Updates from the Rest of the Racing World
Atlas F1 Magazine Writers
Advice: The points tables for most series covered by Elsewhere In Racing are available here. Individual series are linked to their corresponding points table after each report.
Four Becomes Two
As the 2002 Indy Racing League hurtles towards its season climax, the drivers put on an incredible race, with a scarcely believable finish. Some of this year's finishes have been close. This time the gap from Sam Hornish Jr to Al Unser Jr had to be measured in thousandths of a second. And it was only the width of the track that prevented more cars from being alongside. The first eleven finishers screamed across the line together as a pack. A momentary lift of the pedal and Hornish might have dropped from earning 52 points to 21.
Hornish started the weekend right, setting a pole position speed of 222.867 mph. Buddy Rice continued his impressive start to his IRL career to join the Panther on the front row. Al Unser Jr demonstrated that despite his problems he is still a racer, and qualified third ahead of the perennial underdog Billy Boat. Another impressive newcomer, Vitor Meira, was next in the Menards car. The car's usual driver Jacques Lazier was present for the first time since his season ending crash at Nazareth. The team confirmed Lazier would continue in the #2 car in 2003.
Rice's team leader Eddie Cheever was next fastest just ahead of former Formula Ford 2000 Champion Dan Wheldon in a second Pennzoil Panther, the team expanding under the pressure of the two car assault from Penske. Speaking of Penske, Gil de Ferran was eleventh, and Helio Castroneves a miserable twenty-first. The fourth title contender, Felipe Giaffone, qualified his Mo Nunn GForce in tenth.
Hornish got the jump at the start to lead the field around on the opening lap with Rice slotting in behind followed by Unser, Boat, Meira and Robbie Buhl. De Ferran was a quick mover through the field, climbing to seventh after only five laps. Buhl was also travelling well, displacing Meira. De Ferran pushed Meira down the field only a few laps later. Laurent Redon was the first retirement of the race. A blown motor brought out the yellows as the oil slick was taken care of. Several cars stopped including Castroneves and Scott Sharp.
After the field pitted, Unser emerged in the lead from Hornish, Castroneves, Cheever, Boat and Sharp. Meanwhile Sarah Fisher pulled in and stopped with oil leaking from the car. Renna pitted during this yellow period reporting fuel pressure problems, explaining his inability to run at full speed.
Lap 74 and the race went green again. Hornish learnt from Rice and applied a similar push on Unser, taking the lead. The race started to settle when on lap 87 Eliseo Salazar's wing collapsed leaving him spinning across the back straight infield. Unser, Sharp, Cheever, Rice and Castroneves were amongst the subsequent pitters. At the green Hornish continued to lead with Billy Boat moving up into second position as a fierce fight developed behind them between Robbie Buhl, Vitor Meira and Dan Wheldon. Castroneves led the pitters and soon climbed up on the back of the battle for third.
At the restart Castroneves was swamped as Unser and Hornish took up the fight. Over the final 30 laps Unser and Hornish lapped side by side, fighting over each lap as Castroneves, Giaffone, Lazier, Boesel, Sharp, Cheever, Meira, Rice and Wheldon jockeyed. It looked as though the pace was with Cheever but he couldn't force his way forward. Cheever grew desperate as the laps ran down, taking one deep dive under Castroneves, but the Brazilian came across and blocked hard. The gaggle of cars screamed at the line with Hornish taking the win by the barest of margins.
Up until the moment of de Ferran's crash, the series was balanced on a knifepoint. Both Penskes had come through from relatively poor qualifying positions to be part of the huge leading battle. Hornish and Giaffone were both in the thick of the action. De Ferran's crash took the sting out of the championship battle, and it was Hornish who powered on to take maximum points from the race. Helio Castroneves finished fourth, separated from Hornish only by the width of raceable surface. Castroneves is now 12 points behind Hornish. De Ferran has dropped from the battle and is 38 points from Hornish. Giaffone, sixth today, has lost the battle. He is 62 points adrift, ten points from a mathematical chance. Barring crashes to the top three, Castroneves has to win. All the defending champion has to do is finish second to put the issue beyond doubt.
Result of Indy Racing League, Round 14 of 15; ChicagoLand Speedway, United States:
Standings: Sam Hornish Jr 481, Helio Castroneves 469, Gil de Ferran 443, Felipe Giaffone 419, Alex Barron 336, Al Unser Jr 301, Scott Sharp 300, Airton Dare 286, Buddy Lazier 279, Jeff Ward 263 etc.
