ATLAS F1 - THE JOURNAL OF FORMULA ONE MOTORSPORT
Elsewhere in Racing
Updates from the Rest of the Racing World

By Mark Alan Jones and David Wright, Australia
Atlas F1 Magazine Writers



Advice: The points tables for most series covered by Elsewhere In Racing are available here. Individual series are linked to their corresponding points table after each report.


  NASCAR

Kenseth Goes Back-to-Back

Last year Matt Kenseth won one race on his way to clinching the series title. This year, he has doubled that total just three races into the season after winning at Las Vegas on the weekend. For weekend's win was not only back-to-back wins this year for Kenseth, but also back-to-back victories at the track, as this was the venue of his solitary win last year.

Matt Kenseth celebrates two wins in a rowKasey Kahne sat on the front row with Kurt Busch alongside, with Kurt Busch taking the lead at the start of the race before Kahne surged into the lead on lap 5. Back in the field Jimmie Johnson was charging, having started outside the top twenty to move into second in less than 20 laps. On lap 24 points leader Dale Earnhardt Jr was lapped by Kahne, while just over 10 laps later Johnson took the lead from Kahne. Not long after the first caution of the day came out on lap 40 when Scott Wimmer lost an engine.

The field pitted, with Kahne leading Busch, Tony Stewart, Jamie McMurray and Elliott Sadler out of the pits. Johnson was no longer near the front after suffering damage to the front right of his car as he exited his pit stop. The race restarted on lap 46, Stewart moving into second on lap 52, before taking the lead from Kahne on lap 55 and pulled away. Meanwhile Jeff Gordon was in the top 20 after a dreadful weekend leading up to the race, including a crash in qualifying and a blown engine in practice.

Lap 88 and Ryan Newman brought out the caution after spinning off turn four but somehow missing the wall. More pit stops, with Stewart leading Kenseth, Busch, Kevin Harvick and Sadler back on to the track. Back to green on lap 93, with Kenseth taking the lead two laps later. Dale Earnhardt Jr's day, which hadn't got off to a good start when he was lapped so early in the race, had become worse after twice pitting early to correct his car's handling problems, only to still have an ill-handling car and for cautions to come out before everyone else pitted. On lap 107 Earnhardt Jr had enough and took his car to the garage to see if the problem could be cured, the first of what would be several visits to the garage by Earnhardt Jr.

The next caution came out on lap 138 after Jeff Green hit the turn two wall. Once again the field headed to the pits, with Kenseth leading Harvick, Stewart, Kahne and Busch out of the pits. Racing resumed on lap 143, with Stewart retaking second soon after. Not much happened before Michael Waltrip hit the turn four wall (with a little help from Bill Elliott in one of his rare 2004 appearances) to bring out the caution on lap 166.

Las Vegas winner Matt Kenseth leads Kevin HarvickMore pit stops, with Stewart leading Kenseth, Bobby Labonte, Harvick and Busch out of the pits. Lap 173 and the race restarted, with Kenseth taking the lead straight afterwards, Harvick up to third soon after. But it was back to caution on lap 184 when Kevin LePage had an engine failure. As with every other caution, the field headed pitward, with Harvick leading Stewart, Busch, Mark Martin and Jamie McMurray off pit lane, as a 'poor' stop dropped Kenseth from first to seventh.

The field returned to green flag racing on lap 192, Kenseth moving back into fifth on lap 195 before debris brought the caution flag out once more on lap 202. Despite cars having pitted just over ten laps earlier, the field pitted once more as this year's softer tyres and the possibility of making it to the end without pitting again loomed large. Harvick won the race off pit road to lead Stewart, Johnson (who only took two tyres), Kenseth and Busch as the race restarted on lap 207.

The pace which saw Kenseth lead earlier in the race was still there as he moved quickly up to third. With 50 laps remaining in the 267 lap event he was with Stewart for second place, taking the place soon after. Around ten laps later on lap 231 Kenseth took the lead from Harvick, with Harvick alone among the leaders in wondering if he could make it to the end with the fuel in his tank.

Late in the race early leader Kasey Kahne charged through the top five, taking McMurray with 11 laps remaining for fourth place and third from Stewart five laps later. With five laps remaining, Kevin Harvick's crew chief's words rang true as, as predicted, he ran out of fuel, Harvick finishing the race in 21st place. Unlike the previous round at Rockingham, Kahne couldn't catch Kenseth but they did finish one-two again, as Kenseth went on to take the victory, with Stewart, McMurray and Mark Martin rounding out the top five. Meanwhile points leader (at the start of the race) Dale Earnhardt Jr finished 35th, his multiple visits to the garage probably costing him only one position and 3 points compared to where he may have finished had he stayed on track with his ill-handling car (and not crashed).

