The comments above are from users of theworldlink.com and do not necessarily represent the views of The World or Lee Enterprises. Participation Guidelines
Note: There is a maximum of 200 words per comment. If you wish to post more, please visit our forum.
Sports Briefs: Kahne races to pole at Pocono
Font Size:
By The Associated Press
Sunday, June 08, 2008 | No comments posted.
LONG POND, Pa. — Kasey Kahne continued his midseason turnaround Friday by winning his first pole of the year at Pocono Raceway.
Now Kahne hopes to parlay it into his second Sprint Cup Series win of the season.
Kahne snapped a 52-race winless streak two weeks ago in the Coca-Cola 600, which came eight days after he scored a $1 million payday by winning the All-Star race. Still riding that momentum, Kahne hopes to parlay his front row starting spot into his second points win of the season.
“To me, if you qualify well at this race track, you race pretty well,” Kahne said. “Doesn’t mean we’re going to run first, but I think we can run in the top 10. Track position will be big, and we’re starting up front.”
Kahne ran a lap at 170.219 mph in his No. 9 Dodge to knock Jimmie Johnson off the top starting spot. It was the 15th pole of his career and second at Pocono — he set the track record here in 2004 with a lap of 172.533.
Johnson, the first driver to make his qualifying run, ran a lap at 169.856 to hold down the pole for most of the session. Kahne went out 31st and grabbed the pole away from him.
“I was really pleased with that qualifying lap. Being the first car out is never a good situation,” said Johnson, who earned his 11th top-10 starting position of the season.
Mark Martin qualified third with a lap at 168.987 then heaped praise on his Dale Earnhardt Inc. crew.
“Gosh, it’s just been one of the best days I can remember,” Martin said. “Man, it’s just so much fun to go to the race track and drive a car like that.”
Regan Smith, Martin’s teammate at DEI, was fourth, Joe Nemechek was fifth and was followed by Carl Edwards, Dale Earnhardt Jr., AJ Allmendinger and Scott Riggs.
Busch second in truck race
FORT WORTH, Texas — Kyle Busch arrived at Texas Motor Speedway, got in his truck and started driving through the field.
Busch finished second Friday night in the Craftsman Trucks Series race, the first of a planned cross-country trifecta to become the first driver to race in all three of NASCAR’s national series at three different tracks on the same weekend.
Ron Hornaday Jr. held off Busch for the final two laps after a green-white-checkered finish for his 35th career victory, his first at the 11⁄2-mile, high-banked Texas track.
On the previous restart with 11 laps to go, Busch moved from fourth to second in less than one lap, getting past Johnny Benson and Jack Sprague to get behind Hornaday. But Busch never could push in front for the lead.
Because Busch didn’t drive the truck during qualifying Thursday, and also missed the drivers’ meeting, he had to start at the back of the 35-truck field. He was up to 16th after only 30 laps, and was in the top 10 within 53 laps.
“We fixed it and made the most of it,” Busch said of his Toyota, which he wasn’t happy with all night. “It wasn’t for me. We made so many adjustments to it all night. We’re lucky we made it home in second. ... That’s all we could do.”
Dixon to start at pole in IRL
FORT WORTH, Texas — Scott Dixon and Helio Castroneves will start at Texas the same way they are in IndyCar Series points — 1-2.
Dixon, the Indianapolis 500 champion and series points leader, earned his fourth pole of the season by averaging 214.878 mph during his four-lap qualifying run Friday at the 11⁄2-mile, high-banked track for the Bombardier Learjet 550k.
Still, his 12th career pole came as a bit of a surprise for Dixon.
“Today (in practice), we were struggling,” Dixon said. “Qualifying was eye-opening. I didn’t think the car could do a speed like that.”
Castroneves, second in points and the only driver with top-five finishes in every race, had a qualifying speed of 214.777 mph. His Penske teammate Ryan Briscoe, who won last week at Milwaukee, starts third tonight. Hideki Mutoh will start fourth, ahead of Danica Patrick and Tomas Scheckter.
FOOTBALL
McFadden signs withRaiders
ALAMEDA, Calif. — Darren McFadden and the Oakland Raiders entered contract talks with one major goal in mind: avoid a training camp holdout.
