Sports in Brief: Stewart ends slump with win in Talladega Posted on October 11th
Tony Stewart snapped his 43-race winless streak yesterday at Talladega Superspeedway, getting the victory when NASCAR ruled Regan Smith drove below the yellow out-of-bounds line to get by Stewart on the final lap at the Alabama track.
NASCAR ruled Smith’s move illegal, and Stewart earned his first win of what has been a frustrating final season at Joe Gibbs Racing.
Earlier, Gibbs driver Denny Hamlin was taken to a Birmingham hospital after a tire failure led to a hard crash. NASCAR said Hamlin was alert and awake but was transported for observation.
Women’s basketball
The Detroit Shock won their third WNBA title in six seasons, beating the San Antonio Silver Stars, 76-60, in Game 3 at Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti, to sweep the best-of-five series.
Katie Smith scored 18 points and was named the MVP of the Finals.
Golf
Paula Creamer beat Song-Hee Kim by a stroke in the LPGA Tour’s 22-player Samsung World Championship, closing with a 3-under 69 for a 279 total on the Ocean Course in Half Moon Bay, Calif.
Kirk Hanefeld of Acton, Mass., made four straight birdies from the 14th to the 17th holes at Toscana Country Club to capture the Senior PGA Pro National Championship in Indian Wells, Calif.
Hanefeld finished with a 4-under-par 68 and 10-under-par 278 total.
George Forster of Blue Bell, Pa., finished 15th after a final round of 68 gave him a total of 287. Cleve Coldwater of Clarks Summit, Pa., shot a 68 to finish at 288. Kerry Mattern of Blue Bell finished at 303.
Dustin Johnson won the Turning Stone Resort Championship for his first PGA Tour title, holing an eight-foot birdie putt on the final hole for a 3-under 69 and a 1-stroke victory over Robert Allenby in Verona, N.Y.
Sweden’s Robert Karlsson won the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship with a birdie on the first hole of a playoff with England’s Ross Fisher and Germany’s Martin Kaymer in the European Tour event at St. Andrews, Scotland.
Noteworthy
Michael Harrington atoned for a first-half mistake with a second-half goal, salvaging a 1-1 MLS tie for the Kansas City Wizards against the visiting Chicago Fire in soccer.
No. 1 Jelena Jankovic won her second tennis title in two weeks, defeating Nadia Petrova of Russia, 6-4, 6-3, in the final of the Porsche Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Germany.
Zarkava won the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe in Longchamps, France, with a powerful stretch run and became the first filly in 15 years to capture the race.