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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.
Kenseth Edges Kahne For Rockingham Victory
By Lewis Franck
2003 NASCAR champion Matt Kenseth silenced his critics on Sunday as he held off rookie Kasey Kahne to win the Rockingham 400 by 0.0138 seconds and secure his first series' win in 34 races.
Kenseth, criticised last year for taking the title despite registering just one victory, qualified in a lowly 23rd place but had worked his way to the front by lap 90 and seemed in control of the race at the one-mile oval Rockingham Speedway.
Jumping out of his car in victory lane, Kenseth said: "This is for everyone who said we couldn't lead laps and win races".
Despite the tension in the final 30 laps holding off his rivals he looked revitalised by the victory.
"It was a blast," he said. "The end was a little stressful. Everybody's been asking me about rookies this year and I've told them to watch out for Kasey Kahne."
Kenseth admitted that he worked hard for the win.
"I was doing everything I could not to lose this race after running out front all day. I was loose off turn four. Kasey got a good charge on me. It was a close one."
The victory was Kenseth's eighth series win.
Dale Earnhardt Jr continues to lead the series standings and was unusually happy with a fifth place finish as it represented his highest at the track.
"We didn't have a top-five car and I think everybody knew that, but we got a top five and that wins championships," last week's Daytona 500 winner said.
With no event scheduled for next week, the third race in the series will be in Las Vegas on March 7.
Result of NASCAR Nextel Cup, Round 2 of 36, Subway 400, North Carolina Speedway, United States:
Standings: Dale Earnhardt Jr 340, Matt Kenseth 333, Kevin Harvick 294, Scott Wimmer 288, Jeff Gordon 286, Tony Stewart 265, Kurt Busch 257, Elliott Sadler 255, Ward Burton 250, Joe Nemechek 241 etc.
Report provided by Reuters
Ready To Race
The Indy Racing League begins its biggest ever season this weekend in Miami, Florida. As CART continues to struggle from one hurdle to the next, the IRL secured its position as the premier US open wheel category last season. Last year was one of revolution, with the majority of CART's long standing teams now esconsced under the IRL banner. 2004 will be a year of consolidation, trying to take some media spotlight away from the tremendous juggernaut at home that is NASCAR.
It has been a roller-coaster ride at Target Chip Ganassi Racing, with Scott Dixon's last gasp championship victory last October at Texas Motor Speedway as the team decided to rid themselves of their troublesome number two driver, Tomas Scheckter. The death of Renna was a hammer blow for the team, but out of the tragedy it has brough a career lifeline for Darren Manning. The British driver secured a pay drive last year with CART outfit Walker Racing and was the top Reynard driver in a Lola-dominated series, culminating with a second place at the farcical Surfers Paradise race. With the prospect of having to raise a budget to race in CART again, the phonecall from Ganassi puts his career firmly back on track.
His teammate could scarecly be in a better position. New Zealand's Scott Dixon won three races and finished second five times last year to secure the title and starts the year with arguable the best team and the power of Toyota, which powered six of the top eight drivers last year. Now with years of oval experience behind him, belying his non-oval origins he will start the season as the man to beat.
The men most likely considered to take on Dixon as with last year are wearing red and white, just like Dixon himself. Helio Castroneves, the fence climbing Brazilian, has been one of the IRL's most consistent visitors to the podium in the last two years, including wins at the 2001 & 2002 Indy 500s and will lead the most feared name in US racing, that of 'the Captain' himself Roger Penske into 2004. He will be joined by the great US hope, 2001 & 2002 IRL series champion Sam Hornish Junior. Derided for much of last year as being 'only' a Chevrolet driver in a series which saw the local engine supplier swamped by Toyota and Honda in the power stakes, an up-specced motor arrived mid year, bringing Hornish three wins and a bullet ride back into championship contention. Penske expect success and their drivers have the form to do so.
For Honda's leading team, 2003 was a nightmare year of injured drivers and unfulfilled expectations. Andretti Green Racing could surely not have a repeat in '04? With Michael Andretti now taking on the management role at AGR full-time it will be Dario Franchitti's job to lead the team towards the title. Now fully recovered from the motorcycle accident which sidelined him for much of last year, the Scot will now have to live up to the reputation which saw him finish runner-up in the CART series to Juan Pablo Montoya by countback after they tied on points.
Last year on occasion AGR ran as a four car team. This year they do so full time with Andretti's full-time replacement Brit Dan Wheldon getting a full season of racing, joining Brazilian Tony Kanaan who carried the team's championship hopes last year, and by Bryan Herta who filled in for the injured Franchitti, providing the American with a career lifeline after his own career seemed to come to an end after Panoz reorganised the factory-supported ALMS operation.
Kelley Racing has cut back to one car for the full season, with team regular Scott Sharp to lead the team, while his 2003 teammate Al Unser Jr struggles to find a ride. Unser Jr is 41 now and will probably struggle to impress a team and/or sponsor. Kelley has signed Sarah Fisher as a teammate for Sharp, but there is no budget yet in place, so at the moment Fisher will certainly miss the Miami season opener and may not race other than at the Indy 500.