Result of NASCAR Nextel Cup, Round 3 of 36, UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Nevada, United States:

Pos  Driver              Car
 1.  Matt Kenseth        Ford Taurus
 2.  Kasey Kahne         Dodge Intrepid
 3.  Tony Stewart        Chevrolet Monte Carlo
 4.  Jamie McMurray      Dodge Intrepid
 5.  Mark Martin         Ford Taurus
 6.  Elliott Sadler      Ford Taurus
 7.  Casey Mears         Dodge Intrepid
 8.  Bobby Labonte       Chevrolet Monte Carlo
 9.  Kurt Busch          Ford Taurus
10.  Rusty Wallace       Dodge Intrepid

Standings: Matt Kenseth 523, Tony Stewart 435, Elliott Sadler 405, Jeff Gordon 404, Kurt Busch 400, Kevin Harvick 399, Dale Earnhardt Jr 398, Kasey Kahne and Jamie McMurray 385, Casey Mears 367 etc.


  V8 Supercar

Bright Start To 2004

Jason Bright leads the field at the start of race threeThe V8 Supercar season opened with three races on the Australian Grand Prix support program, and PWR Racing lead driver Jason Bright came away with the biggest smile of the weekend, finishing second in the first race and following it up with two wins.

It was a bruising weekend, with several cars damaged in a series of scrapes through Albert Park's concrete canyons, the most serious being a clash between five time champion Mark Skaife and Formula Holden champion Simon Wills after Wills spun in front of Skaife during the third race start of the weekend. In other incidents, Russell Ingall and Bathurst winner Rick Kelly collided, ending with Kelly in the wall at turn 16, while Wills's new teammate Dale Brede crashed around the back of the course in a single car incident.

Bathurst dominator Greg Murphy won the first race of the weekend, leading home Bright, Garth Tander, Steven Richards and Paul Radisich in the first Ford, the first official outing for British outfit Triple Eight Race Engineering in the series. Defending series champion Marcos Ambrose was third behind Bright for much of the race but spun back to sixth trying to avoid Bright who braked early for a corner.

Mark Skaife's bad weekend got worse in race threeAmbrose's luck did not improve with an engine overheating in the longer second race which saw Murphy fade with tyre troubles, leaving Bright to the win ahead of Perkins Engineering racer Steven Richards. Murphy was third, ahead of Tander who was displaying some early promise for Garry Rogers Motorsport, with Jason Bargwanna the best Ford in fifth. The final sprint race saw little change in the top order with Tander and Murphy swapping places. Ambrose climbed from the tail of the field to finish sixth behind Bargwanna and ahead of Steven Johnson.

The battle between British tuners Triple Eight and Prodrive was comprehensively claimed by Triple Eight, with Craig Lowndes and Glenn Seton off the pace all weekend in Prodrive's Ford Performance Racing Falcons. The teams will compete for the first round of the championship in two weeks on the shortened version of the former Adelaide Grand Prix circuit.


  CART

Champ Car To Hold Race In Seoul For First Time

By Lewis Franck

The Champ Car series will visit five countries this year and includes a street race in Seoul, South Korea for the first time. Open Wheel Racing Series LLC, the new owners of the series, announced a 16-race schedule at a news conference on Monday in Long Beach, California - the site of the opening round.

OWRS is operating the series after purchasing the assets from the bankrupt company previously known as CART and will keep its headquarters in Indianapolis.

"We are very excited about our entire 2004 schedule and are especially happy with the diversity of challenges it presents to our teams and drivers," said Champ Car president Dick Eidswick.

The revamped series includes visits to Mexico and Australia as well as Korea but most of the races are scheduled for traditional venues in North America, including Canada. England and Germany have been dropped from the schedule.

The open wheeled Champ Cars will race on a mix of temporary street circuits, permanent road circuits and one oval. The new street race in Seoul will be held on October 17.

Two additional events are still to be announced, including the season ending race in November.

The first race will take place on April 18 at the site of the former Formula One race in Long Beach. Canada's Paul Tracy will return to defend his title with additional driver and team announcements due to be made on Tuesday in Long Beach.

