Herta wins at Laguna Seca

Herta started on the pole by virtue of his Friday qualifying time, picking up his second consecutive win at Laguna Seca Raceway and the second victory of his career.

Following Herta across the finish line were Roberto Moreno, Max Papis, Paul Tracy and Adrian Fernandez.

A moment of silence and a prayer began the afternoon race as the CART community and race fans acknowledged the death of Rodriguez who slammed into the wall at the top of the corkscrew in yesterday's practice session.

The final qualifying session was cancelled by the general consensus of the drivers and Herta, who turned in the quickest time on Friday, kept the pole position.

Herta led the race from start to finish with only minimal challenge from other contenders.

He was the beneficiary of a couple of good pit stops and the skill associated with his familiarity with this track, the site of his first CART win.

For Herta and second-placed finisher Roberto Moreno, the one-two finish was of particular significance.

This is, in theory, Moreno's last event of the season as he finishes his substitute role in two weeks if Christian Fittipaldi is cleared to return to the CART series.

Herta has been dropped by Team Rahal for the 2000 season.

Both drivers are unclear about their plans for next season and the podium finish for both was critical in securing a ride for 2000.

For Moreno and Rahal team-mate Papis, this was a career best finish.

It was nearly a one-two for Team Rahal but Moreno managed to pass Papis for the number two spot late in the race.

The race saw an unusual number of spins, on and off course, but few of them resulted in anyone leaving the event.

The fact that the drivers did not have the extra session on track yesterday no doubt complicated that matter.

Championship leader Juan Montoya had a miserable qualifying session as did his nearest competitor Dario Franchitti.

They started in 12th and 16th respectively.

Franchitti tangled with Greg Moore mid race and ended his day very early.

Montoya finished in the number eight spot.

After the race, the traditional champagne celebration was toned down in a show of respect for Rodriguez.

The three podium finishers agreed to skip the tradition of spraying champagne.

Herta said, 'When we were given the champagne bottles, we all got together and said, 'What do you think?' We decided to do a toast to him as a tribute.'

It is the first driver fatality since Jeff Krosnoff was killed in the event at Toronto in 1996.

The FedEx Championship series moves to the streets of downtown Houston in two weeks for the first of the three remaining events on the circuit.

Montoya leads Franchitti by 28 points going into that event, with only 66 points remaining to claim in the season it appears the contest will be between these two drivers.