MARCH 26, 2007

Britons on top at Homestead

The Indy Racing League action at Homestead over the weekend saw a double triumph for British exiles in the United States with Dan Wheldon dominating the main event, leading 179 of the 200 laps. He headed home his Target Chip Ganassi Racing team mate Scott Dixon by seven seconds with reigning champion Sam Hornish Jr (Penske) having to settle for third place. Panther Racing's Vitor Meira was fourth ahead of Andretti Green Racing's Tony Kanaan and Vision Racing's Ed Carpenter.

In the Indy Pro Series event Britain's Alex Lloyd won although the race was stopped early after a major accident involving five cars, one of which took off and flew into the safety fence above the barriers. The driver, Pablo Perez, in a Target Chip Ganassi Racing entry, suffered leg injuries and was airlifted to Jackson Memorial Hospital where he was listed in a stable condition. A second driver also ended up in hospital after a second incident after Wade Cunningham spun and Ryan Justice hit debris from the accident and crashed heavily. He too was flown to Jackson Memorial Hospital for observation.

At Bristol Motor Speedway the NASCAR Nextel Cup ran its first race with the new Car of Tomorrow and victory went to Kyle Busch, the driver of the Hendrick Motorsports Kellogg's Monte Carlo, who finished just ahead of the Cingular Chevrolet of Richard Childress Racing's Jeff Burton. Busch's team mate Jeff Gordon was third. It was the third win in a row for Hendrick Motorsports with Jimmie Johnson having won the last two Cup events. Gordon took the lead in the championship as Mark Martin missed the race, having decided not to compete in all the events this year. Juan Pablo Montoya was classified 32nd and AJ Allmendinger was 40th on his Nextel Cup debut.

The early leader was Joe Gibbs Racing's Tony Stewart who had a huge lead before going out with mechanical trouble.

In Mexico City the A1GP Series was in action with Alex Yoong winning the Sprint race for Team Malaysia and then Oliver Jarvis winning the man event for Team Great Britain, the organisation's first win in the championship. Jonathan Summerton (Team USA) finished second ahead of Team South Africa's Adrian Zaugg.