Wallace Beats Earnhardt in NASCAR’s Japan Debut

Rusty Wallace lost the lead late in the first half of the race, but quickly regained it in the second half and won the Suzuka Thunder Special 100 stock car race at Suzuka, Japan on Sunday, the first NASCAR event in Japan.

Wallace, the 1989 Winston Cup champion, finished 1.192 seconds ahead of Dale Earnhardt, driving a Chevrolet Monte Carlo.

At the finish line, Wallace raised a fist high from his car window, holding U.S. and Japanese flags. He parked his black Ford Thunderbird behind the winner’s podium, where he was surrounded by his teammates, and climbed onto the car’s roof, raising both fists.

“It’s a picture-perfect week for me,” Wallace said. “I won the pole and won the race.”

The 140-mile exhibition race was divided into two 50-lap segments, with the starting grids of each of the top 10 finishers of the first half inverted for the second half.

Starting from the pole position, Wallace led for 38 laps until being overtaken by Jeff Gordon.

Wallace slowed because of problems with his brake pedal and ended the first half in eighth place. That gave him a third-place start in the second half.

Wallace needed only five laps to overtake pole-sitter Terry Labonte from the inside on the first corner, and he led the rest of the race.

Golf

South Africans Ernie Els and Wayne Westner won the World Cup of Golf with a remarkable 29-under-par aggregate, defeating the runner-up United States team by 18 strokes at Cape Town, South Africa.

The South Africans finished with a 547 total over the tight, 7,002-yard Erinvale Country Club course. It was a double triumph for the South Africans, who also finished first and second in the individual competition.

Els and Westner’s winning margin was a record for the $1.5-million tournament, now in its 42nd year. South Africa’s victory ended four years of World Cup domination by the United States’ Fred Couples and David Love, who did not play this year.

Kirk Triplett rallied to win the $250,000 Merrill Lynch Pebble Beach Invitational Pro-Am at Pebble Beach. His final-round 73 gave him a 14-under 274 total as he beat David Ogrin by three strokes.

Winter Sports

With Italian slalom ace Alberto Tomba at home nursing injuries from a practice spill, the Austrian ski team took advantage to win the season-opening men’s World Cup slalom at Park City, Utah. Thomas Sykora, third in the slalom standings a year ago, won the race with a two-run time of 1 minute, 46.03 seconds, .29 seconds faster than teammate Thomas Stangassinger.

Dutch skaters continued to dominate at the speedskating World Cup at Berlin, handing Olympic champion Gunda Niemann of Germany only her second defeat over 3,000 meters since 1994. Tonny De Jongwon won in 4:22.90, beating compatriot Carl Ziljlstra by .49 seconds.

The Dutch men also swept first and second in the 5,000 meters, with Gianne Romme winning in 6:51.20, 1.99 seconds ahead of world champion Rintje Ritsma. . . . One day after North American teams threatened their dominance at the World Cup, German sledders swept the top three places in the four-man bobsled at Altenberg, Germany. Germany Three, driven by Harald Czudaj, won in 1:53.70. . . . Harri Kirvesniemi broke away on the second 10-kilometer leg, helping Finland to a 39.8-second victory over Italy in the men’s opening World Cup cross-country ski relay at Kiruna, Sweden. . . . Finland’s Jari Mantila held his advantage from the ski jumping to win the season’s World Cup opener for the Nordic Combined at Rovaniemi, Finland.

Miscellany

Holy Cross athletes Jonathan Kerr, a forward on the basketball team, and football running back J.R. Walz said they were each suspended for two games after telling school athletic officials that they had wagered on sports. School spokeswoman Katharine Buckley McNamara said neither suspended player bet on games involving the school.

Cal State Fullerton midfielder Tom Helmer scored the game-winning goal in the 63rd minute as the No. 18 Titans upset No. 1 UCLA, 2-1, in the opening round of the NCAA men’s soccer tournament at Titan Stadium. Charlie Lynch also scored for Fullerton.

Singspiel, owned by Sheik Mohammed, trained by Michael Stoute and ridden by Frankie Dettori, won the Japan Cup in Tokyo as Helissio, the Arc de Triomphe winner and European horse of the year, finished in a dead heat with Strategic Choice for third place. Fabulous La Fouine ran second.

Defending men’s champion Godfrey Siamusiye of Arkansas and Amy Skieresz of Arizona are the favorites in today’s NCAA Cross-Country Championships at Tucson, Ariz.