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Waiting to strike Lazier makes late move to win Radisson 200
Updated: Monday June 18, 2001 12:00 AM
FOUNTAIN, Colo. (AP) -- Buddy Lazier inched up on Sam Hornish Jr. for 156 laps, finally overtaking him on a restart after a caution flag to win the Radisson 200 on Sunday. Lazier, the defending IRL season champion who had not led a lap in any race this season, led the final 44 laps at Pikes Peak International Raceway to capture an event he has coveted as a Colorado native. Lazier, 33, of Vail, Colo., beat Hornish by 10.1 seconds. Hornish, the IRL season points leader, looked to make it a runaway until a bad set of tires on his third pit stop made his car run loose. Lazier, who blew his engine on the first lap of last year's race here, moved past Robbie Buhl into second place on lap 35 but trailed Hornish by as much as 14 seconds.
Halfway through the 200-lap event, Hornish still had a lead of 11.5 seconds. But caution flags on the 115th and 147th laps reduced Hornish's lead -- the latter caused by Lazier's brother Jaques, who blew an engine. When Hornish pitted and returned to the track with the ill-handling tires, Lazier caught him. "This is our backyard," Lazier said. "This is our home track. What a great place to do it." Buhl finished third, followed by Billy Boat and Airton Dare. Eddie Cheever Jr., the defending Radisson 200 champion, developed engine trouble and was running on seven cylinders at the end but managed to finish sixth. Felipe Giaffone was seventh, and Scott Sharp, winner of last week's controversial race in Texas that prompted IRL officials to express concerns about overly aggressive driving, took eighth. Greg Ray, who won the pole position for the fourth consecutive race here and who extended his IRL career record to 12 poles, never contended. He had a loose car all day, running laps of 140 mph that were 20 mph slower than the leaders, and he finally retired on lap 143. Hornish felt he let victory "slip through our hands. Through the first two stops we had an awesome car. Then we put on an off set of tires and got pretty loose." Hornish got squirrely in one turn on lap 161 and nearly lost control. "I thought it was over there," Hornish said. "I somehow managed to keep it going straight. We were lucky to bring it home and get second place." Hornish finished just .34 seconds ahead of Buhl. There were few, if any, instances of the dangerous driving at Texas that prompted IRL officials to warn drivers they would be black-flagged without warning in future races. There were no accidents and only three yellow flags, one to remove newspaper and food wrappers that had blown onto the track from the stands. Engine problems of Cheever and Jaques Lazier caused the others.
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