It was a pretty straight forward Bristol race, it actually lacked the multitude of wrecks and tempers that usually flare at the place

Kurt Busch led from pole, but the car that would dominate the early portion of the race and a good portion of the race entirely, would be Jeff Burton who started from outside pole.  And this would set up a pattern in the race.  Jeff Burton leads a while under a long green flag run, but as time would go on, his car would start to fade, and it really didnt help matters that he was in lapped traffic after only a handful of laps.  And then this would lead to Matt Kenseth taking over the lead from Jeff Burton.  Kenseth was clearly the 2nd fastest car early in runs but by far the fastest car on long green flag runs.  Behind them, Kevin Harvick, Kurt Busch and Jeff Gordon were battling amongst themselves to round out the top 5.  And then the last part of the pattern would be, the long green flag run would end when someone cuts down a tire, causing caution.  Of course tire issues are very rare at Bristol because usually green flag runs are short and sweet with plenty of cautions to cool tires down.  In this case, there were green flag runs and the track itself was coming apart, which made it treacherous on tires.  The first victim of the tire would be Sterling Marlin, he crashed causing the first caution around lap 60 of 500.

There were a couple short green flag runs interrupted by a pair of accidents (Kyle Petty getting bumped by Dave Blaney, sending Petty into the wall and then David Gilliland breaking loose and smacking the wall).  Kurt Busch led for a brief period after pitstops but Jeff Burton was able to reclaim lead without much issue.  Under the Gilliland caution at lap 115, different pit strategies finally presented  themselves.  First off, Mark Martin's nightmare night started when he was caught pitting outside his box, which is a 1 lap penalty.  He would never make that lap up and later got involved in an accident because he was mired in traffic.  Bristol always brings out some different pit strategies because of the difficulties of passing on the track.  Earnhardt Jr and Edwards both took only 2 tires and took the lead after that, they battled amongst themselves for the lead, trading off when Earnhardt Jr got loose off a turn, opening the door for Edwards to lead.  But it only took 30 laps before Burton was able to reclaim lead from the more ill handling cars. 

And once again the pattern showed itself, Burton leading under a long green flag run.  However instead of Kenseth taking the lead it would be Jeff Gordon at lap 180.  This was followed by a tire failure, this time Kevin Harvick, who was running 3rd.  He dropped to 35th but would recover to finish 11th in the race.

Burton would get lead after pitstops.  And caution would fly pretty quickly afterwards with Wimmer having a bad restart and Mark Martin rearending him.  Wimmer deposited debris on track, causing caution.  Shortly afterwards under the next green condition, Reed Sorenson cut a tire down, tried to stay on track but then bogged the leaders down.  He got tagged by Kurt Busch, who had nowhere to go to dodge the incredibly slow Sorenson.  He did damage to his tire well.  Sorenson meanwhile spun and did a nose-dive into the wall.  Almost immediately after the restart, Clint Bowyer would crash when his rear tire came loose, sending him into a spin in a shower of sparks and into the wall.

Burton would then lead a HUGE chunk of race under the next green condition.  He would lead from lap 219 to 317 before, yep, Matt Kenseth, managed to come back and take the lead.  Kenseth would lead until, yep, another tire failure, this time David Stremme, who slapped the wall hard, knocking his suspension out of whack.  Burton would get lead after pitstops and led until the next caution which was caused at lap 380 when Elliott Sadler spun with Joe Nemechek, sending Nemechek into the wall and Sadler into the innocent Yeley who was trying to dodge the accident. 

Earnhardt Jr reinherited the lead after doing more pitstrategy but he would be easy pickens for Matt Kenseth after leading 15 laps.  Kenseth would take the lead from his rival and friend and put a rather dominant look to the last 1/5 of the race.   The only hiccup happened when Elliott Sadler spun on his own and crashed hard in the turn 3 wall, nearly collecting Earnhardt Jr.  Kenseth had to relinquish the lead for a lap before taking it right back and leading the rest of the way to win his 2nd in a row.  Kyle Busch had a great car late and was actually catching Kenseth, but it was too little too late, as he had been invisible most all the race but finally got the setup right, just not enough time.

Behind him, Scott Riggs was battling Jeff Gordon hard for the 4th spot.  The 2 rubbed eachother pretty hard for a couple turns before Gordon gave way.  I felt it was great short track racing, but the 2 didnt really like it all too much

