The Indianapolis Star from Indianapolis, Indiana • Page 30

Hi RCA Safety research continues i-h UlCrJ LUdlt llPJi LiJ VJinstonCup Pepsi 400 (Top finishers) If Driver Car 1. Sterling Martin Dodge 2. Ricky Craven Ford 3. Bill Elliott Dodge 4. Matt Kenseth Ford 5.

Johnny Benson Pontlac 6. Dave Blaney Dodge 7. Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 8. Mark Martin Ford 9. Steve Park Chevrolet 10.

Casey Atwood Dodge Series points leaders: Gordon 3,353, Ricky Rudd 3,055, Dale Jarrett 2,999, Martin 2,972, Tony Stewart 2,870. Jeff Gordons," Davis said. "I'm not sure I see any right now coming up like Jeff. I'm not sure I ever will." Newman a quick study Rusty Wallace went to victory lane Saturday at Michigan International Speedway to congratulate Ryan Newman after the Indiana native's first Busch Series victory. Wallace and Newman will be Winston Cup teammates at Penske Racing South next season.

"Rusty's not just a teammate, he's part owner of my car and has been so much help," Newman said. "We talk about how you drive a car, what you do with your feet, what you do with the steering wheel, what to expect in traffic. (He) has been tremendous in helping me understand what these race cars are really like." Pit notes Ricky Rudd, who blew an engine and finished 42nd Sunday, all but conceded Gordon his fourth Winston Cup championship. "I don't think we can beat Gordon in the points unless he has some trouble," said Rudd, who fell 298 points behind. "I don't think anybody's going to beat him." Rudd led 51 of the first 100 laps.

Mike Skinner placed 18th Sunday in his first race after missing four starts because of crash-related injuries. Skinner has been advised by team owner Richard Childress to begin exploring other options for next year. "I'd like to convince them (to let me) stay in the car, but I don't know if I'll be able to," Skinner said. Contact Steve Ballard at 1-317-444-61B4 or e-mail steve.ballardindystar.com Cal Wells' team prepares 3rd prototype of carbon-fiber seat for Winston Cup drivers. By Steve Ballard STAFF WRITER BROOKLYN.

Mich. The carbon-fiber seat designed by PPI Motorsports received almost universal approval from drivers when it was presented to them during testing at Indianapolis Motor Speedway last month. A PPI spokesperson said a third prototype is being built with refinements suggested by various sources, including the two drivers who so far have done all the on-track testing, PPI's Ricky Craven and Andy Houston. With NASCAR scheduled to make public Tuesday in Atlanta the results of its investigation into Dale Earnhardt's fatal crash, speculation centers on the chassis and the driver's compartment. Stock cars are built with rigid steel chassis to improve handling, but the stiff chassis doesn't absorb the energy of an impact.

That puts the onus on the seats, which currently are made of aluminum. PPI Motorsports owner Cal Wells has had his engineers working to adapt the kind of carbon-fiber seat commonly used in open-wheel cars to stock cars. Crash tests conducted at Wayne State University in Detroit have produced largely positive results. "Cal has spent a lot of money a lot of his own money developing these seats," Craven said. The major stumbling blocks are weight and cost, both substantially more than aluminum.

Costs will come down when the seat can be mass-produced. That might re- Photo op: A fan photographs Goran Ivanisevic, who took a seat in the American Airlines coach seats, after losing his fifth game in the third set of the semis against Gustavo Kuerten. Serve, Ivanisevic disappear Staff Photo Chris Preovolos "We could have clinched it about five hours ago," said Knowles of the match that ended at 8:15 p.m. "It must have been a title worth winning because we put in a lot of hours (Sunday)." The doubles winners earned $44,500. The runners-up took home $23,400.

Beers on him After his victory, Rafter was presented the key to the city by Mike O'Connor, Indianapolis' chief deputy mayor. "I got the key to the city, so I can keep any bar open that I want," said Rafter, who plans to take six months off after this year to contemplate retirement. Rafter, 28, promised to defend his RCA title if he returns to the tour next simmer. Rafter made his first ATP Tour semifinal in Indianapolis as a qualifier in 1993. Loud fan One of Kuerten's fans yelled to Rafter to "go home" while Rafter was preparing to serve.

