Motor Racing Roundup : Rahal Ends Fittipaldi’s Streak at 3

Emerson Fittipaldi’s three-race winning streak was halted Sunday when Bobby Rahal won the rain-shortened Marlboro Grand Prix at the Meadowlands in East Rutherford, N.J.

The race began in light rain and, after several downpours, was stopped five laps short of the scheduled 150-lap, 185.55-mile distance.

Rahal, who earned his second victory at the Meadowlands, took the lead when Michael Andretti, who dominated most of the race, locked his brakes on the wet track. He hit a concrete barrier on lap 90.

Andretti, who has dropped out of three races this season while leading, was sailing along with a lead ranging between 12 and 20 seconds over first, his father, Mario, and later, Rahal.

Mario Andretti was caught in an accident when Pancho Carter spun on lap 75. Andretti hit another car and broke his left rear suspension, knocking him out of the race.

Rahal, a two-time CART-PPG series champion who had not won since the Pocono 500 last August, took the lead and Fittipaldi, winner of four of the last five races, was trying to catch him.

Fittipaldi steadily closed, driving aggressively on the wet track. By lap 99, the lead was less than one second, but the Brazilian could not pass Rahal.

“I was sure trying to win four in a row,” Fittipaldi said. “It didn’t happen though. I tried my best and it didn’t happen. Two times I tried to pass and both times it didn’t happen. The second time we touched tires and I hit the wall. It was a great race.”

Nine days after announcing he will leave the McLaren racing team at the end of the season, Alain Prost sped to a 19-second victory in the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, England, for his second consecutive Formula One victory.

Prost, who won the French Grand Prix a week earlier, expanded his lead in the world drivers’ standings to 20 points and gave McLaren its sixth victory in eight races this season.

“It was a very important victory and maybe a bigger victory for the team,” Prost said.

Two days before the French Grand Prix, Prost said he will leave a McLaren team where he has won two world championships but has become involved in a bitter rivalry with teammate Ayrton Senna. Since then, he has claimed his only two victories of the season and moved into a comfortable lead over Senna in the standings.

Briton Nigel Mansell was second in a Ferrari, holding off third-place Alessandro Nannini of Italy in a Benetton-Ford by 29 seconds.

Prost, 34, finished the 65-lap race around the 2.97-mile Silverstone Circuit in 1 hour 19 minutes 22.131 seconds.

Defending world champion Senna, who started from the pole position, led early in the race but spun off the track on the 12th lap because of a gear-shifting problem.

World champion Eddie Lawson from Upland, riding a Honda, won the French Grand Prix 500 cc motorcycle race at Le Mans.

Lawson, 30, finished 29 laps of the 2.75-mile Bugatti du Mans course in 50:16:94. His average speed was 95.25 m.p.h.

Countryman Kevin Schwantz of Houston, on a Suzuki, was second, 77-hundredths of a second behind the leader. Wayne Rainey of Downey, riding a Yamaha, finished third, 15.53 seconds off the pace.

Geoff Brabham and Chip Robinson drove their Nissan GTP-ZXT to victory in the Miller High Life 500 IMSA Camel GT sports car race in Elkhart Lake, Wis.

Brabham, defending race and series champion, and Robinson covered 78 laps at an average speed of 113.032 m.p.h., taking the lead late in the race and holding off a challenge from Price Cobb and Jan Lammers in a Jaguar XJR-10.

Davy Jones and John Nielsen, the pole-sitters, were next, also in a Jaguar, followed by John Andretti and Bob Wollak in a Porsche 962.

Steve Millen won the GTO division in a Nissan 300ZX, edging the Audi Quattro driven by Harley Haywood and Scott Goodyear.

Tom Kendall, a 22-year-old UCLA student, won the SCCA Chevrolet Corvette Challenge at the Meadowlands.

Kendall, of La Canada, who has won three IMSA GTU titles, started sixth in the 22-car field.

He moved to third on lap eight, took second on lap 33 and moved past Boris Said III on lap 34, leading the rest of the way.

The $90,532 NASCAR Motorcraft 500 stock car race scheduled Sunday at Evergreen Speedway in Monroe, Wash., was postponed for 24 hours because of rain.

Tom D’Eath, driving Miss Budweiser, won the Pringle’s Family Thunderboat race on Onondaga Lake in Syracuse, N.Y.

Larry Lauterbach, in the Winston Eagle, took the lead from D’Eath at the start, but was penalized for cutting off Miss Madison.