Motorsports

Wilson fastest; Bourdais loses top lap

By wire services
Published June 18, 2005

PORTLAND, Ore. - Justin Wilson won the provisional pole for the Champ Car Grand Prix of Portland on Friday, but it wasn't without some controversy.

Wilson toured the road course in 57.597 seconds (122.756 mph), which guarantees him a front-row spot for Sunday's race at Portland International Raceway. He also earned a championship point, bringing his total to 71, six behind series leader Sebastien Bourdais.

Bourdais, a Tampa resident and the defending champion at Portland, had the third-fastest lap in 57.825 seconds. But he had to forfeit the time because he surprised Wilson by coming out of the pits just as the No. 9 car was passing by. Champ Car rules forbid interfering with a driver running at full pace.

"I was on a quick lap. My engineer told me the track was clear in front of me on the straight. A car came out of the pits and nearly hit me, so I lost that lap," Wilson said.

Bourdais said the move was inadvertent. He fell to fifth with a lap of 57.989 seconds (121.927 mph).

"The conditions are difficult with the weather changes. And then the flagman at the exit of pit lane didn't signal that Wilson was coming and that was it, I ended up losing my fastest lap and two positions," Bourdais said.

Qualifying continues today.

The 1.964-mile road course at PIR was reconfigured and shortened slightly, smoothing out the Festival Curves and making way for a course record under mostly cloudy skies and occasional light showers.

NEXTEL CUP: Evernham Motorsports is close to getting money for a third full-time entry in NASCAR's top series.

The third full-time entry would take over the No. 91 team that is now a part-time ride for Bill Elliott, team owner Ray Evernham said.

Elliott would not be the driver but the NASCAR veteran, who cut back to a limited schedule in 2004, can remain affiliated with the program, the owner said.

BUSCH: Five Nextel Cup regulars will be in the field for tonight's Meijer 300.

Greg Biffle, Carl Edwards and Rusty Wallace rank in the top 10 in Nextel Cup points and Sterling Marlin and Kentucky-born Michael Waltrip also are expected to run.

Without a Cup date, the Busch race has become Kentucky Speedway's top race. The Meijer 300 in Sparta figures to be a sellout for the fifth straight year, with more than 70,000 fans expected.

FORMULA ONE: Ralf Schumacher escaped serious injury when he crashed in practice for the United States Grand Prix in Indianapolis, a near repeat of the accident that cost him part of last season.

The German driver lost control of his Toyota entering the final corner at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The car spun and hit a part of wall protected by the energy-absorbing SAFER barrier.

A year ago, driving a Williams-BMW, he suffered a concussion and two cracked vertebrae during the race when he wrecked in almost the same spot, but hit a concrete section of the wall instead of the SAFER barrier. He missed the next six races.

Also Friday, Juan Pablo Montoya, disqualified while leading the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal last weekend, was the fastest in each of the first two sessions of practice, with a top lap of 1 minute, 11.118 seconds (131.860 mph) around the 2.606-mile, 13-turn road course.

NHRA: Cruz Pedregon led Funny Car qualifying at the K&N Filters Supernationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in Englishtown, N.J., with a quarter-mile run of 4.791 seconds at a top speed of 316.45 mph. Larry Dixon (Top Fuel), Kurt Johnson (Pro Stock) and Andrew Hines (Pro Stock Motorcycle) also topped their divisions. Qualifying continues today.

ARCA: Points leader Frank Kimmel took the lead with 13 laps left and won the stock car race at Michigan. Erin Crocker, one of racing's promising female drivers, was seventh in her second ARCA race.

[Last modified June 18, 2005, 00:45:19]