Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 17

Section Senior Players Championship course no problem for Geiberger. 7C. Monday, June 8, 1992 George Puscas, Page 2 Baseball, Pages 6, 7 Scoreboard, Page 8 Scores: 1-900-370-0990, Sports: 222-6660 Detroit 4frce Pre GOLF fie 1992 Detroit Grand Prix Bulls, Blazers tied, 1-1 All games on NBC (Channel 4 in Detroit) and WWJ-AM (950). "in 1(0) die GAME RESULT Game 1 Bulls 122, Blazers 89 Game 2 Blazers 115, Bulls 104 (OT) Game 3 at Portland, inc. DATE SITE TIME Wednesday Portland 9:00 Friday Portland 9:00 Sunday Chicago 7:00 June 17 Chicago 9:00 If necessary Vf 4t fa- From limbo, Whatley returns Once Jordan mate, he sits for Portland i mi 1 J'''' Pm mu- Z3k AL KAMUDADetroit Free Press Michael Andretti gets a push from a track worker after spinning out on Lap 76 while in pursuit of eventual winner Bobby Rahal.

Andretti got going again but finished fourth. Andretti loses game of cat and mouse, finishes fourth Top finishers It was raining on Michael Andretti. It was that kind of day. He had started first, finished fourth, hit two cars and every curb on the new Belle Isle Grand Prix course, and now he was in his pits, having to explain what went wrong, and as he spoke the rain began to pelt him. It was typical of his racing season and his weekend.

He said something Friday that he I 1 t3 POS. DRIVER 1. Bobby Rahal 2. Raul Boesel 3. Stefan Johansson 4.

Michael Andretti 5. Danny Sullivan 6. Teo Fabi 7. Eric Bachelart 8. Emerson Fittipaldl 9.

Al Unser Jr. 10. Brian Bonner CHARLIE Vincent MARY SCHROEDERDetroit Free Press Third-place finisher Stefan Johansson stands clear as Bobby Rahal pops his cork on the victory stand Sunday afternoon on Belle Isle. Bobby wins debut race on island by Steve Crowe Free Press Sports Writer He has successfully braved Belle Isle. Now another theme park awaits IndyCar Series leader Bobby Rahal.

"I'm going to Disney World!" Rahal proclaimed with a mustachioed smile after winning Sunday's Detroit Grand Prix, his second victory this year. Rahal, 39, prevailed by allowing the race's pace-setters series newcomer Paul Tracy, 23, and pole winner Michael Andretti, 29 to take themselves out of contention on the 57th of 77 laps. Two days earlier, Andretti citing the track's limited passing possibilities disdainfully described it as "like Disneyland it's really Mickey Mouse." But exiting Turn 9 of Lap 57 on the rear wing of Tracy's Penske-Chevro-let, Andretti's Lola-Ford Cosworth was snared in Rahal's better mousetrap. With Rahal lagging a few seconds behind the race-leading pair and Andretti attempting to pass their wheels touched, sending both drifting to single-file scrapes with the outside guardrail. The inside opening essentially slingshot Rahal's Lola-Chevrolet into a lead it would not relinquish.

"All (Tracy) did was just take himself and Michael out, and there was my chance," said Rahal, whose 22nd career Indy-car victory ties him for 19th on the all-time list with Michael Andretti. "I didn't even think about the risk. See Grand Prix, Page 4C wished he hadn said. He called this track "Mickey Mouse" and said the layout didn't make any sense, and when his comments showed up in Sat-urday's Free Press, his publicist issued a damage-control release that said the comment was "a passing remark, made in Free Press Wire Reports PORTLAND, Ore. Portland isn't the only NBA team that passed on a Clyde Drexler-Michael Jordan back-court pairing.

The Trail Blazers have taken a lot of heat for drafting Sam Bowie instead of Jordan with the second pick in 1984. The Chicago Bulls, selecting third, had a superstar thrust upon them. Jordan's backcourt partner in his first pro game was Ennis Whatley, who Chicago drafted at 13th overall the previous year. Who was drafted 14th in 1983? Clyde Drexler. "It's funny how that worked out," said Whatley, now Drexler's teammate.

Jordan and Drexler went against each other again Sunday in Game 3 of the NBA Finals. The series was tied at one game apiece. That Whatley has resurfaced to play for any NBA team is an upset. Whatley left Alabama after his sophomore year and was 20 when he joined the Bulls for the 1983-84 season. There, the 6-foot-3 guard got in with what he calls "a fast crowd." Teammates included Mitchell Wiggins, Quintin Dailey and Orlando Wool-ridge, all of whom had substance abuse problems.

