The Tampa Tribune du lieu suivant : Tampa, Florida • 27

tt ft Rift A Classified THE TAMPA TRIBUNE ri 1 1 Wednesday, July 2, 1986 Section Evert's experience difference against Sukova WIMBLEDON Wm -'86 Top seeds Martina Navratilova and Ivan Lendl also won on Tuesday, although the latter struggled. Results 2C i By BOB GREENE Associated Press WIMBLEDON, England Chris Evert Lloyd needed every bit of her experience Tuesday to outlast Czechoslovakia's Helena Sukova and move into the women's singles semifinals at Wimbledon. "This was pretty much of a real test," Evert said after overcoming Sukova 7-6, 4-6, 6-4 under a blazing sun In temperatures that soared over 110 degrees on me en-1 French Open, Evert is attempting to capture her fourth Wimbledon crown, and her first since 1981. But her semifinal foe is Mandlikova, another grass-court specialist who defeated Evert in the semifinal at the U.S. Open last September.

Thursday's other semifinals will pit Navratilova against the 16-year-old Sabatini, who reached a Grand Slam semifinal for the second time in her young career. Today, the men will play their quarterfinal matches, with Lendl, the French Open champion, going against No. 10 Tim Mayotte of the United States; defending champion Boris Becker of West Germany meeting Czechoslovakia's Miloslav Mecir, No. 7 Henri Leconte of France taking on surprising Pat Cash of Australia; and Yugoslavia's Slobodan Zivojinovic facing India's Ra-mesh Krishnan. The men will play their semifinals on Friday, with the women's title match Saturday and the 100th men's "Championship decided on Sunday, On Tuesday, Navratilova crushed West Germany's Bettina Bunge 6-1, 6-3; Sabatinl stopped Sweden's Cata-rina Lindqvist 6-2, 6-3; and Mandlikova eliminated American Lori McNeil 6-7, 6-0, 6-2.

"I had so many chances," Sukova said of her loss to Evert. "I don't think I played badly, and I still hope I can play better than I did. I cannot say I am disappointed with the way I play, I am just disappointed that I lost" In the opening set, neither could break service, although Sukova twice was taken to deuce. Then, In the tiebreak, Evert staved off two set points before winning 108. "I actually underestimated her a bit," Evert said.

"I didn't think she could keep up serving like that the whole way through. Because the sun's out and it's hot, that court is very hard and very fast "They're (the serves) really shooting through." See WIMBLEDON, Page 8C closed grass court at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. "It was tough." Also gaining semifinal berths were top-seeded Martina Navratilova, going after her fifth consecutive women's crown at Wimbledon; No. 3 Hana Mandllkova of Czechoslovakia; and No. 10 Gabriela Sabatinl of Argentina.

The men's quarterfinal draw was completed Tuesday when top-seeded Ivan Lendl held off American Matt Anger 6-7, 7-6, 6-4, 7-6 in a shootout on Center Court that began on Monday before being suspended by darkness. Coming off her victory on the red clay courts at the niimiimwjtiHmwM'iiMi Hot temperatures slow down speeds for Firecracker It has been 1 1 years since a Firecracker 400 qualifier has run faster in July than the Daytona 500 polesitter clocked five months before. N.Y. duo don't fit driver tag i 7 Tribune photo by PHIL SHEFFIELD Elliott and pull off a big upset at last Greg Sacks was able to hold off Bill year's Firecracker 400. By TOM FORD Assistant Sports Editor DAYTONA BEACH When the temperature rises, speeds drop, so today's Firecracker 400 qualifying forecast calls for a moderation of what occurred at Daytona International Speedway last February.

Not since 1975 has a Firecracker qualifier run faster in July than the polesitter for the Daytona 500 did five months earlier. Donnie Allison covered the distance around Dayto-na's 2 12 -mile trioval quicker than anyone both times that year 185.827 miles per hour for the 500, 186.737 mph for the 400-miler. Modern-day Winston Cup stock cars are equipped with fat hard-compound tires that become slippery on hot asphalt tracks. In the early days of racing, tires were skinny and simpler in composition. That is reflected in the fact that from 1959-63, the summertime qualifying speeds at Daytona were faster than those posted during winter.

Pole qualifying for positions 1-20 will be held today from 10 a.m.-noon. Twenty more entries for Friday's Firecracker will be added Thursday in the final session from a.m. Bill Elliott put his Ford on the pole last year with a record 201.523 mph run, the first qualifying lap over 200 in Firecracker history. Elliott has won the last three poles here his 205.039 lap in February was the fastest ever at Daytona but said he doubts anyone will come close to equaling those numbers. "It will depend on how hot it is, but I'd say we're looking at about 202-and-a-half," said Elliott.

Temperatures were in the 90s during Tuesday's practice session, which was shortened to two hours due to thunderstorms. Winston Cup points leader Dale Earnhardt and Tim Richmond, both in Chevrolets, were the first drivers clocked by stopwatches at slightly more than 200 before the rains came. This marks the beginning of the second half of the 30-race NASCAR season and Elliott, who flirted with 200 in practice, would like to start the final push with a pole and a victory. Elliott won 11 races and the same number of poles during a spectacular 1985 season. Thus far in '86, he has one Winston Cup victory (a 400-mile event at Michigan) and two poles (Daytona and Talladega, the latter resulting from a stock car record 212.229 mph performance).

