The Charlotte Observer from Charlotte, North Carolina • 9

Sip crts 11)(c Section Classified page 7B the Charlotte Observer Monday June 11 1990 Wallace eturns Conquers Sears Point Course By TOM HIGGINS Staff Writer THE TOP FIVE Ms top flys finishers in Sunday's Banquot 300K at Sonoma Calif lin Buick Sterling Marlin Olds Ernie Irvan Olds Iry Hoerr Olds Michael Waltrip Pontiac and Rick Wilson Olds Dale Earnhardt who led the standings toward the I million Winston Cup championship by 92 points entering the 600 had major trouble for the third straight race it was the transmission this time and finished 34th The outcome dropped him to fourth in the standings 136 points behind Martin a swing of 228 "It doesn't seem possible Just a few races ago Dale was close to 300 points Defending national champion Wallace driving a Pontiac sped to his second triumph in the past three races the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte on May 27 was the other win with the yellow flag showing on the ll-turn road course Wallace held a I07-second lead over Martin's Ford when the caution showed during the 73rd of the race's 74 laps and probably couldn't have been caught "I think we're on a roll" said Wallace who led 42 laps including the final 15 Wallace took the lead for good in Turn 7 nudging his way by defending 300 champion Ricky Rudd who'd held him off at the same spot in 1989 as they scuffed sheet metal In finishing second Martin surged 62 points ahead of fellow Ford driver Shepherd who'd led by 32 starting the 13th race of the 29-event season Shepherd was running seventh and appeared en route to keeping alive a string of all-top 10 finishes until his car's engine failed three laps from the end dropping him to 29th Placing third through 10th in Sunday's 300-kilometer race on the 252-mile layout before an estimated 62000 were Rudd Chevrolet Geoff Bodine Ford Bobby Hil SONOMA Calif Rusty Wallace denied victory by just 05 seconds in the inaugural Banquet 300 last year made what amounted to an "I shall return" vow for this June's race Wallace and his Charlotte-based Blue Max team were equal to the promise Sunday at Sears Point International Raceway winning an event that rearranged the NASCAR Winston Cup Series point standings with Mark Martin replacing Morgan Shepherd as leader No Drivor Car 1 Rusty Wallace Pontiac 2 Mark Martin Ford 3 Ricky Rudd Chevrolet 4 Geoff Bodine Ford 5 Bobby Hi Ilin Buick See WALLACE Page 3B World Cup Dismal For Team USA Pistons Cool Off It lazers By SL PRICE KnrahtRidder Newspapers By LEONARD LAYE SPOriS Editor PORTLAND Ore "Don't complain just get it done It was a message Joe Dumars heard often from his dad and Sunday again he took it to heart coming off two atypical performances in the NBA Finals to score 33 points and help the Detroit Pistons to a 121-106 Game 3 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers Moments after the game Dumars learned his father had died The news cast a pall over what would have been a more celebratory mood for the Pistons Dumars and his father who had diabetes and had been in poor health for more than two years were very close and Dumars had given his championship ring from last season's finals to his dad The Pistons' --ilommeolompalmominEw-- chances for a repeat had not NBA PLAYOFFS looked good CHAMPIONSHIP FINALS until Sunday Sunday's Result after the team Detroit 121 Portland 106 had struggled in (Detroit leads series 2-1) the first two Tuesday Detroit at Portland (CBS) 9 pm games at home Thursday and had come to Detroit at Portland (CBS) 9 pm Portland for the next three games with the best-of-seven series tied 1-1 with the nest-ot-seven series tied i-ii: r7 1 1 I :::::::::::1 3-7777 Af'if' '-H kg--- '4'--'r'' 1 0 L' 017's i k-'i: 1 l- :4 a i1 4 i 4 A i4 -i-- 4- 1 14ir ii: 4- i d4! 1 O''': 1::: 1: -V' 40 i i f4 1 s-4 4' 1 1 1 t' 1 i-: "-f77-ii 1 i iltiii': ''i 2 1 I'' 4 0: 1: i-: i s'-' i i' i i -1-1'-- FLORENCE Italy This is not something you hear much: Muggers don't often apologize to their victims But the United States soccer team took such a savage beating from Czechoslovakia Sunday that it even embarrassed the winners "We prepared very well" Czechoslovak captain Ivan Hasek said "And we're sorry for having won 5-1" No apologies necessary Tomas Skuhravy scored twice and the Czechoslovak team clearly superior in size and speed simply beat the Americans to the ball whenever it counted in a clean and physical opener for both teams in the 1990 World Cup If anyone should be contrite it's the US defense Long considered the Americans' strongest unit defenders Steve Trittschuh Desmond Armstrong John Stollmeyer and Mike Windischmann failed time after time to stop the Czechoslovaks leaving goalie Tony Meo la to fend for himself most of the day Skuhravy said part of Meo la's problem was the US back line "The US defense seemed more concerned