The Indianapolis Star from Indianapolis, Indiana • Page 23

MONDAY, JULY 10, 1995 The Indianapolis Star Villeneuve takes command at Elkhart Lake Easy victory gives him a 22-point cushion in the season points standings. Texaco 200 I Top 10 finishers At Elkhart Lake, Wis. 1. Jacques Villeneuve Reynard-Ford 2. Paul Tracy Lola-Ford 3.

Jimmy Vasser Reynard-Ford 4. Andre Ribeiro Reynard-Honda 5. Bobby Rahal Lola-Mercedes 6. Adrain Fernandez Lola-Mercedes 7. Scott Pruett Lola-Ford 8.

Christian Fittipaldi Reynard-Ford 9. TeoFabi Reynard-Ford 10. Stefan Johansson Penske-Mercedes Series point leaders: Villeneuve 103, Robby Gordon 81, Rahal 78, Tracy 73, Pruett 73. Almost always in first. Almost always in command.

The phenom of the series dominated the 10th race of the season, finishing with a 0.965-second victory over second-place Paul Tracy. Yellow flags greyed the checkers, however. Villeneuve captured all of the possible points (22) by controlling what has been a competitive tour. With Robby Gordon failing to score a point, the 24-year-old Indianapolis 500 winner now has a 22-point lead to race went green on Lap 35, de Ferran stormed down pit road for fuel. Except for Tracy's late-race attempt from ar-rear, Villeneuve never had another threat.

It was cruise-ville. "We ran a low-downforce setup to have a good straight-line speed, but we were also quick in the corners," Villeneuve said. "I was able to build a 2-second lead and hold it. When you can See VILLENEUVE Page 5 ward PPG Cup supremacy with seven races to go. "1 said after Detroit that we should be good in the second half of the season," said Villeneuve, who has won two straight poles and this event twice in succession.

The Canadian led 46 of a possible 50 laps Sunday on the fast 4-mile road course, relinquishing P-l only to pit. Rookie Gil de Ferran led the other four laps, all under the yellow his first led laps in IndyCar. A lap before the By Curt Cavin STAR STAFF WRITER Elkhart Lake, Wis. A record crowd saw numerous Indy cars go askew Sunday in the TexacoHavoline 200. The fans saw Jacques Villeneuve stay straight.

mm WimMedon 1 Jl tl i -i "i ST WAKNA TRADE? Boris Becker, a three-time champion but only the runner-up this year, playfully takes the winner's trophy away from Pete Sampras following Sampras' win in the Wimbledon final. Becomes first American to win three in a row as monstrous serves batter Becker. By Steve Wilstein ASSOCIATED PRESS Wimbledon, England Pete Sampras dusted the chalk lines with aces so fast and uncannily accurate Sunday that Boris Becker covered his eyes with his hand near the end and groped with his racket like a blind man carrying a cane. Sampras, as strong and silky a player as ever graced Centre Court, became the first American to win Wimbledon three straight years by slugging serves that Becker couldn't see, much less return. "It wouldn't have made a difference whether I had my eyes open or not," Becker said.

"He would have hit the line anyway." In a match of brutal power and efficiency, without a rally longer than seven strokes, Sampras hit 23 aces and 22 service winners to beat Becker 6-7 (7-5), 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 and reach an exalted position among the greatest Wimbledon champions. The first player to win three consecutive Wimbledon titles since Bjorn Borg's run of five from 1976 to 1980, Sampras is only the second to do it since Fred Perry's third in a row in 1936. If Sampras had any British blood in him, Wimbledon would be erecting a statue of him by now to stand alongside the bronze of Perry near the main gate. "He owns the Centre Court now. I used to own it a few years back, but it belongs to him now," Becker said of the 23-year-old Sampras, whose sixth Grand Slam title helped him move closer to recapturing the No.

