MOTORSPORT: Tony Cochrane's wings clipped?

The sport is rife today with talk, and indeed a couple of media reports, that Tony Cochrane is on the way out as head honcho of V8 Supercar racing, to be succeeded by John Hewson, the former Liberal politician who almost became prime minister in the early 1990s.

It seems that Cochrane's outburst against his category's former telecaster Channel 10, and his insistence that it not be allowed to televise the V8 Supercars when they return to the Australian Grand Prix next year, was the last straw for many around Cochrane.

They were annoyed with his media release on the subject in the middle of last week, but when he continued to press his hard line so firmly at Eastern Creek over the Queen's Birthday weekend it resulted in moves which, it appears, will see him stripped of most of his power.

Cochrane's rage with Channel 10 is over what he sees as its intransigence by not agreeing to a deal that would allow South Australia to get all V8 Supercar telecasts on Channel 7 at the same time as other states.

The picture is complicated by the AFL contracts to which the 10 and 7 networks are parties, and 10's David White claims the problem is of Cochrane's own making.

Irrespective of the intricate details of that, Cochrane was censured by his V8 colleagues over recent days as unprofessional, having acted unilaterally and having put himself in an untenable position.

As with the long-running Holden Racing Team ownership saga, it seems to be too hot a potato for most of the mainstream press, although it is the "cover story" -- with the heading BONED -- in today's edition of the weekly electronic version of Motorsport News (enews.mnews.com.au) -- and we expect Auto Action to deliver its take on the situation tomorrow (Wednesday).

Cochrane can remain heavily involved in V8 Supercars if he chooses because of the integral role of the SEL company of which he is a principal, but his "reassignment" in the sport will be part of a restructuring that will see, basically, the merger of the Touring Car Entrants Group (TEGA) and V8 Supercars Australia (which is 75% owned by TEGA and 25% by SEL).

The turnaround in Skaife's form from Winton a couple of weeks earlier to Eastern Creek is nothing short of astounding.

How appropriate that he attained his 38th championship round victory in the new Holden Commodore VE chassis number 05 -- the racing number that Brock carried all those years.

Certainly there are many more rounds of the championship these days than in Brock's time, and Skaife (pictured) won't ever enjoy public adulation to the extent Brocky did, but his feat should not be underestimated.

Skaife makes the point, without any disrespect to Brock, that the competition is much greater now.

In this environment, Skaife has won the Eastern Creek round six times -- twice as often as the next best performer at the Sydney track, Marcos Ambrose -- now in the US breaking into NASCAR.

But what we have found most interesting in the wake of Skaife's success at the Creek is his admission that he has put much greater emphasis back on his fitness and preparation in recent weeks.

For some years now, and in particular in the year or so that he shared the then record 37 wins with Brock, there has been a feeling that Skaife has had too much on his plate, trying to run a team as well as be its lead driver.

Just how his racing life has been restructured to enable him to concentrate more on driving and preparation for it is going to be interesting to observe because, while it seems to be pretty much settled, just how the HRT ownership saga has been resolved, and to the satisfaction of TEGA, still has not been disclosed.

Anyway, after the time that matter has run what's another few days, or perhaps weeks, waiting for that explanation?

For now Skaife ought to enjoy his success.

He's had to overcome lots of hurdles in recent times -- as much from within, it seems, as from external influences.

Skaife, his HRT teammate Todd Kelly and HSV's reigning champion and this season's series leader Rick Kelly emerged as the top three from the long weekend -- after Ford/Triple 8/Team Vodafone's Jamie Whincup was stripped of third place (and dropped to fifth) because of a brake irregularity, admitted by his team.

The Walkinshaw cars have won 13 of 14 races this season; Ford's only victory has been Whincup's upset in the first, wet race at Winton.

Skaife's victory at the Creek has given him renewed hope in the title fight, but he's still the fourth of the four drivers in the Walkinshaw cars.

Rick Kelly, in his unassuming way and despite teammate Garth Tander often being a fraction quicker, is quietly piecing together what could be back-to-back titles.

V8 Supercar Championship leaders after five of 14 rounds: Rick Kelly (Toll HSV Dealer Team) 276 points, Garth Tander (Toll HSV) 251, Todd Kelly (Holden Racing Team) 205, Jamie Whincup (Team Vodafone) 205, Mark Skaife (HRT) 169, Craig Lowndes (Team Vodafone) 148, Steve Johnson (Jim Beam Racing) 130, James Courtney ( Jeld-Wen Racing) 125, Russell Ingall (Caltex Racing) 119, Mark Winterbottom (Ford Performance Racing) 116.

The TV footage of Kubica slamming into a safety wall and bouncing and flipping back across the Montreal track as his car disintegrates is horrifying.

Yet the early reports of the young Polish driver emerging with only a broken leg appear now to have been exaggerated.

Kubica left hospital within hours, driving himself away in a BMW X5, and declaring that he hopes to be okay for this weekend's United States GP at Indianapolis.

He had light concussion and a sprained right ankle but says: "I have no pain and feel well."

He will have to undergo a thorough medical check on Thursday, otherwise expect Sebastien Vettel -- who the Germans, and many others, believe to be something special -- to be in the second BMW-Sauber at The Brickyard.

Irrespective of whether Kubica is passed fit, the fact that he got out of the Montreal wreck in one piece is testament to amazing safety of the modern F1 cars.

At 22 years and 161 days, Hamilton became the third youngest winner in F1 history.

His McLaren teammate, Fernando Alonso, was the youngest, when driving for Renault.

