Standings: Vitantonio Liuzzi 68, Enrico Toccacelo 56, Patrick Friesacher 29, Robert Doornbos 28, Tomas Enge 25, Raffaele Giammaria, Jose Maria Lopez and Esteban Guerrieri 22, Yannick Schroeder 13, Tony Schmidt 8 etc.

  IRL

The Mexican Manouevre

Moving from CART to IRL was a controversial decision to say the least for Adrian Fernandez. The Mexican open wheel veteran had formed his new team in Champ Car but started a satellite IRL operation in 2003. When he made the late decision to shift his own car to IRL alongside Kosuke Matsuura Fernandez this year he had already missed the opening round. At his first start he was classified last after an early exit. But all the pain was washed away as the familiar green and red car swept across the line, just hundredths clear of new the Indy 500 champion Buddy Rice after 200 laps at the Kentucky Speedway.

Polesitter Rice led the field away but series leader Tony Kanaan and Fernandez were quickly past. The first yellow flag period was on lap 35 and the field stopped en masse. Kanaan was first away with Fernandez, Rice and Sam Hornish Jr following. Hornish moved into third at the green but could not bridge the gap to the two leaders. The second stop had to be made under green flag conditions. Once completed Kanaan led from Dario Franchitti, but the Scot was soon chased down by Rice who in turn would be passed by Tomas Scheckter, just past the 120 lap mark.

At lap 128 Scheckter moved into the lead. Ten laps later Scheckter was the first onto pit road for the third stops, and the erratic reputation that has always dogged the second generation South African racer reached out once again as Scheckter tried to leave the Panther Racing pit bay prematurely. The fuel hose was ripped out and Scheckter abandoned his now burning car at pit exit.

With yellows out the rest of the field got their third stop done without the pressure of being under racing conditions. Rice led at the restart from Kanaan on lap 150, but Fernandez swept the pair aside to lead the next lap with Brit Dan Wheldon in pursuit. Back in the pack Townsend Bell lost control and smacked the wall bringing the yellows out again.

The race went green again with 35 laps to run, and with no more stops to be made Fernandez led and made the running. Kanaan, who had already secured the three bonus points for leading the most laps, was second, but his title rival Rice was quicker, moving up to pressure Fernandez over the closing laps. Never more than four tenths apart, Fernandez never completely gave ground to the American and raced to his debut IRL race victory. Rice and Wheldon flashed across the line to complete the podium with Fernrnadez's teammate Kosuke Matsuura having his best race of the season to finish fourth after passing Kanaan late in the race. Franchitti and Vitor Meira were next.

Kanaan leads the series by 49 points, having lost a further seven points to Rice with almost 90 points back to Dan Wheldon with no-one else within 130 points. Rice continues to chip away, but at this rate he will run out of races to overtake the Andretti Green driver. The first driver to lose focus is likely to lose the championship.

Result of Indy Racing League, Round 11 of 16, Belterra Casino Indy 300, Kentucky Speedway, United States:

Pos  Driver             Team
 1.  Adrian Fernandez   Fernandez Racing GForce-Honda
 2.  Buddy Rice         Rahal-Letterman Racing GForce-Honda
 3.  Dan Wheldon        Andretti Green Racing Dallara IR2 Honda
 4.  Kosuke Matsuura    Super Aguri Fernandez Racing GForce-Honda
 5.  Tony Kanaan        Andretti Green Racing Dallara IR2 Honda
 6.  Dario Franchitti   Andretti Green Racing Dallara IR2 Honda
 7.  Vitor Meira        Rahal-Letterman Racing GForce-Honda
 8.  Ed Carpenter       Cheever Racing Dallara IR2 Chevrolet
 9.  Bryan Herta        Andretti Green Racing Dallara IR2 Honda
10.  Darren Manning     Chip Ganassi Racing GForce-Toyota

Standings: Tony Kanaan 432, Buddy Rice 383, Dan Wheldon 345, Helio Castroneves 297, Sam Hornish Jr 283, Dario Franchitti 266, Vitor Meira 256, Bryan Herta 249, Scott Dixon 243, Darren Manning 216 etc.

  NASCAR

Tony Terrific

Tony Stewart fought off cramps to win at Watkins Glen, holding off a late charge from Ron Fellows. Fellows, who had started dead last in 43rd place after rain washed out qualifying, charged through the field with a mixture of good strategy and quick laps to almost take his first win. Casey Mears was set for third place until running low on fuel in the last couple of laps, just managing to hold on to fourth ahead of Dale Earnhardt Jr as Mark Martin took third.

