Rudd Overcomes the Heat for Record-Setting Victory

Ricky Rudd survived the sizzling heat that left him woozy and won the crash-filled NAPA AutoCare 500 at Martinsville, Va., on Sunday, extending his record streak of consecutive seasons with at least one victory to 16.

With temperatures in the mid-90s outside and reportedly approaching 150 degrees in the race cars, Rudd drove the last 300 or so laps with a relief driver standing by, but said, “the car was so good, I just couldn’t give it up.”

After being helped from his Ford after the race, Rudd lay prone for several minutes before he was able to celebrate.

“I’ll take it any way I can get it,” an exhausted Rudd said.

Several drivers were relieved because of exhaustion during the race, and most who finished sought refuge in their air-conditioned trailers or the infield care center, where they were pumped with fluids and oxygen.

Rudd’s victory record over a 16-year span broke a tie with Dale Earnhardt and Darrell Waltrip.

It was Rudd’s 20th victory overall and third at Martinsville Speedway, but first since 1986. Series points leader Jeff Gordon followed Rudd into turn one after the 11th and final caution with 51 laps left, but he never made a serious bid for the lead and wound up second. Points runner-up Mark Martin was third.

*

Mika Hakkinen took the lead in the Formula One championship, beating his only rival for the title, Michael Schumacher, in the Luxembourg Grand Prix. In the close battle between the two, Hakkinen twice beat Schumacher out of the pits and preserved his lead to win the next-to-last race of the season.

Golf

Hal Sutton won a three-way battle on the back nine of the Texas Open at San Antonio for his first PGA Tour victory since 1995. Justin Leonard lost the lead by bogeying the final two holes. Sutton, who led by one stroke entering the final round, had six birdies and two bogeys in a four-under 68. He held on to par the final two holes to finish with an 18-under 270 total, one stroke ahead of Leonard and Jay Haas, who each shot a 68.

Larry Nelson closed with a seven-under-par 65 to win the Boone Valley Senior Golf Classic at Augusta, Mo., by two strokes, withstanding a charge in which Graham Marsh eagled two of the last five holes. . . . Rachel Hetherington and two-time defending champion Annika Sorenstam both closed their rounds with four consecutive birdies, then Hetherington made another on the first playoff hole to win the LPGA Betsy King Classic at Kutztown, Pa. . . . Colin Montgomerie sank a six-foot par putt on the 18th hole for a five-under 67 and a one-shot victory in the German Masters at Cologne, Germany.

Tennis

No. 6-ranked Monica Seles defeated No. 4 Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, to win the Toyota Princess Cup at Toyko.

Sanchez-Vicario rallied from a 3-1 deficit to win the first set and threatened to rebound from 3-1 and 5-3 deficits in the third before Seles prevailed in 2 hours, 17 minutes. The finalists also met in the doubles championship, with Seles and Russia’s Anna Kournikova beating Sanchez Vicario and Mary Joe Fernandez, 6-4, 6-4.

U.S. Open champion Pat Rafter helped Australia beat Uzbekistan, 5-0, in Davis Cup play at Townsville, Australia, with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Dmitri Tomashevich, but afterward complained that his sore left knee had flared up and pulled out of this week’s Grand Slam Cup in Hanover, Germany.

Soccer

Frenzied soccer fans at a game in Dhaka, Bangladesh, clashed and fired gunshots, killing at least two people and injuring 40 others. The military was called in as the fighting spread to the streets of Dighinala, a township 110 miles southeast of Dhaka, the capital.

The dead were identified by a local official as two youths belonging to the Chakma tribe.

Police in Perugia, Italy, clashed with some of the 2,500 visiting fans from Lazio during an Italian League game, resulting in tear gas being tossed into the stands, stinging the eyes of players and forcing hundreds of fans to leave at halftime. The news agency ANSA reported Lazio fans retrieved a tear-gas canister police had launched and threw it into the stands.

The game was temporarily suspended, and eight people, identified as Lazio hooligans by police, were arrested. One officer was injured.

The game ended in a 2-2 tie.

Miscellany

Favored Classic Cat couldn’t catch second-favorite Arch down the stretch and finished second in the $500,000 Super Derby at Louisiana Downs in Bossier City, La. The loss meant Classic Cat missed out on a $1-million bonus he could have won if he had swept the Ohio Derby, the Remington Derby and the Grade I Super Derby.

Grant Hackett set a world short-course swimming record in the 1,500-meter freestyle with a time of 14 minutes 19.55 seconds at the Australian championships in Perth.