2014 Indianapolis GP & 98th Indianapolis 500 Australian TV Guide | Foxtel & SPEED

It's a far cry from the Indy 500 of even a decade ago, when Australian television viewers got the race live on Channel Ten, and that was about it. Since, first via ESPN and now SPEED Channel on Foxtel, Aussie IndyCar fans can see all of the action from the Indianpolis Motor Speedway across the Month of May, whilst, sadly, free-to-air coverage of the Greatest Spectacle in Racing has finished.

2014 is a historic year, with the inaugural Grand Prix of Indianapolis taking place on the infield road course at IMS, on a track where cars will run up the front straight, towards Turn Four, rather than the other way around. The road course race will be held a day before the opening day of practice on the oval. On May 11, the circuit will be returned to it's oval configuration, and practice for the Indy 500 will begin.

SPEED and Foxtel present thorough coverage, beginning with that controversial road course event. 

All times AEST.

Sunday 11 May

5:30am - 8.00am: LIVE Indianapolis Grand Prix

Sunday 18 May

6.00am - 8.30am: LIVE Indianapolis 500 Qualifying

Friday 23 May

9.30pm - 12.30am: Replay 2013 Indianapolis 500

Saturday 24 May

1.00am - 6.00am: LIVE Indianapolis 500 Carb Day (including Freedom 100 Indy Lights race)

Monday 26 May

1.00am - 6.30am: LIVE 98th LIVE Indianapolis 500
4.30pm - 7.30pm: Replay 98th Replay Indianapolis 500
 

Ryan Hunter-Reay Wins the 2014 IndyCar Grand Prix of Alabama

After a rock ‘em, sock ‘em brawl on the streets of Long Beach, California, the Verizon IndyCar Series went into the deep south for it’s next event, the Honda Grand Prix of Alabama at the picturesque Barber Motorsports Park outside of Birmingham.

Originally built as a motorcycle racing track (and to complement the impressive museum on site) the track has become famous because there isn’t a grandstand anywhere in the joint. Fans sit on hillsides all around the 2.38-mile circuit, which features plenty of elevation change, overtaking opportunities and speed.

Fresh off a second-place finish at Long Beach, Australia’s Will Power put his #12 Team Penske Chevrolet on pole on Saturday, in fairly good conditions, but overnight and into Sunday, the weather deteriorated. Right around the time the green flag was supposed to wave, the track was inundated by a fierce storm so violent and torrential that there existed the very real possibility that the race wouldn’t go ahead.

Eventually, the weather cleared up, and the race was on, a timed event running 1hour and 40 minutes. And it was tough going from the start. IndyCars are hard to drive at the best of times, but going through the spray around the 15-turn race track (and puddles of standing water in some places) really tested the skills of some of the most talented drivers in the world.

At times, it was chaotic, cars with very little visibility, thanks to the giant rooster tails thrown up by cars that were simply nightmarish to drive. Those fans who braved the shocking weather were treated to quite a display, particularly from Juan Pablo Montoya, who scythed through the field during the wet first stint. Back from NASCAR, it was JPM’s first wet-weather race in seven years.

Despite all the adversity, Power skipped away to a lead of over four seconds – potentially a race-winning lead in the conditions – as a dry line began to appear, but no sooner than he had checked out, disaster struck on Lap 15, down at the long turn 2-3 hairpin complex, where the Toowoomba native ran off the road, and, somehow, managed to both drive through the gravel trap and narrowly miss clipping a tire wall as he re-joined the circuit.

It was a supreme piece of driving from Power, his exit from the kitty litter doubtless helped by it being so sodden, and therefore easier to navigate through, but it wasn’t enough to stop American Ryan Hunter-Reay from driving past and into the lead. From there, the 2012 IndyCar Series champion was unstoppable. Before a late-race caution flag bunched the field up, RHR had built up a lead of more than five seconds. Thus, the final box score will not accurately memorialise how dominant Hunter-Reay was.

For RHR and the Andretti Autosport team, who switched from Chevrolet to Honda power in the off-season, this was a drought-breaking win on a wet day (an irony surely not lost on anyone) and getting their first victory of the year at a race sponsored by Honda will surely make the powers-that-be at Honda Performance Development very happy.

Moreover, it was a crushing victory for Hunter-Reay, who has all the tools to challenge for the IndyCar Series championship this season. In further pleasing news for team boss Michael Andretti, the Honda Grand Prix was an Andretti 1-2, with Michael’s son, Marco, coming home in second. Granted, it would have been a distant second without the final caution, and Marco admitted that he had nothing for Hunter-Reay, but it was a much-needed solid finish for the third generation racer.

Michael’s son/Mario’s grandson, has great potential. I saw it in his rookie year and I still see it now, albeit only in flashes. Sadly, he’s yet to really burst out of the blocks with a season-long performance to catapult him to a series championship. Ditto for Graham Rahal, son of Bobby, whose nightmare start to the season continued, recording a desultory seventeenth.

As we head for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the legendary Month of May, both next-generation racers, who IndyCar promoters doubtless hope will come on strong, have work to do. Yet, a win at the Speedway on Memorial Day weekend would make all those issues disappear. It’s happened before, and will happen again: Indy 500 redemption.

Other notable finishers: New Zealand’s Scott Dixon came home third, and Will Power finished fifth to hold onto the IndyCar Series points lead. Australia’s Ryan Briscoe was rarely in the hunt, finishing eleventh. Montoya faded in the dry, finishing a lap down in twenty-first.

Next Race: Sunday May 10, 5.30am – the Grand Prix of Indianapolis on the infield road course at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

The Washington Capitals Clean House

For the first time since 2007, the Washington Capitals failed to make the National Hockey League’s Stanley Cup Playoffs. In not exactly a surprise move, the owners of the Capitals, the Leonsis family, moved quickly, dismissing coach Adam Oates and declaring that they would not renew the contract of long-time General Manager George McPhee.

About time, too, for the long-time GM, who has been around the organisation since the Caps made a run at the Stanley Cup in 1998 – he has been the one constant figure during an era of great change in Washington; including the team’s fresh branding, the hiring of Jaromir Jagr, the drafting of Alexander Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom – has had plenty of chances for success with very good Capitals teams lately, and has come up dry.

A run of five Southeast Division titles from 2007 through 2012 did not catapault the team to bigger and better things. Despite having Ovechkin and Backstrom, two ridiculously talented players, supported by the likes of Alexander Semin, Mike Green, Brooks Laich, Mike Knuble and John Carlson, the Capitals could not get out of the first round of the playoffs, year after year.

In some ways, it’s a wonder McPhee lasted as long as he did. When former head coach Bruce Boudreau – yeah, the same guy who is doing wonders in Anaheim, and poised to take the Ducks out of the first round – was fired because he couldn’t make the team play defence, which is what you need to win playoff series, let alone a Stanley Cup, Dale Hunter was brought in.

Hunter turned the Caps into an ultra-defensive unit, and their best player, Ovechkin, suffered as a result. He is not the world’s most defensively minded player. Look at this year’s stats: Ovechkin led the NHL in goals scored, with 51 goals, whilst registering a -35, plus-minus, which was amongst the League’s worst.

When things got rough in Washington – you know, when that stockpile of pretty damn good talent failed to net the Capitals a Stanley Cup, it wasn’t the people in upper management who were shown the door. No, because McPhee was loyal to a fault, even when, arguably, he shouldn’t be. Instead, Alexander Semin was traded, and that moved screamed then as it screams now, scapegoat.

So, when Hunter, who took over midseason the year Boudreau was fired, declined to coach a full year in the American capital, in came Adam Oates – more a choice made by upper management than McPhee, if the swirling rumours are to be believed – and the Capitals tried to blend a bit of both. They wanted Oates to employ Hunter’s defensive schemes and Boudreau’s defensive flair.

Somehow, Oates managed to work with Ovechkin, to get the superstar’s game on track, at least in the scoring department, but little else worked. Some hires – Martin Erat, Troy Brouwer, Jason Arnott, Joel Ward – made the rest of the hockey world scratch their heads, and it’s true that McPhee couldn’t settle upon a franchise goalie after Olaf Kolzig retired. He has seen guys come and go, like Cristobal Huet, Semyon Varlarmov and Michel Neuvirth. Yes, the same Varlarmov who’s tearing it up in Colorado.

Cruically, McPhee never hired a coach with previous NHL experience, which takes out of the equation the ability to hire a guy with a Stanley Cup ring. In the end, that appears to be his downfall. Or, did Ted Leonsis finally lose hope that McPhee, no doubt a loyal servant, could be the one to ice a team that would win the Stanley Cup.

If there’s one phrase to describe the McPhee tenure in Washington, at least in it’s later years, it would be missed opportunities. They’ve been tossed about the Capitals complex like confetti after a New Year’s Eve celebration. So many chances, so little return.

As for Oates, you can assume he was fired partly because he didn’t make the playoffs this year, but also because the passages of NHL time and history are littered with controversial moments brought about by new general managers having a coach in place. That would be the last guy’s coach, and that causes problems. For a new GM to work, he should be able to choose his own coach, someone he can work with well.