Pre-race favourites Jeff Gordon and Robby Gordon ended the race outside the top ten. Jeff finished 21st after looking set for third place when his somewhat experimental gearbox disintegrated in the closing laps, leaving him with only fourth gear. Robby Gordon had similar problems, doing the last twenty laps with only third and fourth gears, finishing sixteenth after looking good for a top ten or top five finish.

Jimmie Johnson had an even worse day, transmission problems similar to teammate Gordon's eventually leading to a blown engine after just 23 laps. He still holds onto the points lead, 40 points ahead of Jeff Gordon (who would have taken the points lead without his, who is 88 points ahead of Dale Earnhardt Jr as just four races remain before the Chase for the Championship begins.

Result of NASCAR Nextel Cup, Round 22 of 36, Watkins Glen, New York, United States:

Pos  Driver              Car
 1.  Tony Stewart        Chevrolet Monte Carlo
 2.  Ron Fellows         Chevrolet Monte Carlo
 3.  Mark Martin         Ford Taurus
 4.  Casey Mears         Dodge Intrepid
 5.  Dale Earnhardt Jr   Chevrolet Monte Carlo
 6.  Kevin Harvick       Chevrolet Monte Carlo
 7.  Jeremy Mayfield     Dodge Intrepid
 8.  Ricky Rudd          Ford Taurus
 9.  Matt Kenseth        Ford Taurus
10.  Kurt Busch          Ford Taurus

Standings: Jimmie Johnson 3143, Jeff Gordon 3103, Dale Earnhardt Jr 3015, Tony Stewart 2951, Matt Kenseth 2876, Elliott Sadler 2792, Kurt Busch 2754, Kevin Harvick 2717, Bobby Labonte 2714, Jeremy Mayfield 2656 etc.

  V8 Supercar

The Mark And Marcos Show

The two races at Oran Park were about two people, Mark Skaife and Marcos Ambrose. The winner of the last four championship titles between them, they were very strong in race one and utterly dominant in race two, taking a win and a second place each, Ambrose lapping the field up to twelfth in race two. A fourth and a third for Jason Bright saw him hold on to the points lead however, now just thirteen points ahead of Marcos Ambrose, Steven Richards a further 34 points behind with Rick Kelly, Russell Ingall and Greg Murphy still in the hunt.

Since the last round Craig Lowndes has announced he is moving to Triple Eight Racing after a disastrous second season with Ford Performance Racing. Meanwhile Steven Richards was handed the same penalty Ambrose eventually received, a $5 000 fine, for the suspension irregularities found on his car after the Winton race. However, before the hearing but after the Winton round it was announced that in future any technical irregularity would lead to at minimum exclusion from that session, this ruling apparently having been given to the teams before Winton but not publicised until afterwards, though quite why Richards was only fined and not excluded then doesn't follow...

A team in the wars was PWR Racing, who had the steering tampered with on one car while a plastic bag in the airbox caused the throttle to stick open on Jason Bright's car on Friday, Bright managing to save the car from major damage. When the engine was examined later, nut and bolts were found within one of the cylinders! It seems someone was out to get PWR and somewhat succeeded, though the culprit is yet to be found.

There was two 140 km races at Winton, each featuring a compulsory stop for tyres which in a change for the series, was to be taken in a small window around half distance rather than from a few laps after the start to around three quarter distance. Qualifying again saw some unusual results. The front row was an all HRT affair, Mark Skaife ahead of Todd Kelly, while the second row was filled by Simon Wills and Jason Richards from a couple of the smaller teams, with Marcos Ambrose next up in fifth. John Bowe started from the rear of the field after missing a random weight check in qualifying.

Race one began with Todd Kelly getting the jump on his teammate Skaife at the start to lead ahead of Jason Richards, Wills and Ambrose. The two HRT cars skipped away as Richards held up a train behind him until Wills got past him under braking at turn three on lap five, Ambrose and Jason Bright following through. Lap eleven saw Todd Kelly let teammate Skaife past into the lead at turn two, while a few laps later Todd's brother Rick spun into the sand trap, also at turn two, to bring out the safety car. However it was too early to stop, so racing resumed on lap 18 with Skaife leading Todd Kelly, Wills, Ambrose and Bright.

Lap 21 saw the first of the leaders pit, Todd Kelly and Ambrose coming in, Wills on lap 22, Skaife on lap 23 and Bright on lap 24. When the stops were over by lap 29 of 54 Skaife remained just ahead of Todd Kelly who was just ahead of Ambrose, Bright not far behind in fourth, while fifth was Russell Ingall who had benefited the most and began closing on Bright, Simon Wills going the other way as he dropped to 24th after a problem during the pit stop. Skaife edged away from Kelly who came under increasing pressure from Ambrose, Ingall doing the same to Bright as Bright fell back from Ambrose.

