De Ferran

MADISON, Ill. -- Short ovals seem to agree with Gil de Ferran, who won his fourth IRL pole of the year Saturday.

De Ferran ran a best lap of 175.120 mph at 1.25-mile Gateway International Raceway, barely beating out series points leader Sam Hornish Jr. for the top starting spot in Sunday's Gateway 250. All four of de Ferran's poles have come on tracks shorter than 1½ miles.

''I call the short tracks handling tracks and we have a very good handling car,'' de Ferran said. ''That component of the mix really makes up for a lot more lap time on this type of track than it does on a mile-and-a-half or two-mile oval.

''When you have a good, consistent car you can just keep pushing the limit as a driver, more, more more, more.''

Hornish, who leads the standings by four points over Helio Castroneves with three races to go, was timed at 174.959. He finished just ahead of Castroneves (174.939), de Ferran's Team Penske teammate.

''It seems like I always wish it was a one-car team,'' Hornish said. ''You're always in the middle and you beat one and get beat by the other one. It's kind of a tag team once in a while.''

Hornish started from the pole position in last year's race, when the field was set by the standings after qualifying was rained out.

''It's certainly not a done deal, by any means,'' de Ferran said. ''There's still a lot of work to do. So, I was happy for about 30 seconds when I got the pole, then I started to think about tomorrow.''

	Gil de Ferran, right, warded off Sam Hornish Jr., left, for the Gateway Indy 250 pole.

Rookie Vitor Meira completes the second row, Jeff Ward and Laurent Redon will be in the third row, and Felipe Giaffone and Robbie Buhl will start from the fourth. Defending champion Al Unser Jr. had the 16th-best qualifying speed in the 25-car field at 171.528, and will start from the outside of the eighth row.

Hornish, the defending series champion, enters the race with a circuit-leading 399 points. De Ferran (386) is third, nine points behind Castroneves.

Fourth is Felipe Giaffone, coming off his first career victory Aug. 11 in the Belterra Casino 300 at Kentucky Speedway. There, he held off Hornish by 0.0932 seconds.

De Ferran, who had been leading the points race, finished 21st in that race.

''This is really a pivotal race,'' Hornish said. ''Whoever comes out of here with the points lead is going to be tough to beat the last two races.''

De Ferran said he won't change his style for the circuit's stretch run.

''I think that certainly there's a lot more at stake, and if you make the slightest mistake it costs a lot in the points,'' he said. ''However, since the beginning of the year, you try to do your best, and ending up in the wall is never a good option.''

IRL rookie Tomas Scheckter will not race after missing a scheduled technical briefing on Friday, and his position on the Red Bull Cheever Racing team is in limbo. Eddie Cheever Jr., the owner of the team, replaced Scheckter with fellow rookie Buddy Rice.

Scheckter, 21, the son of former Formula One champion Jody Scheckter, told The Indianapolis Star that his management staff made the decision last week ''on safety grounds.'' He's wrecked six cars in races and a seventh in practice.

''Technically, he's in breach of contract,'' Cheever said. ''Race car driving is not like a lawyer going to the office from 9-to-5. If he is afraid because he has had so many accidents and doesn't want to drive the race car, that's a decision he makes.''