According to jayski, this afternoon will see an announcement that, for the first time since before the millennium ticked over, Marcos will not be racing for the blue oval as JTG Daugherty Racing will share technology with Mikey's team and, while Brad says otherwise, more or less be a fourth MWR car. He'll still be using the #47 and still have the Little Debbie sponsorship, it just will be with a Toyota badge rather than a Ford one.
Under the agreement, JTG Daugherty will get the same chassis, engines and techno-info-sharing that Mikey receives from TRD. Daugherty reckons this deal will put them about two years ahead of schedule since they would have been relying on, most likely, the NW series notes that Marcos has picked up the past couple of seasons (which would be very rough since the cars are not even remotely similar).
Homestead will be the final time Ambrose drives a Ford Fusion...for now anyway.
Based on the recent performances by both Waltrip and Reutimann, this may prove to be a good move for Marcos who, as he proved at both Watkins Glen and Dover (until damage, he was running in the top 15), can run with the big boys and will surely be a huge help to MWR with their road course program. I must say that I feel better about this than Marcos running by himself...and no disrespect to the Wood Brothers who have helped Ambrose enormously since 2006 when he entered the Truck series, he might wind up being a little more competitive than I previously thought.
Now, normally, my posts with similar titles are a good-natured poke at motorsport around the globe...but not this time. I've decided to use this instead to give my kudos to Marcos Ambrose on a truly incredible weekend (all the photos are from his website by the way).
While Cup qualifying got rained out, the Nationwide series did manage some practice and Marcos put up times in the top ten which would ordinarily be expected given his road course background. But this was no ordinary NW field...I think there were 20 drivers doing double duty and while Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon weren't in the NW cars, guys like Kyle Busch, Robby Gordon and Kevin Harvick were so you couldn't say this was going to be a walk in the park for the Aussie.
Ambrose leads the way from Busch, Kenseth and Harvick.
Saturday morning came and went, with Marcos qualifying 12th for the NW race and being amongst the frontrunners, if not the frontrunner, in Cup practices...this was starting to look like Sonoma all over again, but would he get that storybook finish?
It didn't look that way as he got shuffled a bit at the start of the NW race. Jeff Burton lost it in front of him (whether or not Marcos tapped him I don't know...the replays were inconclusive but he looked to be too far back to have given Jeff a touch), he sent Sam Hornish Jr into a spin when Sam didn't get good traction in the esses while Marcos did and then with about 15 laps to go, he sideswiped a backmarker.
But, like most fairytales, one has to overcome adversity before the happy ending and this was no different.
His luck changed with 33 laps remaining. As Ambrose pulled into his pit box to get service on his final stop for the day, the caution flew so he (and Ryan Newman who pitted at the same time) escaped without penalty. Carl Edwards then divebombed Clint Bowyer on the restart allowing Marcos to gain a couple more spots in the ensuing chaos. Indeed, by the time the pitstops were all sorted, Marcos was in the top five and had more fuel than the cars in front of him.
Marcos taking the chequered flag.
They say that to finish first, first you have to finish and that rang true as the doorslamming battle between Burton and Busch meant that Ambrose and Jimmie Johnson were able to close down the gap. When Burton made his retaliatory move on Busch, that lifted Marcos to third behind Jeff and Jimmie. Unable to keep up with their pace, Marcos seemingly cruised along saving a little fuel and I imagine gave a huge smile when, first Johnson and then Burton ran out of gas and Marcos took the lead for good with three laps left.
And so, in his 59th start in the 59 car, Marcos Ambrose became the first Australian to win in the Nationwide series and got a tremendous reception after his on-track victory celebration. In nice gestures, Carl Edwards paid tribute to him when interviewed after the race, Kyle Busch gave him a handshake on the podium and even Jack Roush congratulated him on a job well done.
Not only did he smoke those tyres good, he also kept the car off the wall on that narrow front straight!
That's generally where the story says 'The End' right? Ahh, no...not in this case.