Finally on lap 40 Kelly cracked and locked a brake at turn three, running wide and allowing Ambrose through. Lap 48 and Ingall passed Bright at the final turn for fourth, bouncing off him as he did so. Two laps later saw Todd Kelly lose two places to Ingall and Bright as his locked brake had flat-spotted a tyre leaving him defenceless to their advances. At the front Skaife held on to win ahead of Ambrose who closed a little in the closing laps, with Ingall, Bright and Todd Kelly completing the top five. Bowe recovered well from his rear grid start to finish twelfth.

Race two began with Ambrose alone into turn one as Skaife made another poor start, dropping from pole to second but extremely lucky not to drop further, with Todd Kelly third, Ingall fourth and Bright fifth. Skaife quickly closed the gap to be right on Ambrose's tail, leaving Kelly alone in third, while Ingall had Bright all over the back of him. Further back Steven Richards, having bounced off Paul Weel when he passed him for ninth at turn two on lap two, decided he'd go one better when he punted Jason Bargwanna into a spin two laps later as he moved up to seventh.

Meanwhile Ingall and Bright were having a fierce battle, Bright taking fourth on lap three only to lose it to Ingall a lap later before Bright took it back on lap six, Murphy taking fifth from Ingall on lap 10. At the front Ambrose and Skaife were still a close 1-2 as they steadily opened a gap over Bright and the chasing pack. Lap 21 saw Ambrose in for tyres, Skaife intending to follow suit but as he followed Ambrose in he felt he was going to hit Ambrose and spin him and so resumed, having to accelerate again, pitting a lap later but losing crucial seconds, Ingall also pitting on the same lap.

Todd Kelly followed on lap 23 while Bright stayed out until lap 27. With the stops over, Ambrose had a few seconds over Skaife thanks to the miscue, Todd Kelly third, Bright fourth while Ingall was up to fifth having just passed Murphy. Lap 33 saw Bright move past Todd Kelly into third as Kelly began to fade (again), with Ingall moving past into fourth on lap 42, Todd Kelly dropping down to eighth by lap 48. Up at the front Ambrose had it under control and he won by a few seconds from Skaife, Bright third over 25 seconds behind Ambrose, Ingall fourth and Paul Weel charging through to fifth.

Steven Richards, tenth in race once, looked like he had taken sixth in race two despite his early collision with Bargwanna. But post-race, footage was reviewed, and he was hit with a 25 second penalty, dropping him from sixth to eleventh place, reducing his points haul by 15 points.

Result of V8 Supercar Championship Series, Round 8 of 13, Oran Park Raceway, New South Wales, Australia:

Race One

Pos  Driver                   Car
 1.   Mark Skaife              Holden Commodore VY
 2.   Marcos Ambrose           Ford Falcon BA
 3.   Russell Ingall           Ford Falcon BA
 4.   Jason Bright             Holden Commodore VY
 5.   Todd Kelly               Holden Commodore VY
 6.   Jason Bargwanna          Ford Falcon BA
 7.   Jason Richards           Holden Commodore VY
 8.   Cameron McConville       Holden Commodore VY
 9.   Paul Weel                Holden Commodore VY
10.   Steven Richards          Holden Commodore VY

Race Two

Pos  Driver                   Car
 1.  Marcos Ambrose           Ford Falcon BA
 2.  Mark Skaife              Holden Commodore VY
 3.  Jason Bright             Holden Commodore VY
 4.  Russell Ingall           Ford Falcon BA
 5.  Paul Weel                Holden Commodore VY
 6.  Simon Wills              Holden Commodore VY
 7.  Todd Kelly               Holden Commodore VY
 8.  Jason Richards           Holden Commodore VY
 9.  Rick Kelly               Holden Commodore VY
10.  Paul Morris              Holden Commodore VY

Standings: Jason Bright 1308, Marcos Ambrose 1295, Steven Richards 1261, Rick Kelly 1197, Russell Ingall 1159, Greg Murphy 1108, Todd Kelly 1059, Garth Tander 975, John Bowe 836, Jason Bargwanna 790 etc.

  Briefs

• The Dyson Racing Team have upset Champion Racing at the most recent round of the American Le Mans Series held at the former Canadian Grand Prix circuit of Mosport. Butch Leitzinger and James Weaver driving the team's leading Lola B160 MG with Weaver running away from a hard fought pole position. After early delays Champion tried to recover lost ground by not changing tyres at the first stop in an effort to save time, and it gave them the lead, but left Marco Werner vulnerable on pace as Leitzinger chased down the Audi to win by 16 seconds. Two laps down was the second of the Dyson Racing Team's two Lola-MGs, that of Chris Dyson and Andy Wallace. Chevrolet again won GTS with Oliver Gavin and Olivier Beretta winning in a formation finish with teammates Ron Fellows and Johnny O'Connell finishing fourth and fifth outright. Clint Field and Robin Liddell were sixth and won the P2 class in the Intersport Lola B2K/40 Judd while eighth was the winning GT class car, the Alex Job Racing Porsche RSR of Timo Bernhard and Jorg Bergmeister.

