Lewis Wins 100, Caps Relay Victory : Track: Attempt for world record goes by the wayside when he suffers from cramping during anchor leg in the 400-meter relay.

Carl Lewis anchored the Santa Monica Track Club’s 400-meter relay team to victory and won the 100-meter dash at the New York Games Sunday.

After taking a poor baton pass from Floyd Heard, Lewis began the final 100-meter leg about a half-meter behind Tony Dees of the Florida Clippers.

But about 40 meters later, Lewis was in the lead. Instead of bursting through the tape, however, Lewis slowed before it and the winning time was 38.18 seconds, short of the world record of 37.83 set by the 1984 U.S. Olympic team.

The meet’s promoters had offered a $50,000 bonus to a relay team breaking the world record.

Mark Witherspoon led off for Santa Monica and was followed by Leroy Burrell, Floyd Heard and Lewis. The team had won in 37.93, the world’s best time this year, at Barcelona, Spain, July 16.

“I was a little tight going into this race,” Lewis said. “I tightened up and cramped. I still thought we had a chance at the record, but I’m happy we won.”

The Clippers, with Andre Cason, Daron Council, Michael Johnson and Dees, finished second in 38.25.

About two hours before the relay, Lewis fought a 15-m.p.h. headwind and won the 100 in 10.38 seconds, far slower than his world record of 9.92.

Again, Lewis trailed early before spurting ahead near the 60-meter mark and beating Santa Monica teammate Mike Marsh by about 1 1/2 meters.

The victory was the fourth in five starts for Lewis this year, his only loss coming against Burrell in the 100 meters last week in the Goodwill Games at Seattle.

Earlier, two-time world champion Greg Foster overcame the strong headwinds to win the men’s 110-meter high hurdles, beating two-time Olympic gold medalist Roger Kingdom.