Buddy Rice will lead Team Rahal while Kenny Brack will be joined by IRL Rookie of the Year Roger Yasukawa for at least the races at Motegi & the Indy 500. Mo Nunn Racing will run one car for Tora Takagi and will run a second with Felipe Giaffone if money can be found.
The field is fleshed out at this stage by owner/drivers Robbie Buhl and Greg Ray. Formula Renault graduate Kosuke Matsuura will front Fernandez Racing's IRL efforts and Foyt Racing will continue to run the Foyt family name as AJ's grandson AJ Foyt IV enters his second IRL season.
Leading entries:
Doctors Who Saved Zanardi Not Retained By OWRS
By Lewis Franck
The two doctors who saved Italian driver Alex Zanardi's life in 2001 as part of the Champ Car safety team have not been retained to provide medical care by the CART series' new owners Open Wheel Racing Series (OWRS).
Dr Stephen Olvey, a professor and director of the Neurosurgical Intensive Care Unit at Jackson Memorial Hospital/University of Miami, will no longer be involved with the series, which opens in Long Beach, California on April 18.
"After 22 years neither myself nor Terry will be providing medical care at the race track this year," said Olvey, who established the CART safety team that eventually included a mobile medical unit to provide on-the-scene medical care.
Their work paralleled the medical support provided by Dr Sid Watkins in Formula One.
Former CART champion Zanardi, who has also driven in Formula One for Lotus and Williams, survived a near fatal high speed crash at the Lausitzring, Germany in September, 2001 but lost two litres of blood and had to have both legs amputated.
Zanardi told Reuters by phone: "I can't imagine two doctors with not only the experience but the passion for the sport. I wouldn't be talking to you today if it were not for them."
Late last year Olvey had discussions with one of the three OWRS principals about continuing to work for the series on a cost reduction basis but recently was told by e-mail that his contract would not be renewed as it previously existed. An OWRS spokesman declined to comment.
CART, which began racing in 1979, became a public company in 1998 but filed for bankruptcy last year after its shares plummeted. In January a federal bankruptcy judge awarded the assets of the bankrupt CART series to OWRS.
Report provided by Reuters
New Subaru To Make Mexico Debut
Subaru's new WRC2004 rally car will make its World Championship debut in Mexico next month, the team said on Monday.
"Last year we made a lot of progress in areas like aerodynamics and suspension systems," said team boss David Lapworth in a statement.
"For this year, although there have been further revisions to the aero package and suspension, the focus was on the engine, electronics systems and the bodyshell."
Citroen's French driver Sebastien Loeb has won both the rallies held so far this season, in Monte Carlo and Sweden. Subaru's last win was with Norway's World Champion Petter Solberg in Britain at the end of 2003.
The Rally of Mexico, making its championship debut this year, starts on March 11.
Report provided by Reuters
On The Edge
The World Superbike Championship were dealt a hammer blow recently when the newly announced SBK regulations did not please the bike manufacturers. The move from series organisers to alter regulations closer to production specification did not please the six competing manufacturers, Aprilia, Ducati, Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki and Yamaha, who had been working on parity-based options themselves to even the class. All bar Ducati, who had pre-existing sponsorship commitments, pulled their support.
But Ducati have nonetheless refused support for GSE Racing, who run the manufacturer's second biggest team, the HM Plant Ducati team, and have announced that they have pulled out of the '04 series.
Against this background, the World Superbike Championship makes its 2004 debut this weekend at Valencia in Spain with two remaining factory supproted teams spearheading the entry. With both Neil Hodgson and Ruben Xaus gone to the D'Antin MotoGP Ducati team, the factory Ducati team have acquired James Toseland from HM Plant and will pair him with Regis Laconi. Toseland is the outstanding favourite for the series.
The second factory team is Foggy Petronas. The team started by Superbike legend Carl Fogarty with the assistance of the Malaysian Petronas corporation has thus far flattered its status as a factory supported team with former Superbike champion Troy Corser unable to get significant results. Potentially an important season for the Foggy team as the team consider a future in MotoGP, Corser and Chris Walker have a lot of work to do.
Of the other riders, veteran Pierfrancesco Chili continues with his own Ducati team, while former MotoGP riders Noriyuki Haga and Garry McCoy attempt to resurrect their careers away from their former series. Otherwise the support cast is entirely familiar, Sanchini, Clementi, Borciani, Martin and Pedercini, all long time privateers continue as previously.
With the long-term future of the series in doubt, more than ever SBK needs a great series this year. In testing at Phillip Island five riders circulated within a second of the best time of Regis Laconi. Steve Martin, James Toseland, Leon Haslam, Marco Borciani and Troy Corser all on the pace. Whether pace at Phillip Island translates to pace at Communitat Valencia is something to be played out over the next few days in Spain.
Provisional entry list:
NASCAR
However, a determined effort by Kahne in the final laps meant that Kenseth's Ford took the chequered flag by a matter of inches ahead of his Dodge in the second race of the season. Jamie McMurray and Sterling Marlin drove their Dodges into third and fourth respectively.
