By Bruce Martin SportsTicker Contributing Editor

SPARTA, Kentucky (Ticker) -- In a season that looked like Marlboro Team Penske and Pennzoil Panther Racing would dominate the Indy Racing League, Felipe Giaffone became the sixth first-time winner in the IRL this season by winning Sunday's Belterra Casinos Indy 300 at Kentucky Speedway.

The second-year driver from Brazil gave team owner Mo Nunn his first IRL victory when he led five times for 124 laps in the 200-lap event at the 1.5-mile oval.

Giaffone was able to hold off a strong challenge from Sam Hornish Jr., who tried several times in the final five laps to stick the nose of his car along the outside of Giaffone's G Force/Chevrolet but didn't have enough muscle to strong-arm his way past the winner.

Giaffone won by 0.0932 seconds and collected $125,000 in front of an announced crowd of 49,264 fans at the 60,000-seat speedway located in a triangle that includes Cincinnati, Louisville and Lexington.

"I think it was one of those weekends where everything worked great," said Giaffone, who started third and took the lead for the first time on the 27th lap after pole winner Sarah Fisher led the first 26 laps. "I think Mo Nunn is never going to let me test again. This is pretty much the only track we never tested and we did pretty good."

Giaffone joined Jeff Ward (Texas) Gil de Ferran (Pikes Peak), Airton Dare (Kansas), Alex Barron (Nashville) and Tomas Scheckter (Michigan) as first-time winners this season. The only repeat winner during that span is Sam Hornish, who won at Homestead to open the season, California in March and Richmond in June.

The IRL has had a different winner in every race since Scott Sharp won at Nazareth Speedway on April 21.

Giaffone also became the ninth different driver to win this season, which tied an IRL record set in 1996-97.

"I hope it stops happening," Hornish said of first-time winners. "I'd like to win some more races, you know?"

While CART races have suddenly had a "no-passing zone," with far too many race winners in that series leading from start to finish, the IRL continues to have highly competitive racing. Sunday's race featured 11 lead changes among six drivers, but also saw some dramatic wheel-to-wheel racing just inches apart.

On one restart on lap 102, rookie Will Langhorne was the leader in his first-ever IRL race and was part of a four-wide formation going into the first turn that included Hornish, Buddy Lazier and Giaffone.

All four cars were able to get through the turn without crashing with Lazier in the lead before Giaffone took away the position on lap 106. The frantic activity was slowed on lap 107 when a yellow flag waved for debris.

The final 94 laps saw some fierce battles with Lazier, Giaffone and Hornish fighting it out. Although Giaffone took the lead for good on lap 162, he had to continually battle strong charges from the rear.

Lazier finished third, followed by Scott Sharp and Helio Castroneves.

Fisher, who became the first female driver ever to win a pole position in a major racing series, led the first 26 laps and charged to the front throughout, finishing eighth.

Al Unser Jr., in his first race since he was released from a treatment center for an alcohol problem, finished sixth.

The race was marred by a pit road incident involving Unser's teammate at Kelley Racing, rookie Tony Renna. The young driver lost control of his Dallara/Chevrolet in the pits and pinned three of his crewmembers against the wall.

Bernie Hallisky, the left rear tire changer, suffered a broken right leg and was transported to Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis for surgery Sunday night. Rusty Hurford, a fabricator who works behind the wall, suffered neck pain and was transported to Carroll County Hospital in Carollton, Kentucky.

Jeff Horton, the fuel man, was checked and released from the infield care center.

Renna continued in the race and finished seventh.

But at the front of the field, the race was a tight battle with Hornish chasing Giaffone.

"From what I could see behind me, I think Buddy had a really good car by himself, but he was pushing a bit behind me," Giaffone said. "So I would much rather have at that time Buddy behind me than Hornish, because Sam showed me with 50 laps to go that he had a strong car.

"We were running side by side. I said, `Is that it or he has some more left?' He had a great car, too. He could manage to run right behind me, side by side, anywhere."

Despite finishing second for the second time this season, Hornish regained the IRL points lead for the first time since losing it in the Indianapolis 500 in May. He now leads Helio Castroneves by four points.

Gil de Ferran entered the race with a 12-point lead but suffered damage to his car when Richie Hearn crashed on the 23rd lap. Hearn suffered a broken right foot and was transported to Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis, where he will undergo surgery by Sunday night.

Debris from Hearn's crash damaged de Ferran's Dallara/Chevrolet, sending it into the Marlboro Team Penske pit area for lengthy repairs. He would eventually return to the race but finished 18 laps down in 21st place. He is 13 points behind Hornish.

With de Ferran dropping in the points and Castroneves behind him, Hornish went after the leader. He passed him on lap 158 after five laps of side-by-side racing with Giaffone, but one lap later, the yellow flag waved for debris.

The leaders pitted during that caution. Giaffone was the first out and he stayed in front the rest of the race.

"We got him once, couldn't get him again," Hornish said. "The Panther team really worked their butts off this weekend. We had two really bad practice sessions Saturday where nothing would go right. I think we were 14th this morning in practice, but we knew we had a good race car. We knew as long as it went good, we'd be up front most of the day. We just came up a little bit short at the end."

Fast pit stops by Mo Nunn racing aided Giaffone all day. Once he was in front, he was very difficult to pass.

"After Indianapolis, where I really felt that I had the car to win the race, I said, `This is going to be it, I think I'm winning this race,'" Giaffone said. "When the race was over, I said, `Oh, man, even if I win a race, the next one, I'm not going to be happy because I'm so mad.'

I can tell you, it's completely different. It's race by race. It's just when I saw like one lap to go, I said, `One lap to go, that much?' Sam was all over the place. Then when I look, look at the mirror, Sam, I was drafting the guy, I say, `No way he's going to pass me.' It was good."