1 ranking he yielded early this year to Andre Agassi. "He hits those bombs and you just hope for rain." Sampras' game hot as heat Sampras never lost his service and faced only two break points the entire match as the scorching, 95-degree heat inflated the new, soft balls and negated the intention of slowing down the game. Becker, who won the first of his three titles at 17 a decade ago and finished as runner-up for the fourth time, struck 16 aces of his own. But those were offset by 15 double-faults that cost him the third and fourth sets. Throughout the match, Sampras heard a familiar voice urging him on with shouts of "Go, Pistol, C'mon Pistol." It was the voice of Tom Gullikson, twin brother of Sampras' coach Tim, who was home in Illinois watching the match between chemotherapy If" i A A 1 4 J- i nii'.

Thirteen becomes lucky for Indians Another offensive explosion yields a second straight 13-run output. By Don Bates STAR STAFF WRITER The Indianapolis Indians aren't exactly playing good baseball these days. Spectacular is a much more appropriate description. After thumping the Iowa Cubs 13-0 Saturday night, the Tribe hauled out its lethal lumber again Sunday evening at Bush Stadium, methodically dispatching the Omaha Royals by a 13-3 count. Responsibility for the victory? No one in particular most everybody in general.

Steve Gibralter hit a grand slam homer. Eric Owens had a three-run roundtripper and Willie Greene contributed a two-run shot. Starting pitcher Blaine Beat-ty hurled five shutout innings after escaping a bases-loaded situation In the opening frame. Relievers Brian Warren and Rich Sauveur combined for three shutout innings. "Everybody will be talking about the offense but I think the key to this game was the defense," Tribe manager Marc Bombard said.

The skipper's statement was in reference to a couple of fielding Omaha 3 Indians 13 Next game: 7:15 p.m. today, vs. Omaha; WNDE-1260 AM, WIFtE-FM 100.9 FM gems turned in during the first inning. After the Royals' Les Norman and Michael Tucker reached base on Beatty via a walk and an infield single with no outs, right-fielder Chad Mottola went to the wall to make a one-handed grab of a hard-hit ball by Andy Stewart. Andy Stewart.

With two out and the bases loaded, second-baseman Owens made a leaping catch to rob Joe Randa of at least two RBI. "Unless we make those plays, Omaha could have had an early lead," Bombard said. "We don't really know what might have happened if that had occurred." Beatty steadied after two innings. "It had been a while since I last pitched so I had trouble finding any kind of a rhythm," said Beatty, who allowed four hits and struck out four. Beatty's last start was June 22 when he pitched five innings to pick up a win against New Orleans.

With Sunday's victory, he See INDIANS Page 2 -s. AMERICAN LEAGUE Detroit City 2 Boston 7 0 Baltimore ti Chicago 2 Texas 5 New York 4 Toronto TIZlIP? Miiwa'uke8 9 Caiifomia 7 NATIONAL LEAGUE Chj 7 phiade1phia 6 pjttsb York' 3 Fiohda 6 St. Loufs JanDo 9 Hon Colorado 4 1 Atlanta AMERICAN ASSOCIATION Indians 3 Jh A third set and four more times in the fourth set as Sampras kept on rolling. "My legs lost their power a little," said Becker, who won $291,000 as runner-up. "For my movement, I have to get up, because I'm not pushing my serve.

Once I started losing my strength, I knew that I was in trouble. I wasn't covering the net as good anymore. That's why I went for a bit more on my second serve, and the result was a few more double-faults." At the same time, Sampras seemed to grow stronger. Nothing was going to stop Sampras now, and he eventually reached match point with his seventh ace of the fourth set, then slammed a service winner to end it in 2 hours, 28 minutes. Even as a loser, Becker received the louder ovation at the end as he ran a lap around Centre Court to show off his smaller trophy.

"It was one of the nicest feelings I've ever had," Becker said. "It made me feel like a part of Wimbledon." 'awesome' mile oval, then surrendered the lead only during caution periods. The victory was his series-leading fifth this season. The finish punctuated a weekend comeback by the 23-year-old driver, who scraped the wall during qualifying Friday. It didn't matter, thanks to the crew.

