Busch wins second event of weekend

Kyle Busch’s run of bad luck officially ended Saturday at Phoenix International Raceway in Avondale, Ariz.

Busch followed his Friday night Truck Series win with a victory Saturday in the Busch Series, giving him a chance today in the Nextel Cup event to become the first driver to sweep all three of NASCAR’s national series at the same track on the same weekend.

“I am not saying we will. I am not saying we won’t,” Busch said. “I am just saying we hope to. It would be a great honor to have that.”

In preparation for the moment, Busch pulled a broom-waving fan into Victory Lane to pose for pictures. Busch starts 38th in today’s race.

“It would be really special to get that for Kyle,” crew chief Alan Gustafson said. “It would be a great way for us to finish up the year.”

•Searching for an escape from their race to the Nextel Cup title, teammates Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon headed to Mexico for a little rest and relaxation.

Both championship contenders planned to use their short – and separate – vacations to recharge before heading to Phoenix International Raceway and resume the title chase. Racing, and the tense battle between two good friends, was the farthest thing from their minds.

They never expected to run into each other but did when Gordon spotted Johnson having lunch.

Traveling with his wife and infant daughter, Gordon pulled the car over for a brief visit with Johnson and his wife.

Then they went their separate ways, coming together again in Phoenix for what could be a critical race in their title hunts.

Johnson, the defending Nextel Cup champion, takes a 30-point lead over Gordon into today’s race and starts sixth. Gordon, the four-time series champion, will start third.

•Will Power overcame a wrist injury to win his fifth pole of the Champ Car season during a record-breaking day of qualifying on the Hermanos Rodriguez track in Mexico City.

Seven drivers broke the track record set Friday by Sebastien Bourdais, with Power coming in more than 1 second faster around the 2.774-mile track with a time of 1 minute, 23.558 seconds.

The Australian set the record while driving with two hairline fractures in his left wrist, which he injured in a collision during the Indy 300 in Australia on Oct. 21.

Golf

Creamer in front

Seeking her second victory of the year and fourth in three LPGA Tour seasons, Paula Creamer shot a 4-under-par 68 at the Tournament of Champions in Mobile, Ala., to increase her lead to six strokes in the event for tournament winners from 2004-07 and active Hall of Famers.

Five strokes ahead after opening rounds of 67 and 65 at Magnolia Grove, Creamer’s second straight bogey-free day pushed her to 16-under 200.

Wendy Ward of Edwall, Wash., shot a 69 in the third round, remaining tied at ninth place.

•A 35-foot birdie putt on the 15th hole and a tap-in birdie on No. 18 gave Phil Mickelson a 4-under 68 and a two-stroke lead over Ross Fisher going into today’s final round of the HSBC Champions tournament in Shanghai, China.

Miscellany

Cotto keeps title

Miguel Cotto never backed down from a relentless Shane Mosley and won a unanimous decision in New York, retaining his WBA welterweight title.

The action was furious for all 12 rounds, with neither fighter backing off. It was so close that both of them landed 248 punches, according to ringside statistics.

•David Haye knocked out Jean-Marc Mormeck in the seventh round to take the Frenchman’s WBC-WBA cruiserweight title in Levallois, France.

•Delwyn Young hit a three-run homer in the first inning to lead the United States to a 5-1 victory over Japan at the 37th Baseball World Cup in Taipei, Taiwan.

The Los Angeles Dodgers minor leaguer helped the U.S. improve to 3-1. Team USA, managed by Davey Johnson, needed a win to stay in the tournament. Starter Brian Duensing pitched a three-hitter through six innings.

•Marlies Schild won the World Cup slalom in Reiteralm, Austria, despite losing time after losing control of her ski on her second run.

Schild, the defending World Cup champion, edged Nicole Hosp by 0.06 in difficult conditions because of heavy snowfall on the Gasselhoehe course.

•Americans Johnny Weir and ice dancers Tanith Belbin and Benjamin Agosto rallied for wins at the Cup of China in Harbin, China.

•Defending champion Justine Henin will play Maria Sharapova in the Sony Ericsson Championships final today in Madrid, Spain.

Henin beat fourth-ranked Ana Ivanovic 6-4, 6-4, and Sharapova defeated No. 7 Anna Chakvetadze 6-2, 6-2 in the semifinals of the round-robin tournament that features the top eight players.

•Alessio Di Mauro was suspended for nine months for betting on tennis matches, becoming the first player to be sanctioned under the ATP’s new anti-corruption rules.

•Italy’s Enrico Fabris and Finland’s Pekka Koskela broke world speedskating records in a World Cup event at the Utah Olympic Oval in Kearns, Utah.

Moments after Sven Kramer of the Netherlands came within 0.04 seconds of improving his record in the 5,000 meters, Fabris finished in 6 minutes, 7.40 seconds. That beat the previous record of 6:07.48 set by Kramer on March 3 in Calgary, Alberta.