Full Throttle

The Subway Fresh 500 was billed as a “duel” between the Busch Bros. Kurt as the defending race champion and brother Kyle winner of last November’s PIR event and pole sitter. It turned into a Kevin Harvick weekend sweep, a “duel” of fuel and a “duel” between Kyle Busch and Casey Mears.

Harvick broke his 38 Cup race winless streak by passing then leader Greg Biffle with 10 circuits to go. Biffle promptly ran out of fuel and was quickly followed to pitroad by Mark Martin who also came up dry. Martin, who led three times for 111 laps, wound up 11^th and Biffle ended up 16^th. In a case of irony never sleeps, a year ago, Harvick’s car ran out of gas, and he finished fourth.

Kyle Busch’s duel with Casey Mears earned him a 5 lap penalty, an after race trip to the NASCAR trailer and most likely more to follow in the form of a “NASCAR tax” levy. He finished 36^th. His brother, Kurt was 24^th after he had to finish the race using one hand to hold his window net up after it fell with about 25 laps to go. It also safe to assume the Arizona Republic can bury the headline on this weekend piece: Busches winning fans, restoring image.

Tony Stewart recovered from a pre-race foul-up (read: Homer Simpson, DOHHH…) to finish 2^nd followed by Matt Kenseth in third, followed by Carl Edwards, who had his best effort of the season, and rookie Clint Bowyer.

Kenseth took over the points lead, surpassing Jimmie Johnson by nine points.

Despite all the in race “duels,” the best quote of the day wasn’t the result crashes, fume filled tanks or idiotic race commentators. It occured pre-race and was spoken by Arizona Senator John McCain.

“Trying to get the words right,” McCain answered when asked what the most difficult part of the day would be. “And not drool when the television cameras are on me.”

PIR, NASCAR, NEXTEL Cup, Phoenix International Raceway, Auto Racing, Motorsports, Full Throttle

There has been another crash at the V8 Supercar meet at Pukekohe.

Australian driver John Bowe failed to take a corner during race two just after midday and crashed into a safety barrier. A press photographer standing behind the barrier was hit and has been taken to hospital with a suspected broken leg.

The crash follows Saturday’s spectacular incident in which two Porsches collided in a support race, and one of them flipped over the safety fence and landed in front of the front row of the grandstand. There were no injuries to members of the crowd in that incident, although driver Dean Fulford was stretchered off the track.

Motorsport New Zealand is adamant that safety measures at the raceway are more than adequate.

Cross Posted @ Asian MotorSports

Pukekohe International Raceway, MotoSport New Zealand, Pukekohe, V8 Supercar Series, Australia, New Zealand, Auto Racing, Motorsports, Full Throttle

SALEM, IN (4-22-06)

Oh wait, I’m confused. This is a “most hated” athletes list.

It shouldn’t take the powers of the Amazing Kreskin or Jeanne Dixon to guess who ranks #3, and only race driver, on the list. (H/T Brian of Race Driven.)

NASCAR, NEXTEL Cup, Auto Racing, Motorsports, Full Throttle

Mark Skaife ran away with the opening race of the Placemakers V8 Supercar International at Pukekohe Park Raceway on Saturday.

While Skaife put together an impressive start to finish performance Kiwi Greg Murphy’s race was over before the first corner.

The four time winner of the Pukekohe series was involved in a major crash just after the start that left the front of his Holden Commodore all but destroyed.

Murphy walked away from the incident but his Supercheap Auto Racing team will have plenty of work to do if they are going to have the car ready to line up in the second race on Sunday which is due to start at 12.05pm local time.

And Murphy admitted it would take a super-human effort to get the car repaired.

“I don’t know what happened but we intend on finding out,” he said. “It just felt like I was hit. The car just turned hard right into the wall.

“It’s destroyed and we won’t be here tomorrow - we don’t think. “We fully intend on finding out who caused it. “This is extremely disappointing for the team and I feel very bad for them after what happened in Adelaide.”

Skaife started the round with no points after a shocking beginning to the season at the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide.

But he left his opposition under no illusions after race one. The Holden Racing Team driver took control of the race early on and never looked back. His pit-stop was slick and his driving was almost perfect.

And he heaped plenty of praise on his team for putting his car back together after the Adelaide round.

“After getting the spare car ready for the Melbourne Grand Prix and then getting the other one back from being repaired and then putting it on a plane to get it here and it being as good as it is - they’ve done a great job,” he said.

“It’s been a pretty hectic start to the year. “We certainly didn’t expect to have this much drama with a brand new car.”

Sunday’s second race will see the debut of the controversial reverse grid concept.

Veteran driver Russell Ingall - who finished second in the opening race and will start at the back of the grid with Skaife - said he was expecting plenty of action.

“I don’t know how we’re going to play it to be honest,” he said. “I think it’s going to be a survival race. “I think it’s going to be mayhem.

“It’s going to be a matter of not getting mixed up in somebody elses accident that’ll be the trick rather than trying to get through.”

In the companion Porsche GT3 event the Porsche of Dean Fulford crashed in spectacular fashion by vaulting a 3 meter high catch fence and landing in the grandstands. Fulford climbed for the car apparently uninjured and there were no reported injuries to the spectators.

Cross Posted @ Asian MotorSports

Pukekohe International Raceway, V8 SuperCar Series, Auto Racing, Motorsports, Full Throttle

BBC Sports seems to think so:

Formula One’s ruling body the FIA has decided which 12 teams will compete in the championship in 2008.
It is expected that the 11 existing teams will all take part despite the continuing discord over the future of the sport.

The FIA has also chosen a new team to join the grid in 2008.

The Prodrive company, run by former BAR and Benetton boss David Richards, has been tipped as the likely winner when the announcement is made next week.

Five carmakers had threatened to form a breakaway series from 2008 if they were not granted a greater share of F1’s profits and a bigger say in how the sport was run.

But Renault, BMW, Mercedes, Toyota and Honda have all entered, even though they have failed to agree a new commercial deal with the FIA.

A total of 11 new teams applied for enterence to F1 in 2008. Richards says he has been told that the formal announcement will come next Friday and “we await that with bated breath.”

As we all do.

F1, ProDrive, FIA, formula One, Auto Racing, Motorsports, Full Throttle

Rick Minter of the Cox News Service had four tough questions for NASCAR. One was directed at Kevin Harvick: “Why should Nextel Cup regulars want to compete on the Busch Series?”

Harvick, the Busch Series points leader, says he can answer that with a question of his own.