Leonsis is opening the way for that to eventuate, but there are other issues in Washington, where whoever comes in as coach and GM is going to have to deal with Ovechkin, who was as brilliant offensively as he was woeful defensively this season. The man who wears #8 is the centrepiece of the franchise, so whoever is installed in Washington needs to be able to work with and around Ovechkin. The relationship between Ovi and the front office is key.

To me, the Capitals have seemed listless for a lot of years. Oates’ tenure was, like I said, a mishmash of Hunter and Boudreau’s reigns, and it didn’t work. There’s a chance now to look at talent on the roster, with an open, critical and unbiased mind, and blow up what needs to be blown up, in order to get the Capitals to the next level.

Are the Capitals beyond quick repair? I don’t believe so. They need to work on their identity, and decide what it is. They can’t ride the fence. Either they play defensively, or they play like Boudreau had them playing, where the scorers were hard at work night after night.

The nucleus, as I mentioned, is pretty good. Obviously Ovechkin is blue-chip talent, and if the new GM is smart and the right talent gets built around their main franchise man, which almost means, you’d think, that they go back to the Boudreau style, where Ovechkin really became a superstar. The problem with going down that road is that it’s been well proven by recent Capitals teams, that it isn’t the way to have sustained playoff success.

Washington needs to make a choice. Go one way or the other. Don’t sit on the fence. Make a decision, decide on a style of play and push forward. Only then can you start building a roster.

Whatever transpires, it’s going to be an interesting summer in Washington D.C.

My #GoSwans Tweets: Melbourne Demons (26 April 2014)

Some of my best (or, is that worst?) Tweets from the Swans vs. Melbourne game!

Melbourne were good tonight. That's good for footy. #goswans #AFLDeesSwans

— Andrew Kitch (@akitchener) April 26, 2014

Headband getting in Derickx's way! #goswans #AFLDeesSwans

— Andrew Kitch (@akitchener) April 26, 2014

THE AUSTRALIAN OF THE YEAR! MIRACLE MAN!!!!!!! MANUFACTURER OF GOALS!!!! #goswans #AFLDeesSwans

— Andrew Kitch (@akitchener) April 26, 2014

Hey, Melbourne kicked a goal! Sydney should try to do the same! What tactics Roosy is employing!!! #goswans #AFLDeesSwans

— Andrew Kitch (@akitchener) April 26, 2014

Horse needs to schedule a few extra kicking practice sessions this week! #goswans #AFLDeesSwans

— Andrew Kitch (@akitchener) April 26, 2014

This Australian of the Year is a decent footy player! #goswans #AFLDeesSwans

— Andrew Kitch (@akitchener) April 26, 2014

McGlynn!! Finally an accurate kick! Nice feed from Goodes and Ben makes no mistake! #goswans #AFLDeesSwans

— Andrew Kitch (@akitchener) April 26, 2014

Channel 7 coverage dipping to shocking new lows tonight. Juvenile stuff, and that's me being nice! #goswans #AFLDeesSwans

— Andrew Kitch (@akitchener) April 26, 2014

Does the guy who punched Buddy get off with nothing? If it was the other way around, there'd be hell to pay! #goswans #AFLDeesSwans

— Andrew Kitch (@akitchener) April 26, 2014

Pretty rough when Horse needs binoculars to see the game! Get the man a flat screen!!! #goswans #AFLDeesSwans

— Andrew Kitch (@akitchener) April 26, 2014

Brian Taylor disgracing himself again tonight with his biased commentary! #goswans #AFLDeesSwans

— Andrew Kitch (@akitchener) April 26, 2014

My doppleganger Ted Richards looking machine-like on the MCG tonight! Primed for a big one! #GoSwans #AFLDeesSwans

— Andrew Kitch (@akitchener) April 26, 2014

Peter Parker with the spidey senses and the first goal of the game! Nice snaaaaaap! #AFLDeesSwans #GoSwans

— Andrew Kitch (@akitchener) April 26, 2014

My favourite Re-tweet:

@TitusOReily Entire Melbourne side ran over to Salem to ask him what it feels like to score a goal.

— John Separovich (@FreoSeppo) April 26, 2014

Swans reach 3-3 with scrappy win over Melbourne

Also published at The Roar

I had a strange feeling this day was coming, and it was weird. Weirder than seeing Paul Roos announced as the Melbourne Demons coach late last year. Don’t get me wrong, though, because there isn’t a bone in my body that wishes Roos any ill-will.

After all, he was really the guy who helped put Swans footy on the map in Sydney – with sincere apologies to, amongst many others, Kelly, Lockett, Hall, Goodes – and he will forever be remembered for his three words of celebration, “Here it is!” on Grand Final day, as he and the Swans delivered South Melbourne/Sydney’s first premiership since 1933.

Even so, seeing Roos on the other sideline tonight took some getting used to. We all knew it wouldn’t be a ‘forever appointment’ at the Swans and the team, for the most part, is in good hands with John Longmire as head coach, but seeing Roos coach against the team he built so well over so many years, was a little bit of a head-turner.

The mountain for Roos to climb this time around with Melbourne is far higher than it ever was in Sydney. You know, Mt Kosciuszko as compared to Mt Everest. I get the feeling that Roos is there because he wants a challenge, and there’s arguably no bigger challenge in modern day football than rebuilding the Melbourne Demons, a club who’s been decimated on field and off for the best part of the last decade. Since making a Grand Final in 2000, there’s been little success for the Dees. Little success and a whole lot of failure.

Perhaps Roos is their knight in shining armour. Time will tell on that. Tonight, as good as he undoubtedly is in the box, he was outmatched, beaten handily by a better team, many of whom he’s coached and is probably pretty good friends with.

No matter how much inside knowledge of the Swans style Roos could feed to his players during the week, it wasn’t enough. Yes, the Demons had a crack, but the talent gap, especially in the midfield, was obvious from the get-go. Though the Demons toiled hard, something they’ve done with increasing frequency this year under Roos as compared to last, they were outmatched. As I said, a tough rebuild at Melbourne, but it’s good to see them competitive. It’s good for footy. I doubt anyone in the AFL begrudges the Dees a little success.

Yet, there is hope for the Demons, who were competitive for long stretches of the contest, playing the same style of football that the Swans have had trademarked for the best part of a decade. At times, it was like watching an intra-club match, the two teams were that much alike.

Obviously, Paul Roos is having an impact at the Demons. They managed to limit Sydney’s scoring opportunities, but, at the same time, the Swans were good defensively, too. Ted Richards and Rhyce Shaw were probably the best down back, and Shaw was especially solid, strangling the Demons’ power forward Chris Dawes for the most part.

The scoreboard will record that Swans won fairly comfortably, and they did, but 9.15 to 5.8 was not brilliant. Twenty-four scoring shots to thirteen suggests that the red-and-whites should’ve won by much more than they did. Kicking accuracy left a lot to be desired on Saturday night, and poor finish spoiled a lot of what were impressive attacking raids, started in defence, and continued on through the midfield. That’s where the battle was won. A pity it was not rammed home on the scoreboard.

As hard as Melbourne’s midfield tried to run with Sydney’s, the class won out. Hannebery looked good. Jack looked good. Lewis Jetta got some pleasing touches, after an uneven start to the season. Josh Kennedy was full of class as always, his night capped by a brilliant snap in the fourth. Luke Parker had a nice start to the game with an opening-quarter goal, and was a part of a lot of what the Swans did through the middle of the ground. Jarrad McVeigh seemed back to his old self.

Seeing Adam Goodes come onto the field in the third quarter was a great moment, and the champion was amongst it almost immediately. With limited time to make an impact, I thought the Australian of the Year looked good. He set up a nice goal for newcomer Tom Derickx and seemed not to be swamped by the speed of the game. Baby steps with his comeback; the alternative is to have what happened to Chris Judd last week, and no Swans fan wants that.

The downside of Goodes’ successful, injury-free return was that Buddy Franklin went off with a knee injury. It looked fairly innocuous – though you can never really tell – and one wonders if perhaps the Swans were being a little cautious. Call it protecting your investment, perhaps?

Look at it like this: Sydney were ahead by five goals at the time, needed to get Goodes some minutes, and when Buddy seemed to hyperextend his knee, John Longmire likely decided that discretion was the better part of valour. So Buddy sat and another champion took his place. Not a bad swap, all things considered. It’s certainly been an interesting week for Buddy. Sadly, his goals kicked was less than cars totalled over the last seven days.

It was, for the most part, a scrappy win, but a win is a win, especially the way this season has started, and it’s two in a row. Certainly, the Swans will need to play better than they did today in their own attacking half. Defensively and in the midfield they were good. Granted, it was against mostly inferior opposition, but there were things to build on from this game – remember that Hawthorn is only two weeks away. The Swans will have to lift a notch for that.

Unconnected Thought of the Night: When Buddy’s contract is up, I have a feeling it’ll seem like loose change compared to deals that’ll be inked between now and then. Sort of like Alistair Lynch’s ten year deal wasn’t so rich by it’s end.

