ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- "The Termite" was doing his damage again.

Helio Castroneves, who earned that nickname from his Team Penske crew for eating away at gearboxes, was dominating at the Honda St. Petersburg Grand Prix yesterday and feeling third and fourth gear slipping away.

"When I had a big lead for a while I probably didn't focus and I started to wear out third and four gear," Castroneves said after easily holding off Scott Dixon to grab his second consecutive win on the 1.8-mile, 14-turn St. Petersburg street circuit.

Dixon did everything he could to force the two-time Indianapolis 500 winner into a mistake, but Castroneves said the pressure that the former IndyCar Series champion was applying in the closing laps was exactly what he needed.

"I was glad Scott was right on my gearbox because it meant I had to focus on downshifting and taking care of the gearbox," Castroneves said. "I was so focused, nothing was distracting me."

Castroneves started from the pole in the second IndyCar Series race of the season. Fellow Brazilian Tony Kanaan, who had been fastest in practice and for the early part of qualifying, crashed and lost his fast lap Saturday.

Castroneves led for all but five of the 100 laps yesterday. He pulled away from Dixon on restarts after several caution flags and won by 0.6007 seconds -- about eight car-lengths. Kanaan finished third for the same 1-2-3 finish as last year.

Dan Wheldon, who dominated on the way to victory a week earlier in the opener on the Homestead-Miami Speedway oval, also crashed in practice Saturday and started 14th in a backup car. But, using a different fuel strategy, the Englishman was ahead of Castroneves on a restart on lap 35.

In what may have been the key moment, Castroneves gave Wheldon a hard bump on the restart and moved back into the lead as Wheldon's car wiggled and fell back into the pack.

"I don't know what happened," Castroneves said. "I was very surprised when I hit him. I had no intention of doing that.

"Maybe it was a brake test or maybe it was cold tires. My team was yelling 'green, green, green' in my head and I just went. It happened very fast."

The Penske driver was in charge the rest of the way, winning his 12th IndyCar race and getting to climb the fence in the traditional victory celebration that also earned him another nickname: "Spiderman."

First Published: April 2, 2007, 4:00 a.m.