MOTOR RACING ROUNDUP : Rudd Remembers How to Hit Finish Line First

Having tried to forget where he was, Ricky Rudd had a hard time convincing himself that he really won at Darlington, S.C.

Rudd not only won, he ran the fastest race ever Sunday at the oldest NASCAR superspeedway for his first victory at Darlington Raceway.

“I really had to downplay . . . where we were running,” Rudd said after winning the TranSouth 500. “I detuned myself so much not to get excited and make a mistake that really it hadn’t sunk in.”

Rudd, driving a Chevrolet, averaged 135.594 m.p.h., which broke the track record of 135.462 m.p.h. set by Dale Earnhardt in the 1989 Southern 500. The TranSouth 500 record was 131.284 m.p.h., set by Lake Speed in 1988.

Earnhardt lost his points lead to Rudd, who has 808 and an 80-point lead over Earnhardt.

Davey Allison, who finished second, had the lead for the next 31 laps before pitting, handing the lead to Rudd. Rudd, who was able to run the final 73 laps without pitting, wasn’t challenged the rest of the way en route to his 12th career victory.

Ron Braaksma of Downey piloted his top-fuel hydro drag boat to a final-round victory over Houston’s Kyle Walker in the championship eliminations of the Chief Auto Parts Spring Nationals at Puddingstone Lake.

Braaksma’s winning time in his 4,000-horsepower “Madness” in the quarter-mile race was 6.06 seconds at 204.54 m.p.h. to Walker’s 6.15 and 207.86.

Raul Boesel of Brazil held off a challenge from the Chevrolet Miller of Tom Kendall and drove his Jaguar XJR-10 to victory in the Nissan Grand Prix of Miami.

The 1987 world endurance champion earned his second IMSA Camel GT victory and gave Tom Walkinshaw’s Jaguar team its second win in four races this season.

Boesel took the lead with about 40 minutes remaining when leader Bernd Schneider of Germany took his Porsche 962C in for a pit stop.

Geoff Brabham, who won the last two Miami races, was third.

World champion Wayne Rainey held off Australian Michael Doohan for his first victory in the Australian Grand Prix at Sydney.

Rainey started on the pole and took a 6.75-second lead before finishing 2.54 seconds ahead.