Earnhardt Wins, Narrows Gordon’s Lead

Dale Earnhardt, giving evidence that he is not going to be easily beaten in the Winston Cup championship battle, cut into Jeff Gordon’s big point lead Sunday with a victory in the Goody’s 500 in Martinsville, Va.

Earnhardt, a seven-time series champion, led 252 of the 500 laps, including the final nine, in earning his fourth victory of the season, his sixth at Martinsville Speedway and the 67th of his career.

Combined with Gordon’s seventh-place finish, Earnhardt sliced 34 points off the youngster’s season lead and now trails by 275 with five races remaining.

“You’ve got to gain,” Earnhardt said. “It’s going to be tough if they don’t make any mistakes. Time is running short. But we’ll just keep working hard and see what happens.”

Although he never was in contention after the first few laps, Gordon earned the five-point bonus for leading at least one lap by staying out during a caution period when the other lead lap drivers pitted. He now has led 25 of the 26 races this season.

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Scotsman David Coulthard posted his first Formula One victory, taking the Portuguese Grand Prix at Estoril ahead of defending champion Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill.

Coulthard, 23, led all the way in his Williams Renault and completed the 71-lap race around the 2.709-mile Estoril circuit in 1 hour, 41 minutes, 52.145 seconds.

Schumacher’s Benetton Renault was second, 7.248 seconds back. Hill finished third, his Williams 22.121 seconds behind.

The victory moved Coulthard into third place in the world championship drivers’ standings with 39 points and was a blow for second-place Hill’s hopes of overtaking Schumacher with four races left.

The German has 72 points, with Hill second with 55.

Golf

Gary Player won his first Senior PGA Tour title in two years, shooting an eight-under-par 64 to overcome a four-stroke deficit in the Bank One Classic in Lexington, Ky.

The 59-year-old South African, who was winless since the 1993 Bank One Classic, had a five-under 211 total on the Kearney Hill Links for a two-stroke margin over Jack Kiefer.

Player did not have any bogeys Sunday in overtaking 15 players.

He had four birdies on the front nine and four on the back nine, and hit two important par-saving shots on Nos. 11 and 17 that preserved his lead.

D.A. Weibring became the first three-time winner of the PGA’s Quad City Classic, holing an 18-foot birdie putt on the final hole for a one-stroke victory over Jonathan Kaye at Coal Valley, Ill.

Weibring closed with a four-under 68 for a 13-under 197 total in the rain-shortened event.

Kaye, a rookie who finished 32nd in the 1994 tour qualifying tournament, closed with a 65. Jay Delsing shot a 67 to finish three back at 200 and Jim McGovern finished four back after a 66.

Anika Sorenstam, the reigning U.S. Open champion, shot a 72 and finished with a 10-under 278, 10 shots better than runner-up Jan Stephenson, to win the LPGA’s Heartland Classic in St. Louis.

The 24-year-old from Stockholm had her first bogey of the tournament on the par-4 12th hole of the 6,740-yard Forest Hills Country Club.

Sorenstam, the only player below par after three rounds, was never challenged during the final round.

College Football

Nebraska reviewed star running back Lawrence Phillips’ status as a student in light of his trouble with the law and Phillips is allowed to remain at the school. James Griesen, vice chancellor for student affairs, said a decision on the case was made last week.

Miami dropped out of the rankings for the first time in 10 years, while Colorado climbed to No. 4 in the Associated Press poll.

Florida State and Nebraska, who have been ranked 1-2 all season, remained that way.

Florida, which didn’t play Saturday, moved up one place to No. 3 with two first-place votes and 1,399 points.

USC remained fifth.

UCLA dropped out of the rankings.

Miami quarterback Ryan Collins, who was injured during the second quarter of the Hurricanes’ 13-7 loss to Virginia Tech on Saturday, was diagnosed with a separated right shoulder and will be sidelined at least two weeks. If his shoulder doesn’t heal naturally, Collins will have season-ending surgery. Ryan Clement is expected to start at quarterback for the Hurricanes against Florida State on Oct. 7.

Doctors reported that Colorado quarterback Koy Detmer, who tore a ligament in his right knee during the first quarter of Saturday’s victory over Texas A&M;, suffered no damage to his medial collateral ligament or to the knee cartilage, but he definitely won’t play against Oklahoma next Saturday.

“There’s hope that he might be back to play in the Kansas game [Oct. 7]. The question is can a brace hold the knee and prevent it from slipping,” Colorado Coach Rick Neuheisel said.

Glenn Freitas rushed for four touchdowns Saturday night to carry Hawaii (1-2 overall and 1-1 in the Western Athletic Conference) to a 42-21 victory over Texas-El Paso (1-3, 0-1) at Honolulu, ending a nine-game WAC losing streak.

Miscellany

Filipino boxer Fernando Piccio remained in serious condition, two days after he suffered a suspected brain hemorrhage following a lightweight bout in Brisbane, Australia. . . . Mary Pierce defeated Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario, 6-3, 6-3, to win the Nichirei International Ladies Tennis Championship in Tokyo. . . . Kenya’s Sammy Lelei came within 12 seconds of running the fastest marathon ever while winning the Berlin Marathon in 2 hours, 7 minutes, 2 seconds. . . . Algerian Noureddine Morceli won the 1,500 meters by 40 meters at the inaugural All African International Invitation track and field meet at Johannesburg, South Africa. . . . Nigerian weightlifting champion Najite Ogbody became the fifth athlete to test positive for banned drugs at the All Africa Games in Harare, Zimbabwe, and was stripped of his two gold medals. . . . Laurent Jalabert of France won the 50th Tour of Spain, completing the 21-stage bicycle race in 95 hours, 30 minutes, 33 seconds. . . . Jockey Corey Nakatani took a break from racing season in California to ride 33-1 shot Cool Jazz to victory in the $62,500 Diadem Stakes in Ascot, England, in his first race on an English track.