Paul Tracy ran away with the Molson Indy on the streets of his hometown Sunday, winning in Toronto for the first time in 10 years and widening his lead in the CART series standings.
Tracy had no trouble at all -- at one point building a 59 second lead over the rest of the field. He led every lap while easily beating Michel Jourdain Jr. to the finish line at the winding 2.8km temporary street course at Exhibition Place.
PHOTO: AP
He made a leisurely celebratory lap, waving to his loyal fans, then jumped on top of his car to salute them when he finally came to a stop.
He then fell into the arms of his crew members, who surrounded him to help celebrate Canadian-based sponsor Player's first-ever victory on its home soil. Player's has to leave the CART series later this year because of a ban on tobacco advertising.
"This is a great day for Canada and a great day for Player's and I'm really, really happy," a breathless Tracy said as the crowd roared its approval. "I'm glad all the fans are here and the car was just perfect all day.''
Asked if this was a defining victory of his career, the 34-year-old Tracy didn't hesitate: ``This is the best win of my career and its 10 times better than the first time around.''
Tracy, who scored his only other win at his home track in 1993, then received hugs from his parents and bosses at Player's/Forsythe Racing.
"It's been a long 10 years," his mother, Vivienne, yelled. A day earlier, she guaranteed her son would win the race.
Once on the podium, he appeared to brush away tears as the Canadian National Anthem played. Runner-ups Jourdain and Bruno Junqueira then doused him with champagne.
"I want everybody that's here to party tonight in the streets of Toronto," he said. "Our goal was to win in Canada, it's a great day for all of Canada."
Tracy, finally in position to win his first CART title, won for the fourth time this season and opened a 15-point lead over Junqueira in the standings.
Junqueira, who finished third, came into the weekend only eight points behind. He was in second most of the race, but never came close to challenging Tracy.
"I was really second and I think I didn't have the speed to follow Tracy," Junqueira said. "The last pit stop, I made a mistake and lost position to Michel."
Jourdain, who has had several recent run-ins with Tracy over alleged blocking on the race track, said he was happy his rival was able to win in his hometown.
"Paul was unbelievable, the whole weekend he was perfect," Jourdain said. "I am really jealous of him, someday I would like to win in Mexico City and be like him. He really deserves it and I think it's great."
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
DOUBLES PAYBACK: Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Martens avenged their defeat in the quarters at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open against Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium dispatched Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament. Hsieh and Martens made a blistering start to their rematch after they lost to Schuurs and Stefani in the quarter-finals at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month, winning three games without reply at the start of the first set