Around the tracks?November 28 2008

Martin placed
John Martin put in his best performance of the season in the latest round of the A1GP series. The Australian driver finished eighth in the sprint race and improved to fourth in the feature race. Team Ireland took over the points lead after winning the feature race and finishing fifth in the sprint.

Trouble shooter
Paul Laskazeski has moved a step closer to winning this year's Australian Formula Ford title after a fighting performance at Symmons Plains last weekend. He had to fight back after a troubled opening race but still managed second for the round. He was beaten by chief rival Nick Percat, the only driver capable of stealing the title. The pair are separated by 53 points with 61 on offer at the Oran Park finale.

Rossi skilled at F1
MotoGP legend Valentino Rossi (below) believes he could have been good enough in Formula One had he decided to make the switch. The Italian spent two days testing with Ferrari in Italy last week. But despite lapping less than two seconds off Kimi Raikkonen's pace he remains committed to MotoGP.

Ford beats Chevy
The world's wildest off-road race, the Baja 1000, has been won by Roger Norman and Larry Rossler. The pair, driving a Ford F-150 Trophy Truck, beat the Chevrolet of B.J. Baldwin, who tackled the 1000km course solo. The high-profile Volkswagen Touareg Trophy Truck driven by Mark Miller and Ryan Arciero finished 13th.

Champ goes down
Yamaha's Jay Marmont ended Chad Reed's domination of SuperX last weekend in Townsville. The local rider beat the two-time world champion in the semi-final of the new man-on-man format. Marmont then beat Honda's Daniel McCoy in the final. Reed holds a 14-point championship lead over Marmont going into this weekend's final in Brisbane.