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A roundup of the week Sept. 17-23

BALLOONING—JOE KITTINGER, a retired Air Force officer from Orlando, Fla. completed the first solo transatlantic balloon flight with an 84-hour crossing from Caribou, Me. to Savona, Italy.

BOXING—DONALD CURRY retained his WBA welterweight title with a sixth-round knockout of Nino La Rocca in Monte Carlo. On the same card, RICHIE SANDOVAL successfully defended his WBA bantamweight crown with a unanimous 15-round decision over Edgar Roman.

PRO FOOTBALL—NFL: After four Sundays, only Miami and San Francisco remained unbeaten, at 4-0. And each team featured new faces in getting victory No. 4. The 49ers used Matt Cavanaugh at quarterback in place of the injured Joe Montana (bruised sternum), and he completed 17 of 34 passes and threw for three TDs in a 21-9 win over Philadelphia (page 26). The Dolphins finally found a running back who could pass the team's drug test. After Chuck Muncie, late of the Chargers, failed his urinalysis, Miami acquired the other half of San Diego's Bull Elephant backfield, Pete Johnson, and he scored the Dolphins' first rushing touchdown of the season. Dan Marino pitched in with 14 of 29 passing for 257 yards and two more TDs in the 44-7 rout of Indianapolis. Elsewhere, Pittsburgh seemed headed for a three-game lead in the AFC Central as corner-back Sam Washington scored on a 69-yard interception return in the second quarter. It was his second touchdown in two weeks. But Cleveland's Paul McDonald threw for 222 yards and two TDs in the second half as the Browns beat the Steelers 20-10. The Rams' Jeff Kemp, getting his first start because of Vince Ferragamo's broken finger, found Olympian Ron Brown with a 52-yard scoring pass as Los Angeles kept Cincinnati winless 24-14. Bob Avellini's efforts in place of Jim McMahon (bruised back and broken hand) were less successful as Chicago lost to Seattle 38-9, but Walter Payton outrushed Franco Harris 116-23 to take over second place on the career rushing list (12,091 yards to 12,032), 221 yards behind Jim Brown. The Redskins' John Riggins, x-rayed early in the week for a back problem, rushed 33 times for 140 yards as Washington beat New England 26-10. Wesley Walker of the Jets, who is legally blind in his left eye and, according to a tentative diagnosis made last week, suffering from a symptom Of glaucoma in his right, nonetheless caught seven passes for 127 yards and three touchdowns as New York defeated Buffalo 28-26. The Bills had also lost to Miami the previous Monday, 21-17. The two defeats left Buffalo with a 0-4 mark. Only Cincy and Houston have done as badly. The Oilers remained winless largely because of Gerald Riggs, who ran 25 times for 120 yards and two scores in Atlanta's 42-10 victory. New Orleans featured a 34-yard score on an option pass from Hokie Gajan to Wayne Wilson en route to a 34-24 win over St. Louis. In other games, Minnesota squeaked past Detroit 29-28; Denver whipped Kansas City 21-0; the Giants won over Tampa Bay 17-14 and Green Bay lost to Dallas 20-6.

GOLF—DENIS WATSON shot a 15-under-par 341 for 90 holes to defeat Andy Bean by one stroke in a $1,122,500 PGA tournament in Las Vegas. Watson's winning share of $162,000 in the richest tournament on the tour moved him from 15th to second place on the 1984 money-winning list with a total of $405,924.

Amy Alcott shot a final-round 72 to finish with an eight-under-par 211 and beat four runners-up by two strokes in the $175,000 San Jose (Calif.) Classic, the final official American event on the 1984 LPGA tour.

HARNESS RACING—COLT FORTYSIX ($4.40), driven by Chris Boring, defeated Legal Notice by three-fourths of a length in a three-horse raceoff to win the second jewel of pacing's Triple Crown, the $366,717 Little Brown Jug, at the Delaware (Ohio) County Fair Grounds. The 3-year-old colt paced the mile in 1:55[2/5].

HOCKEY—Team Canada, propelled by goals by Mark Messier, Wayne Gretzky, Larry Robinson and John Tonelli in the opening 7:13, beat Sweden 6-5 in Game 2 in Edmonton to sweep the best-of-three Canada Cup finals.

HORSE RACING—JOHN HENRY ($4), ridden by Chris McCarron, defeated Win by a neck to triumph in the $625,250 Turf Classic at Belmont Park. The 9-year-old gelding set a stakes record of 2:25[1/5] for the 1½ miles (page 24).

Gate Dancer ($4.20), Laffit Pincay Jr. up, beat Precisionist in a photo finish to win the $500,000 Super Derby at Louisiana Downs. The 3-year-old colt ran 1¼ miles in 2:00⅕ a stakes record.

MOTOR SPORTS—DARRELL WALTRIP, driving a Chevy, beat Terry Labonte, also in a Chevy, by more than a lap to win a $255,850 NASCAR Grand National race in Martinsville, Va. Waltrip averaged 75.532 mph for the 500 laps around the .526-mile Martinsville Speedway oval.

SOCCER—NASL: The playoffs opened and then quickly closed for the Western Division champion San Diego Sockers as the Toronto Blizzard, one of the league's wild-card teams, swept both games to move into the Soccer Bowl. In the opener, in San Diego, the Blizzard came from behind on goals by David Byrne and Cliff Calvert to win 2-1. Toronto then closed out the Sockers at home as Ace Ntsoelengoe scored the only goal in a 1-0 victory. Eastern Division-winning Chicago lost its opener against the Whitecaps 1-0 in double overtime, but the Sting evened the series in Vancouver as Karl-Heinz Granitza got the game-winning goal in a 3-1 victory on a rare assist from goalkeeper Victor Nogueira.

TENNIS—JOHN McENROE defeated Brad Gilbert 6-4, 6-4, to win a $200,000 Grand Prix event in San Francisco.

In winning a $150,000 WTA tournament in Fort Lauderdale, MARTINA NAVRATILOVA defeated Michelle Torres 6-1, 6-0, to win her 60th straight match, in the process breaking the 10-year-old women's record for consecutive victories (55) by Chris Evert Lloyd.

MILEPOSTS—TRADED: By the Minnesota Vikings, quarterback STEVE DILS, 28, to the Los Angeles Rams, for an undisclosed 1985 draft choice; and by the San Diego Chargers, running back PETE JOHNSON, 30, to the Miami Dolphins for an '85 second-round pick and the rights to Dewey Forte, a defensive tackle with the Los Angeles Express of the USFL.