Holden veteran Steven Richards has made a surprise switch to Ford where he will partner rising star Mark Winterbottom, who is convinced he can wrest the V8 Supercar mantle back for the blue oval this season.

Yahoo Sports.

England's selectors are adamant that Andrew Flintoff was the right man to captain England in the Ashes series

NineMSN

"Come on sports bloggers. When the going gets tough the tough get going. Surely someone can crank out a few well chosen cliches and some penetrating analysis, even from the depths of mortification."

Saturday, March 3 2007. Adelaide Street Circuit

Sunday, 4 March 2007 - Adelaide Street Circuit.

Round Two of the V8 Supercar Championship kicks off today at Barbagallo Raceway, Western Australia.

Sunday used to be race day for the touring car circus, but these days, with the refined and fully commercial, made for television competition, Saturday and Sunday hold equal importance for fans and teams alike.

A sad way to leave Pukekohe for the V8 Supercar circus, but even sadder is the way race three of this weekend's round three event in New Zealand was run in concert with, and undoubtedly controlled by, television programming.

Saturday and qualifying at Winton Motor Raceway, north-eastern Victoria.

Winton, as I detailed previously, is situated in north-eastern Victoria. Just outside Benalla. Being located in Victoria, the weather is subject to radical and unprogrammable change and that’s certainly what happened between Qualifying and Race 1.

wet, cold & miserable

Okay, so let’s do a wind-up of Round Four of the V8 Supercar Championship for 2007.

This long weekend saw the V8 circus return to Eastern Creek, outside of Sydney, for the first time since 2005.

Domesticity decreed that I miss the start of the qualifying process for Round Six, but I did manage to catch the final ten minutes of the third session.

Yesterday’s indiscretions had to have consequences.

Wet day in Brisbane. Wet day in Sydney. Doesn't really make for exciting racing, especially on a slow track like Oran Park, but when the weather's lousy outside, what better way to occupy one's Sunday arvo than in front of the box with a beer or three watching motorsport?

As the lead-up race to Bathurst never is, today's Just Cars 500 wasn't boring. It was, however, revealing.

Remember the young Formula Ford driver I write about occasionally? Ashley Walsh? Well, he's in the UK now driving as a part of the CAMS Rising Star squad as a result of his outstanding form in FF here at home. Over the fold is a media release from his management, and it seems he's finding that driving manners and common sense take on a whole new meaning in the UK.

Those of you who read this blog, even semi-regularly, will realise that I live for the event being held this weekend.

A really interesting article today in the SMH about V8 Supercar pilot, Paul Radisich.

Well, you can guess where I've been all day. The beer's cold, the action is good and I'm just champing at the bit waiting for tomorrow.

A trifecta and one a long time in the delivery. What a race!

As I put fingers to keyboard, we've seen races one and two of this weekend's three race round.

Carnage. That's the word to best describe race three. Race three came down to who could salvage what points from the round, and just where would they wind up at round end. There was bad luck, which I'd attribute to Tander and Whincup; inconsistency yet again from the stewards with the WOW/WPS car circulating with rear bodywork clearly waving in the wind, lack of proper planning with both Jason Richards AND Greg Murphy pitting at the same time, Murphy having to transit the pitlane without stopping, only to have to pit again later for real.

Tander was released milliseconds too early from his compulsory pit stop, colliding marginally with Jason Richards in the lane. Instant drive-through penalty for illegal release. Whincup locked a front right on the entry to turn eight, winding up mid field as a result, but just after Tander had been awarded his penalty. Still a chance and coming back fast, he fell victim to rushing blood and a narrow, crowded racetrack.

Remarkable was the non-event the weekend turned out to be for Rick Kelly, brother Todd, Mark Skaife and after a terrific qualifying, Ford Performance Racing's Mark Winterbottom. Here's the final standings for race three.
... points from Round 11... ...and points standings following this round.

Here's a thought for the round. I couldn't help but wonder just how much the trophies from this weekend's round would fetch on E-Bay. What do you reckon, reader?

It's amazing just how much pulling power a V8 has.

The world of women's professional tennis is worse off today following the resignation of Martina Hingis under a drug cloud.

Insiders this AM.

I remain bemused at just why V8 Supercar Australia takes the entire circus half way around the globe to race on a circuit, in a place, where no-one comes to watch.

The penultimate round for season 2007.

Sunday raceday and the deciding two races for round thirteen.

Now known as the 'Grand Finale', there isn't a better track in the country upon which to sprint-race for the championship than Phillip Island.

Sunday, and finals day for the V8 Supercar circus.

....everyone has to grab a seat. Yes, V8 Supercar aficionados, it's that time of year again when the music of the season has ended and it's 'all change' for 2008.

