Marcos Ambrose starting to turn things around - MotorSportsTalk

It has admittedly not been an easy return to V8 Supercars racing for former NASCAR driver Marcos Ambrose.

A former two-time Supercars champion, Ambrose returned to his native Australia after last year’s NASCAR season, intent on picking up where he left off when he left Supercars at the end of the 2005 season.

Unfortunately, it hasn’t played out that way. Anything that could go wrong seemed to go wrong for Ambrose at the start of the season, prompting him to take a lengthy leave from the joint Dick Johnson-Roger Penske owned team.

But Ambrose is back and sporting both confidence and enhanced performance.

In this weekend’s Wilson Security Sandown 500, Ambrose and co-driver Scott Pye managed to finish 12th out of 25 entries in the 161-lap event, just 26 seconds behind winners Mark Winterbottom and Steve Owen.

Earlier in the weekend in the first practice session – and his first return to Sandown in 10 years (he won there in 2002 and 2004) – Ambrose surprised many in the crowd by netting the third-fastest speed.

But just like the beginning of the season, Ambrose went from feeling high to down when the driver of the No. 17 Xbox Falcon FG X was penalized a hefty $5,000 for an improper practice start.

Prior to the weekend, Ambrose explained why he was coming back at this time and what he expected going forward.

“My role is quite clear at Sandown and all the Endurance races,” Ambrose said in a DJR Racing Team Penske release. “I will be supporting Scott in every way possible. I am looking forward to getting back in the car and can see the improvements the team has made since I stepped back after the Grand Prix.

“As a driver pairing I think we are in good shape. We have the car set up close to the way we both like it, the compromises in the cockpit are not too bad, and I have watched every race closely this year and can see the progress that has been made.”

Given the decent showing he had over the course of this weekend, Ambrose now has his sights set on one of the biggest races of the year, the Supercheap Auto Bathhurst 1000 endurance race, from Oct. 8-11.

“I’ve had a brilliant career and I’ve raced in many parts of the world, but the tracks that stick out are few and far between,” Ambrose told V8Supercars.com. “One of them, without doubt, is Bathurst.

“It’s one of the most iconic tracks in the world – it really is a gnarly, narrow, mountainous course and there aren’t many tracks like that around the world.

“I’m looking forward to going back, just to drive the track, experience one of these modern V8 Supercars around there. I haven’t been there since 2005, there’s been a lot of changes made to the place since then so I’m just looking forward to going there and seeing it and experiencing it from behind the wheel.”

During his previous tenure in Supercars, Ambrose struggled several times to win Bathurst, one of the series’ premier races.

“It certainly is one of those races that eluded me,” Ambrose told V8Supercars.com. “I’ve only had five goes at it – people forget that – three of those years we were blowing tires all day, so two good years we had a shot and came up short.

“So yeah, I’d love to win it. It’s certainly a trophy that’s missing from the cabinet and I’ve got a good chance this year. … I’m looking forward to going to Bathurst and I feel like we’ve got a shot to win it, and I’m going to try and win it.”

After Bathurst, three races remain on the 28-race Supercars schedule. While Ambrose is out of contention for the overall championship, he can still make some noise – not to mention get a head start on 2016.

“This has been a trying year for us, but it’s certainly not going to define DJR Team Penske,” Ambrose told Motorsport.com. “They’re going to come back in 2016 really strong, and we’re going to keep building for the rest of this season.”

Likewise, his unexpected struggles upon returning to his homeland and Supercars will not define him, either, Ambrose said.

“My career … is not going to be defined by three races,” Ambrose told FoxSports.com.au. “I’m not going to sit here and say if I do well in the three (remaining) races, I’m going to come back full-time. It’s not about that.

“It’s just about whether it is right for me and whether I want to keep going down the path or do I want to do something different.

“We’ll come to that decision when it’s right. But it’s not now and it’s certainly not a conversation we have had as a team. It’s not on our radar, we are going to get through these three races and do the best we can there and work it out.”

