Still-Recovering Coulthard Wins

A month ago, David Coulthard was happy to call himself a survivor.

He escaped serious injury in an airplane crash May 2 in which two pilots died. Coulthard suffered three cracked ribs but went on to finish second in a Barcelona Formula One auto race five days later. He finished third at the European Grand Prix in Germany two weeks ago.

Sunday, the British driver won the Monaco Grand Prix at Monte Carlo when Michael Schumacher was forced to retire because of suspension problems after leading for 55 laps.

“I felt uncomfortable last night and I took some pills,” Coulthard said. “I haven’t been able to do any upper-body work since before Barcelona. I feel myself smaller.”

Coulthard gained his second victory of the season and his first on Monaco’s daunting circuit in a race that was delayed more than 30 minutes by crashes and other mishaps at the start.

Rubens Barrichello of Brazil, in the second Ferrari, finished the 78-lap race 15.8 seconds behind Coulthard.

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Tony Stewart’s disappointing second year on the NASCAR Winston Cup circuit, marked by the kind of failures he rarely experienced as the top rookie, took an upward turn with a victory in the MBNA Platinum 400 at Dover, Del.

Stewart led 242 of 400 laps and his only problem was the possibility he would be beaten on fuel mileage, as he was a year ago by current points leader and Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Bobby Labonte.

But Kyle Petty, driving in relief of teammate John Andretti, tapped Sterling Marlin, who spun and brought out a caution flag with nine laps remaining.

After another caution, rookie Matt Kenseth made a run at Stewart, but was unable to pass him with six laps to go.

Stewart beat Kenseth’s Ford by 1.215 seconds. Labonte finished third, followed by the Fords of series champion Dale Jarrett and teammate Ricky Rudd.

Stewart averaged 109.514 mph in a race slowed by caution 10 times for times for 58 laps--both records for 400 miles at Dover. Stewart earned $152,830 in the $3.2 million event, and the victory moved him up a spot in the points race to ninth.

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Funny car driver John Force won at the Prestone Route 66 Nationals at Joliet, Ill., to become the NHRA’s career leader with 86 victories, passing pro stock legend Bob Glidden. The win also extended Force’s Winston funny car points lead over Jerry Toliver, who finished second to Force Sunday. Force posted a run of 4.842 seconds at 318.09 mph. Toliver clocked 4.934 at 312.64.

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Pole-sitter Matt Beardsley, aided by a couple of timely caution flags, won the Star Formula Mazda series main event at Irwindale Speedway Saturday night, leading all 75 laps.

It was Beardsley second win of the season but the first where he took took the checkered flag. In a March race in Phoenix, Beardsley finished second to Mike Potekhem but was awarded the victory because Potekhem was not registered with the series.