourth place from Steven Richards/Perkins. Along the pit straight to begin the second last lap Jim Richards/Longhurst got alongside Steven Richards/Perkins, but then Jim Richards/Longhurst got sideways trying to brake on the dirty inside line into Hell Corner, sending him out wide into Steven Richards/Perkins' path. Somehow they only made slight contact, Steven Richards/Perkins able to retake the place while Jim Richards/Longhurst's car got itself back under control.
Pos Drivers Car
1. Rick Kelly/Greg Murphy Holden Commodore VY
2. Craig Lowndes/Glenn Seton Ford Falcon BA
3. Steve Ellery/Luke Youlden Ford Falcon BA
4. Steven Richards/Larry Perkins Holden Commodore VY
5. Jim Richards/Tony Longhurst Holden Commodore VY
6. Marcos Ambrose/Russell Ingall Ford Falcon BA
7. Paul Radisich/Rickard Rydell Ford Falcon BA
8. Mark Skaife/Todd Kelly Holden Commodore VY
9. Andrew Jones/John Cleland Ford Falcon BA
10. Brad Jones/John Bowe Ford Falcon BA
MotoGP
Italian Valentino Rossi won his third consecutive world title in style on Sunday with victory in the Malaysian Grand Prix. The 24-year-old Honda rider, who won the final 500cc championship in 2001 and the inaugural MotoGP championship last year, started from pole and, despite a slow start, his victory in 43 minutes 41.457 seconds was never really in doubt.
Even though he started on pole, Rossi was patient on the opening lap and allowed Gibernau, Carlos Checa and Loris Capirossi to dictate the early pace as he slipped down to fourth. But it was only a matter of time before the irrepressible Rossi moved up to second on the second lap to close the gap on Gibernau before making a successful move to overtake five laps later.
Pos Rider Motorcycle
1. Valentino Rossi Repsol Honda RC211V
2. Sete Gibernau Telefónica Movistar Honda RC211V
3. Max Biaggi Camel Pramac-Pons Honda RC211V
4. Nicky Hayden Repsol Honda RC211V
5. Carlos Checa Fortuna Yamaha Team Yamaha YZR-M1
6. Loris Capirossi Ducati Team Ducati Desmosedici
7. Tohru Ukawa Camel Pramac-Pons Honda RC211V
8. Shinya Nakano d'Antín Yamaha Team Yamaha YZR-M1
9. Troy Bayliss Ducati Team Ducati Desmosedici
10. Makoto Tamada Pramac Honda RC211V
"We've done everything we can to keep him (at Honda), but it seems he's set on a change," Fiorani was quoted as saying by Italian press agency ANSA on Friday. Rossi's contract expires at the end of the year.
"For him, it's sure to be a bit of a distraction. But you wouldn't know it from watching him. He's been pretty solid," Hayden told reporters in Melbourne on Tuesday. "I thought he was going to stay, but who knows? It's his decision, so whatever makes him happy.
Spain's Daniel Pedrosa won the 125cc World Championship with two races of the season remaining after victory in the Malaysian Grand Prix on Sunday.
But the 24-year-old claims his long-term future will be on four wheels rather than two wheels, with the Formula One circus or the World Rally Championship options open to him.
IRL
"It's been a fantastic four years with Team Penske," said the winner. "Like I told Roger (Penske) and the guys on the radio, it's a time I'm gong to remember for the rest of my life. I've learned so much, and it's just been a wonderful thing for me and my family."
At the green de Ferran led initially, but Dixon was not allowing him to get away, even leading on lap 2 ahead of Castroneves, Kanaan and Herta. Those in the points race positioned themselves quickly, Kanaan almost instantly erasing the penalty of his start position, while for Hornish it would take only slightly longer, climbing to sixth after the first seven laps. By accident or design, the rest of the field was clearing the way for the title fight. They were first through fifth by lap 17 when Hornish took Herta for fifth place. Hornish quickly moved up another spot, taking Castroneves and lining up Kanaan.
