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Dan Peters
Sports Editor
Oak Park
Journal
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Photo Courtesy of
Iowa Speedway
DARIO
FRANCHITTI WINS... IOWA CORN Indy 250
By
Mark Rotor
June 21st, 2009
2nd Win of Season for Franchitti
Ryan Briscoe led 85 laps at the Iowa Corn Indy 250 however, Dario
Franchitti led the
last 50 laps to win at the Iowa Speedway in Newton. Franchitti's #10
Target Chip Ganassi
Racing car finished 5 seconds ahead of Ryan Briscoe of Team Penske
finishing in 2nd. Hideki
Mutoh of Andretti/Green Racing finished 3rd capturing his 1st podium
finish of the year. Franchitti started from the 2nd row behind Team
Penske's Helio Castroneves
and Ryan Briscoe. Due to rains late on Friday, the scheduled
qualification on
Saturday was canceled due to "Weepers" water seepage through cracks in
the track.
"Entrance Points" were used to determine Starting Grid positions for
the race placing
Castroneves in the coveted Pole Position on the inside of row one.
Franchitti ran near the front of the pack throughout the race staying
in contact
with the leader Briscoe as the cars entered pit road on lap #54 the
final green flag
pit stop. Thanks to a quick fuel and tire stop the #10 car exited the
pits before
Briscoe and eventually allowing Franchitti emerge as the leader as car
cycled
through their pitstops.
"I like driving here," said Franchitti. "We tested at Iowa last
Wednesday. The
Target guys did a really, really good job coming up with a setup, and
they were
awesome in the pits. I just went out, did my job and hung on, made some
good
moves in traffic and here we are. More than anywhere, today is a team
win because
those pit stops moved us up in track position."
Franchitti
#10 TomTom Car & Briscoe #6 Team Penske
© Suburban Journals
of Chicago
File Photo by Mark Rotor
Action abounds at the Iowa Speedway with four crashes and four yellow
flags in
the first 55 laps.
Crash On Lap #1!
With over night rain fall removing rubber from the track it didn't take
long
before lack of grip on the asphalt impacted the race. On Lap #1 of 250
three cars were part of an incident that started in Turn #3 and
calumniated in
collisions in Turn #4. The #13 car of EJ Viso loss control as the back
end of the
car slid into wall ending the race for Viso.
Coincidentally in Lap #1, Robert Doornbos driving the #06 Newman Haas
Lanigan car was also involved in a collision in turn #4 with #14 ABC
car of Ryan
Hunter-Reay. Doornbos loss control of the back end of his car sliding
making
contact with left-front the #14 car. Doornbos return after making
repairs but
Hunter-Reay was side-lined for the duration.
"I don't know what was wrong", said Doornbos. "The car balance was
really bad.
We had a lot of oversteer straight away. I tried to warm the tires as
good as I
could, but it didn't feel good, and going into Turn 3 the car got
sideways and
I got collected by the ABC car. The guys did a good job to fix the left
front
suspension as quick as possible, and we got back out there to complete
more laps
than (Raphael) Matos for Rookie of the Year. It hasn't been a very good
weekend
for the 06 team. We'll forget about it and work hard for next week."
Un-Lucky #13 E.J. Viso - Seven Starts & Seven DNFs
It's very hard to explain this," said Viso. "It has been very
unfortunate we've been
making a very huge effort. The team is working very hard, I am work
very hard and
things were looking good yesterday and today until I went in to turn #3
when my
rear wheel was very light and I controlled it once, twice but then the
third time
it went completely sideways and I had nothing I could do."
Helio
Castroneves & Tony Kannan at the Iowa Speedway
© Suburban Journals
of Chicago
File Photo by Mark Rotor
Race Leaders Collide - Dixon & Castroneves Lap #18
On Lap #18 Helio Castroneves got a little to close to race leader Scott
Dixon in the
#9 car of Target Chip Ganassi Racing as the pair approached Turn #2.
Castroneves clipped the rear of Dixon's car puncturing his tire while
damaging Castroneves
front-wing.
"Once we touched (with Helio Castroneves' car), we cycled back," said
Dixon.
"And once we got back in traffic, it was really tough. We should have
done
much better, but at least one of the cars did well this weekend."
"We tried to go with two different strategies, and it looks like Dario
(Franchitti)
just had a stellar day."
"I don't think that the front wing was the problem because we were back
in
the game for awhile," said Castroneves. "But we didn't have enough
there in the end.
