Monaco Grand Prix Win Is Special for Raikkonen

Kimi Raikkonen led from the pole and won the Monaco Grand Prix Sunday for the first time. It also was his fourth career Formula One victory, but none are better than this, on the most glamorous road course on the circuit.

“It’s a special place,” Raikkonen said. “Everybody looks at you in a slightly different way when you win in Monaco. To win is always fantastic, but Monaco is a special challenge.”

Nick Heidfeld was second, 13.8 seconds behind, and Mark Webber was third, 18.4 seconds behind, each in a Williams-BMW. Renault’s Fernando Alonso was fourth, his first time out of the top three this season.

Seven-time series champion Michael Schumacher finished seventh. He is winless in seven consecutive races, his longest drought since joining Ferrari. His last win was in Japan last season.

“Everything that could go wrong seemed to go wrong at the beginning,” said Schumacher, who damaged his car in a slow-speed collision early. “I got stuck behind the Minardi that blocked the track, and I had to change the nose on the car.

“Given everything that happened, I have to be reasonably happy with my two points.”

Alonso leads the driver standings with 49 points. Raikkonen of McLaren-Mercedes has won two in a row and moved into second with 27. Jarno Trulli of Toyota has 26, Webber has 18, and Heidfeld 17.

Schumacher is in ninth place with 12 points.

There were no position changes in the first 23 laps among the top 15 cars. Raikkonen and the Renaults of Alonso and Giancarlo Fisichella moved away from the rest of the pack by more than a second a lap.

Then things changed.

Christijan Albers’ Minardi ran into the wall going down the hill from the Casino, blocking the track and causing problems. Schumacher lost a front wing when he hit David Coulthard’s Red Bull. The others behind came to a complete stop.

The safety car came on -- going off after the 28th -- as the gap between cars narrowed. Raikkonen had a problem with the safety car, missing an attempted pit stop.

“So we decided to stay out because we had many laps to go and I thought we would be able to pull enough of a lead before my pit stop,” Raikkonen said.

Raikkonen built the margin to 34.7 seconds before he went in for fuel on the 42nd lap. He came out ahead by more than 15 seconds with 36 laps to go and held that to complete the 78 laps of the 2.076-mile course.

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Bruno Junqueira took the lead for good on the 67th lap, overtaking Bjorn Wirdheim, to win the Champ Car World Series Monterrey Grand Prix in Mexico.

A yellow flag slowed the action two laps later, allowing him to cruise to victory in his Ford-Cosworth. Only 10 of the 19 cars in the field completed the 76-lap race.

It was Junqueira’s first victory since winning in Australia last October. He finished third at the season-opening race in Long Beach on April 10.

Andrew Ranger finished second, 1.376 seconds off the lead. Alex Tagliani was third, 2.847 seconds behind Junqueira.

Defending champion Sebastien Bourdais and Paul Tracy battled for the lead during the first half of the race before the two crashed on Lap 48.

Running second, Bourdais tried to pass Tracy, hitting him and rolling over his front tire. Tracy was knocked out of the race, and Bourdais was forced to pit and fell back to 12th. He finished fifth.

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Tony Schumacher had the fastest run in NHRA history, going 336.15 mph to win the top fuel division at the Pontiac Performance Nationals at Hebron, Ohio.

Schumacher won for the third time this year and the 24th time in his career with a time of 4.489 seconds over a quarter-mile, beating Doug Kalitta’s 4.513 seconds at 324.90 mph.

John Force claimed his third funny car victory of the season and 117th of his career with a run of 4.776 seconds and 324.51 mph, edging Gary Scelzi in a photo finish. Scelzi ran 4.764 at 326.79.

Greg Anderson won his second consecutive pro stock race of the season and the 33rd of his career by beating Kurt Johnson. Anderson ran 6.737 at 204.35; Johnson finished in 6.787 at 204.20.

Pro Basketball

Deanna Nolan made five free throws in the final 34 seconds to help the Detroit Shock defeat the New York Liberty, 78-71, in a WNBA game at Madison Square Garden.

La’Keshia Frett’s layup gave the Liberty its first lead of the game at 53-51, but Nolan’s three-point play with 10:08 left gave the Shock the lead for good.

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Katie Douglas made four free throws in the final 38 seconds to lead the visiting Connecticut Sun to a 69-67 victory over the Washington Mystics.

After Douglas made two free throws, Laurie Koehn’s three-point basket pulled the Mystics to within 67-64 with 11 seconds left. Douglas was fouled again and made two free throws with 5.3 seconds left for a 69-65 lead.

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The Indiana Fever limited the Charlotte Sting to two baskets during the last nine minutes at Indianapolis to win its season opener, 68-58.... Sheryl Swoopes scored 27 points and Michelle Snow had 20 and 11 rebounds to lead the Houston Comets to a 79-65 victory over the Minnesota Lynx at Houston.

Track and Field

American Brian Lewis won the 100 meters at the Brazilian Grand Prix in Belem with a time of 10.22 seconds. Jamaica’s Michael Frater was second in 10.26.

Brazil’s Jadel Gregorio edged American Walter Davis in the triple jump. Gregorio, fifth at the Athens Olympics, jumped 57-1, and Davis was second in 56-8 3/4 .

American pole vaulter Brad Walker cleared 19- 1/2 to beat compatriot Jeff Hartwig (17-8 3/4 ), and American Lashinda Demus won the 400 hurdles in 53.56.

Rugby

Belmont Shore defeated the Chicago Lions, 37-23, on Saturday to advance to the USA Rugby Super League final June 4 at Hartford, Conn.

Belmont Shore, winner of the last two Rugby Super League titles, will play the New York Athletic Club in the final, which will be played after the U.S.-Wales international match.

Santa Monica defeated the Cincinnati Wolfhounds, 32-12, and Back Bay defeated the Boston Irish Wolfhounds, 19-18, in the USA Rugby Division I club quarterfinals Sunday.

Santa Monica and Back Bay advanced to the club championships June 11-12 at San Diego. Back Bay will play Charlotte, N.C., and Santa Monica will play Worcester, Mass.

Pro Football

The Chicago Bears released kicker Paul Edinger as expected, less than two weeks after signing former New York Jet kicker Doug Brien. Edinger had asked for his release. He scored 67 points for the league’s worst offense and made 15 of 24 field-goal tries.