Dominguez

MIAMI -- Mario Dominguez waited patiently as trouble besieged the leaders ahead of him, sneaking closer and closer to the front. The lead was eventually his, and victory soon followed.

Dominguez, who hadn't led a single lap on a road or street course this season before Sunday, won CART's Grand Prix of the Americas in Miami. The win was the second of his career and, coupled with Roberto Moreno's second-place showing, gave Herdez Racing a sweep of the top two spots.

It also marked the farthest back any CART winner had started a race this season; Dominguez opened the day in eighth position.

"Our strategy today was to be patient, to wait for people to make mistakes," Dominguez said. "We knew that if this race track takes a big toll on the tires and the brakes ... there would most likely be accidents. We knew we had to be patient and just have good pit stops."

Moreno earned his best finish since winning in Vancouver two years ago, and said that he hopes Sunday's result on Miami's tight 1.15-mile temporary street circuit is the start of a momentum-building finish to the 2003 season for the Herdez team.

"The team effort is starting to pay off," Moreno said. "We've been working very, very hard since the beginning of the year."

Dominguez spent only 1 minute, 15.279 seconds in the pits Sunday, the best total among the final leaders. But he most benefited from a late crash that knocked leaders Adrian Fernandez and Bruno Junqueira from contention.

Fernandez, the pole-sitter, was knocked from the front on the 97th lap, when Junqueira locked his brakes, slid into Fernandez's car and sent them both skidding and stalling into a corner.

"Obviously, I'm frustrated," said Fernandez, who has never won in his four career starts from the pole. "Something like that doesn't reward the team for the effort. They had a great race."

Junqueira took the blame for the incident, saying he lost traction on a marbled portion of the track.

"It cost me at least a second place finish," Junqueira said. All five of the drivers atop the starting grid experienced some kind of significant problem during the race.

Oriol Servia, who started third, was finished after crashing into a wall on the 44th lap. And the fourth and fifth starters, Sebastien Bourdais and Paul Tracy, were taken out midway through the race when Tracy brushed tires with the rookie. That sent them both careening out of control and caused heavy damage to each car.

"My car was not handling well out there," Tracy said. "Bourdais had been trying to get by for a while. ... It was his corner. It's my fault."

Bourdais was irate afterward, charging into Tracy's pit area. He never found Tracy but had to be restrained by some of his team members.

"It was a really stupid thing to happen," Bourdais said. "I tried five times to pass Paul and he did the same thing every time. He moved over on me. ... We are friends and we respect each other, but this was a stupid thing to happen."

Tracy managed to keep the series point lead over Junqueira, but the margin was trimmed from 17 to 13 points with three races remaining. Michel Jourdain remained in third, but he could have gained significantly on both leaders with a victory that at one time seemed within reach.

Jourdain took the lead on the 97th lap and was running laps faster than any of his nearest competitors. But he was sent to the back of the pack 10 laps later by race stewards because he drove into Tiago Montiero's path in pit lane.

That penalty gave Dominguez the opportunity he needed, and he held the lead the final 28 laps.

"It's amazing," Dominguez said. "It just feels unbelievable."

Notes
Only 10 of the 19 cars finished the race. Of those, seven were on the lead lap. ... Thunderstorms pelted parts of South Florida on Sunday but downtown Miami was spared and the race was dry. ... CART is off until Oct. 12, when it goes to Mexico City.