Page 22 - Aruba Today

A22
SPORTSTuesday 22 March 2016
Jimmie Johnson gets past Harvick in OT to win at Fontana
GREG BEACHAM
AP Sports Writer
FONTANA, California (AP)
— Jimmie Johnson some-
how saved his fastest lap
for last, and Southern Cali-
fornia’s favorite racing son
soared to another historic
victory.
Johnson pulled away in
overtime to beat Kevin
Harvick on Sunday for his
record sixth NASCAR Sprint
Cup Series win at Fontana.
With his 77th career victory, Johnson finished with his
Johnson passed Dale Earn-
hardt for seventh place in
NASCAR annals. And he
did it in style: Johnson was
third on the late restart,
but he surged past leader
Denny Hamlin while giving
a little bump to Harvick be-
fore side-drafting and pull-
ing away.
After showcasing his famed
skills to snare another land-
mark win, the 40-year-old
Johnson got a bit reflec-
tive when asked about his
place in the sport.
“I feel like physically and
mentally, I’m the best that
I’ve ever been in my ca-
reer,” the six-time series
champion said. “I’m in
the space I want to be in,
which makes me want to
stick around and do this for
In this March 20, 2016, file photo, tournament director Raymond
Moore gestures while speaking at the
BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament in Indian Wells, Calif. the principles of equality
INDIAN WELLS, Calif. (AP) —
The former tournament di-
rector at Indian Wells who
now runs the WTA Tour calls
his successor’s critical com- WTA’s CEO last fall.
ments about women’s ten-
nis players “disappointing
and alarming.”
Before Sunday’s finals at
the BNP Paribas Open,
current tournament direc-
tor Raymond Moore said
women “ride on the coat-
tails of the men.” He later
Driver Jimmie Johnson poses for a photo wearing a superman
cape in after winning the Auto Club 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Se-
ries race at Auto Club Speedway on Sunday, March, 19, 2016,
in Fontana, Calif. and 2010, but hadn’t fin-
Associated Press
a lot of years. There’s no ond-place Kyle Busch blew
guarantees about when a tire with two laps to go.
you’re going to win and Hamlin got off pit road first
have success, so I’ve been for his first lead of the race, Harvick finished second to
very, very fortunate to win but Johnson’s fresh tires
77 of these things, which and cleverness gave him
blows my mind.” the speed needed to get
ahead.
fastest lap of the race to “I knew we had a great
claim his second overtime car, and the caution fell at
win of the young season, a bad time,” Johnson said.
adding Fontana to Atlanta. “The run before, I just didn’t
He has won three of his last have the tires on the car to
eight races after a 20-race race with those guys. I got a
winless skid in his Hendrick great run off of Turn 2, and
Motorsports Chevrolet. I thought, ‘Man, I’ve got a
Harvick was in position to shot at this thing,’ which I
win for the second con- didn’t expect to have. Har-
secutive week before sec- vick has been so fast.”
WTA Tour CEO assails ‘alarming’
criticism of female players
“The WTA stands on its
own and was founded on
and empowerment. I am
Associated Press proud of all the strong ath-
letes on the WTA who put
issued a written apology. in hard work and sacrifice
Moore’s longtime col- every single day. Tennis as
league at Indian Wells, a whole is enriched by the
Steve Simon, became the contributions and accom-
plishments of every player,
“As the tournament direc- both male and female.”
tor of one of the pre-emi- The president of the U.S.
nent events in profession- Tennis Association also re-
al tennis, the comments pudiated Moore’s com-
made today by Raymond ments Monday. Katrina
Moore were extremely dis- Adams, who played on the
appointing and alarming,” WTA Tour for 12 years, reit-
Simon said in a statement erated the USTA and U.S.
late Sunday. Open’s commitment to
player equality.
“There is no place in
this sport for antiquated,
sexist or uninformed ideolo-
gies,” she said in a state-
ment, “and the comments
made yesterday in no way
Johnson is from El Cajon,
just outside San Diego. He
won at Fontana in 2009
ished higher than ninth in
his last four races at his clos- of the series’ fastest tracks.
est thing to a hometown
track, one hour east of Los
Angeles.
Johnson for the ninth con-
secutive time that the Cali-
fornia natives have occu-
pied the top two spots.
“That was the worst it’s
taken off on the restarts,”
Harvick said of the last lap.
“But we weren’t good on
the restarts for four or five
laps unless we were by our-
selves. We weren’t able to
drive it in like I needed to.
Just didn’t have the front
tires turning, and then the
back wouldn’t grip. Still a
good day for us.”
Hamlin was third, followed
by Joey Logano and Ricky
Stenhouse Jr. Martin Truex
Jr. was in contention until
late contact with Logano,
who left Truex furious.
The combination of Auto
Club Speedway’s aged as-
phalt and NASCAR’s new
low-downforce package
led to the excellent enter-
tainment value that most
reflect the beliefs of the
vast majority of those in the
tennis world.”
Moore, a 69-year-old for-
mer touring pro from South
Africa, oversees the $7 mil-
lion tournament in the Cali-
fornia desert featuring the
men’s and women’s tours.
In the event’s early days,
he and fellow ex-player
Charlie Pasarell started
PM Sports Management,
which oversaw the tour-
nament as it expanded.
Moore became the event’s
CEO in 2012.
“In my next life when I come
back I want to be some-
one in the WTA because
they ride on the coattails of
the men. They don’t make
any decisions and they are
lucky. They are very, very
lucky,” he said. “If I was a
lady player, I’d go down
every night on my knees
drivers expected in the
closest race to Hollywood.
Fontana showcased un-
commonly close racing
and multiple passes on one
ROUGH WEEKEND: Busch’s
blown tire while he was
in second place capped
a hard-luck weekend for
the defending Sprint Cup
champion, who won here
in 2013 and 2014. A day
after Busch blew a tire
while leading on the last
lap and closing in on his
fourth straight Xfinity Series
victory, his streak of eight
straight top-five Cup finish-
es also ended in dismaying
fashion.q
BIG CRASH: Kyle Larson was
unhurt after a frightening
solo crash on the 48th lap
that sent his entire car flying
into the air. He hit the wall
head-on when he blew his
left rear tire, but climbed
out after landing on his
wheels.
BAD CRASH: Danica Patrick
then hit the wall hard with
79 laps to go after contact
while passing Kasey Kahne,
who was a lap down. Pat-
rick and her team were
angry with Kahne for the
bump, with Patrick calling
Kahne “pretty desperate.”
and thank God that Roger
Federer and Rafa Nadal
were born, because they
have carried this sport.”
He also referred to wom-
en’s players as “physically
attractive and competi-
tively attractive.” Moore
later apologized, calling
his comments “in extremely
poor taste and erroneous.”
“I am truly sorry for those
remarks, and apologize to
all the players and WTA as
a whole,” the statement
said. “We had a women’s
final today that reflects the
strength of the players, es-
pecially Serena and Vic-
toria, and the entire WTA.
Again, I am truly sorry for
my remarks.”
Serena Williams and Victo-
ria Azarenka also criticized
Moore’s comments after
they played in the final Sun-
day.