Pressure Point
Valentino Rossi took his ninth victory from eleven starts in a rain soaked encounter at Estoril. It was a victory though that belonged to another. Sete Gibernau was awesome in the wet conditions. Sustained pressure from Rossi saw Gibernau push himself beyond his own ability, falling with just four laps to go.
Rain blighted the 125 and 250 races and was falling as the big bikes waited for the lights. Kato was swamped off the line and never seen again, the conditions exploiting the huge flaw in the young Japanese rider's abilities. Checa too was slow away as Barros made the best of it on the Pons NSR to lead the opening corners from Rossi, Gibernau, Kenny Roberts Jr, Tohru Ukawa and Max Biaggi. Jeremy McWilliams was lightning quick in the conditions fighting his way forward on the Proton while the two Movistar Suzukis looked totally at home. Olivier Jacque tumbled and failed to complete the first lap as Rossi powered past Barros to lead from Roberts, McWilliams, Gibernau and Jurgen van der Goorbergh across the stripe.
Rossi quickly put the hammer down trying to gap the field to keep clear of any falls, which were bound to occur in the pack. Gibernau quickly scotched that plan, climbing to the lead by the end of lap four. By this time Nobuatsu Aoki, McWilliams and Regis Laconi had all fallen while the fast starting van der Goorbergh had parked his NSR with engine failure. Gibernau and Rossi, joined by Ukawa and Roberts, started to create a small gap on the field. Checa was now leading the second group ahead of Biaggi, Barros, John Hopkins and Loris Capirossi. Checa bridged the gap to the leaders, bringing his group with him.
The rear of the lead West Pons bike stepped out and Capirossi disappears from the timesheets, while another faller was Kato, forgotten in the depths of the pack. A fortunate move saw Ukawa take second from his more illustrious teammate Rossi. The rain had stopped and the track was drying as a queue started to form behind Ukawa. Gibernau fled, building up almost a six second lead. Rossi retook second and immediately put the blowtorch on Gibernau, eating away tenths here, a second there. Gibernau responded and the gap stabilised at around three and a half seconds. The gap was still coming down, but nowhere near quick enough. As long as the Spaniard stayed upright the win was his. Gibernau though was far from cruising, and with four laps left ran out of talent and fell. It had been pressure riding and Gibernau cracked. Of such things champions are made.
The last four laps were not without challenge as the rain returned with a vengeance. Rossi kept it rubber side down, taking a huge 22 second victory over Checa, who had climbed as far as he could to overcome that dreadful start. Ukawa was third, showing that the Honda four-stroke is the best in any weather. Kenny Roberts Jr salvaged something for Suzuki with a fourth, equalling Gibernau's season best result from Brno while still short of Suzuki's season best result, Akiro Ryo's second at a wet Suzuka. Barros won the two-stroke battle on the West Honda ahead Biaggi on the second four-stroke Yamaha. Norick Abe took seventh ahead of Hopkins whilst McWilliams remounted to finish ninth.
Rossi's championship lead is now merely ridiculous. It's not a case of if now, but when. Ukawa is twelve points clear of Biaggi with Checa a further 28 points back. Barros again leads the two-strokes, just 11 points shy of Checa. This race concludes the European leg. The World Championship now hits the skies, flying to the next four races, the first of which is Jacarepagua, Brazil.
Result of World Motorcycle Championship, Round 11 of 16, Estoril, Portugal:
Standings: Valentino Rossi 245, Tohru Ukawa 156, Max Biaggi 144, Carlos Checa 116, Alex Barros 105, Norick Abe 99, Daijiro Kato 80, Loris Capirossi 75, Kenny Roberts Jr 58, John Hopkins 49 etc.
Colin's Championship?
Assen saw the unbelievable happen. Not only did Troy Bayliss crash, but the leader of the championship wasn't Bayliss at the end of the day, Edwards finally taking the top spot. Edwards scored two wins to stretch his streak to seven race wins in a row, a record for the series. With just one round remaining at the end of the month, all will be to play for between Edwards and Bayliss, just one point separating them with fifty up for grabs.
