Pole at Buenos Aires Goes to Villeneuve

Canada’s Jacques Villeneuve set a track record in winning his third consecutive pole Saturday, a day dominated by Williams-Renault in qualifying for the Argentine Grand Prix at Buenos Aires.

Villeneuve clocked 1 minute 24.473 seconds, nearly a second faster than teammate Heinz-Harald Frentzen, who earned the second place on the grid with a lap of 1:25.271 on the 2.66-mile Oscar Galvez Autodrome.

Villeneuve is seeking his second consecutive victory after crashing on the first lap of the season-opening Australian Grand Prix. His lap was nearly six seconds faster than last year’s pole-winning lap of Damon Hill, who had a best time of 1:30.346.

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Steady rain that began overnight and lasted until late in the morning forced the cancellation of second-round qualifying for the Food City 500 at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway.

Track and NASCAR officials waited as the rain washed out two scheduled practice sessions in the morning before deciding against attempting to hold time trials. That meant the back end of today’s 43-car starting grid was determined on the basis of Friday’s first round of time trials, when the top 25 spots were set and Rusty Wallace won the pole with a speed of 123.586 mph.

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Six days after getting his first Winston Cup victory, Jeff Burton got his fifth triumph on the Busch Grand National circuit by pulling away to win the Moore’s Snacks 250 at Bristol.

After rain delayed the start of the race at Bristol Motor Speedway for two hours, Burton led three times for 139 of the 250 laps, including the final 38 circuits of the .533-mile, high-banked oval.

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Warren Johnson and Angelle Seeling dominated their respective NHRA categories at Atlanta Dragway, qualifying No. 1 for the Fram Nationals and winning the rescheduled finals of the Winston Invitational.

Johnson qualified No. 1 and won the Invitational title in pro stock, and Seeling repeated that feat in pro stock motorcycle. The pro stock and pro stock motorcycle finals of the Invitational, a non-points special event, were rained out April 6 at Rockingham, N.C.

Tennis

Lindsay Davenport and Mary Pierce took opposite routes to achieve the same result, posting semifinal victories en route to the Bausch & Lomb Championship final at Amelia Island, Fla.

Davenport needed only 85 minutes to dispose of Amanda Coetzer, 7-5, 6-2, and Pierce took almost twice that long in winning a tiebreaker over Iva Majoli, 2-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7-5).

Top-seeded Michael Chang, seeking his third Salem Open title, advanced to the final with a 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 victory over fourth-seeded Thomas Johansson of Sweden at Hong Kong.

Chang will meet fifth-seed Patrick Rafter of Australia, who made the final when American qualifier Brian MacPhie retired in the third set with an arm injury. Rafter was leading, 3-6, 6-1, 3-0, when the match ended.

Spaniards Alex Corretja and Francisco Clavet advanced to the final of the Estoril Open at Oeiras, Portugal, with impressive victories over their countrymen in semifinal matches.

The seventh-seeded Clavet rallied to defeat fourth-seeded Felix Mantilla, 3-6, 7-5, 6-0. The sixth-seeded Corretja, who has dropped only one set in the tournament, overwhelmed eighth-seeded Javier Sanchez, 6-3, 6-1, in one hour.

Fifth-seeded Alex Radulescu of Germany and sixth-seeded Mikael Tillstrom of Sweden defeated their unseeded opponents and reached the final of the Gold Flake Open at Madras, India.

Radulescu defeated Gerard Solves of France, 6-3, 6-2, and Tillstrom downed Andrei Pavel of Romania, 6-3, 6-4

Pro Football

New York Jet quarterback Neil O’Donnell reacted angrily to comments made by teammate Keyshawn Johnson in a forthcoming book.

Johnson criticizes O’Donnell, offensive coordinator Ron Erhardt, former coach Rich Kotite and receiver Wayne Chrebet in the book, “Just Give Me The Damn Ball: The Fast Times And Hard Knocks Of An NFL Rookie.”

“Just look at the title of that book and you see the type of individual we are dealing with,” said O’Donnell, who is referred to in the book as a “stiff puppet,” afraid to throw downfield. “This is a team game . . . and there is so much more than just one guy that goes on.”

Miscellany

The National Olympic Committee of St. Vincent and the Grenadines suspended Coach Orde Ballantyne for four years based on the report from his mother, Gloria Ballantyne, that he refused to stand for the U.S. national anthem at the opening ceremonies of the 1996 Olympics.

The ban by the committee means the coach will not be eligible for the 2000 Sydney Games. Ballantyne said he would challenge the decision.

Wayne Webb reached a milestone in his PBA career with his 20th victory when he defeated Amleto Monacelli, 181-173, in the Bud Light Championship at Lake Grove, N.Y. . . . Sophomore starters Gene Nabors and Nick Sheppard have left Louisiana State’s basketball team rather than meet new Coach John Brady’s academic and training requirements. . . . World cross-country champion Paul Tergat led a 1-2-3 sweep by Kenyans in the Stramilano half-marathon at Milan, Italy.