Bourdais wins Generac Grand Prix

Sebastien Bourdais finally conquered Road America, and he took a big step toward an unprecedented fourth straight Champ Car title along the way.

The Frenchman, who will move to Formula One in 2008, had failed to win on the 4.028-mile, 14-turn natural terrain road course in three previous tries, despite being dominant at times. But he closed the deal in Sunday’s Generac Grand Prix at Elkhart Lake, Wis., starting from the pole and overpowering the rest of the 17-car field in picking up his fifth win of the season.

“I know Sebastien wanted to win Elkhart Lake really, really bad before he leaves the United States,” said Craig Hampson, Bourdais’ crew chief at Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing.

After months of speculation, it was announced Friday that Bourdais would join F1’s Scuderia Toro Rosso team in 2008.

“I think things are better now,” Hampson said. “It’s been a distraction for Sebastien, definitely. Now it’s lifted off his shoulders and he is going to be able to just concentrate on going fast.”

Rookie Robert Doornbos and second-year driver Will Power, his closest pursuers in the championship, both ran into trouble, allowing Bourdais to move out to a 37-point margin with only five races remaining.

NHRA

John Force won his 125th Funny Car event by beating Kenny Bernstein by about two feet in a meeting of drag-racing legends at Brainerd, Minn.

In the two legends’ first meeting in 18 years, Force’s 4.794-second run at 316.60 mph was faster by .0048 seconds.

Bernstein’s son, Brandon, beat Larry Dixon in the Top Fuel final with a run of 4.525 seconds.

In Pro Stock, Jeg Coughlin became just the 11th racer in NHRA’s 56-year history with 50 national wins when he beat Greg Anderson.

Force and Bernstein last faced each other in 1989 at the Supernationals in Englishtown, N.J., which Bernstein won for his last Funny Car victory.