After starting shotgun on the field (ignoring those guys sent to the back for engine changes and whatnot...if you want to get picky, then I think he actually started 41st), Marcos stormed his way through the field to be running 15th after 23 laps. The final cycle of pitstops came and went and the #21 Ford Fusion was inside the top ten...but could he keep it going or would similar misfortune strike him like at Infineon?
With a slipping clutch and fading brakes, Marcos passed Martin Truex Jr for fourth and inherited third when Newman ran wide in turn one before 'the big one' happened behind. That allowed his brakes to cool down but that clutch was going to be an issue since the guy behind him, Juan Montoya, isn't well known for his patience. Ambrose went to the inside on the restart, telling Juan that if he wanted past, he'd have to go around the outside...something the Columbian did try on the final restart and ended up having to battle Truex allowing Marcos some breathing room as he closed in on Tony Stewart.
Marcos took the #21 to heights not seen by the team in over three years.
That was where the story ended as Ambrose finished behind Tony and Kyle, giving the Wood Brothers their best finish since 2005 and the best ever finish by an Australian in the Cup series (previous was a 18th by Tony Spanos at Martinsville in 1987 apparently).
Now, I'll be the first to say not to expect a similar result from Marcos in next weekend's Cup race at Michigan since, despite Ambrose saying he doesn't want to be known just for his road racing expertise, he has to be realistic and knows that's when he's able to show off his talent, just like Robby Gordon. But he showed last weekend that sometimes you do get that fairytale ending and nice guys don't have to finish last.
Congratulations, Marcos. You've made Australia, and this Aussie in particular, proud, mate.
Or rather, in racing terms; if you put yourself in position enough times, eventually you'll breakthrough.
I get the impression that might be Marcos Ambrose's mantra for this week as, once again, victory in Montreal slipped from his grasp.
Going into the weekend, there was no doubt that the #59 STP Ford was going to be one of the cars to watch and Ambrose made good on those promises. He qualified third and snuck into second, passing Max Papis, before the first safety car period came out on lap 7. For the first time in NASCAR history, this caution wasn't to wait out the rain, but rather to give all teams the chance to fit a windshield wiper, brake light and whatever else could be done inside the allotted time to help against fogging up windows and helmets.
Once the race got back underway, Ambrose wasted little time in passing Scott Pruett for the lead and then proceeded to get back to where he left off here twelve months ago; giving a demonstration on how to drive this track. By the time the next yellow flag came out, Marcos had built his lead to over eight seconds, he did it again the next time (even going off-track and still retaining the lead) before coming in for his final pit stop on lap 41. Such was his performance (assisted by the weather of course) that, even allowing for his drive-through penalty for speeding, he came out in third and was poised to challenge for the win as his wets were far fresher than those of Ron Fellows (who had yet to make his last stop) and Patrick Carpentier (who chose not to change his tyres at his stop...Kimi Raikonnen at Silverstone last month, anyone?).
Alas, we'll never know if both drivers were holding back or, indeed, whether Ambrose could have gotten by them, as the rain became torrential and NASCAR, wisely, called the race off with 26 laps remaining. It was small consolation for the Australian that he led the most laps for the second straight year as he was interviewed after the race; "We’ve dominated this race twice now and not closed the deal. I’m bitterly disappointed and I feel a little robbed. It doesn’t feel too good."
He may have been in different colours, but Marcos gave a repeat performance of 2007...complete with the same result; no win.
Does Montreal owe Ambrose? Maybe.
But hey, that's racing and sometimes the guy with the best car doesn't win. The good news for Marcos is he doesn't have to wait long for the next road course and if his performances at Sonoma and Montreal are anything to go by, expect him to be running in the top 10...as long as he doesn't dwell too much on the one that got away.
Well here we stan...uh, sit in my case (hard to type when standing up)...less than four weeks until the season opener. While some things have changed (the name for starters), the majority of the Nationwide Series has stayed the same.
Pretty much all of the information I'm putting on here comes from Marcos Ambrose's webpage by the way.