Fin	St	Car	Driver	Make	Sponsor	Pts/Bonus	Laps	Status
1	4	#17	Matt Kenseth	Ford	DEWALT	185/5	500	Running
2	19	#5	Kyle Busch	Chevrolet	Kellogg's	175/5	500	Running
3	40	#8	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Chevrolet	Budweiser	170/5	500	Running
4	23	#10	Scott Riggs	Dodge	Valvoline/Stanley Tools	160/0	500	Running
5	13	#24	Jeff Gordon	Chevrolet	DuPont	160/5	500	Running
6	6	#11	Denny Hamlin *	Chevrolet	FedEx Freight	150/0	500	Running
7	39	#99	Carl Edwards	Ford	Office Depot	151/5	500	Running
8	21	#12	Ryan Newman	Dodge	ALLTEL Fastap	142/0	500	Running
9	2	#31	Jeff Burton	Chevrolet	Cingular Wireless	148/10	500	Running
10	18	#48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	Lowe's	134/0	500	Running
11	7	#29	Kevin Harvick	Chevrolet	Reese's	130/0	500	Running
12	31	#9	Kasey Kahne	Dodge	Dodge Dealers/UAW	127/0	500	Running
13	17	#21	Ken Schrader	Ford	U.S. Air Force	124/0	500	Running
14	22	#22	Dave Blaney	Dodge	Caterpillar	121/0	500	Running
15	32	#88	Dale Jarrett	Ford	UPS	118/0	499	Running
16	29	#55	Michael Waltrip	Dodge	NAPA Auto Parts	115/0	499	Running
17	11	#42	Casey Mears	Dodge	Texaco/Havoline	112/0	499	Running
18	24	#1	Martin Truex Jr. *	Chevrolet	Bass Pro Shops/Tracker	109/0	499	Running
19	35	#16	Greg Biffle	Ford	National Guard/Charter Communications	106/0	499	Running
20	28	#32	Travis Kvapil	Chevrolet	Tide-Downy	103/0	499	Running
21	12	#49	Kevin Lepage	Dodge	LoansDepot.com	100/0	498	Running
22	5	#20	Tony Stewart	Chevrolet	The Home Depot	97/0	498	Running
23	3	#43	Bobby Labonte	Dodge	Cheerios/Hamburger Helper	94/0	498	Running
24	16	#66	Jeff Green	Chevrolet	CertainTeed	91/0	498	Running
25	34	#96	Tony Raines	Chevrolet	DLP HDTV	88/0	498	Running
26	41	#01	Joe Nemechek	Chevrolet	U.S. Army	85/0	498	Running
27	42	#7	Robby Gordon	Chevrolet	Jim Beam	82/0	498	Running
28	15	#6	Mark Martin	Ford	AAA	79/0	496	Running
29	37	#26	Jamie McMurray	Ford	Sharpie	76/0	496	Running
30	26	#178	Kenny Wallace	Chevrolet	Furniture Row Racing	73/0	493	Running
31	25	#18	J.J. Yeley *	Chevrolet	Interstate Batteries	70/0	492	Running
32	14	#14	Sterling Marlin	Chevrolet	Ginn Clubs & Resorts	67/0	490	Running
33	20	#25	Brian Vickers	Chevrolet	GMAC	64/0	487	Running
34	8	#45	Kyle Petty	Dodge	Marathon American Spirit Motor Oil	61/0	481	Running
35	36	#40	David Stremme *	Dodge	Coors Light	58/0	468	Running
36	10	#41	Reed Sorenson *	Dodge	Target	55/0	460	Running
37	1	#2	Kurt Busch	Dodge	Miller Lite	57/5	446	Running
38	27	#07	Clint Bowyer *	Chevrolet	Jack Daniel's	49/0	415	Running
39	9	#19	Elliott Sadler	Dodge	Dodge Dealers/UAW	46/0	395	Accident
40	38	#38	David Gilliland	Ford	M&M's	43/0	346	Running
41	30	#34	Carl Long	Chevrolet	Front Row Motorsports	40/0	256	Mechanical
42	43	#4	Scott Wimmer	Chevrolet	Bully Hill Vineyards/Food City	37/0	209	Engine
43	33	#74	Derrike Cope	Dodge	Sundance Vacations/Royal Admin. Svcs	34/0	7	Mechanical

Points:

Rank	+/-	Driver	Points	Behind	Starts	Poles	Wins	Top 5	Top 10
1	--	Jimmie Johnson	3499	Leader	24	1	4	8	18
2	--	Matt Kenseth	3492	-7	24	0	4	13	14
3	--	Kevin Harvick	3178	-321	24	0	2	10	13
4	+3	Kyle Busch	3097	-402	24	1	1	8	13
5	+1	Jeff Gordon	3091	-408	24	0	2	9	11
6	+2	Denny Hamlin*	3070	-429	24	2	2	4	12
7	+2	Jeff Burton	3064	-435	24	4	0	4	14
8	-3	Tony Stewart	3056	-443	24	0	2	10	13
9	+1	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	3051	-448	24	0	1	7	11
10	-6	Mark Martin	3049	-450	24	0	0	5	11
11	--	Kasey Kahne	2959	-540	24	4	4	7	12
12	--	Greg Biffle	2798	-701	24	2	1	5	11
13	--	Carl Edwards	2788	-711	24	0	0	7	12
14	--	Kurt Busch	2659	-840	24	4	1	5	8
15	+3	Ryan Newman	2586	-913	24	2	0	2	7
16	+1	Casey Mears	2564	-935	24	0	0	1	5
17	-2	Brian Vickers	2548	-951	24	0	0	3	5
18	-2	Jamie McMurray	2531	-968	24	0	0	3	7
19	+3	Scott Riggs	2477	-1022	23	1	0	1	6
20	-1	Clint Bowyer*	2463	-1036	24	0	0	2	6
21	-1	Elliott Sadler	2395	-1104	24	1	0	1	6
22	-1	Reed Sorenson*	2384	-1115	24	0	0	1	5
23	--	Martin Truex Jr.*	2384	-1115	24	0	0	0	2
24	--	Robby Gordon	2260	-1239	24	0	0	1	2
25	--	Bobby Labonte	2256	-1243	24	0	0	1	4
26	--	Dale Jarrett	2238	-1261	24	0	0	0	2
27	--	Jeff Green	2136	-1363	24	0	0	0	0
28	--	J.J. Yeley*	2113	-1386	24	0	0	0	2
29	--	Dave Blaney	2067	-1432	24	0	0	0	0
30	+1	Ken Schrader	2044	-1455	24	0	0	0	1
31	-1	Joe Nemechek	2029	-1470	24	0	0	0	0
32	--	Kyle Petty	1904	-1595	24	0	0	0	1
33	--	Sterling Marlin	1888	-1611	24	0	0	0	1
34	--	David Stremme*	1742	-1757	22	0	0	0	0
35	+1	Michael Waltrip	1678	-1821	23	0	0	0	0

Next week they go to California

---

If at first you dont succeed, dont try skydiving
Both diapers and politicians need to be changed--and usually for the same reasons

NASCAR Michigan: Matt Kenseth had the best over the entire race distance, his gamble of staying out of the pits paid off, allowing him to jump ahead of Edwards and Earnhardt Jr. He really deserved to win the race and drove very well. Jeff Gordon was always thereabouts in the race but ran out of laps in the end to catch and pass Kenseth. Childress had an unlucky day. Harvick made a silly mistake trying to overtake Kenseth in such a fashion. Bowyer though was extremely unlucky to have his engine let go while in 3rd place with just 3 laps left. It would have been only his third top 5 of the year.

Bristol: Another good win for Matt Kenseth, pity it is all rather meaningless for him at this stage of the year. He's safely into the Chase, hardly matter what he does now until the Chase begins. Jeff Burton only got 9th place after leading a huge amount of the that race, he'll feel that he should have gotten more out of that race. Scott Riggs got a nice result in 4th place, his best result of the year and only top 5 finish.
I daresay the top ten in the championship will be the Chase contenders. Kasey Kahne is really the only man who can break into the group and he'll need a couple of good weekends.