At the start of race one Neil Hodgson got a great start and led into turn one, followed by Troy Bayliss, Noriyuki Haga and polesitter Colin Edwards, Ruben Xaus and Ben Bostrom close behind as Edwards almost immediately passed Haga for third, and took second from Bayliss just a few corners later, moving quickly onto the tail of Hodgson. This was already looking ominous for anyone hoping to beat Edwards, while Haga was giving Bayliss a hard time, Bayliss dropping to fifth behind Xaus after a small mistake at the end of lap one.
Lap two and Hodgson and Edwards ran side by side as they swapped the lead back and forth before Edwards finally claimed it. All this dicing had allowed the following three to catch back up to them, a five bike train completing lap two, with Bayliss back up to fourth ahead of Hodgson, who lost four places in his attempt to hold onto the lead at the final corner of lap two, while Xaus had slipped past Haga and was now up to second.
Edwards immediately started to leave the rest of the top five behind, the pack's dicing not helping matters in the chase of Edwards.
Early on lap three Hodgson pushed Bayliss back to fifth. Later on lap three Bayliss passed Hodgson into the hairpin, only to run in too deep and run wide, allowing Hodgson back through, but just as soon as he took the place back, Hodgson's bike broke, allowing Bayliss back up to fourth. Pierfrancesco Chili began to close in on Bayliss as the top four were separated from each other.
After a few laps rest, Haga closed in on Xaus, taking second as they completed lap seven. Having dispensed of any thought of a challenge from Chili, Bayliss was flying again and was on Xaus's tail less than a lap after Haga had taken second from him. Up front Edwards was in front by over five seconds. After a lap of dicing with his teammate, Bayliss moved up to third as they completed lap nine, and caught up to Haga just a few turns later.
Passing Haga was not going to be quite so easy however. Bayliss looked several times before he was able to make the move stick around the outside at the start of lap 11, Bayliss setting off in chase of Edwards but knowing he couldn't really catch him, seven seconds away with five laps remaining, while Haga had Xaus to keep him occupied if he made a mistake. Over the remaining laps the gap between Edwards and Bayliss reduced, but never to a point that Edwards allowed himself to be in danger, Edwards taking the win from Bayliss, Haga and Xaus, the only four that were in contention to win.
Race two saw Edwards make the most of his pole position, leading through turn one as the pack, led by Hodgson, Bayliss, Haga and Xaus again, followed through turn one. Chili was having a great run, giving Xaus something to think about. After having Haga on his tail early on, Bayliss moved up onto Hodgson's tail as they completed lap two, Haga losing a place to Xaus at this time. Bayliss then passed Hodgson into the first turn on lap three only to see Hodgson go straight back through on the exit. At this same turn Xaus dropped out of the running, allowing Haga back up to fourth though Chili was now on Haga's tail.
As they completed lap three, Edwards was beginning to break away again as Hodgson and Bayliss dicing with each other saw second to fifth back in a train again. Into the last turn on lap three Bayliss outbraked Hodgson, as well as himself, temporarily running second before running through the gravel and dropping down to fifth, just ahead of James Toseland. Meanwhile Haga took over where Bayliss had left off, giving Hodgson a very hard time, Chili just behind them.
Up front Edwards was stretching away from the trio fighting for second, while Bayliss was edging closer to them. Halfway through lap seven Chili took third from Haga, Haga retaking the place as they began lap eight, Hodgson still under pressure from the duo just behind him, Haga giving Hodgson an incredibly hard time. Haga was so close that Haga ran into the back of Hodgson during lap nine, both taking to the gravel but recovering, dropping Hodgson to fifth and Haga to eighth, promoting Chili to second.
Bayliss also benefited from this, moving up to third, but within a lap Bayliss was out, apparently having crashed all by himself. This moved Hodgson's teammate James Toseland up into third place, on track for his first ever podium. After all this action the rest of the race was relatively unexciting, Edwards taking a comfortable win, Chili second and Toseland scoring his first World Superbike podium in third place. Hodgson and Haga went on to finish fourth and sixth respectively, Haga having had another battle over the closing laps with Ben Bostrom and Chris Walker, Haga running in fifth for a couple of laps before Bostrom stole the place back on the last lap.
