Motor Racing Roundup : Hot Fittipaldi Wins at Cleveland

Emerson Fittipaldi earned his third consecutive victory, winning the Cleveland Grand Prix Indy-car race Sunday on a hot and humid day.

Fittipaldi, 42, who has won four of his last five starts, including the Indianapolis 500, earned his second triumph in three years on the Burke Lakefront Airport road circuit.

Fittipaldi, a two-time Formula One champion, avoided problems on the 2.48-mile, 12-turn circuit laid out on concrete runways and taxiways. He drove his Chevrolet-powered Penske PC18 across the finish line 16.95 seconds ahead of the Lola-Chevrolet of second-place Mario Andretti.

Bobby Rahal, who finished second to Fittipaldi a week earlier in Portland, Ore., was third this time in a Lola-Cosworth. He was followed by Teo Fabi of Italy in a March-Porsche and Rick Mears in a Penske-Chevrolet, the only other competitors on the lead lap at the end of the 80-lap, 198.4-mile race.

Fittipaldi, who also won two weeks ago at Detroit, took the lead from pole-winner Michael Andretti when the two made their first scheduled pit stops at the end of lap 26. While Fittipaldi got in and out cleanly, Andretti bumped into the rear of the car driven by his father and teammate as Mario pitted just in front of him.

Michael’s car, which led Fittipaldi’s through the first 26 laps, suffered a bent tie-rod. He managed to return to a distant third, but was never in contention as electrical problems eliminated him.

Fittipaldi earned $45,160 as he averaged 128.072 m.p.h. in a race run without any full-course caution flags and with no serious accidents or injuries. That speed was just shy of Fittipaldi’s own race record of 128.421 set in 1987.

Geoff Brabham, driving a Nissan GTP-ZXT prototype, teamed with Chip Robinson to win the Camel Continental sports car race at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International.

Brabham, the defending IMSA Camel GTP series champion, scored his sixth victory in eight races this year. He crossed the finish line more than a minute ahead of the second-place Chevy Spice SE89 co-driven by Bob Earl and Jim Miller.

A Toyota Group C prototype driven by Drake Olson and Juan Manuel Fangio II of Argentina finished third, also on the lead lap.

Brabham took over the GTP driver’s championship points lead with 131 points. Robinson moved into second with 127 points. Brabham had entered the race trailing Jaguar drivers Price Cobb and John Nielsen by one point, but neither Cobb nor Nielsen got a chance to drive Sunday when both Jaguars went out early with problems.

The international motorcycling jury suspended the result of the rain-soaked Belgian 500cc Grand Prix at Francorchamps, four hours after U.S. rider Wayne Rainey had celebrated his apparent victory.

The jury decided local organizers had infringed the rules by allowing riders to restart the race after two interruptions because of rain.

The jury first awarded the race to Rainey’s closest challenger in the world standings, fellow-American Eddie Lawson, who was leading the race after eight laps when the event was stopped a second time. But Rainey and French rider Christian Sarron appealed the decision.

The jury then said the overall result was suspended. Officials said it could take weeks before a winner is announced.

Jim Kropfeld, driving the Miss Budweiser almost effortlessly in a day-long rain, won the Indiana Governor’s Cup at Madison, Ind. in the annual Madison Regatta for unlimited hydroplane drag boats.

His second victory in four races this season gave him a 10-point lead over Chip Hanauer’s Miss Circus Circus in the HFC Hydroplane Series.

It was the third victory at Madison for Kropfeld, 48, of Cincinnati, who missed most of last season after breaking his neck in a crash at the opening race at Miami.