Dixon wins Indy at Infineon
Scott Dixon again proved he is the uncrowned road course champion of the Indy Racing League Sunday at Infineon Raceway in the Motorola Indy 300 and also moved himself four points into the series championship lead over Dario Franchitti. An event-free race unfolded pretty much as planned until lap 69 of the 80 lap contest when the first caution of the field was raised due to contact between race leader Franchitti and teammate Marco Andretti. The young Andretti had just entered the field after leaving the pits when Franchitti came upon him in turn two, pushing Andretti out of the race into the dirt and damaging his own car.
Franchitti, who started first in front of Danica Patrick, had no problem keeping the sweetheart of the IRL in the rear view mirror and held the position until the contact in lap 69. On the lap 72 restart, Dixon and Helio Castroneves easily passed Franchitti and held off the points leader for the rest of the contest.
The IRL series moves to Michigan next week for the 16th of 17 races and will finish the season at Chicagoland Speedway on September 9.
Water supply okay for salmon
The amount of water taken from the Russian River is down 18.4 percent, the Sonoma County Water Agency announced Monday. Water conservation had surpassed the state mandate that the agency cut back 15 percent from 2004 diversions of river water. The order, which runs from July 1 to Oct. 28, reaches its halfway point tomorrow.
County water officials are optimistic that the cutback will continue to save enough water in Lake Mendocino for the fall salmon run, as specified by the state Water Resources Control Board.
Meanwhile, the Sonoma water agency continues to urge consumers to implement conservation efforts in the cities and water districts that supply water to 600,000 customers from Marin county to Windsor.
