MOTOR RACING ROUNDUP : Not <i> That</i> Easy, but Gant Wins Again

The more Harry Gant thought about it, the more he knew he was right.

“I figured we had it in the bag, but then I realized how many laps were still left, and I knew it couldn’t be this easy,” Gant said Sunday after he found a new way to continue his stranglehold on stock car racing.

It wasn’t that easy. Gant, who had dominated the race for 200 laps, and Rusty Wallace tangled with 122 laps remaining. That pushed Gant’s crumpled car back to 12th place, 15 seconds behind leader Ernie Irvan. Gant, 51, then worked his way through the field for his fourth consecutive Winston Cup victory, a 1.3-second triumph in the Goody’s 500.

It put him in the Winston Cup record book with Darrell Waltrip and Dale Earnhardt for the most consecutive victories in the modern era of stock car racing’s top series. Waltrip won four in a row in 1981 and Earnhardt did it in 1987.

“It sure is special. I don’t even know what to say about all this any more,” Gant said.

The event on Martinsville Speedway’s .526-mile, low-banked oval featured the usual bumping and banging, including a crash involving Morgan Shepherd that brought out a late caution flag and made the race an 18-lap shootout.

Gant had no problem pulling away from Brett Bodine to the checkered flag.

“We were decent,” Bodine said, “but we weren’t material to win the race with Harry up there. We tried to hold him back, but nothing doing.”

Bodine finished second, followed by Dale Earnhardt, Irvan and pole-sitter Mark Martin.

Running a nearly perfect strategic race, Michael Andretti outdueled Al Unser Jr. in the Texaco-Havoline 200 for a third consecutive victory, solidifying Andretti’s CART Indy-car series lead.

The 50-lap, 200-mile race at Road America is difficult to finish without conserving fuel and a record pace added to the problem.

Andretti waited until two laps remained to make a five-second fuel-only pit stop that enabled him to get back on the track ahead of Unser for a career-high seventh victory of the season.

Unser appeared able to outrun Andretti when the two went head to head, but with the fuel restrictions, Andretti was able to win and increase his series lead over Bobby Rahal to 13 points, 197-184. Unser remained third with 169 points.

Andretti has 21 victories in his career but never has won the series championship.

Andretti’s winning average of 126.205 m.p.h. shattered the previous track record of 122.803 set by Danny Sullivan in 1989.

Italy’s Riccardo Patrese won the Portuguese Grand Prix at Estoril, but second place was good enough for Ayrton Senna to virtually clinch his third Formula One title.

Patrese, in a Williams-Renault, beat Senna’s McLaren-Honda by more than 20 seconds. Frenchman Jean Alesi was third in a Ferarri.

Britain’s Nigel Mansell saw his chance to overtake Senna evaporate when Mansell was ordered out of the race after 51 laps because his crew had worked on a tire outside of the safety zone, which is against Formula One rules.

Senna increased his lead in the standings to 24 points with three races left. He has 83 points to Mansell’s 59. A victory in a Grand Prix race counts 10 points and second place is worth 6. Only three Formula One races remain this season.

Patrese was timed in 1 hour 35 minutes 42.304 seconds, for the 71 laps on the 2.703-mile Autodromo circuit. He averaged 120.314 m.p.h. for the 191.91 miles.

A track technician died in the Bol d’Or 24-hour endurance race at Le Castellet, France, after being struck by a racer while the yellow flag was out.

Maurice Perichet, 35, died in a Marseille hospital of injuries suffered when he was struck by Frenchman Philippe Pinchedez on a Kawasaki. Perichet was cleaning an oil spot from the track spilled by another rider.

French motorcyclist Alex Vieira won the event.