Edmonton Journal from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada • 41

ORTSMON EDMONTON JOURNAL MONDAY, JULY 11,2005 D3 IV10T0RSP DAY CHAMP CAR WORLD SERIES TORONTO MOLSON INDY IU1 if I Britain's Justin Wilson makes all the right moves to survive race marred by wipeouts, wackiness CM co Toronto WhenJustin Wilson sprayed champagne from the sweet spot on victory podium, it was both a celebratory shower and a toast to survival. Wilson somehow escaped what his RuSPORT teammate AJ. Allmendinger could not, the calamity and carnage that always seems to chew up and spit out pieces of Champ Cars trying to snake their way around the too-tight Toronto Molson Indy trade Wilson jumped past Oriol Servia with just 11 laps to go and won for the first time in a race marred by wipeouts and wackiness that claimed eight of the 18 cars before finishing under a caution flag. It was, as RuSPORT team owner Carl Russo acknowledged while quoting the great British novelist Charles Dickens, the best of times and the worst of times for his team. Given that Wilson is the only British driver in the series, the same might well be said for him.

And after riding a roller-coasterof emotion this week, he felt compelled to dedicate this win to the victims of the terrorist bombs in London. "Obviously it's very sad news to hear about the bombings, especially after celebrating the (awarding of the) Olympics 24 hours said. "The only thing we can actually do is carry on as normal." That is the British way, after all, and Wilson has carried himself with great distinction in just his second year on the circuit. The 26-year-old from Sheffield has drawn a bead on the veteran leaders in this series, Sunday's pole-sitter Sebastien Bourdais and Paul in rm i ii i mi in ---iirl ITT rr Paul Tracy of Toronto walks back to the pits after running out of fuel during the Molson Indy race in Toronto on Sunday. with some pretty interested observers but this has been in the cards for the bling down the grid with a punctured watching his every move.

With a flair for last couple of races." tire. It seemed to set in motion a series of business, he has sold shares in himself This one began with Bourdais leading incidents and accidents that spelled the and looks to be a wise investment an uneventful affair for the first 34 laps end of seven racers, including Tracy, the 'ljust gave out a message, Tm here rac- but it got hairy in a hurry when he ultimate Champ Car survivor. His eventing strong," he said. Tra very pleased, clipped Tracy in the exit to pit row. Their ful day ended when he ran out of fuel on It's great to have fans and shareholders collisionsentTracyoutinfront, without Lap 57.

supporting me. It seems hard to believe, dbarnesthejournal.canwest.com v. points and we were able to salvage some," said Bourdais, who climbed all the way back to fifth place. These two drivers tangled in Monterrey, Mexico, in May and blamed each other for the accident that put Tracy out of the race and Bourdais well behind the leaders. This incident, as you might imagine, was also in some dispute.

Here's Tracy's version: "Sebastien came past me after we crossed the pit exit line and chopped across my nose, breaking my left front wing off and giving himself a flat." This one is from Bourdais: "I didn't see the video but I think I was Sebastien Bourdais of France leads we've known each other, and we've started to jell really good." Tagliani, who started from the third row, said he was fortunate the race ended under a yellow flag, considering he had just three good tires and had exhausted his supply of push-to-pass a feature that allows a driver to access 50 extra horsepower for short periods of time. Tl2U Kamikaze Tracy runs out of luck and gas costs hometown driver dearly in battle for points Tracy, and Wilson made significant moves on both of them by staying out of trouble in a race chock full of it. "It was definitely another typical Toronto race, a lot of attrition," said Alex Tagliani, who limped home on a flat tire for three laps but was the best Canadian. After all, he finished while a frustrated, out-of-fuel Tracy and Andrew Ranger did not. The teenager was the last casualty when he stalled his engine with four laps to go.

But the last two drivers to go out in a blaze of gory were Allmendinger and Mario Dominguez on Lap 81 of 88. Allmendinger touched the right wall and slammed into the left while trying to catch Servia for second place and Dominguez couldn't avoid a hellacious collision that reverberated round the track. The final and biggest wreck of the day scattered debris all over turn four and put a scary exclamation point on a race that was more demolition derby than Grand Prix. "Everybody wants to make a move," said Servia. "It's exciting racing, good for the fans, but you can't make mistakes because the walls are very close.