"You go home, you idiot," responded Rafter, bringing applause from many fans. "It was hard for me to control myself because I really wanted to let him have it," he said. "But I knew we were on TV." Attendance up Sunday's finals crowd of 6,396 increased the tournament total to 85,491, which is an improvement of 5,691 over 2000 attendance. Contact Mark Ambrogi at 1-317-272-4406 of via e-mail at mark.ambrogiindystar.com ,1 NOTEBOOK first set, said he considered himself one of about 10 contenders for the U.S. Open title.

The tourney begins a week from today. "I haven't properly won a tournament, but I feel I have a bit of a monkey off my back," said Rafter, who had lost in three other finals this summer. "If I get to the finals of the U.S. Open, it might be a little easier psychologically." Rafter will have to buck one trend. Since the Indianapolis tournament became a hardcourt event in 1988, Pete Sampras is the only Indy winner to win the Open in the same year (1996).

Rafter will likely withdraw from this week's Hamlet Cup in Long Island, N.Y., because of all the matches he has played the past three weeks. Long doubles delay Mark Knowles and Brian MacPhie earned their money on Sunday. The fifth-seeded duo won their morning doubles semifinal and then had to sit through nearly a four-hour rain delay of their final. The match was suspended with the third set tied at 4-all and Ma-hesh Bhupathi and Sebastien Lareau trailing 30-40 on their serve. The match was moved to Grandstand Court because it could be dried quicker.

It was. completed in about 5 minutes before about 35 fans. MacPhie and Knowles broke serve and then held at love to win 7-6 (7-5), 5-7, 6-4. Knowles and MacPhie had one match point in the second set. ar Associated Press Mike Roemer Out front: Rookie Bruno Junqueira (bottom) leads third-place finisher Adrian Fernandez during the Motorola 220.

Junqueira slips past Andretti to give Ganassi 1st win of '01 Next stop is the U.S. Open Here's how past winners in Indianapolis have fared in the U.S. Open: quire large and medium versions since stock-car drivers vary more in size than do open-wheel drivers. The PPI-designed seat is the major component of a complete cockpit unit that Includes a six-point harness (instead of the current five-point) and easy hook-up for a head-and-neck support system. Tiger in the tank Bill Davis says Jeff Gordon is in his own class as a racer, far more talented than people realize.

Davis gave Gordon his first NASCAR ride in the Busch Series in 1991 and now owns the Winston Cup cars driven by Ward Burton and Dave Blaney. "There's just so many Michael Jordans and Tiger Woods and I J. 3 ma Motorola 220 (Top finishers) Driver Car 1. Bruno Junqueira L-T 2. Michael Andretti R-H 3.

Adrian Fernandez R-H 4. Scott Dixon R-T 5. Gil de Ferran R-H 6. Cristiano da Matta L-T 7. Helio Castroneves R-H 8.

Alex Tagliani R-F Patrick Carpentier R-F 10. Orlol Servia L-F Chassis: R-Reynard, L-Lola Engines: H-Honda, F-Ford, T-Toyota Series points leaders: Castroneves 110, Kenny Brack 105, de Ferran 99, Andretti 89, Dixon 82. mistake. On lap five, the first green-flag lap, Max Wilson drove his car over the top of Bryan Her-ta. There were tire marks on Her-ta's helmet but he was unhurt.

CART red-flagged the race after 14 laps, most of which were run under caution. The race was scheduled for 55 laps but ended after 45 21 run under caution. Herta was critical of the decision to drop the green flag. "I'm angry with the decision to go green, because of the white-capped river on the back straight," Herta said. "I called in several times saying it is a huge mistake to go green with the track conditions the way they were, and this happened on the first green ljp." (H7 Croatian wins 1st set, but his first-serve percentage drops and semifinal slips away.

By Mark Ambrogl STAFF WRITER As Goran Ivanisevic's first-serve percentage dropped, his temper rose. After losing his serve in the first game of the third set in his RCA Championships semifinal against No. 1 seed Gustavo Kuerten, Ivanisevic smashed his racket and threw it into the Indianapolis Tennis Center flower beds. Later the 29-year-old Croatian banged his racket in frustration while facing a break point. He re-: ceived a point penalty, giving Kuerten a 3-0 lead.

