Bristol Herald Courier from Bristol, Tennessee • 23

Page 50 Bristol Herald CourierVirginia Tennessean Thursday March 23 2000 Viagra ride brings plenty of jokes 1 it uller team have made constructed solely for the purpose Rocker gets mixed reaction vs Cleveland Russ Raines Crowe leads Vols past Cincinnati to retire kt than Tim York first spring loss in two years Cordova was 6 0 over his last nine spring starts until yield Daylona was like all tire time Re cently re ally simmered down to where people are get ting serious about Spring training ROUNDUP BMS rom PaQe 1C grand stands on the Kulwicki side so that the back straight away would mirror the front straightaway with suites on said Estes plan calls for seating to grow to approximately 165000 seats We know if that will happen next year or the year There are even more con struction plans for the upcoming years which do not involve seat ing including a revamped look for the infield and pit areas as well as an access tunnel to the infield Estes said construction is sim nlv Dart of the overall mission for Speedway Motorsports Inc and BMS ETSU (6 12) will host UNC Asheville (9 10) Thursday after noon at 3 VT 3 Radford 2 RADORD Virginia Tech scored three runs in the sixth in ning en route to a 3 2 win over Radford in college baseball ac uller missed the Daytona 500 and is currently 42nd in the points race just six points shy of Wally Dallenbach Bringing the Viagra Pontiac to Bristol should give the former Busch North Series rookie of tbe year some confidence With vet eran crew chief Barry Dodson at the helm providing guidance uller hopes to make an impact this weekend uller is only a rookie to Win ston Cup However he has raced in the Busch Series eatherlite Modified Series and the Busch North series The differences arc huge when 147000 fans are sur rounding the track however some reason and I don't want to come across sounding in any way cocky I feel that (Bristol) is not going to be like a Rock uller said not going to be a tough deal to say I need to back off here and I need to get off because you do very little backing off here any way heard stories of people testing at Bristol in almost 15 llat gima at wise uroppeo a aoume header to Tusculum College los ing game one 9 5 and the second 12 2 in five innings where I can relate to my team members what I feel the car needs I really do feel one of our only weak points right Though the Viagra car has im proved in qualifying uller is still searching for a top ten finish Bad luck at Darlington put some dents in the car but it might take some time for this former Busch Series winner to blossom in Winston Cup car just got out from un derneath me coming out of turn two but we got back out and fin ished the uller said unfortunate I mean these cars have got quite a bit more horse power than a Busch car and we need to respect that when in to a long tire run We learned some lessons Those lessons might not be as hard to learn in ood City 500 at Bristol Motor Speed way uller can just reflect on the 1996 ood City 250 Busch Series race at BMS when he experienced a dream weekend wife had a baby girl then uller earned the pole and ginia Tech Wednesday afternoon Gouzd (3 2) also struck out nine Hokies walked just one and retired 15 of the last 17 batters he faced The Associated Press WINTER HAVEN la John Rocker got a mixed reaction in his third appearance of the spring and Jim Thome Mark Whiten and Russell Branyan homered as the Cleveland Indians beat the Atlanta Braves 11 2 day Rocker suspended for the first two weeks of the season by com missioner Bud Selig for disparag ing foreigners homosexuals and minorities in a magazine inter view came in to pitch the seventh inning Most of the 7946 fans at Chain of Lakes Stadium seemed to have Anminn aknn Ranker The an upiiuun uuuut crowd booed and cheered at equal "volume when closer was A security guard paced back and forth near the left field bullpen area while Rocker was warming up but the only people to approach him were fans with cameras and a few autograph seekers performance was also lot of people might think this is it this is over But having worked in this organization for a little while and knowing how Bru visions are usually far dis tant from anyone you al ways look forward to seeing on the This current project called on the services of several local and national contractors including Johnson City based Powell Con struction which provided cranes for the setting of all steel sup ports Rentenbach Construction over saw the building of souvenir and concession stands on the upper levels while the Southern Bleach ers company installed the seats A host of other contractors from plumbers to electricians were involved in the project Along with the additional seat ing two new elevator towers were won the race In second place was 1999 Winston Cup champion Dale Jarrett daughter Tiffany was born the Thursday night of the race then we won the pole and the race riday uller said was kind of a cool weekend for uller will never forget that cool weekend at BMS 1 remember about that race is that the last twenty something laps we were down a cylinder and we uller said go through the corners at this track so fast "By conserving the rear tires a little bit we left more rubber on the tires at the end of the race and maybe that played in to our hands Dale Jarrett finished sec ond in the race and I believe there was six Winston Cup driv ers in the top ten that night so it made us feel real good Hopefully we can get some of that magic back here at uller finished 22nd at Las Vegas 22nd at Atlanta and 36th after the accident at Darlington ing two earned runs and five hits and walking two in five innings