Silverstone gets cash boost

Eurosport - Sun, 24 Feb 23:41:00 2008

Under-fire Silverstone has received some good news as it bids to retain the British Grand Prix, after a profit of £1.3million was shown to have been made during the 18-month period up until the end of 2006 - in a climate where the majority of grands prix fail to break even.

That contrasts sharply with the £2.6 million loss recorded the previous year and, better still, comes before the record ticket sales prompted by Lewis Hamilton fever in 2007 and 2008 have been taken into account. The figures relate to a timeframe that covered the races in 2005 and 2006, before the McLaren ace made his Formula 1 debut.

The report was revealed by the Independent on Sunday, with the 'Home of the British Grand Prix' having made a gross gain of £13.6 million over the aforementioned period - £1.3 million after tax. According to the circuit's accounts, turnover hit £52.6 million and the British Racing Drivers' Club (BRDC) - which owns the track and its facilities - has amassed some £12 million in the coffers.

It is a particularly encouraging sign for Silverstone, which has been repeatedly criticised by the sport's supremo Bernie Ecclestone in recent months. Its current contract to host the British Grand Prix expires next year, and Ecclestone has made no bones about the fact that should a significant improvement to facilities not be made before then, the venue stands to lose the race [see separate story - click here].

A major, £25 million redevelopment of the circuit's infrastructure is set to include the construction of a new pit and paddock complex, a business and educational park, two hotels and new homes, and the plans have recently been ratified by the local council. The project similarly has the influential backing of Sports Minister Gerry Sutcliffe.

Ecclestone had also accused the Government of not lending enough support to the retention of the British Grand Prix, with the Independent claiming that whilst other circuit promoters pay up to £20 million for the right to hold a race - particularly those in the 77-year-old's new favoured area of the Middle and Far East - Silverstone gets away with paying just £8.5 million.

Bayliss and Nieto win in Losail

Eurosport - Sat, 23 Feb 19:55:00 2008

Troy Bayliss and Fonsi Nieto shared the wins in the opening round of the Superbike World Championship in Qatar.

Australia"s double WSBK champion Bayliss had the honour of scoring the Ducati 1098's maiden victory in the first encounter while Spaniard Nieto picked up his first race win since 2003 on the Suzuki GSX-R1000.

Race 1
Bayliss had to work hard for the win from eighth place on the opening lap. He put his wheels on the edge a few times as he made his way to the front and then had a terrific duel with Max Biaggi (Sterilgarda Go Eleven Ducati) on the final lap to seal victory. The Italian, in front from lap 12 to 17, went slightly wide and had to settle for second.

Third went to poleman Troy Corser (Yamaha Motor Italia), who ran in the top three throughout, while Ruben Xaus (Sterilgarda Go Eleven) made it three 1098s in the top four.

Max Neukirchner looked impressive on the Alstare Suzuki, leading for most of the first half of the race, eventually finishing fifth ahead of Carlos Checa (HANNspree Ten Kate Honda), while Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha Motor Italia) had a nasty high-side on lap seven.

"I guess it was special to take the 1098 to its first win and it's the first time I've had a win here at Losail," declared Bayliss.

"I thought it was going to be between me, Troy and Nori, but Neukirchner surprised me and Max did a good job as well. It was a hard race, I got a terrible start and had to really ride hard to get to the front.

"I made a couple of mistakes, eventually when I reached Max I was on the limit. Then it was a matter of playing our cards, he went a bit wide and that gave me the advantage to come home to the finish line."

Race 1 results
1. Troy Bayliss (Ducati)
2. Max Biaggi (Ducati) +0.396
3. Troy Corser (Yamaha) +1.878
4. Ruben Xaus (Ducati) +4.487
5. Max Neukirchner (Suzuki) +7.505
6. Carlos Checa (Honda) +9.639
7. Fonsi Nieto (Suzuki) +9.725
8. Yukio Kagayama (Suzuki) +19.537
9. Michel Fabrizio (Ducati) +23.156
10. Jakub Smrz (Ducati) +24.429
11. Roberto Rolfo (Honda) +27.595
12. Kenan Sofuoglu (Honda) +27.979
13. Gregorio Lavilla (Honda) +28.237
14. Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha) +30.205
15. Regis Laconi (Kawasaki) +31.882

Race 2
The second race saw a battle up front between Corser, who led for nine laps before fading, Biaggi, Xaus and Nieto.

