Schumacher Shakes Off Tragedies, Wins Race

Michael Schumacher, the heir-apparent to Ayrton Senna as the dominant Formula One driver, capped a turbulent week with a victory in the Monaco Grand Prix at Monte Carlo on Sunday.

Starting from the pole, Schumacher led throughout to finish more than 35 seconds ahead of Martin Brundle of Britain.

Schumacher, who holds a big lead in the world championship standings with four victories in four races, said he competed only after overcoming self doubts brought on by the deaths of Senna and Austrian driver Roland Ratzenberger two weeks ago at the Grand Prix of San Marino.

“Nobody was sure what we should think about all this and how we should feel,” he said. “For me, it was even to the point that I wasn’t sure myself that I could continue racing like normal.”

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Pole-sitter Ernie Irvan led all but six laps in winning the Save Mart 300 NASCAR race at Sears Point International Raceway near Sonoma. Geoff Bodine finished second.

Miscellany

Viatcheslav Ekimov of Russia, the overall leader for the final six days, won the Tour DuPont bicycle race. . . . Tony Rominger of Switzerland rode to a record third consecutive victory in the Tour of Spain. . . . The Silver Bullets women’s pro baseball team was defeated by an all-star team of players from Northern California community colleges at Candlestick Park, 14-0. . . . Ismail Kirui of Kenya won the Bay to Breakers race for the second year in a row. Kirui’s time for the 12-kilometer race through San Francisco was 34:03. . . . Top-seeded Karch Kiraly and Kent Steffes defeated Adam Johnson and Randy Stoklos, 15-7 and 7-5, to win the $100,000 Miller Lite Open beach volleyball tournament at Phoenix. . . . Top-seeded Karolyn Kirby and Liz Masakayan defeated second-seeded Barbra Fontana and Lori Kotas-Forsythe, 15-13, to win the $40,000 Reebok Open beach volleyball title at New Orleans. . . . The ninth-ranked UCLA men’s tennis team defeated 10th-ranked Pepperdine, 4-3, to win the NCAA Region VIII championship at the Los Angeles Tennis Center. The Bruins (20-5) advance to the NCAA finals May 21-24 at Notre Dame. . . . The Pepperdine women’s tennis team lost to No. 4 seed Stanford, 5-1, in the NCAA women’s tournament. . . . Kelly Slater of Cocoa Beach, Fla., won a five-day surfing competition at Huntington Beach. Rob Machado of Cardiff, Calif., was second.