Pos Driver Car
1. Matt Kenseth Ford Taurus
2. Kasey Kahne Dodge Intrepid
3. Jamie McMurray Dodge Intrepid
4. Sterling Marlin Dodge Intrepid
5. Dale Earnhardt Jr Chevrolet Monte Carlo
6. Ryan Newman Dodge Intrepid
7. Rusty Wallace Dodge Intrepid
8. Kurt Busch Ford Taurus
9. Ward Burton Chevrolet Monte Carlo
10. Jeff Gordon Chevrolet Monte Carlo
IRL
Negative focus has dominated the off season however, initially with the end of season crash to Swedish veteran Kenny Brack and his slow recovery, and then the death of new Chip Ganassi Racing signing Tony Renna at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in his first test of the Target-sponsored GForce machine. Not adding to IRL's health is a tight US sponsorship market with just 19 cars confirmed for the season-opening Toyota Indy 300 at Homestead-Miami.
Hornish's old team, and Chevrolet's leading contender Panther Racing has picked up the volatile South African Tomas Scheckter to lead the team in 2004. Unquestionably fast, Scheckter has acquired a reputation to pluck defeat from the jaws of victory, often with the aid of solid objects. Expanding to two cars full time in '04, Panther Racing will also have Brit driver Mark Taylor on board.
Cheever Racing is back with a two car squad. After basically running just Buddy Rice last year with customer Chevys, Cheever is ramping up the team with veteran Alex Barron joining the team after Barron impressed all with his driving late last year while subbing for an injured Felipe Giaffone at Mo Nunn Racing. He will be joined by Infiniti Pro Series front runner Ed Carpenter.
No Driver Car
1 Scott Dixon Target Chip Ganassi Racing GForce-Toyota
2 Mark Taylor Panther Racing Dallara-Chevrolet
3 Helio Castroneves Marlboro Team Penske Dallara-Toyota
4 Tomas Scheckter Panther Racing Dallara-Chevrolet
6 Sam Hornish Jr Marlboro Team Penske Dallara-Toyota
7 Bryan Herta Andretti Green Racing Dallara-Honda
8 Scott Sharp Kelley Racing Dallara-Toyota
10 Darren Manning Target Chip Ganassi Racing GForce-Toyota
11 Tony Kanaan Andretti Green Racing Dallara-Honda
12 Tora Takagi Mo Nunn Racing Dallara-Toyota
13 Greg Ray Access Motorsports GForce-Honda
14 A.J. Foyt IV A.J. Foyt Enterprises Dallara-Toyota
15 Buddy Rice Team Rahal GForce-Honda
24 Robbie Buhl Dreyer & Reinbold Racing Dallara-Chevrolet
26 Dan Wheldon Andretti Green Racing Dallara-Honda
27 Dario Franchitti Andretti Green Racing Dallara-Honda
51 Alex Barron Red Bull Cheever Racing Dallara-Chevrolet
52 Ed Carpenter Red Bull Cheever Racing Dallara-Chevrolet
55 Kosuke Matsuura Super Aguri Fernandez Racing GForce-Honda
CART
Dr Terry Trammell, an orthopaedic surgeon based in Indianapolis, will continue to work for the series but only in an advisory role related to 2005 chassis design.
Rally
Superbikes
No Rider Motorcycle
4 Troy Corser Foggy Petronas Racing Petronas FP1
5 Piergiorgio Bontempi Zongshen Team Suzuki GSX 1000R
6 Mauro Sanchini Team Kawasaki Bertocchi Kawasaki ZX10
7 Piefrancesco Chili Team PSG-1 Ducati 999RS
8 Ivan Clementi Team Kawasaki Bertocchi Kawasaki ZX10
9 Chris Walker Foggy Petronas Racing Petronas FP1
12 Warwick Nowland Zongshen Team Suzuki GSX 1000R
16 Sergio Fuertes MIR Racing Suzuki GSX 1000R
17 Chris Vermeulan Ten Kate Honda Honda CBR 1000RR
19 Lucio Pedercini Team Pedercini Ducati 998RS
20 Marco Borciani DFXtreme Sterilgarda Ducati 999RS
23 Jiri Mrkyvka JM SBK Team Ducati 998RS
24 Garry McCoy Team Caracchi Ducati 999RS
25 Alessio Velini UnionBike GiMotorsport Yamaha YZF R1
41 Noriyuki Haga Team Renegade Ducati Ducati 999RS
52 James Toseland Ducati Fila Ducati 999F04
55 Regis Laconi Ducati Fila Ducati 999F04
91 Leon Haslam Team Renegade Ducati Ducati 999RS
99 Steve Martin DFXtreme Sterilgarda Ducati 999RS
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Volume 10, Issue 8
2004 Season Preview
The Atlas F1 2004 Gamble
The 2004 Drivers Preview
The 2004 Teams Preview
The 2004 Technical Preview
The Formula One Insider
The Time to Self Level
The New Deal
2004 Countdown Facts & Stats
Columns
On the Road
Elsewhere in Racing
The Weekly Grapevine
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