Gordon Defeats Labonte in Atlanta Race

Jeff Gordon took the lead for the first time on Lap 63 and stayed in front for 250 of the last 266 laps in winning the Purolator 500 Sunday at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

There were only three other cars on the lead lap when Gordon’s Chevrolet took the checkered flag 0.19 seconds ahead of the Chevrolet of Bobby Labonte.

Terry Labonte, who won a week earlier at Richmond, finished third, followed by Winston Cup points leader Dale Earnhardt, who started from the pole, led the first 62 laps and has finished in the top four in every race this season.

The Labonte brothers and Earnhardt had one last shot at Gordon when the race’s fifth caution flag came out on Lap 300, but Gordon again pulled away.

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Mike Dunn of Mount Joy, Pa., defeated Kenny Bernstein in the Top Fuel final at the NHRA Slick 50 Nationals at Houston Raceway Park. Dunn completed the quarter-mile in 4.857 seconds with a speed of 296.34 m.p.h. Bernstein lost traction and coasted across the finish line in 8.292 seconds.

Al Hofmann of Umatilla, Fla., won the Funny Car title, and Scott Geoffrion of Aliso Viejo took the Pro Stock division.

Winter Sports

Switzerland’s Vreni Schneider won the sixth World Cup slalom title of her career and set herself up for the overall crown when she finished second to Pernilla Wiberg of Sweden at Lenzerheide, Switzerland.

Wiberg was clocked in 1 minute 17.31 seconds for her first victory in an injury-plagued season, and Schneider was 0.37 seconds behind. Martina Ertl of Germany was third in 1:17.94.

Schneider has 460 points in the slalom, 192 more than Ertl with only the World Cup finals in Bormio, Italy, this week, remaining.

Schneider moved to the top of the overall standings with 1,090 points. Germany’s Katja Seizinger is second with 1,055.

Picabo Street did not race Sunday, one day after her first downhill title.

Organizers scrubbed the men’s World Cup super giant slalom at Kvitfjell, Norway, because of bad weather.

Bonnie Blair left the World Cup speedskating circuit in style, winning a 500-meter race at Hamar, Norway, and finishing an expected third in the 1,500 to win the overall title. The day before, she won the 1,000 and placed second in the first 500-meter race.

Blair, 30, a five-time Olympic champion, is retiring after individual races in Calgary next weekend.

Track and Field

Regina Jacobs, 31, of Oakland won the women’s 1,500 in 4:12.61 at the World Indoor Championships at Barcelona.

Allen Johnson, 24, won the 60-meter hurdles in a meet-record 7.39 seconds.

Joining them as U.S. gold-medal winners were Darnell Hall in the men’s 400 at 46.17 and the men’s 1,600-meter relay team at 3:07.37--the fastest in the world this year.

After the event, Primo Nebiolo, International Amateur Athletic Federation head, said prize money will be paid at all major championships after the Atlanta Olympics.

Tennis

Top-seeded Steffi Graf, who seems fully recovered from a six-month bout with back and calf-muscle problems, defeated second-seeded Conchita Martinez, 6-2, 6-4, in the final of the Delray Beach Championships in Florida.

Martin Sinner of Germany saved two match points in a second-set tiebreaker and went on to defeat Russia’s Andrei Olhovskiy, 6-7 (3-7), 7-6 (10-8), 6-3, to win the $228,000 Copenhagen Open, his first ATP Tour singles title.

Jimmy Connors beat Bjorn Borg, 4-6, 6-4, 7-5, to win the over-35 Nuveen Masters season-ending championship at Naples, Fla.

Miscellany

The new Canadian Football League team in Birmingham, Ala., has signed record-setting quarterback Matt Dunigan, 34, the league’s leading active passer.

Doug Swingley of Simms, Mont., was first into Unalakleet, Alaska, about 230 miles from the finish line of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

His time, 6 days 19 hours 57 minutes, was more than seven hours faster than the event record.

Laurent Jalabert of France won the Paris-to-Nice bicycle race.