The Des Moines Register from Des Moines, Iowa • Page 23

3C ST svukdav September 16, 2006 BRYCE MILLER, Executive Sports Editor 515-284-8288e-mail: brmillarfidmreg com Cubs look blankly at Red Arroyo l)c lbs Motors iirQlftlrr SPORTS CINCINNATI REDS 4 CHICAGO CUBSO threw the first shutout of his career ogainst San Francisco on Sept 5. Scott Schoeneweis pitched the ninth to finish the combined five-hitter. It was small consolation for a Cincinnati team that saw its playoff hopes all but evaporate this week by losing two of three to wild-card leader San Diego. The Reds began the day four games behind the Padres. It's been a long fall from where Cincinnati was after beating San Francisco on Aug.

24: in a virtual tie with St. Louis for the NL Central lead and one game ahead in the wild card. The Cubs' misery continued. Wrecked by injuries, they were scrambling again when starter Juun Mateo left with tightness in the middle of his back after three hitless innings. He struck out three, walked two before being lifted for a pinch hitter leading off the third.

Even slumping Cincinnati shuts out Chicago and ins on only four hits. ASSOCIATED WSS Chicago, 111. Bronson Arroyo pitched eight strong innings, David Ross hit a three-run homer and the slumping Cincinnati Reds heat the Chicago Cubs 4-0 Friday despite managing just four hits. Rich Aurilia's RBI single and Ross" shot off Carlos Marmol (5-7) during a four-run fourth were enough to give the Reds their sixth win in 19 games. Arroyo (14-9) won his fourth straight start, allowing four hits while striking out seven and walking three.

It was the second scoreless outing in three starts for Arroyo, who JIFF R061RS0N ASSOCIATED MUSS Reds catcher Javier Valentin teases Cubs fans by tossing a baseball connected to a string between innings of their game against Chicago on Friday at VVrigley Field. IOWA SPEEDWAY LATE FRIDAY AT NEWTON: Soy Blodlesel 250 mm EM wmm WEATHER Some rain a possmie irjaay The weather man is predicting isolated thunderstorms for Newton today. A high of 81 degrees is expected. Sunday will be cooler, with a high of 66, and the skies should be partly cloudy. For weather updates, type a text message with zip code (example: 50208) to 44636 (4INF0).

The service is free, but your mobile carrier may charge for text messaging. ON THE WEB Racing fans can log on to DesMoinesRegister.com speedway to read more about the new Iowa Speedway in com 'J Newton and see a video of drivers testing the track. SHORT TRACKS I ''ymmy .11 RODNEY WHITETHE REGISTER ErfCttin ,1 I IRL star Danica Patrick IRL VISITING NEWTON AGAIN Team spotters watch Hooters Pro Cup Series practice runs from the top of the press box at Iowa Speedway in Newton on Friday afternoon. Tire blowouts force Hooters series to reduce speeds SOON: Officials with the Indy Racing League plan to visit Iowa Speedway again within a month, according to IRL vice president of public relations John Griffin. The Indy Racing League is scheduled to race June 22-24 of next year at the Newton track.

but nothing's perfectly smooth on a grand-opening date," Wallace said. "What happened is the day they tested (the tires) here, it was raining and the track cooled off. It didn't have the heat in it, so they got misled a little bit, but racers persevere." Excessive heat generated on the track Friday caused heavy wear on tires, and also coaxed series officials to waive the usual tire rule, which typically allows See NEWTON, Page 4C Stewart, achieved the best practice lap of 24.273 seconds. Shane Wallace, 15-year-old Trevor Bayne, Gordon and Bobby Gill completed the top five. Joey Logano, who drives for Joe Gibbs, was seventh-quickest in practice despite the tire travails.

