Johnson, Knill Keep the Pace at Irwindale

Chris Johnson continued his late-season success in Irwindale Speedway’s super late model division with a wire-to-wire victory Saturday night at the track, while Van Knill took a major step toward the division title.

Johnson started second, passed pole sitter Rip Michels on the opening lap and finished 0.721 of a second ahead of Knill, the runner-up in the 50-lap race on the half-mile track.

Johnson won the second race of the year, on April 8, and both twin 50 races Aug. 19 after missing the previous five races because of what he said was a philosophical difference with the car’s owner, Darryl Wong.

Knill added 24 points to what had been a 16-point lead over David Beat entering the race.

Beat finished 14th after being in eighth as late as the 47th lap, when he became involved in a spin with David Ross and was placed next-to-last among the cars on the lead lap after a yellow flag came out.

Knill started sixth, moved into third on the 14th lap and remained behind Jim McGill until passing his car on the 48th lap. McGill finished fourth.

Knill leads Beat, 585-545, with three races remaining.

The winner of each race receives 50 points, the second-place finisher 48 with two points less for each subsequent place.

-- Steven Herbert

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Sam Hornish Jr. won the pole at Joliet, Ill., for the PEAK Antifreeze Indy 300, which will decide one of the closest IRL series championship races.

A two-time series champion, Hornish earned his fourth pole this season and the 10th of his career with a lap of 215.319. Scott Dixon (214.592) will start alongside Hornish, with defending points champion Dan Wheldon (214.387) and standings leader Helio Castroneves (213.922) in the third and fourth positions for the season’s final event.

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Whether Michael Schumacher announces his retirement or not this weekend, one thing remains unchanged: he’s still driving as fast as ever.

Although Schumacher missed out on the pole for the Italian Grand Prix by two-thousandths of a second, he put considerable distance between himself and championship leader Fernando Alonso on the starting grid. Schumacher qualified second and will start alongside pole sitter Kimi Raikkonen.

Alonso was dropped from fifth to 10th on the starting grid for blocking Schumacher’s Ferrari teammate Felipe Massa, who qualified fourth.

Schumacher trails Alonso by 12 points with four races remaining, and Ferrari is poised to overtake Alonso’s Renault team in the constructors’ standings. Renault holds a two-point lead.