Trump in Superspeedway Group

Real estate developer Donald Trump and Bill France, chairman and chief executive officer of the International Speedway Corp., announced plans Friday to build a superspeedway in the New York area, with an exact site to be chosen by summer.

“It’s a big day for either New York, New Jersey or Connecticut,” Trump said. “We are looking at five sites and we’ll probably have another five. A final decision on one will be made in the next couple of months. In eight to 12 weeks, we’ll have a pretty good idea where it will be.”

Trump said the facility would cost between $200 million and $250 million, “maybe more.”

ISC would own the track which will be called Trump Superspeedway, adding it to five other motor sports facilities under its control. France said the layout would be at least a one-mile track to qualify for the superspeedway designation and would probably have a road course to maximize usage.

*

Bobby Labonte turned a lap of 194.957 mph at Atlanta Motor Speedway in qualifying for Sunday’s Cracker Barrel 500 to win his second NASCAR pole in a row. Mike Skinner took the outside spot on the front row with a lap of 194.226.

Skiing

Complaining the conditions were too dangerous, women ski racers threatened not to compete in the World Cup Finals at Sierra Nevada, Spain, and skiing’s governing body canceled the race, saying there was no time left in a season that ends Sunday.

That means Sabine Egger of Austria, who entered as the points leader in slalom, will win her first World Cup season slalom title.

The women said they were told that today’s men’s slalom also was in jeopardy. The women’s giant slalom also was set for today.

Reigning Olympic aerials champion Nikki Stone gave in to a chronic back problem and announced her retirement at Meiringen, Switzerland. The two-time Olympian has won to three World Cup titles plus the aerials gold medal at the 1995 World Championships.

*

Linda Wikstrom, dedicating her skiing to her late roommate, won the women’s slalom to help thrust defending champion Colorado back into the lead with one day left in the NCAA Ski Championships at Newry, N.H.. Wikstrom and the Colorado team has dedicated these championships to the memory of teammate Lucie Hasunova, who was killed in a snowmobile accident in January.

Pro Football

New Orleans Saints Coach Mike Ditka, who had a heart attack in 1988 and recently experienced an irregular heartbeat, had an angiogram this week to check for blocked arteries and came through it with no problems. . . . Safety Darren Perry, a starter for the Pittsburgh Steelers since he came into the NFL in 1992, agreed to terms of a two-year contract with the San Diego Chargers worth approximately $3.2 million. . . . The Atlanta Falcons signed free-agent strong safety Marty Carter, who led the Chicago Bears in tackles three of the last four seasons. . . . The New England Patriots re-signed free agent place-kicker Adam Vinatieri to a three-year contract. Vinatieri was fifth in the NFL last year with a career-high 127 points.

Miscellany

Olympic speedskating champion Gianni Romme of the Netherlands retained his 5,000-meter world title at Heerenveen, Netherlands, with a time of six minutes 29.39 seconds. Canadian Catriona Le May Doan won the women’s 500-meter gold medal with times of 38.48 and 38.39 in the two-race competition and Germany’s Gunda Niemann-Stirnemann won the women’s 3,000 at 4:04.88.

Following a meeting of FIFA’s executive committee, President Sepp Blatter said all professional soccer leagues should adopt a common calendar by 2005, running from February to November. He also called on leagues to cut their number of teams to 16, and said 44 weeks would be set aside for clubs to play twice a week, with specified dates for national league and cup matches, continental club championships and national team games. . . . Galaxy midfielder John Jones will be sidelined indefinitely after suffering a broken right leg in Wednesday’s 2-0 exhibition loss at Cal State Fullerton.

A car driven by a man trying to outrun police collided with a van carrying the Bluefield (W.Va.) State baseball team at Tallahassee, Fla., killing 19-year-old Shannon Stewart and leaving another player in the hospital. According to Leon County Sheriff’s Deputy David Gilmore, the accident occurred when a car driven by Albert Williams, 28, of Tallahassee, who had been stopped earlier on a drug charge and was fleeing police, hit the van as it was exiting Interstate 10. Mark Morgan, 22, was in stable condition at Tallahassee Community Hospital.

The top-ranked UCLA men’s tennis team avenged its only loss, defeating No. 13 Arizona State, 5-2, at the Los Angeles Tennis Center. The Bruins (14-1, 3-1 Pacific 10) were led by 11th-ranked Jean-Noel Grinda, who defeated Jeff Williams, 7-5, 7-6, in the No. 1 match. The Sun Devils (8-2, 2-2) defeated UCLA at Tempe on Jan. 30. The Bruins play Arizona today at noon. The Wildcats were defeated by No. 13 USC, 6-1, at Marks Tennis Stadium. USC (10-2) will play Arizona State at noon.