Open-Wheel Driver Killed in Accident at Practice

Grand American series driver Jeff Clinton was killed during practice Friday when his open-wheel, open-cockpit race car veered off course, flipped repeatedly and landed upside down.

The 38-year-old St. Louis driver died at the scene, officials at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Florida said.

Clinton, who was practicing for today’s Nextel 250 race, lost control of the car and crashed heading into Turn 1. Grand American and Miami-Dade County officials will investigate the accident.

Team officials refused to say whether Clinton was wearing a head-and-neck restraint.

Track officials canceled qualifying Friday and set the starting grid for the race according to series standings.

Clinton was in his second season--his first full one--for Archangel Motorsport Services. Team owner Mike Johnson withdrew his second entry from today’s race.

The accident delayed Indy Racing League qualifying for nearly three hours before Sam Hornish won the pole for the IRL season opener today. The Grand Am cars returned to the track a short time later for a final practice session.

Driving a Haas-Carter Racing Ford without a sponsor, Todd Bodine made the most of a bad situation by winning the pole for the UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Bodine turned a lap of 172.850 mph, breaking the track qualifying record of 172.563 set in 2000 by Ricky Rudd. That was also just good enough--by 0.002 of a second--to keep rookie Ryan Newman and his 172.839 lap off the pole.

Rubens Barrichello upstaged Ferrari teammate Michael Schumacher, setting a track record in qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix at Melbourne, the opening event of the Formula One season.

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Jeff Burton, making his first Busch Series start of the season, drove to the pole position for today’s Sam’s Town 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Burton’s lap of 169.168 mph relegated Jimmy Spencer, at 169.051, to the outside of the front row for 300-mile race.

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Tennis

Top-seeded Jennifer Capriati shook off a slow start and advanced to the semifinals of the State Farm Classic by defeating sixth-seeded Barbara Schett of Austria, 7-5, 6-3, at Scottsdale, Ariz.

Serena Williams, seeded third, also moved to the semifinals by defeating Nicole Pratt of Australia, 6-2, 7-5. She will play second-seeded Martina Hingis of Switzerland, who defeated Daja Bedanova of the Czech Republic, 6-4, 0-6, 6-3.

Top-ranked Lleyton Hewitt fought off a late spurt by Todd Martin for a 6-3, 7-5 victory in the quarterfinals of the Siebel Open at San Jose. Hewitt will face fourth-seeded Jan-Michael Gambill, who ousted Wayne Arthurs, 7-5, 6-7 (5), 7-6 (4). Gambill had 22 aces and was never broken in the match.

Second-seeded Andre Agassi easily defeated South African Wayne Ferreira, 6-4, 6-4, and will play the winner of a late match between Andy Roddick and Davis Cup teammate James Blake.

Anna Kournikova of Russia was eliminated from the Abierto Mexicano Pegaso tournament, losing to Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia, 5-7, 6-3, 6-1, at Acapulco.

Srebotnik will face Paola Suarez of Argentina in today’s final. Suarez, seeded seventh, handily defeated top-seeded Elena Dementieva of Russia, 7-5, 6-3.

Jiri Novak of the Czech Republic upset second-seeded Yevgeny Kafelnikov of Russia, 6-1, 6-1, in the quarterfinals of the Dubai Open at the United Arab Emirates. No. 3 Thomas Johansson of Sweden defeated Tim Henman of England, 6-4, 6-3, and will play Younes El Aynaoui of Morocco, who defeated Rainer Schuettler of Germany, 6-7 (3), 6-4, 6-3.

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Track and Field

Miguel Pate pulled off the fourth-best indoor long jump in history to win the title at the USA Track & Field Indoor Championships at New York.

Pate’s leap of 28 feet, 21/4 inches was the longest indoors in the world in three years, and the best by an American since Carl Lewis set the world record of 28-101/4 in New York in 1984.

Mike Powell set the outdoor mark of 29-41/2 in 1991.

Adam Nelson won his second consecutive shotput national title with a toss of 70-9 1/4.

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Boxing

Canadian Eric Lucas successfully defended his World Boxing Council super-middleweight title, unanimously outpointing Vinny Paz at Mashantucket, Conn. Paz, 39, who formerly fought as Vinny Pazienza, fell to 49-10 and says he won’t retire until he gets 50 victories.