Carpentier wins, ends da Matta's streak

CLEVELAND -- Patrick Carpentier finally got some luck and his second career victory, winning the Marconi Grand Prix of Cleveland on Sunday to end Cristiano da Matta's CART winning streak at four races.\nCarpentier, who blew an engine during Saturday's practice session, took the lead on the 49th lap and won by 17.059 seconds over Michael Andretti. Carpentier's average speed was 120.998 mph.\nPaul Tracy was third and Kenny Brack finished fourth.\nDa Matta has dominated the circuit all season, and he was seeking a record fifth straight win. But the Brazilian was done after just 21 laps because of an electrical problem in his engine.\nThe 30-year-old Carpentier, whose best finish this season had been fourth at Japan in April, won for the first time since the Michigan 500 last season.\nThat victory came on an oval track. Now Carpentier, one of the better road racers on the circuit, has a road course victory, too.\nLike da Matta, defending champion Dario Franchitti went out with a blown engine.\nFor the first 20 laps, the 28-year-old da Matta, who won two bonus points this weekend during qualifying, looked to be on his way to making history.\nHe built a 2.3-second lead over Franchitti, and his No. 6 Toyota-powered Lola seemed to be stampeding toward another win when he unexpectedly pitted, telling his crew over the on-board radio that he didn't know what was wrong.\nAfter getting fuel and new tires, da Matta returned to the track, but it wasn't long before his streak went up in a puff of exhaust smoke.\n"We still had the same problems, so I had to go back in," da Matta said. "In the next race we'll be strong again. It's no big deal."\nUntil he can put another string of wins together, da Matta will have to share the CART record of four consecutive victories with Al Unser Jr. (1990) and Alex Zanardi (1998).\nDespite his early exit, da Matta leads the standings through eight races with 120 points -- 50 more than Bruno Junqueira, and 56 more than Franchitti. Da Matta's lead is so big that he could miss the next two events and still be the leader.