One nice change is that this year will be the first (in three) that Ambrose won't have that yellow stripe on the back on his car except when he runs his Cup schedule signifying him as a rookie. His first day of testing at Daytona went pretty well as he ended up 17th in the afternoon session having picked up nearly two seconds from the morning where he was 36th.
Marcos also has a new Crew Chief this season; Walter Giles. While that name may not ring a bell with people, Giles was part of Martin Truex Jr's Cup team and joined the Wood Brothers at the end of 2007. Another couple of names to be recruited by Wood Brothers are Ken Douglas and Paul Forgie. Both were part of the SBR (Stone Brothers Racing) team that Marcos drove for in the V8 Supercars so I'm guessing he'll be happy to see a couple of familiar faces.
Will having Paul and Ken bring back Marcos' stunning V8 Supercar form?
The other main change comes from within as Wood Brothers have undergone a restructure and, while Ambrose will attempt to qualify for 12 races in the Sprint Series, an additional four races have been earmarked as part of the JTG Racing (where he'll use the #47 and be, effectively, the second Wood Brothers entry).
As I mentioned earlier, this will be Marcos' third season in the States and he has already impressed me hugely with his attitude and seems to have won over a few fans with his personality. Hopefully 2008 can bring him the one thing that he came rather close to achieving last August in Montreal; a win.
As posted on Ben Maller's "NASCAR rumours" bit. Well, actually it's a snippet from the Melbourne Herald but I bet they didn't use that headline.
America's biggest motor sport star, Dale Earnhardt Jr, was the guest of honour at Phillip Island yesterday. Earnhardt is the most popular driver in NASCAR racing and earns more money than the entire V8 Supercar field combined. Sports Illustrated magazine estimated his 2007 earnings at more than $50 million. But unlike the media circus that surrounded David Beckham's recent visit to Australia, Earnhardt was able to slip under the radar. The only people clamouring to meet the racing celebrity were the V8 Supercar drivers and team managers as he walked down pit lane.
I am struggling to see why that headline is warranted to be honest.
Jr said he wanted to go and see a V8 Supercar round while he was is Aussie...in fact, he said he's a fan of it and loved seeing them live. I pointed that out yesterday in my 'Deja Vu' post...but I bet another big part of him being here was to get away from the media scrum that probably follows him around all day. That's the beauty about Australia and New Zealand...we're so far away from everywhere else so we tend to treat superstars as your average Joe.
You want another example? Ok then; David Beckham was in town last week...and he thoroughly enjoyed the fact that he was able to walk around Sydney and Wellington without getting hassled. Yes he said a few people came up and asked for autographs, but that's the measure of how well known he is...but Jr is a NASCAR driver (which isn't a global sport like football is) so what did you expect?
You see, while Marcos Ambrose is doing his best to convert us to NASCAR...though he didn't have to with me since he didn't go over there until two years after I started watching...we already have our own motorsport series where they run 'stock' cars and V8 engines, so why would we bother getting all excited about a bloke who just wanted to have a nice, relaxing two weeks? We're not considered one of the most laid-back countries for nothing you know *rolls eyes*
In a country where Cricket, Tennis, Rugby League and Aussie Rules captures our attention, NASCAR just doesn't cut it and I doubt it ever will. So enjoy your time in Australia, Jr...after the year you've had, you deserve to have a break, mate.
Right, well I'm back from my two week holiday and since this is the NASCAR section I won't bother going over the races from Martinsville, Atlanta and Texas in great detail as that would have already been done so let's have a look at the other stuff I post; V8's, Rugby and Marcos Ambrose.
Not that it feels like I'm home. We're supposed to be coming into Summer...which doesn't explain the fact that we're barely getting into double digits temperature-wise (deg C). Not going to get into Al Gore's territory but I thought the term 'global' meant that, not just some places scattered around the world.
Moving on; V8 Supercars first. Well, they've had two rounds since Bathurst and the Championship looks like it's Garth Tander's to lose. He had a great weekend on the Gold Coast and coupled with Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup's misfortune at Bahrain (yes, the V8's don't just race in Aussie and NZ) he leads the standings...despite his overenthusiastic teammate tapping him during one race (come on Rick, you did it to Craig last year but this is your teammate. Everyone knows rule number one is don't hit team cars, sheesh *rolls eyes*).