F1 Turkish Grand Prix, Istanbul-not-Constantinople Park:
Aguri
23. Sakon Yamamoto DNF
22. Takuma Sato NCF
The now fully updated Aguri SA06 was pretty much nowhere this weekend, so it was effectively same as usual for the team. Except oddly Yamamoto managed complete more than one lap. Indeed he completed a colossal 23 laps of racing before having a rather silly spin at turn 1. Sato managed to get through the turn 1 chaos and found himself battling in the midfield however he received some damage and was forced to retire. That was until the team fixed the car and sent Sato back out on what I presume was a test session since he was 15 laps down at the time. He finished the race but wasn't classified.

Toro Rosso
21. Scott Speed 13th
20. Vitantonio Liuzzi DNF
Another man in the silly spin category was Liuzzi. His lazy spin at turn 1 changed the whole complextion of the race and maybe the World Championship and brought out the Safety Car. Before that the Italian had been running quite well and had benefitted from the first corner crashes and offs to find himself quite well up. Scott Speed didn't avoid the collisions at turn one and hit a McLaren. He lost his front wing and needed to pit. After that he did the best he could but the Toro Rosso simply wasn't able to compete and he found himself to prey to almost anyone he was ahead of.

Midland
19. Tiago Monteiro DNF
18. Christijan Albers DNF
A double DNF on paper looks like a very bad race for Midland amongst more rumours of the team being sold. However what it doesn't show is that Christijan Albers raced superbly right up until he retired in an accident. Albers' pace in the race was excellent and was on course for a strong finish out pacing, Speed, Coulthard and the BMW Saubers. It's a pity Albers then spun off, which I guess sums him up at the moment; he can do some very good things but then undo them with some stupidity. Monteiro was a victim of the first lap crashes.

BMW Sauber
17. Robert Kubica 12th
16. Nick Heidfeld 14th
Kubica will be disappointed with only 12th place. He ran strongly in the points early on before slipping away down the field being overtaken a lot. Kubica fought hard to keep those places but the BMW Sauber doesn't quite have the race pace at the moment. Nick Heidfeld was involved in the first lap crashes and needed his nose replaced. What's more his car had suffered some bad handling problems that made him just about the slowest car on track (except for the Aguris obviously).

Red Bull
15. Christian Klien 11th
14. David Coulthard 15th
What on Earth was Christian Klien doing into that first corner? He steamed so much faster than anyone else, tyres completely locked. Yet somehow he got through it in just about one piece. Amazing luck for the Austrian who looks to be on his way to DTM or Champ Cars next year. After running in 8th early on he faded backwards and was ultimately going to be beaten by his team mate, Coulthard until the Scot suffered some car problems in the closing laps and was forced to pit.

Honda
12. Jenson Button 4th
11. Rubens Barrichello 8th
Lets face it no one was expecting Honda to repeat their victory but still I think Honda did well in Turkey. Rubens Barrichello was at the heart of a lot of action in the race. He passed so many cars I lost track of who and when the Brazilian overtook. Still somehow I think Barrichello will feel 8th place is scant reward for such effort. Button on the other hand didn't really have to put in any effort at all. He just avoided the carnage at turn one, he passed Mark Webber within a couple of laps for 4th place and then that was it. The Englishman never had the car capable of keeping up with the lead three but he was easily safe from anyone behind him.

Williams
10. Nico Rosberg DNF
9. Mark Webber 10th
Mark Webber didn't retire! But then he didn't have the pace to get points today either. Just Williams' luck at the moment. Webber ran well early on, surviving turn 1 and fighting to hold onto 5th place. However faster were recovering behind the Australian and soon passed him. Rosberg was running in the points though I think he would have been in a similar position to Webber if it wasn't for a water pressure problem.

Toyota
8. Jarno Trulli 9th
7. Ralf Schumacher 7th
A so-so race for Toyota. Ralf Schumacher did very well to recover from turn 1 and a nose change to get some points. He raced very well and overtook on several occasions. Jarno Trulli was a little less noticeable and I felt perhaps he could have done more to collect some points at the end of the race, remember they're in a direct fight with BMW Sauber for 5th place in the title.

Ferrari
6. Felipe Massa 1st
5. Michael Schumacher 3rd
Two races, two new winners. This time it was Felipe Massa claiming his first grand prix victory but had the race gone according to plan for Ferrari it would have been Schumacher on the top step and not Massa. Liuzzi's spin at turn 1 caused the Safety Car to come out. This meant teams decided to bring their cars in to re-fuel and take on new tyres. Of course the Ferraris came into the pits but with Massa leading the race that meant he would get serviced first. Schumacher was crucially delayed and that let Alonso get ahead of him. Schumacher spent the remainder of the race trying to recover including the last 15 laps trying to find some way past Alonso. However Schumacher couldn't do it and in truth he looked a little ragged at times this weekend. Felipe Massa by constrast hardly put a wheel wrong and took a very well deserved victory.

McLaren
4. Pedro de la Rosa 5th
3. Kimi Raikkonen DNF
McLaren are very much in danger of going without a victory in a season for the first time in a decade. Kimi Raikkonen may have had the pace to keep up with the lead three in the race but we shall never know. He was knocked into a spin at the first corner. This shredded his left rear tyre. After having that replaced, it was discovered his rear wheels had been damaged, though this was only found out after he had crashed into a wall. Pedro de la Rosa was also caught up in the first corner melee. He recovered well and cut his way through the field to a creditable 5th place.

Renault
2. Giancarlo Fisichella 6th
1. Fernando Alonso 2nd
Mixed fortunes for Renault at Istanbul Park. Alonso drove superbly. He withstood enormous pressure from Michael Schumacher in the closing stages of the race while he struggled on heavily blistered tyres. He increased his championship lead by two crucial points which now means he just has to finish 2nd (heck he can even claim one 4th place) in all the remaining four races to win the title. However the Constructors' Title seems to be drifting towards Ferrari. The reason appears to be Ferrari just are quicker at the moment and that Giancarlo Fisichella simply isn't keep his end up at Renault. He spun at turn 1 and then had his front wing taken off, but perhaps he could have avoided the spin. 6th is not good enough for Renault to win the title and indeed for Fisichella to beat Massa in the 3rd place battle in the Drivers' Title.