The two sides accomplished that after only two days of negotiations, finalizing a $60 million, six-year contract that ensures McFadden will be in training camp on time and not repeat the protracted holdout that derailed JaMarcus Russell’s rookie year in Oakland.
“I’m very happy to have it out of the way,” McFadden said at a news conference Friday. “Because like coach said, I want to be in training camp. I want to be out there practicing and learning plays. Missing a day of training camp is like missing a week of college practices. It would be a major setback for me.”
That’s exactly what happened to Russell and the Raiders a year ago, when the No. 1 overall pick did not sign his $61 million contract until after the regular season started and ended up starting only one game at quarterback.
McFadden made avoiding a holdout a priority when he picked Ian Greengross as his agent and talks with the Raiders started earlier and went smoother than they did with Russell a year ago. Greengross and McFadden sat down Tuesday night to go over his priorities in a contract and talks with the Raiders began the following day.
Greengross stayed in town when preliminary talks showed signs of progress and finalized the deal Thursday night. McFadden came back to the Raiders facility to sign the contract that will guarantee him $26 million and accept congratulations from owner Al Davis.
Former Steeler White dies
PITTSBURGH — Former Pittsburgh Steelers defensive end Dwight White, part of the Steel Curtain defense that led the team to four Super Bowl championships in the 1970s, has died following surgery at a Pittsburgh hospital. He was 58.
The team announced White’s death Friday.
Team president Art Rooney II is calling White “an important member of the Steelers family.”
Chairman Dan Rooney praised White’s “relentlessness” on the field and his caring nature off it. Rooney notes White scored the team’s first ever Super Bowl points in Super Bowl IX with a safety against Vikings quarterback Fran Tarkenton.
BASKETBALL
Beavers hire assistant coach
CORVALLIS — Nathan Pomeday, who has served as an assistant at Lake Forest Academy in Illinois for the past three seasons, has been named an assistant basketball coach at Oregon State.
Pomeday joins Douglas Stewart on new head coach Craig Robinson’s staff.
“We are very excited to have Nate aboard,” Robinson said in a statement. “He has extensive international recruiting contacts and has had success wherever he has coached. He will be an excellent addition to the staff and program.”
Robinson was hired in April to take over a Beavers team that went 0-18 in the Pacific-10 Conference last season.
At Lake Forest Academy, Pomeday helped the team to three straight Independent School League title. Before that he was head coach at Calumet College of St. Joseph in Indiana for four seasons.
Pomeday was a guard at Northwestern University. For the past four seasons, he has served as a radio color commentator for the Wildcats.
Collins won’t take Chicago job
CHICAGO — Doug Collins and the Chicago Bulls won’t be reuniting.
Concerned that a second tenure as the Bulls’ coach would spoil their friendship, Collins told chairman Jerry Reinsdorf to look elsewhere during a phone conversation on Friday.
“I called Jerry this afternoon and said, ’Let’s move forward and make sure we stay the friends that we have been for 25 years,”’ said Collins, who coached Chicago from 1986-89. “It had to be a home run, and both of us had a little angst over it. So we both agreed it wasn’t the best to keep going this way.”
The Chicago Tribune initially reported Collins was out of the running on its Web site Friday afternoon.
“I didn’t know Red Auerbach real well,” Reinsdorf said. “But Doug is the brightest basketball mind that I knew. He’s brilliant. The man is brilliant.”
GOLF
Stanford St. Jude Championship
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Everyone at the TPC Southwind wanted a nice warmup for the U.S. Open. They got as good a simulation as possible thanks to gusting wind and firm greens that made par an attractive score.
Tommy Armour III double-bogeyed No. 18 and fell into a six-way tie atop the leaderboard after two rounds at the Stanford St. Jude Championship on a day where only 13 players were under par. It was the most players tied for lead at the halfway point on the PGA Tour since a six-way tie last year at the Shell Houston Open.
Armour finished with a 71. He was tied with Gavin Coles, whose 64 was the low round through the first two days, Dean Wilson (68), Jason Dufner (68), Michael Bradley (68) and Marc Turnesa (69) at 3-under 137 — the highest 36-hole total on the PGA Tour since Angel Cabrera at the Open last year when he was at even par-140.