To Rugby then...both codes I guess. South Africa snuck by England to win their second William Webb Ellis trophy beating them 15 points to 6. No tries scored (take that all those people who reckon the only way to win is via an expansive game) but it was a gripping match to watch as both teams had monster forward packs and every yard was hard fought. On the League front, New Zealand look rubbish...a far cry from two years ago when they beat both Australia and Great Britain. First the Aussies thumped them by 50 odd points, then GB have beaten them the last two weekends. The new coach has come under fire and this week's game could be vital as to whether or not he stays on for the World Cup next year.
Well, it's been a rollercoaster few weeks for my man, Marcos. A few poor finishes had seen him drop to 10th (I think) in the Busch standings until the Memphis race...which I missed as I was at my friend's house. Anyway, to take pole position on his 'worst' type of track (he prefers the inters, not the short tracks) was one thing, but to storm through the field (different pit strategy) to take fourth was another. Reminds me of last year when I also missed his best races (Kentucky and Kansas)...I should get paid by Wood Brothers to take more holidays since he does this whenever I do.
Marcos shows off his first pole in his Busch Series career.
I shall update both the qualifying and race championships over the weekend...not looking forward to that since I've missed a few weeks but hey, if I don't no one else will since I'm the one with the spreadsheet *laugh*
Oh and if you're wondering why there appears to be two posts about this from me...blame technology. I had written this one then clicked post. That brought up the wonderful 'whoops' page so it didn't get posted. I then wrote a summary one as I couldn't be bothered rewriting this and find that it suddenly gets done too...go figure. Suffice to say, no point with the summary one after that so I deleted it.
Yes it was the weekend a few days ago...the one weekend where every other form of sport I follow can go and get stuffed, NASCAR included.
Mount Panorama was the location as the V8 Supercars revved up for their Daytona 500, only ours is longer; the Bathurst 1000.
161 laps around the 6.21km long, arguably, best racing track in the Southern Hemisphere and one of the most challenging in the world.
The map doesn't do justice to just how steep the track is.
The outright lap record is held by Kiwi, Greg Murphy, in his Holden Commodore with a time of 2:06.8594 in 2003...and he would've gone quicker but he changed down to first instead of third through the Dipper.
Anyway, practice began on Thursday and saw the #17 Jim Beam entry of Steven Johnson and Will Davison (we use codrivers down here remember) at the top of the timesheet but it was Saturday when the first ten cars were sorted in the 'top ten shootout'. Basically, the fastest ten cars after the last qualifying session is finished on Friday get to battle it out in a one-lap race against the clock. The order starts from the slowest of the ten while the fastest guy on Friday goes out last knowing what time they have to beat.
This year it was the #6 Castrol Ford Falcon with Mark Winterbottom behind the wheel (Steven Richards letting Mark do the lap) who took pole position from the #2 Holden Racing Team (HRT) Commodore of Mark Skaife and Todd Kelly.
The car the rest would chase into turn one on Sunday.
The race got underway half an hour later than usual; 10:30am local time and it didn't go accoridng to plan for the #50 Supercheap Auto entry of Cameron McConville and David Reynolds who had a mechical failure on the warmup lap and put them out for the day. The start was a clean one for the front row and nothing much happened during the first few hours except for both Toll HSV cars (including the Championship leaders; Rick Kelly and Garth Tander who were paired up in the #1 car) had brake issues which led to lengthy pitstops under the sfaety cars (when they came out) to bleed the bakes.
The Ford Falcons appeared to have the pace on the Holdens but by lap 100, it was the #2 HRT Commodore who looked to have the race in their pocket. However, all wasn't as it seemed as they were concerned about fuel. See, around Bathurst, on full tanks, you can squeeze out 33, maybe 34, laps...they last pitted with 69 laps to go so it was touch and go whether they could make the finish on just one more stop like everyone else.
