MOTOR RACING ROUNDUP : Waltrip Overtakes Earnhardt to Win at Pocono

Darrell Waltrip took the lead with 17 laps remaining and held off Dale Earnhardt by 1.92 seconds to win the rain-delayed NASCAR Champion Spark Plug 500 at Pocono International Raceway in Long Pond, Pa., Sunday.

It was Waltrip’s second victory of the season.

Waltrip started 13th but made it clear early that he could be a force. He came out of the pits in fourth place after the first yellow flag--caused when a chicken wandered onto the track on Lap 19--and ran competitively the rest of the day.

The race was stopped because of rain with Jimmy Spencer in the lead after 138 laps on the 2 1/2-mile tri-oval.

Green-flag racing resumed on 144 before a crash by Mickey Gibbs caused another caution on 148. Ricky Rudd, Earnhardt, Ernie Irvan and Harry Gant asserted themselves over the next several laps of green-flag racing while Waltrip moved close.

After the last of seven cautions, Earnhardt took the lead from Michael Waltrip, Darrell’s younger brother, when the green waved on Lap 170. Darrell Waltrip moved up and took the lead, his third of the day, on 183 and Earnhardt couldn’t challenge.

“The car started vibrating and that’s when Darrell got by me,” Earnhardt said. “It got worse and worse every lap.”

The victory was Waltrip’s third at Pocono, but his first since July 1981. The Franklin, Tenn., driver’s other victory this season was at North Wilkesboro, N.C.

“I knew I had a good car and I was real concerned about the rain delay,” said Waltrip, who won at an average speed of 122.691 m.p.h. after the 1-hour 40-minute delay.

Wayne Taylor took the lead after the halfway point of the Mardi Gras Grand Prix and was ahead by almost a minute when rain washed out the final 15 minutes of the race through downtown streets of New Orleans.

Taylor, driving a Chevrolet Intrepid, produced the first IMSA victory in five years for an American engine builder.

He took the lead during pit stops in mid-race. He led from Lap 42, completing 81 laps with a lead of 57.788 seconds over Geoff Brabham’s Nissan.

Taylor averaged 60.126 m.p.h. and won $95,000 for his first victory in 21 IMSA starts.

Ricardo Patrese of Italy outdueled Nigel Mansell of Britain, his Williams Renault teammate, to win the Mexican Grand Prix at Mexico City.

Patrese, who started from the pole, battled throughout with Mansell, who started alongside on the front row. Patrese took the lead on the 15th lap and was ahead thereafter, although he was never free of Mansell.

Ayrton Senna of Brazil, the leader in the season points chase, was third. It was the second consecutive defeat for Senna’s McLaren-Honda, which dominated earlier in the season by winning the first four races of the year.

Patrese averaged 122.489 m.p.h. for 67 laps of the 1.747-mile circuit, finishing 1.336 seconds ahead of Mansell. Mansell tried to pass Patrese just before the home stretch but was unsuccessful.

The race was shortened by two laps because it was delayed 30 minutes when two cars wouldn’t start immediately.

Guy Cooper and Jeff Matiasevich collided on the final lap of Saturday night’s 250cc Camel Supercross Series at San Jose, allowing Yamaha’s Doug Dubach to claim his first supercross series victory.

Cooper had just taken the lead from Matiasevich when the two riders received the white flag indicating one lap to go.

Matiasevich tried to regain the lead as they entered the first turn but he went into the corner too hard and slammed into his rival. Both went down, and Dubach took over the lead.