Motorsport: Townsville V8 race KO'd

Midweek motorsport reportDecember 6, 2006

The Queensland Government put a stop to plans for the Townsville race, proposed from 2008, because it did not believe the event made financial sense. The state's Sports Minister, Andrew Fraser, says the initial approach was for a one-off capital injection of $11 million from the government, but it believes the event would cost it and the Townsville City Council significantly more.

"Our analysis shows that the capital works alone to stage the event are estimated at $24.7 million and annual operating contributions totalling $3 million would be required by the government and the council," Fraser says.

The Townsville red light comes against a background of a street race proposal also having been rejected for Fremantle in Western Australia on the grounds it didn't stack up financially, and more recently cynicism about the Bahrain round that may have made money for the V8 organisers and teams but drew next to no spectators and was telecast around midnight.

Cochrane has reacted angrily to the Townsville decision, while community leaders are annoyed and the Townsville Bulletin newspaper claims South-East Queensland gets favoritism over the Far North.

Cochrane says North Queensland is now out of V8 Supercar considerations for at least five years. "We will now be concentrating on bids from other cities around Australia and the world," Cochrane says. "They will now take a priority over North Queensland, and that is a real setback." Cochrane also says the Townsville decision may affect the V8 Supercar involvement at the Gold Coast Indy, "but I can't elaborate at this point in time."

Tony Ireland, the big Townsville car dealer who chaired a steering committee trying to get the Far North race up, says the government's decision "is a bloody sad day for the city". Acting Mayor Ann Bunnell says the council "looked at the event from all aspects and the economic return would have been extremely valuable to the community". The council offered $2.68 million towards the capital works.

The Townsville Bulletin says the government decision "is a familiar story for a region that consistently loses out to South-East Queensland ... a real slap in the face for a region that is used to doing it on its own. The question Townsville is asking itself is why wasn't its race bid given the same long-term considerations (as the Gold Coast Indy)?"

The paper quotes Tony Cochrane saying "the Townsville decision is part of an ongoing concern we have with the GCMEC's commitment to V8 Supercars". GCMEC is owned 50-50 by the International Management Group and the Queensland Government. GCMEC general manager Greg Hooton says he can't see how the Townsville decision could be linked to the future of the V8s on the Gold Coast. "I am confident that the whole race, not just one category, will be broadcast next year," Hooton told the Gold Coast Bulletin.

Kelly's teammate Garth Tander may well have been champion this year if not for the ill-fated driver swap that saw him with Holden Racing Team for the endurance races and not getting a lap on race day at Bathurst after Mark Skaife's unfortunate early exit. Mark Winterbottom is a mathematical chance for the title on Sunday but needs a miracle, with both the men ahead of him having to bomb out.

The experienced Lowndes fancies his chances, especially as horsepower is not as critical at the Island as some other tracks -- and horsepower is something his latest Falcon, introduced at the Tasmanian round four weeks ago, is lacking. Lowndes wouldn't mind seeing some rain this weekend, although perhaps not even Phillip Island can produce that in the drought.

"It's one of my favourite tracks and I feel I'm actually at my strongest here when it is raining, so I'm hoping for a wet race," Lowndes says. "This will be a true Ford versus Holden battle, and the pressure is really going to be on Rick and myself to get the job done. He will be hard to beat, and I think it will be the case of last-man-standing, with the Falcon and Commodore very evenly matched."

Kelly says: "Craig and I go into the final round on an even footing. Essentially, we have to beat each other to grab the trophy. Holden against Ford, head to head. It was the way it was meant to be, and it should be a fair dinkum battle down to the wire. It is great for the series, the fans and the event.

"Without a doubt, Craig will be hard to beat. He goes well at the Island, but so do we. Garth and I were both on the podium here last year, and our cars are an improvement over our 2005 machinery. And Phillip Island was our test circuit until this year, so we know the place pretty well.

"As well, we enjoyed a pace advantage over the Triple Eight cars at Indy, Symmons Plains and Bahrain, which gives us confidence. We aren't going to do anything different to what we have done all season -- just get out there and do the best job we can each session. But whatever the outcome, it has been a good year for our team and me personally."

Garth Tander and Mark Skaife are level on four each, while Ford's Jason Bright has three. Tander is favorite for the pole award and is looking for a career-best third round win of the season while helping Toll HSV to a 10th straight podium.

