Much to my dismay this week, Michael Shaw, the publisher of conrod.com.au notified me that we have been denied media access to all AVESCO events as we are "in competition" with existing AVESCO web publications.

This policy is in conflict with both the Formula 1 and CART series, which both allow premier independent web sites similar access.

It appears our success is somewhat an embarrassment to AVESCO, who would rather nobody know that any other sites except "official sanctioned sites" actually exist.

Rather than doing what other organising bodies have done and enhance the experience for motorsport net citizens, they have instead opted for an option that is anti-competitive, and borders on outright censorship.

You as V8Supercar fans are the losers. AVESCO would rather you see only their point of view, rather than a full, open and balanced coverage of the sport on the World Wide Web. AVESCO must realise that unofficial sites will not "go away", even if conrod.com.au did disappear overnight, other sites would still remain in its place.

What does this mean for us? Well, put simply, it means that we can't do our job of covering V8 Supercar racing as good as we could. The photos won't be as good, the features less often and frequent, etc. We hope this explanation is sufficient to keep your patronage while we get this situation rectified.

And finally, to the people at AVESCO: We were the only site with three entries in Auto Action's 101 best web sites, even the Rev thinks we're "excellent". Motorsport News has described us as "the definitive source of V8 statistical information". Even Speedvision, your US TV friends have used us as a news source. The Sunday Herald-Sun, The Weekend Australian, the list goes on.