Alonso beat the record of New Zealander Bruce McLaren, the man who founded the team that is now back on top in F1.

Alonso and McLaren were both 22 too.

For the record, Hamilton is the first black driver to win a GP, and the first to win a race in his debut season since Juan Pablo Montoya in 2001.

Montoya never realised his full potential in F1.

Hamilton has a much better temperament and everything points to him becoming one of the greats.

Despite all the accidents and caution flags, Hamilton says Montreal was "a fairly simple race".

It's not always going to be that easy for him, but clearly he's perfectly at home at the most elite level.

Flanking Hamilton were BMW-Sauber's Nick Heidfeld, confirming his potential and that of his car, while Austrian Alex Wurz was up there for third place in a Williams-Toyota on the anniversary of his GP debut 10 years earlier -- and after his years in the wilderness as a test driver.

And from 19th on the grid!

While we still believe in the potential for Mark Webber and Red Bull Racing to produce results, the Aussie must look over at Williams now and wonder whether he's made the right move.

Reprimanded for baulking American Scott Speed from the Red Bull-related Toro Rosso team in practice, Webber again proved his genuine speed by qualifying sixth, way above where the RB3 ought reasonably be on the grid.

He was briefly second in the race but ended up ninth, just missing out on his first championship point of the season.

As frustrating as it must be, Webber rightly says: "No one is interested in the shopping list of excuses. We have just got to get on with it."

A month ago it was hard to contemplate that anyone other than the McLaren and Ferrari drivers would be on the podium this year.

As things stand now, after six of the championship's 17 races, we see McLaren running away and Ferrari perhaps losing its way.

The great Italian team is probably missing the technical and tactical genius of Ross Brawn, who is on sabbatical leave, more than the driving talents of Michael Schumacher.

Life at Ferrari has been downhill for Kimi Raikkonen since his victory at the season-opener in Melbourne.

Mika Hakkinen, Raikkonen's Finnish countryman and McLaren's dual world champion from not so long ago, says Raikkonen ignored his advice to stay at McLaren.

"I warned him that changing teams might not go well for him," Hakkinen told Finnish newspaper Iltalehti.

"Unfortunately, for Kimi, my forecasts are being fulfilled. Of course, it is true that McLaren's recent past had some problems, but it is a team that has always had the capacity to recover."

Davidson's Super Aguri hit the beaver while he was third behind a safety car.

After he pitted to replace his damaged front wing he finished 11th.

"It's such a shame about the beaver," Davidson says. "It had it in for me for sure. I could not understand why suddenly I locked up the front tyres." 

Formula 1 world championship standings after six of 17 races: Drivers -- Lewis Hamilton 48 points, Fernando Alonso 40, Felipe Massa 33, Kimi Räikkönen 27, Nick Heidfeld 26, Giancarlo Fisichella 13, Robert Kubica 12, Heikki Kovalainen 8, Alexander Wurz 8, Nico Rosberg 5, Jarno Trulli 4, David Coulthard 4, Takuma Sato 4, Ralf Schumacher 2. Constructors -- McLaren-Mercedes 88, Ferrari 60, BMW-Sauber 38, Renault 21, Williams-Toyota 13, Toyota 6, Red Bull-Renault 4, Super Aguri-Honda 4.
Bourdais brings up Newman-Haas ton

Will Power and Team Australia, and Paul Stoddart's new Team Minardi USA, have done Australia proud in the Champ Car series this year, but the Newman-Haas team and Sebastien Bourdais are the class of the field.

Frenchman Bourdais notched his third straight victory at Portland, Oregon, at the weekend -- and that gave Newman-Haas its 100th win (26 of them by Bourdais).

After four rounds of the championship Bourdais, who we expect to be in F1 next year with Scuderia Toro Rosso, is 11 points ahead of Power, who won the opening race in Las Vegas and was fourth in Portland.

Justin Wilson took second place at the weekend and Dutchman Robert Doornbos third for Stoddart after getting past Power at the final round of pitstops.

Round 5 of the Champ Car series is on an airstrip at Cleveland, Ohio, on June 24.

New Zealander Matt Halliday, who drove in the early races this season, will be back in the series with Conquest Racing for several of the late rounds, including the Gold Coast Indy in mid-October.

Champ Car leaders after round 4: Sebastien Bourdais 105 points, Will Power 94, Robert Doornbos 87, Alex Tagliani 78, Justin Wilson 69.

A major investigation has been launched into the finances of South Africa's A1 Grand Prix round on the streets of Durban.

The Democratic Alliance is angry at what it says is a lack of financial feedback about the event.

Sound familiar?

Meanwhile, Australia's A1 team has retained Sydney driver Ian Dyk for the third series starting in September.

"For the sake of continuity and stability we're going with Ian," Team Australia boss Alan Jones says.

Dixon and his Ganassi teammate Dan Wheldon were running second and third with 31 laps left when trapped in the pile-up while trying to lap traffic.

Penske driver Sam Hornish Junior notched a record 19th IRL career victory -- by just 0.0786 seconds from Tony Kanaan in the closest finish this season.

Danica Patrick, an Andretti Green Racing teammate of Kanaan, finished third -- her best result.

After seven rounds Scott Dixon has 234 points -- 19 points behind leader and Indianapolis 500 victor Dario Franchitti, with Kanaan  between them, seven points up on Dixon.

A fire in his Ford Fusion's engine ruined Ambrose's day and saw him drop out of the top 10 in the standings -- but only to 11th.

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