Montoya makes it two

Montoya. He started on the pole, got a huge jump on the field at the startof the race and his major competition, Helio Castro-Neves, crashed near the
end of the event. Montoya picks up his second consecutive win today in the
Bosch Spark Plug Grand Prix. He was followed by P.J. Jones, Paul Tracy,
Cristiano da Matta and Adrian Fernandez.

By all measurement, it was not a particularly exciting race. The weather in
Nazareth was cool and very breezy, not the best of circumstances for tires
here, but the race got off to a nice clean start. Paul Tracy got past Dario
Franchitti for the third position early, but that was the only action in
front for quite some time. The leaders began to get caught up in traffic
before the first dozen laps had passed.

Castro-Neves slowly closed on Montoya, making the occasional attempt to get
around him but he had no success until Lap 39. Montoya was caught in
traffic and Castro-Neves shot past him. The lead was short-lived. Moments
later Al Unser Jr. slammed in to the Turn 3 wall and the first caution
period brought the first round of pit stops. The Target crew was
unbelievable and sent Montoya out ahead of Castor-Neves.

Throughout the running order, there were few changes at that time. The race
went back to green and once again Montoya started to open up a significant
lead on Castro-Neves and the rest of the field. Behind the leader, the rest
of the field resembled a freight train, there was not too much happening.
But on Lap 145 the top three drivers got caught up in traffic. Again,
Castro-Neves passed Montoya and Jones decided to make his move as well.
Jones and Montoya got incredibly close to each other and suddenly Jones
spun on the track. "It was pretty exciting from my standpoint," said
Jones. Both he and Montoya agreed that the timing was perfect as they were
both in need of a pit stop

Another round of yellow flag pit stops in which Montoya exited ahead of
Castro-Nevesensued. The race changed significantly when Castro-Neves
slammed into the wall on Lap 170. Montoya had no competition from that
point on as he won the second race of the four he's run in the champ car
series.

Montoya expected he'd be able to win road course races rather early in the
year given his F3000 history, but was not certain when he'd get his first
oval victory. He recalled everyone warning him, "wait til you get to
Nazareth." He waited, he won but he had to give the bulk of the credit to
the crew that got him out of the pits back in the lead twice. "It' great,
but my guys win it more than me I would say."

The most notable news of the day was the new faces finishing well. It was a
career best finish for both Jones and Cristiano daMatta. Jones' previous
best was at Detroit in 1996. DaMatta, a rookie, now claims his first finish
in his CART career. And for Toyota, it is not only the best finish in its
four season history, it is also the first time three Toyota powered cars
have scored in the top ten. Even Paul Tracy had an impressive day, visiting
the podium for the first time in almost two years of less than stellar
performance.

The points battle has changed a bit and Montoya is now in the lead with a
two point advanage over Adrian Fernandez. Rounding out the top five are
Greg Moore, Michael Andretti and Dario Franchitti. It is on to a trio of
ovals now, starting with the event in Brazil. The Rio 200 will be run on
Saturday, May 15th.

Provisional Results from the Bosch Spark Plug Grand Prix

Ps.Ql.No. Driver Car Laps Notes

-- -- ---- ----------------------------------------------------- ----- -------

1 1 4 Juan Montoya Taget RI HD F 225

2 8 20 PJ Jones Visteon Yahoo RI XD F 225

3 4 26 Paul Tracy Team KOOL Green RI HD F 225

4 17 25 Christiano DaMatta(R)MCI Racing RI TY F 225

5 9 40 Adrian Fernandez Tecate Quaker State RI XD F 225

6 14 6 Michael Andretti Kmart/Texaco/Havoline SW XD F 225

7 12 11 Christian Fittipaldi Kmart SW XD F 225

8 3 27 Dario Franchitti Team KOOL Green RI HD F 225

9 18 36 Alex Barron AAR Denso EA TY G 224

10 21 24 Scott Pruett Pioneer/MCI RI TY F 224

11 11 12 Jimmy Vasser Target RI HD F 224

12 10 99 Greg Moore Player's/Indeck RI MB F 224

13 7 7 Max Papis Miller Lite RI XD F 224

14 6 33 Patrick Carpentier Player's/Indeck RI MB F 224

15 13 5 Gil de Ferran Valvoline/Cummins Spcl RI HD G 224

16 22 19 Michel Jourdain Jr Herdez/Viva Mexcio! LO XD F 224

17 5 18 Mark Blundell Motorola PacWest RI MB F 223

18 15 17 Mauricio Gugelmin Hollywood PacWest RI MB F 222

19 24 22 Robby Gordon Johns Manville/Panasonic RI TY F 220

20 19 10 Richie Hearn Budweiser SW TY F 212 Oil Pressure

21 2 9 Helio Castro-Neves Hogan Motor Leasing LO MB F 175 Contact

22 16 8 Bryan Herta Shell Oil RI XD F 77 Handling

23 20 44 Tony Kanaan McDonald's RI HD F 51 Throttle

24 23 2 Al Unser Jr. Marlboro Team Penske PC MB G 44 Contact

25 25 34 Dennis Vitolo Team Nicoderm RI XD F DNS

26 16 Shigeaki Hattori (R) Epson RI MB G DNS

Time of Race : 1:46:13.527

Average Speed : 120.225 mph

Margin of Victory : 5.103 seconds