So the race then became a battle between the #6 Falcon of Winterbottm/Richards and the #888 Team Vodafone entry (and defending race winners) Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup. When Winterbottom pitted for the final time, the gap was 0.4 seconds and Whincup pitted a couple laps later...and blew it.
Jamie came barrelling into pitlane, locked up the front tyres and slid into the gravel trap. Amazingly he was able to keep the car moving and made it to his pitbox but they came out some ten seconds behind the #6 car.
Things then became interesting as the weather people reported rain and it came with around 25 laps to go. Richards was the first to suffer as he slid wide and smacked the wall as everyone was racing in the slippery conditions on slick tyres. He managed to pit to make repairs and change onto wets but it wasn't their day.
That left the #888 car out front, with the #17, the #4 (James Courtney and David Besnard in the car that Marcos Ambrose vacated) and the #51 (Greg Murphy and Jason Richards in the Tasman Motorsport Holden) right on their heels once the safety car came out to slow the field down. The first car on the wet tyres was the #34 Valvoline Commodore of Greg Ritter and Cameron McLean and he was lapping around a second a lap faster but was too far behind to make a serious challenge for the win.
In the end, Ford wound up with a 1-2-3 as Lowndes crossed the line ahead of Courtney and Johnson, with Murphy finishing fourth. All four cars finished line within two seconds to complete one of the most weird Bathursts I've seen.
I say weird since the first 100 odd laps were rather boring with only two cars retiring and not a lot of passing taking place on the track. However, once the skies opened up, the race came alive...something I still reckon NASCAR should take note of; rain is good and makes for brilliant racing.
So full credit to everyone at Team Vodafone and well done to their drivers for managing to go back-to-back at the Mountain. As a result of the Toll HSV cars having trouble and not scoring any points, Lowndes and Whincup now head the Championship.
Winners are grinners.
So that wraps up the most important racing weekend in Trans-Tasman motorsport and with three rounds to go, it's all on for the title.
And, just so I don't get any complaints from chux, ccr or anyone else...
That's usually how everything starts doesn't it? Dale Jr to HMS...Gibbs to use Toyotas...the old rumourmill has seen its fair share of stuff this year. Now there's another, and one with an international flavour;
Marcos Ambrose might be graduating to the Cup series in 2008.
Now, ordinarily, I don't bother clicking the 'NASCAR rumour' part on the main page of this site since I tend to prefer reading blogs instead (we get away with showing a bit more passion than proper writers after all)...but the headline in Ben Maller's section "Ford helping Ambrose prep for Cup" was a bit too intriguing for me to ignore.
Last week there was a similar article which didn't actually go anywhere so I thought it might have been the same this time...I was wrong. The Herald Sun say that "Marcos Ambrose will graduate to the multi-million-dollar NASCAR Nextel Cup racing next year" due to his strong position in the Busch standings (rookie season remember...made to look even better when you consider this is only his second year racing on ovals).
Call me a sadist, pessimist, whatever, but I don't think this will work. I'm the type of person who likes seeing someone earn their way into the elite...and yes, Marcos has worked his way from V8's here to Cup over there through the Truck and Busch series...but he's still inexperienced on ovals. Ok, so he's already over 30 years old (which is reasonably old to be considered a rookie I guess), but the fact is he's pretty much still a novice on the ovals...he'll be fine when they go to Infineon and Watkins Glen so I don't have any worries about those.
I am very much torn on this; I want it to be nothing more than a rumour and he stays in the Busch series for next year...but I would also love for it to be true.
We'll have to wait and see I guess...but most things do start with a rumour.
Ok, now either everyone is letting me do the blog on this or there's nothing anyone can add on Lee Spencer's article about it...I'm guessing it's the former so thanks everyone since I was obviously asleep when the news broke (time difference and all that jazz).
First off, let me remind everyone that I don't hold Robby at fault for what happened at Montreal. As far as I'm concerned, it was just hard racing by two good road warriors. The only things that spoiled it in my mind was the black flag thing and that Robby didn't at least try to get alongside of Marcos when he punted him off.
