| | Associated Press
ELKHART LAKE, Wis. -- The frustration continued for Juan
Montoya in the Motorola 220.
The 24-year-old Colombian, who won seven races and the CART FedEx Series championship a year ago as a rookie, needed a win Sunday at Road America to move himself into contention for another title.
He started 12th, sliced through the field and, with the help of a lightning pit stop, took the lead and began to pull away before disaster struck again.
As it has six previous times this season, a mechanical problem ended his race day while Montoya, who has won two CART races this year, was running first or second. This time it was a broken cable in the transmission -- the same problem that took him out while running second earlier this season in Brazil.
"I ran hard and got the lead, then I began to take care of my fuel. Our strategy was perfect, then gearbox broke, just like last year," said Montoya, who is expected to race next season in Formula One.
Last year, in his first race at the Elkhart Lake track, Montoya's gearbox broke while he was leading six laps from the end.
Tight near the top
Thanks to the broken drivetrain in Michael Andretti's car and the gearbox problem of Gil de Ferran, CART's championship battle has tightened considerably with six races remaining.
Andretti finished out of the points Sunday at Road America but still leads the season standings with 125 points. De Ferran also was out of the points and fell to third with 106, with Roberto Moreno jumping past with 112.
Adrian Fernandez is three points behind de Ferran, with Kenny Brack another point back. Race winner Paul Tracy is sixth in the rankings with 100 points.
"This thing is still wide open," said Fernandez, who finished second Sunday. "Anybody who can finish in the top five in every race the rest of the way would have a good chance to win the championship. It's going to take consistency and not making mistakes."
Demonstration day in Germany
Far away in Lausitz, Germany -- near Dresden -- Bryan Herta, who lost his regular ride in CART this season, was driving one of team owner Derrick Walker's Reynard-Hondas in a demonstration Sunday on the new two-mile EuroSpeedway oval where CART will race next September.
"It's the first race car on the track over there," said Walker, whose CART driver, rookie Shinji Nakano, went out with a mechanical problem after only 15 laps at Road America and finished 23rd in the 25-car field. "We sent our IRL crew over there, ironically enough."
Walker is the only CART owner who also runs a team in the rival
Indy Racing League.
Gidley joins Della Penna full-time
The season began with Andretti and Jimmy Vasser the only American drivers racing full-time on the CART circuit.
Now, after beginning the season subbing for several teams, Memo Gidley has joined the cast full-time for John Della Penna's team, and he and Vasser, the 1996 series champion, finished fifth and sixth on Sunday.
It was Gidley's best career finish, eclipsing the eighth-place run early this season in Brazil.
"We kept working on the set-up throughout the run and, by the end, the car was very fast and a joy to drive," Gidley said. "The last three laps were so long because I had seen so many cars retire. I'm very proud of my team. In four races and two test days, our Reynard-Toyota hasn't missed a lap."
In his first four races for Della Penna, Gidley has finished no worse than 12th -- the last point-scoring position.
"Memo came in with a lot of energy and direction for the team," said Della Penna, who put Gidley in the seat previously occupied by rookie Norberto Fontana. "The guy is really inspiring."
Spark plugs
Eighteen drivers have led at least one lap this
season, but Dario Franchitti, who started on the pole Sunday, is
not among them.
Tracy's victory, his second at Road America,
was the 100th CART win for Firestone tires and the 51st for Honda's
engines.
Honda has powered the winners at all three races run
this season on permanent road courses. De Ferran won in Portland,
Ore., and Helio Castroneves in Lexington, Ohio.
Andretti leads series money winners with $531,750. Tracy is second with $481.750.
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