MOTORSPORT: Tough times for Ambrose and Atkinson

Ambrose, who was 18th in the Cup in his first full season last year, finds himself 30th this season after being classified 37th in the latest race at the Talladega superspeedway (pictured).

Atkinson was one of only four drivers in the opening round of the Asia-Pacific Rally Championship in Malaysia to make it to the finish, although it was a very distant fourth after he lost 17 minutes through an electrical fault on his Proton Satria Neo and a 10-minute penalty on top of that.

In the space of 10 days Ambrose has dropped six places in the Sprint Cup, been docked 50 points for an illegal belly pan under his Toyota Camry, seen his JTG Daugherty team crew chief Frank Kerr fined heavily, had a rival -- and the winner of last year's Talladega Cup race, Brad Keselowski -- blast him, then get tangled up in a nine-car pile-up.

While last season he had four top five finishes, his best results this year remain three 11th places. His scorecard from the nine rounds so far this season now reads: 41st, 35th, 14th, 11th, 33rd, 11th, 11th, 17th and 37th.

Still he remains positive, saying after the last race: "We'll bounce back and have a fresh start next week in Richmond (in Virginia)."

Today's race -- won by Kevin Harvick from Jamie McMurray by just 0.0012 seconds -- saw 29 different drivers lead at various stages. There were a NASCAR-record 88 lead changes over the course of 200 laps of the 2.5-mile (4km) oval) during the thrilling race.

The previous record for lead changes was 75, also at Talladega in 1984.

At one-third distance Ambrose had contact with Keselowski after which the Penske driver said: "I don't know how they pit in Australia, but apparently it's from the third lane."

Ambrose had battled on through the race after some repair work that had left him a lap down but, as a dash to the chequered flag began, he was caught in the chain reaction that took out a quarter of the field. The mayhem began as youngster Joey Lagano made contact with Ryan Newman coming out of the final turn.

"It's just one of those tough days at Talladega," Ambrose said. "I said coming into the weekend you either win or wreck, and today just wasn't to be.

"We worked hard at the car all day long, and by the end of the race it was good enough to run with the leaders, and we were in a good position in the train to take advantage of it. It's a shame for the team, but we'll bounce back."

The Talladega disappointment came after crew chief Kerr was one of four crew chiefs of teams affiliated with or part of Michael Waltrip Racing who were penalised for rule breaches detected after qualifying at Texas Motor Speedway on April 16.

Kerr and the crew chief for Italian Max Papis were each fined $75,000 for violations regarding "non-approved parts and unapproved added weight".

Two MWR crew chiefs were fined $25,000. All four have been put on probation until the end of the year. Ambrose and his team owner, Tad Geschickter were each docked 50 points in their respective championships, which dropped the driver to 28th -- which has now become 30th after the lowly Talladega classification.

"While the penalty feels excessive for an apparent misunderstanding on submitting a part, we also understand NASCAR has to police the sport and rule strictly to keep a level playing field among the teams," Geschickter said.

"We will work diligently to ensure that there are no misunderstandings in the future.

"We are focusing our energy on turning our season around and winning races with Marcos Ambrose."

Electrical gremlin for Atkinson in Proton debut
Chris Atkinson had just as much reason to be disappointed after the Malaysian Rally that marked his return to rallying -- after more than a year on the sidelines.

He had had just one start, for Citroen's junior team in Ireland early last year, since Subaru folded its World Rally Championship squad at the end of 2008. However, Atkinson and his Belgian co-driver Stephane Prevot, now with the Proton R3 team in the Asia-Pacific series, had an electrical failure in their Super 2000 Satria Neo early on the first leg of the event in southern Malaysia.

"We lost a lot of time and it was always going to be difficult to make up the deficit," Atkinson said.

Atkinson's teammate, Perth-based Scotsman Alister McRae and his West Australian co-driver Bill Hayes, had a 27-point lead going into the final day, but a heavy landing early on Sunday damaged the radiator of their Satria Neo, forcing them into retirement.

That left Japan's Katsu Taguchi and his Brisbane-based co-driver Mark Stacy to take victory in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 10 for India's MRF Tyres team. Indian driver Guarav Gill and New Zealand-based West Australian co-driver Glen Macneall in another Evo 10 finished second to give MRF a quinella.

Third was Indonesia's Rifat Sungkar in a Subaru Impreza WRX, while Malaysia's former production car world rally champion Karamjit Singh and his Mitsubishi Evo 8 had to retire with mechanical problems barely 2km into the opening stage.

The next round of the Asia Pacific championship is the Rally Hokkaido in Japan on May 22-23.

Extension of Hamilton V8 Supercar contract in wind
There are increasing indications that V8 Supercars Australia will take over as the promoter of the Hamilton, New Zealand, round of its championship.

A report in the Waikato Times newspaper says the Hamilton City Council is "reviewing the role" of Caleta Streetrace Management, run by Steve Vuleta and Dean Calvert, which has promoted the street race the first three years.

There are still four years to run on the existing contract for the race, but the Waikato Times report suggests a change of promoter to V8SA could coincide with an extension of that contract.

"If F1 has to develop something helpful for real driving conditions, then the best solution is for an engine that is turbocharged and GDI," Ferrari's chief executive Amedeo Felisa has told Britain's Autocar magazine.

"That is what we would support. It is the best solution for driving efficiency and utilisation of the engine in a positive way."

Turbocharged F1 cars, introduced by Renault in 1977, were outlawed at the end of 1988.

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