Gordon Not Expecting Win But Still Takes MBNA Title

Jeff Gordon said his latest landmark victory wasn’t as easy as it looked. For a while, he had little reason to think he’d win at all.

“I’m surprised that I’m here, really,” he said Sunday after winning the MBNA 500 at Dover, Del. “I did not expect to win this one today. At one point, I was a little worried about being lapped.”

That did not happen as the defending Winston Cup champion moved into the lead in the series standings.

Gordon moved 76 points ahead of Hendrick Motorsports teammate Terry Labonte, occupying the top spot in the chase for a $1.5 million payoff for only the second time this year.

After starting third in a Chevrolet, Gordon took the lead for the first time on the 42nd of 500 laps at the Monster Mile. He moved to the front for the final time with 52 laps remaining, and held off Rusty Wallace to win by .441 seconds.

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Angelle Seeling became the first woman in NHRA history to win a Pro Stock Motorcycle title, defeating Dave Schultz with a record time in the Pioneer Electronics Keystone Nationals at Mohnton, Pa.

Seeling, from Americus, Ga., had a quarter-mile run of 7.373 seconds at 178.89 mph on a Suzuki GSXR. Schultz, a five-time season champion, was disqualified for leaving the starting line early.

Kenny Bernstein won his fourth Top Fuel title of the year, Jeff Arend took the Funny Car division for his first career victory, and Jim Yates won his sixth Pro Stock title of the year.

Basketball

Ben Braun moved from the success and relative obscurity of Eastern Michigan to become basketball coach of prominent, yet troubled, California.

Braun, 42, inherited a Cal team from Todd Bozeman, who was forced to resign late last month, that is under NCAA investigation and reeling from the defection of three talented underclassmen.

“Some have said this is a very difficult time for Cal now because of adversity. Players have to know how to deal with adversity,” Braun said. “I’ve looked at the big picture at Cal. We’re going to look forward to what’s going to happen down the line.”

Braun, 42, had a 185-132 record in 11 seasons at Eastern Michigan, which won three Mid-American Conference titles during his tenure and made three NCAA tournament appearances. He signed a five-year contract.

Bozeman had a 63-35 record in 3 1/2 seasons.

Tennis

Thomas Muster won his seventh ATP Tour title of the year, defeating defending champion Nicolas Lapentti, 6-7 (8-6), 6-2, 6-3, in the final of the Colombian World Series at Bogota, Colombia.

Alberto Berasategui defeated Spanish compatriot Carlos Moya, 6-1, 7-6 (7-5), to win the Romanian Open at Bucharest, Romania. . . . Top-seeded Alberto Costa of Spain came from behind to defeat eighth-seeded Marc-Kevin Goellner of Germany, 6-7, 6-1, 6-2, in the final of the Bournemouth clay-court tournament at Bournemouth, England. . . . Bob Duesler of Newport Beach won the USTA Men’s 60 Grass Court Championship, defeating Len Lindborg of Laguna, 6-1, 2-6, 6-3, at Lawrence, N.Y. . . . Ruxandra Dragomir of Romania won the Pupp Czech Open with a 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 victory over Switzerland’s Patty Schnyder at Prague.

Horse Racing

Skip Away, the even-money favorite, tracked down the field in the final half of the race and then pulled away down the stretch to win the Woodbine Million at Toronto.

The American-bred, 3-year-old colt, winner of the Ohio Derby and Haskell Invitational and third in the Travers in his last three races, won the Grade I race by four lengths.

Queen’s Plate winner Victor Cooley made a furious run through the stretch and was second in a photo finish over Stephanotis.

Ridden by Shane Sellers, Skip Away covered 1 1/8 miles in 1:49.

A longshot, with a relatively unknown trainer, and a leading contender, trained by one of the best-known personalities in racing, won stakes for 2-year-old colts and fillies at New York’s Belmont Park.

Traitor, trained by Mary E. Eppler, won the one-mile Futurity for juvenile males in his stakes debut and paid $33.40. Sharp Cat, $5.10 as the second betting choice, gave trainer D. Wayne Lukas in his eighth victory in the last 14 years in the one-mile Matron for fillies.

Ridden by John Velazquez, Traitor took the lead from Smoke Glacken in the upper stretch and won the Futurity by 5 1/2 lengths over 50-1 shot Night in Reno. Smoke Glacken faded to finish fifth as he had a four-race winning streak snapped.

Miscellany

Eduard Hamalainen of Belarus won the decathlon in an international multi-event meet at Talence, France, while Lithuanian Remogia Nazaroviene captured the women’s heptathlon.