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Sunday, August 26, 2001

By The Associated Press

MADISON, Ill. -- Rain put the IRL's close championship battle right up front, washing out qualifying yesterday and giving series leader Sam Hornish Jr. and runner-up Buddy Lazier the first two starting spots for the Gateway Indy 250.

Hornish, 22, won the first two races of the season. Lazier, the defending series champion, got off to a slow start but has raced back into the title picture by winning four of the past five events.

Heading into today's 200-lap race on the 1.25-mile Gateway International Raceway oval, Hornish's lead has shrunk to just 25 points over Lazier.

"At the beginning of the season, it was a whole different picture," Hornish said. "We were progressively getting a bigger lead. But, the last few races, it's been a whole difference direction.

"It's real hard for either of us to get any advantage over the other person because we're both competing with Firestone tires, Speedway engines and Dallara chassis. So it gets down to the will to win, which teams puts the most into it and a little bit of luck."

Sharp's best lap was yesterday at 169.562 mph as the sun peaked out for a brief period.

The lineup was filled by using entrant points. This is the fourth time in the IRL's six-year history that the grid has been set by points.

Cook on pole for truck race

NAZARETH, Pa. -- Terry Cook, who won a pole for the first time in nearly three years, will attempt to break a 77-race losing streak today in the Chevy Silverado 200 NASCAR truck series race.

Cook, who finished a close second earlier this month at Indianapolis, lapped the 1-mile speedway at 129.548 mph yesterday in his Ford truck to edge 1999 Nazareth Speedway winner Greg Biffle for the top starting spot in a field of 36.

Biffle, who qualified on just three hours of sleep after competing Friday night in the NASCAR Busch Series event in Bristol, Tenn., drove his Ford to a speed of 129.074.

Brabham-Magnussen win

LEXINGTON, Ohio -- David Brabham and Jan Magnussen came from a lap behind yesterday to win the American Le Mans Series' debut race at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

Co-driving a Panoz LMP1-RS in the 2-hour, 45-minute sports car endurance race, the eventual winners fell a lap behind in the first hour of the race as the Audi R8 driven by Tom Kristensen dominated the event. But after the Audi was forced to serve penalty, Magnussen gained his lap back and drove to victory at the 2.258-mile road course.

James Weaver and Butch Leitzinger finished third in a Riley & Scott MkIIIC-Lincoln.