Santa Maria Times from Santa Maria, California • 20

B8 SANTA MARIA TIMES Friday, Sept. 26, 2003 Auto Racing Indy set for possible Fl title sliowdown P. 1 I Schumacher trying to hold off Montoya, Raikkonen to earn record sixth Fl crown By Steve Herman ASSOCIATED PRESS INDIANAPOLIS A year ago, Michael Schumacher slowed on the final lap and let teammate Rubens Barrichello pass him to win the U.S. Grand Prix. This year, there will be no similarly staged finish by Schumacher, not with just two races to go and Juan Pablo Montoya and Kimi Raikkonen within seven points of his top spot in the Formula One standings.

Practice and qualifying for Sunday's race, run under a new scoring format prompted in part by Schumacher's runaway championship last year, begin on Friday. "I don't think what happened in the past relates to this year. It's a new start, and we have to see what we can do," Schumacher said Thursday. "We have a good car, a good package. We've worked very intense and feel we're very well prepared." Early last season, when the championship was still being contested, Bar-richello under orders from the Ferrari team let Schumacher pass him on the final straightaway to win the Austrian Grand Prix.

Schumacher went on to clinch a record-tying fifth Fl title after 11 of the season's 17 races the earliest the series tion is so tight is that simply the teams are much closer together than they have ever been." Ferrari won 15 of the 17 races last year, 11 by Schumacher and four by Barrichello. This year, Montoya and Ralf Schumacher Michael's younger brother have each won two races for the BMW Williams team and five drivers have each won once. The season will end with the Prix on Oct 12, and the championship likely will not be decided until then. "There's a 3-point difference. Jf we can narrow the gap, that would be ideal," Montoya said.

"We've got to fight to stay in contention with Michael and make sure Kimi doesn't get ahead of us either." The winner will get 10 points, second place is worth 8, followed by 6-5-4-3-2-1. Montoya, who won the Indianapolis 500 in 2000 before joining the Williams team, was 18th and fourth in his two previous Fl starts at Indy. Schumacher, starting from the pole all three years, won the 2000 U.S. Grand Prix and was second the past two years. Raikkonen was 22nd and 17th in his two starts at Indianapolis.

"The car was quite good here last year, but I haven't finished a race here," Raikkonen said. "We just need to do our own things and try to be quicker than those two guys." Another change this year is in qualifying, where the first session on Friday will merely determine the order for Saturday's qualifying. Each car will have one lap Saturday with the attempts made in the reverse order from Friday's fastest speeds to determine the starting grid. i Associated Press Former CART champ Alex Zanardi climbs into a BMW for an FIA Euro- pean Touring Car Championship prac- tice at Monza in Italy on Thursday. Zanardi set to race again ASSOCIATED PRESS MONZA, Italy Alex Zanardi completed 20 practice laps at the Monza For- mula One circuit Thursday In preparation for next month's FIA European Touring Car Championship.

Zanardi, who lost both legs in a crash during a CART series race in Germany on Sept 15, 2001, drove a specially modified BMW 320i touring car. "I don't feel like a professional driver," said Zanardi, whose car has its accelera- tor and clutch attached to the steering wheel Tm racing here, then thafs it "It's a great feeling to race again at Monza. It takes more time in a touring car than a Formula One car, though." Zanardi last raced on the Monza circuit as a member of the Williams team in the 1999 Italian Grand Prix Associated Press Ferrari's Michael Schumacher, center, poses with Formula One title rivals Juan Pablo Montoya of Williams, left, and McLaren 's Kimi Raikkonen, right during a Thursday press conference for Sunday 's United States Grand Prix. Renault's Fer-nando Alonzo stands behind the trio, clowning around for the cameras. had ever been decided.

He appeared headed for his second victory in three years at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway but allowed Barrichello to catch up as they approached the finish as a payback for the earlier favor. Schumacher has won five races this season, including the last one two weeks ago in Italy, but a change in scoring second through sixth place in each race receive two points more than in the past -has helped keep the title chase close. "It's exciting. It's good," said Schumacher, who comes in with 82 points, while Montoya has 79 and Raikkonen 75. "We're strong.

We won the last race and obviously believe in ourselves. The rest, you take it as it comes and you do your best "I don't think the rules in itself make the situation as tight as it is right now," he said. "It obviously created some excitement in certain areas, but at the end of the day the reason why the competi AccuWeather.com ACGU WEATHER FORECAST FOR THE CENTRAL COAST 5-day Forecast for Santa Maria California Weather 2 r. res no 9462 ft Monterey 6353 1 1 1 1 Areas of low clouds and fog, then sunshine. Low clouds and fog breaking for some sun.

