Battle Creek Enquirer from Battle Creek, Michigan • Page 44

4D SPORTS SUNDAY, AUG. 20, 1989, BATTLE CREEK ENQUIRER has Wita dberg The Associated Press MASON, Ohio Mats lander is still searching for answers as he prepares to defend his U.S. Open title. Wilander wasted two set points in the second-set tiebreaker Saturday, giving fellow Swede Stefan Edberg the opening for a 7-6, 7-6 semifinal victory in the ATP Championship. Edberg rallied from three deficits in the tiebreaker to knock Wilander, the defending ATP champion, out of the $602,500 tournament Edberg will play today for the tournament championship against "That's just how things have gone so far," Wilander said.

"Last year I won the two tiebreakers, this year I lost two tiebreakers. "I'm not that far away. I'm playing pretty well I'm hitting the ball all right. You never know when the momentum is going to turn around, and suddenly those big points are mine instead of my opponent's." Edberg said Wilander's inability to convert big points is the big difference from a year ago. "He got a little tight in tight situations," Edberg said.

"He doesn't seem to have as much confidence. He gets a little tense when you get into tight situations. Maybe he tries to play a little too safe instead of going for shots." McNeil advances in Slims Lori McNeil, the lone remaining seeded player, defeated Betsy Nagelsen 6-3, 7-6 to advance to the final of the Virginia Slims of Albuquerque tournament The fifth-seeded McNeil will meet South Africa's Elna Reinach in today's championship match. McNeil, who lost to Nagelsen in five of their previous six meetings, including three times this year, ended the losing string when she won the second set tiebreaker 7-3. Reinach extended her string of victories over seeded opponents with a 6-2, 6-2 win over No.

6 Amy Frazier of Rochester Hills. "I haven't controlled my game all year 1 1 "ki-ww 1 Looinis Detroit picked off eight times, loses 35-3 to Cinci and when I came into this week, I wanted to leave here with something besides a win," McNeil said. "I'm trying to concentrate on what I do on the court, not winning or losing." Ferrando stays nervous Linda Ferrando wasn't looking beyond the second round when the United Jersey Bank tennis tournament started early in the week at Mahwah, J. But by Saturday, Ferrando was long past that and looking at a semifinal matchup with defending champion and top-seeded Steffi Graf, the world's No. 1 player.

The match would have been the biggest of the year for the 23-year-old Ferrando, but the Italian played a waiting game as rain forced tournament officials to delay the start of the match AP Photo while defending on a pass play. rushing and 171 passing. The Dolphins had 68 yards total offense in the second half, including 5 yards rushing. Miami quarterback Dan Marino, who only played the first quarter, was three for five for 49 yards. Steelers 24, Browns 21 CLEVELAND Dwight Stone caught a 43-yard touchdown pass and ran 42 yards on a reverse late in the fourth quarter to set up the game-win The Associated Press PONTIAC Barney Bussey scored on a 70-yard fumble return and ran back one of eight Cincinnati interceptions for another touchdown Sat- mm mmmmmmi urday night, till leading the Bengals to a 35-3 preseason victory over the Detroit Lions.

Boomer Esiason passed 4 yards to Stanford Jennings for a third-quarter touchdown as the defending American Football Conference champion Bengals raised their NFL preseason record to 2-0. On the Lions' first offensive play of the third quarter, safety Bussey intercepted a pass from Eric Hippie and returned it 23 yards for a touchdown, giving Cincinnati a 14-3 lead. Bussey scooped up a fumble by Detroit quarterback Chuck Long, who relieved Hippie in the fourth period, and scored to hand the "This morning I was relaxed," Ferrando said after the planned afternoon match was pushed back to Saturday night "Now I'm a little nervous. But tennis is like this, sometimes it rains." Two unseeded players Andrea Temesvari of Hungary and Sfscey Martin of Largo, Md, were to meet jn the other semifinal. Foley wins U.S.

Amateur Joby Foley of Virginia Beach, completed a sweep of major amateur tournaments by defeating Michael Salmon of Pittsburgh 6-4, 6-3 in the final of the U.S. Amateur championships at Kia-mesha Lake, N.Y. Foley, a senior at West Virginia, had won the National Indoor, Clay Court and Hard Court titles. Murray signs The Associated Press PONTIAC The Detroit Lions signed placekicker Eddie Murray to a multiyear contract Saturday, a spokesman for the NFL team said. Terms of the contract weren't disclosed.

Murray, 33, is the Lions' career scoring leader, with 847 points. Drafted by Detroit on the seventh round out of Tulane in 1980, Murray has made 271 of 276 extra-point kicks and 192 of 257 field goals. He set the Detroit record in 1985 for consecutive field goals made, 12. ning touchdown as Pittsburgh (1-1) beat Cleveland (1-2). Todd Blackledge, the Steelers' third quarterback, threw the winning touchdown to Weegie Thompson, on fourth-and-goal from the Cleveland 4 with 1 :29 to play.