Result
1. Felipe Massa Ferrari
2. Fernando Alonso Renault
3. Michael Schumacher Ferrari
4. Jenson Button Honda
5. Pedro de la Rosa McLaren-Mercedes
6. Giancarlo Fisichella Renault
7. Ralf Schumacher Toyota
8. Rubens Barrichello Honda
9. Jarno Trulli Toyota
10. Mark Webber Williams-Cosworth
11. Christian Klien Red Bull-Ferrari
12. Robert Kubica BMW Sauber
13. Scott Speed Toro Rosso-Cosworth
14. David Coulthard Red Bull-Ferrari
15. Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber
DNF. Chrisitjan Albers Midland-Toyota
NCF. Takuma Sato Aguri-Honda
DNF. Nico Rosberg Williams-Cosworth
DNF. Sakon Yamamoto Aguri-Honda
DNF. Vitantonio Liuzzi Toro Rosso-Cosworth
DNF. Kimi Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes
DNF. Tiago Monteiro Midland-Toyota

Midland: Word is now that the owner of the Dutch, Lost Boys company is planning not only to buy Midland but also Dutch sportscar manufacturer, Spyker. Lost Boys owner, Michiel Mols is the process of buying out Spyker and is also in talks with Midland owner, Alex Schneider about purchasing the team. If these deals come together it could see Midland being re-named Spyker and lets face it, that's a much better name . If the deal comes together then Christijan Albers would surely remain with the team with the second seat likely going to one of Midland's current testers, Manfred Winkelhock or Adrian Sutil. I also hope any Spyker F1 team would include some lovely Dutch orange on their cars (no more red, white or blue please!).

BTCC: Mark Proctor will be racing at Knockhill this coming weekend. Proctor decided to do Knockhill after the encouragement and support he received from fans at Snetterton and online. Fan power works!

Adam Jones will be returning in the Xero Competition Lexus. The car has had some updates so will hopefully prove to be more competitive.

Team Griffin Racing have said they have found the cause of the engine problems that have blighted them since entering at Donington Park with their Peugeot 307. They have had to do some more modifications to the engine. Apparently this problem with the engine has been with the car since it was first designed in 2003 for Vic Lee Racing.

Eoin Murray won't be taking part at Knockhill as his car received more damage than previously thought at Snetterton. Due to an extremely tight budget the team decided it was to miss the round in East Fife and concentrate on getting the car ready for next round at Brands Hatch in 4 weeks time.

Also missing due to car damage eating away at the budget is Fiona Leggate in the Tech-speed Vauxhall. They too will be back at Brands Hatch.

---

Scratchit: But he's a cripple!
Blackadder: He's not a cripple, Mrs Scratchit. Occasionally saying "Phew! My leg hurts!" when he remembers to wouldn't fool Baldrick!

BTCC
Entry Changes:
14. James Thompson SEAT Sport UK SEAT Leon (OUT: WTCC priority, replaced by Darren Turner)
17. Eoin Murray Quest Racing Alfa Romeo 156 (OUT: Budget)
21. Adam Jones Xero Competition Lexus IS200 (IN: Returning)
24. Darren Turner SEAT Sport UK SEAT Leon (IN: Replacing James Thompson)
66. Mark Smith In-front Motorsport Alfa Romeo 156 (OUT: Business Commitments)
82. Fiona Leggate Tech-speed Motorsport Vauxhall Astra coupe (OUT: Budget)
90. Erkut Kizilirmak VX Racing Vauxhall Astra Sport Hatch (OUT: Turkish Championship priority)

Murray and Leggate skipping Knockhill due to budget reasons, they’ll be back next time. Mark Smith is missing from this round because of previous commitments to his job, Smith said that it should hopefully give the team enough time to sort out the problems still on the car after their startline shunt at Donington Park in July. Xero Competition come back with their Lexus IS200, it has had updates so should be a bit better. Kizilirmak and Thompson are driving abroad this weekend so Darren Turner comes in for the third time in the SEAT.

Ballast:
Matt Neal 45kg
Colin Turkington 36kg
Gareth Howell 30kg
Jason Plato 27kg
Darren Turner 18kg
Richard Marsh 15kg
Gordon Shedden 9kg

A quick note, following Jason Hughes’ switch to bio-ethanol fuel, both West Surrey Racing cars have now followed suit. At a crucial stage in the championship, Colin Turkington will be hoping that the bio-ethanol fuel will give him a performance boost. I’d imagine WSR were looking at Hughes’ data and must have seen an improvement in performance due to the bio-ethanol.

Knockhill Qualifying:
1. Jason Plato SEAT Sport UK SEAT Leon 57.467s
2. Darren Turner SEAT Sport UK SEAT Leon +0.140s
3. Fabrizio Giovanardi VX Racing Vauxhall Astra Sport Hatch +0.210
4. Gordon Shedden Team Dynamics Honda Integra Type-R +0.253
5. Matt Neal Team Dynamics Honda Integra Type-R +0.366
6. Colin Turkington West Surrey Racing MG ZS +0.756
7. Gareth Howell Team Dynamics Honda Integra Type-R +0.838
8. James Kaye Synchro Motorsport Honda Civic Type-R +0.860
9. Rob Collard West Surrey Racing MG ZS +0.885
10. Tom Chilton VX Racing Vauxhall Astra Sport Hatch +0.887
11. Mark Proctor Fast-tec Motorsport Honda Civic Type-R +0.916
12. Mike Jordan Team Eurotech Honda Integra Type-R +0.916
13. Gavin Smith VX Racing Vauxhall Astra Sport Hatch +1.050
14. Jason Hughes Kartworld Racing MG ZS +1.585
15. Dave Pinkney Motorbase Performance Honda Integra Type-R +1.860
16. Martyn Bell Geoff Steel Racing BMW 320.i E46 +2.323
17. Adam Jones Xero Competition Lexus IS200 No Time
18. Richard Marsh Team Griffin Racing Peugeot 307 No Time

Jason Plato just nicked pole from Gordon Shedden in the dying seconds. In fact Shedden was mugged at the end of the session after holding pole from the beginning he finds himself lining up in 4th place on his home circuit. Darren Turner looking good in 2nd place. Colin Turkington behind Matt Neal and in the middle of a swarm of Team Dynamics Hondas. James Kaye and Mark Proctor looking very good. Mike Jordan could have been right up there but lost his fastest times after missing the weighbridge. Pinkney will be very disappointed while Jones and Marsh had car damage after the practice sessions.

Practice 1
Practice 2

Picks:
1. Gordon Shedden
2. Colin Turkington
3. Matt Neal

---

Scratchit: But he's a cripple!
Blackadder: He's not a cripple, Mrs Scratchit. Occasionally saying "Phew! My leg hurts!" when he remembers to wouldn't fool Baldrick!

