Santa Monica’s Kendall Streaks to SCCA Record

Tom Kendall of Santa Monica led every lap of the Serengeti Eyewear Trans-Am Classic at Watkins Glen International, N.Y., on Saturday to earn a record ninth consecutive Sports Car Club of America victory.

Kendall, 30, unbeaten in 1997 in the SCCA’s top division, broke the record of eight consecutive Trans-Am victories set in 1968 by the late Mark Donohue. Donohue, who drove a Penske Camaro, won 10 of 13 races on the way to the championship that season.

“What can I say?” Kendall said. “It’s staggering. The most wins I had ever had in a season before this year was six.”

Kendall, driving a Ford Mustang Cobra, started from the pole and never lost the lead. He averaged 71.475 mph on the 2.45-mile, 11-turn road course, defeating Paul Gentilozzi and his Chevrolet Camaro by 0.985-seconds--about eight car lengths.

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Struggling with his new racing team, defending Formula One champion Damon Hill was pleased to qualify third for the Hungarian Grand Prix in Budapest after Michael Schumacher and Jacques Villeneuve got the top two spots.

Hill switched to the new Arrows-Yamaha team when his former team owner Frank Williams refused to give him a large raise.

Hill failed to finish his first six races with his new racing team. He won 21 races, including eight in 1996, driving for Williams-Renaults.

“When you have what is the best car, you do what is expected of you,” Hill said. “But when you have what is perceived as not the best car, to get third is all the more satisfying.”

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Ron Hornaday of Palmdale became the winningest driver in the three-year history of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series with a victory over Joe Ruttman and Rich Bickle in the Stevens Beil 200 at Flemington (N.J.) Speedway.

Hornaday averaged 98.232 mph on the resurfaced 5/8-mile oval and won by a half a second. His seventh victory of the season and 17th overall was worth $35,925.

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Bryan Herta maintained the pole position for today’s Miller 200 at Lexington, Ohio, when the next five qualifiers failed to improve their times on Saturday.

Defending champion and season points leader Alex Zanardi qualified second and Greg Moore was third.

Herta, driving a Reynard-Ford, set a fast lap of 122.649 mph Friday on the 13-turn, 2 1/4-mile road course. He broke the mark of 122.100 set by Zanardi last year.

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Ted Christopher, driving a Chevrolet, averaged 66.184 mph to win his second NASCAR Busch North Series stock car race in the Burnham Boilers 150 at Watkins Glen, N.Y.

Christopher defeated Kim Baker by 2.6 seconds to win $21,525.

Tennis

Pete Sampras had six aces, including one at 120 mph for match point, to defeat 14th-seeded Albert Costa of Spain, 6-3, 6-4, in the semifinals of the $2.3 million ATP Championship at Mason, Ohio.

Basketball

Chad Austin of Purdue made his only shot--a three-point basket with 3 minutes 54 seconds remaining--to keep the United States ahead during a 71-66 victory over Lithuania in the 22-and-under world tournament at Melbourne, Australia. The U.S. team improved to 5-2 and will play Turkey today in the fifth-place game. Pat Garrity of Notre Dame led the U.S. with 16 points.

Puerto Rico will meet Australia in the championship game. Former Massachusetts guard Carmelo Travieso scored 20 points, making six of his 11 three-point shots, as Puerto Rico rallied from a 15-point deficit to defeat Yugoslavia, 75-70. Australian guard Aaron Trahair made a three-point shot at the buzzer for a 71-68 victory over Argentina.

Miscellany

Irish swimmer Michelle Smith, who won three gold medals at the Atlanta Olympics, set the European short-course record in the 200-meter butterfly with a time of 2:07.04, breaking the old mark of 2:07.18.

Olaf Stenhammar, the head of Stockholm’s troubled bid for the 2004 Olympics, accused leaders of the rival Rome bid of trying to take political advantage of the bombing of Stockholm’s Olympic stadium.

Stockholm bid chief Olaf Stenhammar suggested that Italian Primo Nebiolo had ulterior motives when he sent a sympathy letter following the bomb attack Friday.

Said Stenhammar: “Sympathy is all right. But if the sympathy still is a way to link these deeds to the bid, then we don’t want to have any sympathy. That’s just efforts to disturb the bid.”