Earnhardt Gets Key Victory

Dale Earnhardt, giving evidence that he is not going to be easily beaten in the Winston Cup championship battle, cut into Jeff Gordon’s big point lead with a victory in the Goody’s 500 in Martinsville, Va.

Earnhardt, a seven-time series champion, led 252 of the 500 laps, including the final nine, in earning his fourth victory of the season, his sixth at Martinsville Speedway and the 67th of his career.

Combined with Gordon’s seventh-place finish, Earnhardt sliced 34 points off the youngster’s season lead and now trails by 275 with five races remaining.

In Estoril, Portugal, Scotsman David Coulthard posted his first Formula One victory, taking the Portuguese Grand Prix, ahead of defending champion Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill.

The race was marred by a start line crash that stopped the race for 25 minutes. The Tyrrell Yamaha of Japan’s Ukyo Katayama swerved and collided with other cars near the back of the grid. It flipped over and slammed into crash barriers before ending up on the track. Katayama was not seriously hurt, but injured his left arm after being trapped under the car in the crash.