Such a strange night, with Paul Roos in the opposing box. You know, I love Roosy. I doubt there’s a Swans fan who doesn’t, for all the great moments he’s delivered. That’s why tonight’s win was bittersweet.

The important thing is that Sydney are back to 3-3, with a chance to go above .500 next Saturday night in Brisbane against the Lions, with Tippett and Reid still to come back into the line-up.

Book Review: And In The Morning by Graham (G.M.) Hague

A big call, but probably the best Australian book that I've ever read. It brings to life the Gallipoli and then Western Front campaigns of the First World War, and particularly the Australian contribution which, as we all know, was significant in both theatres. 

Mostly revolving around two brothers from rural Western Australia, Jonathan and Joseph White, as well as their friends, loves and comrades, the story stretches from the early days of the ill-fated Gallipoli campaign through some of the most vicious battles Australians were involved in on the Western Front in France and Belgium, to the armistice, and from the very first page, it is authentic, gripping, sad, uplifting and brilliant in peeling back the layers of detail from text books and histories to tell a deeply personal story of men in the trenches, experiencing and surviving the horrors of the Great War.

I'd go so far as to say it's the perfect homage/tribute to their generation of ANZAC diggers who left Australian shores to fight in a war in which they had no real business (aside from ties to England) being involved in. How ironic that our volunteer army was responsible for some great feats throughout. Long may the legacy of those great men be remembered, celebrated and commemorated.

A rich part of the history of our great country has been brought vividly to life by Hague, who balances romances with events on the battlefield, with plenty of Australian humour thrown in. I can't recommend this book enough. Go and read it!

Opinion: Pat Tillman Deserves a Presence in the Pro Football Hall of Fame

If you don’t know the ultimately tragic story of Pat Tillman, here it is in a nutshell: Tillman, a star linebacker with the University of Arizona Sun Devils, signed a pro contract out of college and switched to safety for his rookie season with the Arizona Cardinals. He was a member of that team, coming off the 2000 season, where he amassed 155 tackles (120 solo), 1.5 sacks, 2 forced fumbles, 2 fumble recoveries, 9 pass deflections and 1 interception for 30 yards, on the day when the world changed. 

That day, of course, was September 11, 2001 when Al Qaeda terrorists flew hijacked planes into the twin World Trade Centre towers in New York City, the Pentagon across the Potomac River from Washington D.C. and, lastly, into a field in rural Pennsylvania.

Thousands of innocent people died. Certain pockets of the globe rejoiced.  Most were horrified. In retrospect, it was the end of a sort of innocence. Nothing has been the same since, and it never will be. At every bag check before entry into any concert or sporting venue in the world, the spectre of that horrible day looms large.

After completing the remaining fifteen games of the 2001 National Football League season Tillman made a brave and decision. He gave up his lucrative football career to enlist in the United States Army, doing so alongside his brother, Kevin in May 2002, eight months after 9/11. He did it knowing that despite his celebrity status, he would go to war. He did it knowing that he would go to war and perhaps not come back.

In the worst twist of fate imaginable, Tillman was killed by what was eventually determined to be friendly fire – shot accidentally by United States Army personnel – in Sperah, Afghanistan. The native of Fremont, California was just twenty-seven years old when he died on April 22, 2004 in the rugged wilderness of Afghanistan alongside, shot three times in the head (according to a Washington Post report), so far removed from the Bay Area of San Francisco, where he had been born and maintained a home. Killed in the same engagement was a member of the Afghani militia

Patrick Daniel Tillman of the 2nd Ranger Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment, United States Army, became the first professional football player to be killed in combat since Bob Kalsu, who died in Vietnam in 1970. He was posthumously promoted from Specialist to Corporal and received, also posthumously, Silver Star and Purple Heart medals.

Over the course of the last decade, Tillman’s actions have gained great notoriety, and are often mentioned alongside the great feats of other heroes of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts, men like Marine Corps sniper Chris Kyle, Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell and the members of SEAL Team Six, who raided the Pakistani compound where the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, Osama Bin Laden, was holed up, killing the head of Al Qaeda in the daring mission. His is an impressive legacy.

Here was My case is thus: the Pro Football Hall of Fame should find some way of honouring Tillman. I do not for a minute suggest that he should be given a  bust along the other members of the Hall in Canton, Ohio, for Tillman hadn’t reached that legendary level during his admittedly-short career – and, most probably wouldn’t have, had his playing days continued – but the sacrifice, which, admittedly, has attracted it’s fair share of controversy in the intervening years, deserves to be recognised.

After all, here was a man who had the world at his feet. He had signed a big contract with Arizona, turning down a bigger one – five years and $9 million, which was giant money at that time – with St Louis out of loyalty to the Cardinals. Yet, he gave it all up because he’d been so disturbed and affected by the events of 9/11 that he felt a pressing need to go and do something. Tillman had more than enough money to live a comfortable life. He didn’t have to go to war. It wasn’t expected of him. He went anyway. The rest is heart-tearing history.

To commemorate what I believe to be one of the great selfless acts by a sportsperson anywhere in the world, something should be done in the Hall of Fame, if for no other reason than the players who are enshrined there – legends of the gridiron, to a man, if not always such legendary people; OJ Simpson, Lawrence Taylor, I’m looking at you – are crucial to telling the history of the game. Their exploits on Sunday afternoons are the fabric of the National Football League.

So, too, is Pat Tillman’s decision to quit pro football and enlist in the United States Army. You cannot talk about the NFL in the decade from 2000-2010 without mentioning Pat Tillman and everything he did. It cannot be done, and would perhaps be akin to talking about NASCAR during the same period of time and ignoring the death of Kenny Irwin Jr, not a household name, not destined for the NASCAR Hall of Fame, but still a vital part of his sport’s history.

To appropriately and deservedly honour Pat Tillman and the great and honourable things he stood for, the Pro Football Hall of Fame should consider a special category, perhaps something along the lines of special community service. The National Hockey League annually awards The NHL Foundation Player Award to a player for Outstanding Community Service. Is there a greater service to the community than going to war?

Naturally, the exact wording and title for the special category that would allow Tillman into Canton could be better named than by the likes of myself, but there is most certainly room for such an honour.

On reflection, that Tillman hasn’t been honoured in the most sacred pro football destination of them all in the last decade is unforgiveable. After all, here was a man who has transcended the game of football to become a true American hero.

Yet, at his very core, the late Patrick Daniel Tillman was a football player, a legend in his own way, and he deserves to be remembered in the same place that so many other NFL legends, whose off-field exploits were nowhere near as memorable as Tillman’s, are remembered.

2014 FIA World Endurance Championship – 6 Hours of Silverstone Recap

Also published at The Roar

Imagine how Australia’s Mark Webber must be feeling right about now? A week removed from his debut effort for the Porsche factory team in the 6 Hours of Silverstone, the opening round of the 2014 FIA World Endurance Championship, and he’s made the podium, thanks to – rather than, as in the past, in spite of – his team mates.

Long gone now is Sebastien Vettel, the German Formula One champion who isn’t exactly Australia’s most favourite international sportsman, and at Porsche, who debuted their new 919 hybrid prototype, Webber has two brilliant teammates, up-and-coming New Zealander Brendon Hartley and the experienced German, Timo Bernhard, who appear to complement him perfectly.

Certainly, the Webber-Bernhard-Hartley trio is a swift one, netting a third place in the first race for the new 919 prototype, and with a six-hour event at Spa-Francorchamps to come before the legendary 24 Hours of Le Mans in June, the sky appears to be the limit. If the new Porsche can maintain it’s reliability at Circuit de la Sarthe, watch out, because they showed at Silverstone, a track just as fast as Le Mans, that the car has speed to burn.

Webber hailed the third place finish (two laps down to the winner) as a “massive step” for the German manufacturer, who hasn’t had a car in world sports car racing since the Porsche RS Spyder that saw some success in the American Le Mans Series – 8 win, including a memorable outright victory in the 2008 12 Hours of Sebring – when it was run by the powerhouse Team Penske outfit. Ironically, two of Penske’s drivers then, the Frenchman Romain Dumas and Bernhard remain with the Porsche team. On loan to Audi in 2010, they won the 24 Hours of Le Mans with Mike Rockenfeller.

As good as Porsche was, the real story from the premiere prototype (LMP1) class was the stunning 1-2 finish for Toyota. Actually, that was only half the story, but a good one to tell: the #8 TS040 Hybrid of Sebastien Buemi, Anthony Davidson and Nicolas Lapierre won by a full lap over their sister car, the #7, driven by Alex Wurz, Kazuki Nakajima and Stephane Sarrazin.

The other half of the Silverstone narrative was the rugged outing for the powerhouse Audi squad. You never count out a team whose cars are driven by sports car legends like nine-time Le Mans overall winner Tom Kristensen, but it was a disaster of a day for the German team, whose cars both failed to finish a race that was red-flagged about half an hour short of it’s scheduled end, due to a torrential downpour that left standing water on the circuit.