Low clouds followed by sunshine. Patchy low clouds and fog early, then sun. 1 Morning low clouds and fog, then sunny. 4 Mainly clear, then low clouds and -fog. 1 Pnrtenflllfl OfiKI "SET 1 IPaso Robles 9254 j4 Regional Cities National Weather i Today Hi Lo ft Bakersfield 9664 4-X'f San Luis Obispo (48054 Pismo Beach 7754 r.

4Santa Maria 7652 Anchorage 5138 City Santa Maria Paso Robles Hearst Castle San Luis Obispo Port San Luis Pismo Beach Guadalupe Los Alamos -Cuyama Vandenberg AFB Lompoc Santa Ynez Santa Barbara' Lorrtpoc 6769 Solvang 8856' 76 52 92 54 97 54 80 54 73 54 77 54 74 54 86 56 96 54 65 54 67 69 92 52 74 55 4 pc PC po PC PC pc anta Barbara 7455 A 'Los 'Art-jet, 4-- S3 vTV California Cities Today Shown is today's weather. Temperatures are today's highs and tonight's lows. Almanac Vancouver Calgary Winnipeg" 52 V6838S 5231 Denve- 65lVVwashington 7565 tpsAaa -Cr c- I v' iCoitf Front "4f- I mt Santa Mana through 4 p.m. yesterday. Temperature High 69 Low 58 Normal high 75' Normal low 52" Precipitation 24 hours ending 4 p.m.

0.00 Month to date 0 00" Normal month to date 0.26" Season to date 0.01" Last season to date 0.01' Normal season to date 0.34" AccuYVeather UV Index The ultraviolet index is a guide to exposure to the sun. The higher the UV Index number, the greater the need for eye and skin protection. i -10a -Os p4j? 10s 20 1 I 40s SOtJ 60s 70s City HI Lo Bakersfield 96 64 Bishop 93 49 China Lake 100 63 Death Valley 105 68 Edwards AFB 101 60 Eureka 65 50 pc Fresno 94 62 Los Angeles 82 62 pc Modesto 94 59 Monterey 68 53 pc Mount Shasta 87 46 Oakland 74 55 pc Palm Springs 105 75 Palmdale 98 59 Redding 101 58 Sacramento 94 56 San Francisco 69 56 pc San Jose 81 57 pc Santa Ana 80 62 pc Santa Cruz 73 55 pc Santa Rosa 82 50 pc S. Lake Tahoe 83 35 Stockton 94 55 Ukiah 96 54 VallejO 82 53 pc Ventura 74 56 pc Yosemite 89 51 Regional Weather Central Coast: Clouds and patchy fog will give way to sunshine today. Clear early tonight; low clouds and patchy fog will return to most areas later.

Santa Ynez Valley: Patchy morning low clouds and fog; otherwise, sunny and warm today. Highs 82-88. Low clouds late tonight. Cuyama Valley: Plenty of sunshine today with a very warm afternoon. Highs 91-96.

Clear tonight. Lows 52-56. Santa Barbara County South Coast: Morning low clouds and fog will give way to sunshine today. Highs 67-74 beaches to 80s foothills. Santa Barbara County Mountains: Quite warm today with a good deal of sunshine.

Highs 76-92. Clear and starlit tonight. Lows 48-60. Marine Forecast Point Piedras to Point Arquello and out 60 Nautical Miles: Northwest winds at 15-25 knots today. Waves 2-4 feet with northwest swells of 3-5 feet at 9-second intervals.

Visibility under a mile in areas of fog. ffq Showers J5Tn T-storm Bain Flurries Snow Miami 8776 lonterrey 8270 La Pad, 9372 Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day. Forecast highlow temperatures are given for selected cities. Yesterday's National HighLow: (for the 48 contiguous states) High: 99 in Barstow, CA Low: 20" in Bondurant, WY 1..., 6 2...

0...: 8 am. Noon 4 p.m. 6 p.m. Moderate; 8-9, AccuWeather RealFed National Cities 0-3. Minimal; 4-5, Low; 6-7, High; 10, Very High.

Earthquakes The exclusive AccuWeather RealFeel Temperature'" is an index that combines the effects of temperature, wind, humidity, sunshine intensity, cloudiness, precipitation, pressure and elevation on the human body-everyttiing that affects how warm or cold a person feels. 6a.m 55 Noon 78 4 p.m. 74 Sun and Moon Today HI Lo 72 66 sh 86 58 pc 102 76 8 88 56 84 60 pc 90 48 8 76 53 82 52 56 46 sh 75 52 96 68 75 65 Sh Tom. HI Lo 74 63 80 50 pc 102 76 88 56 8 80 58- 90 50 8 68 49 pc 82 54 8 58 44 sh 80 54 8 98 68 80 58 Today Tom. Today Tom.

