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WORLD SPORT

Alonso makes it four straight wins

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Alonso leads the field off the starting grid with Raikkonen in close pursuit.

MONTREAL, Canada -- World champion Fernando Alonso further strengthened his grip on the 2006 title race with victory in Sunday's Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal.

It was the fourth straight win for the Renault driver, who has opened up a 25-point gap on seven-time champion Michael Schumacher, who finished second, at the halfway stage of the 18-race season.

Schumacher overtook Kimi Raikkonen on the last lap to salvage a precious two extra points.

McLaren number one Raikkonen had put Alonso under pressure throughout most of the race, but a slow second pit stop where his engine stalled, finally put paid to his chances.

After the safety car had come out for the second time he ran wide on a corner and let Schumacher through.

The German maestro had fought his way through from starting fifth on the grid with a masterful drive in his Ferrari.

Alonso, who was starting from pole for the fifth successive race, topped the podium for the time in North America, having never previously placed in the first three in the U.S. or Canadian Grand Prix.

"The race was quite difficult because off-line there was a lot of dirt coming from the tyres and you could not make any mistakes.

"If you got a little off-line you could lose one or two seconds, so you were never confident in any of the laps," said the Spaniard.

His Renault teammate Giancarlo Fisichella was fourth, despite a drive-through penalty for jumping the start, with Ferrari's Brazilian Felipe Massa fifth.

Italian Jarno Trulli took his first points of the season, and first in 13 races, with sixth place for Toyota.

BMW Sauber's Nick Heidfeld was seventh and Red Bull's David Coulthard took the final point after starting at the back of the grid due to an unscheduled engine change.

The safety car was twice deployed after drivers hit the unforgiving walls -- Germany's Nico Rosberg in a Williams on lap one and Canada's 1997 world champion Jacques Villeneuve with 11 laps remaining.

"The race was quite difficult because off-line there was a lot of dirt coming from the tyres and you could not make any mistakes.

"If you got a little off-line you could lose one or two seconds, so you were never confident in any of the laps."

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