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For the fifth time in 10 rounds of the 2023 Monster Energy Supercross season, the three riders at the top of the championship standings shared a podium and while those points tell one story, the NBC SuperMotocross Power Rankings after Detroit tell a slightly different tale.

SuperMotocross Power Rankings Detroit — *Cooper Webb is peaking at the right time. – Feld Motor Sports*

Chase Sexton has been all but perfect during the past 45 days with podium finishes in each of his heats and Triple Crown features. His only stumble during this period was a 10th-place finish in the Indianapolis Main. Last week, Sexton was perfect with wins in both his heat and the feature, although he needed a little help from an Aaron Plessinger mistake to take the top spot on the podium at the end of the night.

Cooper Webb finished fifth at Houston and was beginning to worry ever so slightly about his position in the points. Prior to the race in Tampa, he told NBC Sports that it was time to win and like Babe Ruth pointing to the outfield fence, Webb went out and captured it. Following that race, Webb has swept the podium and earned the red plate two weeks ago in Indianapolis. At Detroit, he added two more points on Eli Tomac as the season begins to wind down.

Tomac struggled with a stiff neck at Indianapolis and after a modest third-place showing in Detroit, he revealed he was still suffering a little. Webb and Sexton have been able to close the gap on Tomac in the past 45 days, but one of the main reasons he is so close in the points was a pair of wins that started the year. Seattle is going to be important for the defending champion because Tomac cannot afford to lose any more momentum with seven rounds remaining.

MORE: Chase Sexton inherits the win in Detroit

It appeared Jason Anderson was turning things around. He earned his fifth heat win at Detroit, which was also his sixth consecutive race (including features) in which he scored a top-five. A fall in the Detroit Main dropped him a lap off the pace and sent him home with a season-worst finish of ninth, causing a ripple effect in the SuperMotocross Power Rankings.

Justin Barcia was a huge part of the show last week in Detroit. He swapped positions with both Webb and Tomac in the middle stage of the race, which allowed Sexton to close the gap. Barcia finished fourth in that race to earn his third consecutive top-five. He’s been outside the top 10 only once in the first 10 rounds.

Adam Cianciarulo had a great start to the Main. He led a couple of laps before losing a lap and slipping back to eighth in the final rundown. That run was strong enough to elevate him three positions in the SuperMotocross Power Rankings after Detroit.

450 Rankings

This Week	Driver	Percentage Points	Last Week	Diff.
1.	Chase Sexton [2 Main, 6 Heat wins]	87.00	1	0
2.	Cooper Webb [2 Main, 1 Heat win]	86.71	2	0
3.	Eli Tomac [5 Main, 6 Heat wins]	84.57	3	0
4.	Jason Anderson [5 Heat wins]	80.71	4	0
5.	Ken Roczen [1 Main, 1 Heat win]	80.50	5	0
6.	Justin Barcia [1 Heat win]	79.07	7	1
7.	Aaron Plessinger	77.14	6	-1
8.	Adam Cianciarulo	69.75	11	3
9.	Christian Craig	68.86	10	1
10.	Justin Cooper	63.90	9	-1
11.	Justin Hill	58.57	15	4
12.	Dean Wilson	51.50	12	0
13.	Colt Nichols	51.25	13	0
14.	Shane McElrath	46.86	17	3
15.	Josh Hill	46.79	16	1
16.	Benny Bloss	45.31	18	2
17.	Jared Lesher	39.00		NA
18.	Joey Savatgy	38.63	14	-4
19.	Cade Clason	37.50	21	2
20.	Grant Harlan	35.54	23	3

Supercross 450 Points

The NBC SuperMotocross Power Rankings look at the past 90 days in the 250 class in order to have a balanced comparison between the East and West divisions and Hunter Lawrence has been all but perfect this year. At Detroit, he earned his fifth win of the season and kept alive a streak of podium finishes in six rounds. He tied his brother Jett Lawrence with 10 250 wins one week before the West riders take to the track for back-to-back races at Seattle, Washington and Glendale, Arizona.