Further to the end of year musical chairs in the V8 Supercar circus, it's been announced that both Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes have re-signed with Triple Eight/Team Vodafone until the end of 2009.

Time once again for some motorsport news updates.

Now this is an interesting turn of events. WPS Motorsport has been shutdown, and will not be taking part in this years V8 Supercar Championship. The Level One licences have been sold off, as have the teams two cars and all equipment. Drivers Jason Bargwanna and Max Wilson remain contracted to the WPS organisation, in some for or other which Gore declined to detail.

Equally interesting is the vow by Gore to continue racing in the U.S. I would postulate that Gore is under the fiscal gun presently. I think this because a week ago, I received a call from a finance broker looking to refinance and/or extract equity from some of Gore's assets at Sanctuary Cove. A LOT of equity. My employer declined to be involved. Apparently, Craig Gore isn't well thought of in the finance game. So I'm told, anyway.

Watch the finance and business pages, I'd say.

When questioned on the subject of retirement, Mark Skaife had this to say:

“I wouldn’t see this as my last year, but let’s just see how things go along”

The circus is back in town and this time around, for the first punt in 2008, it's back to the City of Churches for the annual tilt on the former Grand Prix track. Here's a brief review and track layout from Dick Johnson Racing.

Last week I postulated that Craig Gore's withdrawal of WPS Racing from the V8 Supercar Championship might have had more to do with money than time.

Round one, race one and all went very well, I thought.

There's little else I'd like to say about race two, except that I believe the sport's administrators have much to answer for.

I heard this issue being bandied about on AM this morning, and frankly thought it all a bit funny.

I didn't blog race one yesterday because I was occupied with my other love, flight-simming. It's clear from what I saw and heard in the background thatI didn't miss much.

The highs and lows of Round Two.

As a follow-up to Ford Performance Racing's good and bad Round Two on Sunday just gone, it seems that Steven Richards will front for the dog_and_pony_show at Albert Park this weekend.

There's a lot of to-do about this weekend's F1 season opener at Albert Park.

The Hamilton 400 in New Zealand was always going to be a tough ask for the V8 Supercar circus.

Okay, that's Hamilton run & won.

As an advertising medium, it seems that V8 Supercar team transporters are setting new benchmarks. This massive machine, which transports Stone Brother's Racing's two car team, enough spares to build a third, meeting room and data analysis facilities around Australia has just undergone what may be the world's largest vehicle wrap. The picture is stunning. Read all about the project here.

Mark Skaife is apparently feeling the pressure of being a less than successful performer in the V8 Supercar circus.

While I'm on the subject of motorsport, I thought I'd better advertise the pre and post round netcasts done by Neil Crompton, Brad Jones and selected guest drivers and sports luminaries, called PanelBeaters.

Qualifying and Race 1

After watching PanelBeaters last night and viewing qualifying today, it's pretty easy to understand why drivers like Barbagallo.

Races 2 and 3

Apart from Mark Skaife living down to my expectations on the opening lap of race 2, ending his weekend against a concrete wall, the two races today were pretty much staid, tactical affairs.

As I write this (type?) the annual thug-fest masquerading as sport is underway in Sydney. Yes, it's the rugby league State of Origami....oops, sorry.....Origin.

Yet again, the Seven Network has badly let down motorsport enthusiasts with a pathetically short coverage of qualifying and race one of round five.

In true Melbourne fashion, weather today at Sandown International Raceway was the complete opposite of yesterday's for qualifying and race one.

Readers will realise - and probably hoped I was over it - that I'm acutely aware and vehemently accusatory about the rising cost of petrol and associated fossil fuels.

Our premier motorsport category is on the verge of massive change.

As usually happens in Darwin, the racing was as hot as the ambient temperature. Surprisingly free of major stupidity though, which is refreshing. Save for Paul Morris, that is. Despite being told to lift his act by officials during the driver's briefing on Friday, Morris still managed to punt a couple of drivers from what the television cameras showed.

There are rumblings running through the circus at the moment about parity.

It's been a while since I drew attention to the latest in news from the V8 Supercar paddock, so given yesterday's race was such a boon to Ford fans, I thought it best to tell you that the sport's administrators consider the 'Red-v-Blue' rivalry to be all but dead.

If there was one salient fact to take away from yesterday's qualifying and race one at Winton, it's that no team is invulnerable to the unpredictable.

By any other definition, the four-yearly global contest in sport can only be described as adversarial battle between nation-states, some of whom would dearly love to have at each other with real weapons of destruction.

Take a gander at this screen shot cut from The Australian's online front page at 2100 hours.

I had a listen to the latest Panelbeaters podcast last night, which to those of you not atuned to the V8 Supercar scene in Australia, might think of as a recording made by a convention of motor vehicle repairers.