Bubby Brister also completed 1 1 of 1 6 passes for 118 yards for the Steelers. The game was a preview of the teams' regular-season opener Sept 10 in Pittsburgh. reveled in the attention heaped on his horse. "The fan reaction has been a big surprise to me," he said. "It's very exciting, and it's very good for racing to see people react to an animal the way they have." Easy Goer has won his last three starts, including Belmont.

2260 W. Stadium Blvd. 769-2153 901 N. West St. 517-787-2810 STEEL RADIALS tennis either top-seed Boris Becker or fifth-seeded Brad Gilbert, who had a semifinal match Saturday night Wilander, 24, hasn't won a title this year, sliding from No.

1 on the circuit after his U.S. Open victory last year to fourth. The difference in his game was evident Saturday as he failed to hold leads in the tiebreakers that Edberg won 7-3, 10-8. Wilander won two tiebreakers to beat Edberg in the tournament final last year, giving him momentum for the Open. poor Bengals a 28-3 lead with 1 1:01 left in the game.

Cincinnati scored its final touchdown on a 7-yard pass from Erik Wilhelm to Kendal Smith with 6:33 to play. Bussey's interception return prompted chants of, "Rodney, Rodney," from many in the Silver-dome crowd of 43,426 who wanted rookie Rodney Peete to replace Hippie. Detroit's Ali Haji-Sheikh had a 24-yard field goal two minutes before halftime to cut the Bengals' lead to 7-3. Starter Rusty Hilger quarter-backed the Lions (0-2) for five possessions in the first and second quarters before being replaced by Hippie. Hilger completed four of 14 passes for 89 yards.

He was intercepted three times, twice by cor-nerback Rickey Dixon. Hippie completed 6 of 1 9 passes for 102 yards and four interceptions. He was sacked three times. it It's a lot like musical chairs. Once one or two of the key drivers says 'this ride is I'll bet you'll see the others hurry to get a seat Kyle Petty Today's starting lineup.

2D their high-speed billboards. And drivers, an edgy bunch to begin with, are always looking for a better, faster, more profitable car to drive. "If you think about it, it's a lot like musical chairs," said Petty, the 29-year-old son of NASCAR's king, Richard. "Once one or two of the key drivers says this ride is I'll bet you'll see the others hurry to get a seat." Last fall the younger Petty ended four years with Wood Brothers' Racing and joined a new team sponsored by Peak antifreeze. There could be an interesting twist to this year's rash of changes.

"If (Alan) Kulwicki, who owns his own car, goes to Junior (John- From 1D Detroit's Troy Johnson a shove Cincinnati defensive back Richard Carey had two interceptions and safety Robert Jackson and end Skip McClendon one apiece. Oilers 26, Dolphins 10 JACKSONVILLE, Fla. Backup quarterback Cody Carlson threw two touchdown passes and Houston (1-1) held Miami to 200 yards total offense in a 26-10 preseason victory. Miami (0-2) managed only 29 yards Easy Goer a The Associated Press SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. Easy Goer rekindled aspirations of superstardom in the Travers on Saturday, and horse racing has a hero in the making.

With the second largest crowd in 120 runnings of the Travers, 49,093, cheering and chanting wins easy at Travers Petty ready for 'silly season' of car swapping to begin his name at Saratoga, Easy Goer overtook Clever Trevor with an eighth of a mile left and won the Travers by three lengths. "All sports need a hero, and he is racing's hero," Easy Goer's trainer, Shug McGaughey, said before the race. And afterward, McGaughey Wf Vail 3345 Washtenaw 1021 W.Michigan Ave gagjjill 97 1'3400 482-6601 I'Jiiai'iin if.mitMTiMiii-LTit. MINI I mmm STEEL RADIAL METRIC 14 99 Cornerback Rickey Dixon gives Ickey Woods' 3-yard touchdown run and an extra-point kick by James Gallery gave the Bengals a 7-0 lead 8:19 into the game. Woods' score came two plays after David Fulcher's 28-yard interception return and a 5-yard unnecessary roughness penalty against the Lions gave the Bengals the ball at Detroit's 5-yard line.

son), it'll really be musical chairs," Petty said. "There'll be one less proven car available, so there'll be a better chance of one of the established drivers not finding a good seat." It also takes a while to shake things out after a switch is made. Because they started late, Sunday's race will be only the ninth start of the season for the younger Petty and his new team. "This season is pretty much a write-off," he said. "We're just using this as a testing season.

We're not running for points or any long-term deal We're just running to try to win some races and to get our team established so next year we can get out of the blocks quick and run for the championship." The younger Petty already has won $2.4 mMon in his 263 career starts. In his last race, at Talladega in late July, Petty pushed his Pontiac from 1 1th to seventh in the race's final five-lap dash. It was his third top 10 finish of the season. "It's kind of odd for me not to be racing every week because that's all I've ever done all my life," he said. "I always went to all the races with daddy, then I started racing myself in 1979.