Anyway, Robby Gordon has, apparently, spoken to Eddie Wood about the possibility of running a second car this weekend in the Watkins Glen Cup race...with a certain Australian behind the wheel.
After seeing how well Marcos ran at Montreal, I was very surprised when he wasn't on the preliminary list as evidenced by my post about it yesterday (um, does anyone actually know Robby or something since that is rather freaky). You can say what you want about if this is just a conspiracy by Robby and he's only doing this to try to get back into NASCAR's good books or if he is doing this as he recognises that Marcos is a talent on road courses like Robby himself is.
Either way, I think this is a wonderful gesture and I sincerely hope that both the #7 and #77 make the race since it would be really cool to see the two guys who fought tooth and nail (and fender) for the win last time out to be racing together...I just hope they don't take each other off again.
If there's one thing I'll say about Robby, it's that he does everything by instinct...so thanks, Robby, I reckon you'd have redeemed yourself in many Australians (and Ambrose fans in North America) eyes by doing this.
Of course, since this isn't yet reported anywhere else, it may very well be a wind up...but it's the thought that counts right? Scrap that, jayski have Marcos listed as an 'add on' for the Cup race so this could be legitimate.
Ok, as many people on here know, I tend to focus my NASCAR blogs on Marcos Ambrose, mainly since we're both Australians. Now, after hearing at the start of 2007 that Marcos would be making his Cup debut at Sonoma, I was rather excited. For you see, Marcos is a pretty handy road racer and the new car rather ####ily reminded me (and Forensic) of the V8 Supercars he raced down here.
So as you can imagine, I was rather miffed when I saw that Marcos' name wasn't on the list for Sonoma. Wood Brothers said they wanted him to focus on the Busch series and the logistics of getting him from Milwaukee to Napa Valley and back were somewhat difficult. Also, since Marcos was in the top ten in points, they didn't think it would be a good idea to split his focus that weekend and I understand that totally.
To Watkins Glen then...both series are racing there this weekend so it's the perfect time to chuck Marcos in a second car and see how he does. After all, he can only be on a massive high after his performance in Montreal a few days ago.
Now imagine my surprise when I see the preliminary Cup list and his name isn't on it.
Fair enough, it says it's only provisional...but come on, did Marcos have to win in Montreal to get a drive or something? If he wasn't so loyal to Wood Brothers for giving him a shot last year, I am betting there are a few other teams who would love to have him in their car this weekend.
I was really looking forward to seeing him give the new car his best shot...but now it looks like that will have to wait. And, unlike Marcos in his postrace interview, I will be mad (not as mad as my avatar though) if he isn't even going to be given a chance by his team.
See how mad my avatar is? Oh wait, wrong picture...um, never mind then
Yes, Bill Elliot is a great driver and highly respected within NASCAR circles, but give the best road racer you have in your stable a go...surely he proved that he can handle these cars on those types of tracks?
Someone tell me it's April 1 since this must be a prank.
Ok, it was all looking wonderful for 70 laps in Montreal. My man was cruising along in front and going to win his maiden Busch race in his rookie year.
Marcos, of course, comes from a road racing background downunder and showed on the streets of Mexico earlier in the year what he was capable of doing in the Busch series when they start turning right instead of just left all the time.
He was fast in every practice session and stuck his #59 Kingsford Ford Fusion in fifth for the race. I have no idea why the TV guys said he had slipped under the radar...they must have been watching a different race or something. Ambrose made up a spot at the start by passing Max Papis and was sitting in fourth for the early stages of the race. As the pitstops came and went, it was clear that Marcos had, without doubt, the best car in the field as when the caution flag flew on lap 66 his lead was over four seconds. Fuel was the main issue but once that yellow came out, the crew (and Marcos) all breathed a huge sigh of relief as that was the break they needed to be good to go to the end.
The complexion of the race changed when, ironically, Marcos' teammate blew an engine. Scott Pruett at that time was fending off Ron Fellows when he slid wide on the oil and Robby Gordon was able to sneak past both into second place. When the green flag waved with four laps to go, Marcos pinched a break on Robby going into turn 1 but Robby was able to muscle his way alongside (if the damage to the right rear of Ambrose's car was anything to go by) after getting a better exit off turn 2.
