Section B·Page 8
The University Daily Kansan
Monday, April 6, 1998
Roush team is Texas giant
The Associated Press
FORT WORTH, Texas — Mark Martin always will have a special relationship with the Texas Motor Speedway. After all, he was the first driver to drive on the track before it was completed. Then he won the track's first NASCAR race.
Yesterday, Martin's bond became stronger as he won the Winston Cup Texas 500, leading Jack Roush Racing teammate Chad Little to the finish line.
Martin was among the top four drivers for nearly 100 laps before taking the lead with 30 laps remaining. Martin never looked back en route to the 24th win of his career and his second win this season.
"I paced myself all day long. Sure enough, the complexion of the race changed just when we thought it would," said Martin, the winner of last year's Busch Grand National Coca-Cola 300 at the track.
NASCAR
Martin received $356,850 for the victory and moved from seventh to fourth in the points race, 57 behind Rusty Wallace, who maintained his lead despite finishing 12th.
For Little, the second-place finish
was the best of his 128-start career.
He led for 26 laps before he was overtaken by Martin on the 305th lap.
Robert Pressley was third. Joe Nemechek was fourth and Johnny Benson — another Roush driver — was fifth. Jeff Gordon ended his run of nine straight top-20 finishes. He was one of 10 cars banged up in a series of collisions on the second lap that delayed the race by 33 minutes.
The wreck was another setback for a track that has had more than its share in its brief history.
Just this week, drivers complained that the exit to turn four of the 11/2 mile oval was still too tight despite $517,000 worth of improvements. A bump midway through the turn was called a crater, and water seepage in turn one delayed qualifying and forced Saturday's "happy hour" to be scrubbed.
But the race went pretty smoothly after that. There were seven cautions for 43 laps, down from the 10 yellows for 73 laps in last year's event.
There was one new problem yesterday. Something on the track caused right-side damage to several cars, most notably pole-sitter Jeremy Mayfield and defending champion Jeff Burton. Both were knocked out of the lead because of right-side tire problems.
"I thought we had the two best cars, and neither of us will get a chance to show what we really had, unfortunately," Burton said.
The second-lap crash occurred in almost the same spot where a first-lap crash last year banged up 13 cars.
This year's problems began when Gary Bradberry drifted low, prompting other drivers to ease up for fear of problems. John Andretti plowed into Rick Mast first, triggering a series of spinouts. Andretti and Mast were knocked out for the day, as was Ernie Ivan.
"When you have a one-groove race track and somebody gets cross up, when they're all bunched up the first lap or two of a race, there's going to be a big wreck," Mast said. "It's just unfortunate that two years in a row it's had to happen to us here."
Associated Press
STONE MOUNTAIN, Ga. The United States ended its Davis Cup losing streak in doubles Sunday, but not fast enough to keep the Russians from extending the series another day.
U.S. ends doubles losing streak
Richey Reneberg and Todd Martin, paired for the first time in the Davis Cup, overpowered Russian star Yevgyen Kafelnikov and 18-year-old Marat Safin 7-6, 6-1, 2-6, 6-1, giving the Americans a 2-1 lead in the best-of-5 event.
Since the match exceeded 30 games, the Russians decided to play the reverse singles Monday. Kafelnikov will meet Andre Agassi and Safin takes on Jim Courier at Stone Mountain's International Tennis Center in suburban Atlanta.
The Americans had not won a Davis Cup doubles match since a first-round triumph against Mexico in 1996.
"It's obviously a monkey off
everyone's back," said captain Tom Gullikson, whose team has a 6-8 doubles record during his tenure. "It makes tomorrow seem like a much better chance for us with Agassi going first, then Courier backing him up. It gives that all-important 2-1 lead."
The Russians used Safin on Sunday instead of doubles specialist Andrei Olhovskyi, who reportedly still is suffering complications from knee surgery two months ago.
Kafelnikov is a top 10 doubles player, but he didn't get much help from his teen-aged teammate.
The Americans focused most of their attention on Safin, who grew frustrated as he was pounded with volleys by both Americans. Kafelnikov tried to encourage his teammate, repeatedly patting him on the back and offering advice, but Safin was in over his head.
"We knew that we might be able to win some points with him
at the net." Reneberg said. "That kind of became our strategy early on, try to go at him quite a bit, even off Yevgeny's serves, put a little pressure on him. He got discouraged."
The Russian strategy became clear after they lost the first set in a 7-tie breaker — Kafelnikov making a couple of unforced errors—and were blown away in the second. They simply wanted to get to 30 games, knowing a match of that duration would allow their players to take an extra day of rest under Davis Cup rules.
When the Russians won the fourth game of the third set, assuring the match would go another day, Kafelinnik pumped his fist toward captain Shamil Tarpischev. The Russians went on to capture the play, but played the fourth like they already were looking ahead to Monday.
"It was obviously cut and dried before they went on the court," said Alan Mills, referee for the International Tennis Federation.
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