The Pantagraph from Bloomington, Illinois • Page 33

FIRST EDITION www.pantagraph.com Pantagraph Monday September 25, 2006 B3 RYDER CUP MOTOR SPORT! Europeans soak up victory I 0y 0 4) By Doug Ferguson ASSOCIATED PRESS STRAFFAN, Ireland Even after the skies cleared over Ireland, it kept right on pouring. First came the tears of Darren Clarke, the inspiration of this Ryder Cup, and then a shower of champagne as the Europeans celebrated another romp. Ian Woosnam popped the cork off the first bottle, dousing his team on the 18fh green and later drinking it so quickly that it shot up his nose. Clarke toasted the delirious Irish crowd by guzzling a pint of Guinness from a balcony and raising the empty glass like a trophy Even with Tiger Woods getting to pick his partner and finishing with a winning record for the first time in the Ryder Cup, it still didn't change the outcome from two years ago. Europe 18 United States 9 There's no doubt who owns the Ryder Cup and not just the shiny gold trophy.

"I don't know in the history of the Ryder Cup any European team that has played better than you guys," U.S. captain Tom Lehman told them at the closing ceremony Sunday after his American team endured its worst beating ever in the 12 singles matches. The Europeans wanted to win this one for Clarke and the memory of his wife, Heather, who died of breast cancer six weeks ago to the day They wanted to win for Woosnam, their pint-sized captain who made all the right moves once the tournament started. Mostly as always they wanted to win for each other. "That's what we do on this team," said Celin Montgomerie, who tied a Ryder Cup record with his sixth singles victory.

"We play for each other. We're all just thrilled. And yes, we're going to have a big party" Luke Donald holed a 10-foot par putt on the 16th hole for Europe's 14th point, all it needed to keep the trophy. Moments later, Henrik Sten-son won his match for an outright victory, the first European team to win three in a row. "This is the pinnacle of my life," said Woosnam, a former Masters champion and once No.

1 in the world. The celebration was well under way when Clarke won his match against Zach Johnson, and soon the tears flowed as Clarke cried on the shoulder of caddie Billy Foster, then in the arms of Woosnam, sobbing mixed with songs and cheers. He didn't know if he would play if he could play in the Ryder Cup so soon after his wife died and left behind two young sons. But he accepted a captain's pick from Europe's Sergio Garcia, left, is sprayed with champagne after his team won States at the Club golf course at Straffan, Ireland, on Sunday. Allmendinger takes flag at Road America By Chris Jenkins ASSOCIATED PRESS ELKHART LAKE, Wis.

As the only American racing in the Champ Car Series, A.J. Allmendinger figured it was his national duty to keep a French driver from clinching the chapipionship in the United States. After waiting out a 42-minute red-flag delay in the aftermath of a frightening accident involving rookie Katherine Legge, Allmendinger held on to win the Champ Car Grand Prix of Road America on Sunday and, in the process, kept Sebastien Bourdais from clinching his third straight series championship. "I'm not letting a French guy clinch on American soil," Allmendinger declared in victory lane, after becoming the first American to win a Champ Car race at Road America since Michael Andretti in 1996. Later, with Bourdais sitting next to him in the postrace news conference, Allmendinger grinned and insisted again that he wasn't going to let a French driver clinch on his turf.

"I can't let that happen," he said. Bourdais simply shook his head. Asked for a response, the 27-year-old French driver said, "My English is not good enough." Allmendinger passed Bourdais with seven laps to go, only to have Legge crash one lap later. Legge would be OK, but the accident brought the race to a halt for nearly an hour. Legge's car lost its wing and veered out of control, slamming into a fence at speeds approaching' 180 mph.

The car burst into pieces, sending the cockpit portion tumbling down the track. But Legge was fully conscious and was able to walk into the infield medical care facility on her own. "(I'm) a bit shaken, but I'm OK, as you can see," the 26-year-old rookie from England said in a television interview. "All my bits are intact." The race was red-flagged to allow track safety workers time to clean up debris and fix a portion of the fence that was destroyed by the accident. Allmendinger said it wasn't hard for drivers to get back into their cars to finish the race after the accident, because they were told right away that Legge didn't have any serious injuries.

"Thank God she's OK," Allmendinger said. The race ended in a two-lap green flag dash to the finish. Allmendinger darted away at the start and drove unchallenged to the checkered flag. Bruno Junqueira recovered from a crash in the first turn of the first lap to finish second. BURTON FROMBl Kenseth failed in his bid for a clean sweep at Dover, but he certainly isn't out of contention for the championship.

He finished 10th and remained stuck in third in the points race after losing a gamble that he could drive the final 100-plus laps without a pit stop. Burton and his Richard Childress racing teammate Kevin Harvick spent this weekend denying a Speed TV report that claimed their teams manipulated wheels to gain a performance advantage in New Hampshire. Both drivers insisted it wouldn't be a distraction, and Burton came out with something to prove. "I was dreading coming back to the garage looking (my crew) in the eye and not winning the race," Burton said. Certainly, that was a feeling he'd experienced too many times this decade.