Re: Aguri--Well they picked up 3 seconds from their old pace which is incredibly good, but youre right, it amounted to nothing.  Yamamoto actually got to see the full track at full speed, wow!  Sato actually didnt avoid the chaos in turn 1 which is why he went many laps down.  He was the car that collided with the Midland.  But not to worry, none of our announcers caught that either, I just kept a sharp eye in the replays

Re: STR--Yeah bad luck for both guys.  Liuzzi had that silly spin, a big spin, youre right.  Changed the race and perhaps the championship.  Speed had that lap 1 turn 1 accident and really it was all downhill from there.

Re: Midland--Yeah, actually both Midlands did EXTREMELY well before wrecking.  Its a shame for Monteiro that his accident happened about 500 feet into the race.  I hope they become Spyker, those cars are awesome.  But unreliable things. 

Re: BMW--Not too good for them in the long run.  Both became moving road blocks by the end of it.  Heidfeld was absurdly off the pace, finding his inner Forti.  Kubica looked good early and went plop

Re: RBR--Their team highlight really was Klien's first lap stuff.  Of course it didnt last and it became a pointless weekend for RBR and their satellite team, STR.

Re: Honda--Youre right, that was a solid performance for them.  Honda is the best of the rest right now and could be competing with McLaren for grid positions easily.  Jenson had a good race here last year too, I think he likes this place.  Barrichello did well but that 8th doesnt justify it really.

Re: Williams--Not much to say really.

Re: Toyota--I got to see several of Ralf's passes, quite entertaining stuff I must say.  Jarno, well he was the opposite of entertaining.

Re: Ferrari--Well it was a great weekend all around for Massa, and a really fantastic result too.  And I couldnt be happier for him.  He was exstatic and showed us how to celebrate on the podium.  Really a great young driver with all kinds of spirit.  Way to get em!  Granted circumstance did help him.  Im sure Ferrari were devising ways that Massa would have to give up the lead to Schumacher but the safety car blew that.  Massa winning would have been far better than Alonso, so they had to forfeit their plans.  Schumacher probably would have found a way around Alonso if he didnt have that silly off around turn 8.  That cost him 14 seconds.  And he lost to Alonso by... .05 sec?

Re: McLaren--You said it all pretty well.  Good run by DLR, but it will be forgotten in the sands of time.

Re: Renault--Yeah you said everything about the drivers title really.  This was a great race for them in that sense.  Bad race for the manufacturers title.  Ill tell you why its turned around.  Renault's car last year and this year depended on some contraption, some sort of air pressure thing.  It has been ruled illegal effective a few weeks ago, which is why their car just isnt very fast anymore and Ferrari has pushed ahead.  Without that aero thing they had, their car just is a shell of its former self.  Still fast but no longer having the edge.

--------------------

Re: BTCC--

I hope Hughes goes well with the bio-ethanol.  Apparently it looks like things are going moderately average at the moment for them.

Shedden was robbed of the pole I think.  I think he needed to be turning extra fast laps as the session closed when SEAT got that huge leap on him.

My picks:

1-Plato
2-Shedden
3-Neal

(If you still want to do picks--I havent updated the points in a long time because Ive been waiting for that WRC event a few weeks back   You still have a solid lead in all catagories regardless)

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Cup is in California this weekend, a Michigan clone track with less banking

Heres how qualifying went:

Pos.	Car	Driver	Make	Sponsor	Speed	Time	Behind
1	2	Kurt Busch	Dodge	Miller Lite	184.540	39.016	Leader
2	25	Brian Vickers	Chevrolet	Garnier Fructis	184.049	39.120	-0.104
3	07	Clint Bowyer*	Chevrolet	Jack Daniel's	183.505	39.236	-0.220
4	10	Scott Riggs	Dodge	Valvoline/Stanley Tools	183.197	39.302	-0.286
5	1	Martin Truex Jr.*	Chevrolet	Bass Pro Shops/Tracker	182.950	39.355	-0.339
6	8	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Chevrolet	Budweiser	182.792	39.389	-0.373
7	31	Jeff Burton	Chevrolet	Cingular Wireless	182.672	39.415	-0.399
8	11	Denny Hamlin*	Chevrolet	FedEx Express	182.454	39.462	-0.446
9	9	Kasey Kahne	Dodge	Dodge Dealers/UAW	182.292	39.497	-0.481
10	5	Kyle Busch	Chevrolet	Kellogg's	182.223	39.512	-0.496
11	17	Matt Kenseth	Ford	DEWALT	182.209	39.515	-0.499
12	12	Ryan Newman	Dodge	Sony HDTV	181.951	39.571	-0.555
13	01	Joe Nemechek	Chevrolet	U.S. Army	181.722	39.621	-0.605
14	24	Jeff Gordon	Chevrolet	DuPont	181.438	39.683	-0.667
15	29	Kevin Harvick	Chevrolet	GM Goodwrench	181.087	39.760	-0.744
16	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	Lowe's	180.941	39.792	-0.776
17	4	Scott Wimmer	Chevrolet	Lucas Oil/Forward Air	180.736	39.837	-0.821
18	19	Elliott Sadler	Dodge	Dodge Dealers/UAW	180.727	39.839	-0.823
19	18	J.J. Yeley*	Chevrolet	Imitrex/GSK	180.709	39.843	-0.827
20	38	David Gilliland	Ford	Pedigree	180.560	39.876	-0.860
21	16	Greg Biffle	Ford	National Guard/Charter Communications	180.519	39.885	-0.869
22	20	Tony Stewart	Chevrolet	The Home Depot	180.180	39.960	-0.944
23	00	Bill Elliott	Chevrolet	Burger King	180.099	39.978	-0.962
24	99	Carl Edwards	Ford	Office Depot	180.027	39.994	-0.978
25	7	Robby Gordon	Chevrolet	World Series of Poker	179.964	40.008	-0.992
26	44	Terry Labonte	Chevrolet	GMAC	179.964	40.008	-0.992
27	14	Sterling Marlin	Chevrolet	Ginn Clubs & Resorts	179.721	40.062	-1.046
28	43	Bobby Labonte	Dodge	Cheerios/Betty Crocker	179.677	40.072	-1.056
29	21	Ken Schrader	Ford	U.S. Air Force	179.641	40.080	-1.064
30	66	Jeff Green	Chevrolet	"According to Jim"/Best Buy	179.636	40.081	-1.065
31	26	Jamie McMurray	Ford	Smirnoff Ice	179.462	40.120	-1.104
32	40	David Stremme*	Dodge	Coors Light	179.426	40.128	-1.112
33	42	Casey Mears	Dodge	Texaco/Havoline	178.931	40.239	-1.223
34	41	Reed Sorenson*	Dodge	Diet Pepsi/Target	178.869	40.253	-1.237
35	45	Kyle Petty	Dodge	Schwan's Home Service	178.740	40.282	-1.266
36	88	Dale Jarrett	Ford	UPS	178.545	40.326	-1.310
37	55	Michael Waltrip	Dodge	NAPA Auto Parts	178.505	40.335	-1.319
38	6	Mark Martin	Ford	AAA	178.086	40.430	-1.414
39	49	Kevin Lepage	Dodge	LoansDepot.com	177.765	40.503	-1.487
40	78	Kenny Wallace	Chevrolet	Furniture Row Racing	177.738	40.509	-1.493
41	22	Dave Blaney	Dodge	Caterpillar	176.978	40.683	-1.667
42	96	Tony Raines+	Chevrolet	DLP HDTV	175.310	41.070	-2.054
43	32	Travis Kvapil	Chevrolet	Tide-Downy	177.274	40.615	-1.599
Did not Qualify
44	06	Todd Kluever	Ford	3M Post-it	175.949	40.921	-1.905
45	34	Kertus Davis	Chevrolet	Oak Glove Co.	175.387	41.052	-2.036
46	61	Chad Chaffin	Dodge	Oak Gloves/Embassy Suites	173.035	41.610	-2.594
47	23	Bill Lester	Dodge	Waste Management	38.107	188.939	-149.923