"Those guys told me to keep crashing them," Gordon said. "They said they knew I was giving 110 percent and they would stand behind me." After making the field in time trials Saturday, Gordon started 21st on the 41 -car grid, hardly the place to be on a flat track where passing usually proves difficult. But his crew wasted little time boosting him into contention. During a caution, after Jimmy Hens-ley hit thtj first-turn wall on the if 'i msm than the talk began of him matching Borg's five in a row. "He's young, he's fresh," Becker said, "and very few people have played like he did against me today in a final." Very few players ever have mastered Wimbledon's lawns like Sampras, whose serving prowess distinguishes him from such other Open-era multiple champions as Borg, three-time winner John McEnroe, two-time winner Stefan Edberg and two-time winner Jimmy Connors.

"He's proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that he's the best exponent of grass tennis," Tom Gullikson said. "He has the best running and passing shots. He's flexible and elastic. He has the physical conditioning to cope with grass. Mentally, he has shown a lot of strength, especially versus Goran (Ivanisevic) when he faced 38 aces (In the semifinals)." Becker, who had played a four-setter in the semis against Agassi and a five-setter in the quarterfinals against Cedric Pioline, was weary and sagging in the heat.

He double-faulted six times in the It was Evernham who devised the pit-stop strategy that enabled his driver to Join the leaders. Then Gordon drove a smooth line at New Hampshire International Speedway to the top of the Winston Cup standings. "He had that thing right on the money," Gordon said after driving a new Chevrolet Monte Carlo to its 13th victory in 16 events this year. Gordon collected $160,300 from a $1.3 million purse. Included in his earnings was a $50,000 bonus for taking the lead in the series points race.

"Everything was prefect today," Gordon said. "The crew came through big time." Gordon passed seven-time champion Dale Earnhardt on the 170th 300 laps at the 1.058- Martina returns? Martina Navratilova, part of the winning mixed doubles team at Wimbledon, hints at possibly returning to play singles next year. Page 5. treatments for brain cancer. "It sounded just like Tim," Sampras said.

"Tom is a great friend. We both have dealt with Tim's situation in a very public way. "The last couple of months have been a little rough. I dedicated this win to Tim because he's a true champion today. The way he has handled his treatment is Just an inspiration.

Over the phone he gave me the encouragement to go on and put what happened at the French Open (a first-round loss) behind me and hopefully try to win a 'three-Pete' for him." The first call Sampras made after the match was to Gullikson, and the first place Sampras is going on the way home is to visit with his coach. No sooner did Sampras win his third straight, earning $584,000, A -J Associated Press t. Associated Press NICE SHOT: Pete Sampras senses victory is near after a key point in the third set. victory oulii lay, uuiuuii luun. juoi i tires and moved from 12th posi- tion to the front.

"Either Ray is the luckiest guy In the world or he's really a good guesser," Gordon said. "I have a lot of confidence In Ray. When he makes changes he makes big changes. He doesn't just play around." He stayed on or near the lead thereafter, pulling to a 1.23-sec- ond victory over the Ford Thun- derblrd of Morgan Shepherd It was a strong showing by Shep- Gordon "I was hunting for different places to gain on Jeff a little bit," Shepherd said, his voice trailing off much as the field did behind See GjDRDON Page 5 If iv Gordon earns another Young racing star attributes perfectly devised pit-stop strategy for his Slick 50 300 victory. By Dick Brinster ASSOCIATED PRESS Loudon, N.H.

Jeff Gordon has heard the word awesome used so frequently to describe his driving he now is employing it himself. But he wasn't talking about his own effort after an easy victory Sunday in the Slick 50 300. Instead, he applied the term to Ray Evernham. "What a crew chief," Gordon said. "Hewas awesome." 4 Associated Press BACK WHERE HE BELONGS: Jeff Gordon gets fired up over his fifth NASCAR victory of tfe season..