Auto Racing
Kyle Busch wins at Bristol – his 16th win in Tennessee
BRISTOL, Tenn. – Kyle Busch got his 16th career win at Bristol Motor Speedway – more than any other NASCAR driver at any other track – by holding off Kyle Larson after a late restart in Saturday’s Nationwide Series race.
Busch now has won three consecutive Nationwide Series races at Bristol since last March, when he and Larson also went 1-2 to the finish.
Of his 16 national wins at Bristol, five are in the Sprint Cup Series, seven are Nationwide and four are in the Truck Series.
Busch now has 65 career Nationwide Series wins.
Basketball
USA women learn their draw for world championships
The U.S. women’s national team will face a pair of newcomers and China in the opening round of the basketball world championship in Turkey this fall.
The Americans, who won the 2010 worlds in the Czech Republic, were placed with Angola, China and Serbia in Group D of Saturday’s draw. Angola and Serbia are competing for the first time at worlds. Angola finished 12th at the London Olympics.
The Americans are 4-0 against China at worlds.
The Americans most likely won’t announce their roster for worlds – Sept. 27-Oct. 5 – until late summer.
Cycling
Betancur leads Paris-Nice; Contador wins Tirreno stage
BIOT SOPHIA ANTIPOLIS, France – Tom Jelte Slagter of the Netherlands won the seventh stage of the Paris-Nice race Saturday, while Colombian rider Carlos Betancur retained the overall lead heading into the final day.
CITTAREALE, Italy – Alberto Contador won the grueling fourth stage of the Tirreno-Adriatico race to close the gap on overall leader Michal Kwiatkowski to 16 seconds Saturday.
Soccer
A questionable call gives Rapids a 1-1 draw in debut
HARRISON, N.J. – With replacement referees handling the games, there was bound to be some controversy in Major League Soccer this season.
It happened in Week 2.
Vicente Sanchez scored on a penalty kick in the 72nd minute after a questionable decision by the substitute referee, and the Colorado Rapids and new head coach Pablo Mastroeni opened their season with a 1-1 tie with the New York Red Bulls on Saturday.
The substitute referees are working the games because the Professional Referee Organization, which manages on-field officials for Major League Soccer, has locked out officials from the Professional Soccer Referees Association. The two sides have failed to reach agreement on a contract after the officials formed a union last year.
World Cup Skiing
Hirscher wins an overall title; Ligety, Shiffrin score wins
LENZERHEIDE, Switzerland – Marcel Hirscher and Ted Ligety ensured the standout Austria and United States teams both emerged winners on a thrilling Saturday at Alpine skiing’s World Cup Finals.
Hirscher scored enough points by finishing fourth in a dramatic giant slalom to clinch the sport’s most prestigious prize, the overall World Cup title, for a third consecutive season.
Ligety, however, won the race and their duel for the season-long discipline trophy, which the Olympic champion lifted for a fifth time.
Before the men’s race instantly entered World Cup lore, Olympic champion Mikaela Shiffrin of the U.S. ended an exceptional slalom season in a class of her own. Two days after her 19th birthday, Shiffrin got her fifth World Cup win this season by a huge 1.44-second margin.
Austria ends the World Cup season with a first overall title double for the Alpine nation since 2002. Hirscher’s third win followed Anna Fenninger’s title. The U.S. was the last nation to sweep the World Cup titles, in 2008, with Bode Miller and Lindsey Vonn.
Associated Press