I dont think I have to say that Lester had a problem on his lap.  Didnt see it, but I think it was a spin.

Kluever a shocking DNQ for Roush Racing.  Maybe Roush was right in saying he isnt ready for Cup, but this is just 1 race for him.  Kluever is the first Roush driver to DNQ since I believe Matt Kenseth in 1998 (Trying to debut at Talladega)

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If at first you dont succeed, dont try skydiving
Both diapers and politicians need to be changed--and usually for the same reasons

I've been not doing the WRC reports mostly because the program keeps shifting time on ITV, sometimes it's after midnight, yesterday it was shown before the BTCC. So I haven't been able to do any reporting on it due to its rough treatment. Sorry.

Also I forgot to do a NASCAR pick for the weekend but that's self-evident. My BTCC picks were editted into my last post.

BTCC, Knockhill
Race 1
Mike Jordan was suffering from so had to start at the back of the grid. It was wet in the Fife countryside surrounding Knockhill, conditions that would make things interesting. Giovanardi made a very poor start, struggling to get off the line in his Vauxhall. Plato led from Darren Turner into the first corner at Duffus’s Dip. Gordon Shedden tried to go around the outside of Turner into the corner but locked his tyres and skidded on the wet surface almost pitching himself into a spin. Somehow he kept it together and held 3rd place. James Kaye wasn’t so lucky as he ended up bouncing through the gravel trap at the first corner. Gavin Smith overtook Mark Proctor, the Civic driver giving ground. Colin Turkington was not having a good time in the wet conditions which were not suiting his MG at all. He was fending off Gareth Howell but lost out to the Dynamics driver and was passed in quick succession by Giovanardi and Collard.

There was a nice three way scrap right at the back of the field. Adam Jones and Martyn Bell renewing their rivalry in the only two rear wheel drive cars in the field and Richard Marsh showing much improved pace. Jones had got the upper hand on Bell when both Bell and Marsh ended up bouncing through the gravel at Duffus’s Dip. Bell continued but the gravel claimed Marsh causing some damage to his 307. Ahead of those three was a battle between Kaye, Proctor, Hughes, Pinkney and Jordan. Kaye pulled a late braking move to pass Proctor however this forced both out wide with the other three drivers also nipping passed Proctor. Kaye then had to hold off Mike Jordan. Jordan coming to the Taylor’s Hairpin went for the inside to pass Kaye. Kaye tried to block but clearly mis-judged how close Jordan was to him and ended up catching the rear of the Civic on the front of the Integra. This spun Kaye off the track, into the gravel and out of the race. Kaye’s car was now in a dangerous position so the Safety Car was brought out.

In this time Gordon Shedden chose to make a pitstop. He had collected plenty of mud and grime on his tyres on the first lap and they weren’t producing any grip, so Dynamics slapped a new set of Dunlops on the car, relegating Shedden to the rear of the field behind Adam Jones. When the race restarted Shedden dispatched Jones quite quickly and set about trying to recover. His recovery drive was brought to a halt a lap later when he had to come into the pits again, this time it was for a drive thru penalty for running the red light at the end of the pitlane.

The Vauxhalls were beginning to get involved in the action. Giovanardi recovering from his poor start passed Gareth Howell from Duffus’s Dip and into the chicane. Gavin Smith passed his team mate, Tom Chilton at McIntyres but Chilton re-passed the Irishman a lap later. This also allowed Dave Pinkney to drive alongside Smith and pass him into Duffus’s Dip. However on the exit of the corner, Smith ran slightly wide and got a wheel onto the grass. He spun about and slammed into Pinkney, taking them both out of the race. Pinkney was not impressed by Smith’s driving skills and let him (and the rest of the field) know precisely what he thought about the Vauxhall driver. The Safety Car was deployed again to clear up Smith and Pinkney’s cars. Shedden pitted for a third time, apparently a lot of mud had stuck to his wheel archs and was interfering with the handling of the car. Rob Collard retired with a mechanical problem during the Safety Car period.

Once the Safety Car pulled back in Turner let Plato get a bit of a gap on the restart to ensure no one could challenge his team mate for the race lead. Tom Chilton meanwhile put a wheel on a slippery kerb and spun off the track. Gareth Howell re-passed Fabrizio Giovanardi for 4th place, while Shedden again tried to recover. He passed Jones, Proctor and Hughes over the following laps. While Shedden moved forwards, Turkington was slipping back. He was now having to hold off Mike Jordan’s Honda Integra. Jordan dived up the inside of Turkington at Taylor’s and passed him. Shedden seeing this done exactly the same to Turkington the very next lap.