It's a good time of year to be paying attention to the ebb and flow of politics within the V8 Supercar circus.

I'm afraid I don't think much of the mooted changes to V8 Supercar racing for 2009.

I've written what I wanted to write about Qualifying for this round yesterday, so let's concentrate on the main event itself.

First second and third practice sessions are ended. The Mountain has already reached out to bite the unwary, in the form of Jack Daniels Racing car 11, with Jack Perkins at the wheel.

We keep hearing about the highs and lows of motorsport. How cruel the sport can be, if ever a non-physical happenstance can have human emotion attributed to it. That's the crux really, that human beings should feel the emotion of success or failure in a single moment of time, such that it takes on an almost sentient form capable of kindness or cruelty. Doubtless Rick Kelly felt the slap of cruelty this afternoon, judging by his immediate reaction to his team mate, Paul Radisich, destroying the #15 Commodore at McPhillamy Park, Mt Panorama.

After five-and-a-half hours of racing, and nary a stutter in their planning, Triple Eight Racing/Team Vodafone car 888, Craig Lowndes at the wheel, has won the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000.

Bleat, Bleat, Bleat! Greg Murphy says he's over the lap one incident at Bathurst, where he and Craig Lowndes touched wheels coming off the Hump at the end of Mountain Straight. He says that no absolutes exist at Bathurst, that the #3 Sprint Gas Commodore might and might not have won, despite the touch at 200 kph which bent a steering arm. Yet he claims he was robbed by the eventual race-winning car-driver combination. Race officials didn't see it that way, and frankly, reviewing action several times, I can't see anything in it either.

Looking carefully at the incident several times, it's clear that Lowndes, who was behind Murphy on the climb up the straight, found room on the outside of the track coming over the Hump. He took that room, but found an unsettled car in his hands on coming off the top. The car drifted - not half a track width as the Murphy Whinge article states - less than a metre in toward the middle of the track due to camber at that point. At speed, it was clarly a racing incident, and one Murphy would be only to happy to pass off as such, were the roles reversed.

This weekend's Round 11 at Surfers Paradise will be interesting to watch, from the perspective of Murphy-on-Lowndes. While he claims he's over the matter, it's patently clear, Greg Murphy is holding a grudge. Such things cloud judgement, and while neither he nor Jason Richards are in the championship hunt, neither can afford to hold grudges when good showings are vital for sponsorship dollars at this stage in a season. I always thought Murphy was a better competitor than this. Clearly, I'm wrong.

VESCA call this event something different every year, so as far as I'm concerned, it'll remain 'Surfers Paradise'.

Let's be short & sweet. Races two and three were almost identical to race one.

The very best news Holden fans could possibly ask for. Mark Skaife has retired.

Thanks to timezones and some weird perception on the part of V8 Supercars Australia that journeying once a year to a little used, but palatial race circuit in the middle of no-where is going to help promote the sport's image at home, I've just watched Race One of Round Twelve.

Qualifying and race one probably couldn't have gone off any worse for some championship contenders.

Post Symmons Plains, the championship is now down to 67 points.

If ever there was any doubt as to Mark Skaife's deficiency in business acumen, surely this story confirms those misgivings in the worst possible way.

Further to yesterday's little bombshell, it seems the hounds at News Limited were too close to the facts of the matter and Mark Skaife has jumped off the edge of disaster into what? Only he knows.

To all you dyed-in-the-wool Holden fans out there who just couldn't accept the argument that owning and managing a race team, and being a supposedly lead driver for that team, just don't gel, I take the greatest of pleasure in claiming points for calling it correctly.

The day Jamie Whincup secured the championship.

A day with the requisite dramas for FPR and HRT, and effectively the end of a season where few teams outside of Team Vodafone received any satisfaction from the 2008 season.

Is the impending creation of a rebel championship in F1 ranks the end of Formula One motorsport as we know it?

There are rumblings in my favourite sport about the next generation of V8 Supercar.

I haven’t written about my one and only sporting passion so far this season, so thought it was time I did so.

Whilst the contract killing of 140 eastern grey kangaroos as a supposed safety measure in the lead-up to next week's motorsport fest at Mount Panorama, Bathurst might upset those who don't understand or appreciate motorsport, I dare say there will be 64 grateful drivers, a dozen or so team owners, almost uncountable corporate team sponsors and several million motorsport spectators who will welcome the Bathurst City Council decision.

Thursday, race week, first & second practice sessions underway.

“The biggest challenge now is the sport marketing itself properly. We don’t have a major fast-moving consumer good in the field; NASCAR does. We don’t have a major financial player in the field; NASCAR does.”

So says V8 Supercar driver manager, Dale Rodgers in the latest issue of V8X magazine.