It's not just survival. When you make a move you've got to make sure it's right." Wilson had all the right moves on Sunday, collecting $75,000 and 33 crucial championship points to sit third. A delighted Russo sat on his driver's lap to answer questions in the post-race press conference. He was emotional and glib, cracking wise about the fact Wilson was just .002 seconds backof Bourdais for the pole position on Saturday. "I told Justin, 'Next time you're that close, try and break wind at the right On Sunday he braked at the right time and managed his tires and conserved enough fuel and did all the things you need to do at Toronto to survive and post RuSPORT's first victory.

And he did it Crash with rival Bourdais punctured Bourdais's right rear tire. Bourdais had to pit for a replacement so he tumbled down the grid but Tracy gambled by staying out despite the damage and looked ready to run away with his third win of the season. "We decided that it wasn't going to be worthwhile to take the time to change the nose, so we were just going to pit for fuel and tires on the final stop and see if we could hold them off," he said. "Unfortunately, I ran out of fuel just as I was about to pit. A yellow flag came out and the pits closed just as I was coming in, so I stayed on track hoping I could nurse it around one more lap but it died about two seconds after I made my in the moment after finishing third.

choice. Just a bad day for the team." He wound up 16th in the 18-car field and his crew was lamenting their choice. "We tried to make it one more lap. We didn't have enough fuel to do that," said team vice-president of operations Neil Micklewright, who acknowledged a miscalculation was made on the fuel reserve. It cost Tracy dearly in his battle for the Champ Car points championship as his pre-race lead over Bourdais was 129-128 while his post-race deficit is 150-135.

Worse, race winner Justin Wilson is within striking distance at 128. "I guess the incident hurt Paul more than us because he didn't get many Tagliani beats odds to land on podium Canadian overcomes flat tire en route to third-place finish clearly in front. I was almost a car length ahead of him and my right rear tire hit his front wing and it cut my tire." And this observation was made by Wilson's owner Carl Russo. "It seems Sebastien and Paul are getting along well this year," he laughed. "That's part of the series." PIT STOPS Race day drewacrowd of 71,433 to the Canadian National Exhibition grounds and the three-day total hit 160,315.

Timo Glock finished seventh and took over the rookie points lead from Canadian Andrew Ranger, with an 82-79 edge heading into Edmonton on Sunday. After six races, Tracy is the leading money-winner with $273,000 US to $242,500 for Bourdais and $221,000 for Wilson. TH CNADHH Pf SS the pack in Toronto on Sunday. DAN BARNES Journal Sports Columnist TORONTO Hometown hero Paul Tracy was leading the pack on a broken wing, but he didn't have a prayer when his luck, and his fuel supply, ran out on Lap 57. The trouble began when Tracy, who is always on a crash course with rival Sebastien Bourdais, actually ran into him at the end of pit row.

(Or vice versa, depending on your vantage point andbias). With Bourdais leading the Toronto Molson Indy and Tracy running a close second, the two pitted at the same time on Lap 34. They also tried to leave at the same time and the resulting collision tore off the left front wing on Tracy's car and Alex Tagliani of Lachenaie, revels The Canadian Press TORONTO Alex Tagliani's Molson Indy Toronto nearly ended a few laps too soon. The 32-year-old driver from Lachenaie, overcame a flat tire with three laps to go en route to a third-place finish Sunday in the Champ Car race. Tagliani appeared headed for a podium near-miss until AJ.

Allmendinger, running third at the time, hit a tire wall in front of Tagliani on Lap 81. Tagliani stayed out of danger and Allmendinger's departure allowed him to move into third. The Canadian held off Jimmy Vasser for his second podium finish of the season. Tagliani also finished third in Monterrey, Mexico. Toronto's Paul Tracy ran out of fuel on the 57th lap and Andrew Ranger, an 18-vear-oId from Raxton Pond, Que, suffered electrical problems on Lap 84, dropping him to 11th in his first Champ Car race in Canada.

Tagliani's best result in Toronto was runner-up in 2001. He lost his ride with Rocketsporti at the end of last season and was quick to credit his Aussie Vineyards racing team for giving him a chance to contend this season. Tm really very happy about the team," said Tagliani "The team is doing a great job. It's been a couple of months that "I was pretty lucky that they didn't (go to a) restart, because I ran over some debris," said TaglianL ho credited a tire change at first pit stop for his late surge. The win vaulted Tagliani from ninth to seventh in the driver standings with 94 points, behind Vasser with 105 and ahead of Cristiano da Matta with 84.

a Molson Indy results Dll 1.