The Indianapolis Star from Indianapolis, Indiana • Page 29

THE INDIANAPOLIS STAR WWW.INDYSTAR.COM Sports MONDAY, JUNE 16, 2003 D9 AUTO RACING Carpentier's bump day develops into CART win Fifth for Hornish is like winning Despite Chevrolet's woes, two-time champion appears to have field's strongest car. Grand Prix of Monterey (Top finishers) si David ZaJuoowskl Associated Press Nice move: Gil de Ferran (6) passes Sam Hornish Jr. in the IRL Honda Indy 225. Hornish finished fifth, two spots behind de Ferran. By Curt Cavin 5 curt.cavinindystar.com FOUNTAIN, Colo.

Sam Hornish Jr. showed a winning effort Sunday despite finishing fifth at Pikes Peak International Raceway. The two-time Indy Racing i League champion passed every- one on the track at least once, and blew by race leaders Gil de Fer- ran and Scott Dixon in the sec-, ond half of the Honda Indy 225. But the latter unlapped himself after Hornish ran out of fuel on lap 82. And although he fought mightily, Hornish couldn't come all the way around the 1-mile oval to catch Dixon, the eventual winner.

Hornish also lost time by pit-t ting for fuel on lap 159, four laps ahead of a caution flag that the leaders capitalized on. "Today was a good day," Hornish said. "It was a long day, but it was a lot of fun, too." Hornish has been handicapped by the lack of strength in the Chevrolet engine. Sunday's fifth-place finish was his best effort of the season and follows his competitive run in the Indianapolis 500. That race ended with engine failure five laps from the finish.

He was in fifth then, too. Hornish, who started 14th Sunday, charged through the 22-car field mostly on the high side. His Dallara was loaded with down-force that allowed him to run wide open on the outside and negate his horsepower deficiency. The fuel miscalculation came as a result of the computer not reading the fuel cell properly. The crew thought Hornish had 33 gallons for the first sequence; he ran out at 29.5.

Compounding the problem was where the engine gulped. Hornish had to coast back to pit road from the first turn, which cost him a lap to the leaders. "He was very, very, very strong, and I can't emphasize that enough," said de Ferran, who finished third. "He passed me like I was stopped." Chevy eyes Cosworth Hornish and the other Chevy drivers appear to be on the verge of getting help from the manufacturer, whose top IRL official confirmed Sunday that a test with the new Cosworth engine will be held this week at a track he would not reveaL Program director Joe Negri said the Cosworth project, to be tested by Hornish, is his first choice among several. If the test matter of setup; it's not a matter of the tire.

"He drove smart, gave the right passes at the right time and just got a little help from his teammate." Dixon didn't know if he benefited from Scheckter pulling out in front of Kanaan on his final pit stop, but he knew Scheckter would have been a contender to win had he not come upon Giaffone on his lap 92 stop. Giaffone left his pit box with the fuel nozzle connected, spraying methanol on crew member Sam Goldsmith. In the confusion, Giaffone stopped his car because he knew Scheckter was trying to pit in front of him, but the two drivers made contact and Giaffone knocked one of Scheckter's new tires forward. IRL Dixon's second victory of season ends under caution. From D1 His Ganassi Racing teammate, Tomas Scheckter, missed his pit box when Felipe Giaffone blocked it with a fuel fire.

Sam Hornish Jr. ran out of fuel under green, Hello Castroneves had to slow to avoid crashing and Tony Kanaan, who finished second, was blocked out of a late run by Scheckter, who i was a lap down. ter I think in the middle and end," he said. Dixon led 89 of the 225 laps and was on his way to a sizable victory over Kanaan when a late caution came for the spin of Kanaan's teammate, rookie Dan Wheldon. But not even that derailed him.

Dixon sprinted away on the restart, only to learn that rookie Roger Yasukawa had crashed behind him. Neither Wheldon nor Yasukawa was injured, and the race ended under caution. Kanaan said Dixon seemed to get stronger as the race progressed. "I think he had an easy day," said Kanaan, who pushed his series lead to 49 points over Dixon with 10 races to go. "He was just pacing himself.

It looked like his tires never went away. That's a No matter, the sott-spoken Dixon said. He was on a roll. "During the whole course of the day there were people who were faster (but) we were bet By Tom Gardner Associated Press MONTEREY, Calif. Pole sitter Patrick Carpentier jumped out to the lead Sunday and never surrendered it to win the CART Grand Prix of Monterey.

