Dixon Becomes Historic as a 20-Year-Old Winner

Scott Dixon, a 20-year-old rookie from New Zealand, became the youngest winner in major open-wheel racing Sunday when he held off Kenny Brack to win the Lehigh Valley Grand Prix at Nazareth, Pa.

Dixon defeated Brack by 0.366 of a second. He didn’t waver after taking the lead when Tony Kanaan pitted on lap 191 and stayed ahead of Brack for the last 36 laps. The victory from the 23rd spot on the 25-car grid was the second-greatest advance to victory in CART history.

“I just kept looking up at the board to see how many laps were left. I had a mirror full of Kenny over those last laps,” Dixon said.

The race was the first in a month for CART, which postponed the Firestone Firehawk 600 on April 29. Drivers worried they could pass out because of the G-forces during turns at Texas Motor Speedway.

Frank Pedregon won his fourth career NHRA Funny Car race, defeating Ron Capps in the final of the Advance Auto Parts Southern Nationals at Commerce, Ga with a quarter-mile run of 4.902 seconds at 305.98 mph.

Mike Dunn (Top Fuel), Jim Yates (Pro Stock), Antron Brown (Pro Stock Motorcycle) and Bob Panella (Pro Stock Truck) also won their divisions. . . . Ted Musgrave swept to victory in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series’ Ram Tough 200 at Madison, Ill., giving up the lead only for three pit stops. Musgrave, who averaged 112.237 mph and won for the third time in five events, led 140 of the 160 laps around the 1.25-mile Gateway International Raceway. . . . Colin McRae of Scotland won the Argentine Rally at Cordoba, Argentina. He completed the four-day, 21-stage, 243-mile event in 4:18.23, only 26 seconds ahead of England’s Richard Burns, last year’s winner.

Lyn St. James took two ceremonial laps, pulled into the pits and ended her career in Indy-car racing. The 54-year-old driver announced her retirement before the start of practice for the May 27 Indianapolis 500. St. James, who began racing sports cars in 1976, was the second of three female drivers to compete at Indianapolis. Janet Guthrie was the first, from 1977-79, and Sarah Fisher, who is entered again this year, was a 19-year-old rookie a year ago.

College Basketball

Karl Hobbs, an assistant basketball coach at Connecticut, was hired as head coach at George Washington. He succeeds Tom Penders, who resigned last month.

Xavier assistant Mark Schmidt was hired as the basketball coach at Robert Morris after deciding not to follow Skip Prosser to Wake Forest. Schmidt replaces Danny Nee, who resigned after one season to coach at Duquesne.

Football

Cincinnati fullback Nick Williams tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee during workouts at Bengals’ mini-camp. He will require reconstructive surgery that will sideline him for at least half of the regular season.

Ahman Green, who led Green Bay in rushing and receiving last season, signed a one-year contract worth $1.1 million with the Packers.

Soccer

Laurie Schwoy’s five-foot header in the 79th minute gave the Philadelphia Charge (2-0-1) a 3-2 victory over the Bay Area CyberRays (0-2-1) at Villanova, Pa. before 11,092 in the highest-scoring game of the Women’s United Soccer Assn’s inaugural season. . . . Tiffeny Milbrett led the New York Power to a 3-1 victory over the Carolina Courage in a WUSA game at Uniondale, N.Y. before 3,184. The Power scored once in the first half, then twice in two minutes early in the second.

Cameroon failed to become the first nation in qualifying to clinch a berth in next year’s World Cup, losing, 2-0, at Luanda, Angola.

A six-day strike forced the cancellation of the latest round of matches in Argentina’s Clausura championship at Buenos Aires.

The strike started Monday and was prolonged Friday for “an indefinite period,” when the dispute--centered on Argentina’s players’ demands that they be paid millions of dollars in back pay--remained unresolved.

Antonio Carlos Zago, a Brazilian soccer player for Italy’s top team, AS Roma, was attacked by rival fans while having lunch in a restaurant in Rome, police said. He was treated at the scene for cuts above his eye and on his right ear. . . . Spectators tossed flares on the field, attacked rival players and kicked and punched security guards during a national soccer semifinal at Melbourne, Australia. Fans stomped on the head of one guard, who was carried from the stadium with blood streaming from his face.

Miscellany

Kerry McCoy, Kerry Boumans and Joe Williams earned gold medals and led the U.S. to the World Cup of Freestyle Wrestling title at Baltimore.

The U.S. finished 4-0 and won the title for the ninth time in 12 years. Iran was second at 3-1.

Backup goalie Rick DiPietro gave up three goals in the final period and the U.S. lost, 3-0, to Austria at hockey’s world championships at Cologne, Germany.

The U.S. already had clinched a spot in the quarterfinals and wraps up second-round play Tuesday against Slovakia.

At Hanover, Alexei Yashin of the Ottawa Senators scored a goal to rally Russia to a 2-1 win over Switzerland, bolstering his country’s chances for the quarterfinals. Russia is third in its group with four points. In other games, Czech Republic defeated Italy, 11-0, and Finland routed Ukraine, 7-1.

Running

Violetta Kryza of Poland won the Pittsburgh Marathon in 2 hours 34 minutes 16 seconds. Kenyan runners took the first five spots in the men’s race, led by winner Elly Rono in 2:17:14. . . . Dominic Kirui of Kenya edged countryman and defending champion Reuben Cheruiyot to win the Lilac Bloomsday Run at Spokane, Wash. Kirui covered the 12-kilometer course in 34:29. Elana Meyer of South Africa won the women’s race in 39:23.

Claudio Roberto Souza won the 100 meters in 10.43 to edge Dennis Mitchell by one-tenth of a second and lead Brazil’s strong showing at the 2001 Grand Prix Games at Rio De Janeiro. The U.S. finished with four gold medals. Brazil won five.