MAXINE: Allmendinger Makes It A Hat Trick +1 In Denver (updated)

Excerpts from Champ Car World Series -<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /> A.J. ALLMENDINGER VAULTS INTO SECOND PLACE IN CHAMP CAR WORLD SERIES STANDINGS WITH VICTORY AT GRAND PRIX OF <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />DENVERby Eric Mauk - CCWS Years from now, Champ Car World Series fans are going to look at the box score of today’s Grand Prix of Denver Sponsored by Bridgestone, see A.J. Allmendinger (#7 Indeck Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone) winning by a cavernous 20.588 seconds, and figure that the race was a ho-hum affair. They couldn’t be further from the truth. 

Today’s 97-lap battle on the Denver streets featured more plot twists than a M. Night Shamalyan film, with a climax that was as unexpected as anything Hollywood’s finest film makers could come up with. But while last-lap fireworks wreaked havoc throughout the finishing order, nothing could touch the man at the front as Allmendinger hung a 20-second margin of victory on the field to take his fourth win of the year. The Californian led a race-high 45 laps on his way to the win and vaulted into second place in the championship with four races remaining on the 2006 schedule.