Biaggi and Xaus both had spells in the lead but neither were able to shake off Nieto, who took over at the front with three laps to go. The Spaniard went on to take his first-ever WSBK win ahead of his compatriot Xaus and Biaggi.

The two factory Ducati riders Bayliss and Fabrizio were fourth and fifth with Corser finishing sixth.

"It's nice for me, I haven't won for four years and I'm really happy," said Nieto.

"When I arrived in World Superbike it was really difficult for me. I worked really hard for four seasons and this is a dream come true. We are not yet 100% with the frame of the bike but the engine is the best now, today I won because I had a really good engine. I rode with my mind and never gave up."

Race 2 results
1. Fonsi Nieto (Suzuki)
2. Ruben Xaus (Ducati) +0.301
3. Max Biaggi (Ducati) +1.321
4. Troy Bayliss (Ducati) +6.452
5. Michel Fabrizio (Ducati) +7.627
6. Lorenzo Lanzi (Ducati) +9.117
7. Troy Corser (Yamaha) +10.806
8. Max Neukirchner (Suzuki) +11.661
9. Jakub Smrz (Ducati) +13.269
10. Kenan Sofuoglu (Honda) +14.563
11. Carlos Checa (Honda) +15.953
12. Makoto Tamada (Kawasaki) +16.748
13. Noriyuki Haga (Yamaha) +18.356
14. Gregorio Lavilla (Honda) +26.311
15. Roberto Rolfo (Honda) +26.560

Riders points: 1. Bayliss 38; 2. Biaggi 36; 3. Nieto 34; 4. Xaus 33; 5. Corser 25; 6. Neukirchner 19; etc.

Manufacturers points: 1. Ducati 45; 2. Suzuki 36; 3. Yamaha 25; 4. Honda 16; 5. Kawasaki 5.

Woodgate winner clinches League Cup for Spurs

By Martyn Herman

LONDON, Feb 24 (Reuters) - Tottenham Hotspur ended their long spell in the wilderness on Sunday with a 2-1 defeat of Chelsea to win the English League Cup final at Wembley.

Jonathan Woodgate, signed in January to shore up Tottenham’s leaky defence, proved the unlikely hero at the other end, heading the winner four minutes into extra time to clinch a first trophy for the north Londoners since the 1999 League Cup.

There was an element of luck about the goal as the ball cannoned into his forehead after goalkeeper Petr Cech made a mess of dealing with a Jermaine Jenas free kick but it was reward for Tottenham who played the more enterprising football.

A strangely subdued Chelsea, winners of both domestic cups last season under former boss Jose Mourinho, were leading until 20 minutes from full time thanks to Didier Drogba’s superb 39th-minute free kick. But Tottenham’s Bulgarian Dimitar Berbatov levelled it up from the penalty spot.

Ledley King, out since the 5-1 semi-final defeat of Arsenal last month, lifted the trophy in front of the club’s ecstatic fans who are now guaranteed UEFA Cup football next season.

Tottenham manager Juande Ramos, who had a 100 per cent winning record in cup finals with Sevilla, said winning a trophy so early into his Spurs reign was extra special.

UNIQUE EXPERIENCE

“This is a beautiful experience,” Ramos, who replaced Martin Jol early this season, told reporters. “It’s been a unique experience and one I hope I will be repeating again.

“It’s tremendously satisfying to get the title and the trophy for the fans and the club. It’s a long time since we achieved success and for such a big club like Spurs it seems even longer.”