Astros 3 Devil Rays 0 At St Petersburg la Matt Mieske hit an RBI double and Ri chard Hidalgo homered Chris Holt Doug Henry Kip Gross Trever Miller and Jose Cabrera combined on the shutout for Hous ton limiting Tampa Bay to eight singles Reds 10 Red Sox 6 At ort Myers la Hal Morris doubled in the go ahead run to lead Cincinnati Aaron Boone and Cookie Dawkins homered for the Reds Diamondbacks 9 Rockies 6 They have good reason Despite the talk uller and the Viagra progress Currently fifth in the rookie points standings qualify ing efforts have been instrumental in landing some respectable start ing and finishing positions qualifying every week has gotten better" uller said qualified 15th two weeks ago and 14th last week Our guys have done a super good job putting to gether the qualifying package going to be icing on the cake if we can concentrate wheth er it be testing or at the track on more of a long run situation attack with two hits on the day Mike Jones Mark Davis Matt Walton and Chad Shaffner all had two hits for Vir ginia Wise with Jones hitting a double and Walton adding a tri ple In game two Tusculum used a which' is a good three and hall times quicker that theyve ever been here 1 think a lot of that is credited to the new tire but hope it doesn't entail changing gears or springs or anything like that because I think our guys have got a pretty good setup for here Even though we didn't test I feel confident that we should be good Despite his BGN win at BMS uller realizes he will face several challenges this weekend race is going to he twice as long as what I'm accustomed to uller said fortu nately with all the force the Bristol track puts on your body I really been beat when I get out of the car Sunday's Winston Cup race is going to be longer but whenever I got of the car al ways wanted to go 250 laps more here Bristol has) just been an awesome race track for me for some reason never put a pen cil on it I'm kind of excited about getting this thing going and hav ing a good The Associated Press TAMPA la Rather search for another team Raines began telling New teammates Wednesday that he intends to retire Raines fifth of the career steals list at 807 was with the Yankees this spring as a non roster player partly to showcase himself after missing the final 2 Vz months of last season because of Lupus After Darryl Strawberry was suspended for a positive cocaine test there were some who thought he had a chance to make the Yan kees as a part time left fielder designated hitter But manager Joe Ton told Raines in the past week that was unlikely Raines 39 is likely to announce his retirement as early as Thurs day according to a person famil iar with his thinking who spoke on the condition he not be identi fied me next pnase alter mis of servicing fans with seats in the would include tearing out the ex Kulwicki Tower The two elevator isting grandstands on the back towers will eventually operate straightaway and a section of the seven cars but tor the spring race only four will be utilized elevator tower is com pletely functional while the sec ond tower is only operating with one said Estes eleva tor towers are not for suite hold ers you have to have a ticket for the Kulwicki tower or terrace to use these elevators will be seven cars opera tional in the fall but people should keep in mind the current situation and allow some extra time to make it to their seats this When the additional 12000 seats provided by the Kulwicki Tower went on sale Sept 9 1999 they were sold by noon that same day And with the demand for BMS tickets continuing to grow Estes said even more plans for ex pansion are underway GORDON rom Pago 1C seven run fourth inning with two year and is scheduled to open At honie runs to dispose of the Cav lantic 10 Conference play with a aliers Virginia Wise fell to 8 11 three game series at George 2 2 with the losses and will host Washington University this Montreat in a doubleheader this weekend Saturday UNC Asheville 9 ETSU 3 James Madison 7 VT 1 ASHEVILLE Nathan Copel BLACKSBURG Sophomore and homered for East Tennessee right hander John Gouzd pitched State but it enough as a comnlete game scattered nine the Bucs dropped a Southern hits and allowed one run in Conference game mon Center Park j1 Tech starter Joe Saunders al lowed only five hits and one un earned run in seven innings to record fourth win of the season against no losses Addison Bow man Brad Bauder and Chris Hutchison bagged two hits each for the Hokies now 11 9 2 Abingdon's Mike Bailey pitched one third of an inning in the seventh for 9 10 Radford col lecting one strikeout and allow ing a hit COCOA BEACH la De spite a 4 for 4 effort at the plate by Jarod Sparks the Virginia In terment Cobras dropped a 10 7 contest to Schenectady (NY) Tuesday afternoon in college baseball' play at Cocoa Expo Baseball Complex The loss dropped the Cobras to 3 10 on the year and they will tion Tuesday afternoon at Ded 'y play against Alford State today don't know good or bad because it's been three years for me out of this series andtires have evolved in that time but the new tires look pretty Gordon said of the reasons we came to Bristol to test is that we afford to not make the show we're going to come to the tracks that red and I think are the toughest for the race car driv er or teams to find setups for Darlington was one of those Once we get through those toughest tracks I think the rest of the tracks will kind of open up too my style which too far off from an Indy Gordon's resume feature two wins in the Baja 1000 three wins in the 24 Hours at Daytona and two championships in the Mickey Thompson Stadium Series for trucks Despite that diverse back ground Gordon