| | Associated Press
Results
WEST ALLIS, Wis. -- Juan Montoya finally made his car
owner's big gamble pay off.
Montoya, driving for Chip Ganassi, gave the Toyota Champ car
engine its first-ever CART victory and put himself squarely back in
the championship battle with a victory Monday in the rain-postponed
Miller Lite 225 at the Milwaukee Mile.
The defending CART series champion dominated the Indianapolis
500, the rival Indy Racing League's showcase race on May 28, in
completely different equipment, but was just as overpowering in
this one.
|  | | Juan Montoya led all but 46 of the 225 laps at the Milwaukee Mile on Monday. |
Montoya started from the pole in the race delayed one day and
led all but 46 of the 225 laps on the 1.032-mile oval, giving
Toyota its first victory in five years and 78 CART races.
Although he led 40 percent of the laps in the first five CART
events this season, Montoya had not finished better than fourth
until taking the race at Indy.
"We were leading laps, leading laps and never getting to the
end," the 24-year-old Colombian phenom said. "Something would
come up and just mess us up completely. But the win had to come
sooner or later."
Hampered in the earlier CART events this season by things like a
broken gearbox, a loose wire and a tire puncture, Montoya was just
waiting for something to go wrong Monday.
"With 25 laps to go, that's when everything goes wrong," said
Montoya, who was in radio contact with Ganassi. "When Chip told me
'20 to go,' I thought, 'Oh, everything's OK."'
Montoya won a series-high seven races last year as a rookie.
He became the sixth different winner in CART this season and
leaped from 10th in the points into a tie for fourth with Michael
Andretti, Monday's runner-up.
Paul Tracy, the defending race winner, finished a disappointing
15th in the 23-car field, but held on to the series lead with 59
points. Roberto Moreno finished fifth and moved into second, seven
points behind Tracy and four ahead of Jimmy Vasser. Montoya and
Andretti both have 44 points.
The winner was particularly happy for Toyota, whose previous
best finish was a second in Brazil earlier this year by Vasser,
Montoya's Target/Chip Ganassi Racing teammate.
There was considerable surprise and even some skepticism when
Ganassi chose to switch from Honda motors, with which his team won
an unprecedented four straight CART titles, to the unproven Toyota
at the end of last season.
"There's always something good about change," Montoya said.
"We thought Toyota had the momentum to come on and win. It's just
a shame we couldn't have won earlier for them, to be honest. We
should have."
This one wasn't in much doubt after Montoya got back in the lead
late in the race. After making his final pit stop, Montoya was
second to Adrian Fernandez when Tarso Marques crashed in turn two
on lap 183.
Marques was not hurt and, during the ensuing caution period,
Fernandez, who had taken the lead on lap 171 when Montoya pitted,
made his final stop.
That left the top two positions to Montoya and Andretti.
Montoya's Toyota-powered Lola steadily pulled away following the
green flag on lap 194, building a lead of 5.493 seconds -- more than
a straightaway on the track -- on lap 208.
Andretti, who won earlier this year in Japan, steadily cut into
the margin from that point to the end, but came up 1.015 seconds
short.
"When he got caught in traffic, we were five seconds behind,"
Andretti said. "We were able to cut into the lead, but we just ran
out of laps."
Patrick Carpentier finished third, followed by Kenny Brack,
Moreno, Dario Franchitti, Max Papis and Fernandez.
With only two caution periods, Montoya's average speed of
142.684 mph broke the race record of 142.448, set by five-time
Milwaukee winner Andretti in 1992.
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AUDIO/VIDEO
 Juan Montoya takes the checkered flag in Monday's Miller Lite 225.
avi: 1376 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
 Juan Montoya talks about how tight his car ran in the Miller Lite 225.
wav: 100 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Michael Andretti ran out of laps to steal the lead from Juan Montoya.
wav: 207 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Patrick Carpentier talks about coming back from his wrist injury.
wav: 133 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
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