The Indianapolis Star from Indianapolis, Indiana • Page 27

CLASSJFED AOS Pages 8-16 MONDAY. AUGUST 19, 1996 The Indianapolis Star Online: www.stamews.com InfoLlna: 624-4636 mm m-M vr''? Sampras rives on Ivanisevic miscues til World's No. 1 -ranked player captures third RCA Championships in straight sets. ,1 played real well and moments I wasn't there (in the tournament)," he said. "I felt reasonably sharp (Sunday).

I didn't serve quite that well but was hitting my groundies well. I feel like I can get better." Sampras is the defending champion at the U.S. Open, which begins a week from today. "Whenever you win, it brings you a lot of confidence and that is one thing I was looking for here," he said. "I feel fit and ready to go.

I am not guaranteeing a win, but this Is definitely a good step for me." Sampras got off on the right step Sunday, not allowing a two-hour rain delay to bother him. Sampras put the 24-year-old Ivanisevic on the defensive early, breaking his serve to take a 2-0 lead. "I was trying to make him work on his service games, not give him the cheap point," Sampras said. "I kind of was playing safe and kept the ball in play. He got a little impatient and I got the early break.

That was kind of a strategy I had Just to make him work as much as possible." Ivanisevic took advantage of two double faults by Sampras to break serve and narrow the gap to 4-3. Sampras played a solid tiebreaker to win the first set. The two were on serve in the second set before Ivanisevic suffered a major mental lapse. At 3-3, he was ahead 40-love before falling apart. Ivanisevic double faulted twice.

"I lost concentration a little bit," Ivanisevic said. "I didn't have to go so big (on his second serve)." Serving for the match at 5-4, Sampras gave Ivanisevic another opportunity when he was broken at 15. "When you play Goran, it is like riding a roller-coaster," Sampras said. "There are so many ups and downs. One moment I thought I had him and next moment we are back to even.

"He hit some big shots (to gain the break), but at 5-all I finally put a couple of good groundstrokes together. He double faulted at break point and that was really it." Sampras saved his best, or perhaps luckiest, for last. On match point, he converted a shoestring See SAMPRAS Page 2 too many Sunday. The top-seeded Sampras edged the second-seeded Croatian 7-6 (7-3), 7-5 to capture the RCA Championships title at the Indianapolis Tennis Center. The 25-year-old Tampa.

resident earned $150,000 for the victory, becoming the first player to win three singles titles since the tournament switched from clay courts to hard courts in 1988. Sampras, now 25-4 here, previously won back-to-back titles in '91 and '92. Jimmy Connors won three titles on clay in Indianapolis. It was Sampras' fifth title of the year (41st career), but his first since April. "There were moments that I By Mark Ambrogi STAFF WRITER Goran Ivanisevic realizes his margin for error is slim against the world's No.

1 player. "You have to always concentrate, be ready for everything," he said of play- ...6 iv. wci. It til Dras. can hit a couple of CHAMPIONSHIPS bad shots and then 10 unbelievable (ones).

He is No. 1. You are not allowed to give him any chances." Ivanisevic gave Sampras a few Lm'' PTTl IJL, it 'J. "ft'-' IMr mm wl. tmmf -j.

ld If -vi .4 flip upright the car of Davy Jones, Barkley set to rocket to Houston Associated Press HOUSTON Charles Barkley flew into Houston on Sunday night, set to join the Rockets and complete a trade with the Phoenix Suns that had simmered all summer. Under the deal, to be. an-, nounced today, Houston will send point guard Sam Cassell and forwards Robert Horry, Mark Bryant and Chucky Brown to Phoenix. All four become free agents after this season. Barkley, intent on winning an NBA title before he retires, avoided a crowd awaiting his arrival at Intercontinental Airport.

Thp ctar fnr- ward exited the Charles Barkley plane onto the tarmac and got Into; a limousine. Before arriving in Houston," Barkley was vacationing In Philadelphia and told two televisions; there: "I'm very excited. Obvious-j ly. it's something I wanted to Houston was my first priority." Barkley confirmed what was first reported earlier in the day by The Arizona Republic. "We're not going to deny it," Rockets spokesman Tim Frank told The Associated Press on Sunday.

"But we really can't get into anything right now." Phoenix radio station KTAR said the Suns would announce the trade today at a 6 p.m. EST news conference in Phoenix. Houston radio station KTRH said the deal awaited only NBA approval. An NBA spokesman did not immediately return a message left on his home answering machine. Barkley, 33, has two years left on his contract, which pays him $4.6 million next season.

combined salaries of the four Houston players are within the allowable 15 percent of Barkley's salary, bringing the deal Into compliance with the league's salary-cap restrictions. Brown told KTRH Sunday he would be going to the Suns. He said he had been contacted at his home in Raleigh, N.C., by Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovlch, who told him Cassell and Horry were to go with him. The Rockets also appear ready to announce the signing of free-agent center Kevin Willis, a 7-footer who can play power forward and back up center. A XY Staff Photo Steven Adama A BIG LIFT: Pete Sampras hoists the trophy he earned for winning the RCA Championships on Sunday.

Michael Andretti inherits IndyCar win when Al Unser Jr. falters on the last lap at Road America. By Robin Miller STAFF WRITER ELKHART LAKE, Wis. Al Unser Jr. has no problem with America.

He thinks it's a great country, a swell place to raise his family and earn a living. He's not as fond of Road America. Sunday afternoon, for the third time in his career, this track gave Unser a gut shot and left him with that aching feeling nothing can soothe. Less than a mile from his first victory of this season, Unser's Marlboro '96 Penske-Mercedes went up in a cloud of smoke and so did a great finish for the PPGIndyCar championship. The two-time CART champ's engine blew on the last lap, three corners from the finish line, to keep Team Penske and Mercedes winless in 1996.

