Fike takes Pikes Peak IPS win

Aaron Fike's experience at Pikes Peak International Raceway might have been his best ally. Fike, the 20-year-old USAC sprint and midget veteran, drove Ron Hemelgarn's Dallara-Infiniti to victory Saturday in the rain-shortened Peaks Peak 100, the fourth race on the 12-race Infiniti Pro Series schedule

Jun 15, 2003, 10:42 AM

Fike took the lead on the seventh lap and held it for the next 81, when rain began falling and ended the race 13 laps short of its scheduled finish. His experience in previous USAC races at the one-mile track helped, Fike said.

"This is one of my favorite tracks," Fike said. "I've always had good luck here. Hopefully we can keep the momentum going."

Fike finished ahead of pole winner Jeff Simmons and Arie Luyendyk Jr, who charged up from 12th to finish third.

"We were lost with the car in qualifying," Luyendyk said. "We didn't know what to do. We were two seconds off the pole. Today, we were catching the leader by two-tenths a lap."

The training series won't run with the IRL IndyCar Series in two weeks at Richmond International Raceway. The season will resume July 7 at Kansas Speedway.

Mark Taylor, who finished fifth, padded his series points lead over Thiago Medeiros, who finished sixth.