still feels the Bristol Motor Speedway experi ence is special By CLAY GILES Sports Correspondent Each NASCAR season brings new drivers new sponsors and new paint 'schemes By far the Winston Cup car raising the most (eyebrows in 2000 has been the 27 Viagra Pontiac ride driven by Jeff uller uller has already dealt with the ribbing and the jokes In tact Viagra has been the talk of water fountains ever since its patent Some men might shudder at 1 just the thought of needing the But the 42 year old uller istrying to put the Viagra name where it will get the most expo in victory Line As a member of perhaps the most talented rookie class ever in1 Winston Cup uller joined the (Eel River Racing team With thesponsors and crew already in place the Auburn Mass native saw plenty of potential But first he had to deal with the jokes ribs and questions been all sorts of ques uller said the begin ning of the season especially at The Dukes (20 8) were leading 3 1 before Brent two out single drove home two runs Steve Ballowe added a solo home run in the eighth for the Dukes final run Tech falls to 11 10 2 on the At Tucson Ariz Arizona scored four runs in the eighth inning to overcome two homers by Larry Walker White Sox 9 A's 8 At Phoenix Chris Singleton's two run single highlighted a seven run rally in the seventh for Chicago Paul Konerko had three hits scored twice and drove in a run as the White Sox won their fifth straight Giants 13 Cubs 5 At Scottsdale Ariz Barry Bonds homered twice driving in five runs and four other Giants also hit home runs Marvin Be nard added a go ahead three run homer in the fourth and Rich Au rilia Bobby Estalella and Davis each had solo shots red Graves who formerly guided two time Craftsman Truck Series champion Ron Hornaday from the pits serves as crew chief Several members of the Ernie Irvan Simo race team are also working on Gordon's crew got some guys that worked with ord cars and Winston Cup Gordon said learning bodies and what position to hang them really think some of the things should gel by midseason then hopefully a few of the nay sayers will come back and say know that team did an okay Of course) this is the second Motorsports is ac NASCAR stint for Gordon rom customed to projects like 1991 98 the Cerritos Calif na said Estes We do this in Char five competed in 28 Winston Cup lotte Atlanta Texas and Las races for six car owners Gordon is VfltTQg If what wp (in Brandon Crowe (2 0) took the in for the Volunteers The two will play tomorrow night com pleting a two game series rr 11 ITV IV 1 UNVUIUUI 7 1 vva YY NORTON University of Vir James win over Vir UNC Asheville pitcher load Interdonato earned the win and connected on his third homer of the season 22 race deal with car owner elix Sabates in 1996 97 Gordon tried to speed up his Winston Cup learning curve by participating in a test at BMS last Wednesday While one day of the planned two day test was wiped out due to rain Gordon still got results learned a Gordon said actually brought the same car to test that we took to Atlanta and went home with after qualify ing and I are learning with all our new cars They have differ ent chassis and shock combina tions and different bodies We were pretty happy with the Bris tol test overall We had a 1540 second lap and 1 think Rusty (Wallace) did a 1511 on his quali fying One of the key factors this weekend for all drivers will be adapting to the new tires Good year has produced for the wnef romomkereri fnr niQ qfnrmv rASt PSt Half Mlkfi of the spring in the second inning off left hander Terry Mulholland Cleveland starter Bartolo Colon pitched 6 13 innings and gave up just one run on Keith homer in the seventh Roberto Alomar was 3 for 3 Sexson doubled twice and singled and David Justice had a two run hit for the Indians Notes: Atlanta right hander Rudy Seanez is day to day with a strained muscle in his side Sean ez should resume throwing in the next couple days Kennv Lofton coming back from offseason shoulder surgery will probably either work as a desig nated hitter in a major league game or as a center fielder in a minor league game this weekend manager Charlie Manuel said In other games: Expos 2 Dodgers 0 uneventful Omar Vizquel died Al Jupiter la Carl Pavano out to right field Branyan looked at a called third strike from Rock er John McDonald walked and Richie Sexson grounded out to end the inning replacement Jeff Mc Curry served up three run home KNOXVILLE Chris Burke went 3 for 4 and scored two C0LLEGE BASEBALL runs Wednesday to lead len DnilMDIlP nessee to a 5 2 college baseball KvUlNDlJl victory over Cincinnati the fifth win in a row The Vols are now 22 6 on the year while the Bearcats fell to 15 4 YU: Tennessee jumped out to a first inning lead when Cincinnati pitcher Kenny ields (1 1) sent a wild pitch over Nathan head scoring Burke The Bearcats bounced back Joe Davis led Tus and scored two in the third on an Anthony Snowell single pushing ahead 2 1 However the Vols tied the game in the bottom of the third as Burke hit an RBI single scoring Ryan Case Ten nessee scored one more run in the innnig plus one in the sixth and eighth to seal the win and four relievers combined on a four hitter and Vladimir Guerrero homered and drove in two runs Indians 11 Braves 2 TT Tr i The Associated Press At Winter Haven I la John Rocker got a mixed reaction in his George Lombard reach Mark fly ball Wednesday third nnnrmimnpn nt thp snrina runs to Whiten and Branyan in and 'Jim Thome Whiten Twins 2 Pirates 1 Guzmans bad hop triple led to a eighth and Russell Branyan homered for two run Minnesota first inning Thome hit his fourth home run Cleveland At Bradenton la Cristian and Pittsburgh starter rancisco tRa 'Ji.