The Indianapolis Star from Indianapolis, Indiana • Page 29

THE INDIANAPOLIS STAR WWW.INDYSTAR.COM Sports MONDAY, AUGUST 26, 2002 D7 AUTO RAGING Da Matta gambles and Franchitti wins Aussie punter finds his way to IU Freshman, 21, from Australia, hopes to end some of kicking woes for Hoosiers. i 1 St Klzaml Associated Press In the marbles: Helio Castroneves (3) passes Alex Barron for the lead after Barron went too high in turn one and nearly hit the wall. Barron recovered to take third but was unable to challenge again for the win. Barron's chance at victory slides away on late restart Points leader makes an early pit stop that gives Scottish driver the break he needs. Associated Press MONTREAL Dario Franchitti took advantage of Cristia-no da Matta's strategic gamble Sunday to win the inaugural Montreal Molson Indy.

An early pit stop by da Matta, the runaway CART series points leader, opened the door for Franchitti, who pulled away after a late race restart to win the 80-lap race at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve by 2588 seconds about half the last straightaway. Da Matta started from the pole for the seventh time in 13 races this season and was shooting for his seventh victory, but, after an early caution flag, his Newman-Haas Racing team decided to bring him in for an extra stop on lap 12. "It was similar to the strategy that we ran in fuel strategy races last year," the Brazilian driver explained. "Most any other times that strategy would have won us the race. If any yellow had happened at any time except the last 10 laps, the race would have come back to us.

"Strategy sometimes is a little bit of a game. You have to bet on what more often is going to go right, especially in the situation we are at." It turned out the extra stop by da Matta gave Franchitti all the edge he needed. "The car was faultless today and the guys from Team Kool were on it in the pits, which is what it takes to win races," said Franchitti, who had gone through some frustrating moments in the pits this season. "We had nothing go wrong today." It was the first experience for most of the CART drivers on the 2.709-mile, 14-turn road course on which the Formula One series Montreal Molson Indy (Top finishers) Driver Car 1. Dario Franchitti L-H 2.

Cristiano da Matta L-T 3. Tony Kanaan L-H 4. Paul Tracy L-H 5. Jimmy Vasser L-F 6. Michel Jourdain Jr.

L-F 7. Christian Fittipaldi L-T 8. Michael Andretti L-H 9. Shinji Nakano 10. Scott Dixon L-T Chassis: L-Lola, R-Reynard Engines: F-Ford, H-Honda, T-Toyota Series points leaders: Da Matta, 161; Franchitti, 106; Patrick Car-pentier, 101; Bruno Junqueira, 101; Christian Fittipaldi, 88; Jourdain, 88 has competed since 1978.

The demanding track was particularly hard on brakes. "There were a couple of anxious moments there with a long brake pedal, but I think everybody had the same problem with the hard braking on this track," Franchitti said. Franchitti and da Matta swapped the lead several times on pit stops and it appeared the Scottish driver, who made his last stop on lap 63, was home free when he found his Honda-powered Lola out front by nearly five seconds after da Matta made his final stop on lap 68. Da Matta got one last shot at the leader, though, when Adrian Fernandez crashed on lap 71, bringing out the third and final caution flag of the race. On the restart on lap 75, Shinji Nakano, a lap down, was between the two leaders and da Matta didn't get by until Nakano moved over to let him go on lap 76.

By that time Franchitti was ahead by 2.6 seconds. "The yellow came out at just the wrong time and that put it back in Cristiano's hands, but it all worked out," Franchitti said. "He got caught in traffic and I got a little gap and that was it." ive of the move. He has preferred his grandson wait until 2004 to advance. "I don't know, I'm thinking maybe," the elder Foyt said of next season.

"We'll run (Airton) Dare for sure. If we run Anthony, he'll have to have a lot of testing." Foyt said he only has sponsorship for one car right now Har-rah's will return although he's committed to a two-car team. El-iseo Salazar and Greg Ray are the other two drivers currently in Foyt's three-car IRL operation. Notes Ryan Hampton, a 28-year-old sports car veteran from Phoenix, won his first Pro Series race Sunday. He led all 80 laps from the pole, becoming the series' first flag-to-flag winner.