With no yellows in some time, cars started peeling off into the pits for green flag fuel stops just short of three quarter distance. Robbie Buhl was first in, having climbed well up into the lead group. Kanaan pitted on lap 154 for enough fuel to make the finish. De Ferran was the last to pit on lap 168, having lasted long enough to climb well back into the race, and emerged from the pits with his lead intact ahead of teammate Castroneves, Kanaan, Dixon and Scheckter. There was concern over Hornish, with the Panther Dallara slowing. Very suddenly, the race, and the championship, completely unravelled.
Brack's front left touched Scheckter's right rear, and so Scheckter spun to the right across Brack's nose while Brack flipped upwards, launching over Scheckter's GForce, flying upwards into the fence, which immediately grabbed the nose of the car and ripped it upwards off the pavement as it ripped both ends from the car. The cockpit and the attached remains of the car were torqued into a high-speed spin, coming to rest on the apron of turn three. Scheckter, slammed backwards against the wall, slid all the way around the turn three wall until gravity took hold of the car as it slowed and pushed down towards the infield.
Pos Driver Team
1. Gil de Ferran Team Penske Dallara-Toyota
2. Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing GForce-Toyota
3. Dan Wheldon Andretti Green Racing Dallara-Honda
4. Vitor Meira Team Menard Dallara-Chevrolet
5. Bryan Herta Andretti Green Racing Dallara-Honda
6. Scott Sharp Kelley Racing Dallara-Toyota
7. Tora Takagi Mo Nunn Racing GForce-Toyota
8. Greg Ray Access Motorsports GForce-Honda
9. Al Unser Jr Kelley Racing Dallara-Toyota
10. Roger Yasukawa Super Aguri Fernandez Racing Dallara-Honda
Dr Kevin Morrill, chief neurologist at the Parkland Memorial Hospital, where Brack was airlifted on Sunday night, oversaw Monday's surgery, which involved an open fixation on the spinal fracture and a spinal fusion of three vertebrae.
CART
Sebastien Bourdais attacked Tracy after his second pit stop but the Canadian would not relinquish the lead in front of a crowd of 175,000. Tracy won by 1.782 seconds from the Frenchman, who clinched the Rookie of the Year award with his runner-up finish. Mexico's Mario Dominguez, who won the previous race in Miami, was third. All three podium drivers were in Lola-Ford Cosworths.
Pos Driver Team
1. Paul Tracy PF Racing Lola-Ford
2. Sebastien Bourdais Newman-Haas Racing Lola-Ford
3. Mario Dominguez Herdez Competicion Lola-Ford
4. Michel Joourdain Jr Team Rahal Lola-Ford
5. Mika Salo PK Racing Lola-Ford
6. Tiago Monteiro Fittipaldi-Dingman Racing Reynard-Ford
7. Bruno Junqueira Newman-Haas Racing Lola-Ford
8. Adrian Fernandez Fernandez Racing Lola-Ford
9. Darren Manning Walker Racing Reynard-Ford
10. Roberto Gonzalez Herdez Competicion Lola-Ford
NASCAR
Ryan Newman and Jeff Gordon lined up on the front row, with Newman taking the lead at the start ahead of Gordon, though on lap five Jimmie Johnson took over second place as Gordon dropped from second to fifth in less than a lap as Bill Elliott and Tony Stewart also moved past. Johnson continued to move forward, catching Newman before passing him for the lead on lap 18. Newman was then passed for second by Elliott on lap 20, and third by Stewart on lap 22. Meanwhile, after starting near the rear of the field, Matt Kenseth was on a charge, up to fourteenth by lap 25, tenth by lap 33, and eighth by lap 46. Meanwhile Bobby Labonte was the next to pass Newman, taking fourth on lap 36, as Newman continued to fall down the top ten.
The race went back to green on lap 173, Labonte taking second from Elliott off turn four later that lap, while Dale Earnhardt Jr made his first appearance at the front, moving into fifth on lap 178. Elliott reclaimed second from Labonte on lap 191, Newman following past into third soon after. Meanwhile Johnson had fought his way back up to eight place. By lap 200 Johnson was back up to sixth. Lap 206 and it was caution time again as Elliott Sadler got Todd Bodine loose off turn four, Bodine unable to hang on and so he spun. As Sadler went to sneak past the spinning Bodine, he didn't quite make it and got clipped by Bodine, sending Sadler hard into the outside wall.