  Standings (P1): JJ Lehto and Marco Werner 118, Andy Wallace 85, James Weaver and Butch Leitzinger 79, Chris Dyson 71 etc.

• MG fans had plenty the celebrate after the British Touring Car Championship had its annual Scottish stopover at the challenging Knockhill circuit. Scot Anthony Reid took two race victories to further close the gap to the series leading Vauxhalls of Yvan Muller and James Thompson, who are only seperated by a single point after 21 rounds. In round 19 Reid raced away from pole position to win comfortably. Teammate Colin Turkington fought his way through to second only to have stewards send him back to fourth after being reported for passing under a yellow flag. This promoted Honda driver Tom Chilton to second ahead of Thompson and Muller. SEAT Toledo driver Jason Plato won the reverse gridded Round 20 from 'pole' after a bruising last few laps, fighting with Matt Neal (Honda). Dan Eaves (Honda) was third ahead of Muller and Luke Hines (Vauxhall). Round 21 saw Plato lead early on, then lose the lead first to Eaves and then to Reid. Reid went on to win from Eaves while Turkington fought from the rear of the grid to third ahead of Thompson and Robert Huff (SEAT).

  Standings: Yvan Muller 193, James Thompson 192, Anthony Reid 170, Jason Plato 134, Matt Neal 129 etc.

• Heikki Kovalainen has dominated proceedings at the Lausitzring round of the World Series by Nissan. The Finn won both races from pole position and now leads the championship by 36 points. Kovalainen won the start of the first race to lead title rival Enrique Bernoldi to win by two and a half seconds with the gap having been closed up by a pair of safety cars. Tristan Gommendy claimed third place from Tiago Monteiro while Narain Karthikeyan spun out of contention. In race two Kovalainen raced away unchallenged while the field bunched behind Monteiro. Veteran French driver Jean-Christophe Ravier snuck into second during the pitstops with Monteiro hanging on for third until two laps to go when a brief off let Bernoldi and Felix Porteiro through.

  Standings: Heikki Kovalainen 126, Enrique Bernoldi 90, Tiago Monteiro 78, Jean-Christophe Ravier 69, Tristan Gommendy 61 etc.

  Upcoming Events Calendar

• August 20 - World Rally Championship, Round 10 of 16, Rallye Deutschland, Germany
• August 22 - World Motorcycle Championship, Round 10 of 16, Brno, Czech Republic
• August 22 - NASCAR Nextel Cup, Round 23 of 36, Michigan International Speedway, United States
• August 22 - Indy Racing League, Round 12 of 16, Pikes Peak International Raceway, Colorado, United States
• August 22 - American Le Mans Series, Round 7 of 9, Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, United States
• August 22 - British Touring Car Championship, Round 8 of 10, Brands Hatch, Great Britain
• August 28 - International Formula 3000 Championship, Round 9 of 10, Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium
• August 28 - NASCAR Nextel Cup, Round 24 of 36, Bristol Motor Speedway, Tennessee, United States
• August 29 - Champ Car World Series, Round 10 of 15, Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Quebec, Canada
• August 29 - All-Japan Formula Nippon Championship, Round 6 of 9, Mine, Japan
• August 30 - British Formula 3 Championship, Rounds 19 & 20 of 24, Thruxton, Great Britain
• August 30 - European Formula 3000 Championship, Round 6 of 10, Donington Park, Great Britain
• September 3 - World Rally Championship, Round 11 of 16, Rally Japan
• September 3 - Asia-Pacific Rally Championship, Round 4 of 7, Rally Japan
• September 5 - NASCAR Nextel Cup, Round 25 of 36, California Speedway, United States
• September 5 - World Motorcycle Championship, Round 11 of 16, Estoril, Portugal
• September 5 - Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters, Round 8 of 10, Zandvoort, The Netherlands
• September 5 - FIA GT Championship, Round 8 of 11, Imola, Italy
• September 5 - European Touring Car Championship, Round 8 of 11, Imola, Italy
• September 5 - European Formula 3 Championship, Round 7 of 9, Zandvoort, The Netherlands
• September 5 - World Superbike Championship, Round 9 of 12, Assen, The Netherlands
• September 5 - British Touring Car Championship, Round 9 of 10, Snetterton, Great Britain