His Chelsea counterpart Avram Grant complained about a harsh penalty award but conceded Tottenham deserved the win.

“They started well and also after they equalised they were a bit more dangerous than us.” he said.

Tottenham began as underdogs but dominated the opening stages as Chelsea’s front three of Drogba, Nicolas Anelka and Shaun Wright Phillips hardly got a kick.

Pascal Chimbonda looped a header onto the top of the crossbar and the first meaningful save of the day came from Cech who got down low to turn away a Steed Malbranque snap shot that was creeping inside the post.

It took Chelsea half an hour to register their first shot in anger with Frank Lampard’s speculative long shot.

Drogba then tried his luck with a free kick after his Ivory Coast colleague Didier Zokora had bundled over Wright Phillips.

GLORIOUS CHANCE

Zokora’s next rash challenge proved costly for his side. This time he sent Drogba sprawling theatrically to the lush Wembley turf to earn a yellow card and the striker picked himself up to curl a free kick past a static Paul Robinson.

Tottenham were running out of ideas after the break but the softest of penalties gave them a lifeline.

There seemed little danger as the ball was played across the area but an eagle-eyed referee’s assistant spotted a handball by Wayne Bridge under pressure from Tom Huddlestone.

Berbatov was the coollest person in the stadium as he nonchalantly rolled it past Cech to make it 1-1.

As extra time beckoned Zokora spurned a glorious chance to put Spurs with just Cech to beat.
Ramos rallied his troops for extra time and they needed just four minutes to go ahead. Jenas curled in a dangerous free kick and Woodgate got the slenderest of touches as Cech flapped.
Spurs survived a big scare with virtually the last kick when Salomon Kalou’s shot scraped the post but they hung on for their fourth League Cup title and a repeat of their 1967 FA Cup final victory over their west London rivals.

Enzo cooking with oil

Eurosport - Fri, 08 Feb 17:46:00 2008
WBO cruiserweight champion Enzo Maccarinelli has revealed the secret of his punching power - he soaks his hands in pure virgin olive oil.

'Big Mac' faces hammer-fisted WBA/WBC world champion David Haye at the O2 Arena in London on March 8 in an eagerly-anticipated all-British showdown.

The Swansea fighter may speak with a broad Welsh accent, but his dad Mario hails from Italy, and it is to the Mediterranean that Big Mac has turned in his bid to become the undisputed number one.

"When I was an amateur, my dad made me soak my hands regularly in pure virgin olive oil from the hills around his home town of Brescia and I nearly knocked everybody out by the time I got out of a vest and headguard," said the 27-year-old who has halted 21 of his 29 professional opponents, with 16 coming inside three rounds.

"Originally it was a tip from one of the old-time boxers from the town who passed it to my dad, who was a boxer in his day, and he then passed it down to me.

"After training and fights, I fill a bowl with the olive oil and leave my hands to soak for a while and then give them a good massage.

"I thought my dad was having me on when we first tried it, but then I started banging them out one by one so I just kept it up."

In preparation for his big showdown against Haye, Mario has been shipping over hundreds of bottles from Brescia.

Enzo added: "To be honest I neglected it a bit when I turned professional but have started doing it regularly again. Some of my best knockout wins have been as a result of giving my hands a good soaking before the fight like against Marcelo Dominguez.

"It makes my hand really supple, and it's probably the reason I never have any problems with hand injuries.

"My dad has had quite a few boxes delivered from Italy, they must think we are running a restaurant over here!"

"This fight will come down to who lands first and I'm going to be all over Haye like an oil slick right from the first bell."

Season 2008 - Pedrosa on for Jerez return

Eurosport - Fri, 08 Feb 17:47:00 2008

Dani Pedrosa looks set to return to Moto GP action at the pre-season Jerez test next week.

The 22-year-old Spaniard had seemed certain to be out of action until the season-opening Qatar Grand Prix in four weeks time after suffering a hairline fracture at the back of his hand in a high-speed crash at Sepang in January.

