Sports People

Jacques Villeneuve drove his Williams-Renault to his eighth pole for today’s Austrian Grand Prix with Michael Schumacher, who Villeneuve is battling for the driver’s title, far down in ninth… . Joe Bessey barely avoided a late-race crash when Buckshot Jones went into the wall, then held off Busch Series leader Randy LaJoie for his first career victory in Saturday’s MBNA 200 at Dover, Del… . Michael Loewe of Romania, pulling out the fight in the later rounds, won a split decision over Michael Carruth of Ireland in Aachen, Germany, to retain his WBO welterweight title… . On the undercard, Lou Del Valle (27-1) of New York stopped Eddy Smulders (34-2) with 20 seconds left in the eighth round to claim the vacant WBA light heavyweight title after sending the Dutchman to the canvas four times… . Rather than accept a season-long suspension from the Minnesota basketball team as a penalty for being convicted this summer in a domestic assault case, 6-foot-8 forward Courtney James has decided to quite school and will try to hook on somewhere with a pro team.