Motorsport: Kiwi driver takes lead in US series

Young New Zealand racing driver Wade Cunningham has taken the lead in the 2005 Menards Infiniti Pro Series after a dramatic second place finish at the fourth round at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Former world karting champion Cunningham, 20, grabbed an early lead in the incident-interrupted 40-lap/160km race on Saturday, which supports today's Indianapolis 500, then played a cat-and-mouse battle with fastest qualifier and eventual winner Jamie Camara.

It was a close-run race, with Camara crossing the finishing line just 0.1319 of a second in front of the New Zealander.

Cunningham gained valuable track position after class newcomer Cole Carter spun out of third position on the warm-up lap, allowing everyone to move up a spot. But luck had nothing to do with his brilliant start, which took everyone by surprise.

"I just timed it right," said Cunningham of his textbook start which saw him rocket past Camara and into the lead.

"I had so much momentum that in that first lap I pulled out maybe 10 car lengths. It was like I was in another race. I don't know what the other guys were doing."

Unfortunately Carter, who had already spun out on the warm-up lap, spun again as he tried to work his way back into the field, bringing out the yellow (caution) flag.

That bunched the field up, meaning Cunningham lost his early advantage, and the field circulated under the yellow flag until light rain started falling and the race was red flagged (stopped).

Because oval races are only held on a dry track (unlike conventional ones where grooved "wet tyres" are used when it rains) Cunningham and the field stopped in single-file on the start/finish straight and awaited a re-start.

In the re-start Cunningham was "swamped" by the rest of the field, losing several positions.

"But I knew I was quick," he said, "so I kept my head down and just picked them off one by one."

When he got back up to third place, however, he saw that the two Sam Schmidt cars (Camara and Travis Gregg) were one and two so he upped the pace and bridged the gap.

On his way through the field, Cunningham clashed with Jon Herb, damaging the right front wing on his Brian Stewart Racing Dallara car, but he was able to continue, pass Gregg and start pressuring Camara.

Camara and Cunningham then built up a lead on the chase pack of Cunningham's team-mate Al Unser, Herb, Jay Drake and Marty Roth. However, with just seven laps to go, Herb spun on the first turn and the yellow flag came out again, bunching the field back up.

The race went green again on lap 37, only to be yellow-flagged when German Quiroga spun on turn four.

Nick Bussell and Marco Andretti also spun trying to avoid Quiroga and the yellow stayed out until the second last corner of the 40th and last lap, giving Cunningham only one corner (turn 4) to try to jump Camara. He got close, as Camara's winning margin proved, but it was not to be. Cunningham had the Brazilian rattled, however.

"I was worried on the last lap because I didn't know if they were going to restart the race," said Camara, a 24-year-old from Sao Paulo.

"I was asking my crew if the race was going to finish under the yellow flag and they said 'No, it's going to go green'.

"I was very worried because I knew Wade was back there and I was worried he would have a run on the front straight and maybe pass me."

Although he was disappointed not to cross the line in front, Cunningham was second to Marco Andretti in similar conditions at St Petersburg in early April, he said taking the championship points lead from Gregg was some consolation.

"My goal this year has always been to finish every race, but to win the title I am definitely going to have to win some races," he said.

Cunningham gets his chance to do that at the fifth round of the 2005 Menards Infiniti Pro Series, the Texas 100, in a fortnight's time.

Infiniti Pro standings

* 1. Wade Cunningham 147 points

* 2. Travis Gregg 138

* 3. Jamie Camara 129

* 4. Chris Festa 108

* 5. Nick Bussell 108

- NZPA