Junior Earnhardt Defeats Senior

Dale Earnhardt Jr. made quick work of a duel with his father, passing him with 31 laps to go in the Pontiac Excitement 400 on Saturday night at Richmond, Va., and holding on to become the first two-time winner on the Winston Cup circuit this season.

Earnhardt Jr., who also won at Texas a month ago, passed his father on the inside heading into turn 3 two laps after they emerged from pit stops under caution nose-to-tail, bringing many in the crowd of 100,000 to their feet.

Like his father has been prone to do in a career that included seven series championships, the rookie also sparked some controversy by costing Tony Stewart, last year’s rookie of the year, a seemingly certain chance to win the race.

Stewart was leading when Mark Martin slammed into the wall on the 361st of 400 laps, bringing out the ninth caution and sending the leaders to the pits.

After getting service, Stewart was on his way out of his stall when Earnhardt Jr. rammed the back of his car. The collision flattened Stewart’s left rear tire, forcing him to pit again and dropping him to 22nd and out of contention.

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Michael Schumacher of Germany, Formula One’s top driver with victories in three of the first four races this season, won the pole for today’s Spanish Grand Prix at Barcelona. The two-time winner of the race covered the 2.939-mile Catalunya Circuit at 130.664 mph. . . . Cory McClenathan led top-fuel qualifying in the Advance Auto Parts NHRA Southern Nationals at Commerce, Ga. . . . Christian Lovendahl, the crew chief for P.J. Jones’ NASCAR Busch Series team and Mark Martin’s nephew, was killed Friday while his speeding truck ran off a rural road and overturned near Mooresville, N.C. He was 27.

Tennis

Martina Hingis needed only one hour to regain the No. 1 ranking from Lindsay Davenport.

Hingis, of Switzerland, showing no signs of a monthlong layoff, took back the top ranking by blasting Anke Huber of Germany, 6-3, 6-2, in the $535,000 Betty Barclay Cup at Hamburg, Germany.

Hingis, seeking her third title this year, faces Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario, a three-time winner of the event, in today’s final. The Spanish veteran edged Amanda Coetzer of South Africa, 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (4).

Miscellany

Kimberly Comacho and Nina Wengst each scored three goals as defending national champion USC defeated top-seeded Stanford, 10-5, in the semifinals of the NCAA Women’s Water Polo Championships at Indianapolis.

The Trojans (23-8) will meet UCLA, which defeated California, 5-3, in the other semifinal on the strength of four goals by sophomore Elaine Zivich and nine saves by freshman goalie Jamie Hipp. The Bruins (29-5) are seeking their fourth title in five years.

Johnny Tapia retained his World Boxing Organization bantamweight title with a unanimous decision over Javier Torres at Las Cruces, N.M., and former International Boxing Federation junior-bantamweight champion Danny Romero defeated Mexico’s Jorge Munoz with a unanimous but tougher-than-expected decision. . . . Juan Carlos Gomez, a Cuban living in Germany, stopped American Imamu Mayfield in the third round at Neuss, Germany, to defend his World Boxing Council cruiserweight title and improve to 31-0 while dropping Mayfield to 19-3-1. . . . Glenn Catley of Britain won the WBC super-middleweight title, stopping Markus Beyer of Germany early in the 12th round at Frankfurt, Germany. . . . IBF lightweight champion Paul Spadafora outpointed Mike Griffith at Pittsburgh in a bout stopped after 10 rounds because of a cut over the challenger’s right eye.

A late goal gave Sweden a 1-1 with Switzerland and put the Swedes into the quarterfinals of the World Championships at St. Petersburg, Russia, while knocking Russia out of any chance of a medal.