Pruett Is Heading for a Hot Finish

Scott Pruett, who is leaving Cal Wells’ Rancho Santa Margarita-based champ car team to help start up Wells’ new Winston Cup team, continues to be impressive as his open wheel career winds down.

Pruett finished ninth in Australia last weekend, his fifth top-10 finish in his last nine races. His third-place qualifying effort was the best ever by a Toyota, and his drop in the race standings had less to do with him or the engine than a fumbled tire on his last pit stop that caused him to drop from fourth place to 10th.

“This is so much more of a team sport than what people understand,” Pruett said. “It’s paramount, bigger than a lot of people realize, and that’s the difference between success and failure. The general public sees the driver and thinks ‘That’s it.’ ”

Pruett, 39, makes his final open-wheel start in Fontana on Oct. 31.

He was in second place the first 20 laps of the 65-lap Honda Indy 300 Grand Prix in Australia, and said that if Toyota was ever going to win a race this season, “that was the race.” He also conceded, “I don’t think we could have beat [winner Dario Franchitti] head-to-head, [but] we could have been on the podium if things had worked right.”

INDY RACING LEAGUE

The IRL race at Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday was a bitter pill for local drivers.

Dana Point team owner Dick Simon watched his driver, Stephan Gregoire, drive on seven cylinders in the early going and finish 15th in the race--and 15th in the standings--after having finished fourth the last time they raced in Texas. Jeff Ward of San Juan Capistrano, who was in second place after six of 11 races, finished 21st in Texas because of a blown engine. He dropped to 11th in the standings.

STOCK CARS

Anaheim-based driver Butch Gilliland suffered at Mesa Marin speedway in Bakersfield on Sunday, starting 24th in the Re-Refined Oil 250 and finishing 23rd. Running at the end, he completed only 80 of the 250 laps. Gilliland’s son, David, started 19th and finished seventh.

A two-time winner this season, Butch Gilliland dropped to ninth in the NASCAR Winston West Series standings with one race remaining, Nov. 20 in Motegi, Japan.

PERSONAL WATERCRAFT

Brea’s Chris Lawrence was a winner last week at the 18th International Jet Sports Boating Assn.’s Skat-Trak World Finals in Lake Havasu City, Ariz.

Lawrence, the current IJSBA Expert Ski Superstock national champion, won the Expert Ski title with two second-place finishes in his 10-lap motos and a strong third place in the timed slalom event. It was his first world title.

Lawrence also took second to France’s Sebastian Pellegrini in the Expert Runabout 1200; Lawrence was third and first in his motos and sixth in the slalom, while Pellegrini was second in the motos and first in the slalom.

The event held no favors for local pros. Costa Mesa’s Tom Bonacci was the highest local finisher, placing seventh in the Pro Runabout 1200.

Brea’s Katie Jenkins was ninth in the Pro-Am Women Ski class.

MOTORCYCLES

Freestyle motocross jumping brought out one of the biggest crowds of the season to speedway last month, and an entire program will take place at the Orange County Fairgrounds tonight.

Tickets are $20 for adults and $12 for kids 12 and under through Ticketmaster.

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