Carpentier beat runner-up Bruno Junqueira by 0.844 seconds. Paul Tracy nudged teammate Carpentier during a false start, then followed him the rest of the day to finish third, 28.545 seconds back at Laguna Seca. "I was just going to start, but Bruno had a big run on me and I laid off, and boom, Paul hit me," Carpentier said. Tracy later tried to make a move around his teammate as the two left a pit stop on the 48th lap, but had to lock up his front end to avoid a collision. "I had to suffer with flat-spotted tires.

I couldn't stop, I couldn't turn," Tracy said. With Junqueira bearing down on him, Tracy slipped off course in the 56th lap, and Junqueira took over second place for good. Junqueira pulled within a few car lengths of Carpentier, but no to black flag him for slow speed. The race went the first 100 laps without a caution, leaving only nine of the 22 cars on the lead lap. Scheckter and Hornish were able to get their laps back with fast cars, but Scheckter had to pit under green late in the race.

That's when he came out in front of Kanaan, the pole sitter. "It cost me like eight seconds (to Dixon)," Kanaan said. "I don't know if I was strong enough to catch him, but we didn't need that." Dixon became the IRL's first multiple winner of the season, having also won at Homestead, on March 2. He also gave Toyota its fourth consecutive victory. Call Star reporter Curt Cavin at 1-317-444-6409.

price. Always wear your seat belt, and please don't nf.trllioro nam goes well, Negri said he will seek permission from the IRL and General Motors to have the engine in the six cars later this season. Negri stressed that his superiors have not agreed to using a Ford product in its cars. Ford owns Cosworth. Back in the seat Dario Franchitti finished a season-high fourth in his return after breaking his back while riding a motorcycle in early April.

"(The pain) isn't so much in my back as it is in my arms," he said. He said he has not been on a motorcycle since. Call Star reporter Curt Cavin at 1-317-444-6409. Scheckter had to go around the track at a reduced speed to pit. Giaffone was penalized for leaving with pit equipment.

Goldsmith's suit caught fire, but he was not burned. "Unfortunately, there's not a lot of respect down pit lane," said Scheckter, who battled back to finish eighth. Said Giaffone: "The pit stop was taking forever, and I just wanted to go. It was a shame for Scheckter, but I had no idea the (fuel nozzle) was stuck." Dixon's situation with Foyt was only part of the 19-year-old Texan's problems. He was late to the pre-race drivers' meeting, got lapped for the first time on lap 13 and was pulled into the garage by his team on lap 42 just as IRL chief steward Brian Barnhart was about FX35 without Roof Rails shown.

Dealer sets actual Driver Chassis 1. Patrick Carpentier Lola 2. Bruno Junqueira Lola 3. Paul Tracy Lola 4. Michel Jourdain Jr.

Lola 5. Mario Haberfeld Reynard 6. Oriol Servia Lola 7. Adrian Fernandez Lola 8. Jimmy Vasser Reynard 9.

Tiago Monteiro Reynard 10. Mario Dominguez Lola Engines: All Ford Results: Complete field. DTI closer. "The car ran very, very well, but Patrick drove very well and didn't make any mistakes," Junqueira said. Michel Jourdain who had won the pole Saturday but lost it when his car was ruled to be under weight, charged from the 13th spot to finish fourth.

Honda Indy 225 (Top finishers) Driver Car 1. Scott Dixon G-T 2. Tony Kanaan D-H 3. Gil de Ferran D-T 4. Dario Franchitti D-H 5.

Sam Hornish Jr. D-C 6. Tora Takagi G-T 7. Kenny Brack D-H 8. Tomas Scheckter G-T 9.

Buddy Rice D-C 10. Buddy Lazier D-C Results: Complete lineup. DTI Chassis: G-G Force, D-Dallara Engines: T-Toyota, H-Honda, C-Chevrolet Series points leaders: Kanaan, 217; Dixon, 158; Al Unser 167 drink and drive. INFINITI, the INFINITI logo, wwwroiwiMiuiiiiHiiii in iihwpwi i'mmmwmmfmmmifrMiiila mw i -mrmrTw njpini i miimmini iiiiiiiwtiiawMiMPiwiuwiiiTO'imw'iii'uwitiBW mniininin T'sC i I i i -V ll I i-'h V'; vf, H'aiift I INFINITI I fiU i i I sf 4 Jf' si.K I K-t vl-uii4yivVs I DREYER REINBOLD INFINITI Indianapolis 317-573-0222 Greenwood 317-885-4800 www.dreyerreinbold.com MSRP for 2003 FX35 AWD includes Sport Package, Roof Rails and $545 destination charge, excludes tax, title, license and other options. Accelerating the future and INFINITI model names are Nissan trademarks.

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