Wallace Wins His First Pole of the Season

NASCAR Winston Cup points leader Rusty Wallace added to his growing list of 1998 accomplishments by winning the pole position Friday for the Food City 500 at Bristol, Tenn.

It was the first pole of the year for Wallace, who is the only driver on the circuit with five top-five finishes in the first five races and is the only one to complete every possible lap.

Wallace turned a fast lap of 124.275 mph, giving Ford’s new Taurus its fourth pole of the year and spoiling Chevrolet’s bid for its first top starting spot of 1998.

Hendrick Motorsports teammates Jeff Gordon and Terry Labonte, driving Monte Carlos, were second and third with fast laps of 123.762 and 123.539, respectively.

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Jimmy Vasser will start on the pole in today’s CART Budweiser 500 at Motegi, Japan, after rain canceled Friday’s qualifying session. Officials determined the starting grid based on Thursday’s combined practice results. Vasser gained the fifth pole position of his career by posting a top lap of 217.964 mph. Adrian Fernandez of Mexico, who had a fast lap of 217.701, will start next to Vasser.

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The Indy Racing League fined Kelley Racing a total of $20,000 and seven points for two violations during last Sunday’s Dura-Lube 200 at Phoenix International Raceway.

Kelley Racing and driver Scott Sharp, the race winner, were fined seven points and $15,000 because their car failed the postrace fuel capacity inspection. Kelley Racing was also fined $5,000 for unsportsmanlike conduct which occurred on the Lap 197 restart during the race, when driver Mark Dismore failed to obey race officials’ repeated commands to close up the field before the restart.

Boxing

Don King was awarded a court decision over British boxing promoter Frank Warren. A judge ruled that King was entitled to a share all profits from jointly promoted fights and that Warren was wrong to walk out on their partnership.

A High Court judge, Sir Gavin Lightman, ruled there was an agreement that the two men would jointly promote British fighters, including World Boxing Organization featherweight champion Naseem Hamed.

Lennox Lewis, the World Boxing Council champion who is hopeful of unifying the heavyweight titles with a bout against World Boxing Assn. and International Boxing Federation champion Evander Holyfield, defends his title tonight against Shannon Briggs at Atlantic City, N.J. . . . Britain’s Richie Woodhall won a unanimous, 12-round decision over Thulane “Sugar Boy� Malinga of South Africa to win the WBC super-middleweight title at Telford, England.

Figure Skating

Olympic silver medalist Michelle Kwan, who received a record 15 perfect 6.0 scores at the 1998 U.S. championships, learned this week she earned straight A’s and a perfect 4.0 grade-point-average this semester. Kwan, 17, a high school senior, has a cumulative GPA (grades 9-12) of 3.5. She is privately tutored through an independent study program at Rim of the World High School. . . . Lu Chen, 21, of China announced that she is turning professional. She won the bronze medal in Nagano, after finishing third in 1994 in Lillehammer, Norway.

Miscellany

Santa Ana River Lakes in Anaheim is closed indefinitely because of a mysterious fish die-off that began late Wednesday night. Lake and Orange County Water District officials say the fish kill is merely the result of the lake “turning over,� a natural event caused by upwelling, which stirs up the bottom and reduces oxygen levels. They would not, however, rule out the possibility that the death of thousands of two- to three-inch shad, or baitfish, and an undetermined number of hatchery-raised rainbow trout and catfish was caused at least in part by extensive runoff carrying manure from nearby dairy farms.

Gunda Niemann-Stirnemann of Germany broke her world record in the women’s 3,000 meters by clocking 4 minutes 1.67 seconds at the world single distance speedskating championships at Calgary, Canada. Double Olympic gold medalist Gianni Romme of the Netherlands broke his world record with a time of 6:21.49 in the men’s 5,000. . . . Olympic gold medalist Jonny Moseley of Tiburon, Calif., and 1994 Olympic silver medal-winner Liz McIntyre of Winter Park, Colo., won their first national moguls championships at Carrabassett Valley, Maine.