| | Associated Press
ELKHART LAKE, Wis. -- Paul Tracy's race was almost over before it began. That only made his victory in Sunday's Motorola 200 a little more difficult and a lot sweeter.
"I went for the start and started coming up the hill and the engine just died and the thing shut off," said Tracy, who fell from seventh to 23rd on the first lap after the throttle sensor stuck on the Honda engine in his Team Kool Green Reynard.
|  | | Paul Tracy makes his way around Road American en route to victory Sunday. Behind Tracy is Memo Gidley, left, and Mark Blundell. |
Finally, the engine turned over and Tracy began a charge that carried him to his second victory of the season and the 17th of his CART FedEx Series career.
"I got a quarter-lap behind and then I just go in the zone and just kept going faster and faster and faster on every lap," he said. "The guys did a great job on every (pit) stop and I was able to come through."
The 55-lap race on Road America's 4.048-mile, 14-turn road circuit was filled with attrition, with only 11 of the 25 starters running at the end.
Most of the problems were broken gearboxes, which eliminated rookie Alex Tagliani, defending series champion Juan Montoya and Gil de Ferran, who started second on Sunday and was second in the points standings heading into the race.
Tracy steadily moved through the field, finally taking the lead for the first time on lap 26 when Tagliani's car, which had been leading by nearly six seconds, coasted to a stop on course.
The new leader made his final fuel stop on lap 45, giving up the top spot to Roberto Moreno while taking on just enough methanol to finish.
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Da Matta disqualified
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ELKHART LAKE, Wis. -- Cristiano da Matta slid into his pits
on his first stop in Sunday's Motorola 220, hitting a crewman and
prompting CART to disqualify him after the race.
Robby Maschhaupi, the right rear tire changer on his PPI Motorsports crew, suffered an unspecified knee injury. He finished the race before going to the CART medical trailer for examination. Maschhaupi was to undergo an MRI later Sunday.
Da Matta, who fell far off the pace during that first pit stop, went out after 43 laps with a mechanical failure and was initially scored 13th. But CART officials said after the race they had decided to exclude his results following the injury and credited him with only the 14 laps prior to the pit stop.
That moved the rookie from Brazil, who won his first CART race in July in Chicago, to 22nd in the 25-car field.
-- Associated Press
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When Moreno had to make his last stop on lap 51, Tracy reassumed
the lead and pulled away to win by 7.450 seconds over Adrian
Fernandez. CART rookie Kenny Brack was third, followed by Moreno,
Jimmy Vasser, Memo Gidley and Max Papis, the last driver on the
lead lap.
Tracy then ran out of fuel on the fifth turn of his cool-down
lap. He hopped out of the car, waved to the spectators, then jumped
back into the cockpit and took the remainder of his victory lap
while towed to victory lane by a safety truck.
"I didn't know how low we were on fuel and I don't think the
team knew, either," Tracy said. "We just drove hard to the end."
Tracy's other win this season came on the temporary street
circuit in Long Beach, Calif., where he came back from 17th place.
Tagliani, trying to become the 10th driver with a victory in 13
races this season, was the story until his gearbox broke.
The young French Canadian charged from a third-place start to
take the lead before the first turn and appeared to have by far the
best car in the field.
He led until pitting on lap 16, giving up the lead at that point
to Moreno, who was getting the best mileage among the leaders
throughout the race.
Montoya, who started 12th, was up to fourth place by the time
the first round of pit stops began. When he finally came into the
pits on lap 18, his crew gave him a short load of fuel and the
24-year-old Colombian was able to beat everyone back onto the
track.
He steadily pulled away from second-place Tagliani and was
leading by more than 10 seconds when the shifter cable in his
gearbox snapped on lap 29, ending his race day and giving the lead
temporarily back to Tagliani.
Michael Andretti and de Ferran, the drivers who began the day at
the top of the standings, were both out of action before the
halfway point.
De Ferran was passed at the start by Tagliani. Moments later,
his Reynard-Honda slowed dramatically and de Ferran pulled into the
pits with the broken gearbox that ended his race day.
Andretti, carefully nursed his fuel and hung with the leaders
until lap 18. At that point, while running third, he began to slip
back into the field and finally pitted with a broken CV joint.
Andretti remained in the season lead with 125 points. Moreno has
112, de Ferran 106, Fernandez 103, Brack 102 and Tracy 100.
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ALSO SEE
Motorola 220 Results
Notebook: Just another Juan of those days
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Paul Tracy climbs the final Road America hill to win the Motorola 220. (Courtesy: ABC Sports)
avi: 1543 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Gil de Ferran's car pulls up lame on the opening lap. (Courtesy: ABC Sports)
avi: 736 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Motorola 200 winner Paul Tracy talks with ESPN's Marlo Klain on RPM 2Night.
RealVideo: 28.8
 Paul Tracy was slow to start, but then found his "zone."
wav: 369 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
A couple of close calls may have cost Adrian Fernandez.
wav: 240 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Deja vu, Juan Montoya loses another gear box.
wav: 251 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Gil de Ferran talks about his early exit at Road America.
wav: 330 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
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