Motorcyclist Dies After Crash

Robert Damron of Morgan Hill, Calif., injured during the first lap of a motorcycle race Saturday night at Perris Auto Speedway, died later in the evening at Moreno Valley Community Hospital.

Damron, 36, lost control coming out of a turn on the first lap of the West Coast Flat Track Series race and was struck by two cyclists.

Damron was ejected from his motorcycle and hit by oncoming bikers racing at speeds of more than 100 mph, according to Riverside County sheriff’s officials.

Miscellany

Olympic organizers in Salt Lake City have cut the number of public tickets for medal ceremonies to try to make room for the athletes’ families and friends.

All medalists at next year’s Winter Games will receive 10 tickets to the downtown ceremony.

The Salt Lake Organizing Committee also bumped up the number of spaces reserved for other athletes from 4,600 to 8,700 over the 15 days when medals will be presented at the plaza. Each of the estimated 22,000 volunteers will receive two tickets to the medals plaza.

SLOC has set aside 72,700 tickets, about 5,000 per night, for the public.

The Oakland Raiders signed tight end Andrew Glover, bringing him back to the team with which he began his NFL career.

Glover, who caught 21 passes for 281 yards and four touchdowns with the New Orleans Saints, was released in March to make room under the NFL’s salary cap.

Liu Ailing scored in the third minute of injury time to lift the Philadelphia Charge into a 1-1 with the Atlanta Beat in a WUSA game at Villanova, Pa.

Julian Lorcy of France won the World Boxing Association lightweight title at Saitama, Japan, with a unanimous decision over champion Takanori Hatakeyama of Japan. Lorcy, a former WBA lightweight champion, improved his record to 49-2-2, with 35 knockouts. Hatakeyama fell to 24-2-3.

Jan Ullrich won Germany’s cycling championship at Bad Durrheim, a tune-up for Saturday’s start of the Tour de France.

The last time Ullrich won the German race was in 1997--the year of his only Tour de France victory.

Denmark defeated Olympic champion Norway, 1-0, with both countries reaching the semifinals of the women’s European Soccer Championship at Aalen, Germany.

In Wednesday’s semifinals, Norway will play defending champion Germany, which dominated Group A with a 11-1 goal difference. Denmark will play Sweden.

Jurisprudence

Dean Jakubczak, the foreman of the jury that acquitted Denver Bronco linebacker Bill Romanowski of prescription-drug fraud, said prosecutors didn’t prove the player obtained a diet drug illegally.

Romanowski was acquitted Friday during a trial in which prosecutors claimed the 35-year-old linebacker obtained the appetite suppressant phentermine from prescriptions written for his wife, Julie, and two other people, during the 1998 season when the Broncos won the Super Bowl.

In jurors’ minds, Romanowski did not possess the drugs illegally because the prescriptions, though written under other names, were intended for him, Jakubczak said.

Track and Field

Osleidys Menendez of Cuba set a world record in the women’s javelin with a throw of 234 feet, 8 inches at a track meet at Athens, Greece.

She broke the record of 227-11 set July 28, 2000, by Trine Solberg-Hallestad of Norway, an Olympic and two-time world champion.

Olympic champion Jonathon Edwards of England had the best triple jump of the year, winning at 57 feet, 11 1/4 inches and countryman Mark Richardson won his first 400 meters since returning from a drug ban in a meet at Glasgow, Scotland.

Richardson, timed in 46.20 seconds defeated Jerome Young of the U.S.