Hornish Edges Sharp for IRL Win

Sam Hornish Jr. overtook Scott Sharp a few feet from the finish line Saturday to cap his championship season by winning the Chevy 500 at Fort Worth in the closest 1-2-3 finish in IRL history.

Hornish, 22, led 114 of 200 laps, but Sharp passed him high on the 193rd lap and held the lead until the end. Hornish won by 0.188 seconds--by about a nose. Robbie Buhl finished third, .0468 seconds, or about half a car-length, behind Hornish.

Hornish had clinched the IRL Northern Light Cup and $1-million bonus, but his two victories came in the first two races of the 13-race schedule. He was the only driver to finish every race and had only one finish lower than sixth, a 14th place at the Indianapolis 500.

Greg Biffle won the Little Trees 300 at Concord, N.C., under caution when Matt Kenseth brought out the yellow flag by crashing as he tried to hold on to his lead. Kenseth led for 97 laps and was fending off a charge from Biffle when he hit the wall, bringing out the yellow flag with two laps to go and giving Biffle his fourth victory of the season, a Busch Series rookie record. The victory also put Biffle’s winnings this season over the $1-million mark, another rookie record.

Gil de Ferran won his second consecutive pole at the Texaco/Havoline Grand Prix of Houston, and inched closer to Kenny Brack in their duel atop the CART standings. The reigning FedEx Series champion turned a fast lap of 92.513 mph to easily earn his fourth pole this season.

John Force had the quickest funny car run in NHRA history, 4.731 seconds at 325.14 mph, in qualifying for the Pep Boys Nationals at Mohnton, Pa.

Golf

Dorothy Delasin, 21, birdied three of the final four holes to move a stroke ahead of Karrie Webb and Se Ri Pak at the Samsung World Championship at Vallejo, Calif. Delasin, who grew up in the San Francisco Bay area, had a five-under-par 67 for a 208.

David Toms finished with a four-under 67, good for a two-shot lead over Esteban Toledo in his bid to defend the Michelob Championship at Williamsburg, Va.

John Daly shot an eight-under 64 for the day’s best score at the German Masters at Pulheim, leaving him three strokes behind leader Bernhard Langer.

Hale Irwin shot a four-under 68 to take a two-stroke lead over John Jacobs and Hubert Green at the Turtle Bay Championship at Kahuku, Hawaii.

Tennis

Lleyton Hewitt reached the Japan Open final by routing James Blake, 6-4, 6-0, at Tokyo in their first meeting since a contentious match at the U.S. Open. Hewitt, the U.S. Open champion who is seeded first, will play fifth-seeded Michel Kratochvil of Switzerland, who defeated Karol Kucera of Slovakia, 6-0, 6-3, in the other semifinal.

In the women’s final, top-seeded Monica Seles defeated second-seeded Tamarine Tanasugarn of Thailand, 6-3, 6-2. Seles did not lose a set in her four matches.

Jelena Dokic reached her fourth final of the year, beating Silvia Farina-Elia of Italy, 6-4, 6-3, in the semifinals of the Kremlin Cup at Moscow. The 18-year-old Yugoslav will play Elena Dementieva, seeded eighth, who beat wild card Anastasia Myskina 6-7 (7), 6-1, 7-5, in an all-Russian semifinal.

Miscellany

The Anschutz Entertainment Group will announce Monday that its four Major League Soccer teams, including the Galaxy, will play a series of benefit matches in Europe in November to benefit victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The Milwaukee Bucks are willing to pay a luxury tax to sign free-agent forward Anthony Mason. A signing would seemingly reverse the stance of Milwaukee owner Herb Kohl, who had adamantly said the Bucks would not surpass the luxury-tax threshold, which is expected to be about $54 million, the team’s current payroll.

Tim DeBoom overcame a three-minute penalty at the end of the bicycle ride to become the first American in five years to win the Ironman Triathlon World Championship in Hawaii.