Johnson's speed allowed him to catch teammate Gordon around lap 280, but he couldn't pass him, Gordon compounding things by taking second place from Elliott soon after. Not long after this the final green flag stops began, going ahead without incident. With the stops completed, Newman now held the lead, around eight seconds ahead of Stewart, with Johnson, Elliott and Gordon completing the top five, Stewart the only car with enough speed to contemplate catching Newman. But with just over 30 laps remaining, that meant he needed to lap around a quarter of a second faster per lap.
Pos Driver Car
1. Tony Stewart Chevrolet Monte Carlo
2. Ryan Newman Dodge Intrepid
3. Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet Monte Carlo
4. Bill Elliott Dodge Intrepid
5. Jeff Gordon Chevrolet Monte Carlo
6. Bobby Labonte Chevrolet Monte Carlo
7. Jamie McMurray Dodge Intrepid
8. Matt Kenseth Ford Taurus
9. Dale Earnhardt Jr Chevrolet Monte Carlo
10. Kevin Harvick Chevrolet Monte Carlo
NASCAR'S spectacular rise has not been accidental. The France family dynasty, owners of International Speedway Corp. (ISC) which operates NASCAR races and many of its biggest stadiums, has developed the brand with homespun marketing genius.
"We thought we knew how popular Dale Earnhardt was but we really had no idea. It was a wake-up call for the whole sport," said Jarrett. "The sport was bigger than what we thought."
NASCAR's full calendar - the key race series runs 10 months a year - begs questions about where more growth will come from. Bigger stadiums, more expensive tickets and a global franchise look like good bets.
ETCC
The result was always on the cards with the four-pronged Autodelta formation owning the first two rows of the grid after qualifying. Nicola Larini, who was trying to recover lost ground in the points took his fourth pole position of the year, some half a second clear of his regular teammates Robert Colciago and Tarquini. Fourth fastest was the team's guest driver, BTCC runner's-up James Thompson, thus keeping the massed forces of BMW to the third row. Fastest of them was Dirk Muller, looking to reverse the poor form that has afflicted his pointscore since Spa. Alongside was Antonio Garcia with series leader Jorg Muller seventh fastest. Surrounded by Alfas, independant Paolo Ruberti would share the fourth row with Muller.
Thompson started from the pole but was swamped by Priaulx and Huisman, while Jorg Muller and Ruberti pushed each other wide and out of the points. Thompson moved aside to let teammates Colciago and Tarquini through and Larini was moving up as well, passing Coronel to give the crowd a view of the four Autodeltas lined up third to sixth. Huisman quickly fell to the Autodelta charge with Priaulx only lasting another lap beyond that as Colciago and Tarquini charged into the top two spots.
Round Seventeen
Pos Driver Team
1. Gabriele Tarquini Autodelta Alfa Romeo 156 GTA
2. Nicola Larini Autodelta Alfa Romeo 156 GTA
3. Roberto Colciago Autodelta Alfa Romeo 156 GTA
4. Jorg Müller BMW Team Deutschland BMW 320i
5. Duncan Huisman Carly Motors BMW 320i
6. Paolo Ruberti Clever Cats R&M Team Alfa Romeo 156 GTA
7. Andy Priaulx BMW Team Great Britain BMW 320i
8. James Thompson Autodelta Alfa Romeo 156 GTA
9. Alessandro Balzan Scuderia Bigazzi Alfa Romeo 156 GTA
10. Fabrizio Giovanardi BMW Team Italy-Spain BMW 320i
Round Eighteen
Pos Driver Team
1. Gabriele Tarquini Autodelta Alfa Romeo 156 GTA
2. Nicola Larini Autodelta Alfa Romeo 156 GTA
3. Roberto Colciago Autodelta Alfa Romeo 156 GTA
4. Andy Priaulx BMW Team Great Britain BMW 320i
5. Jorg Müller BMW Team Deutschland BMW 320i
6. Duncan Huisman Carly Motors BMW 320i
7. Dirk Müller BMW Team Deutschland BMW 320i
8. James Thompson Autodelta Alfa Romeo 156 GTA
9. Tomas Engstrom PRO Motorsport Honda Civic Type-R
10. Fabio Francia Clever Cats R&M Team Alfa Romeo 156 GTA
FIA GT
It wasn't that the former Dallara Formula One team was short of happiness with their third place for Matteo Bobbi and Thomas Biagi. That podium result gave them the FIA GT Championship. With the team car of Luca Cappellari and Fabrizio Gollin finishing second, it was a good day to be a Ferrari fan in Portugal.