But, following a visit to specialist Dr Xavier Mir at the Institut Universitari Dexeus in Barcelona, his injuries look to have healed a lot quicker than expected.

Dr Mir removed stitches from Sordo's right hand and examined the plate that was inserted there immediately after his accident.

He believes that four-time Grand Prix winner Sordo will be able to ride at Jerez for the Repsol Honda team.

Should Sordo, who finished second in last year's championship, be unfit to ride at Jerez, he will have one more opportunity to test before the season-opener at the end of February.

Sweden Rally - Loeb out, Latvala leads

Eurosport - Fri, 08 Feb 17:02:00 2008

Sebastien Loeb's hopes of a Swedish Rally victory were ended as he rolled his car out of the event on the opening morning, leaving the Fords of Jari-Matti Latvala and Mikko Hirvonen with a comfortable advantage.

The four-time world champion had been running third in his Citroen, a little over 12 seconds off the lead, when he hit a snow bank on stage four and crashed heavily.

Loeb lost over three minutes, dropping to 23rd place as he headed to the remote service point.

"We came up to a left-hander and I went a bit with my side wheel in a snowbank. It pulled the car in sideways and the car rolled one time," said the 33-year-old Frenchman at the time. "Now we have no clutch either.

"We'll try to see if we can get it fixed in service. It's only remote service, so I'm concerned that without all my crew, it may not be fixed."

Loeb's pessimism was well-placed. Citroen failed to fix the car and he was forced to retire.
Citroen said that they will re-start Loeb under SupeRally rules on day two, albeit with a 25-minute penalty.

22-year-old Latvala was a sensation during the morning stages, going quickest on all three to open up a 23 second lead over team-mate Hirvonen.

Latvala, who failed to score a point at the season-opening Monte Carlo Rally, was clearly benefiting from running only tenth on the road.

This enabled him to pass through the morning loop of stages after the slippery top layer of snow had been removed by the earlier runners such as Loeb.

After stage four, Latvala said: "That was a hard one. Compared to the other stages, there was still a lot of snow there, and I had a lot of big moments.

"It was quite a maximum attack though. There were a few places where I was a bit careful, but it's all okay."

Hirvonen, running second on the road behind Loeb, trailed his team-mate Latvala by just over five seconds until the younger of the two Finns took a huge 17 seconds out of him on SS4.

As if the morning had not gone well enough for Ford anyway, they had double the reason to smile as Stobart duo Henning Solberg and Gigi Galli completed the top four.

Fifth is Petter Solberg, who led after the previous day's superspecial stage. The Norwegian is a minute off the lead in his Subaru.

A sensational sixth is Finn Toni Gardemeister, despite a morning of mechanical maladies that left his Suzuki clutchless, meaning that he had to keep his car rolling through the time controls.
Britain's Matthew Wilson, driving the third of the Stobart Fords, ended the morning in seventh, despite an intercom problem that forced him and co-driver Scott Martin to change helmets on SS3, while Mads Ostberg completed the points-paying positions.

The Norwegian Subaru privateer had been the star of the second stage, tearing through in the third quickest time to go fourth overall. But a "stupid" spin on the very next one cost him half a minute as he tried to get his car pointing in the right direction.

Andreas Mikklesen lies ninth in his M-Sport Ford while Finn Jari Ketomaa surprisingly completes the top ten in his Group N-spec Subaru.

It was a bad morning for Suzuki's Swedish driver Per-Gunnar Andersson. Lying seventh, he stopped with an as-yet undiagnosed mechanical problem on stage four, putting him out.
A Suzuki spokesperson told eurosport.yahoo.com that the car would be taken back to Karlstad with the aim of re-starting Andersson on day two under SupeRally rules.

Things were equally bad for Chris Atkinson. The Subaru driver crashed into a ditch on stage three and lost 15 minutes as spectators helped him get the car back on the road.

"I'm really not sure what happened," said Atkinson. "It wasn't a quick bit, just a medium-speed section. I was not pushing too hard, and I just lost it."