A stat Stones don't want
Stone Brothers Racing took Marcos Ambrose to V8 Supercar titles in 2003 and '04 and Russell Ingall last year, but hasn't won a race, let alone a round, this year. Rookie James Courtney has notched two podiums in one of the SBR Falcons but Ingall hasn't been on the dais,  although his consistency sees him fifth in the championship, just one point ahead of Jason Bright. "It has been a long time, six years I think, that SBR hasn't won a race or championship round in a season and that's not a statistic we want to our name," Ross Stone says.

Ex-HRT ace PWR's big wheel
PWR Racing, perhaps better known as Supercheap Auto Racing, has turned to Jeff Grech, who guided Holden Racing Team to six V8 Supercar championships in seven years, to resurrect its fortunes after a woeful season which has left Greg Murphy 15th and Cameron McConville 25th. Team owner Kees Weel says Grech's appointment is a commitment to rebuilding the team.

"Further changes are also necessary if we are to achieve our goals, which we've set quite high," Weel says. "Jeff has been appointed to assess the situation and advise us on what else is required to meet those goals."

Ambrose still eyes The Mountain
Marcos Ambrose is back in Australia between his debut season in America, racing a pick-up truck, and moving into the Busch Series next season. Ambrose will be commentating for Channel 10 at Phillip Island this weekend. A dual V8 Supercar champion but without a Bathurst victory, Ambrose admits that success at Mt Panorama is still "definitely on the list of things I want" -- although maybe not next year.

Kimi tops class for quids
Kimi Raikkonen, a driver McLaren boss Ron Dennis says won't listen to anyone, will reportedly be earning US$1 million a week as Michael Schumacher's replacement at Ferrari -- about five times that of his new teammate, Brazilian Felipe Massa. Swiss newspaper Blick says Raikkonen's income will top US$51 million a year. F1 Racing magazine says Fernando Alonso, world champion the past two seasons for Renault and now moving to McLaren in place of Raikkonen, will be paid US$35 million in '07. That's about five times what he was making at Renault.

Meanwhile, it is now becoming obvious that the relationship between Raikkonen and Ron Dennis had soured, perhaps because of the Finn's drinking exploits that attracted tabloid headlines. "It would have been helpful if Kimi had listened to those who tried to advise him, but I suspect that there is not a single person in the world to which he listens," Dennis told Spain's Diario As newspaper.

"Will isn't the quickest in the series. He is going to get an award that doesn't belong to him," says Bourdais, who also claimed conditions favored Power in getting pole position on the Gold Coast. The Frenchman, whose comments may have been something of a payback for Team Australia backer Craig Gore's barbs at him being an "unworthy champion" for crashing into Power in the Australian race, concedes that Power can be a "strong contender" next season.

Bring out the pace car
The A1 Grand Prix 'World Cup of Motor Sport' is in Indonesia this weekend for the fifth round of its second season, and hopefully one of the snags the organisers encountered at the Sentul circuit last February won't be repeated. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's official vehicle was delayed in traffic on a freeway as it made its way to the track, about 30km south of the Jakarta, and the Pres had to get out and ride on one of his police guard's motorcycles to get to the race on time.

The circuit has had some major improvements during the year, with some re-surfacing and work on the paddock and garages. Japan-based Irishman Richard Lyons, who drove in the V8 Supercar enduros this year, will be representing A1 Team Ireland this weekend, while Ryan Briscoe continues with the Australian team.

Brabham goes prototype again
Versatile David Brabham is returning to prototype racing in North America after a three-year absence, signing with Highcroft Racing to drive its Honda Acura-powered Courage sports car in next year's American Le Mans Series. Brabham, winner of 12 races in this form of racing, recently tested the car for two days in Florida. Andretti Green and Fernandez Racing will be fielding similar cars.

Dixon's forlorn F1 hope
New Zealander Scott Dixon has signed a three-year contract extension with Chip Ganassi in the hope of reclaiming the Indy Racing League title he won in 2003 and of winning the Indianapolis 500. Fourth in the IRL this year, Dixon says the team did better than expected considering it had to adapt to a switch to Honda engines from Toyota. Dixon still has an "out" clause in his contract in case he gets a chance to switch to F1, but admits that is now a long shot.

"It's so tough (to break in)," Dixon says. "Politically it's very hard, and you have got a lot of these young guys who have a lot of background with F1 teams now and that's just where they are gonna end up. If you are not with two or three of the teams you struggle." Dixon's book, Indy to Indy, written by Sandy Myhre about Dixon's experiences from the 2005 Indy 500 to this year's Brickyard classic, was launched this week. He admits he only read the manuscript fully a few days before and says his life story in racing "is far from finished".