Lucas Di Grassi, who took Scot Alan McNish’s seat alongside Kristensen and Loic Duval in 2014, crashed the #1 car at Woodcote corner in the first hour of the race, as drizzle affected the circuit, and the #2 of Le Mans winners Andre Lotterer, Benoit Treluyer and Marcel Fassler spun at Stowe, an error compounded by Treluyer when he smacked the inside wall hard at Copse. He managed to keep moving, albeit momentarily, only to become beached in the gravel, the front suspension on the R18 prototype demolished.

So, it was Toyota’s day, and a famous victory that was almost handed to them when the two Audis crashed out. Certainly, the Japanese squad showed speed across the weekend, but they were helped by the weather conditions, which contributed to the slick track and dangerous conditions.  Webber’s Porsche deserved it’s third place finish. The WEC debutants weren’t quite able to run with the big dogs at Silverstone, but that should change.

You can only imagine that the twin failure in England will spur the Audi squad on, and, provided they win the uphill battle to repair their two cars in time for the 6 hour race at Spa-Francorchamps in early May, they figure to be tough to beat. Both cars sustained pretty serious chassis damage, and it’s not certain that they will be ready to race in Belgium. Audi might have to use chassis from it’s test cars.

At the same time as the two primary cars are being repaired, Dr Wolfgang Ulrich’s squad is preparing it’s third car, to be driven by Oliver Jarvis, Marco Bonanomi and Filipe Albuquerque for the race, as preparation for a stout three-car assault on Le Mans.

There is a lot going on in Audi land, that’s for sure, but this is a crack unit, and only a fool would write them off at this early stage. No team with the calibre of drivers that Audi boasts are ever going to be out of the fight. Had the weather in Silverstone been better, we may well have been dissecting a dominant Audi 1-2 victory.

In more pleasing news for Porsche, they dominated the GTE-PRO class, with the #92 Porsche 911 RSR of Manthey Racing (driven by Frederic Makowiecki, Marco Holzer and Richard Lietz) crossing the line to take the checkered flag in the premiere Grand Touring class. When the factory Corvettes join the fray for Le Mans, expect a battle of epic proportions.

The LMP2 class was won by Oak Racing’s Nissan-powered Morgan prototype driven by Olivier Pla, Roman Rusinov and Julien Canal. The GTE-AM category was an Aston Martin benefit. The famous British marque finished 1-2 ahead of the closest Ferrari.

The next race of the 2014 FIA World Endurance Championship – the Six hours of Spa- Francorchamps in Belgium – takes place on May 3, and will be broadcast live in Australia on Foxtel’s SPEED Channel.

Opinion: V8 Supercar Television Coverage Is Fast Becoming A Joke

Also published at The Roar

No wonder the V8 Supercar Series is struggling to gain traction in the all-important world of television ratings. The premiere motorsports category in Australia languishes behind rugby league and AFL most weekends when there is a clash, and leafing through the television guides this afternoon, I think I’ve realised why.

I can honestly say that I’ve never seen a more jumbled television broadcast schedule than I have for this weekend’s ITM 500 Auckland at Pukekhoke Raceway Park in New Zealand, and I’m sorry to report that this isn’t a one-off.

In Sydney, ANZAC Day Friday’s racing took place on 7Mate. On Saturday morning, the V8 Xtra, the not-exactly-appointment-viewing magazine format show was live on 7Mate. Then, the first two hours of the day’s racing were on Channel 7.

When the main channel went to Stakes Day horse racing, I you would assume that the broadcast would continue over on 7Mate, pleasantly in High Definition, right? Wrong. Perhaps only to prove that they have three channels to use (and confuse fans with), the remainder of the days racing was on 7Two, including the myriad support categories and the second of the V8 Supercar Series races for the day. Meanwhile, 7Mate showed AFL.

Concisely:

10.30am – 11.00am: V8 Xtra on 7Mate
11:00am – 1.00pm: ITM 500 on Channel 7
1.00pm – 3.00pm: ITM 500 on 7TWO

This is unforgivable, and a mystery to me as to why the V8 Supercar head honchos are allowing this to happen. Yes, I know the current television deal was a much cheaper one than the previous, with Channel 7 being the only serious bidder, but the series has a duty to it’s fans to make it easy for fans to find the race. Switching various bits of programming across three channels is beyond ridiculous.

Look at America, where you can tell with certainty on which channel the NASCAR Sprint Cup race is going to be on. It’s never shuffled to some backwater channel – yes, some of the races are on cable giant ESPN, but it’s in more than a hundred million homes, so it’s hardly buried in a hole – and only in the event of rain does it (sometimes) switch to a different network, though always an easily accessible one. Fans know the schedule, and which broadcaster is broadcasting any given weekend’s race, so there’s no channel flipping.

Here in Australia, finding out where the V8 race is on can be a time-consuming process. I understand that in Victoria and South Australia, AFL broadcast commitments trump V8 Supercar racing, so events are routinely shuffled to HD or digital channels, which aren’t available to everyone including, I suspect, a lot of folks in rural centres, where the sport is particularly popular.

I can sort of understand that, if it’s a full broadcast on one channel, but what’s happening in Sydney this weekend, with chunks of the same broadcast spread across three channels, is an insult to fans. I guess this is what happens when there’s no bidding war: the winner can slice and dice as it likes, and V8 Supercar can’t do a thing. Still, the head honchos must be peeved at being relegated to second class citizens.

That, I suppose, is a product of bad ratings on the main channel, though the numbers would surely be better if there was a clear broadcast pattern. Only diehard fans are likely to go searching through their Electronic Program Guide fanatically. Not casual fans, so you miss out on those eyeballs who might have tuned in because it was on the main channel, and hung around to watch. The real shame of this is that the actual coverage, particularly Neil Crompton, is of A-grade quality. Motorsports broadcasts around the world could learn a thing or two.

No wonder the V8 Supercars chose to sign with Foxtel (who promise full coverage of every single lap of every single event, beginning with opening practice, through to the final podium of the weekend, including support categories in the one place, and mostly without in-race advertisements) and Channel Ten, whose absence from football coverage means it can give the series a guarantee that races will be shown on the main channel.

Despite what the 7 Network spin doctors might say, channels like 7Mate, GEM or One-HD aren’t the same as their mothership channels. The ratings, if you care to dig them up, only confirm this. To have full brand exposure, you need to be on the main channel. Yes, Channel 7 promise full and live coverage of every race this season, but burying V8 Supercar racing on their secondary channels or shifting to a new channel seemingly every second hour, sends a clear message: they don’t regard V8 Supercars as a big-time sport, and they’re short-changing race fans.

If the rest of the season’s television scheduling proves to be as confusing and all over the place, you can only imagine that V8 Supercar officials will be counting down the days to the commencement of the new television contract.

At least, in 2015, we’ll know where we can find the races – an improvement over what we have now.

The Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach Will Be an IndyCar Until At Least 2018

Good news overnight, with the City of Long Beach council making a wise move in approving the three-year contract extension to ensure that the marquee street circuit race in North America – the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach in picturesque Southern California – remains a part of the Verizon IndyCar Series until at least 2018.

If you’re a regular follower of IndyCar racing, you don’t need me to tell you that, behind the mighty spectacle of the Indianapolis 500, the Toyota Grand Prix is the biggest event on the schedule, and losing it would almost certainly be the beginning of the end for open-wheel racing in North America, at least in it’s current
form.

As much a foundation of IndyCar as the Indy 500 itself, the Toyota Grand Prix around the 1.968 mile street circuit that runs alongside the shore of Long Beach and the mammoth convention centre, the second-busiest container port in the United States of America, has revitalised the city into something of a tourist destination.

Before the first open wheel race, the United States West Grand Prix, which ran from 1976 to 1983 first as a Formula 5000 event, and then as a part of the Formula One World Championship before IndyCar took over in 1984 (Mario Andretti won the first IndyCar race, driving a Cosworth Lola for Newman-Hass Racing), Long Beach was something of a decrepit city, close to the bright lights of Los Angeles, but not close enough to draw tourists out to the sea.

Chris Pook, the genius who had the idea of putting on a race on the streets back in the seventies, now looks like a racing visionary, but has recently been in the news because he is trying to lure Formula One back to Long Beach. He’s gone on record as saying that he’s had discussions with Bernie Ecclestone, who pulls the purse strings of the world’s most popular and prestigious motor racing series.

In the face of that talk, the Long Beach City Council did the smart thing, approving the three-year extension unanimously, which represents a pretty big blow to Pook’s (and Ecclestone’s) ambitions to bring Formula One back to The Beach. This is a great, great thing for both the event and for IndyCar.

To my mind, it seems pretty clear that the people at Long Beach’s City Hall have paid close attention to the way that Ecclestone runs Formula One. Most specifically, the debacle that the proposed New Jersey street race has become. 

Will that ever get up and running? I’d say, doubtful at best. They’re also probably looking at the F1 sanction fee as opposed to the IndyCar sanction fee. It’s the safest of safe bets that the two aren’t even in the same universe.

