Tracy

SURFERS PARADISE, Australia -- American rookie Ryan Hunter-Reay won Sunday's thunderstorm-shortened Gold Coast Indy and Paul Tracy clinched his first CART series drivers' championship when closest rival Bruno Junqueira crashed with 10 laps to go.

Hunter-Reay beat fellow rookie Darren Manning of England by 1.546 seconds in the race that featured crashes on the first turn and marble-sized hail after 12 laps that forced a 75-minute delay and shortened the race from 65 laps to 47.

Tracy finished 13th -- two laps behind the winner -- but his 28-point lead over Junqueira coming in meant that Junqueira had to pick up at least seven points in order to maintain his chances of overtaking Tracy at the season's final event at Fontana, Calif., on Nov. 2.

"I just don't know what to say," an emotional Tracy said after securing a CART title he's chased for 13 years. "I've worked so long to get to this point. It's fantastic."

Drivers receive 20 points for a first-place finish. A point is also awarded to the driver who leads the most laps during a race.

	Hunter-Reay scored his first career CART win.

Jimmy Vasser, Hunter-Reay's teammate and who won the Australian race in 1996, was third, followed by a Michel Jourdain Jr., who led the race briefly with 20 laps to go. Patrick Carpentier of Canada was fifth.

It was the first CART race win for the 22-year-old Hunter-Reay, who led last year's Formula Atlantic series with three wins. It was also the 13th year in a row that a different driver has won the Australian race.

Tracy, who has seven victories this season, was involved in an accident with three other cars on a slick track and fell behind after his car's suspension was damaged midway through the race.

"I thought it was over for us," Tracy admitted afterward. "Then when I saw Bruno was out, I started to cry in my helmet."

Junqueira's teammate and pole sitter Sebastien Bourdais clipped Tracy's car, causing the Canadian to spin out and go to the back of the field. He was later involved in a three-car accident where the front left wing of his car was damaged.

But later, Bourdais -- the series rookie of the year -- crashed out of the race as rain began falling, adding to what wound up being a woeful day for the Newman/Haas team.

The weather forced several yellow flags during the race.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.