European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 31, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse Wednesday january 31, 1990 the stars and stripes Page 25 racing Roundup Daytona classic to open . Season the 1990 racing season in the United states starts this weekend with the 24 hours or Day Tona endurance classic first round in the 1990 inter National motor sports association 1msa Camel cup championship. This year s series the 16th straight since the for mation of i Mesa. Consists of 15 races. The official Nissan corporate team is favored to win at Daytona this weekend and is favored to win the 1990 title As Well. The electromotive Nissan top Zyx Turbo has dominated the Camel Ftp series the past two years winning 19 of 29 races. Australia s Geoff Brabham the no. 1 Driver for Nissan has been a major Factor in this Success Story. Brabham captured the Simsa title two years in a Row and is aiming for a third one. The american based australian failed to finish last year s 24 hours of Daytona although he led six times in the electromotive Nissan before dropping out in the 20th hour. This was one of his few set backs. He went on to Victory in nine other ims races while on the Way to capturing his second driving title. Winning the championship last year would have been a lot easier if we had scored at Daytona Brab Ham says and winning that race is definitely one of our goals this this weekend s Daytona opener is especially important to compete tutors Simsa says be cause it has been designated As a special race. While All 15 rounds count toward the championship the Daytona race will be Worth eight extra Bonus Points per position. I think it s a Good thing for Simsa to give Bonus Points at Brabham says because that race is much tougher than any other in our championship the Busby racing team Winner of last year s Day Tona race with an aging porsche 962c sports Proto Type returns this season with a different lineup of Drivers and a different car. Indy car Veteran Kevin Coogan and 1982 Simsa Champion John Paul or. Have signed on with team owner Jim Busby to drive the first customer Nissan Ftp ext Brabham s car from last Yea Rand they la be supported by the Mercedes contracted Driver Mauro Baldi of Italy. The official Nissan car entry will be driven by Brabham Chip Robinson Bob Earl and Derek Daly. The huge held will take the Start at 3 30 . On saturday and the Winner will Greet the Check ered Flag 24 hours later. While leafing through the Simsa press releases on the 24 hours of Daytona i could t help but think How envious the world sports prototype championship Drivers teams and sponsors must be. The Simsa officials have their schedule All set and the season is about to begin. The operation has been smooth from the Start and the act is fully together. Meanwhile the world championship schedule for 1990 is still incomplete and thanks to fisa and its Boss Jean Marie Balestre the 24 hours of la mans apparently will remain a non championship event for the second year in a Row. If it weren t so sad it would be laughable. Here s a world championship series supported by such illustrious firms As Mercedes Peugeot Nissan and Toyota and it still does t have a definite Calendar for 1990. While dates have finally been set the racing Sites Are still undetermined for the Spanish Canadian and . Rounds. And the 24 hours of be mans one of the oldest and most prestigious of races apparently won t appear on the world championship Calendar. Manufacturer support is the key to the future of this newly structured championship but the Way things Are going it won t last Long. By now Mercedes must be re thinking its decision about sports car racing and wishing it had opted for formula one. But again thanks to fisa it s a bad scene there As Well. The Mclaren Honda team with two straight world championships May not be Able to defend its title and that Borders on the unbelievable. On Mon Day the Mclaren Honda application to race was returned by fisa because of the controversy Over its Driver Ayrton Senna. I be written recent columns on both the unfortunate la mans state of affairs and the Senna Balestro War so i won t go into detail again. But it docs seem that fisa the governing body of International to Tor sport and its president Balestre should consider compromises in both situations. In the be mans Case the race organizers were never Given enough time to solve the chicane Issue. Balestre should let it go for this year and then insist on mul Sanne straight chicanes for the 1991 race. That would be fair enough. And there must be a Way to allow the defending world championship team Mclaren Honda to go racing. The Art of Compromise is not All that dead. But instead of compromising to help the sport Prosper Balestre and fisa All too often appear that they Are working full time to kill it off. One european racing series that does hold out great Promise this year is the German tour ing car Sedan championship. The races last season were of extremely High Caliper and for 1990 they should even