BASEBALL
Eight players suspended after brawl between Sox and Rays
NEW YORK — Boston outfielder Coco Crisp, Tampa Bay pitcher James Shields and six other players were suspended Friday following a pair of altercations at Fenway Park.
Three Red Sox were suspended: Crisp for seven games, pitcher Jon Lester for five games and first baseman Sean Casey for three games.
Major League Baseball disciplinarian Bob Watson penalized five Rays: Shields for six games, outfielder Jonny Gomes and pitcher Edwin Jackson for five games, outfielder Carl Crawford for four games and second baseman Akinori Iwamura for three games.
All eight players also were fined undisclosed amounts, a day after a bench-clearing brawl in Boston’s 7-1 win over the Rays.
Crisp, who made a hard slide into Iwamura on Wednesday night, was hit by a pitch from Shields the first time he came up Thursday night and charged the mound. Crisp and Shields threw punches, and mayhem followed.
The starting dates of the suspensions were staggered, so as to not leave either team short-handed.
Bonds trial set for March
SAN FRANCISCO — Barry Bonds is headed to trial next March on federal charges of lying to a grand jury about his use of performance-enhancing drugs.
The trial date was set Friday after baseball’s home run king pleaded not guilty when he was re-arraigned on 15 felony counts of lying under oath and obstruction of justice.
Lead Bonds attorney Allen Ruby pleaded not guilty to the charges on the slugger’s behalf, while Bonds stood silently in front of the judge. Ninety minutes later, Ruby agreed to a March 2, 2009, trial date before a second judge.
Bonds, who has not signed with a team this season, pleaded not guilty to similar accusations last December, but a judge ordered prosecutors to rewrite the indictment. The new indictment includes no new allegations.
Bonds was charged with 14 counts of lying under oath and one count of obstruction of justice.
Prosecutors say Bonds lied when he told a grand jury investigating the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative, known as BALCO, in 2003 that he never knowingly took steroids or other performance-enhancing drugs.
STEROIDS
Steroids dealer found dead
DALLAS — A convicted steroids dealer who claimed to have sold drugs to pro football players killed himself, the Dallas County medical examiner said Friday.
Plano police found David Jacobs, 35, and Amanda Jo Earhart-Savell, 30, dead of gunshot wounds Thursday in Jacobs’ Plano home.
The medical examiner said Jacobs suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the abdomen and the head.
Authorities said Earhart-Savell was shot several times, but they issued no ruling whether it was a suicide or homicide.
Plano police officer Andrae Smith said it may take several days before they know exactly what happened to her. The investigation is consistent with a murder-suicide, “but we never rule anything out,” he said.
Earhart-Savell was a professional fitness competitor.
Police found the bodies when they went to the house after relatives of Earhart-Savell expressed concern about her whereabouts.
Jacobs met recently with NFL security officials and gave them names of players he said bought steroids from him.
Jacobs was sentenced to three years probation and fined $25,000 in May after pleading guilty last year in federal court in Dallas to conspiring to possess with intent to distribute anabolic steroids.
Jacobs publicly identified former Dallas Cowboy Matt Lehr as one player who bought drugs from him. Lehr’s attorney, Paul Coggins, has said the player passed NFL drug tests since he was suspended for four games during the 2006 season.
Lehr also played for Tampa Bay and Atlanta.
HOCKEY
Hockey sees ratings jump
NEW YORK — The Detroit-Pittsburgh matchup returned the Stanley Cup finals’ television ratings to close to pre-lockout levels.
The four games on NBC averaged a 3.2 rating and a 6 share, the highest since Carolina-Detroit in 2002 averaged a 3.6.
The average rating doubled last year’s record low of 1.6.
Game 6 on Wednesday averaged a 4.0 national rating and a 7 share, a 111 percent increase over the last Game 6 in 2006, when Edmonton-Carolina drew a 1.9.
The rating is the percentage watching a program among homes with televisions, and the share is the percentage tuned into the broadcast among those households with TVs on at the time.
Now Kahne hopes to parlay it into his second Sprint Cup Series win of the season.
