Fittipaldi Triumphs in the Rain

Emerson Fittipaldi overcame hard-charging Nigel Mansell and a mid-race rainstorm Sunday to win the Budweiser-G.I. Joe’s 200 at Portland, Ore.

“It was a very challenging race,” Fittipaldi said after his second victory of the season, 19th of his Indy car career and 74th for the elite Marlboro Team Penske.

As for driving in the rain, the Brazilian said, “When there is a situation like today, with no aquaplaning and pretty good visibility, I enjoy that.”

Mansell, the series point leader, started from the pole and led the first 27 laps on the 1.95-mile, nine-turn Portland International Raceway road course, with Fittipaldi never letting the Englishman get as much as a full second ahead.

Finally, the pressure paid when Mansell, the reigning Formula One champion but an Indy car rookie, braked too late going into the first turn--a right-hander--locked the rear brakes in a cloud of smoke and drove off course and into some safety cones.

Fittipaldi drove his Penske-Chevrolet into a lead he held for most of the 102-lap event, losing the top spot only briefly during pit stops.

The uncharacteristic mistake shunted Mansell to fourth place behind Fittipaldi, Penske teammate Paul Tracy and Stefan Johansson

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John Force, Warren Johnson and Eddie Hill continued their success in the NHRA Winston Drag Racing Series with victories at the Western Auto Nationals at Topeka, Kan.

Force picked up his seventh funny-car victory of the year, while Johnson was a pro-stock winner for the sixth time. Hill was the top-fuel champion for the fourth time.

Track and Field

British hurdler Colin Jackson and Russian sprinter Irina Privalova produced the top performances on the final day of the European Cup at Rome’s Olympic Stadium.

Jackson, a European champion and an Olympic silver medalist in Seoul, won the 110-meter hurdles in 13.10 seconds, the best time in the world this year.

Privalova set another world best for the year in the women’s 200 meters, winning in 22.30 seconds. France’s Marie-Jose Perec, the Olympic 400-meter champion, had the same time as Privalova, but was placed second after judges checked the photo finish.

Ukrainian pole vaulter Sergei Bubka, who holds the world record of 20-1 1/4, failed to clear 19-10 1/4 and finished second to Russian Rodion Gataulin.

Mozambique’s Maria Mutola and Kenya’s Simon Chemoiywo posted the best times in the world this year in their running events at the African Track and Field Championships in Durban, South Africa.

Mutola, the reigning world indoor champion at 800 meters, won the 800 in 1 minute, 56.39 seconds.

Chemoiywo won the 5,000 meters in 13:09.68.

Basketball

Bosnia-Herzegovina, playing with a makeshift lineup that included four players who just joined the team from military service in the war-torn country, led Italy until the final seconds, before falling, 74-72, in the second round of the European basketball championships at Berlin.

In games involving unbeaten teams, Croatia beat Germany, 72-63, and Spain outlasted Latvia, 95-87. Both are 4-0 and have clinched berths in the finals which get under way July 1 in Munich.

Jennifer Azzi scored 30 points to lead the United States to a 121-41 victory over Chile in the women’s World Championship qualifying tournament at Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Azzi, a 1990 graduate of Stanford, was 12 for 15 from the field, including five for eight from three-point range as the U.S. (2-0) shot 63.3% from the field.

Miscellany

Thailand’s Ratanaphol Sor Vorapin stopped Ala Villamor of the Philippines in the seventh round of a scheduled 12-round fight to retain his IBF mini-flyweight crown at Bangkok, Thailand.

Iran and Syria tied, 1-1, and Oman beat Taiwan, 2-1, at Tehran, Iran, in Asian Group B qualifying for the 1994 World Cup.

The top-seeded team of Karch Kiraly and Kent Steffes defeated the No. 7-seeded team of Scott Ayakatubby and Tim Hovland, 15-2, to win the $75,000 Miller Lite Open at Ocean City, Md.

Teams from a record 40 countries will compete in the world hang-gliding championships starting today through July 11 at Bishop. Although the Owens Valley is regarded as one of the best gliding sites in the world, this is the first time the championships have been held in the United States since their inception in 1976.