gel better. The italian Driver Roberto Ravaglia won the championship while campaigning in a Bow m3, and hell be Back for the 1990 Campaign. The series will be contested by the leading Ger Man volume manufacturers including Bow Mer cedes opel Ford and Audi. Top Drivers have been engaged by All of the companies and the entry list is Long. Audi after racing successfully for two years in America is going All out with is pow Rcd Quattro 200s to be driven by German aces Hans stuck and Walter r6hl. Entering the German touring car championship for the first time Audi is ending its american Campaign after winning the trans am title in 1988 and scoring a string of victories in the 1989 Simsa it series. Stuck and Rohrl drove for Audi in America. The pm subsidiary opel has signed on the Veter an Klaus Niedzwiedz who is leaving Ford after Many years and Many great drives in the Sierra cos Worth. The opel entry is an interesting one with Niedzwiedz and two other German Drivers to race Irmscher prepared omegas of 360 horsepower. Opel says All of its factory entry cars will use Only Lead free gasoline in Competition. This includes the tour ing car series opel Lotus Challenge and the Ger Man National rally championship. Bow meanwhile has added Joachim Winckl Hock to its Driver lineup and Mercedes will go with Klaus Ludwig and Kurt Thim. There s a lot More but those the highlights. The tickets to these races quite reasonable so plan on checking out a few of the programs this season. The 1990 schedule is As follows German touring car championship april i zolder. Belgium Panl 8 Bockenheim. Germany april 22 curb urging. Germany May 6 Berlin avus circuit May 20 Mainz Fin Lhnn Airfield circuit. Germany june 3 Wunstorff Airfield circuit. Germany june 17 curb urging july i Nom ring. Niernberg. Germany aug. 5 Diepholz Airfield circuit. Germany sept. 2 curb urging sept. 16 Smygen Airport circuit Germany oct. 7 St. Wendel Street circuit. Germany oct. 14 Bockenheim o where to go this weekend the sixth and final round in the seventh annual adar indoor Motocross Winter cup series will be held saturday in Berlin with the action scheduled to begin at . In the . The entry features an International Field of riders on i25cc Motocross cycles. To Stara and so rep a Austria s Mader wins super a Les menu res France a Giinther Mader of Austria won tues Day s world cup super giant slalom beating Norway s old Christian Furuseth by .45 second. Mader was limed in i minute 14.79 seconds to Furuseth s 1 15.24. Norway s Alle Skardal Winner of the 50th anniversary Hahnenkamp Down Hill at Kitz Buhel Austria 10 Days ago was third in 1 15.26. It was the second Victory this season for Mader who has won five times since 1986.it was his first career title in a super a which blends the Speed of a downhill with the precision turns of giant slalom. Furuseth trimmed into the world cup Overall Points Lead of Pirmin Zurbriggen of Switzerland. Zurbriggen bidding for a re Cord tying fourth Overall title in what he has said is his final season of racing was seventh in tuesday s race and has 249 Points for the season. Furuseth has 212. Mader is third Overall with 173 Points. Sweden s Lars Boerne Eriksson was fourth followed by frenchmen Armand chicle and Franck Piccard. Super bowl to rating lowest since 1969 Jerry Rice liked sunday s super bowl. 108.5 million people saw him new York a the san fran Cisco 49ers 55-10 rout of the Denver Broncos was the lowest rated super bowl in 21 years and the third lowest Ever . Nielsen co. Announced tuesday. The game on lbs averaged a 39.0 rating and a 63 share the lowest super bowl rat ing since 1969, when the new York jets 16-7 Victory Over Baltimore got a 36.0 on for the worst rating Ever. The rating represents a percentage of the nation s televisions each Point rep resents 921,000 Homes. The share is the percentage of televisions on at the time. Despite the Low rating. Sunday s game was seen by about 108.3 million people making it the ninth most watched to show Ever in the United Stales behind eight super bowls and the final episode of the higher viewership was made possible by the annual increase in the number of Homes with television. Given the expected Blowout the numbers completely understandable and we re Happy to have a 39," said Susan Kerr director of programming for lbs sports. It s still a remarkable rat ing for prime the 49crs won by the biggest margin in super bowl history. Only the 1969 and 1968 super bowls had lower ratings. Green Bay s 33-14 Vic tory Over Oakland in 1968 got a 36.8. The first super bowl was in 1967. Last car s san Francisco Cincinnati super bowl won by the 49crs 20-16. Goi a 43.5 rating and was seen in 39.3 Mil lion Homes according to Nielsen Esti mates. This year s game was seen in about 35.9 million Homes. Viewership of the 5 . Est game this year peaked at a 41.6 rating and a 69 share from 6 . To 6 30 ., dropping off As it became Clear Denver would not rally. The pregame show got a 39.0 rating and a 63 share. The Post game show got a 22.5 rating and a 35 share
