Newswire : A Barefoot Budd Wins in Cross-Country Event

Zola Budd, the South African-born track star, cruised to an easy victory in her British cross-country debut Saturday at Ipswich, England.

Running barefoot, the 18-year-old naturalized Briton led the field by nearly two minutes, finishing the four-kilometer race in 18 minutes 56 seconds to win the Southern Amateur Athletic Assn. championship.

Budd decided only minutes before the race that she would run barefoot over the course, which included a number of gravel pathways.

A crowd of more than 5,000 cheered Budd, overshadowing a small group of anti-apartheid demonstrators who were protesting against her South African background.

Heike Drechsler-Daute of East Germany equalled her own world indoor long jump record with a leap of 22 feet 11 inches in a meet at Senftenberg, East Germany.

The 20-year-old, who cleared the distance on her third attempt, has an outdoor best of 24-3 1/2.

The New Jersey Generals have offered offensive tackle Mark May of the Washington Redskins of the National Football League a three-year contract for $400,000 a season, the Washington Post said.

“My sources lead me to believe that they (the Generals) are in fact interested in him,” Redskins’ General Manager Bobby Beathard said. But Beathard said he doesn’t know the details of the Generals’ offer.

May, 25, was one of 13 Redskins to formally become free agents Thursday and receive qualifying offers from the team. He was paid $160,000 last season and reportedly was offered $180,000 for 1985.

A Jaguar prototype vying for the lead of a 24-hour race at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway exploded into flames at the seven-hour mark, leaving the lead to of a Porsche 962 driven by Al Holbert, Derek Bell, and Al Unser Jr.

The Jaguar XJR-5 driven by Bob Tullius appeared to be engulfed in flames for more than a minute. Tullius was taken to the track hospital and transferred to Halifax Medical Center, track officials said.

Tullius said the fire apparently started after a disintegrating tire broke an oil line.

“Everything is fine and I’m OK,” officials quoted Tullius as saying.