The problems for Elliott's family-run team have been many. Engines previously reliable have faltered. There have been miscalculations in the pits. And crew chief Ernie Elliott has missed a great deal of the season due to mononucleosis. "Ernie got sick, the competition's gotten a lot better racing changes See FIRECRACKER, Page 6C I OR! The northern invasibh tbnflii By TOM FORD Assistant Sports Editor DA YTONA BEACH Summertime lures tourists in droves to Florida's beaches, meaning Geoff Bodine and Greg Sacks can blend easily among the fair-skinned northerners who speak in strange-sounding dialects.

Physically, both fit the part. Bodine, slightly balding at the age of 37, stands 5-foot-9 and weighs 154 pounds. Sacks, four years younger, is 5-10, 165. If you dressed them in flower-pattern shorts, put a dab of zinc oxide on their noses and turned them loose in a snowbird sanctuary, no one could guess what they did for a living. Neither looks the way most would imagine a professional stock car driver tall, broad shoulders, hands large enough to squeeze the daylights out of a steering wheel and a size 14 right foot capable of punching a gas pedal through the floorboard.

Yet, anonymity is not possible for Bodine nor Sacks here, especially not this week at Daytona International Speedway. Bodine, of upstate Chemung, N.Y., and Sacks, a Long Islander from Mattituck, have given the state of New York victories in the last two NASCAR Winston Cup races at one the south 's most fabled ovals. "In our own ways, we've brought in a part of this country that wasnt in the sport before," said Bodine. "I mean, who would have ever thought a kid from Chemung, N.Y., would ever make it to Daytona, let along win there?" Bodine was accorded the fame and prestige that goes with winning the Daytona 500, a feat he accomplished last February. Sacks captured the Firecracker 400 a year ago.

It was his first Winston Cup win. And his last Friday with the running of the 400-mile Firecracker. The race begins at 10 a.m., a time that allows driver and tourist alike to spend most of the afternoon on the beach. Qualifying gets under way today. Entering the halfway point of the NASCAR season, Bodine is in an excellent situation.

He has won twice, at Daytona and Dover, and his immediate future in the sport seems assured. Bodine's Chevrolet is owned by Rick Hendrick, who is fast becoming one of the most respected owners in motorsports. He See NEW YORK, Page 6C Inside Joe Henderson 1 I VkTs Bo Watch turns into Bo Peep a M( uMitfcrfttk "AajM' 4kHlauaaaaBi. uMSUlMU I mm .1 III tf. lit 1 Probe begins into death Police are questioning friends and relatives of former Browns star Don Rogers, seeking to discover who supplied him with the cocaine that led to his death.

Hall, Indians sock it to A's A Mel Hall drove in four runs with two homers as Cleveland beat Oakland in a game marred by a bench-clearing brawl that saw three ejected, including Indians Manager Pat Corrales. Rose remaining at South Florida USF basketball Coach Lee Rose said he intends to honor his four-year contract, worth $116,000 a year. Fame Bowl formalizes plana 7 Tampa's Hall of Fame Bowl Association began considering its avenues of attack with marketing, advertising and ticket sales among the items discussed. Florida panther may get visitors )ft Two female cougars from Texas have been brought in to possibly mate with the top Florida panther in captivity in an effort to save the species that is dangerously close to extinction. AP photo in his first at-bat with Memphis Monday, Bo Jackson lashed a single up the middle to drive In a run.

He finished 1-for-4. MEMPHIS, Tenn. The Bo Watch had dwindled to just a handful of people by Tuesday sort of a Bo Peep, if you will. The quiet was most welcome. An estimated ISO of the nation's media types, including many heavyweight writers and columnists from some of the most influential and best papers in the land, came here for The Bo Jackson Story (soon to be a major motion picture, no doubt).

Like It or not, the thing was newsworthy. Heisman Trophy winner snubs big Bucs' bucks; joins minor-league baseball team. And there the process starts. You can hear the requisite chant of editors across the land as they command their reporters to find the "real" story behind this guy. Well, if the Buccaneers did Indeed commit some heinous sin of social graces that caused Bo to flee to a life of chasing curveballs, that knowledge will have to be obtained clandestinely.

Jackson has said nothing detrimental about the Bucs In public, nor is he ever likely to. More than likely, he didn't relish the thought of 6-foot-8 behemoths chasing him around a football field with mayhem on their minds. And when presented with the stroke of fate that permitted him to join baseball's world champion Kansas City Royals, he took It. That, folks, Is the story pure and simple. It would be a mistake to make any more of It.

Bucs gamble, Bucs lose. Taking no chances, though, we all came here. As advertised, they played a baseball game Monday and Bo Jackson participated. He swung the bat a few times as a designated hitter for the Double-A Memphis Chicks. He was courteous enough to deliver a run-scoring single in his first at-bat as a professional baseball player.

He looked foolish later, swinging at bad pitches. He looked like someone who hadn't faced live pitching In a while and would need a few swings to get used to It. Most of the print hounds dutifully filed their dispatches, made their judgments and hopped early-morning planes out of town leaving Bo to pursue a life of peace, tranquility and three-run homers. Until the next time he becomes news. What Bo did on the field, though, was Just the appetizer to what turned out to be a rather fascinating case study of hype In the '80s.

More Interesting was to watch the other stuff, See BO, Page SC AP photo Seaver debuts with Red Sox Tom Seaver, traded by the Chicago White Sox to Boston, made his first start for the Red Sox Tuesday night against the Toronto Blue Jays. Results of the game were not available at press time. Related story, Page 5C. Finn 1.