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.