Younger Labonte Wins Season Finale

There was only one way Bobby Labonte wanted to close his best NASCAR season.

The younger brother of two-time Winston Cup champion Terry Labonte got his wish Sunday, winning the season-ending NAPA 500 and reasserting his mastery of Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Labonte had five victories this season and a runner-up finish to new champion Dale Jarrett, but Labonte wound up 201 points behind Jarrett.

“Bobby’s going to win his championship,” Jarrett said. “He was the man here today, but he’s the man at a lot of places.”

Labonte, with 12 career victories, won for the fourth time in his last seven starts at this track. This was his third victory since the 1.54-mile oval was redesigned midway through the 1997 season.

His No. 18 Pontiac pulled away at the end of the 325-lap race, finishing about half a straightaway ahead of Jarrett, who passed Jeremy Mayfield for second place on the last lap.

There were eight cautions, slowing Labonte’s speed to 137.932 mph.

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Kenny Smith of El Monte took the lead on lap 5 from Ed Reed and stayed in front for the final 36 laps to win the 40-lap MSRA Pro-4 Modifieds race in front of 4,805 on Saturday, the final night of regular-season racing at Irwindale Speedway.

Dan Moore of Burbank dove under John Campbell in turn 3 on lap 6 and went on to the 50-lap Ultra Wheels speed truck race.

Golf

Tiger Woods shot a 21-under-par 263 and Mark O’Meara a 282 to give the United States a 545-550 victory over Spain in the World Cup at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. O’Meara managed only a six-over 77 Sunday but Woods made up for that with a 65, and the United States took the $400,000 team prize. Woods’ 263 total also won him $100,000 for best individual score, nine ahead of Frank Nobilo. . . . Rocco Mediate shot a four-under 68 for a one-stroke victory over LPGA Tour star Annika Sorenstam in the Pebble Beach Invitational Pro-Am. Mediate finished with a six-under 282.

Denmark’s Thomas Bjorn won the $1.9-million Dunlop Phoenix tournament at Miyazaki, Japan, defeating Sergio Garcia on the fourth playoff hole. Through 72 holes, the two were tied at 14-under 270. . . . Australia’s Craig Parry shot an eight-under 64 for a five-stroke victory in the Ford Open at Adelaide, Australia. Parry finished with a 14-under 274.

Tennis

Bob Bryan of Camarillo defeated Jeff Coetzee of South Africa, 7-5, 7-5, to win the $25,000 USTA Pro Tennis Classic at Mission Hills Country Club at Rancho Mirage. . . . Alex O’Brien and Sebastien Lareau of Canada defeated No. 1-ranked Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes of India, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2, to win the Phoenix ATP Tour World Doubles Championship at Hartford, Conn.

Miscellany

Stephan Johnson, who took two brutal punches to the head and was placed on oxygen in the ring, was in critical condition with a brain injury after being knocked out in his junior-middleweight bout at Atlantic City, N.J., against Paul Vaden. . . . Atlas, Toluca, Necaxa, America, Guadalajara, Cruz Azul and Tecos have advanced to the quarterfinals of the Mexican winter soccer tournament. The last playoff position will be determined by a match between Pachuca and Morelia this week. . . . Ronaldo, the 23-year-old two-time FIFA player of the year, sprained his right knee and could be sidelined for up to two months. . . . Brazil’s Pretinha scored five goals for the World All-Stars in an 8-5 victory over the United States in a women’s indoor soccer exhibition at Raleigh, N.C.

Top-ranked Maryland won the NCAA women’s Division I field hockey championship at Brookline, Mass., defeating Michigan, 2-1. . . . Newport Harbor, the defending Division I state champion, is top-seeded for the girls’ volleyball Division I state tournament which begins Tuesday.

Monka Mincheva of Bulgaria set a world record in the women’s clean-and-jerk at the world weightlifting championships at Athens, Greece, hoisting 250 pounds, breaking the record by one pound. . . . Italy’s Armin Zoggeler won his second consecutive World Cup luge race, setting a track record with a run of 48.822 seconds at Sigulda, Latvia.

Carl Lewis, speaking at Monte Carlo, accused track and field officials of “lies and cover-ups” regarding drug usage to protect the athletes. Lewis added, “The sport is losing credibility because people know it is dirty.” . . . Tesfaye Bekele, a native of Ethiopia living in New York, won the Philadelphia Marathon by nearly three minutes in 2 hours 25 minutes 46 seconds. American Anne Marie Lauck won the women’s race by nearly five minutes in 2:37:59.

Ioan Chirila, a prominent Romanian sports journalist who wrote a best-seller on Nadia Comaneci, died Sunday after suffering a heart attack in his Bucharest home. He was 75. . . . Fred Podesta, the first general manager of the New York Knicks, died Nov. 15 at New York. He was 80.