MOTOR RACING ROUNDUP : Hard-Driving Villeneuve Makes It Look Easy

Canada’s Jacques Villeneuve went virtually unchallenged Sunday en route to his second Texaco-Havoline 200 victory at Elkhart Lake, Wis.

The 24-year-old led all but four of the 50 laps on the four-mile, 14-turn road circuit in earning his series-leading third victory of the season and the fourth of his Indy-car career.

“When you come back to a track for the second time, you don’t have to spend the first day learning the track and finding the limit,” said Villeneuve, whose first Indy car victory came at the Road America event last year.

Villeneuve holds a 22-point lead, 103-81, over Robby Gordon in the PPG Cup standings. Gordon finished 26th with a broken transmission after having to start in his back-up car because of electrical problems in the car he qualified.

Paul Tracy, the 1993 Elkhart winner, finished second, 0.965-seconds, or about four car-lengths, behind Villeneuve.

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Jeff Gordon moved to the top of the Winston Cup standings by winning the Slick 50 300 at the New Hampshire International Speedway in Loudon, N.H., then praised crew chief Ray Evernham for setting up the victory.

“He had that thing right on the money,” Gordon said after driving a new Chevrolet Monte Carlo to its 13th victory in 16 events this year, beating the Ford Thunderbird of Morgan Shepherd by 1.23 seconds.

Gordon, 23, collected $160,300 from a $1.3-million purse. Included in his earnings was a $50,000 bonus for taking the lead in the series points race.

Gordon passed seven-time champion Dale Earnhardt on the 170th of 300 laps at the 1.058-mile oval, then surrendered the lead only during caution periods. The victory was his series-leading fifth this season.

Gordon averaged 106.999 m.p.h. in a race slowed for 29 laps by six caution flags. There were 15 lead changes among eight drivers.

He took over the Winston Cup lead from Sterling Marlin, who brought his Chevrolet home ninth. Earnhardt, trying to win an unprecedented eighth series title, finished 22nd.

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Australian Michael Doohan won his second consecutive French Grand Prix for motorcycles with a come-from-behind victory in the 500cc class at Le Mans. Doohan, riding a Honda, beat Luca Cadalora of Italy by 21.923 seconds.

In the 250cc race, Ralf Waldeman of Germany beat Massimiliano Biaggi of Italy by less than a second.