Burton Leads Every Lap, Cruises in Darlington 200

Jeff Burton made it two for two in the Busch series, leading every lap Saturday to win the Darlington 200 stock car race at Darlington, S.C.

It was a repeat of his performance in the Busch race at Las Vegas two weeks ago, when he started from the pole and led every lap to win that event. Those are the only Busch races in which the Winston Cup regular has competed this season.

His only challenge came late in the race at Darlington Raceway when Randy LaJoie hit the wall with 18 laps remaining to bring out a caution.

Burton then held off a challenge from Greg Biffle, his teammate at Roush Racing. The two-lap duel was his only challenge in the race, and Burton said it was because the Fords are so similar.

“We’ve worked really hard together this winter, and [they have] as much to do with our success as our own team,” Burton said. “We combine the two teams in a great way.”

Jeff Green was third and Jason Keller took over the points lead with a fourth-place finish.

“We’ve always run terrible here, and the key was to take care of the tires and wait until 10 [laps] to go and go after the leader,” Biffle said. “The guys put me in position on the pit stop and got me out second. The guys did a great job in the pits.”

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Helio Castroneves gave team owner Roger Penske his first Indy Racing League pole, taking the top spot for today’s Copper World 200 at Phoenix International Raceway. Castroneves’ fast lap was 179.888 mph. Defending IRL champion Sam Hornish Jr. was second at 179.735.

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Gary Densham beat John Force to earn the top qualifying spot for today’s Mac Tools Gatornationals at Gainesville, Fla. Larry Dixon in top fuel, Ron Krisher in pro stock and Matt Hines in pro stock motorcycle also took top spots in qualifying.

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Winter Sports

Kelly Clark, an Olympic gold medalist for the U.S., won the women’s halfpipe title in the U.S. Open Snowboarding Championships at Stratton, Vt. Olympic silver medalist Danny Kass of the U.S. won the men’s title.

Eric Bergoust clinched the men’s freestyle World Cup overall title, and Jeremy Bloom won the moguls championship by finishing second at Ruka, Finland. Bergoust beat Bloom for the overall title, 98 points to 94.

Olympic moguls champion Kari Traa of Norway won the women’s moguls at Ruka to clinch the moguls and overall World Cup titles. Traa was followed by Hannah Hardaway and Olympic silver medalist Shannon Bahrke in the overall standings. Ann Battelle followed Traa in the final mogul standings.

Dimitry Shepel of Russia led the overall standings in the speedskating World Championships at Heerenveen, Netherlands, after a victory in the 1,500 meters. Shepel won after Gianni Romme of the Netherlands was disqualified for impeding U.S. Olympic gold medalist Derek Parra in a race. Parra finished second.

Anni Friesinger of Germany won the women’s 1,500 and 3,000 to take the overall lead. Jennifer Rodriguez, an Olympic bronze medalist for the U.S., was third in the 1,500.

Germany’s Ronny Ackermann clinched the Nordic combined Word Cup after finishing third at Oslo in the final sprint event this season.

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Boxing

Ukraine’s Wladimir Klitscho stopped South Africa’s Frans Botha in the eighth round at Stuttgart, Germany, to retain the World Boxing Organization heavyweight title. Klitscho, 25, is 38-1 with 35 knockouts. Botha is 44-4-1 with one no-contest.

Germany’s Sven Ottke won each round against Australia’s Rick Thornberry at Magdeburg, Germany, to defend his International Boxing Federation super-middleweight title for the 13th time. Ottke is 26-0. Thornberry is 25-4.

McKinley Tennyson scored twice and Cobi Jones had three assists, and the Galaxy defeated UCLA, 6-1, at the Rose Bowl in its final exhibition game leading to Major League Soccer play.

The Ice Dogs lost to the Bakersfield Condors, 2-0, in the second of a three-game series in Bakersfield.

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Passings

Polly Riley, the amateur golfer who won the LPGA Tour’s first sanctioned event in 1950 and competed in the Curtis Cup six times, has died of cancer at Fort Worth. She was 75. Story, section B.

Alfredo Goyeneche, president of the Spanish Olympic Committee, died in a car crash near Madrid. He was 63. Story, section B.

Luis Villanueva Paramo, known as “Kid Azteca” and Mexico’s welterweight champion 1932 to 1949, died at Mexico City of multiple illnesses. He was 89.

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T.J. Simers is on vacation.