Tampa Bay Times from St. Petersburg, Florida • 79

TIMES FRIDAY, MAY 5, 2000 7C TENNIS 7 i IF Tlmei wlrw DAYTONA BEACH NASCAR penalized Jeremy Mayfield's Winston Cup team for the second time in three days Thursday, fining crew chief Peter Sospenzo for rules violations in Mayfield's victory Sunday at California Speedway. Sospenzo was fined $25,000 for the latest violation. After Mayfield won the NAPA Auto Parts 500, the roof height of his Ford Taurus was discovered to be under the 51-inch minimum. The car was impounded and sent to North Carolina for inspection. After the race, Danielle Humphrey of NASCAR said, "Jeremy jumped on the roof of the car during his celebration.

Everything else AP i AUTOS rr "I'd, passed the inspection fine, but the roof was lower than allowed when it was measured." On Tuesday, the governing body punished the Penske-Kranefuss team for using illegal fuel April 16 in 1 1 Talladega, Ala. Tommy Haas gives thanks after winning his quarterfinal match in the BMW Open at Munich. Venus sluggish in return V. Lr3 Sospenzo was suspended until June 6 and plain chaotic conditions at the race two weeks ago. Organizers of the Silverstone race are scheduled to appear before the World Motor Sport Council on June 21 in Warsaw, Poland.

The race weekend was spoiled by heavy rain, which soaked adjacent parking areas and turned them to quagmires. Organizers closed parking areas for Saturday qualifying, reducing the crowd from an expected 60,000 to 15,000. Sunday's race was sunny, although traffic was jammed for 15 miles in all directions as fans sought alternative parking. WINSTON CUP: Jeff Burton has been viewed as a rising star since Jack Roush hired him as Mark Martin's teammate in in 1995. And with 12 career victories, including one in the third race this season at Las Vegas, Burton has established himself as a potential series champion.

Now, in a season in which parity has come to the series like never before, producing a record 10 different winners in as many events, Burton expects someone to make a move on the field soon, and he sees the opportunity. "I do think there's some value in having a team that is the pinnacle team, the team that everybody sets out to beat because part of the excitement for a fan is not only pulling for somebody, but pulling against somebody else," Burton said. "People go to the racetrack not only to cheer for Dale Earnhardt but to boo Jeff Gordon or Jeff Burton. That's part of what's fun about Winston Cup racing." As a native of south Boston, about two hours from Richmond, Burton will race before home state fans in Saturday night's Pontiac Excitement 400 at Richmond International Raceway. He's fourth in points, trailing leader Bobby Labonte by 120, No.

2 Martin by 100 and No. 3 Ward Burton, his older brother, by 47. "The door is open," Jeff Burton said. "Somebody can be that guy and that's what we're trying to do. We're trying to get ourselves together and be the guy that breaks out and starts winning races because somebody's going to do it." Richmond is the event that turned last year's points race.

Burton arrived with a six-week hold on the lead, lost his transmission early and the points lead when Dale Jarrett went on to win. Jarrett never gave up the lead. First-round qualifying for the first 25 positions is slated for today, just before the Hardee's 250 Busch Grand National. The Pontiac 400 is scheduled to begin at 7:30 Saturday. In other news, Robert Yates, whose cars have won 43 races and last year's Winston Cup championship, will receive the Bill France Award of Excellence on June 17.

Crew chief Peter Sospenzo was fined $25,000 for the latest violation. will miss three Winston Cup races; Mayfield was stripped of 151 points, dropping him from seventh to 14th in the standings; and Michael Kranefuss, who operates the team co-owned by Roger Penske. was fined Timet wlrei Gators get home-court advantage Women began play in the NCMTournament Thursday, men May 13. By JOANNE KORTH Tim Staff Wrifr Florida's nationally-ranked tennis teams begin their quests for NCAA championships on familiar ground the home courts at Ring Tennis Complex. The men and women are among the top four seeds in their 64-team brackets, according to pairings announced Thursday.

The top 16 seeds in each tournament serve as hosts for the first two rounds. In the women's draw, the Gators (21-2) play Bethune-Cook-man, winner of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Confer- ami rnr ence, in the first lAJULEUC round on Thursday. Also in Gainesville, Florida State (16-8) plays Illinois (12-12). The second-round winner on Friday advances to the NCAA Championships May 18-21 on the Pepperdine campus in Malibu, Calif. Florida, ranked No.