The Lawrence brothers are dominating the points in each of their respective divisions, which means the remainder of the field is battling to be best in class.

In the East, that rider is Nate Thrasher, who beat Hunter in a head-to-head matchup in their heat only to finish second in the main when the majority of points were awarded. Thrasher seems to have accepted his position in the championship standings, but that doesn’t mean he won’t keep trying for wins.

Haiden Deegan showed a lot of aggression in his heat last week. He threw a couple of block passes at his teammate Jordon Smith and set up a series of events that kept Smith from making the big show while Deegan settled into second in the preliminary. Deegan was unconcerned about how he raced his teammate and would not let a little controversy keep him from celebrating his second career podium in Detroit.

Supercross 250 Points

Jeremy Martin just keeps clicking off solid results. He won his heat last week by making a pass on Deegan and Smith while they were in the heat of their battle. Martin finished fourth in the Main, which means he continues to have only one finish worse than sixth in any of the features or mains.

Smith fell one position in the points standings, but the damage was even worse in SuperMotocross Power Rankings after Detroit. Crash damage in his heat contributed to a last-place finish in that race, for which he earned minimal points. He was not able to advance from the Last Chance Qualifier after stalling his bike in heavy traffic.

250 Rankings

This Week	Rider	Power Avg.	Last Week	Diff.
1.	Hunter Lawrence – E [5 Main, 5 Heat wins]	90.43	1	0
2.	Jett Lawrence – W [3 Main, 3 Heat wins]	90.30	2	0
3.	Nate Thrasher – E [1 Main, 3 Heat wins]	84.00	5	2
4.	Cameron McAdoo – W [1 Heat win]	79.80	9	5
5.	Haiden Deegan – E [1 Heat win]	78.21	7	2
6.	Jeremy Martin – E [2 Heat wins]	78.00	8	2
7.	Jordon Smith – E [3 Heat Wins]	76.77	4	-3
8.	Levi Kitchen – W [1 Main]	75.30	3	-5
9.	Mitchell Oldenburg – W	75.20	11	2
10.	RJ Hampshire – W [4 Heat wins]	74.50	17	7
11.	Max Anstie – E	74.43	6	-5
12.	Tom Vialle – E	72.07	12	0
13.	Max Vohland – W	71.56	10	-3
14.	Stilez Robertson – W [1 Heat win]	69.22	14	0
15.	Chris Blose – E	67.43	18	3
16.	Chance Hymas – E	67.10	15	-1
17.	Enzo Lopes – W	66.00	20	3
18.	Michael Mosiman – E	65.80	16	-2
19.	Pierce Brown – W	65.78	13	-6
20.	Phil Nicoletti – W	59.25	21	1

* The NBC Power Rankings assign 100 points to a Main event winner and 90 points for each Heat and Triple Crown win, (Triple Crown wins are included with heat wins below the rider’s name). The points decrement by a percentage equal to the number of riders in the field until the last place rider in each event receives five points. The Power Ranking is the average of these percentage points over the past 45 days for the 450 class and last 90 days for 250s (because of the split nature of their season).

POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 8 AT DAYTONA: Chase Sexton unseats Eli Tomac
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 7 AT ARLINGTON: Jason Anderson narrowly trails Tomac
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 6 AT OAKLAND: Perfect night keeps Tomac first
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 5 AT TAMPA: Sexton, Cooper Webb close in
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 4 AT HOUSTON: Tomac rebounds from A2 crash, retakes lead
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 3 AT ANAHEIM 2: Consistency makes Ken Roczen king
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 2 AT SAN DIEGO: Roczen moves up, Sexton falls
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 1 AT ANAHEIM 1: Tomac, Jett Lawrence gain an early advantage

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