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Sunday, May 12, 2002

By The Associated Press

After 95 winless starts in the NASCAR Busch series, Bobby Hamilton Jr. found the winning groove.

Powering through the pack in the final 60 laps, Hamilton won the Busch 200 at the New Hampshire International Speedway yesterday in Loudon, N.H., for his first victory.

Hamilton, whose Ford is sponsored by the Marine Corps, jumped out of his car and waived the Marine flag before doing a quick spin at the finish line.

Todd Bodine, who started third and was in contention most of the way, finished second. Jack Sprague was third, and rookie pole-sitter Shane Hmiel was fourth, his best finish.

Hamilton, whose previous best finish was third last month at Nashville, came from behind to win. He was leading when he went in for a pit stop, but he had to return to the pit moments later to have a track bar adjusted. He came out for the 140th lap in 15th place.

Using the new 12-foot groove on the turns that was put in for this race to create more passing opportunities, Hamilton began his push through the field.

By the 153rd lap, he was 11th. Three laps later he was ninth. By the 163rd lap, he moved up to seventh.

"Before I knew it, I was fifth and there was the leader," he said.

He passed Bodine on turn 3 of the 186th lap, and passed Hmiel at nearly the same spot one lap later.

Hamilton cruised home, winning by 2.4 seconds. His average speed over the 1.058-mile track was 110.340 mph.

Other race

Austrian Grand Prix: Rubens Barrichello won the pole position for the Austrian Grand Prix in Spielberg, Austria, and Ferrari teammate Michael Schumacher had his worst qualifying of the season, settling for third.

Barrichello turned a lap of 1 minute, 8.082 seconds on the 2.688-mile circuit to win his second pole of the year.

Ralf Schumacher, Michaels' younger brother, qualified second at 1:08.364 in his BMW-Williams.

Four-time world champion and points leader Michael Schumacher will start from the second row after a time of 1:08.704. Schumacher has won four of five races this season.

Schumacher, who leads the drivers' standings by 21 points over Juan Pablo Montoya (44-23), has never won on the Austrian circuit. Montoya was fourth in 1:09.118.

News

Ron Hornaday has replaced the fired Lyndon Amick in Carroll Racing's No. 26 Busch Series car. Hornaday, the two-time Craftsman Truck Series champion, began the year without a full-time ride after being dropped by A.J. Foyt's Winston Cup team. He has two victories in 58 Busch starts. He finished 14th yesterday at New Hampshire.