Whatley fell into the trap, too, even as he put up some impressive numbers for the Bulls. He averaged 8.3 assists in 1983-84, second best in club history. He led the team in steals and set a record for assists in a quarter (nine) that still stands. Jordan arrived in 1984 and the Bulls thought they had a backcourt that would carry them into the next decade. But Whatley was carried away by external pressures and played only one more season with Chicago.

"It's a shame the way I wasted the early part of my career," he said. "It doesn't seem that long ago to me. The See NBA FINALS, Page 3C Inside Paul Tracy more than holds his own. Notebook, Page 4C. Stefan Johansson charges into third.

Page 4C. Grosse Pointe's Buhl can't catch Fernandez. Page 5C. turn track. If he had been right, he would have won Sunday, because he started on the pole.

But he was only almost right. In 77 laps, 161.7 miles, only two passes meant anything. Unfortunately for Andretti, he was the passee both times. On the 38th lap, Paul Tracy supped under Andretti in the first turn and took the lead. And 19 laps later, with Andretti and Tracy bouncing off each other and the walls, Bobby Rahal passed both and took the lead for good.

And that in a nutshell was the story of the Detroit Grand Prix. See CHARLIE VINCENT, Page 4C jest blown way out of proportion." Michael Andretti drives a Ford-powered car, sponsored by Kmart. One has world headquarters in Dearborn, the other has world headquarters in Troy. His comments were not good public relations. So he squirmed some, but he never claimed he was misquoted.

"If you had talked to any other driver out here Friday, you would have heard the same thing," he said Sunday. "But I got caught and I've got to pay for it." His complaint was that there was no place to pass on this new 2.1-mile, 14- AL SCHABENDetroit Free Press Rahal's father Mike isn't sure if he wants to watch as son Bobby and Michael Andretti run bumper-to-bumper near the end of Sunday's race. But when it was over Rahal hugs Tara Hogan, wife of Carl Hogan, co-owner of Rahal's race team. lu4 Tigers get short end of long-ball derby, 6-5 1 Courier destroys Korda for second Grand Slam leg i 4 The Tigers and Indians sixth and last, respectively, in the AL East begin a three-game series tonight in Detroit. Both lead the league in losses in which they've scored five or more runs (excludes Twins-Texas Sunday).

Cleveland 11 Boston 5 This morning, it's 4.99. With a 5.00 team ERA, even the Tigers' powerful offense can't score enough to produce a winning record. These six high-scoring, one-run losses underscore that. Sunday's defeat ending a three-game winning streak could be blamed on missed scoring opportunities and some bad luck: Jim Leyrtiz somehow hit the game-winning homer in the fifth inning on a low-and-away pitch. "I sure thought it was a good pitch," said Walt Terrell, who threw it and plunged to 0-7.

But Anderson knew the reality of the game and of the season lay deeper than one New York swing of the bat. Most important, Scott Aldred See TIGERS. Page 7C by John Lowe Free Press Sports Writer NEW YORK Sunday was frustrating from beginning to end as the Tigers lost, 6-5, to New York at Yankee Stadium. The game fell into their most galling and revealing category of defeat: It was their sixth one-run loss in which they scored at least five runs. Their other defeats of this type came by 6-5, 7-6, 7-6, 8-7 and 10-9.

Had the Tigers won those six games, they would be five games above .500 instead of seven below. These defeats bear out the statement that manager Sparky Anderson made after the Tigers finished a 3-6 trip: "You're never going to be at .500 with a 5.00 team ERA. That's totally impossible." The Tigers' ERA has been above 5.00 for allit a few weeks this season. 11 Milwaukee 4 Detroit jump in," Courier said, "so I'll make do." The match was so one-sided lasting only one hour and 59 minutes, 44 minutes shorter that Saturday's women's final that only three questions remain: How nervous was Korda, a 24-year-old Czechoslovak with a scrawny body and spiky hair? What, exactly, did Courier say in French? Can Courier win Wimbledon, the next leg of the Grand Slam? See FRENCH OPEN, Page 10C Free Press Wire Reports PARIS Nothing fancy. Just another typical Jim Courier performance steady, powerful and unbeatable.

Courier wore down a nervous Petr Korda, 7-5, 6-2, 6-1, Sunday to win the French Open for the second straight year, strengthen his grip on the No. 1 ranking and move halfway to a Grand Slam that no man has won since 1969. When Courier won the Australian Open in January, he celebrated by jumping into the Yarra River. This time, he paid a golf-swing tribute to Johnny Carson in a courtside box and gave his acceptance speech in French. "There wasn't anything around to 8 Oakland Seattle Texas 8 Chicago Kansas City 6 California 2 Minnesota 6 Toronto 2 New York 5 Baltimore 2 By John Lowe LAURENT REBOURSAssociated Press French champ Jim Courier says, "It's just nice to have your name stenciled on something that beautiful.".