The good news is that it's not even halfway through the season and we
still have
plenty of races ahead of us to improve and work towards the
championship. Now
we just have to keep our heads down and focus on Richmond."
Tony Kannan & Team Owner Michel Andretti
© Suburban Journals
of Chicago
File Photo by Yolanda Rotor
Another Tough Day At The Office for Tony Kannan
If It Wasn't For Bad Luck Kannan Wouldn't Have No Luck At All!
On Sunday, Tony Kannan repeated history at the Iowa Speedway, crashing
in Turn #3
ending his race day. In 2008 he inexplicably crashed in Turn #3 as he
entered
the same corner and repeated his performance on lap #111 on Sunday.
Kannan has failed to finish the last 3 races due to a mechanical
failure and two
solo crashes. As AGR's lead driver, Kannan has yet finish on the podium
with a
best of 5th place in Miami. Teammate Danica Patrick leads the points
for AGR
currently ahead of Kannan by 47 points. After 7 races, Kannan is
currently in 7th
place in the season point standing.
Danica
Patrick - Andretti/Green Racing
© Suburban Journals
of Chicago
File Photo by Joe Paolella
Danica Patrick Earns 6th Top-10 Finish
Danica Patrick of Andretti Green Racing, is the final year of a three
year contract and
is having the best season of her career taking 3rd place at Indy 500
and is
currently in 5th place in the points championship. With the 9th place
finish
at Iowa, Patrick now has a streak of 6 top 10 finishes starting in
Kansas.
"We started off with a good car, but it just wasn't our day. We got a
couple flat
tires at the beginning of the race, which was a bummer, but then we
just changed
up the strategy a bit, which allowed us to lead a few laps. But then
the yellows
started to come out, and we were at the wrong place at the wrong time.
But it was
a top-10 finish for us, so if this is the worst finish we have this
season, I can't
complain."
"AGR's
Hideki Mutoh Grabs 3rd Place
© Suburban Journals
of Chicago
File Photo by Mark Rotor
IndyCar Championship Race Tightens-Up In Iowa
With the victory at Iowa, Franchitti now has won his second race of the
season
moving within three points of Briscoe, who remains the IndyCar Series
points leader. For the third consecutive race, Briscoe led the most
laps
but finished second.
This is the 28th IndyCar Series victory for Target Chip Ganassi Racing
and the
team's fourth win of the season. Dario Franchitti earns his 10th career
victory and his second victory of the season. He first win was at Long
Beach.
Andretti Green Racing's Hideki Mutoh finished third, one spot lower
than his
career-best finish at the track last year, and Panther Racing's Dan
Wheldon
finished fourth as the top four finishers came from different teams.
IndyCar 2009 Current Championship Standing
1. Ryan Briscoe 241
2. Dario Franchitti 238
3. Scott Dixon 226
4. Helio Castroneves 212
5. Danica Patrick 189
6. Dan Wheldon 184
7. Tony Kanaan 162
8. Marco Andretti 159
9. Graham Rahal 145
10 Hideki Mutoh 142
Iowa
Speedway Entry Into Turn #1
© Suburban Journals
of Chicago
photo by Yolanda Rotor
The Final Standing of 2009 Indy Iowa Corn 250
1. (4) Dario Franchitti, 250, Running
2. (2) Ryan Briscoe, 250, Running
3. (11) Hideki Mutoh, 250, Running
4. (6) Dan Wheldon, 250, Running
5. (3) Scott Dixon, 249, Running
6. (16) Tomas Scheckter, 249, Running
7. (1) Helio Castroneves, 249, Running
8. (19) Mike Conway, 249, Running
9. (5) Danica Patrick, 249, Running
10. (13) Ed Carpenter, 248, Running
11. (9) Graham Rahal, 245, Running
12. (8) Marco Andretti, 244, Running
13. (20) Jaques Lazier, 237, Running
14. (7) Tony Kanaan, 108, Contact
15. (14) Robert Doornbos, 58, Handling
16. (12) Raphael Matos, 53, Contact
17. (15) Mario Moraes, 52, Contact
18. (10) Justin Wilson, 33, Contact
19. (17) Ryan Hunter-Reay, 2, Contact
20. (18) E.J. Viso, 0, Contact
Rusty
Wallace: NASCAR Great, Iowa Speedway Designer & Owner
© Suburban Journals
of Chicago
photo by Yolanda Rotor
Next IndyCar Race: Saturday June 27th - SunTrust Indy Challenge
Virginia International Speedway -
- Race TV Coverage:
- 7:00PM CT on Versus Network
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