The Indianapolis Star du lieu suivant : Indianapolis, Indiana • Page 13

spirfe TUESDAY, JUNE 27, 1995 The Indianapolis Star 7 Excuse me, sir, but you won the race Jimmy Vasser misses the thrill of a last-lap pass, but he will take the belated checkered flag. By Robin Miller STAR ASSOCIATE SPORTS EDITOR Jimmy Vasser was sitting in his mother's trailer, eating a hamburger, when an IndyCar official knocked on the door and told him he was the winner of Sunday's G.I. Joe 200 at Portland, Ore. "It wasn't exactly how I'd dreamed about winning my first race," admitted Vasser, speaking from his San Francisco home Monday evening. "I'd always wanted it to be some bold, last-lap maneuver around one of the Penske cars.

"Sitting in my mom's trailer three hours after the race wasn't exciting. It's not the fashion I'd envisioned, nor was it how I wanted to win." Long after Vasser had taken the checkered flag 29 seconds behind Al Unser IndyCar officials disqualified Unser's Marlboro PenskeMercedes and moved i ifiss dl Sampras wins Koun unorthodox foe against Victory over Braasch keeps him on course for a third consecutive Wimbledon crown. By Robin Finn NY TIMES NEWSSERVICE Wimbledon, England The sky was cloudless, the grass lawns were flawless, and since postcard conditions prevailed Monday at Wimbledon, it seemed only fitting that Pete Sampras should start his campaign for a third consecutive title in similarly picturesque form. The only trouble was the lack of cooperation he initially received from his goggle-wearing, cigarette-puffing, strange-serving German opponent, Karsten Braasch. a player more picaresque than picturesque.

Braasch. who's never minded that his game smacks more of the ridiculous than the sublime, managed to downgrade the two-time defending champion's form on his favorite surface from magical to mundane. "Everybody who plays me, they always play bad," Braasch said after Sampras' uneven 7-6 (7-4), 6-7 (2-7), 6-4, 6-1 victory on the shadow-striped Center Court. "It just has to have something to do with my game." The only seeded male player to be eliminated outright on this rather thin opening-day program was 12th-seeded Richard Krajlcek of the Netherlands, a hard server who's failed to live up to his advance billing as that nation's version of Sampras. The floundering Dutchman was disposed of in straight sets, 7-6 (7-2), 6-3, 6-3, by 86th-ranked Bryan Shelton of Huntsville, whose agility on grass produced an upset of the former champion Michael Stich last year at Wimbledon and near-misses against Ivan Lendl and Boris Becker in past visits.

Although Braasch can't claim that same affection for this surface, he too seemed upset-minded the Chip Ganssi-owned TargetSTP '95 ReynardFord from second to first. Unser's car flunked the post-race technical inspec-t 1 and Vasser reaped the rewards Jimmy Vasser and points. "I felt lucky to get second, I was happy as hell with second after how we struggled at mid-race," said the 29-year-old now in his fourth season of Indy-car competi tion. "I got a terrible start and fell to fourth on the first lap and then, in the middle of the race, fell back to seventh. I was probably a fourth-place car and then (Paul) Tracy, (Gil) de Ferran and (Jacques) Vil-lenueve fell out." After being informed of the shocking developments, Vasser accepted congratulations from Un-, ser.

"Al was really cool about it. He came over and said, 'Hey man, I won my first oval race when Mi-, chael (Andretti) ran out of fuel at Milwaukee you gotta taken 'em how you get "He was very gracious and I appreciated it." Vasser said Unser's triumph was so convincing he wondered if me iud Clearance to me ground 1 1 Ulrf 1 cuuiu nave uccii mm uig an au- vantage. "They (Team Penske) walked away from everybody and it's hard for me to imagine what performance gain It gave them, could it have changed the outcome? "You cbuld tell the IndyCar officials didn't like making the change, but I guess rules are rules. I feel good for my team, but I'm not that excited." Vasser's modesty and candor aside, he's been one of the great stories this season. His lull-time ride folded when Jim Hayhoe couldn't answer the bell, then Ganassi (with STP's help) signed him on to join Bryan Herta.

Qualifying seventh at Indy, Jimmy was leading on Lap 170 before hitting the wall. He finished second at Detroit and has qualified on the front row twice. "I don't feel like I'm doing anything different," he said. "I've got a great situation here with Grant Weaver as my chief mechanic and Julian Robertson as my engineer and it's not like an A Team, Team thing. II.

-II 11 A 41 we aon i gei au inc lesimg uic other side gets, but I've got all A Team stuff on my car US Associated Press BACK ON HIS HEELS: Two-time defending champion Pete Sampras (top) was plenty confused Monday by the unusual style displayed by Karsten Braasch in first-round action at Wimbledon, but the American still picked up the win. 'Dream' turnaround has Tribe on 10-game roll McDyess prime pick among NBA entries Loss of lounging space: Fans at Wimbledon don't like the loss of a large lawn area where they used to relax. Page 2. until the second-seeded Sampras went up a break In the third set. Braasch, ranked 120th, has been referred to as "crafty" by Sampras and "quirky" by the American superstar who recently defeated him at the French Open, No.