Result of World Superbike Championship, Round 12 of 13, Assen, The Netherlands:
Standings: Colin Edwards 502, Troy Bayliss 501, Neil Hodgson 302, Noriyuki Haga 254, Ben Bostrom 248, Ruben Xaus 217, James Toseland 175, Pierfrancesco Chili 158, Chris Walker 143, Gregorio Lavilla 113 etc.
Superbikes points distribution
Matt Makes It
On a night where lead changes outnumbered cautions, and there were plenty of both, Matt Kenseth took a remarkable victory at Richmond after being a lap down early in the race thanks to a flat right front tyre, Kenseth recording a series-leading fourth win of the season. It was a bad night for most of those leading the points chase however, Sterling Marlin, Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart recording poor results.
The cars were soon rolling again, the race restarting on lap 15 with Ryan Newman continuing to lead, but the field was soon under green again when Todd Bodine and Terry Labonte made contact, Labonte ending up in the wall as the caution came out again on lap 17. The race restarted again on lap 25 with Newman still leading, beginning to edge away. On lap 33, while trying to prevent Mark Martin completing a pass, Dale Jarrett bounced his car off the wall on the exit of turn two, Jarrett continuing but with some damage. Jeff Gordon's recent good run ended around lap 50 when he cruised into the pits, effectively ending his day.
Up front Stewart was making his way up through the field, moving up to third on lap 64. On lap 67 Matt Kenseth suffered a flat right front tyre, dropping him from 17th to 37th, losing a lap. Debris from the tyre brought the caution out on lap 69, the field pitting, Newman holding onto the lead. Newman led the field away at the restart on lap 73, with Stewart moving up to second past Jimmie Johnson on lap 75, slowly closing in on Newman. The next caution came out on lap 83 when Greg Biffle, subbing for Bobby Hamilton, spun out through turn one and two. Lap 87 and it was green again, Newman continuing at the front.
Around lap 175 saw the start of green flag pit stops, Kenseth and Rusty Wallace suffering tyres going down just as they pitted, Greg Biffle in his second Winston Cup race running at the front as those who pitted at the most recent yellow continued to run out on the track. He eventually pitted on lap 194, moving Kenny Wallace to the lead, who pitted two laps later after his front tyre went down too, Michael Waltrip the new leader. Tim Sauter brought out the next caution on lap 208 when he lost an engine. This caution saw several fast cars caught a lap down Those that didn't pit under green made their stops, as well as some at the tail end of the lead lap, and some of those fast cars a lap down stopped too. Overall, most of the field pitted.
Lap 218 and the race restarted, Waltrip the race's leader, though starting around mid-pack as some cars who had been a lap down didn't pit, and were between him and the pace car, effectively on the tail end of the lead lap. Lap 219 and it was caution time again as Waltrip hit the inside wall hard, spinning after trying to avoid John Andretti who had hit the wall hard, allowing those cars in front of Waltrip back onto the lead lap, with those cars getting back on the lead lap among those who made stops under the caution.
Only a handful of cars at the end of the lead lap pitted, with the race back under way on lap 258, Kenseth at the front, another yellow almost following as Dale Earnhardt Jr gave Ricky Craven a big shove on the lap of the restart, but everyone made saves and the race continued. Newman took second from Park on lap 259, Stewart passing Park five laps later as Park began to fade. Another caution, the tenth of the night, came out on lap 274, when Greg Biffle got a little loose off turn two and Kurt Busch ran up the side of him, cutting Biffle's left rear tyre, sending him spinning into the wall.
The pits were busy as nearly everyone headed there for tyres and fuel, with an ever so slight possibility of making it the rest of the way from here. Ward Burton took over the lead as he was the only lead lap runner not to pit, followed by Jeremy Mayfield, who took only two tyres, Newman, Kenseth, Wallace and Stewart, the race resuming on lap 280. On laps 283 and 284 respectively Newman and Kenseth moved ahead of Mayfield. Leader Burton fell quickly into the clutches of Newman, taking the lead on lap 292 with Kenseth again following through a lap later, taking Newman at the other end of the race track on the same lap!
With 29 to go, Wallace moved past Stewart to take third, and set off after Newman, as Kenseth continued to lead comfortably. Ward Burton's gamble not to pit cost him as he was forced to pit with 27 laps remaining, dropping him from sixth to 23rd. 19 to go and Mayfield did the same to drop him from fifth to 19th. 16 to go and Wallace continued his move forward as he passed Newman for second. Still the cars circulated - could they make it to the end? 12 to go and Mike Wallace, running in fifth, found out he couldn't, pitting for fuel. Just as he made his pit stop, brother Rusty suffered a front left rear tyre while running second, joining his brother in pit lane.
