CHAMP CARS Bourdais completes title with win

His championship was clinched when he started the Australian race.
SURFERS PARADISE, Australia (AP) -- Sebastien Bourdais needed only to start the race to win the Champ Car title. He did a whole lot better -- winning the Lexmark Indy 300 Sunday for his second straight championship in the open-wheel series.
"I really wanted to clinch the championship with a win, and win it in style," Bourdais said.
The Frenchman needed one point to take the 2005 crown, and he achieved that by starting. That guaranteed him at least a last-place finish and a point -- and the right to have No. 1 again emblazoned on his car for 2006.
Bourdais avoided an opening-lap, first-turn crash involving pole sitter and Newman/Haas teammate Oriol Servia. He overtook early leader Paul Tracy with the help of an excellent first pit change and held on to win the 57-lap race on the 2.795-mile temporary street circuit.
Celebration
As Bourdais came around the final turn, he stuck one arm in the air in celebration. Newman/Haas team co-owner Carl Haas stood and clapped in the pits, with his trademark cigar in his mouth.
Bourdais finished in 1 hour, 39 minutes, 26.671 seconds and averaged 96.123 mph. A.J. Allmendinger was second, 9.13 seconds behind, followed by 1996 winner Jimmy Vasser and Alex Tagliani.
It's the first time the Newman/Haas team, owned by actor Paul Newman and former racer Haas, has had consecutive series winners in its 23-year history.
It was Bourdais' fifth win in his last six races, and 16th overall in 44 starts. He has finished all 12 races on the 2005 schedule, a feat achieved by only four drivers since 1956, most recently Vasser in 1996.
Tracy, who started fifth, passed Bourdais during the first-turn accident between Servia and Cristiano da Matta. Servia stayed in the race, finishing fifth, guaranteeing him a second-place finish in the series championship.
Bourdais' Newman/Haas pit crew felt Tracy should have been penalized for the inside move, but stewards decided the Canadian had only tried to avoid the accident and allowed him to remain in the lead.
"They're not going to penalize Tracy, so let's just go racing," Bourdais' team manager, Kenny Siwieck told the French driver on the team radio. "You're the champion, so let's go win this race."
Tracy, who went out with gearbox failure on lap 24, set a race lap record of 1 minute, 33.762 seconds on his 19th lap, breaking the mark of 1:33.780 held by Alex Zanardi in 1998.
Germany's Timo Glock clinched rookie of the year honors by finishing sixth.