A roundup of the week Aug. 6-12
BOWLING—WAYNE WEBB of Rehoboth, Mass. defeated Jimmy Certain of Huntsville, Ala. 212-203 in the final match to win the $70,000 Waukegan (Ill.) PBA tournament.
HARNESS RACING—DOUBLEMINT ($4.80), driven by Peter Haughton, won the $200,000 International Trot at Roosevelt by 1½ lengths over Sweden's Express Gaxe. The 4-year-old was timed in 2:38[3/5] for the 1¼ miles.
Hot Hitter ($8), Herve Filion in the sulky, won the $150,000 Adios Pace at The Meadows by 3¼ lengths over General Star. The 3-year-old was timed in 1:57.
HORSE RACING—IT'S IN THE AIR ($8.20), ridden by Jeffrey Fell, won the $108,300 Alabama Stakes at Saratoga by 1½ lengths over favored Davona Dale. The 3-year-old filly's time for the 1¼ miles was 2:01[2/5].
MOTOR SPORTS—ALAN JONES of Australia, driving a Williams racer, won the Austrian Grand Prix in Zeltweg by 76 seconds over Gilles Villeneuve of Canada, who drove a Ferrari. Jones averaged 219.706 mph on the 3.672-mile course.
Kenny Roberts of Modesto, Calif. won the British Grand Prix for 500 cc motorcycles, at Silverstone, to come within one point of his second straight world title (page 56).
SOCCER—NASL: On the last day of the league's regular season, the winners of two playoff berths—one each in the National and American conferences—still remained to be decided. Four teams, Rochester and Toronto in the NSC, and Philadelphia and New England in the ASC, still had postseason aspirations. One game decided the fates of all four. With Peter Lorimer scoring a goal and two assists, Toronto beat Philadelphia 4-3 and thereby earned the right to meet New York in the first round of the National Conference playoffs. Toronto's win also eliminated idle Rochester (15-15) from a berth in the National Conference playoffs against the Cosmos. Minnesota, which will face Tulsa in the first round, beat Detroit 5-3 in Bloomington, but the three goals by the Express, assured them, on the basis of points scored this season, of a playoff date with ASC East champion Tampa Bay. Vancouver defeated San Jose 1-0 in overtime to clinch first place in the NSC West. Trevor Whymark scored the game-winner for the White-caps in the 11th minute of the extra period. Vancouver tuned up for its playoff series with Dallas with a 2-1 victory over Seattle. Washington, which dropped a 4-0 decision to Atlanta, will meet Los Angeles in the opening round. The Aztecs routed Seattle 7-1, with Chris Dangerfield getting his first NASL hat trick and Johan Cruyff adding a pair of goals and two assists. In a possible preview of Soccer Bowl '79, the Cosmos edged Tampa Bay 4-3. Giorgio Chinaglia had a goal for the Cosmos at 12:30 in the first half, but left the game when he aggravated a groin injury he suffered two weeks ago. Houston boosted its record in the Astrodome to 15-0 with a 3-1 defeat of Tulsa. Chicago, which will face the Strikers in the first round at Chicago, beat them 2-0 in Chicago and followed up that victory with a 2-0 home triumph over Atlanta. The Strikers recovered to defeat Philadelphia 4-1 on Cubillas' two goals and an assist. San Diego and California, teams with identical won-loss and total-point records in the ASC West, will play each other in the first round at California. San Diego was declared the division champion because its goal difference was better than California's.
ASL: Las Vegas Coach Raul Carrizo booted 24-year-old Forward Miodrag Lacevic off the Las Vegas Seagulls after a major brawl during a game in Sacramento, in which Lacevic kicked an opposing player, charged an official and then went into the stands and fought with a spectator. The game, which was halted in the 38th minute with Sacramento leading 4-0, was eventually awarded to the Gold by that score. In an incident-free rematch in Las Vegas, Sacramento beat the Seagulls 4-1, with league scoring leader Ian Filbey getting a goal and an assist. Filbey now has 45 points, seven short of the modern league record set by Jose Neto in 1975. Sacramento thus regained second place in the Western Division, while Las Vegas ran its losing streak to six games. When the New Jersey Americans and the New York Eagles played to a 1-1 tie in Piscataway, N.J., it marked the first time in five games this season that the Americans scored a goal on the Eagles. Earlier, the Eagles had beaten New Jersey 2-0 on a pair of goals by Bill Bolevic, who probably wishes he could play every game against the Americans. Of the eight goals he has scored this season, seven have come against the Americans. The Indy Daredevils stretched their winning string to three with a 4-2 victory over Las Vegas. Cleveland defeated the New York Apollo 3-2, Joe Kowalaczky getting two goals and an assist. Columbus blew a 3-0 second-half lead but hung on to beat Pennsylvania 4-3. That was not the only good news for the Magic. The league office announced that the ASL championship game, scheduled for Sept. 16, will be played in Columbus. Western leader California defeated Los Angeles 3-2 to increase its division lead to a whopping 51 points.
TENNIS—At the $275,000 U.S. Open Clay Court Championships in Indianapolis, JIMMY CONNORS won the men's title for the fourth time with a 6-1, 2-6, 6-4 victory over Guillermo Vilas. CHRIS EVERT LLOYD won her fifth women's title, defeating Evonne Goolagong Cawley 6-4, 6-3.
Brian Gottfried defeated Eddie Dibbs 6-3, 6-0 to win a $75,000 Grand Prix tournament in Dublin. Ohio.
VOLLEYBALL—IVA: Albuquerque and San Jose, which have been mired in last place in the Continental and Western divisions, respectively, enjoyed their finest weeks. Albuquerque won three of four matches, splitting with Western Division champion Santa Barbara on the road and beating Western runner-up Seattle in four games and San Jose in three straight. The Diablos only managed to split their four matches, but the two victories came over Continental Division titlist Denver at home and Santa Barbara on the road. Despite that loss, Santa Barbara is assured of the home-court advantage in the Western Division semifinal playoff against Seattle. In the battle for the Continental Division's final postseason berth, Tucson defeated Salt Lake City twice and eliminated the Stingers from playoff contention.
MILEPOSTS—DIED: WILLIE KETCHUM, 75, a fight manager who handled seven world champions in four weight divisions during his 49-year career; of a heart attack; in Los Angeles. Ketchum's first world champion was lightweight Lew Jenkins, who held the title from 1940 to 1941. The others were lightweight Jimmy Carter (1951-52; 52-54; 54-55); bantamweight Lou Salica (1941-42); middleweights Solly Krieger (1938-39), Marcel Cerdan (1948-49) and Ben Jeby (1932-33); and featherweight Davey Moore (1959-63).
DIED: WALTER O'MALLEY, 75, principal owner of the Dodgers for 35 years and the man responsible for the introduction of major league baseball to the West Coast; of heart failure; at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. Under O'Malley's direction, the Dodgers, who moved from Brooklyn to Los Angeles in 1958, became the best-drawing—3,347,845 fans in 1978—and most-profitable franchise in baseball. The team's current value is estimated at $50 million.