His car is owned and prepared by Dave Conti of Pittsboro, Ind. De Ferran became the fifth IRL driver to win from the pole this season. Call Curt Cavin at 1-317-444-6409. By Terry Hutchens terry.hutchensindystar.com BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -Tyson Beattie's biggest adjustment this summer has had nothing to do with college football.

The Indiana University freshman punter has been impressive in training camp workouts and is considered the favorite to win the starting job when IU opens the season Saturday at home with William Mary. For Beattie, it's the simpler things in life that have slowed him down. Like driving on the right side of the road. "That's been the hard- Tyson Beattie est part for me," said Beattie, IU's freshman from Australia. "American football has been the easy part.

But driving has been something else. It may take me a little while to feel comfortable there." If Beattie can solve some of IU's kicking woes, rest assured someone at the university will be happy to drive him around. A year, ago, Indiana ranked last in the nation out of 115 Division I-A schools in gross and net punting average. The net average in 45 attempts was 27.02 yards. The gross was just a shade over 30 yards.

When coach Gerry DiNardo was hired in January, he heard one of the few players already committed to IU for the fall was a punter from Australia. "I had never seen him punt before but I heard he had a very strong leg," DiNardo said. "And that has definitely proved to be true. He's a raw talent and he's had a good camp for us." Besides being from Australia, Beattie is not your typical freshman in other ways. He's 21 and spent the past four years working for information technology company back home.

"I work part-time and played football on the side," Beattie said. "I had always hoped to be able to play American football and I found out about Indiana University through a friend. All it took was one visit, and I knew this was the place I wanted to be." In Australia, Beattie played six sports in high school: cricket, rugby, basketball, swimming, track and Australian Rules football He started playing American football on a club team after high school. The team, made up primarily of Americans and Canadians living in Australia, had no age limit. "The big difference in the American football I played before and what I've found here has been the athleticism and the speed of the game," Beattie said.

"From a kicking standpoint it hasn't been that different except the speed of the rush has been a lot better here." Beattie hopes to excel is the mental game. He said in Australia, he kicked in the third windiest city in the world. It wasn't uncommon for him to kick in 50 mph wind. "I feel like I can handle any conditions and hopefully that will make me a stronger kicker here," Beattie said. Of the four players who punted last year, Ryan Hamre and Bryan Robertson return this season.

Robertson is the starting place-kicker and isn't expected to punt. That leaves Hamre and Beattie. "I think it has been good competition so far between the two of us," Beattie said. "They haven't told us for sure who is going to kick in the first game but I think we're both ready." Beattie said he's looking forward to his first college football game. He said after he's experienced American football, he hopes to teach his teammates about sports from Australia.

"I would really like to teach the guys how to play cricket," Beattie said, "but I'm not really sure how receptive they'll be to that. I think it would be a lot of fun to watch them though." Call Terry Hutchens at 1-317-444-4469. By Curt Cavln curt.caviniIindystar.com MADISON, 111. Alex Barron hid his emotions for as long as he could after Sunday's Indy Racing League event at Gateway International Raceway. But on a walk back to his transporter he admitted that finishing third in the Gateway Indy 250 was a crushing disappointment.

"We could have won," he said, shaking his head. "We should have won." Barron, who scored his first major open-wheel victory in July at Nashville, turned in -most of Sunday's fastest laps and at one point led eventual winner Gil de Ferran by 5.2 seconds. But on the restart on lap 152 he tried to swing around Helio Castroneves for the lead in turn one and couldn't make it stick. The Blair Racing car drifted up to the wall and its tires collected too much of the excess rubber littered on the track. By the time Barron got things under control he was fifth in line on a tight track that limits passing opportunities.

