WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — Scott Dixon's bid for a fourth straight victory on the road course at Watkins Glen ended Sunday with an uncharacteristic mistake that gave Ryan Hunter-Reay the opening he needed to earn his first IndyCar Series victory.

Dixon, preparing to make a run at leader Darren Manning after a long caution period, spun out under yellow and was hit from behind by contender Ryan Briscoe. That gave the runner-up spot to Hunter-Reay, who easily passed Manning on the restart and drove away with the fourth series win for Rahal Letterman Racing.

It is the third open-wheel victory for Hunter-Reay, a Texas-born driver who won twice while driving in the now-defunct Champ Car World Series.

"It's huge," Hunter-Reay said after doing some celebratory burnouts. "I'm an American boy ... and this is a real Fourth of July weekend celebration."

It was a strange finish to a race that went the first 40 laps on the 3.4-mile, 11-turn circuit with only a couple of minor incidents and wound up running under caution for most of the last 20 laps because of a series of crashes and spinouts.

"I was a complete idiot," an obviously embarrassed Dixon said after getting restarted and finishing 11th. "We lost a lot of valuable points today. I feel more down for Briscoe and the boys."


In Silverstone, England, Lewis Hamilton won the British Grand Prix, leading his rain-soaked home race from the fourth lap to take the lead in the Formula One drivers championship.

The McLaren driver lapped all but two cars in the field Sunday and finished more than a minute ahead of Nick Heidfeld's BMW Sauber in a race at Silverstone that was full of spinouts and near misses. Honda's Rubens Barrichello was third for his first podium in four years and Honda's first of the season.




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