This Time, Spencer Gets a Win

The last time Jimmy Spencer raced at Bristol Motor Speedway, he was bumped to second place.

There was no tapping on his return trip--no one could get close enough to him to even try--as Spencer easily won the NASCAR Food City 250 on Friday night in Bristol, Tenn.

Instead, Spencer had to slow to avoid the spinning car of Tim Sauter with two laps to go. That gave Scott Wimmer enough space to close the gap on Spencer’s lead, but Spencer held off the challenge to win his first Busch Grand National Series race of the season and 12th of his career.

Wimmer finished a career-best second. Busch series points leader Greg Biffle was third and was followed by Mike McLaughlin and Jeff Green.

Biffle, who entered the race with a 56-point lead over Keller in the standings, stretched it to 78.

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Jeff Gordon, winless in 31 consecutive races, took the first step toward ending his drought by winning the pole for the NASCAR Winston Cup Sharpie 500 at Bristol, Tenn.

Gordon ran a lap in his Chevrolet around Bristol Motor Speedway at 124.034 mph to earn the top starting spot for tonight’s race.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. qualified second in a Chevrolet with a lap at 123.937. Michael Waltrip qualified third in 123.905.

It’s the second consecutive race the two Dale Earnhardt Inc. teammates have had strong qualifying runs. They were first and second last week at Michigan International Speedway.

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Cristiano da Matta guaranteed himself another front-row start by winning the provisional pole for the inaugural CART Montreal Molson-Indy.

He earned another standings point and leads Patrick Carpentier and Bruno Junqueira by 43 points. He can add one more in final qualifying today.

Da Matta’s Newman-Haas Lola-Toyota got around the 2.709-mile, 14-turn Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on Notre Dame Island in 1 minute 19.465 seconds, which translates to 122.279 mph.

Tennis

Venus Williams beat Daniela Hantuchova, 6-3, 6-3, in the Pilot Pen and will play Lindsay Davenport in the championship for the third time in four years.

The three-time defending champion, Williams is unbeaten in her four years at New Haven, Conn., and has been stretched to three sets only twice.

With serves consistently higher than 110 mph, she overwhelmed the seventh-seeded Hantuchova, who managed to win points on the strength of her precision groundstrokes and occasional well-timed lobs and drops, but could do little with Williams’ serves.

Davenport cruised in her semifinal earlier, beating Anastasia Myskina, 6-2, 6-2. She advanced to her second final in four tournaments since returning in July from knee surgery that sidelined her nine months.

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Juan Ignacio Chela, who has climbed almost 800 places in the world rankings over the last 16 months, defeated Mardy Fish, 7-5, 6-3, to advance to the semifinals of the TD Waterhouse Cup at Commack, N.Y.

Chela, 25, who was suspended for three months and fined by the ATP last year for illegal use of steroids, was ranked No. 810 in April 2001. He’s currently No. 26.

He advanced to today’s semifinals against Alex Corretja, who led, 5-2, when Paul-Henri Mathieu retired because of a left toe blister.

Soccer

Ronaldo, who led Brazil to its fifth World Cup title by scoring a tournament-high eight goals, will return to Italian club Inter Milan after trade talks with Spain’s Real Madrid fell apart.

It wasn’t clear if the striker will start Tuesday, when Inter plays Portugal’s Sporting Lisbon in a Champions League qualifier.

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The defending world champion U.S. women’s national soccer team will play Russia on Sept. 29 in Uniondale, N.Y., in the opening game of the four-nation U.S. Women’s Cup, which runs through Oct. 9.

The Americans also will play Australia on Oct. 2 and Italy on Oct. 6, with both games part of doubleheaders in Cary, S.C., U.S. Soccer announced this week. The Washington Freedom plays the Carolina Courage in Founders Cup II, the Women’s United Soccer Assn. championship game, today in Atlanta.

Miscellany

Dwain Chambers beat Maurice Greene in the 100 meters for the fourth time this season and, if that wasn’t bad enough, Tim Montgomery beat the world record holder for the second time in a week.

Chambers charged through a talented field to win in 9.98 seconds at the Norwich Union Grand Prix meet at Crystal Palace in London. Montgomery was second in 10.05 and Greene third in 10.06.

In the women’s race, Marion Jones took advantage of a fast start to beat Zhanna Pintusevich-Block in 10.97.

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The Lakers signed free agent Soumaila Samake, a 7-foot center who averaged 3.8 points and 6.0 rebounds in 18.3 minutes on their Summer Pro League team.

Samake was a second-round draft pick of the New Jersey Nets in 2000. He played in 34 games for the Nets in the 2000-01 season, averaging 1.4 points and 1.6 rebounds in 6.6 minutes.

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The Orlando Magic exercised its option on guard Mike Miller, keeping him with the team through the 2003-04 season.

He is scheduled to make about $2.7 million next season and $3.4 million the following season.

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Louisiana Tech promoted Kurt Budke to head coach of the women’s basketball team a day after Leon Barmore retired. Budke was an associate head coach the past two seasons.

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The Avengers have been honored by the Arena Football League with the Commissioner’s Award, given to the franchise that best displays excellence on and off the field, and Todd Merkow, team president and chief operating officer, was named executive of the year.