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Dan Peters
Sports Editor
Oak Park
Journal
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© Suburban Journals of Chicago
photo by Joe Paolella
DIXON
TAKES FLAG & POINTS LEAD... AT THE MILWAUKEE ABC SUPPLY/A.J. FOYT
225
By
Mark Rotor & Dan Peters
May 31st, 2009
Scott Dixon Wins 2nd Race of Season At the Milwaukee Mile
After a disappointing outcome at the Indy 500 for the elite Target Chip
Ganassi team with resulting in 5th place finish by Scott Dixon and a
7th
place finish for Dario Franchitti the team rebounded at the Milwaukee
Mile
as the 2008 IndyCar Series champion Scott Dixon captured the checker
flag at
the ABC Supply/A.J. Foyt 225 IndyCar Series on Sunday.
Scott Dixon took the prize becoming the first driver to win two race in
the 09 season.
The race was contested throughout with Ryan Briscoe of Team Penske lead
most of the
race. Dixon finished ahead of Briscoe and teammate Dario Franchitti
allowing Target
Chip Ganassi to capture two of the three tops spots on the platform.
"I was trying to get the flow of traffic the whole day," said Dixon,
who
won earlier this season on the 1.5-mile oval at Kansas Speedway. "I
definitely
think from the start our car was better. We could run quick times when
we needed
to, and we were good in traffic. We had many runs on (Ryan) Briscoe,
and he kind
of blocked a lot and that was kind of frustrating early on, but he
definitely got
caught up there with (Tomas) Scheckter trying to take him on the
bottom, and I
got a great run on the high side and it just lined up perfect."
Dixon
#9 Stalks Briscoe #6 and
Passing Briscoe on Lap #201
© Suburban Journals
of Chicago
photo by Mark Rotor
Dixon won the race in record time, covering 225 miles at America ’s
Legendary
Oval in one hour, 38 minutes and 43.9552 seconds. Briscoe led 154 laps
after
passing Tony Kanaan on Lap 26. Briscoe got caught up in lapped traffic
on the
tight, flat circuit, and Dixon wasted no time, passing for the lead on
Lap
201 of the 225-lap event.
"It was a great race," said Briscoe. "Scott (Dixon) was just a little
bit
better than me at the end there. He got me in traffic. I was struggling
with a little bit of understeer, and whenever I'd get on the inside I'd
really lose my momentum. Great job by Scott. He was there all day long
and
took the opportunity to pass me when I got slowed up. It was a great
effort
by Team Penske today. My pit stops were awesome. I don't think I've
lost
a spot this year in the pits yet, so it's a great credit to Team
Penske."
Franchitti had the Horsepower But Traffic Jam Snarls Final Charge
Dario Franchitti battled lap traffic on his way to 3rd place finish as
he
attempted to catch-up with the race leaders Dixon and Briscoe.
Franchitti's
3rd place was his third top-five finish of the season.
"The hard thing was lapped cars. It was traffic," said Franchitti, "it
was
timing your passes right. My guys did a great job and got me out in the
lead
on the green flag (pit) stop. Then I just mistimed a pass, someone took
my
air off and that was it - back to third again. I really tried hard to
pass (Ryan) Briscoe at the end, but again, when he was taking my air
there was
nothing I can do. It was a tough day. The Milwaukee Mile produces close
racing and you're really fighting that lapped traffic all day."
Tony
Kannan #11 is Pursued by Dario Franchitti #10
© Suburban Journals
of Chicago
photo by Mark Rotor
Hard Luck Tony Kanaan
At the start of the race, Tony Kanaan launched past both Briscoe and
Rahal
to take the lead the opening lap. Kanaan in the #11 car of Andretti
Green Racing
would lead the first 25 laps before falling behind the race leaders.
Kanann
race injuries suffered during a fiery crash during the Indy 500 did not
prevent the gutsy race driver from starting the race with broken ribs
and
other painful injuries. However his courageous drive came to an end on
lap
135 when he brought his machine to pit road with smoke billowing from
it
from an apparent engine fire.
“I really don’t know what happened,” Kanaan said after exiting his car.
“The
car just caught fire and it was really burning up when I came in.”
Kanaan
stated that his injuries did not impact his race performance.
Hard luck fop Kanaan as he finished 19th and for the first time he
finished
outside the top four at the Milwaukee Mile.
Danica's Patients Pays Dividends with Another Top 5 Finish
© Suburban Journals
of Chicago
photo by Dan Peters
Patients Patrick Pays-Off (5th Place Finish)
Driving a race car hard to the front pack may gain a driver a short
term lead
but Danica Patrick has chosen patients as her long term race strategy
and it's paid-off with four top-five finishes in a row.