Why change a good thing? IndyCar took a well-attended Formula One event and turned it into one of the biggest races on the motorsports calendar. There is a solid set of support events – the United Sports Car Series and Indy Lights chief amongst them – and the popular celebrity race, and crowds flock to the track in their thousands each year. Sure, there isn’t the same attendance as in the glory days of IndyCar, but the Toyota Grand Prix is still one of the more well-populated races anywhere in the world. Don’t mess with what ain’t broken!

Bring Formula One in, and you’re looking at changing a lot of the circuit to suit those cars, which takes away from the character of the track. That character, of course, is what makes Long Beach so challenging and so tough to win. There’s a reason why some of the best drivers in the history of IndyCar have won at Long Beach. It isn’t easy. It takes great skill, because of the nature of the circuit.

If Formula One comes to town, say goodbye to the bumpy, rough, hard-to-drive track. You can instead look forward to yearly repaves, because Formula One cars wouldn’t survive a lap with the track’s current surface. That costs money, of course, and I wonder in what other ways event organisers might have to reconfigure the track. Would the famous fountain turn survive? What would happen to the last corner, that long, slow hairpin?

Current IndyCar drivers Justin Wilson and Takuma Sato, who have both tasted Formula One, say as much.

Sato spoke to AUTOSPORT and said, "I don't know if current F1 cars could absorb the conditions of the track surface here or not. I pretty much think they can't.”

Wilson agreed.  “I saw that story and chuckled. We love going there because it's Long Beach, it's a lot of fun, and it's so raw. But an F1 car won't go around there. They'd be complaining about the bumps - they'd have to resurface the entire place, after they'd ground the entire place. But Monaco is as smooth as the Indy 500, to give you a point of reference. If they came to Long Beach, they'd be shocked.”

Is it worth it to bring the track right up to F1-spec? No. Not even if Ecclestone lowered his sanction fee to IndyCar level. Formula One street races are generally parades, with very little passing taking place outside of the first lap or in the pits. Fans at Long Beach are used to seeing terrific racing. In 2014 (and, indeed, for the previous few years) the on-track product, from IndyCar right down through the supports, has been nothing short of sensational.

You come to Long Beach each April and you just know the racing is going to be as memorable as the weather. Why would you abandon that for what most likely will be a snoozer of a Formula One race? You give up on-track action, and pay a couple of large fortunes more for the pleasure. And, ticket prices would almost certainly rise, and rise steeply. Fans will vote with their feet of things aren’t as they’re used to. All of a sudden, those bills get harder to pay.

Memo Long Beach City Council: you’re on a good thing here. The Toyota Grand Prix works perfectly as it currently is. Why mess with it? Say no to Formula One, and show some loyalty towards the series (and it’s drivers) who, in no small way, helped revitalise your city. Don’t take the mercenary road. Be smart. Do what’s best by your fans. After all, we’re the lifeblood of your great race.

See you on Shoreline Drive for the next running of the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, April 17-19 2015.

2014 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs – Western Conference Quarterfinals Preview

Minnesota vs. Colorado

Avalanche Coach Patrick Roy is a solid contender for Coach of the Year, having almost single-handedly lifted the Avs from mediocrity into a position of some power in the cutthroat, tough Western Conference. It helps to have talent like Gabriel Landeskog, Matt Duchene and the NHL’s Rookie of the Year, Nathan MacKinnon. It’ll be fascinating to see how far this team can progress into the playoffs. Realistically, just getting to the post-season is an achievement.

Minnesota shape up okay, on current form, against the Avs, and might actually surprise a few people. Particularly so if recruit Ilya Bryzgalov continues his brilliant form of late. He hasn’t lost in his last seven stars, displaying the sort of ability that he’d shown for years in Phoenix, but failed to produce under the bright, goalie-destroying lights of Philadelphia.

The key problem is that Bryzgalov is prone to absolutely shocking turns of goaltending, more so, perhaps, than any other goalie in the league. In some ways he’s an even more maddening version of Montreal’s Carey Price. When he’s good, he’s great. When he’s bad, opposition offences lick their lips in anticipation.
Colorado’s goalie, Semyon Varlarmov, is the opposite. He’s dependable, and is more likely to win a game for his team than lose it. For that reason, and because the Avs have a little more front-end talent than the Wild, I’m pretty sure we’ll see Patrick Roy’s boys in at least one more series this season.

Prediction: Colorado should win this one. How easily depends on whether Bryzgalov continues in his current vein of form or not.

Chicago vs. St Louis

The Blackhawks welcome back stars Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane for their tilt with the Blues, adding to a star-studded team who might very well become the first team to win back-to-back Stanley Cups since Detroit in 1997 and 1998. The ‘Hawks are scary good in every position, a perfect and lethal mixture of superstars and gritty role players, with Corey Crawford backstopping them between the pipes.

On the flip side are St Louis, a curious outfit who were well out front in the race for the President’s Trophy for finishing with the best win-loss record in the regular season, before a mystifying six-game implosion late saw them give up that honour to Boston, and number one seed in the West to Anaheim. That string of losses also means that they draw the dangerous Chicago in the first round. Quite a turn of events, considering I had the Blues and the ‘Hawks

Still, don’t sleep on St Louis. If they can get back to the defensive-minded style of play that had them atop the Western Conference, watch out. Ryan Miller, the former Sabres goalie, was brought in to steady the Blues in net, but he’s seen his good start since being traded at the deadline eroded in the last week.

Prediction: Chicago wins, and it might be the best match-up of the quarter final stage. I have a feeling this one is going at least six games. As a whole, the ‘Hawks will go all the way if Kane and Toews stay healthy. This series will be a good judge of their fitness level, after many weeks on the sidelines.

Dallas vs. Anaheim

The Ducks have some of the best game-breakers in the NHL: Corey Perry, Ryan Getzlaf, Cam Fowler, the evergreen Teemu Selanne…this is a team loaded with high-end talent. Courtesy of St Louis’ late-season troubles, the Ducks also own first seed in the Western Conference, which comes with the all-important home ice advantage.

Head Coach Bruce Boudreau has put together a lethal line-up, reminiscent of his teams in Washington late last decade, when Alex Ovechkin, Alexander Semin and Nicklas Backstrom were tearing it up, though he’s managed to infuse the Ducks with a little more defensive accountability. Boudreau’s teams had a history of choking in the playoffs. Does history repeat itself here? Ducks fans will be hoping not.

Dallas scraped into the playoff bracket in the last week of the season, and, as such, they draw the hardest match-up, against the best team in the conference. Yes, the Stars have some handy big-names of their own – namely, Tyler Seguin and Jamie Benn, both of whom have been tearing it up in Big D this season – and solid goaltending from Kari Lehtonen (who admittedly hasn’t seen the playoffs since 2007, and stunk it up as a member of the Atlanta Thrashers), and even with Lehtonen on song, the Stars can’t match the Ducks line for line. Don’t feel bad, Dallas. Not many teams can.

Prediction: Anaheim, easily.

Los Angeles vs. San Jose

What’s not to like about this series? The Sharks look like they’re serious and the Kings are built for long playoff runs. You’ve got brilliant LA defence against red-hot San Jose offense, and the fact that these two teams just don’t like each other. It’s been a simmering rivalry this season, and one that might boil over now that we’re into the playoffs.

Key to the Kings’ chances of success is Jonathan Quick. The Team USA Olympic goalie will be desperate to atone for his perceived failures in Sochi by winning his second Stanley Cup.

The Darryl Sutter-coached squad favours a lockdown style of play, stifling their opponents, and that’s tailor-made for a deep playoff run. There are game winners on the Kings roster, too. Don’t sleep on Anze Kopitar, Jeff Carter or Marian Gaborik. Those guys know how to score clutch goals. And is there a better goal-scoring defenceman than Drew Doughty? The key for the Kings will be to slow the game down, and negate the Sharks high-powered offence.

Those Sharks have had a great regular season, and they have offense to burn. Established stars Patrick Marleau, Joe Thornton, Joe Pavelski , exciting rookie Tomas Hertl, …the list goes on. Unfortunately, we’ve seen the Sharks enjoy great regular seasons in the past, but there seems to be some drama to plague the team, causing a collapse.

You feel the Sharks need at least a run to the Stanley Cup Final to get the monkey off their back, and to silence their critics. Facing off against their California rivals will either be the source of their demise, or a test that’ll see them damn near bulletproof going through the West.

Prediction: This series has all the feel of a seven-game epic.  Home ice in Game 7 might just tip the ledger in San Jose’s favour, but anything – and I mean anything! – is possible in this one.

2014 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs – Eastern Conference Quarterfinals Preview

Detroit vs. Boston

Unbelievably, the Detroit Red Wings, a model sports franchise that so many others have attempted to copy through the years, have reached the playoffs for the 23rd straight season, despite having been decimated with injuries for most of the year.

That they’re even in the Big Show is a testament to their coach, Mike Babcock, and to the series of bit-part players who have become clutch almost-superstars in the Motor City. Whichever way you look at it, the Red Wings achievement in 2013-14 is nothing short of supreme. 

