| | Associated PRess
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MOTEGI, Japan -- Michael Andretti credited a 24-hour rain
delay for making him a contender in the Firestone Firehawk 500.
Then a bad valve in the car of series champion Juan Montoya
transformed contention into victory Sunday for Andretti.
|  | | Michael Andretti leads Jimmy Vasser around the Twin Ring track. |
"The rain may have been a blessing in disguise," Andretti said
after extending his career-best record of CART victories to 39.
"There was a 90-percent chance that we would be OK, but you don't
want to mess with the 10- percent chance of a problem."
So, when rain Saturday forced postponement of the fourth race of
the season, Andretti's crew worked especially hard to see if they
could make an eighth-place qualifier more closely resemble a
winner. They nearly did.
That's where polesitter Montoya came in. After leading all but
three of the first 175 laps, mechanical woes hit his Toyota-Lola
just as they had in the first three races this season.
"After my last pit stop I was just ready to get to the flag,
but during the pit stop a valve came loose," Montoya said. "I had
to come back in for them to fix it."
As they did, Andretti took his Ford-Lola to the front and stayed
there for the final 26 laps on the 1.549-mile Twin Ring Motegi
oval.
"For once, luck went our way and I'll take it for sure," said
Andretti, who beat the Honda-Reynard of Dario Franchitti by a
half-second for his first victory this season.
Third was Roberto Moreno, followed by Christiano da Matta,
rookie Kenny Brack, points leader Paul Tracy and Montoya. He and
Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Jimmy Vasser looked like the drivers
to beat, Andretti said.
"They were pretty tough," he said. "I don't know if we would
have had anything for them today."
But the problems with the Toyotas made that a moot point. Vasser
started third, but a mechanical problem ended his day after just
127 laps, and he wound up 21st in a field of 25.
Toyota power, the new choice of car owner Ganassi -- whose
drivers have won an unprecedented four straight CART titles with
Honda engines -- is yet to result in a victory in five seasons on
the circuit.
"Everything was really coming together," said Montoya, who
overcame a radio that malfunctioned from the start to dominate
until the valve failure. "Jimmy and I were both having a good day
and then it changed.
"It's coming together though. It really felt good today, and
the Toyota was great for me."
Now, a day before he races in an Oldsmobile-powered car as a
CART intruder in the IRL's Indianapolis 500, Montoya will try to
give Toyota its first victory. He has the pole for the Bosch Spark
Plug Grand Prix, postponed from April 9 to May 27 by snow in
Nazareth, Pa.
Andretti, the 1991 series champion who never won the Indy 500
while it was CART race prior to 1996, will start an
uncharacteristically low 15th in the Bosch Grand Prix, a race he
has won twice in his hometown.
If his car runs as well there as it did Sunday, he should be a
contender. When he's that, Andretti is particularly hard to beat.
On restarts, no one is better, something he proved again Sunday,
when he was forced to hold off Franchitti after a caution period
caused by Tony Kanaan ended with five laps remaining.
"I just kept the car above the oil dry so I would have a good
clean line and just try to stand on the throttle when I knew I
could stand on it and hopefully steal a little of Dario's air,"
Andretti said. "It worked perfect."
Tracy increased his lead over Vasser from six points to 56-42.
Moreno also has 42 points.
Andretti averaged 157.154 mph in a race slowed by caution five
times for a total of 29 laps. Only Andretti, Montoya and defending
race champion Adrian Fernandez, who won the first two CART events
in Japan, were able to lead Sunday.
Fernandez faded to finish 10th.
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AUDIO/VIDEO
 Michael Andretti takes the checkered flag in Japan.
avi: 861 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Mechanical problems may have cost Juan Montoya a victory.
avi: 1671 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
 It was one of those days that everything went right for Michael Andretti.
wav: 182 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
It is a period of adjustment for Dario Franchitti.
wav: 129 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
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