1 -ranked Andre Aeassi. Ills predilection for relaxing" with a smoke during cnangeovers provoked an addition to the rule book's chapter on decorum. Monday he used his unorthodox leapfrogging serves and olf-spced returns to advantage In the early going before Sampras recovered his composure. It was a most necessary maneuver In order for him to avoid the indignity of a second consecutive See SAMPRAS Page 2 "It's almost like a dream and we don't want to wake up," Bombard said. "I've never seen anything like It.

There were a lot of major-league scouts In New Or- leans over the weekend and they said we were the best team In Triple A baseball. Funny thing is, If they'd seen us three weeks ago, they wouldn't have given us the time of day. It's hard to believe what this team has done." Bombard pointed out that credit for his team's recent success Is not related to any adjustment In his managerial strategy. "I'm not doing anything different than I was before," he said. "All I do is fill in the lineup card.

The players are the ones who deserve the credit." All the players, according to the third-year Tribe skipper. "We've got 24 guys on the team and every one of them has made a contribution to our streak. They've played unselfishly and with aggressiveness and enthusiasm. Even when we were losing 1 knew this team had character. They've really shown It lately.

We've been getting good pitching, we've caught and thrown the ball well and we've gotten a lot of timely hits. Things are clicking for us right now." The clicking includes seven straight wins against Oklahoma City and New Orleans on a recent road trip, during which Tribe out- Seo INDIANS Page 3 US- i lr I fir A Lir as- i I League-leading Indianapolis has rebounded from early slump to win 16 of last 17 games. By Don Bates STAR STAFF WRITER There are turnarounds and then there are turnarounds. The one the Indianapolis Indians made this month could make an atheist subscribe to the principles of divine intervention. On June 6 the Indians were mired In a slump which saw them lose 15 of 21 games.

They had dropped to fourth place In the American Association, 7'2 games behind first-place Louisville. It seemed the Indians invented a different way each night to lose a game and their upbeat and even-tempered manager, Marc Bombard, was showing uncharacteristic signs of testlness. Shazam, eureka, volla! In the three weeks since, the Indians won 16 of 17 games and 10 in a row. The last time they won 10 consecutive games was in June 1974. The streak has enabled the Indians to make up 10 xh games.

They lead the league by three games over second-place Louisville as they return tonight to Bush Stadium to begin a six-game homestand. By Sheldon Spencer SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER Seattle The Philadelphia 76ers measured his vertical leap at 47 inches a hair shy of his shoe soles levitating four feet from the floor, the stratosphere of human-powered, no-accessorles required night. The training staff at his school, the University of Alabama, measured his skyward spring at 39 inches. But how do you measure Antonio McDyess' upward potential as a pro basketball power forward, especially since he is just two years removed from playing high school basketball in the metropolis of Quitman. Miss.

(pop. The 76ers are among four teams with the prime picks in the NBA Draft Wednesday in Toronto who believe McDyess' future is limitless. Golden State selects first, followed by the Los Angeles Clippers, Philadelphia and then the Washington Bullets. They are all expected to nab someone of the sophomore collective of North Carolina stars Jerry Stackhouse and Rasheed Wallace, Maryland standout Joe Smith and Alabama's McDyess. While Stackhouse, Wallace and Smith have had career-long nationwide notoriety, until recently the 6-9, 220-pound McDyess has been a Trivial Pursuit answer to all but basketball cognoscente.

Who is this 20-year-old with the 40-inch sleeve, a young man whom SuperSonics vice president of personnel and head scout Bob Kloppenburg has compared to a younger version of Sonlcs All-Star Shawn Kemp? In Quitman, which is a 20-minute drive from the Meridian, hometown of Indiana Pacer and Associated Press STEADY RISER: Antonio McDyess, formerly a little-known forward out of Alabama, is now one of the key players in this week's draft. former Alabama star Derrick McKey, McDyess is no longer just the boy next door. "Everyone knew me In high school, but now everyone Is trying to be my friend," said McDyess, who describes himself as "Just country" and has yet to enter his first nightclub. "I'm not up to all of this attention and everything, but I've got to get used to it." See what you get for scoring 39 points, grabbing 19 rebounds and slamming six dunks against Penn in an NCAA first-round game last March? Suddenly, McDyess was not Just a former Parade All-Amerlean high school player still learning the ropes of college See MCDYESS Page 5 AMERICAN LEAGUE Boston 4 Toronto 3 tewYo7IIIIiI, Cleveland 2 Kansas City 0 Baltimore 2 Milwaukee 0 Chicago 6 Minnesota 5 Oakland 4 Texas 3 Seattle 7 California 3 NATIONAL LEAGUE Florida 9 New York 4 Atlanta 4 Montreal 3 Pittsburgh 8 Chicago 6 Houston 11 St. Louis 0 Los Angeles San Diego 5.