With five laps to go Tony Stewart slowed to a stop while running third as his transmission failed. Several cars pitted over the last ten laps as they ran out of fuel or were forced to pit for fuel, but Kenseth wasn't one of them, as he went on to take the win ahead of Newman, Jeff Green third ahead of Dale Earnhardt Jr and Todd Bodine. Ricky Rudd lost two places on the last lap when he ran out of fuel to finish seventh, the last car on the lead lap. Mike Wallace finished 12th, just ahead of brothers Kenny in 14th and Rusty in 15th. Several of the drivers at the top of the points chase had a bad day, Tony Stewart finishing all the way down in 30th, with Jeff Gordon 40th just ahead of Sterling Marlin in 43rd.
Result of NASCAR Winston Cup, Round 26 of 36, Richmond International Speedway, Virginia, United States:
Standings: Sterling Marlin 3439, Mark Martin 3430, Jimmie Johnson 3367, Jeff Gordon 3357, Tony Stewart 3321, Rusty Wallace 3293, Bill Elliott 3255, Matt Kenseth and Ricky Rudd 3191, Ryan Newman 3168 etc.
A-1 For Action
The bewinged monsters of DTM turned the action on aplenty for the series' second visit to Austria. Several cars and drivers took their turn in the lead but it was Marcel Fassler who was in front when the chequer fell. Incredibly, championship heavyweights Laurent Aiello and Bernd Schneider clashed on the final lap, Aiello dropping off the circuit and down the order. It looked as though Aiello would take the title in Austria, however with Schneider second, the series and title fight moves on to Zandvoort.
Ekstrom made the most of his front row start to get the jump and lead Aiello and the AMG Mercs away in the qualifying race. Schneider was in no mood to give up his title hopes and menaced Aiello, taking second before the first lap was done. The race became unremarkable from there and Ekstrom won from Schneider, Aiello, Alesi, Tomczyk, Uwe Alzen, Menu, Manuel Reuter, Joachim Winkelhock and Fassler.
As the feature event gridded up, the skies clouded over, threatening to dampen proceedings. Ekstrom ignored this triviality and again led the field when the lights went out. Aiello was swamped by Alzen and Alesi, dropping to fifth. Tomczyk soon made it sixth, then fifth. And it became fourth when Alzen spun. The race order settles for the early period prior to the compulsory pit stops. The top five start to pull away from Menu in the Opel.
The two Abt Audis dived for the pits first as the championship leading team tried to break Aiello free from the pack. Fassler was also in early whilst Schneider waited a lap. Alesi now led but another lap and he was also in the pits. The Abt tactic worked and Aiello leapfrogs Schnieder. Ekstrom is embrioled in this battle. Schnieder gets past Ekstrom and starts to hunt for Aiello.
The last three laps were chaos as Alesi, Ekstrom, Fassler and Aiello fought viciously for position. Alesi led with two laps to go with Fassler climbing to second ahead of Aiello, Ekstrom and Schnieder, who had caught the battling group. Ekstrom spun as the final lap begun, and suddenly cars were everywhere as Scheider, Menu and Manuel Reuter all spin, as the track turns greasy. Schneider and Aiello were all over each other and Alesi was in trouble. Into the last corner Aiello and Schneider bash panels, sending Aiello fencewards. Somehow Fassler went through to take the win with Schneider second ahead of Alesi. Alzen took fourth ahead of the recovering Aiello. Menu led the Opels home for the final championship point.
Aiello's chances of securing the championship ended in the final turn wall, but the Frenchman still holds a 19 point lead over Schnieder. The Mercedes driver is running out of time and races to catch Aiello. Zandvoort, in the Netherlands beckons.
Result of Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters, Round 8 of 10, A-1 Ring, Austria:
Standings: Laurent Aiello 65, Bernd Schneider 46, Mattias Ekstrom 32, Jean Alesi 24, Marcel Fassler 21, Uwe Alzen 20, Christian Abt 13, Martin Tomczyk and Alain Menu 7, Timo Scheider and Christijan Albers 5 etc.
