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Lloyd Wins IPS Race And Championship

Sonoma, CA ? Alex Lloyd raced into the lead at the drop of the green flag and wasn?t headed as he chalked up his record-breaking eighth Indy Pro Series victory of the season in the Carneros 100 at Infineon Raceway. In winning, the Englishman earned the 2007 series championship.

?I came into the race with no thought of the championship,? Lloyd said in victory lane. ?I thought about winning this race only. I knew if I won the race, mathematically nobody else was going to be able to win it. When you have a championship year like we?ve had, you?ve got to finish it by winning the race. That was the way we wanted to win the championship, and what a great way it?s been to win today, and to win at my favorite track.?

A year ago, Lloyd learned the hard way the importance of taking command at the start of the race. He didn?t do so and ended up second in the first of two IPS races. ?I knew from last year that it?s critical to get into the lead at the beginning because there is no way you can overtake on this track.?

Regarding his future, Lloyd added, ?I?ve done all I can this year, and I?m only just going to keep working harder and harder to try and accomplish my ultimate goal of winning the Indy 500.?

Lloyd drives for Sam Schmidt Motorsports, which won its third series championship. Also, it marked the 21st IPS victory for the team. Said Schmidt about the championship and his talented driver, ?It doesn?t get any better than this. Alex (Lloyd) is really phenomenal. He hasn?t put a wheel off-course all year and he deserves to be at the next level.?

Richard Antinucci started from the pole and hounded the winner throughout the 30-lap race. Driving the Cheever Racing entry, the Italian driver finished a mere .89 seconds behind the victor. ?It?s always disappoint when you start on the pole and then finish lower than that, but we finished as close to it as we could,? said Antinucci.

Third place went to Mike Potekhen.

Stephen Simpson garnered fourth place followed by Jaime Camara, Logan Gomez, Andrew Prendeville, Ryan Justice, Jonathan Klein and Brad Jaeger.

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