Oracle Holds On, Increases Lead

Oracle beat OneWorld by less than a boat length today to take a three-point lead in their semifinal repechage at the America’s Cup in Auckland, New Zealand.

The San Francisco team’s victory came a day after it won by more than four minutes in the opener of the best-of-seven series.

For a moment, close to the finish line, OneWorld edged ahead. But Oracle thrust its bow ahead to cross only three seconds ahead in the closest race of the Cup challenger series.

Seattle’s OneWorld had been 16 seconds behind Oracle at the final turning mark.

The yachts briefly separated at the top of the last run and OneWorld, to the right of Oracle, steadily closed on its rival. When they converged near the middle of the run, OneWorld was only a boat length behind Oracle and closing rapidly.

The yachts crossed the finish line with Oracle less than the length of its burnished hull ahead of the hard-pressed Seattle team.

“Our hearts were in our mouths,” said Oracle navigator Ian Burns.

“We’ve practiced that kind of finish a few hundred times now and it paid off at last,” he said. “We just try to keep it business as usual in a situation like that, but it’s pretty hard with them breathing down your neck. You just have to sit there and hold on tight.”

Boxing

Former World Boxing Assn. super-featherweight champion Joel Casamayor stopped Mexico’s Yoni Vargas in five rounds at Miami.

Casamayor used his superior boxing skills to wear down Vargas in a scheduled 10-round lightweight bout. It was Casamayor’s second fight since losing his 130-pound crown to Acelino Freitas on Jan. 12.

A 1992 Olympic gold medalist while representing Cuba, Casamayor is now 28-1 with 18 knockouts.

Casamayor, known more as a technical fighter than a brawler, became the aggressor when he needed to and finished Vargas (23-4) with two fifth-round knockdowns.

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Japan’s Masamori Tokuyama (28-2-1) retained his World Boxing Council super flyweight title with a 12-round split decision over Gerry Penalosa (46-5-2) of the Philippines at Osaka, Japan.

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Vitali Klitschko will challenge Lennox Lewis for the heavyweight title in April. Klitschko’s promoter, Klaus-Peter Kohl, said the fight will take place in the United States on either April 12 or one week later, and Las Vegas is one of the possible venues.

Miscellany

The New Jersey Gladiators of the Arena Football League are moving to Las Vegas next season, officials said.

The Gladiators, who struggled to attract fans in New Jersey, will play at the Thomas & Mack Center. The season begins in February.

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World-renowned golf course designer Pete Dye, 76, was recovering in a Boca Raton, Fla., hospital, reportedly after surgery for colon cancer.

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Switzerland’s Didier Defago won the super-G at Val Gardena, Italy, for his first World Cup victory.

The 25-year-old skier completed the 1.5-mile run on the Saslong course in 1 minute 38.11 seconds -- 0.11 seconds faster than runner-up Hannes Reichelt of Austria. American Bode Miller finished in a tie for sixth at 1:38.76.

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NASCAR driver Ken Schrader signed with BAM Racing, securing a ride for the next season just before the start of January testing. The 47-year-old Schrader, the 1985 rookie of the year in Winston Cup, drove the last three seasons for MB2 Motorsports, which will field cars for Jerry Nadeau in 2003.

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Italian Formula One powerboat driver Vincenzo Polli was killed in a crash during the final round of the world championship series at Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. He was 37