Jarrett Prevails at Talladega; Gordon 2nd

Dale Jarrett held off a pack of challengers over the last 13 laps Sunday as he won the Winston 500 at Talladega, Ala., and a $1-million bonus on a day when Jeff Gordon ran second and took a big step toward wrapping up his third Winston Cup championship in four years.

Jarrett drove his Ford Taurus to his third win and the 18th of his NASCAR career. He won a total of $1,110,125, thanks to the No Bull Five bonus from series sponsor Winston. Jarrett was one of five drivers--the top finishers in the Southern 500 on Labor Day weekend--eligible to win the money. Gordon had won the bonus at Charlotte in May and in Darlington in September.

Gordon, who came into the race with a 174-point lead over runner-up Mark Martin, will go into the Pepsi 400 on Saturday night at Daytona with a 288-point edge and only four races remaining.

“Fuel mileage became an issue for us and got us behind the eight ball,” Gordon said. “Me and my teammate Terry Labonte worked together and got me back on the lead lap. Once I got into second, I didn’t have anybody to go with me after Jarrett.”

Ernie Irvan was airlifted to a Birmingham, Ala., hospital after being injured in an 11-car accident on lap 136. Irvan, who survived a near-fatal crash in August 1994 at Michigan Speedway, was awake and talking when taken from his battered car. A CAT scan was negative and no broken bones were found.

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Joe Amato, Al Hofmann, Warren Johnson and Angelle Seeling won professional categories at the 11th annual Pennzoil Nationals at Memphis Motorsports Park.

Amato earned his fourth top-fuel victory, outrunning Kenny Bernstein. Hofmann won the funny-car final over Cruz Pedregon. Johnson claimed his seventh victory in pro stock, defeating his son Kurt in the final. Seeling rode her Suzuki to a third victory with win over runner-up Matt Hines.

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Boris Said, who had two NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victories slip through his fingers earlier this season, won the Kragen/Exide 151 at Sears Point Raceway in Sonoma. Said took the lead for the final time on the 57th of the 77 laps, then drove away to win the $333,400 race by 6.549 seconds over Mike Bliss, who also drove a Ford.

Basketball

The Columbus Quest’s Valerie Still, playoff MVP in both years of the American Basketball League’s existence, injured her knee during an exhibition game against the Nashville Noise. . . . San Jose Laser forward Sheri Sam of the ABL was released from the hospital after spraining her neck in an exhibition on Saturday.

Soccer

Russia came from behind at Helsinki with goals by Irina Grigoryeva and Tatyana Yegorova to defeat Finland, 2-1, and qualify for the 1999 Women’s World Cup in the United States. Finland had led after 25 minutes when Terhi Uusi-Luomalahti scored on a penalty kick. Germany qualified by tying the Ukraine, 1-1, to join the remaining European group winners, Sweden, Italy, Norway and Denmark.

Miscellany

A plan to test for recreational drug use among athletes at U.S. Olympic Committee training centers was shelved when officials said it needed more study.

Also stripped from a revision of the committee’s drug-test rules was a proposal to tighten security around urine samples. Earlier this year, the USOC started unannounced, random drug tests of residents at four training centers.

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Ondoro Osoro, 30, of Kenya, ran away from defending champion Khalid Khannouchi of Morocco over the final mile to win the Chicago Marathon. Osoro’s time of 2:06:54 was the fastest debut marathon of all-time and the third-fastest in history. Kenyan Joyce Chepchumba won the women’s division in a personal-best 2:23:57.

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Switzerland’s Oscar Camenzind broke away in the final lap to win the men’s road race at the World Cycling Championships at Valkenburg, Netherlands.

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Brazil’s Rodrigo Pessoa won the gold medal at the World Equestrian Games at Rome, defeating three other riders in the final show-jumping test. France’s Thierry Pomel won the silver medal and Germany’s Franke Sloothaak the bronze.

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Lee Ellis, 19, the son of former NBA player Leroy Ellis and the brother of ex-NBA forward LeRon Ellis, was found shot to death on a street in Los Angeles on Oct. 1, according to county sheriff’s deputy Bob Killeen.