Penalty helps Wilson win

Rookie Justin Wilson raced to his first IndyCar Series victory Sunday, edging Helio Castroneves in the Detroit Indy Grand Prix.

Castroneves led for the majority of the road race on the Belle Isle course but was penalized for blocking Wilson and was forced by rule to relinquish the lead with fewer than 20 laps to go.

Brian Barnhart, IndyCar Series president of competition and operations, said of the ruling: “We did what we did because it was a pretty easy call. [Wilson] had a tremendous run out of Turn 12, and Helio crossed over almost the entire width of the track to impede the progress of the car behind him.”

Series points leader Scott Dixon finished fifth. He needs to finish eighth or better next week to win his second title and first since his rookie year of 2003.

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Cruz Pedregon won the U.S. Smokeless Showdown for the first time at the Mac Tools U.S. Nationals at Clermont, Ind., beating Tim Wilkerson to earn $100,000 in the annual bonus race for funny cars. He finished in 4.184 seconds to Wilkerson’s 4.280. Cruz celebrated alongside brother Tony Pedregon, who became the No. 1 qualifier in funny car at the 18th and final regular-season event in the 24-race NHRA Powerade Series season. Larry Dixon (top fuel), Allen Johnson (pro stock) and Matt Smith (pro stock motorcycle) also topped their divisions.

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VOLLEYBALL

Walsh, May-Treanor lose in final

Olympic beach volleyball stars Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh lost for the first time in more than a year, dropping a 21-19, 10-21, 25-23 decision to Elaine Youngs and Nicole Branagh in The AVP Crocs Cup Shootout at Mason, Ohio.

The final took 1 hour 45 minutes, making it the second-longest women’s match in AVP history, missing the record by one minute. May-Treanor and Walsh dropped to 10-2 in finals against Branagh and Youngs. With the loss, the two-time Olympic champions’ winning streak ended at 112 matches and 19 titles. They last lost on Aug. 19, 2007, also to Branagh and Youngs.

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MISCELLANY

Powell, Gay prevail at British meet

Asafa Powell of Jamaica won the 100 meters in 9.87 seconds at the British Grand Prix track and field meet at Gateshead, England. Tyson Gay won the 200 in 20.26, showing no signs of the hamstring problems that bothered him at the U.S. trials and left him out of the Beijing Olympics’ 100 final. Lauryn Williams won the women’s 100 and 200. In the 100, she finished in 11.24 seconds, beating Olympic champion Shelly-Ann Fraser of Jamaica by 0.05 of a second. Bernard Lagat won the 1,000 in a personal best 2:16.18.

Tyler Hamilton edged Blake Caldwell by 0.002 of a second to win the USA Cycling Professional Road Race championship at Greenville, S.C. Hamilton and Caldwell finished in 4 hours 38 minutes 19 seconds.