NEWSWIRE : Villeneuve Has Fun and Wins Title Too

In the end it didn’t matter that Jacques Villeneuve closed the season with a problem-filled 11th-place finish in Sunday’s Bank of America 300 at Monterey.

He had fun anyway. And now he’s a champion.

“We had two tire punctures and I ran over a piece of somebody else’s car that knocked off part of our front wing and cost us a long pit stop, but it was a fun race,” said Villeneuve, whose run was just good enough to wrap up the IndyCar PPG Cup championship.

Al Unser Jr.’s bid to overtake Villeneuve in the standings fell far short as the defending series champion finished sixth. Unser, a two-time series champion, needed to finish first or second to have any chance to beat Villeneuve.

Series champion Greg Moore of Canada closed the Firestone Indy Lights season in style at Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey, Calif., leading wire-to-wire for a record-setting victory.

Moore won for the 10th time in 12 starts this season, beating runner-up Affonso Giaffone of Brazil by 3.317 seconds on the 11-turn, 2.214-mile road course.

Golf

Britain and Ireland won the Walker Cup for the first time at home in 24 years, defeating the amateur team from the United States, 14-10, in a rain-drenched final program at Porthcawl, Wales.

Britain and Ireland surpassed the 12 points needed for victory when England’s David Howell made a six-foot putt to defeat Notah Begay, 2 and 1, after 17 holes.

The last Britain-Ireland victory at home was at St. Andrews in 1971, with their last victory in 1989 in the United States. The United States won the last Walker Cup, 19-5, in 1993. Britain also won in 1938 and tied in 1965. The Americans lead the series, 30-4-1.

College Football

Second-ranked Nebraska gained ground on No. 1 Florida State and Northwestern moved into the rankings for the first time since 1971 in this week’s Associated Press college football poll.

Florida State retained the top spot after beating Clemson, 45-26, Saturday. Nebraska closed the gap with a 50-10 victory over Michigan State. The Seminoles received 33 first-place votes and 1,514 points from a nationwide media panel, compared to 20 firsts and 1,481 points for the Cornhuskers.

Northwestern, which had the weekend off after opening with an upset of Notre Dame, was No. 25. It was the Wildcats’ first AP ranking since they were 19th in the final 1971 regular-season poll. USC is sixth and UCLA 12th.

Georgia has lost record-setting tailback Robert Edwards for six to eight weeks because of a broken bone in his left foot. Edwards, who broke the school record with five touchdowns in a season-opening victory over South Carolina on Sept. 2, suffered the injury during the first half of Saturday night’s game at Tennessee. He scored two touchdowns in the 30-27 loss.

Miscellany

. . Lester Piggott, the English jockey who rode winners all over the world, announced his retirement at 59. Piggott, who rode a record 30 English Classic winners, said he has had trouble maintaining his riding weight.