Sharp Returns to Track, Wins Pole at Pikes Peak

Scott Sharp made a memorable return to the cockpit, taking the pole position for today’s inaugural Samsonite 200 Indy Racing League event at the new Pikes Peak International Raceway at Fountain, Colo.

Sharp, who was not allowed to drive for five weeks after suffering a head injury in a crash during practice for last month’s Indianapolis 500, bumped Tony Stewart out of the top spot with a lap of 176.117 mph.

Jim Guthrie crashed during a practice lap and was hospitalized with a thoracic fracture of the spine. Dr. Henry Bock, IRL medical director, said there were no signs of paralysis and that Guthrie probably will be sidelined six to eight weeks.

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Michael Schumacher won the pole position for the French Grand Prix at Magny Cours with a performance that surprised even the two-time world champion. Schumacher did a lap in 1 minute 14.548 seconds, at an average speed of 127.555 mph. It was the 16th pole position of Schumacher’s career, sixth in a Ferrari.

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Joe Nemechek set a track record while claiming his seventh Busch Grand National pole during qualifying for the Lysol 200 at Watkins Glen International in New York. Nemechek’s speed of 116.128 mph was good enough to hold off fellow NASCAR Winston Cup regular Terry Labonte, who averaged 115.858 mph on the road course.

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Gary Scelzi, Randy Anderson, Jim Yates and Matt Hines stayed No. 1 in their respective categories at the completion of qualifying for the NHRA Sears Craftsman Nationals at Madison, Ill. Scelzi led in top fuel, Anderson in funny car, Yates in pro stock and Hines in pro stock motorcycle in the inaugural NHRA event at Gateway International Raceway east of St. Louis.

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Australian Michael Doohan scored his sixth victory of the season and widened his lead in the 500-cc motorcycle standings, winning the rain-shortened Dutch Grand Prix at Assen.

Track and Field

A Cuban athlete at the Central America and Caribbean Athletics Championships at San Juan, Puerto Rico, has left the delegation and plans to seek asylum in the United States, a Cuban exile group said. Cuban officials denied the report.

Guillermo Toledo, an attorney who represents the exile group Cuba 21, identified the athlete as Jose Perez, who won a bronze medal Friday in the 400-meter hurdles.

At the meet, Cuba’s Ana Fidelia Quirot set her second record in winning the 1,500 meters in 4 minutes 18 seconds. Quirot won the 800 on Friday in a meet-record time of 1:59.01.

Daniel Komen ran the world’s fastest time this year in the 5,000 meters, clocking 12:48.98 in Kenya’s trials at Nairobi for the World Championships in August.

Miscellany

Luis Hernandez scored on a header in the 81st minute as Mexico beat Peru, 1-0, in the third-place soccer game of Copa America. . . . Herbie Hide knocked down Tony Tucker three times late in the second round to win the vacant World Boxing Organization heavyweight title at Norwich, England. . . . Julie Reitan, a 21-year-old outfielder on Arizona’s two-time national championship softball team, was found dead Friday in her townhouse. Reitan was a diabetic. Official cause of death has not been determined. . . . Australian Prime Minister John Howard or his successor will open the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. The IOC has agreed to break with a 100-year tradition by having a political leader, rather than a head of state, declare the Games open. . . . The sale of the New York Islanders to Dallas businessman John Spano may be in jeopardy. In February, Spano purchased the Islanders from John Pickett for $165 million, including cable television rights. But a payment of as much as $20 million to Pickett has not been made, according to reports.