Kahne snapped a 52-race winless streak two weeks ago in the Coca-Cola 600, which came eight days after he scored a $1 million payday by winning the All-Star race. Still riding that momentum, Kahne hopes to parlay his front row starting spot into his second points win of the season.
“To me, if you qualify well at this race track, you race pretty well,” Kahne said. “Doesn’t mean we’re going to run first, but I think we can run in the top 10. Track position will be big, and we’re starting up front.”
Kahne ran a lap at 170.219 mph in his No. 9 Dodge to knock Jimmie Johnson off the top starting spot. It was the 15th pole of his career and second at Pocono — he set the track record here in 2004 with a lap of 172.533.
Johnson, the first driver to make his qualifying run, ran a lap at 169.856 to hold down the pole for most of the session. Kahne went out 31st and grabbed the pole away from him.
“I was really pleased with that qualifying lap. Being the first car out is never a good situation,” said Johnson, who earned his 11th top-10 starting position of the season.
Mark Martin qualified third with a lap at 168.987 then heaped praise on his Dale Earnhardt Inc. crew.
“Gosh, it’s just been one of the best days I can remember,” Martin said. “Man, it’s just so much fun to go to the race track and drive a car like that.”
Regan Smith, Martin’s teammate at DEI, was fourth, Joe Nemechek was fifth and was followed by Carl Edwards, Dale Earnhardt Jr., AJ Allmendinger and Scott Riggs.
Busch second in truck race
FORT WORTH, Texas — Kyle Busch arrived at Texas Motor Speedway, got in his truck and started driving through the field.
Busch finished second Friday night in the Craftsman Trucks Series race, the first of a planned cross-country trifecta to become the first driver to race in all three of NASCAR’s national series at three different tracks on the same weekend.
Ron Hornaday Jr. held off Busch for the final two laps after a green-white-checkered finish for his 35th career victory, his first at the 11⁄2-mile, high-banked Texas track.
On the previous restart with 11 laps to go, Busch moved from fourth to second in less than one lap, getting past Johnny Benson and Jack Sprague to get behind Hornaday. But Busch never could push in front for the lead.
Because Busch didn’t drive the truck during qualifying Thursday, and also missed the drivers’ meeting, he had to start at the back of the 35-truck field. He was up to 16th after only 30 laps, and was in the top 10 within 53 laps.
“We fixed it and made the most of it,” Busch said of his Toyota, which he wasn’t happy with all night. “It wasn’t for me. We made so many adjustments to it all night. We’re lucky we made it home in second. ... That’s all we could do.”
Dixon to start at pole in IRL
FORT WORTH, Texas — Scott Dixon and Helio Castroneves will start at Texas the same way they are in IndyCar Series points — 1-2.
Dixon, the Indianapolis 500 champion and series points leader, earned his fourth pole of the season by averaging 214.878 mph during his four-lap qualifying run Friday at the 11⁄2-mile, high-banked track for the Bombardier Learjet 550k.
Still, his 12th career pole came as a bit of a surprise for Dixon.
“Today (in practice), we were struggling,” Dixon said. “Qualifying was eye-opening. I didn’t think the car could do a speed like that.”
Castroneves, second in points and the only driver with top-five finishes in every race, had a qualifying speed of 214.777 mph. His Penske teammate Ryan Briscoe, who won last week at Milwaukee, starts third tonight. Hideki Mutoh will start fourth, ahead of Danica Patrick and Tomas Scheckter.
FOOTBALL
McFadden signs withRaiders
ALAMEDA, Calif. — Darren McFadden and the Oakland Raiders entered contract talks with one major goal in mind: avoid a training camp holdout.
The two sides accomplished that after only two days of negotiations, finalizing a $60 million, six-year contract that ensures McFadden will be in training camp on time and not repeat the protracted holdout that derailed JaMarcus Russell’s rookie year in Oakland.
“I’m very happy to have it out of the way,” McFadden said at a news conference Friday. “Because like coach said, I want to be in training camp. I want to be out there practicing and learning plays. Missing a day of training camp is like missing a week of college practices. It would be a major setback for me.”
That’s exactly what happened to Russell and the Raiders a year ago, when the No. 1 overall pick did not sign his $61 million contract until after the regular season started and ended up starting only one game at quarterback.