5 by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, is coming off a victory in the Southeastern Conference tournament in which it competed with just six players, the minimum to field six singles and three doubles teams. South Florida (17-7), which earned Conference USA's automatic bid by winning the league tournament opens against San Diego State (14-9) on the campus of Wake Forest, also a top-four seed. In the men's draw, the Gators (24-3) play Florida (21-4), and Florida Atlantic plays Fresno State in first-round matches on May 13. The second-round winner on May 14 advances to the NCAA Championships May 21-23 on the Georgia campus in Athens. Florida, ranked No.

3, shared the SEC regular-season title with Tennessee, but won the SEC tournament Its 24 victories are the most by a UF team since 1975. Completing the top four seeds are Stanford and Georgia for the women; Stanford, UCLA and Pepperdine for the men. Florida will be well-represented in the singles and doubles tournaments, to be played at the conclusion of the team championships. For the men, defending champion Jeff Morrison and Justin O'Neal are among the 64-player singles draw, and Morrison and Nathan Overholser will play in the 32-team doubles. For the women, Baili Camino, Stephanie Hazlett, Whitney Laiho and Jessica Lenhoff will play singles, with Traci Green listed among six alternates.

Laiho and Lenhoff will play doubles. Florida State's Alida Gallovits will play singles. AP David Coulthard, who will race Sunday, gives his account of Tuesday's jet crash. "We had time to prepare ourselves for the landing and got into the brace position. On impact the plane's wing tanks ruptured on the right-hand side and caught (fire)." Coulthard, who expressed his sympathy to the families of the pilots, said he tried unsuccessfully to rescue them.

"Once we were all out I immediately returned to the aircraft to see if there was anything I could do for the pilots. But there was nothing I could do and within a minute the emergency services had arrived to take over," he said. Coulthard declined to answer questions after the statement He and his McLaren Mercedes team also refused to speculate about the cause of the crash that killed pilots David Saunders and Dan Worley. Coulthard said he was working with French authorities investigating the accident Coulthard left to see series physician Sid Watkins for a physical exam, which he passed to get approval to race Sunday. In other news, organizers of the rain-soaked British Grand Prix have been called to appear before FIA, which governs the circuit to ex $50,000.

Sospenzo, who took over as Mayfield's crew chief early in the 1999 season, will not be allowed to work at any race until the June 11 event in Brooklyn, Mich. FORMULA ONE: Just 48 hours after helping his fiancee escape a fiery plane crash that killed the pilot and co-pilot, driver David Coulthard talked about the accident, then prepared to get on with racing in Barcelona, Spain. The 29-year-old Scot described how he, fiancee Heidi Wichlinski and trainer Andy Matthews climbed out of the fuselage, which had broken away from the cockpit after the private jet tried an emergency landing in Lyon, France, on Tuesday. "At this point we established the only way out was through the front of the aircraft, and Andy led the way through the debris," said Coulthard, who read from a statement for two minutes. "As this part of the plane was 3 or 4 feet off the ground, I followed Andy out so we could help Heidi get down from the jet HAMBURG, Germany Venus Williams, playing her first match after a six-month injury layoff, took a set to warm up Thursday, then defeated Irina Spirlea to reach the quarterfinals of the Betty Barclay Cup.

Williams, defending champion in the $535,000 tournament won 6-7 (4-7), 6-2, 6-2 in her first tournament match since Novem-PRO ber. The second-seeded American needed 1 hour, 58 minutes to prevail over the 53rd-ranked Romanian, who had won one of their three previous matches. Williams had been sidelined with tendinitis on both wrists since losing to Martina Hingis in the semifinals of the Chase Championships in November. Four other seeded players also moved into the quarterfinals: No. 4 Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario, No.

6 Anna Kournikova, No. 7 Anke Huber and No. 8 Amanda Coetzer. Sanchez-Vicario is making a record 12th appearance in the clay-court tournament which she has won three times, the in 1996. She beat Magui Serna 6-3, 7-6 and next plays Andrea Glass, a German wild card who ousted Tatiana Panova of Russia 7-6 (7-5), 6-3.

