Ambrose turns to NASCAR Busch

Marcos Ambrose would normally be at Bathurst in early October, but this year the two-time V8 Supercar champion is in the US, from where he has confirmed that he's graduating to NASCAR's Busch Series next season from the pick-up truck series in which he's made his stock car debut this season.

Busch is a 35-race series one level below the premier Nextel Cup, but many drivers from the Cup also do Busch races, a lot of which are on big oval tracks. Twenty six of the 2007 Busch races will be at Nextel Cup rounds, two with the Craftsman Truck series and eight stand-alone events, including two outside the US -- in Mexico and Montreal. Ambrose will be driving a Ford Fusion for the Wood Brothers team, with Gold Coast businessman Craig Gore likely to continue backing him.

Ambrose admits that the "Buschwhackers" series will be "a huge change -- the schedule is much more hectic and rewarding, and the competition is much tougher with a lot of Nextel Cup regulars running".

"I want to be a more complete package and move forward from week-to-week and be more consistent than I have been," he says. "The challenge of racing every week and getting yourself geared up for it is part of the attraction. I don't see it as daunting, I'm just anxious for it to get started. Even to run top 20 in the Busch Series will be a big effort -- they start 43 every week and they might try to qualify 50."

This year's Busch Series leader, Kevin Harvick, has already won US$1.13million in prizemoney with five races to go. In the truck series Ambrose has had two third-place finishes and a pole position. He's fourth in the rookie-of-the-year standings, despite missing the first three rounds.

The technology in Montoya's Dodge will be almost medieval compared to what he has been accustomed to in Formula One and American open-wheeler racing. "I think you need to have a very open mind about it, know that it is going to be difficult, and it is going to take time," says Montoya, who team owner Chip Ganassi intends to take straight into the Nextel Cup next year. "At the end of the day, it is the same thing. It is a bigger car, and one has more technology and the other one doesn't. It has a steering wheel, four tyres and brakes. It is a bit heavier and it is going to have more momentum, more inertia, but that is about it."

Webber laments loss of Suzuka
Conditions could be wet at the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka, certainly in today's practice. After breaking his long points drought last Sunday in China, Australian Mark Webber is hopeful of a decent result in Japan, where he was fourth -- and unlucky to miss the podium -- last year. It's the last GP at Suzuka before the race moves to Fuji next season. While safety concerns have been raised about Suzuka, Webber says it's "spectacular and fantastic".

A send-off from Pele
Legendary Brazilian footballer Pele will present soccer-loving Schumacher with a special trophy at the final race of the F1 season in Sao Paulo in 16 days to mark his retirement.

Schu's seven world crowns, and possibly eight by then, and more than 90 race wins have been compared to Pele's 1281 career goals. Pele is an unabashed Schu fan, saying "this is a big honor for me". The 65-year-old won't get to wave the chequered flag, though, after botching it at Interlagos a couple of years back.

Nasty -- and costly -- business
Schumacher's manager, Willi Weber, has won an apology and may get US$180,000 in damages from Business F1 magazine editor Tom Rubython, who accused him in a story of involvement in prostitution and drug running. Rubython earlier lost libel cases to former Jaguar F1 team boss Tony Purnell and FIA official Alan Donnelly. Two other FIA officials, Charlie Whiting and Richard Woods, have actions outstanding against him.