Now, to cut back and not try to run every time, it was real hard." Rain shortens day at the races The Associated Press LONG POND, Pa. Rain washed out most the scheduled activities Saturday at Pocono International Speedway, including the final session of qualifying for Sunday's Quaker State 500. The Indy cars did get onto the 2'2-mile tri-oval for a 30-rninute practice session, with three-time Pocono winner Rick Mears turning the fast lap of 202.575 mph. Al Unser was next at 202.479, followed by defending race champion Bobby Rahal at 201.347 and pole-winner Emerson Fittipaldi of Brazil at 199.916, far below his record lap of 211.715 on Friday. A misty rain than forced postponement of the rest of the day's activities.

Lansing's LaHaie dominates Teammates Dick LaHaie and Ed McCulloch dominated the rain-shortened final day of qualifying for the eighth annual NorthStar Nationals at Brainerd (Minn.) International Raceway. LaHaie, the 1987 Winston champion from Lansing, used a track-record quarter-mile time of 5.125 seconds at 279.76 mph for the No. 1 spot in Top Fuel. $H7" P155-13 20.99 23.99 24.99 P225R15 33.99 27.99 P235'R15 34.99 155R 165R13 19.99 18570R13 25.99 165R15 29.99 18570R14 26.99 17570R13 23.99 19570R14 27.99 DUAL 12 13 I I I P165R13 P175R13 P185R13 ALL-SEASON STEEL RADIAL $4 33 I $9lfi)99 By HARRY ATKINS The Associated Press BROOKLYN The stretch run for the Winston Cup championship is also what Kyle Petty calls the "silly sea son" for some NASCAR drivers. Seven teams and drivers are within striking distance of Winston Cup leader Dale Earnhardt heading into today's Champion Spark Plug 400 at Michigan International Speedway.

Earnhardt and his indestructible Chevrolet have 2,614 points, 126 more than newcomer Mark Martin. Lurking back in fifth place is Bill Elliott, who already has won seven times on this two-mile oval, including the Miller 400 in June. Further back in the pack there's a different kind of race going on a race for survival. Sponsors, unhappy with losing, start looking for other ways to 'spend their money or else start looking for somebody else to drive MIS this car and go around the track without being In the first turn, I thought about it again." It was the third pole this season for Bodine, but his first in the Lu-mina. He drove a Monte Carlo before the new car was introduced on the Winston Cup circuit on May 7 at Talladega.

Bodine, who jumped out of the car quickly after the crash, said it was the worst wreck he has experienced. It left him with a sore chest and bad memories, he said. "I thought about it all week. That's what you have to do in this business," Bodine said. "It's a lot like falling off a bike when you're a i kid.

You've got to see if you can get i right back up and ride again. "Every week out here there are a lot of bumps, pushes and spins you have to put out of your head. It's a scary thing, sometimes." Four other drivers Rusty Wallace, Alan Kulwicki, Mark Martin and Rick Wilson also beat Elliott's 1988 qualifying time in qualifying for today's 200-lap race. Overcast skies, low humidity and moderate temperatures made conditions perfect for the high Kyle Petty P155R .21.99 .24.99 .26.99 .28.99 .28.99 P205R14 P205R15 P215R15 P225R15 P235R15 29 31 34 34 35 II P20560HR13 I I P18560HR-14 .56.99 P20560HR-15 64.99 I I P19560HR-14 .59.99 P21560HR-15 .68.99 I 99J P19560HR-15 .61.99 RADIAL PERFORMANCE CUSTOM WHEELS $2m tfC I P17570R13 I XJlis I I Ej I I UU I I I speeds. The inside position has become increasingly important this season because of the Unocal 76 Challenge which pays bonus money to a driver who can win the pole and then win the race.

Because the money rolls over from week to week if there is no winner, the bonus this week is worth $129,200. The bonus, when added to the first place prize money already posted by the speedway, could earn Bodine close to $190,000,. which would be the largest payoff for any race, in any type of car, ever held at MIS. The highest MIS payoff vas $129,375 won by Michael An-dretti in the Marlboro 500 CART. Indy car race earlier this month.

"Believe me, the money didn't motivate me to get in that car today," Bodine said. "I saw ihe amount on the sign, I knew it was there, but that wasn't a factor today." Elliott, who has won six races at MIS, including the Miller 400 in June, was eighth in qualifying, turning a lap at 174.689 mph. Points leader Dale Earnhardt qualified 15th at 173.352 mph. 1 tirinE cn.iNCjbbww free 'IRE CO.INC. mm -mmmm WHITE CHROME 15x7 22.99 15x8 ...24.99 15x10 32.99 36.99 38.99 39.99 45.99 47.99 8.25x1 6.5...

33.99 9.75x1 6.5..: 34.99 Ask About Our FREE Replacement Certificate PROUDLY SERVING YOU! WITH 206 STORES NATIONWIDE We Michigan Colorado Arizona New MExico Washington Texas California Florida Nevada Indiana Utah discount everything but your MOUNTING ROTATIONS REPAIRS ON ALL TIRES PURCHASED YOUR PERSONAL CHECK WELCOME HOURS: Sat. If RELLI 'YOKOHAMA BATTLE CREEK 204 E. Columbia (Next to Comerica) 962-3509.