Though 48 laps remained, Barron, who shared top-rookie honors with Tomas Scheckter in the Indianapolis 500, was essentially out of time. No more caution periods came and he had to settle for scrambling back to third behind the Team Penske drivers. Barron's satisfaction came from realizing his car's strength "You're always auditioning for sponsors and for jobs," he said and he got a playful jab from Castroneves in the post-race news IRL Team Penske drivers finish 1-2 for 3rd time this season. From D1 ond-place Castroneves to scoot by on lap 183. Ironically, Sunday's similar moment came on the 184th lap.

The 1-2 finish for Team Penske was its third of the season. The other came at Fountain, in June when de Ferran won his first IRL race. The only driver in their class Sunday was Alex Barron, who led 29 laps and had a 5.2-second lead at one point. But Barron overshot the first turn on the lap 152 restart and fell from first to fifth place. He settled for third.

The first thing de Ferran noticed on the post-race boxscore was that he passed Castroneves too late. The four extra laps that the two-time Indianapolis 500 winner lea earned him two more championship points, the difference between leading the series race and standing second. That tightness is why de Ferran said he harbors no illusion that his third consecutive series championship is within reach. Too much can happen, the two-time winner of the Cham 'There races of points anything happen. position to be Important." Helio conference.

"I said, 'Wait a minute, are you going to Castroneves told him. "I just said, Where is he going, the track is this way. Said Barron: "I went through there pretty (fast) and I didn't want to chop down on Helio. It seemed like it took forever to get the thing back under controL By the time I did it was too late." Lazzaro perplexed Anthony Lazzaro is having trouble figuring out what's wrong with his IRL career. Another race weekend was spoiled Sunday by an accident, this one in the morning practice that kept him from competing in the race.

Driving the car owned by Sam Schmidt, Lazzaro spun off the fourth corner of the tight Gateway track, banged the wall and was hit on the rebound by Al Unser Jr. "I'm just angry because I don't have a history of tearing up race cars," said Lazzaro, a sports car standout who has crashed in three of his five races this season. "I'm definitely not doing myself any good." Unser's car suffered minor left-front damage. It was repaired for the race, in which he finished seventh. Foyt IV moving up? A.J.

Foyt IV must be getting to his famous grandfather. Foyt the 18-year-old driver who has won three of the Infiniti Pro Series' five races, wants to jump to the IRL next season. But until Sunday, A.J. Foyt, the team owner, has not sounded support- Gateway Indy 250 (Top finishers) Driver Car 1. Gil de Ferran D-C 2.

Helio Castroneves D-C 3. Alex Barron D-C 4. Buddy Rice D-l 5. Sam Hornish Jr. D-C 6.

Robbie Buhl G-l 7. Al Unser Jr. D-C 8. Raul Boesel D-l 9. Vitor Meira D-C 10.

Eddie Cheever Jr. D-l Chassis: G- Force, D-Dallara Engines: C-Chevrolet, l-lnfiniti Series points leaders: Castroneves, 437; de Ferran, 436; Hornish, 429; Giaffone, 391; Barron, 318 calls in traffic," Hornish said. "But it could have been a lot worse. "Being eight points behind is not a huge amount." Falling out of the title hunt Sunday was Kentucky race winner Fe lipe Giaflone. His engine soured on the 107th lap, forcing him to relinquish fourth place.

His 21st-place finish ended a string of 10 consecutive top-10 finishes, and he is 46 points behind Castroneves. Team Penske owner Roger Penske said Castroneves will test Chevrolet's new engine this week at Joliet the team has been using last year's model in a bid to improve its raw speed on the li-mile tracks that make up the rest of the schedule. There was only one significant accident Sunday, and it involved light contact between rookies. Vitor Meira spun lazily into the path of Laurent Redon, who clipped him on the way to the inside wall. Neither driver was injured.

Call Curt Cavin at 1-317-444-6409. are two left, a lot and can One is going Castroneves VISA pionship Auto Racing Teams series said. "We've got to keep our heads down (and focus)," he said. "The championship is open." Just eight points behind Castroneves is Sam Hornish who finished fifth Sunday. But this race was only the second the defending IRL champ has not led this season.

"The car wasn't quite there today and I had a couple of close.