Purvis Sets Aside Doubts in Win

Jeff Purvis ran away with the NAPA AutoCare 250 on Saturday, beating Jeff Green by 15.782 seconds in the Busch Series race at Pikes Peak International Raceway in Fountain, Colo.

Purvis, winning for the first time since August 1996 at Michigan, was making his second start for Richard Childress Racing. He lost his regular ride four weeks ago when Joe Gibbs Racing dropped its second Busch Series team.

“That was one great race car right there,” Purvis said. “I just have to thank Richard Childress for giving me a chance. I knew this team was good but didn’t know they were that good.

“Jeff Purvis needed to win and my kids back home needed a win. My family doesn’t get to see much of me, and I was beginning to wonder about my career, where it was going.”

Purvis, 42, who also won at Richmond in 1996, led 121 of the last 124 laps on the mile oval. After retaking the lead on Lap 175 following his final pit stop, Purvis pulled away for the largest margin of victory this year.

“The way Purvis passed me early in the race I knew he’d be the one to beat,” said Green, the 2000 winner at Pikes Peak en route to the season championship.

Kevin Harvick, running in the Busch and Winston Cup series, finished third after starting at the back of the field because he missed qualifying. He leads fifth-place finisher Greg Biffle by 163 points in the season standings.

“We’ll take third, there’s no need to be greedy,” Harvick said. “I beat Biffle and that was the main thing we needed to do.”

After the race, Harvick took a plane to Long Pond, Pa., for today’s Pennsylvania 500. He qualified sixth for the Winston Cup race Friday. “I never get tired,” Harvick said.

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Tony Kanaan won the pole for the Target Grand Prix at Cicero, Ill., with an assist from rival Helio Castroneves.

The Brazilians will share the front row for the start of today’s 225-lap race on Chicago Motor Speedway’s 1.029-mile oval. Kanaan will start from the outside spot for only the second time in his CART career.

Kanaan set the target with a lap of 160.052 mph and, after a 40-minute interruption of the qualifying session because of light rain, Castroneves threw a scare into him.

On his first of two green flag laps, Castroneves hit 160.031. His lap time was only 0.003 seconds slower than Kanaan and it seemed inevitable he would take his fourth pole of the season.

Instead, his Honda-powered Reynard slowed perceptibly in the middle of the fourth turn and wound up well off the pace.

“I had the pole on my warmup lap,” Castroneves said. “Unfortunately, that doesn’t count. I made a little mistake on my first green flag lap and I thought, ‘OK, I’ve got one more to go.’ I was a 10th of a second quicker on my second lap when, all of a sudden, the car slowed and I thought, ‘Oh my God, this can’t be happening, we’re running out of fuel.’

“All I had to do was make two more turns and finish and . . . I said, ‘No! No! No!’ It just went dead.”

Kenny Brack and Dario Franchitti, 1-2 in the CART season points, had a shot after that, but Kanaan, also driving a Reynard-Honda, gave Morris Nunn Racing--in its second season--its first pole.

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Juan Montoya won the pole for the first time in his rookie Formula One season, setting the fastest qualifying mark for the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim.

The Colombian was faster than his German BMW-Williams teammate Ralf Schumacher twice previously in qualifying but never took the pole. It was the first front row for Williams since 1997.

“It feels good,” Montoya said. “We worked well. Everyone worked so hard for this.”

The two are not close friends and the start of today’s 45-lap race could provide a thrilling battle.

“It’s tomorrow that counts,” Schumacher said.

Mika Hakkinen of Finland, a former two-time champion who won the British GP two weeks ago, was third in a McLaren-Mercedes.

Defending champion and points leader Michael Schumacher, Ralf’s older brother, was fourth.

Montoya upstaged the Schumacher brothers and more than 100,000 of their fans hoping for another chapter in the battle of siblings.

David Coulthard of Britain, Michael Schumacher’s only challenger for the title, was fifth in another McLaren, ahead of last year’s winner Rubens Barrichello of Brazil in the second Ferrari.

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Gary Scelzi led Top Fuel qualifying for the fourth consecutive event, pulling away in the NHRA Northwest Nationals at Kent, Wash., with a track-record time of 4.512 seconds at 316.97 mph.

John Force and Bruce Allen also led their divisions in the $1.7 million event at Seattle International Raceway.

Force set track records for time and speed with a Funny Car run of 4.827 at 311.92. Allen set a track time record in Pro Stock with his pass of 6.821 at 200.98. Darrell Alderman set a national record for speed in the category when he reached 202.42.