McFadden made avoiding a holdout a priority when he picked Ian Greengross as his agent and talks with the Raiders started earlier and went smoother than they did with Russell a year ago. Greengross and McFadden sat down Tuesday night to go over his priorities in a contract and talks with the Raiders began the following day.
Greengross stayed in town when preliminary talks showed signs of progress and finalized the deal Thursday night. McFadden came back to the Raiders facility to sign the contract that will guarantee him $26 million and accept congratulations from owner Al Davis.
Former Steeler White dies
PITTSBURGH — Former Pittsburgh Steelers defensive end Dwight White, part of the Steel Curtain defense that led the team to four Super Bowl championships in the 1970s, has died following surgery at a Pittsburgh hospital. He was 58.
The team announced White’s death Friday.
Team president Art Rooney II is calling White “an important member of the Steelers family.”
Chairman Dan Rooney praised White’s “relentlessness” on the field and his caring nature off it. Rooney notes White scored the team’s first ever Super Bowl points in Super Bowl IX with a safety against Vikings quarterback Fran Tarkenton.
BASKETBALL
Beavers hire assistant coach
CORVALLIS — Nathan Pomeday, who has served as an assistant at Lake Forest Academy in Illinois for the past three seasons, has been named an assistant basketball coach at Oregon State.
Pomeday joins Douglas Stewart on new head coach Craig Robinson’s staff.
“We are very excited to have Nate aboard,” Robinson said in a statement. “He has extensive international recruiting contacts and has had success wherever he has coached. He will be an excellent addition to the staff and program.”
Robinson was hired in April to take over a Beavers team that went 0-18 in the Pacific-10 Conference last season.
At Lake Forest Academy, Pomeday helped the team to three straight Independent School League title. Before that he was head coach at Calumet College of St. Joseph in Indiana for four seasons.
Pomeday was a guard at Northwestern University. For the past four seasons, he has served as a radio color commentator for the Wildcats.
Collins won’t take Chicago job
CHICAGO — Doug Collins and the Chicago Bulls won’t be reuniting.
Concerned that a second tenure as the Bulls’ coach would spoil their friendship, Collins told chairman Jerry Reinsdorf to look elsewhere during a phone conversation on Friday.
“I called Jerry this afternoon and said, ’Let’s move forward and make sure we stay the friends that we have been for 25 years,”’ said Collins, who coached Chicago from 1986-89. “It had to be a home run, and both of us had a little angst over it. So we both agreed it wasn’t the best to keep going this way.”
The Chicago Tribune initially reported Collins was out of the running on its Web site Friday afternoon.
“I didn’t know Red Auerbach real well,” Reinsdorf said. “But Doug is the brightest basketball mind that I knew. He’s brilliant. The man is brilliant.”
GOLF
Stanford St. Jude Championship
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Everyone at the TPC Southwind wanted a nice warmup for the U.S. Open. They got as good a simulation as possible thanks to gusting wind and firm greens that made par an attractive score.
Tommy Armour III double-bogeyed No. 18 and fell into a six-way tie atop the leaderboard after two rounds at the Stanford St. Jude Championship on a day where only 13 players were under par. It was the most players tied for lead at the halfway point on the PGA Tour since a six-way tie last year at the Shell Houston Open.
Armour finished with a 71. He was tied with Gavin Coles, whose 64 was the low round through the first two days, Dean Wilson (68), Jason Dufner (68), Michael Bradley (68) and Marc Turnesa (69) at 3-under 137 — the highest 36-hole total on the PGA Tour since Angel Cabrera at the Open last year when he was at even par-140.
BASEBALL
Eight players suspended after brawl between Sox and Rays
NEW YORK — Boston outfielder Coco Crisp, Tampa Bay pitcher James Shields and six other players were suspended Friday following a pair of altercations at Fenway Park.
Three Red Sox were suspended: Crisp for seven games, pitcher Jon Lester for five games and first baseman Sean Casey for three games.
Major League Baseball disciplinarian Bob Watson penalized five Rays: Shields for six games, outfielder Jonny Gomes and pitcher Edwin Jackson for five games, outfielder Carl Crawford for four games and second baseman Akinori Iwamura for three games.
