European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 12, 2007, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 32 stars and stripes june 2007 even weather is in Gordons Corner this year by Dan Gelston the associated press Long this May be the surest sign yet that every thing is falling into place this sea son for Jeff Gordon even the dark Clouds hovering above him Are bringing him with his brakes failing and Ryan Newman nipping at the 24s Gordon was beg Ging for the skies to open and let that rain Start coming and not Stop until he was in Victory its raining its raining throw the caution he said recalling the the caution the race was red flagged and Gordon showed again that nothing will slow him Gordon used the rain and a smart Call by Crew chief Steve Letarte to win the rain shortened race at Pocono raceway on Sun Day night and give the Points Leader his fourth Victory this were having a of a Gordon were hav ing so much fun going to the race things Are going our not quite like the race was red flagged after 106 laps of the scheduled 500mile with darkness fall the cars went Back to pit Road and never came Back after a final attempt to dry the the race had been delayed three hours by starting close to the time the race usually with dark Clouds closing in and Gordons brakes on the Crew chief Steve Letarte called the car Jeff Gordon applauds the rain during a delay in the Pocono 500 at Long on Gordon won the shortened race when rain and darkness conspired to end the race after Only 106 into the pits for an Early service Gordon relinquished the Lead on the but Letarte Fig ured his Driver would Cycle Back to the front after everyone else made their scheduled and he assumed it would Start raining while Gordon was Lead it was a because the earlier pit Stop had Gordon off sequence with the rest of the if it didst rain hed have to pit much earlier than everyone else and would fall deep into the Field after the but if it did rain in that Short they be out front and inherit the Victory when the race was that was Gordon he knew exactly How he was going to play it it All played out As the seconds before Newman closed in on Gordon and Lascar stopped the they still had to wait about 35 minutes for Lascar to Call the handing Gordon his fourth Victory at Pocono and first since Steve made a great Call based on looking at the Gordon Hendrick motor sports recorded its 10th Victory in the last 12 Sextel cup a lot of what people see is Letarte today with the it was alot of newmans late charge put him extending his miserable run of having no victories to show for All his the race pole sit Ter seemed poised to catch Gor Don right before the caution came out and instead stretched his win less drought to 59 Newman has eight poles including four this year since his last Victory in september he finished second last week at in not mad by any Newman i won my first race because it rained out and got too i guess its Only right i lose one that Way at some Drivers had to wait again after last weeks race at Dover was pushed Back a Day because of the Pocono 500 became a race to the 101st Lap to make it of leading to some hard and frantic racing Early on a track More known for some leisurely stretches in the first Martin Truex third and Casey Mears fourth in the first Sextel cup race since former Lascar chairman Bill France died on a moment of silence was held before the Green Flag dropped and a prayer was said at the end of the Drivers meeting to remember the France family and continue to Comfort Bill and his entire family did so much for the Gordon you we  be Here with these sponsors All Over the cars and the fans in the stands and be this excited about pit Strat egy wins if this sport want As popular As it and that would never be possible without Bill France without Bill France and the France Joe Gibbs racing teammates Tony Stewart and Denny Hamlin took fifth and Hamlin swept both races on the Trian Gle track last season and failed in his bid to become Only the third Driver to win three straight Kurt docked 100 Points for his pit Road Runin with Stew Art at was Jimmie who swept Pocono in blew his left front tire 91 laps into the race causing his 48 Chevrolet to spark and smoke into pit Johnson took his car to the garage and finished dropping from second to fourth in the Points Gordon won for the fourth time in the last seven races to go along with Victory Lane celebrations at Talladega and Darling the 24 snookered All of us pretty Truex i think five or 10 More laps and we had a shot at the Hamilton makes history by winning Canadian up the associated press Montreal Lewis Hamiltons learn ing curve just got Shorter a lot the 22yearold the first Black Driver in formula one added his first Al Victory to an already remarkable career Start by winning the crash filled Canadian grand prix on Sun r and he made it look Hamilton started from the also for the first apart from losing the Lead for three laps when he made his first of two pit he led All the Way and was never the soft spoken youngster has six consecutive to three finishes in six something no other firs year Al Driver has this is Hamilton Grin the Only one to give the Mercedes Mclaren Driver any Competition during the 70lap race on circuit Gilles Villenew Road course was Bow Saub Nick he chased Hamilton All Day without catching the Only thing that kept the race close at All was accidents four full course Haiir Tion flags that wiped out the leads Hamil ton built with seeming he kept win Ning the restarts though and beat Heidfeld to the finish by it was a fairly simple apart from the Hamilton on i was just trying to keep the tires warm and not make a the last few laps i was just counting in the Type of Guy that will usually push right to the but its a Tricky Cir and if you make one mistake you go racing Roundup into the marbles and into the so i quieted Down towards the end and just enjoyed once he had the race in the youngster scrambled out of his he thrust his arms in the air and jumped up and he then bounced to the trotted to a Barrier and jumped across to dive into the midst of his hugging everyone in its been a fantastic season he weve had six podiums and Ive been ready for quite some time for the win its just been a matter of when and the team gave me the Best car and i had no problems during the race at Heidfeld was almost As Happy with his runner up Matching his career i think i had a very Good Chance to Fin ish second even in Normal race without so Many safety cars on the track and without Fernando Alonso being be Heidfeld the two time and reigning Al started alongside his Mclaren teammate on the front he made a mis take on the Start when he drove off the course in the first turn and allowed Heidfeld to dive past into that was just the beginning of a very bad Day for who was hit with a penalty for pitting too soon during one of the full course that set the spaniard Back to but he got Back As High As sixth before two More of course excursions slowed Alonso was passed two laps from the finish by super Anguria Takuma Sato and finished who came into the race tied Darron Lewis Hamilton reacts after winning the Canadian grand prix on the first Victory for formula ones first Black with Alonso at the top of the will take an eight Point Lead into next sundays grand prix in the next dream is to win the formula one he Bear in in still a Rookie and theres bound to be some bad Robert a 22yearold Driver from Poland and Heidfeld was involved in a frightening crash just be fore the Halfway Point team officials first said he broke his right leg and later said the Driver was sore but had no apparent Kubica suddenly veered course into the grass As he raced toward the hairpin his car slammed into the inside con Crete then somersault a across the track in a Shower of he then hit the outside Wall and came to rest with what was left of the car on its Champ car at Sebastien Bourdais passed pole Sitter Justin Wilson to Start the 56th Lap sunday and cruised to his third straight and the grand prix of Portland introduced the series first standing Start without a the three time defending series Champi on beat second place Wilson by seconds on the Road course at port land International Rookie Rob Ert Doornbos finished third in the Cau Tio free who also won at Houston and Long also won at Portland in he has won 26 races during his it was the 100th Victory for the new Manha Aslanian racing the team was founded in 1982 by actor Paul Newman and entrepreneur Carl their first Victory came in 1983 at Road America with Driver Mario this race unfolded like a Bour dais it was Champ cars first use of a stand ing where Drivers take off from a dead Stop like in formula Champ car has traditionally used rolling Bourdais had expressed concerns about the fearing that if some cars stalled when Drivers dropped their there could be but the with cars set up in a graduated Grid on the went off a Bank of lights positioned Over the starting line signalled the Drivers when the last of the red lights went the cars burst Forward with a deafening