"We're going to get out and just blister it the whole way," said
Patrick. "But I
figured there was a full stint left, so I have to take care of the car.
I just took it easy. I knew I wasn't over-hustling the car at the
beginning,
and I could see some other cars were definitely pushing it. So I
thought this was
going to come to me a little bit, and it did."
When asked how has her team been able to sustain the competitive top
four
finishes this year Patrick responded, "Hard work. I'm doing more
than I ever done to prepare for the race. Also having fun, I can't tell
you
how much fun the team has as a group every single day. I think that the
good mood or happiness translates keeping us positive and produces good
results."
Bad
Day for Conway - Crash in Turn #4 Ends Mike Conway's Day
© Suburban Journals
of Chicago
photo by Joe Paolella
Milwaukee Mile Devours Tracy and Conway
Four-time Milwaukee Mile event winner Paul Tracy made a popular return
to The
Milwaukee Mile driving the ABC Supply-backed A.J. Foyt Racing famous
#14 entry
in place of injured Vitor Meira. After he qualified 14th, Tracy
instantly
grabbed four positions at the start, but his much-heralded drive went
sour
from the beginning as handling issues with the car left him with a 17th
place finish.
The fast paced race was only slowed twice by the caution flag and only
once
for an incident involving wall contact when rookie Mike Conway slid
against
the turn four SAFER barrier on lap 57. E.J. Viso brushed the fence late
in
turn four late in the event but he continued on and the race remained
under
the green flag.
Castroneves Golden at Indy But Rusty at Milwaukee
Last Sunday’s Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves started the
race from the
back of the field after a qualifying mishap and battled all day to
remain on the lead
lap. After falling behind at one point, Castroneves used a no-pit
strategy on
the second and final caution period on lap 160 to get his lost lap
back, but the
long green flag run that followed forced him to pit for fuel on lap
180, which
dropped the affable Brazilian to an eleventh place finish.
"Start
Your Engines" - Milwaukee ABC Supply/A.J. Foyt 225-
© Suburban Journals
of Chicago
photo by Yolanda Rotor
Great Day for Points Leader & Race Winner Scott Dixon
Dixon also took over the series points lead for the first time since
the end of the 2008 season pulling ahead of Biscoe & Franchitti by
4-points.
Danica Patrick is trails in 4th place in the standings by 21-points.
In 2000, Dixon also captured a 2000 Firestone Indy Lights race at The
Milwaukee Mile, yet had struggled at America ’s Legendary Oval until
recently in IndyCar Series races. His first laps led in series
competition
came just last year, when he finished second to Briscoe. The Target
Chip
Ganassi driver led twice for 27 laps on Sunday.
Dixon
Takes The Flag at Milwaukee Mile
© Suburban Journals
of Chicago
photo by Yolanda Rotor
The Final Standing for 2009 Milwaukee - ABC Supply/A.J. Foyt 225
1. (4) Scott Dixon, Dallara-Honda, 225, Running
2. (1) Ryan Briscoe, Dallara-Honda, 225, Running
3. (8) Dario Franchitti, Dallara-Honda, 225, Running
4. (2) Graham Rahal, Dallara-Honda, 225, Running
5. (7) Danica Patrick, Dallara-Honda, 225, Running
6. (9) Raphael Matos, Dallara-Honda, 225, Running
7. (13) Marco Andretti, Dallara-Honda, 225, Running
8. (6) Hideki Mutoh, Dallara-Honda, 224, Running
9. (5) Mario Moraes, Dallara-Honda, 224, Running
10. (14) Dan Wheldon, Dallara-Honda, 224, Running
11. (20) Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Honda, 222, Running
12. (18) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dallara-Honda, 222, Running
13. (10) Tomas Scheckter, Dallara-Honda, 222, Running
14. (12) Robert Doornbos, Dallara-Honda, 220, Running
15. (15) Justin Wilson, Dallara-Honda, 219, Running
16. (19) Ed Carpenter, Dallara-Honda, 219, Running
17. (16) Paul Tracy, Dallara-Honda, 219, Running
18. (17) E.J. Viso, Dallara-Honda, 175, Mechanical
19. (3) Tony Kanaan, Dallara-Honda, 132, Mechanical
20. (11) Mike Conway, Dallara-Honda, 55, Contact
21. (DNS) Stanton Barrett, Dallara-Honda, 0, Did Not Start
Dario
Franchitti #10 Finished 3rd
© Suburban Journals
of Chicago
photo by Dan Peters
Next IndyCar Race: Saturday June 6th - Bombardier Learjet 550k at Texas
Motor Speedway
- Race TV Coverage:
- 8:00PM CT on Versus Network
© Suburban Journals of Chicago
photo by Yolanda Rotor
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