with going on the attack than playing defense" he said "They gave us a lot of room" But Ithe Americans refused to feel ashamed by the lopsided result They never professed to be favorites and remain proud of being the first US team in a World Cup since 1950 "When we were down 3-1" said midfielder Tab Ramos "I was thinking to myself that I wouldn't trade my spot with anyone in the world" Despite the score Meola actually produced an outstanding effort making 10 superb saves in a game where the goal area seemed less like US territory and more like a Czechoslovak rifle range Czechoslovakia fired 23 shots at Meola and he now faces the prospect of even more work Thursday when the United States meets Italy in Rome "I want to have a good showing and good account of myself" Meola said "My dreams and aspirations of playing over here in Europe just got a big dent even though I thought I played pretty well It's tough to say you played well in a 5-1 game" But neither his job future nor a head injury he suffered in the 78th minute bothered Meola so much as living down to low expectations "The thing about this" he said disgustedly "is that it makes all the odds makers look like kings" London odds makers had Team USA a 1500-1 shot to win the Cup and also were taking bets on whether the United States would even score in any of its three first-round games But with the United States short one man midfielder Paul Caligiuri cost some people money in the 61st minute when he broke free on the right wing juked past goalie Jan Stejskal and defender Miroslav Kadlec and boomed home the only US goal of the day But that one moment did little to overshadow an otherwise dismal day for the United States A crowd of 33266 walked into Comunale Stadium believing this to be the Americans' one chance to keep things respectable But it soon became apparent US respect I But they came back with a sharply improved performance with Dumars providing the spark and coming up with one big play after another as the Blazers tried to come from behind As a result the Pistons not only took control of the series with Game 4 coming up Tuesday night but also regained the home-court advantage Dumars' father Joe Dumars Jr 65 died at 2 pm about 90 minutes before the start of the game while the Pistons were on a bus to the arena Neither Dumars nor any of the Detroit players except captain Isiah Thomas were told until after the game at the request of the family "Only a few people knew" Thomas said His wife (Debbie) said they had talked about it before and he had told her if it ever happened before a game he didn't want to know until after" Dumars was taken to a phone immediately after the game to talk to his wife He left right away for a flight to the family's home in Natchitoches La and Pistons officials said they did not know when he would return "If he returns that's fine" Thomas said "But if not we sure as hell understand" As far as their play is concerned the Pistons can take some comfort in the way Sunday's game unfolded They looked more like the old Bad Boys playing more aggressively defensively and they got new life from their bench with Vinnie Johnson popping in 21 as the Detroit reserves outscored the Portland reserves 34-12 "Now at least we have the chance to bring the series back to our building" said coach Chuck Daly "I thought yesterday our club was in a different mood than they were at home They saw it was a serious situation I thought they were more confident" The Pistons started slowly but once they grabbed the lead for the first time on a Dumars jumper with seven minutes 26 seconds to play in the first quarter they never surrendered it Portland couldn't match the fire of the 12884 screaming fans who filled the coliseum and shot only 419 well below Detroit's 531 marksmanship for the game The Blazers fell behind by I I in the second period then cut the margin to four just before halftime They trailed 58-51 at the break Assoctated Press Czechoslovakia got its kicks Sunday at the United States In the World Cup Trittschuh expense of Steve Trittschuh (right) and the collided with Czechoslovak Lubomir Moravcik See EVEN Next Page 6-Shot Win Gets Nicklaus Charged For Open for him next week "If Jack played 18 or 20 times a year he could win on the regular Tour easily" Nicklaus made four trips around the 6665-yard Dearborn Country Club course in 65 68 and record-tying 64s the last two days "I don't think I've ever putted like this anytime in my career" Nicklaus said for a run at an unprecedented fifth US Open championship which begins Thursday at Medinah Ill "I hope Medinah's greens will be just like this" said Nicklaus who needed only I I I putts in four rounds "I imagine they'll be a tad faster but probably not much "I'll take 27 under at Medinah But I'll probably be about 24 below that Par's a good score over there Medinah's a tough golf