Sun-News from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina • 13

May 25 1992 MONDAY Section Tennis Charley Rasheed wins the SC high ngles championsnip 3B Index Today's Best Bets on TV A listing of today's top televised events in sports: 9 am: French Open 7:30 pm: Baseball opening-day matches (ESPN) Cincinnati Reds at NY NBA Eastern Mats (ESPN) finals: Chicago Bulls at 7:30 pm: Baseball i Cleveland Cavaliera (WCIV-4 Atlanta Braves at WECT-6 WIS-10) Philadelphia Phillies (TBS) "mo 'm 'miJnui'HjwimnwaT'yiiw1 LSUM1MARGINS Al Unser Jr survives Indy 500 by a hood The closest margins Unofficiala results SB By Mills freeman the Washington post INDIANAPOLIS It was not a matter of winning the 76th Indianapolis 500 what with only 12 of 33 can finishing on a day full of crashes and blown engines It was a matter of surviving Sunday the king of the jungle was Al Unser Jr who beat Scott Goodyear by 043 seconds barely half a car length in the closest finish in rely half a car length i Indy history place In the My 00 (times In minutes andj f-secondsh" i 0HXL043 Al Unser Jr foVerScottQoodyeartJ992 OrOO1t MfiordoClbhr cock over Rick Mearil 00144 fl over 010210 over Ralph Hepburn 1 93! OtOausaDsnnSu! Vanover 1985 jgfeaw was Michael Andretti who after losini close race last year to Mean led for 161 I only to stall on the backst retch of Lap 1 because of a sudden loss of fuel pressure It was the latest chapter in a history of horrible Indy luck for the Andretti family can't get much worse than this" said Andretti "This place is cruel so cruel" About leading the last lap Unser Jr said: started to get emotional then I looked in my mirror ana there was Scott So we got back to racing again I came oflf Turn 4 and Scott Hear nr 500 page 3 Al Unser Sr has won four Indy titles and Bobby Unser Al brother has won three to give the Unser family eight Indy titles since 1968 no wonder Al Jr's 9-ycar-old son grinning and seated next to dad at a news conference said he would like to try auto racing one day Sunday Unser Jr did get some help along the way to Victory Lane and at least $1 million depending on gate receipts The race was wide-open after pole-sitter Roberto Lola-Buick spun on the bockstretch during the second parade lap and crashed out of the race before it began Then there were slow by Indy standards Rick Mean won last year with an average speed of 176460 mph in only 2 hours 50 minutes and Unscr's winning speed is the slowest since 1958 But Unser needed every bit of speed his GalmcrChevy A could muster only Gordon Johncock's 016-second victory over Mean in 1982 approaches the closeness of this race His victory means the Unser family continues as one of the most dominant in ine i i sport ipeed of 13449 mph an speed of 1 34479 mph and Unser' average his winning time or 3 hours 43 minutes was good enough for him to win but both marks Filially! Chevy Earnhardt in streak stops at 13 By Tbm Hfggki KNIGHT-RIDDER CONCORD NC Dale Earnhardt bedeviled by mostly bad luck at Charlotte Motor Speedway since 1986 battled hack with the Sunday and held IrvarUo win a Coca-Cola 600 thriller Na 13 figured prominently as Earnhardt eed fellow Chevrolet driver Irvan by 39-hundredths of a second or about three car lengths before a track-record crowd estimated at 160000 The outcome: Ended NASCAR Winston Cup Series non -winning streak dating to last September at Snapped victory string dating to the same month at 13 Marked the second time in 65 races dating to 1 960 at the I Vi-mile track that a Winston Clip event has been won from starting position Na 13 which is where Earnhardt lined up the Richard Childress Racing Lumina Pivotal to all this was a sizzling 1 940-second pit stop by Tfw AmooWnJ Praia Richard Potty (43) Dorrika Cope (10) and Hut Stricfc Bn (12) crash In the first turn Sunday at Charlotte Motor Speedway during the Coca Cola 600L SP crew savors flavor of victory crew led by Kirk Shelmerdine on the 346th of 400 laps It enabled Earnhardt to return to the track slightly ahead of Irvan and the dominant Pontiac of Kyle Petty both of whom stopped two laps earlier for service that required 2119 and 1972 seconds respectively Earnhardt wasn't headed afterward leading the final 54 laps the only time he was in front in the race "It was a great pit stop That was the key" Earnhardt the current Winston Cup champion said after his 53rd career victory and fourth at his Chariotte-area home track two in the 600 "Me being in front made Ernie and Kyle run a little harder and use their tires up got in quick whoa-cd down within the limits got gone quick and flat-footed around through Turns I and 2 on the return lane I fiidged all I could on the speed limit 55 mph on pit road without getting penalized I judged 55 to be Please see 600 page3B left Earnhardt pitted for new tires and a tank of gas behind race leaders Kyle Petty and Ernie Irvan Just 194 seconds later he zoomed back into traffic with the lead Earnhardt's team hadn't won a race since North Wilkcsboro last September He'd come close May 16 in The Winston qply to spin out in the