U.S. Driver Wins Again

A.J. Allmendinger won his second race in a row Sunday, avoiding major trouble in the Champ Car Grand Prix of Cleveland, in which points leader Sebastien Bourdais was knocked out during the first lap in a spectacular crash.

Allmendinger is the only American driver in the series. In a span of two weeks, he was fired by RuSport, hired by Forsythe Championship Racing and won his first race in Portland, Ore.

He lost a front wing when he went into the grass on Lap 1 and had to pit, but he stayed clear the rest of the way to finish 3.213 seconds of Bruno Junqueira. Oriol Servia was third.

“I don’t know if that was a nightmare at first or a fairy tale,” Allmendinger said.

Only 11 cars from a field of 18 finished. Rookie Dan Clarke and Mario Dominguez became entangled on the final lap of the time-shortened race, losing sure podium spots.

Bourdais was done after a crash in which Paul Tracy was sandwiched and went airborne, the left side of his blue Forsythe balanced on Bourdais’ roll bar. Bourdais was released from the hospital after precautionary tests showed no serious injuries.

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The Indy Racing League and Champ Car have taken important steps toward unifying the two open-wheel series of American racing.

Champ Car World Series boss Kevin Kalkhoven told the Associated Press there is no written agreement, although the two sides have reached an understanding. He said there are many issues to resolve, but he is “very optimistic” the deal can be completed.

Fred Nation, a spokesman for Indianapolis Motor Speedway, said Kalkhoven and IRL founder Tony George must still work out potential pitfalls, such as who assumes the duties of principal owner.

The Indianapolis Star on Sunday said the parties have an “ownership sharing agreement,” although Kalkhoven characterized developments as “more a progress report than anything else.”

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Fernando Alonso won his fourth consecutive race, driving his Renault to an easy victory in the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal and widening his lead over Michael Schumacher in the world championship standings.

Alonso, who started from the pole, had only a brief challenge from Kimi Raikkonen early in the race but held off the Finn’s attempt to pass him on the 12th lap. The Spaniard said the lack of competition -- he had a late lead of almost 25 seconds -- made the race more difficult.

“It was not easy to keep the concentration while leading the race with such a large gap,” he said.