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Raikkonen wins in Belgium again

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Wire Reports

Kimi Raikkonen held off Force India driver Giancarlo Fisichella to win Formula One’s Belgian Grand Prix on Sunday, the Ferrari driver’s fourth triumph at the high-speed track in the last five years.

The former world champion, who started sixth, immediately overtook pole sitter Fisichella after the safety car came in following accidents on the opening lap -- including one involving overall F1 leader Jenson Button -- and held on for a 0.9-second victory.

“It’s a proper circuit, an old-style circuit,” said Raikkonen, who clinched Ferrari’s fifth win in seven races at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit. “It’s just been good to me.”

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Championship contender Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull, who had retired with engine failures in the last two races, finished third to gain on Button.

Button failed to finish in the points for the first time this season, and Rubens Barrichello moved to within 16 points of his Brawn GP teammate after finishing seventh despite an oil leak with two laps to go. Barrichello’s car caught fire as he rolled into pit lane.

Button leads the drivers’ standings with 72 points, followed by Barrichello with 56 and Vettel with 53. Mark Webber of Red Bull, who finished ninth after a drive-through penalty, trails by 20.5 points.

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Carl Edwards passed Marcos Ambrose on the final turn to win the crash-filled Nationwide race at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, which ended with the cars on rain tires for the second straight year.

Edwards won a two-lap sprint to the finish when Ambrose, who dominated the race, slid sideways after hitting the rumble strips in Turn 14. It was the first road win of Edwards’ career.

Ambrose overcame three other restarts in the final 11 laps of the race, which was plagued by 11 cautions and went an extra lap. Points leader Kyle Busch went from fourth to 10th on the final two.

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NASCAR Canadian Tire Series star Andrew Ranger was third. Former Formula One star Jacques Villeneuve finished fourth on the track named for his father.

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Spain’s Jorge Lorenzo won his first Indianapolis MotoGP title, beating San Marino’s Alex de Angelis by 9.435 seconds.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Michigan will look into allegations

The University of Michigan announced that it has opened an investigation into allegations that its football program regularly violates NCAA rules limiting how much time players can spend on training and practice.

The announcement from Athletic Director Bill Martin came after a Detroit Free Press article in which players from the 2008 and 2009 teams said the amount of time they spend on football during the season and in the off-season greatly exceeds NCAA limits. The players spoke to the newspaper on condition of anonymity because they feared repercussions from coaches.

“We are committed to following both the letter and the intent of the NCAA rules and we take any allegations of violations seriously,” Martin said in a written statement.

“We believe we have been compliant with NCAA rules, but nonetheless we have launched a full investigation of the allegations in [Sunday’s] newspaper,” he said.

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Martin also said that the school had reached out to the Big Ten and the NCAA about the allegations. He said the university would have more to say after its inquiry was done.

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Indiana Coach Bill Lynch suspended junior defensive tackle Deonte Mack and sophomore linebacker Ian Reeves and will hold them out of Thursday night’s opener against Eastern Kentucky.

HORSE RACING

Spring House wins Del Mar Handicap

Seven-year-old gelding Spring House rallied in the final yards to beat Sir Dave by a nose and win the $250,000 Del Mar Handicap for the second straight year.

Ridden by Alex Solis for trainer Julio Canani, Spring House was eighth in the field of 10 for much of the race and was fifth at the top of the stretch but kicked home for the win, covering 1 3/8 miles in 2:12.61. The gelding set a course record of 2:11.14 a year ago.

The victory gave Spring House an automatic berth in the Breeders’ Cup Turf on Nov. 7 at Santa Anita.

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