Unfortunately, it won’t be enough to advance to the Eastern semi-finals. In my estimation, Boston are the best team in the East and the Red Wings are going to find themselves running into a buzz saw. There are so many game-winners on the Bruins roster. Even their fourth line has a habit of scoring clutch goals. Their defence is top notch and Tuukka Rask might be the best goalie in the NHL right now.

Prediction: Bruins, easily. A shame to say it, but Detroit don’t have nearly enough of their stars healthy to match it with the B’s.

Tampa Bay vs. Montreal

Honestly not sure which way this series is going to fall. It has the feel of one that could be decided on a bad penalty or a moment of individual brilliance. Certainly, both teams are stacked with stars. Steven Stamkos is a gun for the Lightning, and Montreal boast forward Daniel Briere and defensive weapons PK Subban – he of the Howitzer-like shot – and Max Pacioretty. The Montreal Penalty Kill has been supreme this season, and their skaters in a 4-on-5 situation aren’t going to make things easy for Stamkos and co.

The goalie match-up is an intriguing one: youngster Ben Bishop, who has had injury concerns of late, for the Lightning and the oft-maligned, but gold medal-winning Carey Price for Montreal. Given that these teams are so evenly matched, it may come down to who is the better goalie on any given night.

Prediction: I’ve got a feeling that this one will go seven games. As for who wins, I’m going with Tampa Bay, because Stamkos is the best player on either side, but mostly because the Lightning will have home ice advantage in a Game 7 situation.

Columbus vs. Pittsburgh

The Blue Jackets survived the roulette of the last week of the regular season to book their spot in the playoffs, and then have the misfortune of coming up against Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Jackets have found some success this year, and it starts with the brilliant Sergei Bobrovsky in net. Their defensive corps is pretty good, too, anchored by veteran Jack Johnson, and up forward, the promising Ryan Johansen has had a breakout season. Even so, the fact that they barely scraped into the playoffs is a concern.

A major concern, considering their opponent is the Penguins, whose form throughout the regular season suggests that they are poised for a deep run into the playoffs. In fact, I’ve pencilled them into the Eastern Conference Finals.

There’s nothing that I don’t like about the Pens. From Marc Andre Fleury in goal, through a solid defence, aided by the timely return of star D-man Kris Letang, to superstars like Crosby, Malkin on the forward line. It’s a hard team to beat. Suffice to say, the Blue Jackets won’t.

Prediction: Penguins, easily, but the young Columbus team will benefit greatly from the experience of being in the post-season.

Philadelphia vs. NY Rangers

Hard to be objective about this one because the Rangers are my team. This series, between fierce, long-time rivals, is one featuring two teams who started the season absolutely horribly, but have enjoyed a dramatic resurgence mid-year, and have been amongst the best in the East ever since.

The Rangers have Henrik Lundqvist in goal, and there are few better net-minders in the league. He’s made a living out of bailing out the Rangers in big games throughout his career. If he’s on, he’s a brick wall. The Ranger offense is clicking at the right time, too, with big guns Rick Nash, Derek Stepan and Carl Hagelin getting amongst the goals and points at the right time.

On the other side, Philadelphia’s star sniper Claude Giroux is a major threat to score every time he’s on the ice. He might not be as good a player as Sidney Crosby – despite what his coach says – but there’s no doubt he’s in the upper echelon of NHL stars, and can light it up when he’s on.

As always, the question mark around Philadelphia is their goaltending. It’s never a certain thing in Philly; hasn’t been for seasons. They tend to live and die by their goalie, Steve Mason. If he’s having a good day, it’s a great day. If he’s having a bad day, things can get rough.

Prediction: The two teams are very even, right down to the way their seasons have fluctuated, and this is a series that might go to seven. I have to take the Rangers.

Opinion: The 40th Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach Was a Classic | Verizon IndyCar Series

There’s something about Long Beach that brings out the very best in every IndyCar driver year after year. When they get to the fabled street race, the second most prestigious and important event on the Verizon IndyCar Series schedule, great things happen. And what a setting: blue skies and sunshine, perfect spring weather at America’s second busiest sea port, which, for one weekend every year, becomes the epicentre of road racing in the United States.

The temporary street circuit that blasts down Shoreline Drive and into a tight left-hander for turn one, through the famous ‘Fountain’ turn ends with the slowest hairpin in all of American racing to bring cars back onto the long main straight. The Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach is the road racing equivalent of the Indianapolis 500, and there are few more beautiful sights in racing than Long Beach on race day.

Fittingly, the fortieth running of the street race that revitalised the very streets around which first Formula One, then ChampCars and now IndyCars race, will go down in history as one of the greatest chapters in it’s history. The combination of a racy circuit that features more passing opportunities than most temporary circuits afford, and the desire of every driver on the grid to win the Long Beach Grand Prix, and so be mentioned in the same breath as Michael and Mario Andretti, Al Unser Jr., Juan Pablo Montoya and Alex Zanardi is just about unbeatable for sheer drama.

Long Beach can be a funny old event. What seems like a fairly straightforward sort of race, with drivers minding their own business, can be turned on it’s head in a split second, and suddenly there’s chaos. We’ve seen it time and time again: maximum drama, and, often, a surprise winner. We had that and more on Sunday.

The greats of IndyCar racing have gone to Victory Lane at Long Beach, stamping their indelible mark on the Indy 500 of North American road racing, and the very best – Zanardi, Paul Tracy, Vasser and Sebastien Bourdais – have won multiple times at the Beach.

Now, you can add England’s Mike Conway to that list. His team, Ed Carpenter Racing is scrappy one-car outfit at times lost in a sea of powerful, multi-car teams – the Ganassi’s and Penske’s of the world. Team owner Carpenter opted to put Conway in the seat for the road and street course events, and that decision paid off big-time on Sunday afternoon, as Conway, an unflappable Brit with two IndyCar Series wins under his belt, drove through late-race carnage for a memorable victory.

Perhaps it was a stolen win, for the race appeared poised to be fought out between Ryan Hunter-Reay, James Hinchcliffe, Australia’s Will Power, and promising American Josef Newgarden. Indeed, Hunter-Reay, the 2012 IndyCar Series champion, had led 51 laps and appeared to have the strongest car.

Then, with 24 laps to run, things turned wild. Newgarden got out of the pits ahead of Hunter-Reay and Hinchcliffe, but cold tires almost certainly meant that the Nashville native wasn’t going to be able to hold off RHR for long. Yet, Hunter-Ready displayed a startling lack of impatience, trying an ill-advised move into Turn Four, which put both his car and Newgarden’s into the wall.

A victim of cruel circumstance, Hinchcliffe was caught up in the mess. Hunter-Reay bounced into Helio Castroneves, who arrived at the wrong moment, the Brazilian’s car heading for the fence as Conway and Power somehow darted through. As they say, better to be lucky than good. Three cars behind were not so lucky, and suddenly the track was blocked.

Hinchcliffe would later express frustration with his Andretti Autosport team-mate, Hunter-Reay, and Newgarden was politic, and his team owner Sarah Fisher did her best to hide her own anger, but it wasn’t hard to see that she was seething. A lot of good race cars were torn up due to Hunter-Reay’s impatience, and RHR was obviously in the Bad Books with his owner, Andretti, who was clearly disappointed at seeing two of his cars wrecked at once. And with good reason: you just can’t make a pass at Turn Four and get away with it.

I was disappointed, too, because RHR failed to take responsibility for a mess that was clearly of his doing. The best the Floridian came up with was that he and Newgarden could have given each other a bit more room to avoid the incident. Wrong, Ryan. Just plain wrong. This one was all on you. That’s not Hunter-Reay’s style. He isn’t a dirty driver. Sometimes, the red mist descends. Everyone wants to win Long Beach, I guess, but, man, there are ways to go about it, and better passing zones later in the lap. He could’ve taken Newgarden down the back straight, and would likely have done so with Newgarden’s tires still cold.

On the restart, with less than twenty to go, New Zealand’s Scott Dixon was out front, and, on cold tires, with the handling going away, managed to hold off Conway, who’d started in seventeenth and rebounded from a broken wing early in the race, for much longer than I thought he ever would.

In third at that stage was Power, whose own race was shrouded in controversy after contact with Simon Pagenaud earlier, which might have drawn a penalty, but eventually did not. It was a classic Chrome Horn job, one to make NBC commentator Paul Tracy, the finest exponent of that questionable move, beam with pride. Speaking of the Thrill from West Hill, Tracy was a breath of fresh air in the commentary box debut.

A few more caution laps at the end might have saved Dixon, who was short on fuel, and had to pit with two laps remaining, basically handing the win to Conway. Power followed him home, and third was impressive rookie Carlos Munoz.

Juan Pablo Montoya, the 1999 winner of the Toyota Grand Prix, came home in fourth, a marked improvement in his second race back from NASCAR. Dixon had his fair share of detractors, after questionable contact late in the race that wrecked Justin Wilson’s suspension and, thus, his race.

