Gordon Doesn’t Tire Much While Driving to Victory

Jeff Gordon again proved his driving skills Sunday, this time completing the final 133 laps with the same left-side tires and holding off rival Mark Martin to win the CMT 300 at Loudon, N.H.

The victory, engineered by crew chief Ray Evernham, was reminiscent of the way Gordon won three years ago at New Hampshire International Speedway. And it enabled him to maintain his 67-point lead over Martin in the Winston Cup standings.

It wasn’t easy, however. On the 81st lap, Gordon was caught on the outside and lost 15 positions to fall to 17th place.

“Once you got caught on the outside, you were in trouble,� Gordon said. “I got caught once early, but my teammate, Terry Labonte let me back in line.

“The next time, I was going backward so fast even he couldn’t help me.�

But Martin, who led for 193 of the 300 laps, made a crucial mistake with 67 laps remaining. He got sideways while attempting to pass a lapped car, made contact and sent Rich Bickle into the fourth-turn wall.

That brought out a caution flag and gave crew chief Evernham a chance to show his skill. While Martin and Dale Jarrett each took four tires, Gordon got only two and moved from fifth place to first.

“Jeff Gordon hung with us,� Evernham said. “We knew we had a good car if the race stayed green. We just needed to pick up track position.�

Martin closed to within two car-lengths with 36 laps left, but then scraped the wall and was not a factor in the closing laps.

“Gordon’s car was just too fast for us,� Martin said. “I tried to catch him, but I just couldn’t do it.�

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England’s Damon Hill won the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps, where a rainstorm caused one of the biggest pileups in Formula One history.

On the first lap, a dozen of the 22 cars slammed into each other in the downhill straight just after the opening La Source hairpin. Scotland’s David Coulthard was in third position when his car suddenly veered into the protective wall and bounced back onto the track.

Blinded by spray coming off the leading cars, drivers crashed into a wall of wrecked cars. None were seriously injured.

Michael Schumacher, with brilliant wet-weather driving, dominated until the 25th lap when he prepared to lap Coulthard. The German miscalculated Coulthard’s speed and slammed into the back of the McLaren, losing his right front wheel and any chance of victory.

Hill completed the 44 laps around the 4.329-mile circuit in 1 hour 43 minutes and 47.407 seconds. Teammate Ralf Schumacher finished 0.932 seconds behind. Frenchman Jean Alesi was third--7.240 seconds back.

Soccer

Diego Serna scored three goals on assists from Carlos Valderrama as the Miami Fusion solidified its Major League Soccer playoff chances with a 3-2 victory over the New England Revolution at Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

The game, played in front of 6,127 at Lockhart Stadium, marked the coaching debut of former Italian World Cup goalkeeper Walter Zenga, now New England’s coach. Edwin Gorter and Raul Diaz Arce scored for the Revolution.

Liverpool, behind three goals by 18-year-old Michael Owen, trounced Newcastle United, 4-1, in an English Premier League match at Newcastle.

Track and Field

World record-holder Colin Jackson edged world and Olympic champion Allen Johnson in a showdown between the two 110-meter hurdlers at Glasgow, Scotland.

Jackson pulled away from Johnson after the last hurdle to win with a time of 13.40 seconds. Johnson placed second in 13.42.

Noureddine Morceli won the 1,500 meters at the IAAF Rieti Grand Prix meet at Italy, finishing in 3 minutes, 33.58 seconds.

Miscellany

In a rematch of the 1996 Olympic final, Alexander Karelin of Russia pinned American Matt Ghaffari to win the 286-pound title at the Greco-Roman World Championships at Gavle, Sweden, and earn his 11th consecutive gold medal in world or Olympic competition. Karelin defeated Ghaffari, 1-0, in overtime in Atlanta.

France was the dominant nation at the World Cycling Championships at Bordeaux, finishing with six gold medals in 12 events, equaling its total of last year.

Canyon Ceman and Mark Kerins earned its first tournament title as a team on the Pro Beach Volleyball tour, defeating Jose Loiola and Emanuel Rego, 15-12, in the final at Muskegon, Mich.