Behind them, chaos was the order of the day as Pruett sqeezed Harvick onto the grass and got promptly spun, collecting Fellows in the process bringing out the yellow again. At that time, the TV coverage switched back to show Gordon being hit by Ambrose and spinning...but we don't know exactly when the yellow first flew and who was leading. Nor do we know if Robby saw the yellow and slowed down that tiny bit which caused Marcos to hit him (despite everyone on the foxsport racetrax claiming they know...armchair experts and all that *rolls eyes*).
Regardless, Gordon, understandably, was ticked off at Ambrose and gave him a few friendly love taps while they were behind the safety car. Of course, you knew what was coming at the next restart and Robby paid Marcos back by punting him in turn 2 before going on to win the race...or did he?
NASCAR black-flagged Gordon for not being in the right position when the green waved for the last time so the race got awarded to Kevin Harvick. See, you have to maintain a minimum speed behind the pace car...which Robby didn't since he was backwards on the track. He was supposed to start in 12th or something but took the restart behind Ambrose in second.
Robby said in his post race interview that he was the leader and would appeal the result. Marcos said that he wasn't mad, just disappointed for the whole team at being that close to pulling a win off (how's that for showing class in that situation...some drivers should be taking notes).
In the end, Marcos finished in 7th, collecting the bonus points for leading the most laps (35 in total)...scant consolation for what was a brilliant drive. My feelings right now echo exactly what Marcos said; absolutely gutted at seeing a win slip through his grasp.
When asked afterwards about possibly just letting Robby by when the green came out for the final time, Marcos offered up this; "We were talking about whether we should pull over and let him pass, but you know, I've got two laps to go and I'm trying to win the race. If somebody is going to take me out, they're going to take me out. If they feel strong enough, they're going to do it. I'm not going to go into it."
Despite his seemingly calm demeanor, Marcos admitted that he would probably be needing therapy for a couple years to get over being that close to a historic win.
Marcos' dream of getting his first win were ruined by the front end of Robby Gordon's car
Gordon has said that he didn't think what Marcos did was intentional (about 2:00 in)...if that was the case, then why was he so annoyed with Marcos?
Oh well...there's always Watkins Glen next week I guess.
Marcos Ambrose; the moral victor of the inaugural Montreal Busch series race.
Well, seven rounds have gone by in the Australian V8 Supercar series and it isn't really much of a surprise to see the two Toll HSV cars leading the way.
Showing the way...just like he did last year
Rick Kelly, the defending series Champion (who won the title without actually winning a round...go figure) was always going to be the one to beat this year and, up until last week, no one could match him. However, his teammate, Garth Tander, managed a series sweep last week at Queensland raceway while Rick missed out on a top three finish after having a shocker of a weekend by his own extraordinarily high standards. This meant that Garth was able to turn a points deficit to a slender lead going into round 8 in Sydney (which starts on August 17).
As the season kicks off its second half, here are the top ten in points;
In that list there are 4 former Champions; Rick, Craig, Skaife and Russell and only three not to have won the prestigious Bathurst 1000; Will, Winterbottom and Courtney (who now drives the car vacated by NASCAR Busch driver Marcos Ambrose).
Is Whincup the best hope for Ford to wrestle the title back from Holden?
Rather interesting to note that, despite the dominance this year in terms of round wins by the Holden boys, there are six Fords in the top ten. Perhaps just as interesting is that the top six drivers are all in team order; the two Toll HSV cars, the two Team Vodafone boys and the two HRT cars.
But, naturally, that isn't the closest fought title race...no, that honour belongs to see who will win Miss V8 Supercar for 2007. Maybe I should change the title of this to 'Midriff-season review' instead.
Will Miss V8 2006 repeat this year?