Burton came in with a whopping 637 laps led this season, but no victories. He wasn't won a Cup race since Oct. 28, 2001. It was his 18th career victory. "The winless streak, I don't even know what it is.

I don't think about it," Burton said. Now it's at 0. Carl Edwards finished second. Gordon moved up two spots in the Chase with his third-place finish. Non-Chase drivers finished fourth through eighth before rookie Denny Hamlin, who took Hamlin fell from second to fourth in the points standings.

Even though he sat on the pole, Gordon failed to lead a lap and did not gain any bonus points. Ryan Newman quickly passed him and led the first lap of the race. "I really wanted those five points," Gordon said. "I hope this thing at the end of the season doesn't come down to five points or I'll really be kicking myself." Harvick, the points leader coming into Sunday, was knocked out of the race with a blown who won the last two races, was 32nd and plummeted to fifth overall. It wasn't much easier for the rest of the contenders on The Monster Mile.

Make that former contenders. Kahne plowed into another car. Busch blew an engine. Earnhardt battled an unruly setup. One by one, drivers already near the rear of the Chase standings dropped out or dropped back.

Kahne wrecked with defending champion Tony Stewart, who did not make the Chase this season, only 11 laps into the race. His car spent more than an hour in the garage before he returned. Busch retired his No. 5 before the halfway point with engine problems. Both declared their hopes for a championship dead.

"We're done," Busch said. Added Kahne: "No more championship." Almost all the Chase drivers ran into some sort of trouble. Jimmie Johnson's crew had a pit road tire mishap that dropped him all the way back to 40th. He steadily raced his way back to the front on the high-banked concrete oval, and finished 13th. Earnhardt had all sorts of tire issues and finished 21st.

Earnhardt is seventh and Johnson eighth in the points standings. It seems there will be only a handful of contenders down the stretch. The field could thin out even more next week at Kansas. "When we get down to three to go and I'm still in position, we can think about it and talk about it," Burton said. Kenseth grabbed the lead on lap 264 after leader Greg Biffle pitted on a green.

Kenseth pitted under yellow for four tires and fuel with 101 laps left and tried to make it the rest of the way. Kenseth had a similar gamble pay off in his June win at Dover. In that one, he overruled his crew chief who wanted Kenseth to pit on the final caution, and zipped past contenders for the win. This time, Kenseth and crew chief Robbie Reiser were in agreement, and it paid off for Burton. Woosnam and was determined as ever to bring his best game.

Clarke won all three matches he played, carried along by some of the loudest cheers ever heard at this event. "It was like an stadium around one tee box," Johnson said of the start of. their match. "Frankly, it was like that on every tee box for him. Well deserved, too." Clarke and Woosnam embraced for the longest time, and then Woosnam thrust his arm in the air.

"It's done a lot for me for people to show me how much they care," Clarke said. "And it's done a lot to show how much they cared about Heather, and that means a lot to me. It's been a difficult week. From the minute I got here, I was determined to get myself ready, and I was. I played the way Woosie wanted me to." Clarke had help from every one of his teammates.

Montgomerie set the tone! by beating David Toms in the opening match, holing a 4-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole to improve his singles record to 6-0-2. Paul Casey followed by beating Jim Furyk, the American's first loss in Ryder Cup sin 1 Russia ousts U.S., Roddick in semifinals gles. The Europeans tied a Ryder Cup record by winning 8Va points from the 12 singles matches the total the Americans needed to pull off another comeback like they did in 1999 and they became the first team to win all five sessions since that format was adopted in 1979. The Americans didn't stand a chance. They tried to rally behind the memory of Brookline, when they trailed 10-6 and staged the greatest comeback in Ryder Cup history.

But that was Boston. This was Ireland. That U.S. team was so strong that only rookie was David Duval, who was No. 2 in the world.

This tearn had four unheralded rookies and couldn't even rely on its stars. Of the top six players who qualified for the team, four didn't win a match all week. The biggest flop was Masters champion Phil Mick-elson, who went 0-4-1 and has won only one match in his last two Ryder Cups. The biggest difference was the color on the scoreboards. The Americans needed them to be awash in red, hopeful that would IS CUP Roddick said.

"I think I could just as easily have won as lost." U.S.' captain Patrick McEnroe praised Roddick's effort, but acknowledged the Americans were a deeper team in the days of Sampras and Agassi. "Clearly we don't have that kind of group," he said. Roddick, who also lost his opening match to Safin, had been hoping to rally the U.S. from a 2-0 deficit for the first time since 1934. But the U.S.

Blues 5, Thrashers 3 In St. Louis, Bill Guerln scored his first four goals of the preseason and added an assist to help the Blues beat the Atlanta Thrashers. The 35-year-old Guerin started the scoring in the opening minute and' finished it with an empty-net goal. He put the Blues (1-3) ahead 4-3 when he put in his own rebound with 6:18 left in the third and had 10 of St. Louis' 27 shots.

-I'tllir ii Associated PressPETER MORRISON the Ryder Cup, beating the United inspire the back end of the lineup. Just like the first two days, however, European blue was in vogue. Europe' led in eight of the 12 matches on the front nine, and American spirits sagged. The only signs of life for the U.S. came from Stewart Cink, who birdied four of his first five holes to hand Sergio Garcia his only loss at The Club and end his unbeaten streak at nine matches; and from Woods, who beat Robert Karlsson to finish this Ryder Cup at 3-2-0.

