Elliott Wins Fifth Career Pole at Pocono Raceway

Bill Elliott was the fastest qualifier for the second week in a row, and he tied the record Friday for the most career poles at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pa.

On Sunday, in the Pennsylvania 500, Elliott will try to become the first driver to win five times on the mountaintop.

The pole was his fourth this year--giving Elliott the lead in the Winston Cup series--and the 55th overall for the 46-year-old.

It also was his fifth at Pocono, matching Ken Schrader’s track record.

Elliott’s Dodge sped around the 2 1/2-mile triangular-shaped track in 52.765 seconds, posting a fast lap of 170.568 mph.

That was far short of Tony Stewart’s two-year-old track record of 172.391.

Second-fastest was Ricky Rudd, whose Ford got around in 170.358.

Michael Waltrip overcame a brush with the wall in practice and wound up qualifying third.

Driving a Chevrolet missing its number on the right side after a quick repair job, Waltrip went 170.168.

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Two-time Formula One champion Mika Hakkinen announced his retirement, and the McLaren-Mercedes team will continue with drivers David Coulthard and Kimi Raikkonen into next year.

Hakkinen took a sabbatical this season after an 11-year Formula One career.

“I have been through so much in my Formula One career and achieved a lot and I just didn’t think it was worth it to push things any further,” Hakkinen said in a recorded message played during practice at the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim.

At Friday’s practice, Michael Schumacher had the fastest time (1 minute 16.086 seconds), followed by Ferrari teammate Rubens Barrichello (1:16.248) and Raikkonen (1:16.344).

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Paul Tracy of Canada won the provisional pole for the Vancouver Molson-Indy with a lap of 1 minute 1.888 seconds, or 103.600 mph. Bruno Junqueira’s hard crash ended the 60-minute opening round of qualifying with about two minutes left.

Tennis

Carlos Moya beat Stefano Galvani of Italy, 2-6, 6-3, 6-1, to reach the clay-court Prokom Open semifinals at Sopot, Poland, with his career-best 13th straight ATP Tour victory. Moya next faces Argentina’s Jose Acasuso, who beat Jan Vacek, 6-4, 6-2.

Today’s women’s final will be between Henrieta Nagyova, a 2-6, 7-5, 7-6 (2) winner over Tathiana Garbin, and Dinara Safina, younger sister of 2000 U.S. Open champion Marat Safin. Safina defeated Vera Zvonareva, 6-3, 6-2.

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French Open champion Albert Costa lost his bid for a fourth consecutive Generali Open title, losing, 6-1, 6-2, to Alex Corretja in a quarterfinal match at Kitzbuehel, Austria.

Corretja, who avenged a loss to Costa in the semifinals at the French Open, will face sixth-seeded Gaston Gaudio, a 6-4, 6-3 winner over Nicolas Massu.

Miscellany

The Lakers announced the signings of veterans Brian Shaw and Slava Medvedenko and undrafted rookie Jannero Pargo, putting 13 players under contract for the upcoming season.

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The San Antonio Spurs re-signed free-agent forward Malik Rose, giving him a $42 million, seven-year deal, a source close to the negotiations said on condition of anonymity.... As expected, Eric Musselman, 37, was hired as the eighth coach of the Golden State Warriors since 1994, agreeing to a three-year contract worth about $4.5 million.... The Toronto Raptors signed free-agent center Nate Huffman to a two-year contract. Huffman, 27, averaged 18.8 points, 7.5 rebounds for Israeli League champion Maccabi Elite Tel-Aviv last season.

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The Kings agreed to terms with forward Eric Belanger on a two-year contract. Belanger, 24, had eight goals and 16 assists for a career-high 24 points in 53 games last season.

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Ato Bolden, a four-time Olympic medalist and former UCLA sprinter, sustained cuts and bruises on his hands and legs but otherwise walked away unharmed after a head-on car accident in his native Trinidad and Tobago, police said.

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Jay Gruden threw four touchdown passes and Orlando shut out Buffalo in the final 26 1/2 minutes as the Predators beat the Destroyers, 32-27, at Orlando in the wild-card round of the Arena Football League playoffs.

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Tamika Catchings tied the WNBA record with nine steals and scored 23 points in the Indiana Fever’s 73-63 victory over the Minnesota Lynx at Minneapolis in front of 8,973.... Margo Dydek had 21 points and matched her career high with 16 rebounds as the Utah Starzz beat Phoenix, 74-61, at Salt Lake City in front of 8,230. It was the Mercury’s WNBA-record 18th consecutive road loss.

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Jay Yelas pushed his lead to nearly 10 pounds entering the last day of the Bass Masters Classic at Lay Lake in Birmingham, Ala. Aaron Martens of Castaic slipped from second place to third--11 ounces behind David Walker--after an 11-pound, 2-ounce showing.

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A memorial service for Irv Kaze will be held Aug. 18 at the Hollywood Park Turf Club. Kaze, who was the host of a radio sports talk show the last 10 years and was a sports executive and public-relations man before that, died June 29 of a heart attack. He was 75.

Passings

Mel Triplett, the starting fullback on the New York Giants 1956 NFL championship team, died Thursday at age 71 in Toledo, Ohio. He had suffered from diabetes.... Mike Clark, the kicker for the Dallas Cowboys’ 1971 Super Bowl team, died Wednesday at age 61 of a heart attack.... Ed Runge, the patriarch of the only three-generation family of Major League Baseball umpires, has died. He was 84.