Marlin Rallies, Holds Off Jarrett to Win at Talladega

Sterling Marlin repeatedly rallied to win the Winston Select 500 Sunday at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway.

Three times, Marlin made pit stops that left his Morgan-McClure Chevrolet Monte Carlo far back in the 43-car field. Each time, he rallied as he held off Daytona 500 winner Dale Jarrett over the final seven laps.

In one of several crashes in the race, Bill Elliott broke his left thigh bone after spinning coming out of a turn. Elliott was conscious when airlifted from the infield care center to Birmingham for surgery.

In another melee, Ricky Craven was the only driver that suffered more than minor injuries in a crash that involved 14 cars and sent several contenders to the garage. He complained of back pain and was airlifted to a Birmingham hospital. A CAT scan and X-rays were negative, and Craven was in stable condition in intensive care.

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Jacques Villeneuve won a Formula One race in only his fourth start, leading from start to finish in the Grand Prix of Europe and holding off defending world champion Michael Schumacher at Nuerburgring, Germany. Villeneuve, 25, who won the Indianapolis 500 last year and is in his rookie Formula One season, won the 67-lap race in his Williams-Renault by 0.762 seconds over the German’s Ferrari.

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Hometown driver Michael Andretti used a botched pit stop by pole-sitter Paul Tracy to take the lead nearly halfway through the Bosch Grand Prix, and drove off to an easy victory at Nazareth (Pa.) Speedway. Andretti’s victory in a Newman-Haas Lola Ford ended a season-opening four-race winning streak by Honda-powered cars. It also halted the perfect start by tire manufacturer Firestone, which lost to Goodyear for the first time.

Tennis

Thomas Muster needed three hours and five sets to beat Alberto Costa, 6-3, 5-7, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, to win his second consecutive Monte Carlo Open at Monaco. It was his seventh consecutive victory in a clay-court tournament.

The United States overcame injuries to advance to the semifinals of the Fed Cup, beating Austria, 3-2, behind Mary Joe Fernandez’s heroics. Fernandez beat Barbara Paulus, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4), then teamed with longtime partner Gigi Fernandez to beat Judith Wiesner and Petra Schwarz-Ritter, 6-0, 6-4. Wiesner defeated Jennifer Capriati, 6-1, 6-1. The United States next plays Japan, a surprise winner over Germany.

College Football

Former Michigan State Coach George Perles knew about at least some of the grade-changing going on in the football program, the father of a former player told the Detroit News. Clarence Jackson, the father of former Spartan defensive lineman Aaron Jackson, said he called Perles during the 1992 and 1994 seasons complaining that his son was not attending classes and yet was still allowed to play. The NCAA infractions committee is scheduled to review the case when it meets June 1-3.

Miscellany

Mighty Duck defenseman Milos Holan has been readmitted to the hospital because of a complication in his recovery from a bone marrow transplant and was in stable condition Sunday at the City of Hope National Medical Center in Duarte. Holan returned to the hospital Saturday, two days after going home for the first time since undergoing a Feb. 21 marrow transplant to treat leukemia. Doctors called Holan’s condition “a flare-up,” and not a major setback. . . . Paul Kariya of the Ducks scored a hat trick to lead Canada to a 5-1 victory over the United States and advance to the quarterfinals of the world championships in Vienna.

AC Milan clinched its fourth Italian League title in five years, rallying to beat Fiorentina, 3-1, on goals by Dejan Savicevic, Roberto Baggio and Marco Simone. . . . Only four days before the first leg of soccer’s UEFA Cup final against Bordeaux, Bayern Munich chairman Franz Beckenbauer fired coach Otto Rehhagel and took over himself.

Lisa Arce and Holly McPeak won the Coors Light Beach Volleyball tournament, 15-10, over Patty Dodd and Angela Rock at Carolina, Puerto Rico. . . . Belayneh Densamo of Ethiopia pulled away from the leaders in the final stages to win his fourth Rotterdam Marathon in 2:10:30. . . . Defending Olympic champions Mark Reynolds of San Diego and Hal Haenel of Los Angeles won the Star Class competition in the U.S. Olympic Yachting Trials at Savannah, Ga. . . . Hometown favorite Wes Barnett clean-and-jerked a U.S. record 479 1/2 pounds on his final lift at St. Joseph, Mo., earning the third and final guaranteed spot for the United States in weightlifting at the Olympics. . . . Adam Saathoff of Hereford, Ariz., tied for fifth in the men’s running target event at the Atlanta World Cup, winning a spot on the U.S. Olympic shooting team.

* Allan Malamud is on vacation.