Sapp Agrees to Seven-Year Deal With Raiders

Seven-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle Warren Sapp agreed to terms on a seven-year, $36.6-million contract with the Oakland Raiders on Saturday, ending his nine-year tenure with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

“The bad news is I won’t be back with the Bucs,” Sapp said by telephone from Miami. “The good news is I’m a Raider.”

The surprise move came only a day after Sapp’s agent, Drew Rosenhaus, said the former NFL defensive player of the year was close to signing a four-year deal with the Cincinnati Bengals.

Sapp, 31, will receive a $7-million signing bonus. He earned $6.6 million last year in the final season of a six-year, $36-million contract he signed in 1998.

Sapp’s contract is expected to be signed within the next few days, pending the passing of a physical, the Raiders said.

Motor Racing

Greg Biffle overcame a slow pit stop in the early going and drove away with a victory in the NASCAR Busch Series Diamond Hill Plywood 200 at Darlington Raceway.

Biffle, driving full-time this season in both Busch and Nextel Cup Series, beat Roush Racing teammate Jeff Burton to win by 3.115 seconds -- a full straightaway on the 1.366-mile, egg-shaped oval in Darlington, S.C.

Biffle lost ground, falling from the lead to seventh place when a lug nut on his Ford came unglued during a pit stop under caution on the 25th lap. But his crew made up for the mistake on his final pit stop, getting him out of the pits just in front of Burton on the 101st lap of the 147-lap race.

It was the first racing test of the SAFER barriers recently installed on the outside walls in all four turns on the already narrow track.

There were three crashes in turns three and four, none of them caused by the smaller racing groove. No injuries were reported and there were no serious complaints about the “soft walls” narrowing the track.

Biffle, whose winning speed was 120.141 mph, led a race-high 67 laps, including the final 43.

Michael Schumacher earned the pole position for today’s Malaysian Grand Prix in the fastest time ever on the Sepang track.

The six-time Formula One champion won the 57th pole of his career with a time of 1 minute 33.074 seconds in his Ferrari on the 3.445-mile Sepang International Circuit.

Schumacher’s performance topped the previous best time for a pole position at Sepang, which he set in 2001 with a time of 1:35.266.

He will be joined on the front row by Mark Webber, who had a fast lap of 1:33.715 in a Jaguar.

Dan Wheldon won the pole for today’s Indy Racing League Copper World Indy 200 with a fast lap of 174.779 mph at Phoenix International Raceway.

Defending champion Tony Kanaan gave the Andretti Green Racing team a front-row sweep -- its second since moving to the IRL from the rival CART series last year. Kanaan and Michael Andretti qualified 1-2 in their first IRL event at Homestead, Fla.

Kanaan’s best lap on the one-mile oval was 174.291 mph.

Team Veloqx’s Frank Biela, Allan McNish and Pierre Kaffer drove to victory in the 12 Hours of Sebring, giving Audi its fifth straight victory in the Florida race.

Audi tied Porsche for the most consecutive wins by a manufacturer. Audi has dominated the American Le Mans Series, winning four drivers and manufacturer titles in five years.

Honda’s Mike LaRocco raced to his first THQ World Supercross GP/THQ AMA Supercross Series since January, topping the 250cc field at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis. Yamaha’s Joshua Hansen won his first 125cc THQ AMA Eastern Regional Supercross.

Tim Huddleston held off a challenge from Deryk Ward to win the 50-lap Auto Club Late Model feature in front of a near-sellout crowd in the 2004 season-opener at Irwindale Speedway.

In the opening 40-lap Vista Paint Super Stock Series feature, current series champion Lee Ladd was unable to catch Craig Rayburn, who won for the first time since 1995 at old Saugus Speedway.

Winter Sports

Daron Rahvles of Sugar Bowl, Calif., won the men’s super giant slalom at the U.S. Alpine Championships in Girdwood, Alaska. Rahlves, who finished third in Friday’s downhill, won his fifth national title.

Rahlves, who won two World Cup super-Gs this season and was the top American in the speed events on the international circuit, finished in 1 minute 8.72 seconds.

Lindsey Kildow won the women’s super giant slalom, one day after suffering a slight concussion in a fall during the downhill. Kildow, a 19-year-old from Burnsville, Minn., won in 1 minute 6.93 seconds.

Rusty Smith of Sunset Beach had surgery after an opponent’s skate hit him in the nose during the quarterfinals of the men’s 500-meter sprint at the world short-track speedskating championships in Goteborg, Sweden.

Song Suk-woo of South Korea led the four-lap race all the way to win in 42.599 seconds.

College Basketball

Golden State Athletic Conference champion Vanguard was defeated by Brescia, 65-61, in the quarterfinals of the NAIA Division I women’s tournament at Jackson, Tenn. The top-seeded Warriors (31-3) couldn’t recover after trailing at halftime, 31-21.

Villanova (18-16) advanced to the quarterfinals of the men’s NIT with a 73-63 victory over Virginia (18-13) at Villanova, Pa. In a first-round game at Nampa, Idaho, Boise State (23-9) advanced with a 73-70 victory over Wisconsin Milwaukee (20-11).

Miscellany

Matt Gentry, competing at 157 pounds, gave Stanford its first-ever champion, while Oklahoma State won its second straight title in the NCAA wrestling championships at St. Louis.

Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia won the four-kilometer title at the world cross-country championships in Brussels for the third straight year. He finished in 11 minutes 31 seconds, beating countryman Gebre-egziabhe Gebremariam by five seconds.

Benita Johnson of Australia won the women’s eight-kilometer race in 27:17, beating Ethiopian favorites Ejegayehu Dibaba by 12 seconds and defending champion Worknesh Kidane by 17 seconds.

The Greek government called off plans to build a roof over the Olympic swimming pool in Athens because it would not be done in time for the Games.

The cancellation is one of the most serious moves made by planners, who face widespread construction delays but promise most work will be done before the Aug. 13-29 Olympics.

The roof over the open-air pool was to protect athletes from the scorching summer sun and improve the quality of television coverage.

Fabrice Tiozzo won the World Boxing Assn. light-heavyweight title with a majority decision over Silvio Branco in Lyon, France. The judges scored it 114-112, 114-112, 113-113.

Aaron Garcia threw seven touchdown passes in the New York Dragons’ 62-41 Arena League victory over the Columbus Destroyers (1-6) in front of 12,289 in Uniondale, N.Y. The Dragons are 4-3.... Adrian McPherson threw four touchdown passes and ran for three more scores to lead the Indiana Firebirds (2-5) to a 73-36 victory over the Georgia Force (4-3) in front of 10,237 at Indianapolis.