They'll have a hard time trying to figure out a winner
Now, if only I could find where I sign up to be a judge...*sigh*
Well, I couldn't do a mid-year review since we're well into July...and I couldn't do a mid-season one since they've done 20 races already so I was left to go with mid-winter (Southern Hemisphere remember), hope you don't mind.
Anyway, let's get into it; focusing on my fellow countryman, Mr M. Ambrose.
Marcos behind the wheel of his #59 Kingsford Ford Fusion
After a storming start to the year (finishing 16th on his debut race at Daytona Speedway, 8th in Mexico and 10th in Atlanta), that included gambling on tyres in Dover to come home an incredible 6th, Marcos hit a bit of a rough patch recently with only two top 15's since then, while the rest of the results have been outside the top 30.
Despite this, he still sits inside the top 10 in the points, thanks largely to the number of Cup drivers who don't race a full season. I've already gone on record as saying that if he manages to stay in the top 10 that he could end up in Cup next year (though I'd rather he raced in Busch again to gain further experience on ovals) and that he will beat Juan Montoya in the Rookie of the Year standings (although I thought Juan was going to run a full Busch schedule when I wrote that one...oh well), so let's see how close I've been so far.
- Juan isn't running a full schedule, so if Marcos doesn't beat him he'll be highly annoyed with himself. He'll need to pull a few stunners out if he wants to beat David Ragan for the Rookie title however...he has the talent, it's just producing the results that he's been struggling with lately. I think second will be the best he can do to be honest. - after listening to Trackside at New Hampshire, Jeff Hammond was saying that a lot of people have sat up and taken notice of his achievements this year...and who am I to argue with him? - every time I hear a radio or TV piece about Marcos, he always sounds/looks really excited to be there. Even the racing nuts on here say similar things and that they're impressed by his attitude, so he seems to be going the right way at winning over fans.
Ok, so that's a pretty high standard he has set so far this season and Marcos will only want to improve on what he's done so far...maybe there's a chance that he'll overdrive the car, but we'll see. He's proven to be a quick learner and doesn't have any problems listening to advice (soaking up the information Mark Martin gave him at Dover for instance) which is always a good sign for a driver.
But, again, what will 2008 bring? Is Marcos a chance for a Cup ride next year?
Well, Sonoma would have gone some way to answering that only the team pulled the pin on that, choosing instead to focus on the Busch race. So we look to Watkins Glen then; if he can qualify for the race, we'll see what he can do with the 'big boys' on the Sunday. My only question is if he can get used to the new car quick enough to be able to qualify it...he's a great road racer so learning the track shouldn't be a problem (particularly not when the Busch guys run there the same weekend so he'll get double the practice time). One thing is for sure, the Glen won't be his only shot in a Cup car in the future, I think this year has seen him prove he belongs there.
However, that's still to come, this is supposed to be about his season so far...and I've gone on about nothing for the whole time so let's give him a grade for this year so far; B-
There we go, I've rated him...not really all that hard either.
His qualifying has been a bit patchy (2nd in Nashville, 41st at California) but has been slightly better than his results; average qualifying is a tick under 20th while racing is just over 22nd.
All in all, he has been much better than I expected him to be and sits about 100 points clear of the other car in the stable so he's doing what he should be doing; beating his teammate.
And while Marcos will have an eye on staying where he is in the standings (10th) or even improving a couple spots on it, his other eye will be firmly fixed on New York and that elusive chance to race in the Cup series.
Tez is a rare creature; an Australian who was living in New Zealand before moving to Canada. He's also a Civil Engineer who is hoping to spend his Monday to Friday sitting in front of a computer surfing the inter...uh, working hard for an Engineering Consultant or Contractor when he finds a job. His heart is torn between his two loves; F1 and NASCAR.
Due to his high interest in those, his blogs will likely focus on them with the occasional foray into sports that don't get much (if any) mention on this website. All blogs and/or comments will more than likely have his usual dollop of sarcasm and general Aussie spin on them.
Amazingly, he also managed to score 2 MiB nominations on consecutive days (August 5 & 6, 2007) after announcing he had been keeping track of them...he's considering hiding under his bed as a result.