IRL
There was another moment that held everyone's attention. Gil de Ferran was following closely behind Tony Renna when Renna slowed. De Ferran moved up in avoidance and kept going up, clouting the wall above turn two hard. The throttle stuck open and continued to drive the car into and along the wall on the back straight. After some nervous moments as one of the safety marshals approached the car to stop the motor which was still driving the surviving rear wheel and flapping tyre, de Ferran was extricated from the wreck and flown to Saint James Hospital at Olympia Fields, Illinois. By the time de Ferran left the circuit he was awake and alert. With only a week to the championship finale in Texas, de Ferran is a doubtful starter.
The race went green again on lap 25. Rice made a superb run on the green and took Hornish underneath at turn three. Boat also took Unser for third position, Infiniti power proving just as effective as Chevrolet. De Ferran was closing in on Unser and took the veteran on lap 34. Shortly afterwards Unser regained the spot, then took Hornish before fighting with Rice for the lead. The battle continued past the 50 lap mark when the race, indeed the championship, was turned on its head with de Ferran's crash.
Lap 114 saw a brief yellow flown for debris, allowing everyone to pit. Scott Sharp refrained and took up the lead ahead of Buddy Lazier, Hornish Castroneves and Airton Dare. Lazier was qucikly brushed aside triggering a tremendous battle between Hornish and Sharp that continued up until three-quarter distance when Dare hit the wall out of turn two. The field pitted one last time and Castroneves led them from the pits with Unser, Meira, Hornish, Cheever and Giaffone in behind, as the leading eleven cars found themselves strung out behind the pace car.
Pos Driver Car
1. Sam Hornish Jr Dallara-Chevrolet
2. Al Unser Jr Dallara-Chevrolet
3. Buddy Lazier Dallara-Chevrolet
4. Helio Castroneves Dallara-Chevrolet
5. Eddie Cheever Dallara-Infiniti
6. Felipe Giaffone GForce-Chevrolet
7. Scott Sharp Dallara-Chevrolet
8. Vitor Meira Dallara-Chevrolet
9. Buddy Rice Dallara-Infiniti
10. Dan Wheldon Dallara-Chevrolet
MotoGP
Qualifying foretold another story. Carlos Checa took his second career pole position with a 1:39.793 lap time, less than a tenth clear of Daijiro Kato. Kato is every bit as fast as most predicted once he got his gloves on a RC211V. Rossi completed the front row with Alex Barros on the first of the two-stroke machines. The top ten were all within a second of Checa's time. The race was going to be different.
Pos Rider Motorcycle
1. Valentino Rossi Honda RC211V
2. Carlos Checa Yamaha YZR M1
3. Tohru Ukawa Honda RC211V
4. Kenny Roberts Jr Suzuki GSVR
5. Alex Barros Honda NSR500
6. Max Biaggi Yamaha YZR M1
7. Norick Abe Yamaha YZR500
8. John Hopkins Yamaha YZR500
9. Jeremy McWilliams Proton KR3
10. Tetsuya Harada Honda NSR500
Superbikes
Race One
Pos Rider Motorcycle
1. Colin Edwards Honda VTR 1000 SP2
2. Troy Bayliss Ducati 998 F 02
3. Noriyuki Haga Aprilia RSV 1000
4. Ruben Xaus Ducati 998 F 02
5. Pierfrancesco Chili Ducati 998 RS
6. James Toseland Ducati 998 F 01
7. Gregorio Lavilla Suzuki GSX-R750 Y
8. Ben Bostrom Ducati 998 F 02
9. Broc Parkes Ducati 998 RS
10. Juan Borja Ducati 998 RS
Race Two
Pos Rider Motorcycle
1. Colin Edwards Honda VTR 1000 SP2
2. Pierfrancesco Chili Ducati 998 RS
3. James Toseland Ducati 998 F 01
4. Neil Hodgson Ducati 998 F 01
5. Ben Bostrom Ducati 998 F 02
6. Noriyuki Haga Aprilia RSV 1000
7. Chris Walker Kawasaki ZX-7RR
8. Broc Parkes Ducati 998 RS
9. Marco Borciani Ducati 998 RS
10. Lucio Pedercini Ducati 998 RS
NASCAR
Polesitter Jimmie Johnson led at the start but not for long, getting loose through turns one and two on lap two allowing Ryan Newman through to the lead. Almost simultaneously Elliott Sadler spun coming off turn two and hit the inside wall, bringing out the first caution of the day on lap three. The race got back underway on lap eight but was soon under yellow again on lap eleven when Jeff Burton, and then points leader Sterling Marlin and Jimmy Spencer spun in turn three, all hitting the wall and out of the race. The mess caused by this wreck saw the race red-flagged until the mess was cleared up.