BMW OPEN: Second-seeded Younes El Aynaoui took advantage of a spell of dry weather to complete a come-from-behind victory over Richard Fromberg and secure a place in the quarterfinals in Munich. The match was suspended by rain Wednesday with Fromberg up one set But the second-seeded Moroccan bounced back when the match was resumed in the eighth game of the second set and beat the Australian 6-7 (4-7), 6-3, 6-1. COLLEGIATE RUGBY CHAMPIONSHIPS WHEN: Saturday and Sunday. South Florida campus; semifinals and consolation matches at the intramural fields, championship matches at soccer stadium. WOMEN'S SCHEDULE: Saturday semifinals Illinois vs.

Princeton, 10:30 a.m.; Stanford vs. Penn State, 1 1 1 5 a.m. Sunday consolation, 10 a.m.; championship, noon. MEN'S SCHEDULE: Saturday semifinals Indiana University of Pennsylvania vs. Wyoming, 12:30 p.m.; Cal-Berkeley vs.

Army, 1 1 5 p.m. Sunday consolation, 10 a.m.; championship, 2 p.m. ADMISSION: $5 on Saturday, $7 for championship matches. Youth-league players in football, soccer or other sports will be admitted for $1 if wearing a team jersey. u.

i. Immediate approval on new or used cars trucks. Rugby fromIC Only two other matches were completed in between rain delays. Third-seeded Tommy Haas kept alive German hopes by battling to a 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 victory over Bohdan Ulihrach. Top-seeded Tomas Enqvist was up 3-1 in the third set against Ivan Ljubicic when rain halted play for the day.

B0L OPEN: Top seeded Julie Hal-ard-Decugis lost in the second round in Bol, Croatia, defeated by Gala Leon-Garcia 6-3, 6-1. Halard-Decugis, a finalist in this event last year and ranked No. 9 by the WTA, had a bye in the first round. Leon-Garcia plays Paola Suarez in the quarterfinals. Fourth-seeded Silvi-ja Talaja also lost beaten by Tina Pisnik 6-4, 64.

In the quarterfinals, Pisnik faces Angeles Montolio. BTI SENIORS: John McEnroe beat Mansour Bahrami 6-2, 6-2 in Raleigh, N.C. In other matches in the round-robin format Mats Wil-ander beat Karl Novacek and Mi- RUGBY PRIMER Rugby is the grandfather of American football. The sports are remarkably similar in principles, strategies and tactics, though with some obvious differences. Here are guidelines for a novice spectator: THE BASICS: A rugby field, called a pitch, is wider and longer than a football field.

The end zones are called in-goals, located behind the goal posts. Play is continuous, like soccer, with two 40-minute halves. All players can run, pass and receive the ball, and must play defense and tackle. The ball can be advanced by running or kicking, but passes must be backward or lateral. There is no blocking.

SCORING POINTS: The object is to score a try by carrying the ball over the goal line and touching it down, which is worth five points. A conversion, in which the ball is kicked through the goal posts, is worth two points. A team also may score on a drop kick, taken from anywhere at any time, or a penalty kick. Each is worth three points. RULES: Perhaps most confusing to casual spectators are the offsides laws.

Being offsides is not illegal, but attempting to participate in the game from an offsides position is illegal. The ball creates the offsides line, and players must stay behind the ball. POSSESSIONS: Only the ball carrier can be tackled, but a tackle does not stop play. The tackled player must release the ball immediately, and players from both teams scramble for possession. Kicked or passed balls may be intercepted, and fumbles recovered.

EQUIPMENT: The ball is shaped like a football, though larger and generally white. Plastic pads are not allowed, though players may wear one-quarter inch neoprene shoulder pads. TERMS TO KNOW: Scrummage: a way to restart play after a penalty. Forwards from both teams line up facing each other, linked to their teammates by putting their arm's around one another's shoulders. These players are considered bound-in.

The non-penalized team inserts the ball into the scrummage, and players attempt to move the ball backward out of the pack using their feet When the ball is free of the pack, it may be picked up. Ruck: a ball-winning activity after a tackle. No hands are allowed in the ruck and all players not in the ruck must remain behind the last in-bound player's feet. Maul: formed when a ball carrier is held up, but not tackled. Players from both teams are in contact with the ball carrier, and the maul ends when the ball emerges.

