MOTOR RACING ROUNDUP : Earnhardt Becomes First Repeat Winner

Dale Earnhardt took advantage of new tires and a chassis adjustment on his final pit stop to become the first NASCAR Winston Cup repeat winner this year, overpowering Kyle Petty in the final 38 laps of the Hanes 500 at Martinsville, Va., Sunday.

Earnhardt, who won earlier this year at Richmond, Va., cut short the string of different winners at seven, which equals the NASCAR Winston Cup record set in 1963.

He earned his 50th career victory, tying him with Hall of Famers Ned Jarrett and Junior Johnson.

“(Earnhardt) was just a whole lot better than I was with new tires,” said Petty, who hung on for second place and slipped up to Earnhardt’s car in Victory Circle to playfully spray his rival in the face with water on a hot, humid day. “Our tires would come in good after 20 or 30 laps.”

Davey Allison also challenged late in the race, but finished eighth, a lap behind, after a tire went flat while he was leading.

“It was a good race all day,” Earnhardt said. “Our car was a little off late in the race when Allison was leading, but that last pit stop helped us a lot and the car was real good at the end.”

There was plenty of bumping and banging around the tight oval, with virtually every car carrying tire marks or other scars long before the end of the 500-lap race. But there was little of the rough tactics that had drivers and NASCAR officials up in arms in the two previous events at Bristol, Tenn., and North Wilkesboro, N.C.

Allison came back from a spin at mid-race to lead twice and appeared to have his first victory of the season wrapped up before he cut down his right front tire on lap 455, giving up the top spot to Petty.

As Allison drove slowly toward his back-straight pit, he was hit by Alan Kulwicki, bringing out the 11th and final caution flag and a round of pit stops.

Earnhardt, pitting on the front straight, returned to the track first, but Petty, coming out of the back pits, managed to just get out ahead of Earnhardt to take the lead. But it took Earnhardt only two laps of green-flag racing to pass Petty and begin to pull away.

Earnhardt led the last 37 laps, driving his Chevrolet Lumina across the finish line 3.4 seconds ahead of Petty’s Pontiac Grand Prix. The winner earned $63,600 and averaged 75.139 m.p.h. on the .526-mile Martinsville Speedway oval.

World champion Ayrton Senna lapped everyone but his McLaren-Honda teammate Gerhard Berger in the San Marino Grand Prix at Imola, Italy, winning his third consecutive Formula One race.

It was Senna’s 29th career victory.

Just before the race began in heavy rain on a slippery track, Frechman Alain Prost drove his Ferrari off the track during the warm-up lap and was ruled out of the race because he was unable to get his car back to the starting grid. His teammate, Jean Alesi also went off the track early in the race.

Said Senna: “It was an incredible victory, achieved in very difficult conditions. It was a very dangerous race because the car was set for dry conditions.”

Senna, who won Formula One races in the United States and Brazil earlier this year, completed 61 laps (191.304 miles) in one hour 35 minutes 14.75 seconds.

Berger was 1.67 seconds behind him.

Senna, who started in the pole position, was passed by Italian Riccardo Patrese at the start of the race. Patrese led for eight laps before being stopped by an electrical problem in his Williams-Renault.

Senna took over first place in the ninth lap and led the rest of the way. Berger, who trailed Senna by as much as 16 seconds, sharply reduced the gap in the final laps.

Rob MacCachren passed Ivan Stewart on the seventh lap of the 12-lap main event at Seattle Saturday night and won his first main event in the Mickey Thompson Off-Road Championship Gran Prix.

The victory by MacCachren, from Las Vegas, was the first for a Ford truck in the series since 1986.

Series point-leader Walker Evans was second in a Dodge, and Roger Mears was third in a Nissan.

Davy Jones of Cortland, N.Y., finished first in the Grand Prix of Atlanta IMSA Camel GT sports car race at Braselton, Ga., in a Jaguar XJR-16.

Jones beat Chip Robinson of Oldwick N.J. with an average speed of 120.932 m.p.h. Brazil’s Raul Boesel was third.

Jones won $30,000.