Meanwhile Kumpen shut down Cappellari's lead and returned the Viper to the front shortly into the second stint. By this stage the Lister assault had been routed, both factory cars out of the race. In the Listers' absence only the lone Viper was keeping four Ferraris from the lead. And then the Viper was gone, spinning off at turn one after a rear wing failure. Cappellari now led, but was under attack from teammate Biagi, the lead changing on lap 58, with Peter now closing in on Cappellari.
Pos Driver Team
1. Fabio Babini/Phillip Peter Ferrari 575M Maranello
2. Luca Cappellari/Fabrizio Gollin Ferrari 550 Maranello
3. Thomas Biagi/Matteo Bobbi Ferrari 550 Maranello
4. Franz Konrad/Toni Seilar/Walter Lechner Jr Saleen S7-R
5. Klaus Abbelen/Arjan & Rob van der Zwaan Chrysler Viper GTS-R
6. Henrik Roos/Vincent Vosse Chrysler Viper GTS-R
7. Thomas Erdos/Mike Newton Saleen S7-R
8. Andrea Bertolini/Fabrizio de Simone Ferrari 360 Modena
(1st N-GT)
9. Jamie Davies/Darren Turner Ferrari 360 Modena
(2nd N-GT)
10. Tim Sugden/Emmanuel Collard Porsche 996 GT3-RS
(3rd N-GT)
Formula Nissan
With a win in the first of two races at Catalunya the ink is now dry on Frenchman Franck Montagny's Superfund World Series by Nissan trophy. Montagny has won a staggering nine out of fourteen races and had secured the title with five races remaining. The first of those five races saw a first time winner produce an even bigger grin than Montagny, with Ander Vilarino taking his career first, and Epsilon Euskadis first win of the season.
Race One
Pos Driver Team
1. Franck Montagny Gabord Competicion
2. Ander Vilarino Epsilon Euskadi
3. Jean-Christophe Ravier Epsilon Euskadi
4. Narain Karthikeyan Carlin Motorsport
5. Enrique Bernoldi GD Racing
6. Heikki Kovalainen Gabord Competicion
7. Bas Leinders Racing Engineering
8. Polo Villaamil RC Motorsport
9. Bruno Besson Saulnier Racing
10. Felix Porteiro Keerbergs Transport Racing
Race Two
Pos Driver Team
1. Ander Vilarino Epsilon Euskadi
2. Narain Karthikeyan Carlin Motorsport
3. Enrique Bernoldi GD Racing
4. Jean-Christophe Ravier Epsilon Euskadi
5. Franck Montagny Gabord Competicion
6. Stephane Sarrazin Racing Engineering
7. Paul Edwards Keerbergs Transport Racing
8. Heikki Kovalainen Gabord Competicion
9. Santiago Porteiro Adrian Campos Motorsport
10. Joes M.Perez-Aycart Adrian Campos Motorsport
Rally
With three rallies left this season, Loeb, who made his championship debut in the Corsican rally four years ago, plans to take as few risks as possible on the Mediterranean island which stages arguably the most dangerous rally on the calendar.
Upcoming Events Calendar
Please Contact Us for permission to republish this or any other material from Atlas F1.
 Email to Friend
Volume 9, Issue 42
Atlas F1 Exclusive
A Touch of Greatness
Interview with Kimi Raikkonen
Interview with Jock Clear
Ann Bradshaw: View from the Paddock
2003 Japanese GP Review
2003 Japanese GP Review
The Boardroom View
The Pressure Game
Stats Center
SuperStats
Charts Center
Columns
Season Strokes
On the Road
Elsewhere in Racing
The Weekly Grapevine
> Homepage |