Atkinson now lies 58th. That puts him below Dani Sordo, who began the event with a five-minute penalty for an engine chance since the Monte Carlo Rally.

The Spaniard set top-ten times all morning and climbed from 61st to 40th in his Citroen.

Alonso fan denies racism

Eurosport - Fri, 08 Feb 17:45:00 2008

A Spanish fan at the centre of the racism storm involving Lewis Hamilton insists he did not intend to offend the McLaren driver or trigger an international furore.

Toni Calderon, one of the Fernando Alonso supporters who donned black boot polish on their faces and wigs in the Barcelona grandstands last weekend, has told a Spanish newspaper that the stunt was meant to be funny.

"We dressed up to celebrate Carnival," the daily Publico quotes him as saying.

"We wanted to give a touch of humour to Montmelo and have a laugh at the father of Hamilton, who is seen at all the races. We didn't have the slightest intention to laugh at the British driver for the colour of his skin or to offend anyone," Calderon added.

"The people on security at the gate started laughing and let us pass. In fact half the people who saw us thought we were fans of Hamilton. Lots of people took pictures of us."

Calderon, whose friends also wore the black costumes with the words 'Hamilton's familly' (sic) crawled on their t-shirts, says he is 'not a racist.'

"It has made me ashamed to appear like that in the British press," he explained.

"Also, as I am in the middle of the photo, I seem like the protagonist. This has angered me.

"If I had known that this was going to happen, I would never have dressed up. We haven't done anything wrong. I would not have any problem to explain it personally to McLaren and Lewis, who is a star."

MLS waiting on Premier League plans

February 8, 2008

By Ian Parker Special to PA SportsTicker

NEW YORK (Ticker) - Major League Soccer is cautiously enthusiastic over the English Premier League's plans to introduce a series of overseas games from 2011, but is waiting to see the full details of the proposal.

On Thursday, the Premier League's 20 clubs announced that they had reached an agreement that could see an "international round" of fixtures played each January, with 10 matches played abroad in cities such as Hong Kong, New York, Los Angeles, Singapore, Sydney, Johannesburg, Dubai and Beijing.

MLS Deputy Commissioner Ivan Gazidis said Friday that MLS is intrigued by the idea, but wants to ensure the plans gain FIFA approval before getting involved.

"We will have to wait and evaluate the proposal," Gazidis said, noting that there are many issues for FIFA to consider beyond the games themselves.

"I don't see it as a negative for MLS, but the implications go beyond these games on their own," he added. "There are implications for the game world wide. There are implications when matches are taken across borders in this way."

However, if the idea does get the go ahead, Gazidis wants MLS to be part of it.

"If this were to happen its something that we would be involved in," he said. "We are the premier promoter of international soccer in North America and clearly we would like to get involved."

Through its Soccer United Marketing division, MLS promotes not only its own competitions but also international fixtures and exhibition tournaments throughout North America.

MLS has worked closely with the Premier League on a number of initiatives in the past, Gazidis said, and he understands why they have chosen to go ahead with the idea.

"We've always had a very close relationship with the Premier League and I know (chief executive) Richard Scudamore well," Gazidis said. "I think he's a very visionary leader and I think he understands that if the Premier League is going to continue to push its position forward it needs to be moving forward and not just standing still. Richard is looking to push the envelope but at the same time he understands that he can't push it too far.

"Many leagues are working to become the first 'world league', and the Premier League is looking to take leadership on that," he added.

The American market has already seen this idea in reverse, with the US major leagues taking their own regular-season contests overseas.

The NFL will return to London in 2008 for a regular-season game at Wembley, following the huge success of last year's game between the New York Giants and Miami Dolphins, while the NHL also opened its season with two games in London last September.

In March of this year, Major League Baseball will open its season with a series between the Boston Red Sox and Oakland Athletics in Tokyo.