City HI Lo HI Lo City HI Lo HI Lo Atlanta a 84' 64 pe 82 57 pc Flagstaff 80 42 42 AdanbcCity 72 62 sh 72 62 Honolulu 88 75 89 74 Baltimore 74 62 sh 77 60 Houston 88 70 pc 90 68 pc Boston 66 60 sh 72 62 Indianapofe 70 53 pc 63 46 sh Charleston, S.C 86 68 pc 84 61 KansasClty 76 52 sh '70 46 Va 77 60 pc 70 52 Las Vegas 97 70 99 72 Chicago 68 51 sh 60 46 pc Little Rock 86 64 pc 82 56 pc Cleveland 68 56 pc 66 50 Memphis 86 65 pc 76 57 pc Dallas 88 68 pc 86 60 pc Miami 87 76 89 75 Denver 78 44 72 42 8 Milwaukee 64 48 sh 59 46 sh Detroi 64 54 pc 62 48 Nashville 84 62 pc 75 47 Fairbanks 43 27 47 28 pc New Orleans 88 72 89 70 pc City New York Oty Oklahoma City Phoenix Portland, Ore. Raleigh Reno St. Louis Sa Lake City St Ste. Marie Seattle Washingtoa DC. East Santa Barbara Channel: Variable winds becoming west at 8-15 knots today.

Waves 1-2 feet with west swells of 2-4 feet at 8-second intervals. Visibility less than a mile in fog. Preliminary reports on earth movements, in Richter scale. Reporting period ended at 5 12 pm. Thursday.

Force, time location 3.5 7:33 a.m. POT, 5 km 3 mi) NW of Tres Pinos 2 3 -6 21 am. PDT, 5 km 3 mi) SW Petrolia Ad forecasts and maps provided byAccuWeather Inc. C2003 World Cities SOURCE; http:quake.wr.usgs.gov recenteqsMaps1 21 Tides Sunrise today 6:52 a.m. Sunset tonight 6:54 p.m.

Moonrise today 7:23 a.m. Moon set today 7:34 p.m. Sunrise tomorrow 6:53 a.m. Sunset tomorrow 6:52 p.m. Moonrise tomorrow 8:34 a.m.

Moon set tomorrow 8:06 p.m. Today HI Lo Tides for Central Coast, Port San Luis LOW TIDE Tom. Today Tom. Today Tom. Hi Lo City HI Lo HI Lo City HI Lo HI Lo 67 49 pc London 62 48 pc 64 45 pc Seoul 79 57 75 57 p6 76' 60 8 Madnd 82 51 pc 73 48 pc Stocknotn 58 46 54 36 64 46 pc Mexico City 75 55 67 46 Sydney 85 55 8 68 41 60 42 pc Moscow 57 44 60 46 pc Tel Aw 86708 8670s 59 45 pc Nassau 89 75 9h 87 74 Tokyo 78 66 pc 77 63 po 59 45 Pans 62 46 pc 63 46 Vancouver 65 52 8 73 59 83 77 pc Rome 72 55 72 51 pc Zurich 69 47 pc 64 51 pc City Amsterdam Athens Brussels Copenhagen Dubin Frankturt HIGH TIDE Ht 53 pc 58 8 48 pc 48 pc 42 sh 44 pc Ht Ht First Full Last New 5.7 Ht.

4 42a 0.0 5 12a 0 4 5 44a 10 16 I (DO(DO 5.9 Today Saturday Sunday Monday 5 01p 0.3 5 47p 0.1 0.0 0.1 78 pc Hong Kong 6.0 4 Oct 2 Oct 10 Oct 18 Oct 25 Weather (W): s-sunny, pc-partty cloudy, c-ckxidy, sh-showers, t-thunderstorms, r-rain, sf-snow flurries, sn-snow, l-ice. 4.4 6.0 New Moducare1 Every Dsy Senior Disccunt cn Vitamins Supplements LoV-Carb, Supplements Grocery Dairy Frozen Feeds T7for rnninr Vitamins and Kerbs ylTfK CrsenicPrcce Sugar-tfCC Center This New Great Balk Foods Personal Cere featuring i ATEOM STRENGTHENS BALANCES "The Original Low-Carb Lifestyle -s YOUR FAMILY'S www.foodsforthefamiiy.net 1790 is. Broadway Santa Maria, CA (805) 925-3432 IMMUNE SYSTEM.