Jason Plato comfortably held first place and claimed victory with a good 1-2 for SEAT having Darren Turner finish 2nd. Unfortunately for Turner he wasn’t long in second place. The Stewards had noticed that under the each of the Safety Car restarts Turner had held back from Plato to give him a lead and to bunch the rest of the pack up. Now that’s fine as long as Turner was within 5 car lengths (not entirely sure which car they use for the length) but Turner was further back. This was a similar incident to the ETCC in 2004 where Augusto Farfus had held up the field at Imola to let his Alfa Romeo team mates run off with a huge lead while no one could get by Farfus under Safety Car conditions. So Turner got lumped with a 20 second penalty and ended up in 10th place, however Turner having crossed the line in second place was still entitled to all the success ballast for the next race. Matt Neal had gotten 2nd place with Gareth Howell in 3rd.

Result
1. Jason Plato SEAT Sport UK SEAT Leon
2. Matt Neal Team Dynamics Honda Integra Type-R
3. Gareth Howell Team Dynamics Honda Integra Type-R
4. Fabrizio Giovanardi VX Racing Vauxhall Astra Sport Hatch
5. Mike Jordan Team Eurotech Honda Integra Type-R
6. Gordon Shedden Team Dynamics Honda Integra Type-R
7. Colin Turkington West Surrey Racing MG ZS
8. Jason Hughes Kartworld Racing MG ZS
9. Mark Proctor Fast-tec Motorsport Honda Civic Type-R
10. Darren Turner SEAT Sport UK SEAT Leon
11. Adam Jones Xero Competition Lexus IS200
12. Tom Chilton VX Racing Vauxhall Astra Sport Hatch
DNF. Rob Collard West Surrey Racing MG ZS
DNF. Dave Pinkney Motorbase Performance Honda Integra Type-R
DNF. Gavin Smith VX Racing Vauxhall Astra Sport Hatch
DNF. Martyn Bell Geoff Steel Racing BMW 320.i E46
DNF. James Kaye Synchro Motorsport Honda Civic Type-R
DNF. Richard Marsh Team Griffin Racing Peugeot 307
Fastest Lap:  Gordon Shedden 57.966s

Race 2
Usually my race notes take up half a page of paper. Race 2 took up an entire side…

Griffin Racing decided to skip the second race of the day so they could repair their Peugeot fully for the third race. The Sun also had put in an appearance and most of the track was dryish. Giovanardi did not repeat his woeful race 1 start and found himself going by Gareth Howell before turn 1. Plato held the lead from Neal with Giovanardi in third. Howell had Gordon Shedden trying to come around the outside of him at Duffus’s Dip, both Dynamics drivers being careful not to hit each other, with Howell just holding onto 4th place. Giovanardi followed Neal for most of that lap until he got alongside Neal out of the hairpin and up the start/finish straight. The Vauxhall showed good power and pulled ahead of the Honda and took second place. The next lap Shedden went wide out of Duffus’s Dip letting Mike Jordan and Colin Turkington get passed. Howell then hit the still slippery kerbs at the chicane and went into a big slide that he somehow saved, once again Jordan benefited and claimed another position. Colin Turkington was right behind Howell and dived up the inside of Howell into Taylor‘s. The two rubbed against each other and briefly the car seemed to lock together. Both Turkington and Howell went off the track. Howell on the outside went into the tyre wall with Turkington bouncing over the gravel to rejoin the track. Howell managed to get back going again but not before the Safety Car was deployed.

Turkington took this opportunity to change his filthy tyres. However the pitstop took too long as their had been a miscommunication in the WSR pits. Team boss, D!ck Bennetts had merely wanted 2 tyres changed on the MG however the crew changed all 4 tyres. So with the very short lap by the time they had done this Turkington was a lap down. There was no coming back from that. Bennetts was not happy. I imagine he was even less pleased when Turkington got a drive thru penalty for speeding in the pitlane.

The race restarted with Giovanardi all over the back of Plato. Once again Giovanardi got alongside Plato out of the McIntyre’s hairpin and out dragged his opponent up the hill on the straight. Giovanardi swept ahead of Plato before Duffus’s Dip and took the lead. Seeing Plato was now vulnerable Neal closed in on his championship rival. Neal tried a late lunge up the inside of Plato at Clark. The move was never going to work and merely hit Plato and sent the SEAT off the track. Neal also suffered. Mike Jordan and Gordon Shedden pulled passed him on the run to Taylor’s. Shedden then dived up the inside of Jordan at the hairpin and took second place from him. However any thoughts that Shedden had of catching and passing Giovanardi were soon dashed as Jordan came back at him. Jordan followed Shedden closely through Duffus’s Dip and then on the exit tried to get on the inside of Shedden for the chicane. However the two made contact sending Shedden into a spin off track. Jordan lost several places and took car damage. Now Darren Turner found himself in second place. Behind Turner was Neal, Plato, Chilton, Collard, Smith and Jordan. Collard passed Chilton and tried to get by Plato. The two ran side by side through Duffus’s Dip until there was some contact. This sent Collard spinning off, Plato driving through the gravel and for some reason Mike Jordan also spun in the back ground.

Neal caught Turner who had in turn caught Giovanardi and now the three began to squabble over the race lead. Behind them Plato and found himself behind Gordon Shedden who was in turn stuck behind Dave Pinkney. Both of them quickly passed Pinkney at Duffus’s Dip. Those two set off to try and catch Smith and Chilton who were closing on the leading trio. Turner following Giovanardi was slowed by the Vauxhall out of Clark, this let Matt Neal drive around the outside of Turner and almost drive by Giovanardi but the Italian fended off Neal and he was forced to accept 2nd place for now. Within a lap the trio had become a quintet as Chilton and Smith arrived to support their team mate. Giovanardi was using all his experience to keep Neal and Turner at bay but a small mistake through Clark let Neal get nose alongside. Giovanardi then squeezed Neal hard, forcing Neal to choose between driving on the grass or backing off, Neal chose the latter. This gave Darren Turner a run on the outside and went ahead of Neal briefly into the Taylor’s Hairpin. However Neal held the inside and re-passed Turner. Gavin Smith then had the run on Turner out of the corner and the two raced side by side to Duffus Dip, yet Turner somehow braved it out around the outside and stayed ahead of Smith. A lap later Neal had gotten too close to Giovanardi and his engine lost power for a moment due to lack of airflow into it. This gave Turner a perfect run out of Taylor’s and passed Neal for second place. By this time Gordon Shedden had joined the rear of the queue behind Giovanardi. Shedden dispatched both Chilton and Smith in quick order, moving up to support his team mate. Jason Plato then caught the group making a seven car train. Neal attempted to pass Turner into the chicane but Turner held him off. This of course slowed Neal up, Shedden didn’t want to pass his championship challenging team mate so he was slowed as well. Gavin Smith had no problem about passing anyone so went to the inside of Shedden going to the hairpin. However Shedden moved over to block Smith, however he misjudged how close the Vauxhall was and tagged the front end of Smith. Shedden was sent into a spin off the track and right into the tyre wall smashing the front end of the Integra badly. This slowed Smith down allowing Chilton, Plato and Jordan to go by. Plato then passed Chilton into Taylor’s Hairpin.

