Tempers Flare in Qualifying for Grand Prix

With the world drivers’ championship at stake, tempers flared Saturday as Michael Schumacher and Jacques Villeneuve battled for, and won, front-row positions for the European Grand Prix at Jerez, Spain.

Competition was so intense that three drivers--Villeneuve, Schumacher and Heinz-Harald Frentzen--drove the 2.751-mile course in the exact same time: 1 minute, 21.072 seconds.

Because Villeneuve was the first to turn his lap in 122.156 mph, he got the pole position for today’s race, with Schumacher alongside on the front row and Frentzen on the inside position on the second row.

As the Formula One drivers practiced for the qualifying run, Schumacher’s Ferrari teammate, Eddie Irvine, blocked Villeneuve, as he has threatened to do during the race. When the two racers pulled into their pit areas, Villeneuve confronted Irvine.

“I told him to stop [playing] the idiot, basically,” Villeneuve said. “It was the fourth time this weekend he waited for me and slowed me down. We all know he’s a clown, but there’s no point in playing like that.”

Villeneuve is one point behind two-time world champion Schumacher in the drivers’ standings and must finish ahead of Schumacher in one of the first six point-scoring positions to win the title.

*

Mark Martin won the ACDelco 200 at North Carolina Motor Speedway in Rockingham, N.C., to become the winningest driver in the history of NASCAR’s Busch Grand National Series.

Martin’s 32nd Busch Series victory broke the record he shared with Jack Ingram.

Randy LaJoie won his second consecutive Busch Series championship despite finishing 20th.

*

Indy car driver Greg Moore never won an easier pole position.

While the 23-year-old Canadian was flying to Los Angeles for Saturday night’s CART PPG World Series banquet, his Austrian co-driver, Alexander Wurz, claimed the pole for the VISA Sports Car Championships at Laguna Seca.

Wurz toured the 2.238-mile, 11-turn Laguna Seca Raceway in 1 minute, 17.941 seconds, going 103.37 mph.

*

Gary Scelzi, the NHRA top fuel points leader, had a career-best run of 4.575 seconds at 318.24 mph to top qualifying for the Matco Tools SuperNationals at Baytown, Texas.

Golf

On a day when no player broke 70, Duffy Waldorf shot a three-over-par 75 and has a two-stroke over Billy Mayfair, Bill Glasson and Mike Reid lead going into today’s final round of the Las Vegas Invitational.

Bob Eastwood shot a three-under 69 to maintain a two-stroke lead over four players after the second round of the Raley’s Senior Gold Rush Classic at El Dorado Hills, Calif.

Boxing

Rushan Chagaev of Uzbekistan defeated two-time Olympic and five-time world champion Felix Savon of Cuba by a decision in the heavyweight final of the World Amateur championships at Budapest.

Cuban coaches protested the decision and an assistant entered the ring and hit the referee after the bout.

Soccer

Midfielder Preki, who led the league in scoring with 12 goals and 17 assists for the Kansas City Wizards, was presented with Major League Soccer’s most valuable player award in Washington.

Two of Preki’s U.S. national team teammates, Eddie Pope of D.C. United and Brad Friedel of the Columbus Crew, won defender of the year and goalkeeper of the year honors, respectively. D.C. United Coach Bruce Arena was named coach of the year, while Mike Duhaney of the Tampa Bay Mutiny was selected rookie of the year.

Figure Skating

Michelle Kwan easily won her first matchup of the season with Tara Lipinski, sweeping the judges’ panel with a flawless free skate at Skate America at Detroit. Lipinski fell on a triple lutz, but her program didn’t have the overall artistry to match Kwan, who got all 5.8s for technical merit and 5.9s for artistic impression.

Todd Eldredge shook off a nasty spill in warmups that sprained his shoulder and won the men’s competition for the fourth time in a row. The four-time U.S. champion crashed to the ice near the sideboards before the free skate.

Jurisprudence

Hours after making bail on similar charges, former major league pitcher John Montefusco allegedly violated a restraining order and assaulted his ex-wife in Marlboro Township, N.J.

Tennis

Petr Korda upset U.S. Open champion Patrick Rafter to set up a a match against Richard Krajicek in the final of the Eurocard Open at Stuttgart, Germany. Korda won, 6-4, 7-6 (7-3). Krajicek, the 1996 Wimbledon champion, overcame Jonas Bjorkman, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3. . . . Top-seeded Francisco Clavet of Spain beat Nicolas Lapentti of Ecuador 7-5, 7-6 (7-5) to advance to the final of the Mexican Open clay-court tournament at Mexico City. Clavet will face countryman Juan Albert Viloca, a 6-3, 6-1 winner over Fernando Meligeni of Brazil.

Brenda Schultz-McCarthy of the Netherlands defeated Chanda Rubin and Belgian Dominique Van Roost defeated American Lisa Raymond to advance to the final of the Bell Challenge at Quebec City, Quebec. . . . Top-seeded Amanda Coetzer of South Africa struggled against qualifier Katarina Studenikova, 6-1, 3-6, 6-0, before claiming a spot in the final of the Luxembourg Open against Barbara Paulus.

Miscellany

Olympic bronze medalist Elena Vitrischenko won the overall title at the rhythmic gymnastics world competition in Berlin. . . . World and Olympic skiing champion Deborah Compagnoni of Italy won the opening World Cup giant slalom by nearly two seconds at Tignes, France.