Rusty Wallace, Iowa Speedway's designer and 10 percent owner, said talks with drivers produced glowing reviews of the facility. "It's unfortunate they've got this tire controversy going on right now, Results of qualifying and the feature event were not complete when this edition of The Des Moines Register went to press. "It's really serious," driver Benny Gordon said Friday afternoon. "A lot of guys wrecking, a lot of tires blowing out. The series and B.F.

Goodrich and all of them are doing as much as possible to help our situation, or else were going home. That was the talk here just a little bit ago." Shelby Howard, who drives for Tony By ROB GRAY REGISTER STAFF WRITER Newton, la. The first cars to race at Iowa Speedway slowed down, instead of hitting the accelerator, in order to compete in Friday's grand-opening Soy Biodiesel 250. Drivers with the USAR Hooters Pro Cup Series encountered tire problems during practice Friday afternoon. Series officials, after conferring with teams, decided to decrease gear in order to keep speeds down.

WINGS 'N' THINGS: Racing in a series sponsored by Hooters has its fiery advantages. "You definitely don't get a shortage of chicken wings when you run the Hooters Pro Cup Series," said Southern Division champion Clay Rogers. UNI FOOTBALL FOOTBALL TODAY: vs. South Dakota State, 4:05 p.m. AUTO RAGING Knoxville Raceway revs Stewart's motor, driver says Tony Stewart owns a celebrated dirt race track, Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio, and loves another one.

Panthers looking to focus, finish VU. mi-3k mm mm. P-5 it. That track is Knoxville Raceway, where The Des Moines Register reported on its Web site Thursday the two-time NASCAR Nextel Cup champ will compete, Sept. 28-30, in the Lucas Oil Late Model Nationals.

Stewart last drove in Clinton Portis scored a touchdown last Monday night. Banged-up Portis sent to bench Stewart coming into the dome today. "Last year they played Montana at Montana 7-0, they played Georgia Southern at Georgia Southern 55-44, they played Cal Poly to the wire at Cal Poly and they played Texas State to the end," Farley said. Farley said he hopes to see the Panthers operate with two F's today focus and finishing. The Panthers moved about last week, but didn't always take the right step, Farley said.

It's important that each segment of the team do its job, he said. "It isn't street ball, it's football," Farley said. Panthers whipped Drake 48-7 in their season-opener. "We need to take a stride," Farley said. "We did a nice job down at Drake and we did not play very well last week.

Now we need to start moving this team in the direction that we expect it to go." South Dakota State, like North Dakota and North Dakota State, is considering applying for membership in the Gateway Conference, where the Panthers play, Farley said. the Jackrabbits have lost to NCAA Division III Wisconsin-La Crosse and to Division I-AA Montana this season, but Farley does not see an easy mark By DAN McCOOL REGISTER STAFF WAITER Northern Iowa football coach Mark Farley wants the Panthers to end their yo-yo nature today. The No. i2 Panthers (1-1) host their second consecutive former North Central Conference rival when South Dakota State (0-2) visits the UNI-Dome for a 4:05 p.m. kickoff.

Last week, the Panthers faced the down part of the yoyo and tumbled nine spots down in the Division I-AA rankings afterwards when University of North Dakota scored a 35-31 upset in Cedar Falls. That was 10 davs after the Washington Redskins coach Joe Gibbs ruled running back Clinton Portis out for Sunday's game against Dallas, an announcement that surprised Portis. "He didn't practice today. If a guy doesn't practice, he's not going to play," Gibbs said. Gibbs said Ladell Berts, T.J.

Duckett and Rock Cartwright will be the running backs against the Cowboys. Portis was downgraded from questionable to doubtful on the injury report, with Gibbs citing the pounding Portis took in the Monday night season opener Iowa in the pre-Knoxville Nationals Ultimate Challenge non-winged sprint car show Aug. 9, 2005, at Southern Iowa Speedway in Oskaloosa. He finished 22nd, but one of his current USAC drivers, Levi Jones, earned the $30,000 winner's check. Jones will compete today and Saturday in USAC events at Iowa Speedway in Newton.

Rob Gray.