Source: USA Rugby. Special to the Timet Cal-Berkeles Matt Sherman, right plays fly half, a position similar to quarterback in that he makes decisions on offense. rnll'Mr. Lou" 1'800'5425009 i AUTO CHdsmobile.BUICK- msZDM SUZUKI A kael Pernfors defeated Jimmy Anas, both by 6-4, 6-4 scores. sanctioned by the NCAA, rugby is one of the fastest growing sports on college campuses, particularly among women.

It has a strong foothold on the West Coast and is gaining popularity in the east "What we're starting to see is Generation doesn't necessarily want to play the sport their dad played," Cal coach Jack Clark said. 'They're attracted to all the X-Games sports. It's about boards and skates and ramps, and that's good for us because rugby has kind of fallen into that" Cal's program sets the standard. Rugby has varsity status in the Cal athletic department a step up from being a club team. It receives ample funding from the university and a devoted network of alumni, who have endowed the program through the next century.

"It's not about whether the NCAA sanctions your sport; it's about how you carry yourself as a student-athlete and how you perform," said Clark, who also served as U.S. national team coach the past seven years. "It's about putting permanent roots down on your campus and becoming an important member of the campus. That's what we've done. We've been playing the sport since 1882." Clark's office is in a dedicated rugby field house adjacent to a plush, dedicated rugby pitch in essence, collegiate rugby mecca.

There are no scholarships, but serious players able to meet Cal's lofty academic and tuition requirements are drawn to the program. "Cal is a great school and I TAMPA BAY GOLF AND COUNTRY CLUB New 15,000 Sq. Ft. Clubhouse WitbJRestaurant Bar 18 7 to ll 1 $l6llto2 Clearwater Executive Golf Course FREE Small Bucket of Range Bolls (wocp Pro Shop Driving Range Restaurant Bar Putting Green Golf Instruction Summer Leagues Individual Lessons Jr. Golf Programs Golf Tournaments PGA Golf Pro Avail.

eral manager for the women's U.S. national team. "We're just starting to get alumni who have money. The last few years they've been in medical school and things like that but now they're able to kick in some money, which is helpful." Of the four women's teams in the championship, three Penn State, Stanford and Princeton have combined to win four titles the past five years. For the men, Cal is the clear-cut favorite, winners of nine straight 16 since the championships began in 1980.

That's every title but four. "It sounds a little more intimidating than it actually is," Clark said. "We've been very fortunate. I'm not attempting to be overly modest but we had to come from behind many times. We've been a good team and I wouldn't take anything away from our team, but it doesn't jump out at me that we have dominated the scene the last decade." Paga agrees.

"We can only deal with the championship at hand," he said. "But what sets in is knowing some of the guys who won the 1991 championship that started the streak. They're a great bunch of guys, and it makes us focus in on the 2000 championship." want to be serious about my rugby, so it's the best of both worlds," said sophomore Matt Sherman, who plays fly half, a position similar to quarterback in that he distributes the ball and makes decisions on offense. "I like everything about rugby. I like that it's physically demanding, mentally demanding, the continuity of 15 players working together to get one guy over the line.

It's fun. I know my high school is having trouble keeping athletes on the football team because a lot are saying they just want to play rugby." Cal will bring about 40 players to the championship many more than will actually play so younger players can experience the championship atmosphere. Clark wasn't sure of the total cost of the trip, because the program can well afford it Not every team is so fortunate. The Penn State women, who won the title in 1997 and are making their sixth Final Four appearance in seven years, paid for their trip to Tampa by cleaning Beaver Stadium, selling T-shirts and pleading with parents and alumni. "I would say Jack is the envy of most of the country," said Penn State coach Peter Steinberg, gen 14 After 2 Rldlna Walking Price I Price I SPT With Offrr Ixptm Tee times taken 3 days in advance oner Ipm "Mj; Kt after 1pm laaguerates mZI Svotoble Driving Range A Pro Shop Collared Shirts Required (No Drain Hose) 1875 Airport Dr.

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