#10 Kanaan CART Laguna Seca Race Notes/Quotes

Tony Kanaan

#10 Pioneer-WorldCom/Mo Nunn Racing Honda-Lola
Bridgestone Grand Prix of Monterey - Sunday, June 9, 2002 - Race
Notes/Quotes
Mazda Raceway at Laguna Seca - Monterey, Calif. - 2.238-Mile Road Course
Round 5 of 20 on the 2002 CART FedEx Championship Series

Tony Kanaan and the #10 Pioneer-WorldCom/Mo Nunn Racing Honda-Lola finished
12th in today's Bridgestone Grand Prix of Monterey CART FedEx Championship
Series event after being penalized early in the race for a pit lane
infraction.  Kanaan started fourth and was running fourth on Lap 16 when he
pitted under the second and final caution period of the 87-lap race.  He was
called by race officials for running over the air hose of Tora Takagi's
outside-front tire changer while entering the Pioneer-WorldCom team's pit
box.  Takagi was pitted directly behind Kanaan, who was sent to the back of
the field for the infraction.  Kanaan restarted the race in 15th place and
never ran higher than 12th thereafter.  He also discovered his clutch was
not working on that first pit stop, but the team successfully pushed him
back into gear on the final two stops.

Polesitter Cristiano da Matta won easily today, while teammate Christian
Fittipaldi held off Kenny Brack for second place.  Brack was third.

The series moves up the coast to Portland International Raceway for next
weekend's G.I. Joe's 200, Round 6 of the 20-event CART FedEx Championship
Series for 2002.  That race will be televised live by CBS at 12:30 p.m.
local time (3:30 p.m. EDT).

TONY KANAAN QUOTES

"That penalty hurt us big-time.  It wiped out our chance to run with the
leaders and sent us to the back of the pack where we had to fight traffic on
a track where it's impossible to pass.  I don't know, it's always something.
It may or may not be coincidence, but they (Takagi's Walker Racing crew) had
their hose run over by three different drivers at three different races, so
far.  I don't want to blame anybody for anything, but that definitely needs
to be looked at because the penalty is just way too costly, and I don't
think it's fair at all.  Otherwise, I don't know if I had a car that would
have won today, but I definitely think we could have finished in the top
five.  Instead of getting at least 10 points, I get only one for finishing
12th.  Wow, I doubled my points for the season from one to two!  I'm
disappointed, but at least we finished a race for the first time this year.
The team did a great job of giving me a good race car all three days this
weekend, so  I'm confident heading up to Portland.  We just need to get a
break one of these days!"

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