Auto Racing
Mike Conway nabs a win and a pole to start IndyCar dual
DETROIT – Mike Conway won the first of two races at the Detroit Grand Prix, showing he’s well suited for road racing after deciding he’s uncomfortable on ovals.
The English driver finished nearly 13 seconds ahead of Ryan Hunter-Reay on Saturday to easily win the 70-lap race on the 2.36-mile Belle Isle street course.
Conway’s Dale Coyne Racing teammate, Justin Wilson, was third, Scott Dixon was fourth and Helio Castroneves fifth.
IndyCar is running a second, full-length race in the same weekend for the first time today when Conway will start up front for the first time in his career.
Conway also earned the top spot in qualifying Saturday morning with a lap of 1:18.0977 on Belle Isle’s 2.36-mile street course. He previously qualified second twice in four-plus seasons in the series. It was also Dale Coyne Racing’s first pole.
Conway qualified third for Saturday’s race.
Dale Coyne Racing picked Conway to drive this weekend. In Conway’s only other race this year, he qualified fifth and finished 25th at Long Beach for Bobby Rahal.
Joey Logano wins third in a row at Dover Nationwide
DOVER, Del. – Joey Logano led the final 34 laps to win the Nationwide Series race Saturday at Dover International Speedway.
Logano has won the last three Nationwide races at Dover.
Unlike the last two, Logano won for Penske Racing. His last two Dover victories came with Joe Gibbs Racing. This time, Logano held off JGR drivers Brian Vickers, Matt Kenseth and Kyle Busch for the checkered flag.
Busch, who won the Truck Series race Friday, dominated most of the race and led 72 of the 200 laps. But he was 10th off the final restart, couldn’t drive his way to the front of the field and was fifth
Vickers was second, Kenseth third and Trevor Bayne fourth.
Logano raced to his first Nationwide victory of the season after winning nine times last year.
Golf
Tiger Woods flames out with worst-ever nine-hole score
DUBLIN, Ohio – Tiger Woods called it “a rough day” in the wind at the Memorial.
Woods posted his highest nine-hole score as a professional when he shot an 8-over 44 on the back nine during Saturday’s third round at Muirfield Village.
After starting his round on the 10th hole, he made two double bogeys, a triple bogey and a bogey on his first nine without a birdie. He regrouped to birdie two holes on the front side but closed with a bogey for a 79 that left him at 8-over 224 and near the bottom of the 73-player field.
His previous worst nine-hole score was a 43 on three occasions, most recently at Quail Hollow in 2010.
NBA
‘Mookie’ Blaylock improves after Friday’s head-on crash
ATLANTA – Former NBA All-Star guard Daron “Mookie” Blaylock was upgraded to serious condition at an Atlanta hospital Saturday, a day after his SUV crashed head-on into a van and killed a woman.
Atlanta Medical Center spokeswoman Nicole Gustin confirmed that the 46-year-old Blaylock’s condition had improved since he was airlifted to the hospital. Police said the former Atlanta Hawks player initially was placed on life support and was in critical condition late Friday even after he was taken off of it.
Blaylock was driving in neighboring Jonesboro Friday afternoon when he crashed, said Clayton County police spokesman Clarence Cox. Police said his SUV crossed the center line and slammed into an oncoming van.
A passenger in the van, 43-year-old Monica Murphy, died Friday night, Jonesboro Police Chief Franklin Allen said.
Allen told WSB-TV in Atlanta that Blaylock has had “a history of seizures,” and police were trying to find out if a seizure may have led to the accident.
Blaylock was a first-round draft pick by the New Jersey Nets out of Oklahoma in 1989.
Associated Press
