Yarborough Closing Down His Race Team

Cale Yarborough is shutting down his race team, Cale Yarborough Motorsports, because he can’t find a sponsor.

“There’s not much to tell,” Yarborough told The Morning News of Florence, S.C. “I just don’t have a sponsor and can’t operate. This has been a 10-year project for me to put this team together to make it work.”

The shutdown is effective immediately.

Yarborough said he had a three-year deal with Thorn Apple Valley, but because of losses overseas they couldn’t keep their end of the deal and cut it short after just one season.

“They did this even though they did have a contract they should have honored,” said Yarborough, whose 83 Winston Cup victories are third among all drivers. “It’s a tough, tough business.”

Yarborough had one victory as a car owner, with John Andretti taking the Pepsi 400 in 1997.

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It took a track record to do it, but Jeremy Mayfield outraced Winston Cup champion Jeff Gordon and had the pole for the $1-million NASCAR Thunder Special Coca-Cola 500 exhibition race run late Saturday night at Motegi, Japan.

Mayfield used a qualifying lap of 158.799 mph--covering the 1 1/2-mile Twin Ring Motegi track in 35.116 seconds--to edge Gordon by six-thousandths of a second in qualifying Saturday morning.

Mike Skinner, who won this event last year at the 1.54-mile Suzuka road course, was third-fastest at 158.592 mph in a Chevy.

Winter Sports

Alexei Yagudin of Russia beat Michael Weiss to win the men’s title at the Lalique Trophy figure skating competition at Paris.

Maria Butyrskaya of Russia rallied from third to beat American Nicole Bobek in the women’s event.

Sarah Abitbol and Stephane Benardis of France won the pairs program for their first major international victory. Americans Kyoko Ina and John Zimmerman finished second.

Urska Hrovat of Slovenia lost most of a huge first-run margin, holding on by .38 of a second over hard-charging Sabine Egger of Austria to win a women’s World Cup slalom at Park City, Utah.

Janca Kostelic of Croatia took third for a podium finish in only her fifth World Cup start.

Kristina Koznick of Burnsville, Minn., finished 15th, the best of five Americans who qualified for the second run.

Christian Niccum and Matt McClain of the U.S. won the first World Cup double luge race of the season at Igls, Austria.

Niccum, of Woodinville, Wash., and McClain, of Lake Placid, N.Y., four-time world junior champions, were tied with fellow Americans Mark Grimmette and Brian Martin, the defending world champions, after the first run. And a brilliant second heat gave the Niccum and McClain a .072 victory margin.

Miscellany

Junior goalkeeper Parsa Bonderson had seven saves, two steals and an assist as the second-ranked UCLA men’s water polo team defeated No. 1 USC, 6-3.

The UCLA men’s soccer team opens the NCAA tournament today at 1, playing host to Fresno State (11-5-5) at the North Athletic Field. The fifth-ranked Bruins (16-3) are the defending national champions. . . . The UCLA women’s volleyball team (13-11, 12-5 Pac-10) needs one more victory to be eligible for the NCAA tournament. They play host to California (7-21, 3-14) today at 4. USC (20-4, 15-2) plays host to Stanford (24-2, 17-0) at 1.

Jacco Eltingh and Paul Haarhuis advanced to the finals of the ATP World Doubles Championship at Hartford, Conn., with a 7-6 (7-1) 6-4 victory over Don Johnson and Francisco Nestor.

The winners will face Mark Knowles of the Bahamas and Daniel Nestor of Canada for the title Sunday. That match will be the last time Eltingh and Haarhuis play together. Eltingh announced earlier this week he will retire after the tournament.

Three Colorado State football players have been accused of assaulting a 25-year-old man in the parking lot of a Fort Collins, Colo., bar after the team’s season-ending victory last weekend.

Clark Haggans, Damon Washington and Leon Smith are scheduled to appear in court in January on charges of third-degree assault and disorderly conduct.

Colorado State Coach Sonny Lubick said he learned of the incident Wednesday and will decide what, if any, action to take after he hears more information.

The Netherlands maintained a perfect record with an easy victory against the United States, 15-12, 15-6, 15-11, in the second round of the men’s World Volleyball Championships at Tokyo.

The United States is among four teams in Group H with no wins. The top two teams in each of the two groups advance to the finals.

The SkyDome, home of the Blue Jays and Raptors, has decided to apply for bankruptcy protection, the Canadian Press reported.

A source familiar with SkyDome’s affairs said a decline in attendance at Blue Jays’ games has led to serious financial problems.

The University of Arizona will pay a former baseball player $125,000 to avoid a trial in a scholarship dispute.

Patrick McMillin, a pitcher who seldom played, alleged the university defrauded him by promising him a scholarship and then kicking him off the team after two years.

Former Notre Dame and Minnesota Viking lineman David Huffman, 41, was killed early Saturday in a car crash at Lake Station, Ind., that police said may be alcohol-related.

Huffman started at center for the Irish from 1976-78 and was a member of 1977 national championship team. He was selected in the second round of the 1979 draft by the Vikings and left Minnesota in 1983 to play in the USFL, returning from 1985-90.

Brazilian Gustavo Borges won the men’s 100-meter freestyle with a time of 48.33 seconds at a World Cup short course swim meet at Rio de Janeiro. Germany’s Katrin Meissner won the women’s 50-meter race.