Michael Andretti inherited the lead and checkered flag ahead of Bobby Rahal by a half second In a bizarre TexacoHa-voline 200 that kept 75,000 people on hand wondering what was going to happen next. "I was mostly driving that last lap with my mirror, making sure I could keep Bobby at a safe distance and then I saw a puff of smoke from Al's car," said Andretti, who collected his 34th career IndyCar win. "Then, boom, and all that smoke." Unser, who led 25 of the 50 laps after starting 12th, took his latest disappointment in stride. 'This track is just flat unlucky for me. The first time I raced here in Can Am, I won the pole and broke on the second lap.

Then I had a 20-second lead here In 1985 and broke my leg. "If I can ever make it past Canada Corner (Turn 11) on the last lap while I'm leading, then I know I'll be in victory lane." Junior's curse on the 4-mile road course did more than dent his spirits, it seriously damaged his title chances. Trailing Jimmy Vasser by 17 coming into the 14th of 16 PPG series shows, the 34-year-old veteran See ANDRETTI Page 3 Vi3' a who went upside down on his Maybe, as Toronto Star reporter Frank Orr suggested, "Stephen King was driving the pace car." Eight drivers were crashed out of action. There were two flips and more bad feelings than a Prozac convention. How wild was It? Robby Gordon told ESPN, "There are some guys out there driving like idiots." The lowlights of this carnage in Cheeseland: Pole sitter Alex Zanardi knocked front-row mate Gil de Ferran off the track and into a sand trap in Turn 2 on the opening lap.

Andre Ribeiro took out the TURN IT OVER: Track workers irjDvCAR TexscoEtavGlina 2C3 (Top finishers) Cars, emotions flip out Associated Press own during a caution. of control PacWest Team all by himself. Paul Tracy spent enough time in the sand to qualify for the Canadian beach volleyball team. Greg Moore got a rough ride trying to pass Ribeiro in an impossible place. Davy Jones got upside down all by himself.

Johnstone needed help from Tracy to get on his head. After all the wreckage was cleared, fingers were pointing and adjectives were flying. "It was unsporting and the worst blatant action I've seen In my two years on the circuit," See MILLER Page 3 Driver Equipment 1. Michael Andretti Lf 2. Bobby Rahal R-M 3.

Alex Zartardi R-H 4. Stefan Johansson R-M 5. Bryan Herts R-M 6. Jimmy Vasser R-H 7. Scott Pruett L-F 8.

Juan Manuel Fangk) II E-T 9. MaxPapis R-T 10. Al Unser Jr. P-M Robin Miller ELKHART LAKE, Wis. It beean with the 1 Vj front row bang- 1 in8 lnt0 eacn I other and fin- lsnea wun Parker Johnstone's Reynard flipping like a sprint car.

In between, Sunday's TexacoHavo-line 200 looked like a combination of RollerbaU, the World Wrestling Federation and Saturday night at the Speedrome. Whatever was in the sin air, it was contagious. Chassis: E-Eagle, L-Lola, P-Penske, R-Reynard. Engines: F-Ford, H-Honda, M-Mercedes, T-Toyota. Series point leaders: Vasser 136, Unser 115, Zanardi 109, Andretti 107.

Id 'Sharp' turn of fate in IRL opener AMERICAN LEAGUE Cleveland 11 3' Toronto 6 Minnesota 2. Milwaukee f. Seattle Oakland 9 Baltimore 6 California Texas "tO JKJafTsas Orty NATIONAL LEAGUE Philadelphia Cincinnati Atlanta St Louis Chicago 10 Houston 8 San Diego 8 New York 0 Montreal 7 Angeles 3 boreto taking third. For car owner Foyt, the most renowned driver in Indy-car history, it was his first victory as an owner since he won at Pocono in 1981 as a driver. Last year at Nazareth, his driver, Eddie Cheever, ran out of fuel while leading with two laps to go.

At Phoenix in March, Sharp was penalized a lap while leading when Foyt ordered him Into a closed pit. "Kind of like Bobby Knight the officials again," quipped Foyt as he praised Sharp for driving "a hell of a race" this time. Sharp, who won his first career race at this facility in a 17-year-old Datsun when it was a road course and he was 18, was pinching himself over his good See SHARP Page 3 )seco Owner A. J. Foyt gets sweet win with Scott Sharp after Tony Stewart's engine goes sour.

By Dick Mrttman STAFF WRITER LOUDON, N.H. Tony Stewart went into hiding. Scott Sharp went into victory lane. And A.J. Foyt went, well.

Into his overstuffed memory vault to do some victory celebrating that had eluded him for 15 years. In a strange opening to the 1996-97 Indy Racing League season at New Hampshire International Speedway on Sunday, Stewart dominated the first 181 laps of the True Value 200. Then his engine died with a two-lap lead. I Dale does it again: Dale Jarrett wins the GM Good wrench 400 at Michigan. Page 3.

Stewart was so devastated he asked for a few minutes to himself and stole away to the solitude of his transporter. Sharp, who had wound up upside down in his last Indy-car race appearance at the track in 1995, listened to Foyt's coaching over the radio and brought his Conseco LolaFord to the checkered flag without running out of fuel. It was the first IRL victory for Sharp, who shared the 1996 three-race IRL championship with Buzz Calkins. Calkins motored home second 20.4 seconds behind, with Italian Michele Al- Associated Press NEW EXPERIENCE: A.J. Foyt (left) enjoys his first victory as an IRL car owner with winning dnwr Scott Sharp.

AMERICAN ASSOCIATION Louisville 5 Indians I 0 Xf Vr.