Kuerten went on to eliminate No. 10 seed Ivanisevic 1-6. 6-3. 6-2 in 68 minutes on Sunday. "That (penalty) was stupid.

I forget I had that warning," Ivanisevic said. "So I gave him that game. I was frustrated because I missed like 11 first serves in a row and then I missed an easy forehand." Ivanisevic said Kuerten's shots all began to fall from that point. Feeling pain from a strained rib muscle, Kuerten started slowly. But he took control by breaking Ivanisevic early in the second set.

Ivanisevic's first serve percentage was 65 percent in the first set. It fell to 44 percent in the second set and 35 percent in the final set. Psychological edge Patrick Rafter, who won the title when Kuerten retired in the RAFTER Continued from Page 1 denied in his past five finals. He made the title match in the past three tournaments he had played Wimbledon and Tennis Masters Series tournaments in Montreal and Cincinnati. Last week, he lost to Kuerten 6-3, 6-1 in Cincinnati.

Kuerten had to complete a delayed semifinal before that final, too. Rafter wasn't sure how to feel about his 26-minute victory. "It's a funny feeling." Rafter said. "It's sort of a relief. To me it's like, 'Well, finally I won But it's not the way you feel so satisfied when you fought hard and played great." Rafter knew Kuerten was hurting before the match.

He had watched him experience some pain during the semifinal and later saw him being treated in the locker room. Kuerten was treated by the tour trainer during the 75-minute break between the semifinal and final. To play someone of Goran's caliber and then to have to play the final is a difficult situation," Rafter said. "It would have been easy for Guga to say 'I can't even He did his best." Rafter took control early, winning the first three games. "You could see his miles per Williams beats Associated Press Serena Williams served notice that she's back in Grand Slam form with a 6-1.

6-7 (7), 6-3 victory Sunday over Jennifer Capriati In the Rogers Cup championship match in Toronto. The 19-year-old Williams, who had to pull out of last year's final in Montreal against Martina Hingis in the third set with a foot in-Jury, recovered from a rain interruption of almost 3 hours and a tense tie-breaker loss to win her seconcIWTA title this Rummer. Becker 2nd round McEnroe 2nd round Becker Semifinals Sampras Quarterfinals Sampras Runner-up Courier 4th round Ferreira 3rd round Thomas Enqvist 2nd round Sampras U.S. Open champion Bjorkman Semifinals Corretja 4th round Lapentti 2nd round Gustavo Kuerten 1st round Schumacher, Ferrari clinch titles in F-l Associated Press Michael Schumacher won his fourth Formula One championship and matched Alain Prost's record of 51 grand prix race triumphs by driving his Ferrari to victory at the Hungarian GP Sunday in Budapest. With teammate Rubens Bar-richello finishing second, Ferrari also won the constructors' title for the second consecutive year.

Schumacher, the defending Formula One champion, started from the pole and never relinquished his lead except for brief intervals after two pit stops. The 32-year-old German, winner of seven of 13 races this season, moved into a second-place tie with Prost who retired in 1993 on the all-time list with four Formula One championships. Juan Manuel Fangio leads with five. "We had a great weekend. I got the pole, I got the victory, I got the 51st victory to share with Alain and I got my fourth championship.

It's a bit too much for me to take," Schumacher said. In winning the race for the third time his other victories were in 1994 and 1998 Schumacher secured the title with four races left in the season. By collecting 10 points for the win, Schumacher increased his season total to 94 points and took an unbeatable 43-point lead over McLaren-Mercedes driver David Coulthard, who finished third. Driver killed in ARCA race Stock car champion Dean Roper died Sunday from injuries In an ARCA event at the Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield, 111., 10 months after his son, Tony, was killed in a NASCAR truck series race in Texas. Roper, 62, of Fair Grove, was pronounced dead at Memo-' rial Medical Center in Springfield around 2:30 p.m.

