среда, 19 сентября 2012 г.

BRIEFLY : LUYENDYK WINS POLE IN INAUGURAL LAS VEGAS RACE.(SPORTS) - Daily News (Los Angeles, CA)

One era will end and another will begin today in the Indy Racing League's first Las Vegas 500K.

The race will mark the inaugural event at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway and the finale for the cars and engines used by the fledgling IRL since its opening race last January at Orlando, Fla.

Arie Luyendyk put himself in the record books Saturday with a pole-winning lap of 226.491 mph, a mark that will likely stand as a track record for years with the IRL set to introduce its new combination of 4-liter, non-turbocharged engines and totally new chassis next January.

Dave Villwock posted the fastest qualifying speed for today's 30th Bill Muncey Cup Unlimited Hydroplane powerboat race on Mission Bay in San Diego.

Randy LaJoie cut deeply into David Green's lead in the Busch Grand National series with a convincing victory in the MBNA 200 at Dover Downs International Speedway in Delaware.

Denver Nuggets power forward Tom Hammonds was unhurt after an accident while competing in the NHRA Pioneer Electronics Keystone Nationals in Mohnton, Pa. Hammonds lost control of his Oldsmobile Cutlass Pro Stock drag racer immediately after leaving the starting line in the left lane. The car crossed to the right lane, hit the right retaining wall and rolled.

TENNIS

Top-seeded Thomas Muster failed to convert on four match points in a second-set tiebreaker before rebounding to beat Lucas Arnold in the semifinals of the Colombian World Series in Bogota.

Muster, who finished off the unseeded Argentine 6-1, 6-7 (9-7), 6-3, will face defending champion Nicolas Lapentti of Ecuador in today's final. Lapentti, seeded fourth, beat No. 7 Mauricio Hadad of Colombia 4-6, 6-3, 7-5.

Third-seeded Carlos Moya of Spain advanced to the final of the $500,000 Romanian Open tennis tournament to face fourth-seeded countryman Alberto Berasategui.

Moya, ranked 24th by the ATP, struggled to defeat unseeded Romanian Andrei Pavel 4-6, 6-3, 6-0 in the semifinals at Bucharest's Progresul clay court. In the second semifinal match, Berasategui, ranked 25th, upset Christian Ruud of Norway 6-0, 7-5.

Patty Schnyder of Switzerland, only 17 years old, beat Italy's Flora Perfetti 7-6 (7-5), 6-2 and advanced to the semifinals of the $160,000 Pupp Czech Open in Prague.

Marc-Kevin Goellner of Germany upset Australia's Jason Stoltenberg 2-6, 7-5, 6-4 to reach the final of the Bournemouth International clay-court tournament in England. Goellner, seeded No. 8, will face top-seeded Alberto Costa of Spain, who defeated Sweden's Magnus Norman 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.