Gordon Runs Out of Gas, and Martin Gets the Win

Mark Martin made his first victory in stock car racing’s annual all-star event a stunning one, winning The Winston on Saturday night when Jeff Gordon ran out of gas on the final lap at Concord, N.C.

Gordon appeared to be the class of the field in the 70-lap event at Charlotte Motor Speedway. He was leading by about 10 car-lengths and pulling away when he slowed going into the first turn on the last lap.

Martin, headed for what appeared to be an outclassed second-place finish, zipped past Gordon before a shocked crowd of 160,000.

*

Dale Earnhardt Jr. won his second pole of the season and his career in qualifying for today’s First Union 200 NASCAR Busch Grand National race at Nazareth, Pa. . . . Kurt Johnson won the NHRA Pro Stock Challenge at the Mopar Parts Nationals at Englishtown, N.J. . . . A race driver was killed in an accident at Lime Rock Park in Salisbury, Conn. The name of the driver was being withheld until his family could be notified. On May 9, driver Richard Calhoun of New York died in a warmup session at the same track.

Golf

Fred Couples shot a 29 on the back nine at the steamy GTE Byron Nelson Classic at Irving, Texas, to take the third-round lead by two strokes at 14-under-par 196.

Couples pulled away from the pack with an eagle on No. 16 and a birdie on the next hole to close with a seven-under 63.

Harrison Frazar, who had a tap-in birdie on the final hole for a 66, was two strokes behind at 198.

South Korea’s Se Ri Pak, who had led the first two days of the tournament, shot a one-over 72 and fell into a tie for the lead with Lisa Hackney at eight-under 205 in the LPGA Championship at Wilmington, Del. Hackney, from Britain, had a scrambling 69. . . . Larry Ziegler, whose tee shot on No. 18 bounced out of a creek, finished with a three-under 67 for a two-day total of 136, good for a two-shot lead over defending champion Bruce Summerhays in the senior Saint Luke’s Classic at Belton, Mo. . . . One day after tying the U.S. pro record with a 59, Notah Begay shot a 74 at the Nike Tour’s Dominion Open at Richmond, Va., and was one stroke behind Mike Sullivan and Bob Burns. . . . Colin Montgomerie shot a three-under 69 to share the lead of the Benson and Hedges Open at Thame, England, with Darren Clark and Massimo Florioli.

Boxing

Genaro Hernandez retained his World Boxing Council super-featherweight title at Indio with a unanimous decision over Carlos Gerena of Puerto Rico. Erik Morales retained his WBC super-bantamweight title with a second-round knockout over fellow Mexican Jose Luis Bueno. . . . Veteran French fighter Jean-Baptiste Mendy handed Orzubek Nazarov of Russia his first loss, winning the World Boxing Assn. lightweight crown with a unanimous decision at Paris.

Tennis

Marcelo Rios beat Gustavo Kuerten, 6-0, 7-5, to reach the finals of the Italian Open at Rome for the second consecutive year. Rios will face unseeded Spaniard Albert Costa in today’s final on clay. Costa beat compatriot Alberto Berasategui, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3, for his 11th consecutive victory. . . . Spain’s Conchita Martinez ended the run of Russian teenager Anna Kournikova at the German Open in Berlin with a 6-0, 6-1 victory. In today’s final, Martinez will face French qualifier Amelie Mauresmo, 18, who needed six match points and 2 hours 27 minutes to beat Czech Jana Novotna, 7-5, 5-7, 6-4.

Miscellany

Dennis Conner’s hard-luck boat Toshiba, the pre-race favorite, finally came to the fore by winning the eighth and next-to-last leg of the Whitbread Round the World Race, finishing 10 1/2 minutes ahead of Britain’s Silk Cut.

Parker Bohn III, a runner-up in his previous two finals appearances, won the Pro Bowlers Assn. Greater Detroit Open at Taylor, Mich. . . . Sweden defeated Olympic bronze medalist Finland, 1-0, in the first game of the World Hockey Championships finals at Zurich, Switzerland.

Names in the News

Former Angel outfielder Rufino Linares, 47, was killed in a car accident in the Dominican Republic. . . . Earl “The Goat” Manigault, the New York City playground legend whose descent into heroin addiction cost him a pro basketball career, died Friday of heart failure. He was 53. . . . Former University of Georgia swim star Lisa Coole, 23, the 1997 NCAA woman of the year, was killed in an automobile accident in Champaign, Ill. . . . A cold and wet track Friday night in Eugene, Ore., didn’t keep Mary Slaney, 39, from running the fastest 5,000-meter time by an American this year, 15 minutes 27.12 seconds.