Sunday, said a hospital spokeswoman. According to WTAX radio in Springfield, Roper missed the entrance to the pits and crashed into a wall head-on. The station reported that three people in the infield sustained minor injuries. Roper was the USAC Stock driving champion from 1981-83, and was the wlnnlngest ARCA series driver on dirt with nine career victories, including three at the Springfield mile. Prudhomme team wins 2 Larry Dixon (Top Fuel) and Ron Capps (Funny Car) gave team owner Don "The Snake" Prudhomme a pair of victories Sunday in the Colonel's Truck Accessories NHRA Nationals at Brainerd (Minn.) International Raceway.

1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 1 J. Girefaun -Kuerten 1 hour on his serve were dropping off quite a bit," Rafter said. Serving with a 4-2 lead, Rafter saved two break points. He had a game point when Kuerten determined he could not continue. Rafter said he never took for granted he would win.

"When you see someone flailing like that, they're like a wounded bull in a way," Rafter said. "They go for their shots. The tension's gone and they go for all or nothing. That can be dangerous. The last game I was aware of that and I got a little nervous.

It was a matter of keeping everything together." Kuerten said he might have been able to complete the final if he hadn't already played a match Sunday morning. Boris John Boris Pete Pete Jim Wayne Pete Jonas Alex Nicolas By Mark Shapiro CHICAGO TRIBUNE ELKHART LAKE, The Motorola 220 became the Motorola 182.160 Sunday. That was hardly the strangest occurrence on a day that turned from dark to light, wet to dry and chaotic to controlled. Rookie Bruno Junqueira carried the once-powerful Target Chip Ganassi colors to victory. He slipped in front nine laps from the end when leaders Michael Andretti and Christian Fittipaldi collided, then had a nearly flawless "splash-and-go" fuel stop and beat Andretti by 2.687 seconds.

It was the first podium finish of the season for Ganassi, who won four series titles from 1996 through '99. Last week Ganassi began remedying his problems by signing Kenny Brack, who entered Sunday's race as the points leader, to be one of his drivers next year. Junqueira doesn't know If he'll be the other but professes not to care. "I'm not worried about it," said the 24-year-old "Going into the race, I just tried to do my Job. I'm just very excited and happy about winning." Andretti, a three-time Elkhart winner, was a little less thrilled.

"I had a nice, clean pass going on Christian, and he just turned in on me," Andretti said. "I don't know what he did, but he obviously didn't see me." Junqueira dedicated his victory to his current teammate Memo Gi-dley who was in a Sheboygan hospital. Gidley escaped serious injury in a horrendous crash, slamming into a bridge abutment. He was briefly unconscious, and later was diagnosed with a hairline fracture of the right leg. A morning of intermittent showers after a day of rain left parts of the track with standing water, but CART decided to start shortly after the scheduled noon green flag.

It turned out tbe a Staff Graphic "I wish it didn't happen and I played (the semifinal on Saturday night), but that's out of my control," he said. "I didn't have enough to win." Rafter, the first Australian to win the singles title since Indianapolis became a hardcourt event in 1988, earned $115,000. Kuerten took home $60,600 as runner-up. Rafter, who has won 21 of his past 24 matches since the start of Wimbledon, had his serve broken only once in five matches. That was in Saturday's three-set semifinal victory over No.

2 seed Marat Safin. Contact Mark Ambrogi at 1-317-272-4406 or via e-mail at mark.ambrogiindystar.com hardcourt title before I had a clay-court title," Roddick said. "(This) is a pretty tough field. I was ranked 30th coming in and I was seeded number nine, which means there were some players here. To get through a draw like that definitely means a lot." Roddick, winner of three ATP tour titles this year, broke serve twice in the second set and used his 130 mph serve to register nine aces.

The 18-year-old American faced three break points against his serve in the opening set but saved them all. Capriati in Cup final Williams broke a string four consecutive losses to the top-seeded Capriati, who ousted her from the Wimbledon quarterfinals in their past meeting. Roddick wins Legg Mason Andy Roddick won the first hardcourt championship of his career by beating Sjeng Schalken 6-2. 6-3 in the final of the Legg Mavjn Tennis Classic in Washington. 1 always expected have a.