Woods only looked at the U.S. record since he came along. The world's No. 1 player has won 12 majors and 53 times on the PGA Tour, but he has hoisted the Ryder Cup only once. "What am 1, 1-4 in Ryder Cups? It doesn't sit well," he said.

"Nor should it." The blowout might have been even greater if not for a gesture of sportsmanship from Paul McGin-ley. His match was all square with J.J. Henry when the Irishman blasted out of the bunker for a conceded birdie. Henry still had 25 feet for birdie, but after a streaker ran onto the green, McGinley conceded the long birdie. Open finalist lost his first service game and then the first two sets before hitting his stride late in the third after winning only three points in Tursunov's first five service games in the set.

"It never appeared that (Roddick) was ready to give up," Tursunov said. "He fought to the finish." In the 32-game final set, both players survived scares and held serve until Tursunov netted an easy forehand to go down 30-40 in the 11th game. He saved one break point, but then hit two shots wide to lose the game. Tursunov then broke back to even it at 6-6 when Roddick sent a return wide after saving one break point. The players again traded service until Roddick netted a forehand slice to give Tursunov his fourth match and the Russian sent a backhand down the line.

Tursunov, who was knocked out of the U.S. Open in the third round and struggled in Saturday's doubles, was an unexpected pick for Tarpishchev. The coach said he had been planning to go with fifth-ranked Nikolay Davydenko, but he wasn't ready after withdrawing from the China Open last weekend with dizziness. "We just got lucky today," Tarpishchev said. On Friday, Safin defeated Roddick 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (5) and Mikhail Youzhny beat Blake 7-5, 1-6, 6-1, 7-5.

Twins Bob and Mike Bryan beat Youzhny and Tursunov 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 in doubles on Saturday to keep the Americans alive. "Just one of those nights when things went in," Guerin said. "If you watch the game I don't do much of the puck-handling, I just try to get open and go to the net." Petr Cajanek had a goal and three assists, Martin Rucinsky had two assists and Manny Legace played a strong game in goal for St. Louis. Marion Hossa scored his second goal of the preseason for the Thrashers (2-2).

Greg De Vries and Kyle Wanvig also had goals. By Steve Gutterman ASSOCIATED PRESS MOSCOW After nearly five hours of punishing, draining tennis, the United States was left with an Unmistakable fact: It is out of the Davis Cup again, and the days of relying on Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi are long gone. The latest loss came in the semifinals Sunday when Andy Roddick lost 17-15 to Russia's Dmitry Tursunov in a fifth-set marathon. "You feel like you let your teammates down and your country, down," Roddick said. "It's not an easy thing, especially to fight back all that way and to lose.

It's tough." The Americans trailed 2-1 entering the last day of the best-of-five competition and needed singles victories from Roddick and James Blake on the clay court at Olympic Stadium to advance. But Tursunov put Russia into the title match against Argentina by winning 6-3, 6-4, 5-7, 3-6, 17-15 in the clincher. Blake defeated Marat Safin 7-5, 7-6 (4) in an inconsequential finale, leaving Russia with a 3-2 victory The Russians will host Argentina in December in their first Davis Cup final since they beat France in 2002 for their only title. Argentina ousted Australia in the other semifinal, completing a 5-0 rout in which Sunday's last match was declared a walkover. Russia coach Shamil Tarpishchev said he would not play on clay against Argentina.

The 72 games by Roddick and Tur- Associated PressMISHA JAPARIDZE U.S: tennis player Andy Roddick reacts during the Davis Cup semifinal match against Russia's Dmitry Tursunov in Moscow on Sunday. Tursunov won the match 6-3, 6-4, 5-7, 3-6, 17-15. sunov tied a record for the most in a World Group match since the tiebreaker was introduced in 1989 France's Arnaud Clement defeated Switzerland's Marc Rosset in the 2001 quarterfinals in 72 games. Sunday's match lasted 4 hours, 48 minutes. "When you're coming up on the five-hour mark, I promise you, neither one of us is feeling fresh.

Especially when you add in the tension and nervousness of the Davis Cup," NHL Chicago keeps preseason record unblemished (2-1). Marian Gaborik assisted on both. Nikolai Khabibulin played the full game and stopped 25 shots: Minnesota's Manny Fernandez made 39 saves. Hamilton's power-play goal opened the scoring 3:31 into the first period. He connected from the slot after taking a cross-ice feed from Patrick Sharp.

Blunden made it 2-0 with 6:29 left in the first, beating Fernandez from the left circle following a Minnesota turnover. ASSOCIATED PRESS Rookie Dave Bolland scored two power-play goals and the Black-hawks remained unbeaten in the. preseason with a 5-2 win over the Minnesota Wild in Chicago Jeff Hamilton, Michael Blunden and Craig MacDonald also connected for Chicago (5-0), which scored three power-play goals for the third straight game. Kurtis Foster and Pavol Demitra had power-play goals for Minnesota.