wired to Earnhardt by radio The rest of the crew did busy work Some rolled tires away others tidied up A few sal with their backs to the race But on lap 399 of the 400-lap race the crew climbed on the wall Still expressionless they stood on tiptoe cranings their necks for a better view And the moment Earnhardt roared across the finish line 39-hundredths of a second and about three car lengths ahead of Irvan they went berserk Two dozen men in grungy black v-VSi and hugging like crazy Then they ran out to meet car which screeched to a brief stop then roared off for victoiy circle In minutes Earnhardt was surrounded by sponsors track officials TV cameras and photographers He waved grinned and mugged for photos wearing a scries of caps with corporate logos But the real celebration was going on behind the backdrop That's where Earnhardt's crew had gathered and was holding the most raucous party anyone ever had while guzzling nothing but Gatoradc and Coke By Liz Clarke KNIGHT-RIDDER CONCORD N-C- With two laps left in Sunday's Coca-Cola 600 crew chief Kira Shelmerdine snuck a peck at the black stopwatch cradled in his left hand At that point well past a final crucial pit stop there was nothing Shelmerdine could do to help Dale Earnhardt through the race was something to do more than anything" Shelmerdine said of the last-minute check on Earnhardt's pace essentially a pointless exercise crew had made the difference in the race With 54 laps final lap as Earn! Ians his crew members milled about the lap Sunday as Earnhardt fended ofT Irvan in the last 25 laps of the 600 Z' pit area solemn and expressionless Shelmerdine kept to himself leaning against a pole His neadset shut out the commotion around him and kept him AP Dal Earnhardt wavaa to th crowd Sunday In victory la no racing suits leaped spilled onto pit road and thrust their fists to sky hooting and hollering high-living straighten up fly right 11-6 Blazers lose battle with officials Jazz By Mitch Lawranc DALLAS MORNING NEWS SALT LAKE CITY The Portland Trail Blazers lost Sunday More accurately they lost it Lost their composure Lost their poise Lost their arguments with tne officials Lost touch with reality too The Trail Blazers came apart emotionally in a 121-1 12 loss to the Utah Jazz As the Jazz tied tne Western Conference finals at two victories each before a raucous sellout crowd of 1991 1 at the Delta Center the Trail Blazers were called for By John I THE SUN NEWS CONWAY The Myrtle Beach Hurricanes didn't need Chris Kotcs on Sunday night at Coastal Carolina Stadium Kotes who has been the Hurricanes' stopper this season was knqckcd out after three innings But his teammates rallied from a 6-1 deficit to beat the Albany Ga Polecats 1 1-6 before 468 fans Kotes who entered the game 5-0 with a 191 eamed-run average fielded five runs on five hits and ivc walks in only three innings The righthander was coming buck from a slight hamstring pull that forced him to leave after I innings in his last start think what happened was that he Kotes was out of sync" said Ault hadn't gotten tne kind of Please set page SB The Hurricanes will go for their third victory this weekend over Albany in the final game of the four-game series at 7:30 tonight "I can't sav enough about the team" said llurricanes manager Doug Ault is the sign of a winning team" Ben Weber who improved to 2-3 allowed only one run in five innings to earn the victory in relief Tim Lindsav held Albany scoreless in the ninth USC falls to Miami 17-2 Notre Dame up next five technical fouls 1 Problems with poise? have to call it that" said Portland reserve guard Danny Aingc fWe've got to be more concerned with how we play and less with the officials had a chance to win and we didn't make the plays down the stretch In a game like this somebody's going to get mad at the calls'' The Trail Blazers spent the day angry with the offici- subsequent ground-out by Luis I lemandez to lead 3-0 South Carolina (42-21) forced Miami starter Silvio Ccnsale from the game in the third inning scoring two runs on doubles by DT Cromer Iuve Willman and Jerry Shepherd Three Gamecock errors two wild pitches and a balk enabled Miami to pad its lead to 6-2 after live innings A pair of two-run homers by Rupp and Kevin DiGiacomo broke open the game in the seventh inning Johnson connected again in the eighth I lis six RBls tied a career single-game high Miami Frank Mora hud three doubles and a carecfyhigh five hits FROM WIRE REPORTS CORAL GABLES Fla Charles Johnson hit two home runs and drove in six runs to lead Miami past South Carolina 17-2 and into Monday evening's Atlantic Regional championship game The lop-seeded Hurricanes (52-8) await the winner of today's 2 pm South Carol ina-Notre Dame semifinal Johnson a recent all-America selection by Collegiate Baseball followed Johnathcn Smith's first-inning single with his 1 lth home run of the year Miami added a run iS the second inning on Chad triple and a Tha Aitoond Prau Utah's Kart Malone (right) drive to tha basket bih 121-1(2 victory Sunday over Portland I pagrSfk 1 rmrmr -V.