All eight players also were fined undisclosed amounts, a day after a bench-clearing brawl in Boston’s 7-1 win over the Rays.
Crisp, who made a hard slide into Iwamura on Wednesday night, was hit by a pitch from Shields the first time he came up Thursday night and charged the mound. Crisp and Shields threw punches, and mayhem followed.
The starting dates of the suspensions were staggered, so as to not leave either team short-handed.
Bonds trial set for March
SAN FRANCISCO — Barry Bonds is headed to trial next March on federal charges of lying to a grand jury about his use of performance-enhancing drugs.
The trial date was set Friday after baseball’s home run king pleaded not guilty when he was re-arraigned on 15 felony counts of lying under oath and obstruction of justice.
Lead Bonds attorney Allen Ruby pleaded not guilty to the charges on the slugger’s behalf, while Bonds stood silently in front of the judge. Ninety minutes later, Ruby agreed to a March 2, 2009, trial date before a second judge.
Bonds, who has not signed with a team this season, pleaded not guilty to similar accusations last December, but a judge ordered prosecutors to rewrite the indictment. The new indictment includes no new allegations.
Bonds was charged with 14 counts of lying under oath and one count of obstruction of justice.
Prosecutors say Bonds lied when he told a grand jury investigating the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative, known as BALCO, in 2003 that he never knowingly took steroids or other performance-enhancing drugs.
STEROIDS
Steroids dealer found dead
DALLAS — A convicted steroids dealer who claimed to have sold drugs to pro football players killed himself, the Dallas County medical examiner said Friday.
Plano police found David Jacobs, 35, and Amanda Jo Earhart-Savell, 30, dead of gunshot wounds Thursday in Jacobs’ Plano home.
The medical examiner said Jacobs suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the abdomen and the head.
Authorities said Earhart-Savell was shot several times, but they issued no ruling whether it was a suicide or homicide.
Plano police officer Andrae Smith said it may take several days before they know exactly what happened to her. The investigation is consistent with a murder-suicide, “but we never rule anything out,” he said.
Earhart-Savell was a professional fitness competitor.
Police found the bodies when they went to the house after relatives of Earhart-Savell expressed concern about her whereabouts.
Jacobs met recently with NFL security officials and gave them names of players he said bought steroids from him.
Jacobs was sentenced to three years probation and fined $25,000 in May after pleading guilty last year in federal court in Dallas to conspiring to possess with intent to distribute anabolic steroids.
Jacobs publicly identified former Dallas Cowboy Matt Lehr as one player who bought drugs from him. Lehr’s attorney, Paul Coggins, has said the player passed NFL drug tests since he was suspended for four games during the 2006 season.
Lehr also played for Tampa Bay and Atlanta.
HOCKEY
Hockey sees ratings jump
NEW YORK — The Detroit-Pittsburgh matchup returned the Stanley Cup finals’ television ratings to close to pre-lockout levels.
The four games on NBC averaged a 3.2 rating and a 6 share, the highest since Carolina-Detroit in 2002 averaged a 3.6.
The average rating doubled last year’s record low of 1.6.
Game 6 on Wednesday averaged a 4.0 national rating and a 7 share, a 111 percent increase over the last Game 6 in 2006, when Edmonton-Carolina drew a 1.9.
The rating is the percentage watching a program among homes with televisions, and the share is the percentage tuned into the broadcast among those households with TVs on at the time.
The World welcomes your comments about stories, and we encourage a robust dialogue on this site. All comments must meet reasonable standards of decency and civility.
Please follow these basic rules:
- No defamatory comments about individuals or businesses.
- No deliberately false information.
- No obscenity or racially offensive language.
- No harassment, verbal abuse, threats or personal attacks.
- No information that invades another person's privacy.
- No business solicitations or charitable solicitations.
Comments that violate these standards will not be posted. Users with repeated violations may be banned from future posting.Comments will be approved throughout the day during business hours. After hours and weekend comments may not appear until the following business day. It may take a couple of hours before comments are approved.
The World generally does not edit comments, but we reserve the right to edit any comment that does not meet our standards.
Close Guidelines