course" A win in the US Open would enable Nicklaus to complete a goal he set for himself when he turned 50 in January win on both the Senior and regular PGA tours "I putted for I I eagles in this tournament" he said "That's a lot of eagles I don't think they set the pins as tough here as on the regular Tour" Trevino who didn't even try to qualify for the US Open said he thought Nicklaus still has the skills "He's really putting well right now and next week he's going to a golf course where putting is important" Trevino said "I have high expectations Associated Press DEARBORN Mich Look out Medinah Jack Nicklaus is playing like a legend again Nicklaus who has won two of his three Senior Tour starts buried the field Sunday in the Senior TIC winning with a record 261 27 under par and six strokes better than runner-up Lee Trevino It was the best 72-hole score since the Senior Tour started in 1980 breaking the 263 by Orville Moody in 1988 The victory has Nicklaus charged up 1 Scores Page 613 See DUMARS Page 7B Lakers To Address Patient Gomez Whips Agassi To Win French Open Title Rumors About Riley I I 2 otti 4'3e -p--: -A )' '0 0091 -e'- 00' A) ii i I ApP 4 a4---: I It- '4 es-11 a IP'' 4 4: 1 1 I- '''c0 it rii4' 1 "11' 40 i 4 dt 1 0 it 4if A '1 'A Iffittp 1e4 1 04 t- 1 it -t t11 Alp I 4 ft 94 it 8 tt '4 411i 4 1 1 The source said Dunleavy was en route to Los Angeles and would sign a four-year contract There have been published reports the Lakers would also be interested in former Chicago Bulls coach Doug Collins and current 'Akers assistant Randy Pfund as possible replacements But Collins said Sunday he had been eliminated from consideration Lakers general manager Jerry West met late last week with Dunleavy about the job should Riley decide to depart But in recent days speculation has grown that Riley may be out no matter what "Pat was the one who first suggested we start looking for another coach because he was seriously considering not coming back and we've done that" West told the Orange County Register "Yes the next step is for Pat to make up his mind but there's a chance the final decision might not be in his hands After all this is (owner Jerry) Buss' team" Associated Press INGLEWOOD Calif With reports and rumors on the status of Pat Riley continuing to swirl the Los Angeles Lakers called a 3:30 pm news conference to address the situ- ation today Reports con- eli tinued Sunday that Riley the -I NBA Coach of the Year and the man who led the Akers i to four 13A championships Riley in nine seasons would step down to accept a broadcasting position with NBC In its Monday editions the Milwaukee Sentinel quoted an unnamed source close to the Milwaukee Bucks as saying assistant coach Mike Dunleavy would be named coach of the Lakers had the will to come back and that's what big tennis is all about" he said lie also said Ivan Lendl's decision to skip this tournament had been a most fortuitous one for him: Gomez was on the verge of retiring from tennis last summer when he learned Lendi planned to forgo this event to prepare for Wimbledon the only Grand Slam event Lendl has never won Since the French Open happened to be the only Grand Slam tournament Gomez had dreamed of winning and one where he'd been detoured three times in the quarterfinals by Lend! he hustled back to the drawing board to prime himself to peak in Paris Agassi too had primed himself for this event and had defeated Michael Chang the defending champion along the path to the first Grand Slam final of his career At the age of 20 Agassi imagined himself to be a decade fitter and faster than Gomez and hoped to wear him down in a long match But the unusually timid tennis played by Agassi in the first set thwarted his mien-See COMEZ Paige 59 By ROBIN FINN Now York Times PARIS In the space of one short Sunday afternoon Andres Gomez who sometimes has been too patient for his own good finally secured the goal he has worked a tennis lifetime to achieve The Ecuadorian defeated Andre Agassi in four sets and earned the right to reign as champion of the 1990 French Open Gomez 30 a veteran of 27 Grand Slam events without a title to show for them said the honor was worth the wait but was painfully long in arriving "I've been coming here for I 2 years and I always dreamed about this MOilletit it just took too long" he said after accepting his trophy and $370000 in prize money "By far this is the best tennis I've ever played I've gone a step farther in my career" Gomez who had been accused of being a congenital underachiever in high-pressure scenarios moved to a career-high ranking of fourth in the world with his 6-3 2-6 6-4 64 victory "Today I didn't panic on the big points I didn't panic when 1 was down and I always Pre Andres Gomez returns a shot Sunday against Andre Agassl during the French Open final in Paris Gomez defeated Agassi 6-3 2-6 6-4 6-4.