MOTOR RACING ROUNDUP : Mansell Graduates at Milwaukee

Nigel Mansell says he’s a fast learner and on Sunday he proved it. The 39-year-old Englishman had lost the Indianapolis 500 a week ago on a restart after a caution flag, and he applied the lesson he learned from that in Sunday’s Miller Genuine Draft 200 at the Milwaukee Mile.

Making only his second start on an oval track, Mansell passed pole-winner Raul Boesel for the lead with 19 laps remaining, then held him off on a restart two laps from the end.

“I still consider myself on a learning curve,” said Mansell, the reigning Formula One champion who picked up his second Indy car victory--the other came on a street course in Australia--in five starts and added to his series point lead.

Mansell, who moved to the Indy car series over the winter, had finished third behind Fittipaldi and Arie Luyendyk in the Indianapolis 500 after they passed him on a late restart.

“I learned a very painful lesson in Indianapolis on the restart there,” Mansell said. “I wasn’t going to have that happen again.

“I slowed it right down (in the first turn). I think Raul knew what I was doing, but I did get a good start. I just floored it. He still got too close to me in Turn 1 (after the start). He did a fantastic job.”

Boesel finished 0.514 seconds behind Mansell in the battle of Ford Cosworth-powered Lolas.

“Nigel got on (the throttle) coming off (Turn) 2,” Boesel said. “I had (Danny) Sullivan ahead of me, and I had to wait before I could overtake him, so (Mansell) had a little jump there. I got close in Turn 1, but it wasn’t close enough.”

Mansell averaged 110.970 m.p.h. in the 200-lap event.

His pass for the lead came in traffic and only seconds after he nearly lost control in turbulent air in Turn 2.

“That was an exciting moment,” Mansell said. “I saw the rear end of my car moving out to the side and thought it was gone. Then Raul got into some dirty air, and I saw his front end move just a little and I was able to take advantage of that and get around him on the (main) straight.”

Boesel said, “I got caught in traffic. I needed to back off, so he got a clean shot on the inside. If I had a clear track, it would probably be different.”

Fittipaldi was third, followed by Bobby Rahal. Their cars were the only ones in the lead lap at the finish.

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Dale Earnhardt won his second consecutive race with a 0.22-second victory over Dale Jarrett in the caution-filled NASCAR Budweiser 500 at Dover, Del.

Earnhardt, in a Chevrolet Lumina, averaged 105.597 m.p.h., the slowest winning speed at Dover Downs International Speedway since 1975, for his third victory of the season and third of his career at Dover. He earned $68,030.

The 14th caution of the day, tying a track record, followed a hard crash that took out Rusty Wallace as he battled with Mark Martin for second place. The final 67 laps were run under a green flag, and Earnhardt led all but one.

Martin took the lead from Earnhardt on Lap 437, but Earnhardt came up on him in Turn 1 of the following lap and passed him on the backstretch.

Jarrett’s runner-up finish was his best since winning the season-opening Daytona 500. Behind the 1-2 Chevrolet finish were the Fords of Davey Allison and Martin. Ken Schrader was fifth in a Chevy.

The race, at 4 hours 44 minutes 6 seconds, was the slowest since David Pearson’s 4:57:32 victory at 100.820 m.p.h. in May of 1975. The 14 cautions used 78 laps.

“You get to relax just a little bit. Then you have to go back in,” Earnhardt said of the interruptions.

Earnhardt stretched his Winston Cup points lead from 129 to 209 over second-place Wallace, who finished 21st.