Hornish Gets Off to Fast Start in IRL

Although Team Penske established itself as a strong contender, defending champion Sam Hornish Jr. proved he’s still the driver to beat in the Indy Racing League.

Hornish, 22, won the season opener, the Grand Prix of Miami, in dominating fashion Saturday. Penske drivers Gil de Ferran and Helio Castroneves finished second and third in their full-time IRL debuts.

“He was unreal,” de Ferran said. “I mean he was very, very strong. I tried my best to challenge him, but there was no point doing anything stupid. He had a very strong car. It was his day.”

It was Hornish’s fourth victory in two seasons and second in a row at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

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Michael Schumacher won the Australian Grand Prix for the third consecutive year, avoiding a pileup at the start and easily holding off Juan Pablo Montoya.

The defending Formula One champion, raced to his 54th career victory, completing 58 laps at Albert Park in 1 hour, 35 minutes, 36.792 seconds to edge Montoya by 18.6 seconds. Kimi Raikkonen was third. Only eight cars finished the season-opening race, with Schumacher, Montoya and Raikkonen the only ones on the lead lap.

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Mauro Baldi and Didier Theys teamed up for a win in the Grand American Rolex Sports Car Series, taking the Nextel 250 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Starting from the pole, they matched their finish at last month’s Rolex 24 at Daytona, leading most of the way through the 104-lap, 250-mile race in a Doran Lista Racing Judd-engined Dallara.

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Pole-sitter Jeff Burton came from behind after his final pit stop and pulled away to win by a full straightaway in the Sam’s Town 300 Busch Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Burton led 149 of the 200 laps.

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Pro Football

The Seattle Seahawks signed Trent Dilfer to a four-year contract and will make him their No. 1 quarterback heading into training camp, ahead of last year’s starter, Matt Hasselbeck.... Pro Bowl center Jeremy Newberry and San Francisco agreed to a $20-million, six-year contract.

Workouts for quarterbacks in the NFL scouting combine begin today in the RCA Dome at Indianapolis with a select group that includes Fresno State’s David Carr, Oregon’s Joey Harrington and Illinois’ Kurt Kittner. Heisman Trophy winner Eric Crouch of Nebraska and Indiana’s Antwaan Randle El are getting looks at other positions. Crouch is being listed as a running back and Randle El as a receiver.

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Tennis

Top-ranked Lleyton Hewitt advanced to the final of the Siebel Open at San Jose with a 7-5, 6-4 victory over Jan-Michael Gambill. Hewitt will face Andre Agassi, who needed only 49 minutes to eliminate Andy Roddick, 6-3, 6-1, in the other semifinal.... Third-seeded Serena Williams defeated second-seeded Martina Hingis, 6-1, 3-6, 6-4, advancing to a showdown with Jennifer Capriati in the final of the State Farm Classic at Scottsdale, Ariz. The top-seeded Capriati beat Nathalie Dechy, 6-2, 6-3, in the other semifinal.... Younes El Aynaoui of Morocco defeated third-seeded Thomas Johansson of Sweden, 7-6 (5), 4-6, 6-3, and Fabrice Santoro of France beat Jiri Novak of the Czech Republic, 5-7, 6-3, 7-6 (4), in the semifinals of the Dubai Open at the United Arab Emirates.

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Track and Field

Regina Jacobs, 38, won her 21st national title by pulling away over the last lap of the mile for a time of 4 minutes 32.13 seconds in the USA Track & Field Indoor Championships at New York, her final major indoor meet. Nicole Teter, 28, set the only U.S. record of the two-day meet when she won the women’s 800 meters in 1:58.71.

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Winter Sports

Italy’s Isolde Kostner retained her World Cup downhill title despite a 10th-place finish in a race at Lenzerheide, Switzerland, won by Switzerland’s Corinne Rey Bellet. Austria’s Renate Goetschl, an Olympic silver and bronze medalist, crashed and broke her left leg and severely injured an elbow.

Austria’s Hannes Trinkl won a World Cup downhill at Kvitfjell, Norway. Daron Rahlves of the U.S. was 19th and teammate Bode Miller was 49th.

Shani Davis of the U.S. set a championship record of 1:52.29 in a 1,500-meter short-track race in the World Junior Speedskating Championships at Collalbo, Italy.... Russia’s Dmitri Lobkov won the men’s 500 meters in a World Cup speedskating meet at Oslo, with Olympic gold medalist Casey FitzRandolph of the U.S. finishing third. Jennifer Rodriguez of the U.S. was fifth in the women’s 1,000.

The 30th Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race began with a ceremonial opening in Anchorage, where 64 teams set off into the wilderness for today’s re-start, 45 miles to the north. Charlie Boulding drew the top starting position.