Motegi, Round2

The 1998 FedEx Championship Series

ROUND 2 - Motegi, Japan

GOOD FINISH AND POINTS LEAD FOR MOORE

At the Budweiser 500 in Japan, Greg Moore showed that he is looking at the big picture in the FedEx Championship Series.

Moore drove a faultless race to finish fourth on the oval in Motegi, and in the process, vaulted into a tie for the lead in the PPG Cup points standings after two races.

The driver he is tied with is Adrian Fernandez, who won the race with an equally good drive, to beat Al Unser Jr and Gil de Ferran.

No one outside Fernandez’s family or the Patrick Racing Team had predicted him to be a major contender this season, but the Mexican veteran stayed in the top three all race long, and was there to capitalize when Michael Andretti coasted into the pits, apparently out of fuel, at half-distance.

Up until that point, Andretti looked to be well in control of the race and on his way to backing up his Homestead victory, having come from 14th position on the starting grid, which was determined by Thursday practice times after Friday qualifying was washed out.

To see Fernandez on the front row, it was easy to think that a lot of other drivers had been still figuring out their combinations in practice, and that he would quickly end up back in his usual mid-pack position. But his speed was for real.

And so was that of the Penske drivers, Al Unser Jr and Andre Ribeiro. Unser ran well all day, led at one point, and challenged Fernandez late in the race before having to settle for runner-up. And Ribeiro ran as quickly as anyone after replacing his car’s nose cone, coming from way back to finish ninth.

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The Team Green duo of Paul Tracy and Dario Franchitti had tough days at Homestead, and both had to put in a good showing in Japan to avoid falling too far behind in points. Tracy’s car got better as the race went along, and despite three botched pit stops, he managed to finish fifth and score valuable points.

Moore passed him on the last lap with a wheel-banging manoeuvre that we didn’t see because the Japanese TV director was following Fernandez around, running by himself. With Andretti and Alex Zanardi, who crashed, being shut out, his 10 points, and Franchitti’s 9, are within sight of the leaders’ 29.

As far as equipment goes, it is interesting to note that, at least on the two oval tracks so far, Ford and Goodyear are right up there again after falling slightly behind last season. Ford led by far the most laps with Andretti and Fernandez, and while Firestone won the race, Goodyear finished 2nd and 3rd.

Of the first 7 races this season, all but one are on short ovals. That exception is this weekend when the series heads to Long Beach for the first street race of the year. It will be an interesting indication of which teams will be strong after the first 7 races are run, when 10 of the last 12 are on the twisty tracks, and 2 are on big speedways.

The teams and drivers who have strong oval packages have to do well early this season; those who are better on road and street courses need to hang in there in the points until the ovals are done with.

Moore has usually shown better on ovals. If he finishes up front or close to it this weekend, then we might be able to start talking about him in terms of being a favorite for the Championship.