Auto racing
Busch wins 12th of season, Dillon holds on to lead
AVONDALE, Ariz. – Kyle Busch raced to his 12th NASCAR Nationwide Series victory of the year, and Austin Dillon maintained his hold on the championship lead with a third-place finish at Phoenix International Raceway.
Justin Allgaier passed Dillon on the last lap Saturday for second place, and it cost Dillon a point in the standings. Dillon will take an eight-point lead over Sam Hornish Jr. into next week’s season finale at Homestead.
Hornish finished fifth.
Busch, meanwhile, needs a win at Homestead to match his career best 13-win 2010 season. He has a record 63 victories in the series.
olympics
Olympic torch takes a spacewalk for the first time
MOSCOW – An Olympic torch took a spacewalk for the first time Saturday, carefully held by two Russian cosmonauts outside the International Space Station as it orbited some 260 miles above Earth.
Video streamed by NASA showed Oleg Kotov and Sergei Ryazanskiy carrying the unlit torch of the Sochi games, which bobbed weightlessly at the end of a tether in a darkness dotted by stars.
The two gingerly maneuvered to take photos of the torch against the background of the planet, the orb’s edge glowing with sunrise.
They then returned it to the space station before continuing with other tasks on a spacewalk that was to last about six hours, including attaching a footrest and a camera platform to the exterior of the orbiting laboratory.
The torch was launched into space from the Russian-operated Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Thursday morning. It will return to Earth with a three-man crew on Monday.
The Olympic torch was taken aboard the U.S. space shuttle Atlantis in 1996 for the Atlanta Summer Olympics, but this is the first it time it has been taken outside a spacecraft.
college basketball
Indiana State honors Larry Bird with bronze statue
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – Indiana State University officials unveiled a bronze statue of, what they call, the school’s most famous alum.
The statue of former Sycamores basketball star Larry Bird stands just over 17-feet tall. The statue of Bird, wearing a Sycamores jersey, is in the middle of a jump shot, reminding fans of the greatest years in Sycamores’ basketball.
Members of Indiana State’s 1979 NCAA national runner-up team along with several of Bird’s Boston Celtics teammates attended a dedication ceremony Saturday morning outside the Hulman Center.
golf
Despite three late bogeys, Woods remains in contention
ANTALAYA, Turkey – Victor Dubuisson of France opened up a five-shot lead after the third round at the Turkish Airlines Open on Saturday, while Tiger Woods kept himself in the mix despite three bogeys on the back nine.
Dubuisson opened with four consecutive birdies and added five more in a bogey-free 9-under 63. He moved to 21-under 195 to distance himself from the field. Ian Poulter was alone in second after a 68, while Woods and Henrik Stensson (69) were among four players sitting another shot back.
Birdies on final hole leave Baird, Kirk tied for lead
ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. – Making par from a tough lie in the bunker saved Briny Baird’s round. Closing with three consecutive birdies gave him a share of the lead. None of that will make Sunday any easier for a 41-year-old who has never won in 364 tries on the PGA Tour.
Baird and Chris Kirk each made birdie on the final hole Saturday to separate themselves – but not my much – in the McGladrey Classic. They were one shot clear of three others, with a dozen players separated by 12 shots going into the final round at Sea Island.
Associated Press
