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CART: Herta Holds off Zanardi for First Career Victory

14 September 1998

MONTEREY, CA: Bryan Herta made good on an opportunity to rewrite history Sunday when he held off hard charging Alex Zanardi to collect his first career FedEx Championship Series victory in the Texaco/Havoline 300, feature event of the Honda Grand Prix of Monterey at Laguna Seca Raceway.

Bryan Herta
Bryan Herta

Herta, who led 81 of the 83 laps, finished 0.343 seconds ahead of Zanardi in a two-lap sprint to the checkered flag to earn his first career victory in his 71st career start. Rookie Tony Kanaan, in his 16th series start, finished a career-best third.

Prior to Sunday's victory, Herta's best career finish was second, at Cleveland in 95 the Marlboro 500 in 96, and his 71-race victory drought was the longest among active FedEx Championship Series drivers. It was also the first victory in 98 events for Team Rahal, the previous triumph being team owner Bobby Rahal's 1992 win at Nazareth.

Herta's triumph erased the memory of his runner-up effort at Laguna Seca in 96 when Zanardi pulled off a spectacular pass of him in the corkscrew section of the 2.238 mile, permanent road course to steal an otherwise certain inaugural victory. Sunday, Herta's sprint to victory began following a caution period for contact involving Gil de Ferran , Patrick Carpentier, and Scott Pruett in Turn 2.

The five-lap caution period ended a the start of Lap 82, and though Zanardi made several attempts at a decisive pass during the final two trips around the circuit, Herta kept the door closed to earn his first visit to the Champ Car winner's circle.

Herta collected $125,000 for his victory while becoming the 10th driver in 16 CART events to win from the pole. He earned thke $100,000 winner's share of the race purse and an additional $25,000 from the Marlboro Pole Award fund for his victory from the pole. Herta also became the second first-time winner in the past threee events, joining Dario Franchitti who won August 16, at Road America.

Zanardi's runner-up performance was a FedEx Championship Series-record 12th podium effort in 16 starts this season, and his 18th in his last 23 starts overall. Hke eclipsed thke mark of 11 held by Michael Andretti (1991), Bobby Rahal (1991, and Al Unser Jr. (1994).
Alex Zanardi

Zanardi also tied the single-season series points record of 234 established by Andretti in 1991. He has three events remaining to gain sole possession of the modern-day mark, which was set in the scoring system which was instituted in 1981. Zanardi, who clinched his second consecutive FedEx Championship Series title last Sunday at Vancouver, became the first driver of the season to top the $1 million mark in earnings, pushing his yearly total to $1,009,250.

Kanaan's third-place showing topped a previous best of fourth set at Portland and Road America and was the first podium effort for a rookie since Helio Castro-Neves finished second at Milwaukee.

Franchitti, who entered Sunday with a two race winning streak, finished fourth for this seventh top-five finish of the season and his third in a row. Jimmy Vasser finished fifth for his third consecutive top five showing at Laguna Seca following last year's win and a fourth-place effort in 1996.

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