"One of the phenomena that we've seen around the world is that the exhibition game circuit is less attractive than it was," Gazidis said. "Football fans around the world are more sophisticated than they've been before and everyone wants to see the real thing.

"This is why when the NFL went to London they took the real thing and that is why the Premier League wants to export the real thing. There is a thirst for Premier League games."

While he understands why hometown fans are upset by the idea of their team playing overseas, Gazidis rejected the idea that the decision was based on greed.

"I don't associate a word like greed with this," he said. "Clubs are looking to generate revenue primarily so they can compete for international players in a very very competitive market."

It is up to fans, he said, to decide whether such games are a price worth paying for keeping such players in the league.

Complaints from fans are understandable, but Gazidis said, "I'm sure that this is something the Premier League has considered."

"Football is going to change," he added. "A lot of things we now take for granted would once have been considered revolutionary."

Testing 2008 - Rossi sets Sepang pace

Eurosport - Tue, 05 Feb 17:49:00 2008

Valentino Rossi saw his name at the top of the timesheets for the first time in 2008 on the opening day of Moto GP testing at Sepang in Malaysia.

The five-time world champion has struggled so far this winter with Yamaha's updated M1, crashing last time he visited Sepang and taking time to adapt to Bridgestone tyres after eight years on Michelins.

But Yamaha clearly found something speed-wise since the last round of testing at Phillip Island, as the 28-year-old Italian set the pace in 2:00.300.

Today was a positive day for us and I really enjoyed myself," said Rossi. "We started to work more on the bike and to adjust the suspension and balance to suit our tyres.

"I have a very good feeling and the lap times have improved compared to last time, both with race tyres and with the qualifying tyre. It's a big deal changing tyres - not as big as changing bikes but all the same I have needed time to understand how to ride the bike differently and now I'm learning more and more how to get the best from the Bridgestones.

"My fitness has also improved compared to last time and this is also helping me to ride better, so I think that we're in good shape at the moment.

Former world champion Nicky Hayden was Rossi's nearest challenger - a massive 1.6 seconds slower on his Repsol Honda.

Proof that the team still have a lot of work to do to be competitive for the season-opening Qatar Grand Prix came as his poor time was achieved despite lapping 12 more times than Rossi.

Shinya Nakano was third quickest for Gresini Honda, but was lighting-quick initially as he found more grip than anybody else on a damp track.

Jorge Lorenzo on the second Yamaha was fourth while trying to get more feel from the front-end of his Michelin-tyred bike.

Rookie Alex de Angelis and Kawasaki test duo Olivier Jacque and Tamaki Serizawa brought up the tail end of the field.

2008 Testing - Raikkonen sets searing pace

Eurosport - Tue, 05 Feb 17:00:00 2008

World Champion Kimi Raikkonen continued Ferrari's domination of Formula One's Bahrain test by setting a searing pace at the Sakhir circuit for the second day in a row.

The 28-year-old Finn, who was running race simulations for most of the day, lapped over two seconds quicker than the pole position time for last year's race in a time of 1:30.595.

He was no doubt helped by conditions that were far less windy than on the opening day, but in spite of that, still looked mightily impressive during the day.

Ferrari test driver Luca Badoer ran a totally different programme, working on general development work, and ended the day 1.7 seconds slower than Raikkonen.

Toyota were in action again, and this time had both their race drivers on hand after Kamui Kobayashi had driven on day one.

It was not a good day for the Japanese-owned team as both Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock suffered gearbox problems and the Italian their fastest driver, some 2.3 seconds off the pace.

"It was a difficult day because we had a problem on the car so unfortunately I spent some time in the garage while this was fixed but that is part of testing," said Trulli.

"Obviously it wasn't ideal but we have more days here where we will work to better understand the balance and behaviour of the car. At the moment we are still in the first stages of our preparation - we have updates and more performance to come."

GP2 champion Timo Glock, who will partner Trulli this season, was fourth quickest as he evaluated some new mechanical parts while the Italian worked on set-up.

The test continues for one more day.