It wasn’t a good day Chip Ganassi Racing, either. Australia’s Ryan Briscoe was an early casualty, Tony Kanaan was taken out in the Hunter-Reay/Newgarden melee, and Charlie Kimball’s engine gave up under caution when the young American was running sixth.

Pagenaud was angry at Will Power, and Power, the IndyCar Series points leader, apologised on television and said he didn’t blame the Frenchman. Castroneves vented on Twitter but removed the Tweet soon after. Bourdais was angry at himself for crashing twice after starting on the front row. Everyone, it seemed, had a bone to pick with someone or themselves. What an afternoon!

There’s two weeks for the IndyCar boys to get their feuds squared away before the series reconvenes at Barber Motorsports Park. What an exciting start to the 2014 season! If the rest of the year is as good as the first two races, we’re in for one hell of a championship!

Opinion: The Sydney Swans Are In Trouble

It would appear that last week’s onslaught of eleven straight goals from midway through the third period to the final siren was a false dawn for the Swans, who saw their admittedly-slim top four chances slip away completely on a wet and windy winter afternoon at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

Nothing went to plan on an afternoon where it was expected that the Swans, offensively resurgent behind marquee buy Lance Franklin, would continue their astonishing run of success against North Melbourne at the SCG.

Instead, when the final siren rang, it was the Kangaroos who had bucked the trend of being poor performers in the Harbour City, leaving with a resounding 43-point win that resigns the Swans to a 1-3 record heading into next Saturday’s clash against Fremantle, and also means that they’ve lost this season at all three AFL venues in Sydney: the SCG, ANZ Stadium and Olympic Park and Spotless Stadium, home of the GWS Giants.

As much as it pains most Swans fans to say, this team is in big trouble. Before you get the wrong idea about the direction of this piece, let me say that this isn’t a whack at Buddy Franklin. Sure, the big man didn’t have a good game, but he’s a key forward operating on a day when it was wet, one not exactly tailor made for a guy his size, and, perhaps more damningly for the Swans competitiveness going forward, Franklin was delivered precious little football from the Swans midfield.

Yeah, Buddy had a shocker, but he was far from the worst on the field, and certainly a victim of his team’s inability to find a target in the attacking 50m arc.
Let’s start with the midfield. I wrote last week that all the players who had looked ordinary or at sea against GWS and Collingwood to start the season were more like their old selves against Adelaide. Fast forward eight days, and it was a step backward.

Aside from a few notable names – Jarrad McVeigh, Kieran Jack, Ben McGlynn and Josh Kennedy – the Swans mids were soundly and thoroughly beaten by the Kangaroos. It’s a shocking thing to write because the Swans midfield has long been the catalyst for Sydney’s success. This time a year ago, they were being hailed as perhaps the best midfield unit in the league.

Hell, some were saying that of them in this pre-season. Instead, there’s a bunch of players seemingly running around as free agents, doing their own thing, without any concept of performing as a team. They are listless, slow and, most horrifyingly, not hard at the football, as modern-day Swans legends have always been. That was perhaps the most alarming thing of all.

On a Sunday afternoon when the Swans farewelled their legendary warrior Jude Bolton, his former team mates (some his protégés) displayed the opposite of everything that the football world has come to know and love Bolton for.

The pace that Ryan O’Keefe seemed to have rediscovered against the Crows had disappeared. On Sunday, he looked slow and was beaten to most contests, just like in the first two weeks. Dan Hannebery lacked polish most of the time, and even basic football skills on some occasions. Lewis Jetta doesn’t look like his head is in the game. Tom Mitchell, a revelation last season, isn’t getting the football nearly enough. The sub, Garry Rohan, barely had an impact on proceedings when he came on midway through the third quarter.

No wonder the Kangaroos had so much success. They beat Sydney at their own game. They made more of their possessions, they made better decisions, their kicks were lethally accurate and their tackling was supreme; all reminiscent of the Swans of this time last year.

Defensively, the Swans are a shambles. Why Heath Grundy hasn’t been spotlighted more is beyond me. He is a major liability at the moment, turning over the football in the most disastrous moments. I’d love to watch tape of all the goals the Swans have conceded this year, and tick off just how many have come from a moment of Heath Grundy madness. I’m sure there’d be a few. He was woeful today, but had company. Basic skills like taking a clean mark in defence seemed to be missing. Friendly fire knocking over two or three Swans, thus allowing North an easy goal seemed to happen over and over again.

Sadly, Rhyce Shaw is done. He looks slow at the best of times, and though he labours and toils hard, it’s clear that his time is past. I wonder when the Swans will admit that by making a change. It isn’t an easy situation, for Shaw has been brilliant, his dash and spark from half back having started so many attacking raids over the years he’s been in Sydney, but those days are over, and Sydney’s football brains trust needs to look to the future. Unfortunately, Shaw is not a part of it anymore.

Of course, bad defence and a midfield not able to get clean football into the attacking arc spells doom for the Swans offensively. Lance Franklin was largely a victim of those issues. I lost track of how many times he pushed forward of centre, just to get a touch. He wanted his hands on the Sherrin somehow, someway, and he certainly wasn’t getting much of a look down in the forward arc. Without the midfield delivery, not Tippett, Goodes, Franklin or even the great Gordon Coventry is going to manage to kick a winning-score.

It’s no wonder, then, that Franklin, the man with so much pressure sitting squarely on his broad shoulders, snapped late, lashing out at North players. Scott Thompson held him brilliantly. One behind, a very few touches and that moment of anger will surely mean that Buddy is the focus of things this year. His name is already mud on social media. Don’t believe me? Check out the Swans Facebook page, and the comments on the post detailing the game’s final score.

I find this troubling because the all-Buddy narrative pedalled by the mostly pro-rugby league media up here – you know, the ones who love seeing the Swans and their big-name recruit stumble and fail as they are – means that other players who are playing worse than #23 are undeservedly missing out on having the fierce blowtorch of media attention turned on them. Some tough love, by way of the media, wouldn’t be such a bad thing now.

Adelaide coach Brenton Sanderson spoke in his press conference last week about how a few senior players needed to have a long and serious look at themselves during the week. Ironic that the coach of the team whose victory brought about such a remark will likely be saying the same thing this week.

There will be no let-up. Fremantle come into the SCG on Saturday. Essendon and Hawthorn are on the Swans’ schedule over the next month or so, perhaps the season's death-knell given the team's current form. It probably won't be a pretty sight, next week, unless there is a massive and abrupt turnaround in the next six days.

There is a chance here for the football heads at the club to make tough decisions; by removing some of the Swans’ favourite sons in favour of young talent waiting in the wings, they can at least shape the future, and make it a  positive one.

Sad as it is for this Swans fan to say, the way the team going at the moment, an infusion of new blood might be the only way to stop the rot.

Opinion: 5 International Destinations for V8 Supercars

Aside from Will Power’s commanding victory in the Firestone Grand Prix on the streets of St Petersburg the weekend before last, perhaps the most interesting news for Australian observers of the Verizon IndyCar Series was the news, first reported on SpeedCafe.com ahead of the season-opener, that Team Penske are looking at fielding an entry in the V8 Supercar Series.

Team principal Tim Cindric said, “My feeling is I would like to find a way for Team Penske to be involved in the series. It’s also my job to ensure we get involved in the right way.” A decision will apparently be made after May’s Indianapolis 500. Rumours have tied Penske to a full (or at least partial) take-over of the Dick Johnson team.

No matter where you go in the motor racing world, Team Penske is a legendary name synonymous with winning, particularly at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where Roger Penske, known as ‘The Captain’ has amassed an incredible fifteen wins at the famed Indianapolis 500, and has fielded cars for legends of Indy like Rick Mears (four victories), Helio Castroneves (three victories) and three generations of the Unser clan: Bobby, Al and Al Junior. This year, Penske has Australia’s Will Power driving alongside Castroneves and Juan Pablo Montoya, as stout an Indy line-up as there’s ever been.

Having a Penske team in the V8 Supercar Series brings instant and heavy international credibility. The goal has always been to grow the series internationally, and the sky could very well be the limit when it comes to this expansion. Where Penske goes, other teams tend to come to try and compete. You beat Penske, and you’re flat-out good. That’s how it’s always been, and always will be, as long as The Captain has a say in it.

With burgeoning international interest in mind, I took a look through the various great racetracks around the world, and came up with five of the best, where I’d love to see V8 Supercars race:

Road America

One of the old-school race tracks, and one, unfortunately, that most Australians aren’t aware exists.

Ask just about any North American race fan what their favourite track is, and you’ll almost certainly hear them say Road America – probably the equivalent to our Mt Panorama, Bathurst circuit. The 4.048-mile/6.515km concrete circuit, just about the longest on the continent, winds it’s way through the Wisconsin countryside near the village of Elkhart Lake, and is a favourite of every driver who races there.