2004 series calendar:

Date            Track
April 18        Long Beach Street Circuit, California
May 23          Fundidora Park, Mexico
June 5          The Milwaukee Mile, Wisconsin
June 20         Portland International Raceway, Oregon
July 3          Burke Lakefront Airport, Ohio
July 11         Toronto Street Circuit, Canada
July 25         Vancouver Street Circuit, Canada
August 8        Road America, Wisconsin
August 15       Denver Street Circuit, Colorado
August 29       Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Canada
September 12    Laguna Seca, California
October 17      South Korea
October 24      Surfers Paradise, Australia
November 7      Mexico City

Note: Late September and late November are both slated for additional events, with OWRS preference appearing to be for an event in South Africa and Las Vegas Motor Speedway respectively.

Report provided by Reuters


  Briefs

  • MotoGP has been in full swing with Aprilia, Ducati, Honda, Proton and Suzuki testing in Valencia while Yamaha have stayed at Phillip Island. Proton belatedly started their own testing program in Valencia, while Kawasaki have returned to Japan after their test at Phillip Island. March 26 will see all the major teams gather for an offiical test at the Catalunya circuit in Spain.

    Valentino Rossi has been circulating faster at Phillip Island than last week when the majority of the MotoGP field was in Australia. He trimmed his times to be on a par with lead Ducati rider Loris Capirossi and the back of the Hondas who dominated the test, with Max Biaggi leading the way.

    At Valencia, Nicky Hayden set the fastest times on the factory Repsol Honda, just ahead of Ducati pairing Capirossi and Troy Bayliss and HRC's Alex Barros. Kenny Roberts was next quickest but the factory Suzuki was only just within a second of Hayden. Kenny's brother Kurtis sustained a dislocated shoulder after falling from his Proton.

  • The opening round of the European Formula 3000 championship has been cancelled. The event was supposed to open the new Manama facility in Bahrain, however that will now have to wait until Formula One arrives in April. The revised European Formula 3000 series now looks like:
    Date            Track
    May 2           Enna-Pergusa, Italy
    May 30          Estoril, Portugal
    June 6          Jerez, Spain
    June 27         Monza, Italy
    July 18         Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium
    August 30       Donington Park, Great Britain
    September 12    Dijon-Prenois, France
    September 19    Zolder, Belgium
    October 31      Cagliari, Italy
    November 28     Dubai, United Arab Emirates
    


  Upcoming Events Calendar

  • March 12 - World Rally Championship, Round 3 of 16, Rally Mexico
  • March 14 - NASCAR Nextel Cup, Round 4 of 36, Atlanta Motor Speedway, Georgia, United States
  • March 20 - V8 Supercar Championship Series, Round 1 of 13, Clipsal Adelaide 500, Adelaide Street Circuit, Australia
  • March 20 - American Le Mans Series, Round 1 of 9, Sebring 12 Hour, Sebring International Raceway, Florida, United States
  • March 21 - NASCAR Nextel Cup, Round 5 of 36, Carolina Dodge Dealers 400, Darlington Raceway, South Carolina, United States
  • March 21 - Indy Racing League, Round 2 of 16, Copper World Indy 200, Phoenix International Raceway, Arizona, United States
  • March 28 - NASCAR Nextel Cup, Round 6 of 36, Bristol Motor Speedway, Tennessee, United States
  • March 28 - FIA GT Championship, Round 1 of 11, Monza, Italy
  • March 28 - European Touring Car Championship, Round 1 of 11, Monza, Italy
  • March 28 - World Series by Nissan, Round 1 of 9, Jarama, Spain
  • March 28 - World Superbike Championship, Round 2 of 11, Phillip Island, Australia
  • March 28 - All-Japan Formula Nippon Championship, Round 1 of 9, Suzuka, Japan

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Volume 10, Issue 10
March 10th 2004

Atlas F1 Exclusive

Interview with Ron Dennis
by Roger Horton

Interview with Adrian Newey
by Roger Horton

Bjorn Wirdheim: Going Places
by Bjorn Wirdheim

Ann Bradshaw: Point of View
by Ann Bradshaw

2004 Australian GP Review

The 2004 Australian GP Review
by Pablo Elizalde

Technical Review: Australia
by Craig Scarborough

Reflections from Melbourne
by Roger Horton

The Other Red Cars
by Karl Ludvigsen

The Holy Grail
by Richard Barnes

Stats Center

Qualifying Differentials
by Marcel Borsboom

SuperStats
by David Wright

Charts Center
by Michele Lostia

Columns

The F1 Insider
by Mitch McCann

Season Strokes
by Bruce Thomson

Elsewhere in Racing
by David Wright & Mark Alan Jones

The Weekly Grapevine
by Dieter Rencken



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