A roundup of the week Aug. 15-21
AUTO RACING—DAVID PEARSON, driving a Mercury, won the $84,000 Yankee 400 stock car race in Cambridge Junction, Mich. after a bumper-to-bumper duel with Bobby Allison over the last 50 miles.
BILLIARDS—JEAN BALUKAS, 13, of Brooklyn, took the women's title and 27-year-old New Jersey schoolteacher STEVE MIZERAK the men's in the seventh U.S. Open Pocket Billiards Championships in Chicago (page 22).
CHESS—BOBBY FISCHER of the United Stales moved closer to the world championship by drawing three games with defending titlist Boris Spassky of the U.S.S.R. The score after 16 games in Reykjavik, Iceland, was 9½-6½, with Fischer needing only three points in eight games to win.
GOLF—BRUCE DEVLIN of Australia shot a closing-round 69 to win the $200,000 USI Classic in Sutton, Mass. Devlin's 13-under-par 275 beat Lee Elder by three strokes.
Mary Budke, an 18-year-old sophomore at Oregon State University, scored a 5 and 4 victory over Cynthia Hill of St. Petersburg, Fla. in the 36-hole final of the U.S. Women's Amateur championship. Defending champ Laura Baugh was defeated in the quarterfinals (page 72).
HARNESS RACING—SUPER BOWL, Stanley Dancer's Hambletonian favorite, won both heats of the $21,970 Review Futurity Trot over Billy Haughton's Spartan Hanover at the Illinois State Fair in Springfield. The bay colt was timed in 1:59[4/5] and 1:59[3/5].
Herve Filion drove NANSEMOND ($16) to a three-length upset victory over millionaire pacer Albatross in the $44,450 Suburban Downs Pacing Derby at Hawthorne Raceway in Cicero, Ill.
Armbro Nesbit ($3), driven by Canadian lumberman Duncan McDonald, scored a three-quarter-length victory over Joe O'Brien's Steady Airliner with a time of 1:59[4/5] in the first division of the $24,985 Lawrence B. Sheppard Pace at Yonkers Raceway. The second leg was won by VALIANT BRET, driven by John Chapman.
HORSE RACING—KEY TO THE MINT ($3), with Braulio Baeza aboard, caught Tentam a 16th of a mile from the wire and won the $111,000 Travers Stakes for 3-year-olds at Saratoga. The victory, key to the Mint's sixth in 10 starts, occurred before a crowd of 30,022, the largest in Saratoga's 108-year history.
Roberto, a 3-year-old 12-to-1 shot also ridden by Baeza, won the $125,000 Gold Cup in York, England, foiling Brigadier Gerard's bid for a 16th straight victory. Owned by Pittsburgh Pirate President John Galbreath and named after Roberto Clemente, the colt set a course record of 2:07[1/5] for the 1[5/16] miles and won by three lengths.
Assagai Jr. ($10.60), with Joe Imparato up, took the $111,340 Sapling Stakes for 2-year-olds at Monmouth Park, N.J. Favored Little Big Chief finished second in the six furlong race, two lengths back.
PRO FOOTBALL—OAKLAND shut out Baltimore 16-0 behind George Blanda's three field goals and lefty Ken Stabler's eight-yard pass to Fred Biletnikolf. The Colts, who failed to score a touchdown for the second consecutive week, gave the NFL its first taste of the Wishbone offense with rookie Quarterback Jack Mildren sending the team on a 45-yard drive in the fourth quarter. Later in the week the unbeaten Raiders picked on Los Angeles 34-9 as Stabler and Daryle Lamonica completed 20 of 39 passes. The harassing DALLAS defense set up 17 of the Cowboys' points in a 30-7 win over the Saints before a record preseason crowd of 81,070 in Tulane Stadium. WASHINGTON rolled over Philadelphia 34-10, and has now out-scored three opponents 108-13. PITTSBURGH, the NFL's fourth undefeated team in preseason play, received help from Quarterback Terry Hanratty when starter Terry Bradshaw was knocked out of the game with a slight injury for the third straight week. The Steelers defeated Atlanta 31-17 with Rookie Franco Harris racing 76 yards for a touchdown. BUFFALO'S Dennis Shaw was not bothered by Minnesota's Purple Gang, throwing for three touchdowns en route to a surprising 21-10 victory. O.J. Simpson demonstrated the effectiveness of Coach Lou Saban's "new look" offense by rushing for 68 yards. SAN DIEGO, still playing without recalcitrant Duane Thomas, eased by San Francisco 17-16 when Quarterback John Hadl marched the Chargers 66 yards and tossed a three-yard touchdown pass to Jerry Levias with 56 seconds left. MIAMI defeated Cincinnati 35-17 as Bob Griese connected for three scores, two to Paul Warfield. Tim Van Galder, a three-year member of the ST. LOUIS taxi squad, replaced Quarterback Gary Cuozzo after the Cardinals' scoreless first half and led them to a 17-13 win over Denver. HOUSTON scored 10 points before Green Bay ran an offensive play and the Oilers came away with a 20-3 victory. Chicago looked as if it would do the same to NEW ENGLAND, scoring on a 92-yard pass from Bobby Douglass to Earl Thomas in the first 34 seconds. But Patriot Quarterback Jim Plunkett was in control the rest of the way, completing 17 of 28 passes for two touchdowns to beat the Bears 27-17. The Giants and Jets decided nothing in a wide-open 31-31 tie in the Yale Bowl. DETROIT sent Cleveland reeling to its third defeat in 16 days 34-7.
SOCCER—The DALLAS Tornado, North American Soccer League champion, and the MOSCOW Dynamo, champion of the U.S.S.R., played to a 0-0 tie in Texas Stadium in Dallas, marking the first appearance of a Russian team in the United States. Dynamo will play three more games on its American tour.
TENNIS—EVONNE GOOLAGONG of Australia breezed through a final match with Virginia Wade of Great Britain 6-3, 6-1, to win the women's singles title at the Canadian Open championships. ILIE NASTASE of Rumania beat Andrew Pattison of Rhodesia 6-4, 6-3, in the men's finals.
John Newcombe won over Ken Rosewall 5-7, 1-6, 7-5, 6-4, 6-4 in the finals of the $50,000 Colonial National tournament.
Nancy Richey Gunter of San Angelo, Texas defeated Billie Jean King of Palm-Aire. Fla. 1-6, 6-4, 6-3 in the finals of the $25,000 Virginia Slims Denver International.
MILEPOSTS—RESTRAINED: From leaving the Boston Bruins at least until Oct. 1, when current NHL contracts expire, Center DEREK SANDERSON and Goalie GERRY CHEEVERS, who recently signed with the Philadelphia Blazers and the Cleveland Crusaders of the WHA, by a U.S. District Court in Boston. Philadelphia countered with a suit on behalf of the new league, asking that the NHL's reserve clause be declared invalid.
SIGNED: To a new four-year contract worth a reported $2.5 million, KAREEM ABDUL-JABBAR, squelching rumors that the 7'2" center would leave the Milwaukee Bucks when his contract ran out following the 1972-73 season.
SUSPENDED: From postseason competition for one year as a result of recruiting violations, the UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS football, basketball and track teams and the DUKE UNIVERSITY basketball team, by the NCAA policy-making council. In addition Kansas' football team was barred from appearing on television, Eastern Michigan University was censured for recruiting infractions and the indefinite suspension placed on the University of California in 1971 was set to last until February 1973.