Just after lap 100, Matt Kenseth in 35th place got himself back onto the lead lap, just before the next caution came out on lap 109 after Bobby Labonte did a 360 coming onto the front straight. Some cars towards the end of the lead lap pitted. Lap 113 and the race resumed, Newman being pushed by Stewart. At lap 125 it was a leading trio as Johnson joined them before Newman and Stewart pulled away again. Lap after lap of running nose-to-tail finally ended when Stewart passed Newman around the outside through three and four on lap 144. Meanwhile Kenseth had been making progress through the field and was now all the way up to 12th. By lap 155 he was 9th.
Lap 235 and it was green again, Steve Park the new leader of a race that had been turned upside down more than once in the previous 50 laps, Brett Bodine, Matt Kenseth, Hermie Sadler and Ryan Newman completing the top five. Lap 237 saw Kenseth move ahead of Bodine, with Newman soon moving up to third. Lap 249 saw a change of the lead as Kenseth blew past Park. Stewart and Wallace fought side by side for several laps before moving up to fourth for good on lap 251, just a few laps before the caution came out on lap 254 when Johnny Benson hit the wall coming onto the front straight while trying to pass Robby Gordon.
Kenseth slowly edged away from Newman as Burton remained in third ahead of Stewart, Mayfield and Rusty Wallace, though by lap 340 Stewart was ahead of Burton and Wallace was ahead of Mayfield. As the laps ran down to less than 40 remaining, Kenseth continued to slowly edge away, while Stewart in third and Wallace in fourth slowly closed in as teams worked out whether they could make the finish without another stop or needed a splash'n'dash.
Pos Driver Car
1. Matt Kenseth Ford Taurus
2. Ryan Newman Ford Taurus
3. Jeff Green Chevrolet Monte Carlo
4. Dale Earnhardt Jr Chevrolet Monte Carlo
5. Todd Bodine Ford Taurus
6. Mark Martin Ford Taurus
7. Ricky Rudd Ford Taurus
8. Ward Burton Dodge Intrepid
9. Dave Blaney Ford Taurus
10. Jeremy Mayfield Dodge Intrepid
DTM
Rampant series leader Aiello plonked his Team Abt Sportsline Audi TT-R on pole position with a 1:27.588. Teammate Mattias Ekstrom started alongside with title rival Bernd Schneider tucked in behind in the first of the Mercedes. Fourth was his teammate, Jean Alesi, considerably slower around the A-1 Ring than his last visit. Abt's junior development driver Martin Tomczyk and Alain Menu in the first of the Opels made up the third row.
Just ahead of the squabbling duo the yet-to-pit Thomas Jaeger and Patrick Huisman clash, leaving Jaeger spinning. Aiello dodged while Schnieder closed the gap. Once the stops were completed, Alesi was leading the race, ahead of Ekstrom, Fassler, Aiello, Schnieder, Timo Scheider and Menu. Schneider drops below Menu after having an off through turn one. Scheider moves up into the gap of his almost namesake to take on Aiello. Aiello though had other plans, and was looking further forward.
Pos Driver Car
1. Marcel Fassler Mercedes-Benz CLK-DTM
2. Bernd Schneider Mercedes-Benz CLK-DTM
3. Jean Alesi Mercedes-Benz CLK-DTM
4. Uwe Alzen Mercedes-Benz CLK-DTM
5. Laurent Aiello Audi TT-R
6. Alain Menu Opel Astra Coupe
7. Manuel Reuter Opel Astra Coupe
8. Timo Scheider Opel Astra Coupe
9. Christian Abt Audi TT-R
10. JJ Lehto Opel Astra Coupe
Briefs
Finally, the newly formed 'Team St George' has signed Darren Manning to drive the team's Lola-Ford at the Rockingham 500. The team will be run under the auspices of Dale Coyne Racing. This is the first race for Coyne's team since Michael Krumm finished 15th at Long Beach in 2001.
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Volume 8, Issue 37
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