Times wires
Sunday, April 17, 2011
LONG BEACH, Calif. — Mike Conway made a late pass on Ryan Briscoe to win Sunday's Grand Prix of Long Beach, earning his first career IndyCar victory in his third race since a horrific crash last year in the Indianapolis 500.
Conway, in his third race since joining Andretti Autosport, started third and hung around the leaders on the 11-turn, 1.968-mile circuit through the downtown Long Beach streets.
The 27-year-old Englishman passed runnerup Briscoe with 14 laps left and won by 6.32 seconds.
In May, with Dreyer & Reinbold, Conway sustained multiple leg fractures and a compression fracture in his back in the Indy 500 crash. The injuries ended his season.
"As soon as it happened, I wanted to know what the timeframe was until I could get back into the car," he said Sunday.
After a roundabout drive to Victory Circle, Conway celebrated a win that made drivers across the paddock smile.
"He deserved it today," said Franchitti, the series points leader after finishing third. "…It's really good to see from where he was this time last year."
FORMULA ONE: McLaren's Lewis Hamilton overcame prerace mechanical drama to win the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai, passing Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel with five laps left. Red Bull's Mark Webber, who started 18th, charged late to finish third. Before the race, a fuel leak was found in Hamilton's engine. McLaren mechanics barely got the car to the grid in time; if they hadn't, the Englishman would have started from pitlane rather than in third.
NHRA: Del Worsham edged teammate Larry Dixon by 0.0048 seconds — about 6 inches — in the Top Fuel final of the Four-Wide Nationals in Concord, N.C. Jack Beckman (Funny Car) and Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) also won their classes.
MOTORCYCLES: James "Bubba" Stewart of Haines City won late Saturday's AMA Supercross event in Seattle. He has won twice in three events since his felony arrest last month in Orlando on charges of impersonating a police officer.