Why not? With turns like Canada Corner, the Carousel and the lightning-fast Kink, this is a real driver’s track. Every year, sports cars and even NASCAR Nationwide cars put on an amazing show, and it isn’t that much of a stretch to imagine that the V8 Supercars could do the same. Imagine Courtney, Whincup and Lowndes three wide down the back straight, tussling for position into the kink – a salivating thought.

Brands Hatch

The Indy course is short and sweet, but the best racing at Brands Hatch, the spiritual home of British motor racing, is on the long Grand Prix Circuit (3.90km/2.433mi) that includes Stirlings, Sheene Curve, Dingle Dell and the legendary Paddock Hill Bend, where a driver plunges downhill, fast, through a blind corner.

If there’s one problem with the majority of Australian racing circuits as compared to those in Europe and North America it’s the lack of natural elevation changes, of which there’s plenty at Brands. The locals love their touring car racing – the British Touring Car Championship is one of the more famous series in the world – so there’s definitely a market for tin-top racing in England that the V8s could tap into. The racing would be fierce!

Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps

Like Bathurst and Road America, this is one of the world’s great race tracks. Eau Rouge corner is an absolute belter to start off a lap, and the rest of the circuit, which winds through the beautiful Ardennes Forest, is just as exciting. There are twists, turns, fast corners, slow ones, and more elevation change than you can poke a stick at. Also like Bathurst, it’s a public road course transformed for a race weekend.

Home to the Belgian Formula One Grand Prix (one of the more popular and well-attended races on the calendar), the 24 hours of Spa for GT cars and a 1000km race for the new World Endurance Championship, Spa is now 7.004 kilometres long, shortened and changed over the years, down from being a whopping 15km track in the years before World War Two.

There are few better ‘driver’s tracks’ in the world than this one, and watching the V8s funnel up the hill through Eau Rogue before blasting off into the Belgian countryside would be fantastic.

Long Beach

The street circuit that every other street circuit – Monaco excepted – wants to be like.

First a home to the United States Formula One round, and now IndyCar, the Toyota Grand Prix not only revitalised the rundown city of Long Beach, California, but it is now looked upon as the most prestigious road race in America, and the second-most important event in the IndyCar Series.  The party atmosphere that the event has taken on could be compared with the Adelaide street race. It’s Monaco without the pretension.

This iconic street course begins coming off the final turn, a slow, ponderous hairpin, before the long blast down Lakeshore Drive, with packed grandstands on either side of the track, and through the Fountain Turn and, unlike a lot of street circuits, including the afore mentioned Monaco, there are enough passing opportunities to ensure that any race here, be it sports cars, IndyCars or even the annual celebrity race, is full of action.

Then there’s the weather, which is pretty much perfect year-round in Southern California, and passionate race fans. There are few better motorsports events anywhere.

Circuit de la Sarthe – Le Mans

Highly unlikely that we’ll ever see the V8 Supercars here, but we can all dream. The full Circuit de la Sarthe Le Mans course – not the 10-turn Bugatti course used for the MotoGP race each year, as well as the 24 hour motorcycle event – is, hands down, the greatest race track on the face of the earth, and home to the sternest test of driver, pit crew and car: the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

There are few faster and more exhilarating race tracks in the world than this mixture of permanent road course and temporary street circuit. Le Mans prototypes are at full throttle for more than 85% of a lap of the 13.629 kilometres of tarmac that rockets cars through the picturesque countryside.

Unbelievably, the lap record for the course with such famous turns as the Porsche Curves, Tetre Rouge and Arnage, is 3:19.074, set by a Peugeot  908 prototype with Loic Duval behind the wheel back in 2010.

Imagine a full field of growling V8 Supercars heading down the Mulsanne Straight, following in the tyre treads of some of the sport’s greatest names, who have won at Le Mans – Jacky Ickx, Derek Bell, Henri Pescarolo, Australia’s own David Brabham and, of course, Dane Tom Kristensen, the King of Le Mans, who has nine overall victories.

The Vancouver Canucks fire General Manager Mike Gillis

This wasn’t hard to see coming. 

All year, there have been rumblings of discontent in the Vancouver Canucks franchise. British Colombia’s media corps have had a field day covering the ups and downs – mostly downs – of as tumultuous a season as there’s been in recent memory, and now, the morning after the Canucks were eliminated from playoff contention, the axe has fallen.

General Manager Mike Gillis is out the door, following another big name, Roberto Luongo. The difference is, Gillis will head to the unemployment queue while Luongo, trapped in a strange and frustrating goaltending saga in Vancouver, has found a new home and a new lease on life with the Florida Panthers.

In many ways, the mess with the popular Luongo, who was benched in favour of back-up Corey Schneider in the midst of their 2012 playoff run, and, despite whispers that quickly became a dull roar across Vancouver, instead of trading Luongo away in the summer of 2012, it was Schneider who went, heading east and south to the New Jersey Devils, leaving Luongo to step back into the starting role.

The entire episode was as confusing as a badly-written soap opera, and the goalie situation reared it’s ugly head again in Vancouver this season, when Luongo was benched for the team’s outdoor Heritage Classic game in favour of mostly-untested back-up Eddie Lack. Days later, Luongo was off, and the wheels had come right off in Vancouver.

Not-hard-to-believe tales of discontent amongst star players like Ryan Kesler littered the newspapers. Kesler, an American, wanted a trade to a team south of the border, though you wonder if he simply wanted to play anywhere but in the Canucks organisation. As a whole, the team was struggling to adapt to the shot-blocking style of new head coach John Tortorella. All the while, the Canucks, a Western Conference powerhouse who went within sixty minutes of claiming a Stanley Cup in 2011, faded from irrelevance.

In some ways, that 2011 final was the beginning of the end – and certainly a calamitous moment in the history of both the Canucks franchise and the city itself. You know the series: when Luongo inexplicably melted down, when Boston somehow won a Game Seven on Vancouver ice against all the odds. When the city rioted in the aftermath, a black eye for the game and for the city. In many ways, the Canucks haven’t been relevant since. Certainly, they haven’t scaled those lofty playoff heights again

All of this on Gillis’ watch, though it is unfair to pin the hire of Tortorella on him. If you believe the whispers – and I tend to, for these things are rarely made up – it was the owners of the Vancouver Canucks, the Aquilini family, who wanted to hire Tortorella, the former Rangers coach, whose demise in New York with the Rangers had come about because of something approaching a player mutiny.

Gillis was overruled by ownership. It’s hard enough for a GM and coach on good terms to work together, let alone a GM with a coach he didn’t even want. Worse, it was a definite knock on Gillis, whose advice the Aquilini’s listened to but didn’t heed. How’s that for a punch in the gut?

Three years ago, Mike Gillis was the GM of the Year in the National Hockey League. Now, after a “him or me” ultimatum didn’t go in his favour, he’s no longer at the helm of a franchise. Though, perhaps that’s not a bad thing. The situation in Vancouver isn’t great. Aside from working for owners who are happy to overrule their General Manager – you know, the guy they hired to run the hockey operations – the Canucks are in disarray. They’ve traded away two great goalies, have suffered through injuries to key player, and enough bad press to last a lifetime.

In Tortorella, the Aquilini family have a coach who favours a style of game unlike any being played in the Western Conference. That’s not a good thing. Their coach is trying to make that style of game work with an aging roster. Tortorella’s success has come with a much younger roster, more amendable to being moulded the way he wants to mould them, not a club of veterans who aren’t used to the defensive-minded scheme, and, by all accounts, not all that keen on learning.

A year ago, Alain Vigneault was fired because he didn’t put a team on the ice who could score goals, or so the rhetoric out of Vancouver went. Interestingly, the Canucks then went out and hired a guy famous for running a system where goal scoring takes a back seat to shot-blocking and defensive hockey.

Tortorella’s system favours a grind-it-out sort of play, rather than one that keeps the NHL’s in-arena scorers busy. I don’t get that hire. Interestingly, Vigneault (who basically swapped with Tortorella, heading from Vancouver to the New York Rangers) is preparing to take his team to the playoffs.

The hire was a bad one. We might have suspected it at the time, but the dramas throughout the year have pretty much confirmed it. Gillis is gone because the owners don’t want to admit that they were wrong. Also, Tortorella is on 5 years and $10 million, which is a hell of a lot of money to swallow. Along, of course, with their pride. The dysfunction and general lack of communication between the owners and the hockey people at the Canucks is a massive red flag. You can’t win a Stanley Cup with a house so divided.

With the Western Conference as stacked with talent – Chicago, Anaheim, Los Angeles and San Jose, to name just a few – as it is now and appears poised to be for many years to come, this is a time for Vancouver to either sink or swim. They need to win and win quickly next year, or risk being left behind. Whoever comes in as the new General Manager will be straddled with a coach who’s clearly in favour with ownership, and that’s an uphill battle in of itself.

The Aquilini family, in releasing Gillis, said that “a new voice is needed” but you can’t help but wonder if a General Manager who will tow the party line is actually what the Canucks owners want to take their franchise into the future. Gillis obviously didn’t. Tortorella won the battle of ultimatums.

Will that translate to wins and competiveness on the ice? Only time will tell.