Keller Wins Hardee’s 250 on Slick Richmond Track

Jason Keller passed Bobby Hamilton Jr. with 12 laps to go Friday night and won the Hardee’s 250, an event that tied the Richmond (Va.) International Raceway record for Busch series cautions.

Eleven yellow flags flew, most coming in the first half of the race as a new sealer on the track made the turns treacherous. The pace was slowed for 85 of the 250 laps, and 19 cars were finished before the end came.

The victory was Keller’s third in 10 races this season and first at Richmond.

Ward Burton set a track qualifying record of 127.389 mph to take the pole position for today’s Pontiac Excitement 400 NASCAR Winston Cup race at Richmond.

Burton turned his lap midway through the session and sweated it out as Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon, Rusty Wallace and Tony Stewart challenged. Earnhardt came the closest with a lap at 127.179.

Rookie Tomas Scheckter was suspended for the first three days of Indianapolis 500 practice because of unsportsmanlike conduct at the Firestone Indy 225.

Boxing

In an interview with Fox News Channel scheduled for broadcast tonight, Mike Tyson admitted biting Lennox Lewis’ leg during a January news conference melee.

On Friday, Tyson explained himself in a statement released through spokesman Scott Miranda.

“I said I bit Lennox because that is what everyone wanted to hear. I will say anything to get under his skin,” the statement said.

Roy Jones Jr. will fight Clinton Woods of Britain in the next mandatory defense of his World Boxing Council light-heavyweight championship. A date for the fight has not been determined.

Tennis

Top-seeded Gustavo Kuerten lost to Gaston Gaudio, 7-5, 6-0, in the quarterfinals of the Mallorca Open at Palma de Mallorca, Spain.

Younes El Aynaoui defeated Julien Boutter, 6-4, 7-5, to become the only seeded player to reach the semifinals of the BMW Open at Munich, Germany.

Top-ranked Venus Williams rallied from a three-game deficit in the second set to defeat Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1, and set up a semifinal match against Martina Hingis in the Betty Barclay Cup at Hamburg, Germany. The third-seeded Hingis defeated sixth-seeded Daniela Hantuchova, 7-5, 6-4.

Tathiana Garbin fought off two match points in the second set and rallied to defeat top-seeded Elena Dementieva, 5-7, 7-5, 7-5, in the quarterfinals of the Croatian Bol Ladies Open.

Miscellany

Andy McDonald of the Mighty Ducks scored the decisive goal to lift Canada to a 3-2 victory over Switzerland in the second round of the Ice Hockey World Championships at Karlstad, Sweden.

Prosecutors in Boulder, Colo., filed felony charges of contributing to the delinquency of a minor against University of Colorado football players Allen Mackey, Marques Harris, Ron Monteilh and Corey Alexander.

Keith Bogans will return to Kentucky for his senior basketball season, but Rashaad Carruth, Adam Chiles and Cory Sears will not be with the team after each was granted a release.... Nick Collison and Kirk Hinrich won’t follow former Kansas teammate Drew Gooden to the NBA as both announced they will return for their senior seasons.

San Francisco 49er receiver Terrell Owens scored seven points for the Adirondack Wildcats in a U.S. Basketball League game at Glens Falls, N.Y. Owens made three of six shots in his first competitive game since he played for Tennessee Chattanooga.