Herta Says Cones Led to Collision

Bryan Herta of Valencia finished ninth in the Marconi Grand Prix of Cleveland CART series race Sunday at Burke Lakefront Airport despite being involved in a multi-car collision on the first lap.

CART officials set up cones in turn one to narrow the course on the first lap in an attempt to prevent too many cars from simultaneously charging for the lead.

Herta, who started seventh, ran into Dario Franchitti and Cristiano da Matta while attempting to squeeze into the pack before reaching the cones. Franchitti and Da Matta spun, and the resulting 11-car collision eliminated Helio Castroneves, Oriol Servia, Tarso Marques, Takuya Kurosawa and Michel Jourdain Jr. Max Papis lost the nose and brake duct from his car when he drove off the course attempting to avoid the collision.

“I don’t understand why they coned off the first turn like that,” said Herta, who was driving Mo Nunn’s Reynard-Mercedes in place of injured Tony Kanaan for the second consecutive week. “There was a lot going on there. Cars were all over the place, all bunched up and basically falling all over each other.

“They made things worse with the cones. Before, there was a lot of room to get through and it made for some very creative passing at the start of the race.”

The incident damaged the front wing of Herta’s car, and he fell to 19th place after pitting immediately for repairs. He worked his way to the lead by lap 43, but pitted for fuel and a rear wing adjustment and fell to 16th.

“I’ve got to say right off the bat that it’s tough sitting on your you-know-what for six weeks and come back to race two tough races like that back-to-back,” said Herta, who last week placed 16th in the Freightliner/G.I. Joe’s 200 at Portland International Raceway. “But I’ve also got to say that I’m reasonably happy with the progress we made in all of six days in the car. We brought the car home in one piece today, although it looked for a moment that that wasn’t going to be the case.”

*

Palmdale native Ron Hornaday Jr. finished 10th in the Sears Diehard 250 NASCAR Busch Series Grand National Division race Sunday at the Milwaukee Mile, and remained in sixth place in the series points standings.

*

Sean Woodside of Saugus chose to be conservative following a late-race restart and finished third in the Community Recycling Firecracker 100 NASCAR Featherlite Southwest Tour race Saturday at Mesa Marin Raceway in Bakersfield.

There were three laps remaining in the 100-lap race when Woodside pulled alongside eventual winner and series points leader Matt Crafton of Tulare. Woodside abandoned the attempt rather than risk a collision, and Mark Reed of Bakersfield moved into second place.

“I know we had a great car tonight and we could have held the lead,” Woodside said. “But I wanted to be there at the end with a top-five finish, at least.”

*

Cory Kruseman of Ventura won the 50-lap Sprint Car Racing Assn. feature race Saturday at Perris Auto Speedway.

*

Randy Moody of Ventura won the 30-lap sprint car main event at Ventura Raceway on Saturday.

Damon Redman of Santa Paula won the 20-lap International Motor Contest Assn. modified feature, Tom Stephens of Ventura won the 20-lap street stock main, and James Brown of Ventura won the 20-lap pony stock main event.