TORONTO - In the days leading up to the Molson Indy, Paul Tracy deferred a question about the possibility of race-day fisticuffs with Canadian rival Alex Tagliani, by jokingly saying, "This isn't a hockey fight."

Tracy was right.

While Toronto Maple Leafs tough guy Tie Domi was on hand for the ceremonial "Gentlemen, start your engines!" beginning, yesterday's race featured no glove-dropping. It did, however, have its share of checks. And when the checkered flag eventually replaced the cautionary yellows that waved for most of the balmy afternoon, it was the nice guys who crossed the finish line first.

Pole sitter Sebastien Bourdais led for 63 laps to capture his fourth win of the year, and third in a row, vaulting him to first place in the Champ Car World Series. Trailing the Frenchman were Jimmy Vasser and Canadian Patrick Carpentier, all of whom somehow managed to avoid the bumper car-style of racing that defined the day.

"We had a great car today," said Bourdais, who leads all drivers with 164 total points. "We knew that [getting] the pole position was a big advantage."

The Newman/Haas driver, who was the fastest driver most of the weekend, said he was fortunate to be in front of the chaos that erupted early on in the race.

In the second turn of the opening lap, Bourdais's teammate, Bruno Junqueira, became the Toronto race's first casualty, when he slammed into Mario Dominguez.

From there, the streets winding around Exhibition Place became a wannabe oval, with the open-wheel racers rubbing, bumping and bullying themselves into anything that moved.

"All I can say is that I am glad I was in front, because it looks like it was real crazy out there," said Bourdais, who last year won the Greg Moore Legacy Award, Champ Car's answer to hockey's Lady Byng trophy.

"Apparently I missed it all. I just really tried to keep my nose clean. That was the key for me."

Most of the 72,561 in attendance came to cheer on hometown favourite Paul Tracy, but the Scarborough native failed to employ the same strategy. In vintage Tracy fashion, the crash-and-burn driver earned two black flags for illegally chipping the paint off the cars of rookie Justin Wilson and Michel Jourdain Jr., ending Tracy's hopes at finishing on the podium.

"Hats off to the officials," Tracy said sarcastically after finishing fifth. "They did a great job."

Tracy, the defending champion who had been fastest in the first qualifying session Friday, nipped at Bourdais's tail for the first half of the race and looked to be on his way to a second-straight top-three finish in Toronto.

"I thought we should have been on the podium," he said. "I thought we could be second. We didn't get it."

His collision with Jourdain Jr. came on the 73rd lap, after Tracy had led the race for four times around the track.

"I was into the corner, then all of a sudden I felt a touch on my car and I got a penalty for it," said Tracy, who was merging out of the pit lane when his front wing found Jourdain Jr.'s car. "I guess I'm supposed to stop at the pit exit and let everybody go by."

The Mexican driver, however, said the accident was characteristic of Tracy's reckless driving.

"When Paul doesn't have a car that can lap with somebody, he just doesn't think," he said. "He moved over -- over me."

Montreal-born Alex Tagliani, who sparred with Tracy all week leading up to the 19th annual race, was also penalized twice in an 84-lap race that ended because of the 105-minute time limit.

"We are really upset because we have a lot of data and it shows that I didn't touch nobody in that particular corner," said Tagliani, who ended the day in seventh. "We're very confused at this point. I got two penalties in the race and I want to know why."

Not surprisingly, it was the drivers who stayed out of trouble that ended up on the podium.

"For me, it was just a matter of keeping our nose clean," said Vasser, who moved up nine places to finish second. "I had a good seat for a lot of the fireworks. It was right in front of me.

"That's part of the excitement of street racing. It's good for the fans."

Carpentier also tried to steer clear of the on-track warfare, but still found himself inside a car that coughed and wheezed for the last lap and was less than a second ahead of Mario Haberfeld.

"I was pretty lucky out there," he said of his early stalling problems. "After that it was survival of the fittest I guess."

The podium finish was Carpentier's best at the Molson Indy, a track that in the past has been unforgiving for the Quebec-born driver.

"It's fantastic to do well in Toronto," he said. "I've never been lucky here, and this is my best result ever. Thank you, Toronto!"