The last lap began, Giovanardi had been holding off Turner, Neal et al for around 15 laps. Turner of course was also out to get his first BTCC victory, while Neal was out to extend his championship lead. Giovanardi continued to defend from Turner, while Neal briefly looked to go down the inside of  Turner at Clark, however Neal suddenly found Plato coming from a rather long way back (much like Neal had done earlier in the race). Neal was tagged by Plato and went into a spin. The SEAT’s front end heavily impacted against the side of the Honda. Then Tom Chilton with nowhere to go slammed into both Plato and Neal, it tore the SEAT’s front right wheel off. Mike Jordan without anywhere to go rammed into Neal as well, braking Jordan’s suspension. Chilton and Jordan (innocent parties in this) were immediately out. Plato somehow continued with three wheels. However clearly Plato hadn’t realised he was missing a wheel as into the last corner he was travelling at near full speed, he spun off the track and got stuck in the gravel.

With his hunters having taken themselves out, Fabrizio Giovanardi held off Darren Turner for the last few yards of the race and claimed his first and Vauxhall’s 100th BTCC win (their first win since Yvan Muller won at Knockhill last year). Darren Turner for the second time that day got second place…unfortunately for the second time that day he wouldn’t get to keep it. As I previously said despite having been classified as 10th in race 1, Turner had finished in second place and was meant to carry the 36kg of success ballast for the next race. However Turner’s crew had forgotten this and had never loaded on the ballast. As such the Stewards had no choice but to disqualify Turner from the race (Turner and SEAT effectively costing themselves 23 points in two races). This gave Vauxhall a 1-2 with Gavin Smith getting 2nd place. But who got third place? With the leading pack and the front of the midfield completely wiped out, Dave Pinkney had come through the carnage to claim a fantastic 3rd place, his best ever BTCC finish. Pinkney had gashed his hand putting up an awning and this cut had badly effected his pace through the weekend, so a third was a great reward. However it was the man in 4th place I dare say raised the most eyebrows. Following Pinkney through the wrecked cars was Jason Hughes claiming a best ever finish. In 6th and 8th were two more best ever finishes. Mark Proctor had got through to finish in 6th, making his decision to come to Knockhill worthwhile. In 8th was Martyn Bell in his BMW, collecting 3 points. In 5th place and surely driving the 2nd most invincible vehicle on the face of the planet was Matt Neal. Somehow despite being hit by Plato, Chilton and Jordan within the space of 2 seconds, Neal’s Integra limped around to finish in 5th place. Gareth Howell had got 7th and Colin Turkington despite being a lap got 9th…and no one else finished. So of the 9 finishers, 5 got their best ever BTCC finishes.

Result
1. Fabrizio Giovanardi VX Racing Vauxhall Astra Sport Hatch
2. Gavin Smith VX Racing Vauxhall Astra Sport Hatch
3. Dave Pinkney Motorbase Performance Honda Integra Type-R
4. Jason Hughes Kartworld Racing MG ZS
5. Matt Neal Team Dynamics Honda Indestructible Type-R
6. Mark Proctor Fast-tec Motorsport Honda Civic Type-R
7. Gareth Howell Team Dynamics Honda Integra Type-R
8. Martyn Bell Geoff Steel Racing BMW 320.i E46
9. Colin Turkington West Surrey Racing MG ZS
DNF. Jason Plato SEAT Sport UK SEAT Leon
DNF. Tom Chilton VX Racing Vauxhall Astra Sport Hatch
DNF. Mike Jordan Team Eurotech Honda Integra Type-R
DNF. Gordon Shedden Team Dynamics Honda Integra Type-R
DNF. Robert Collard West Surrey Racing MG ZS
DNF. James Kaye Synchro Motorsport Honda Civic Type-R
DNF. Adam Jones Xero Competition Lexus IS200
DNS. Richard Marsh Team Griffin Racing Peugeot 307
DSQ. Darren Turner SEAT Sport UK SEAT Leon
Fastest Lap: Colin Turkington 53.745s

Race 3
With the destruction in race 2 it was a question of just how many cars would make the start of the final race at Knockhill. Plato’s car was too badly damaged and he was out. Mike Jordan’s car had taken too much collective damage from the first two races and was out. James Kaye and Adam Jones had collided early on in race two and both of their day’s were done. On top of this out came all the special banners Vauxhall had made last year. Vauxhall’s 100th Win was proudly placed on the windscreen banner on all three cars. Balloons came out but unfortunately the cake they had baked last year was now a little bit past it’s best. Ian Harrison was given the honour of drawing the number for the reverse grid which came out as 6. This had been before Turner’s disqualification and Harrison thought Neal had taken pole, the look on his face was great . As it was, Turner’s disqualification put Neal to 5th and meant Mark Proctor would start from pole, like he did last year.

Proctor got a decent start but Matt Neal in second place got a better one. Neal led into the first corner ahead of Proctor in 2nd and Jason Hughes in 3rd. Gareth Howell also made a good start. Howell passed Giovanardi and then Dave Pinkney to move into 5th place. Hughes was attacking Proctor for 2nd place and when Proctor went defensive on the inside going to the Taylor’s Hairpin, Hughes went to the outside. Hughes drove right around the outside of Proctor at the hairpin and out accelerated Proctor up the hill to move into second place. Proctor’s slow exit meant he became vulnerable to others behind him. Howell had passed Gavin Smith for 4th place at the hairpin and now began to challenge Proctor. He