Auto Racing Roundup : Problem With Brakes Is a Break for Senna in Easy Win at Detroit

Ayrton Senna of Brazil used a minor brake problem to his advantage Sunday, eventually taking charge of the Detroit Grand Prix and running off to an easy victory.

The 27-year-old driver took the lead on lap 34 of the 63-lap event through the streets of downtown Detroit and easily outdistanced the rest of the 26-car field the rest of the way.

And he did it without making a scheduled pit stop for fresh tires.

“I decided to go for it because at the beginning of the race I took it easy because I was slowed down a little when I had some brake problems,” Senna said.

“That automatically saved the tires,” he added with a grin after picking up his second straight Formula One victory and second straight win on the 2.5-mile, 20-turn circuit along the Detroit River.

Asked why he didn’t pit for tires, as did the rest of the top finishers, Senna smiled and said: “It was not necessary.”

The triumph for Senna and his Honda-powered Lotus came three weeks after a victory in the streets of Monaco. He beat second-place Nelson Piquet Sunday by a solid 33.819 seconds at the end of the 157.5-mile race.

Piquet, another Brazilian and the 1984 Detroit winner, had to overcome a flat tire in the third lap and work his way through the 26-car field.

Senna moved ahead of Alain Prost of France, the two-time defending series champion, in the season points race, 24-22. Prost’s McLaren-TAG finished third, followed by the Ferrari of Austrian Gerhard Berger.

Nigel Mansell of England, Piquet’s Williams-Honda teammate and the pole-winner, ran first or second most of the race but fell off the pace badly in the last 11 laps. He finished fifth, a lap behind the leaders.

Senna averaged a record 85.697 m.p.h., breaking the mark of 84.97 he set last year.

Eddie Cheever, the only American driver in the race came back from an early tangle with Teo Fabi of Italy to finish sixth, two laps behind the leaders.

Hurley Haywood slipped his Jaguar XJR-7 past Chip Robinson’s Porsche 962 on the next-to-last lap and held on to win the Grand Prix of Palm Beach Sunday at West Palm Beach, Fla.

Haywood lost the lead about 15 minutes from the end of the race Sunday on the 136th lap when Robinson dipped inside of him on Turn 1. But the 17-year Camel GT veteran made it back when he took advantage of slow traffic on Turn 5 to move inside Robinson into the lead.

The Porsche never got close enough to make another move as Haywood finished with a lead of 2.06 seconds and an average speed of 78.842 m.p.h..

Haywood, with co-driver John Morton, and Robinson and Derek Bell were the only cars on the lead lap at the end of the three-hour race on the 1.6-mile street course.

Haywood and Morton earned $28,500 for the win.

Rob Dyson and Price Cobb were third and A. J. Foyt and Davy Jones were fourth, both in Porsche 962s six laps behind the leaders. Chip Mead and Howard Cherry in a Porsche Fabcar were fifth overall and won the separate Camel Light competition.

The pole-sitting Corvette GTP co-driven by Doc Bundy and Sarel Van der Merwe had numerous mechanical problems before catching fire on the 61st lap. Bundy wasn’t injured in the fire, but the car was knocked out of the race.

Bundy escaped quickly and motioned for help. When nobody responded, Bundy ran across the track--barely eluding a car--to grab a fire extinguisher.

The fire crew eventually arrived, but not until the flames had done severe damage to the car.

“My heart just sunk. It’s a wonderful car. I didn’t want to lose that car,” said Bundy, who was wearing a T-shirt under his driving suit which said “Don’t Play With Fire.”

In the earlier GTU race Sunday, Terry Visger won in a Pontiac Fiero. Tom Gloy claimed the GTO title Saturday in a Ford Mustang.