Pitstop: Hawkeswood one to watch

The fourth round of the Vantage Aluminium Joinery New Zealand Rally Championship will be run over 249.36km of gravel split into 15 special stages over Saturday and Sunday, July 18-19 in Wairarapa. Hayden Paddon has a 27-point lead over Richard Mason with Emma Gilmour third. Andrew Hawkeswood is expected to be the fly in the ointment for the overall championship chasing teams, having won the event outright last year.

Dixon riding high

New Zealand IndyCar driver and defending champion Scott Dixon heads to the streets of Toronto this weekend, having regained the points lead. Dixon is at the top of the table, 19 points ahead of his teammate Dario Franchitti and Ryan Briscoe. He'll have more than just a race on his mind as wife Emma gave birth to a 2.7kg baby girl this week.

Cunningham in with chance

Another Kiwi racing in the US, Wade Cunningham in the Firestone Indy Lights, remains third in the championship despite spinning out last weekend. A fan of the road courses, Cunningham will be keen to make amends this weekend in Toronto. He'll have to be on his game as the competition is fierce this year and qualifying will be key to him having a good race.

Big field for karting

Record karting numbers are turning up for the seventh annual National Schools' Championship event in the Hawkes Bay this weekend. The three-day event has attracted 139 karts spread over six classes representing schools from Auckland to Dunedin. KartSport New Zealand has confirmed the winning Secondary Schools Team drivers will again receive a Formula Challenge Drive.

Vettel on a roll

The Formula One season is at its halfway point for the German Grand Prix at the Nurburgring. The race will again be between Brawn GP and Red Bull Racing with Jenson Button wanting to make up for his last outing at Silverstone and Sebastian Vettel on a roll after his second place last time out. Both teams have tweaked cars and packages for this weekend.

Waltrip winds down

After 25 years racing in Nascar's Sprint Cup series, Michael Waltrip is handing over his car keys to Martin Truex Jnr as he gets set to retire from racing full-time. Waltrip will still contest the odd event next year, including the Daytona 500. He scored four victories including two Daytona 500s. He will concentrate more on his role as team owner and manager.

No 5 for Vickers

Brian Vickers won his fifth Nascar pole of the season for the LifeLock.com 400 at Chicagoland Speedway yesterday. Vickers ran a lap of 184.162mph (296.37km/h) to start at the front in tomorrow's race.