Pitstop: Murphy admits to 'amateurish' move

Greg Murphy blames nobody but himself for the accident that destroyed his Holden Commodore in the opening V8 Supercar round at Adelaide and left him watching the non-championship races at Melbourne last weekend.

"It was a bad decision on my part. It's as simple as that - I put myself in a spot on the track where I shouldn't have been.

"I was racing Paul Dumbrell for position and I was hoping he would have pulled out. By the time I realised that wasn't going to be the case it was all too late. I should have backed out earlier.

"It was a bit of an amateurish move actually ... If one of the guys left a wheel nut undone or a bolt loose and I crashed, I wouldn't be happy.

"So when you place the amount of pressure on yourself like I do and you expect yourself not to make mistakes and perform, and then you go and do something like that, then you can't be happy with yourself.

"Not only has it hurt my pride, but the accident also cost the team a lot of money and the guys a lot of unnecessary work back at the shop."

Murphy believes he can make amends on his home track at Pukekohe on April 21-23 where he has won four of the five rounds staged there. But he concedes that there will be 30 others who think they can knock him off.

Gaunt to debut in US

Daniel Gaunt, winner of the Toyota national championship, will make his debut in the Champ Car Atlantic series on the streets of Long Beach, California, this weekend.

A field of 31 cars will contest the opening round of the series on the temporary street circuit as a support race to the main Champ Car race.

The Aucklander, who clinched the New Zealand Toyota title at Taupo with a round to go, plans to return for the final round at Pukekohe on April 21-23.

MacKenzie pulls out

New Zealand V8 driver Haydn Mackenzie has pulled out of the final round of the championship at Pukekohe.

Mackenzie's Ford Falcon was involved in the multiple accident that eliminated several cars in the third race at the Taupo meeting in March, the penultimate championship round.

He decided that, as he was already committed to a new car for next season, he could not justify rebuilding the damaged Ford for one meeting.

He was 15th in the championship.

Brundle's plain talk

In these days when dropping the baton in a relay final can be described as satisfactory, isn't it a pleasure to hear Martin Brundle telling it how it really is during the Formula One commentaries.

While his commentating colleague was waffling on about American Scott Speed, Brundle came right to the point: "He's a young man who it's very hard to like."

Also on the mark are the pit-to-car radio conversations we get to hear in Sky's coverage.

Millions around the world heard a Renault engineer tell Giancarlo Fisichella during the Australian Grand Prix that there was no excuse for his lack of pace and to get a move on.

NZ Motor Cup

Drivers in the second race of the Toyota championship round at Pukekohe on April 23 will compete for the New Zealand Motor Cup, the most sought-after trophy in New Zealand motorsport.

The cup was originally awarded for the Australasian Beach championship and was won outright by Aucklander R. B. Wilson, of the NZ Herald founding family.

In 1953 he gave it to the New Zealand Grand Prix and for years it was the trophy for that race.

Among the names on the handsome trophy are Stirling Moss, Jack Brabham, John Surtees, Jackie Stewart, Bruce McLaren and Chris Amon. It was last awarded in 2000 to Andy Booth.

Reid takes podium

Aucklander Jonny Reid was back on the podium on his return to the All-Japan Formula Three championship at Fuji Speedway last weekend.

Reid shared the driving with Matt Halliday during the early rounds of the A1GP series.

The 22-year-old former Formula Ford champion qualified fifth and finished sixth in the first race and qualified seventh.

But he finished an outstandingsecond in the second, when torrential rain saw only nine of the 14 starters finish.