Schumacher Wins in Japan, Clinches Formula One Title

Michael Schumacher of Germany clinched the world Formula One driving title, the first for Ferrari in 21 years, by winning the Japanese Grand Prix on Sunday at Suzuka, Japan.

Schumacher is 12 points ahead of his closest challenger, Finland’s Mika Hakkinen, who won the title the last two years for McLaren-Mercedes.

There is one race left in the season, the Malaysian Grand Prix on Oct. 22, and Hakkinen cannot catch Schumacher.

Hakkinen was second by 1.8 seconds after leading most of the first 37 laps. The Finn then pitted to give up the lead to Schumacher. When Schumacher pitted at the end of 40 laps, he came out ahead of Hakkinen and went on to victory.

This is the third driving title for Schumacher, who won with the Benetton team in 1994 and 1995. He moved to Ferrari at the end of 1995.

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Bobby Labonte passed Jeremy Mayfield with six laps to go and easily won the NASCAR Winston Cup UAW-GM Quality 500 at Concord, N.C.

Labonte’s Pontiac beat Mayfield’s Ford to the finish line at Lowe’s Motor Speedway by 1.166 seconds. Labonte now leads Jeff Burton by 252 points in his bid for his first Winston Cup championship.

Labonte was in sixth place when he made his last pit stop with 25 laps to go. His crew put on four new tires, while Mayfield got only two during his last stop, and that seemed to be the difference.

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Mike Price of San Pedro won the 40-lap NASCAR Super Stock race in front of 5,540 at Irwindale Speedway on Saturday night, and Jeff Green of Long Beach, who finished third, clinched the super stock division championship.

Matt Crafton of Tulare won the NASCAR Featherlite Southwest Series Food 4 Less 150.

Tennis

Second-seeded Serena Williams pounded out a 7-5, 6-1 victory over fourth-seeded Julie Halard-Decugis of France to win the Princess Cup at Tokyo.

A capacity crowd of 10,000 laughed and cheered wildly when Williams, who was making her debut in Japan, spoke in Japanese.

She said, in near perfect Japanese, “I’m glad that I came to Japan. I’ll come back for sure. Thank you very much.”

Martina Hingis, 20, in top shape after a month off, needed only 52 minutes to dispose of 17-year-old Kim Clijsters of Belgium, 6-0, 6-3, and win the Porsche Grand Prix at Filderstadt, Germany, for the fourth time. Hingis was playing her first tournament since losing to Venus Williams in the semifinals at the U.S. Open.

Nicolas Kiefer of Germany, seeded third, won his second title of the year, defeating fourth-seeded Mark Philippoussis of Australia, 7-6 (4), 2-6, 6-2, in the final of the Salem Open at Hong Kong.

A women’s team from the Toluca Lake Tennis Club, led by singles players Rae Murbach and Wantana Martinelli, won the USTA national adult league championships at Tucson. A Toluca Lake men’s team won a similar competition in January.

Soccer

Mexico routed Trinidad and Tobago, 7-0, at Mexico City, gaining revenge for a 1-0 loss against the Caribbean competitors in July in the second game of the qualifying round for World Cup 2002. Sunday’s game did not change either team’s status since both already had qualified to compete in the Cup finals. . . . At Kartoum, Sudan, Hossam Hassan’s goal in the 24th minute gave Egypt a 1-0 win over Sudan in a second-round qualifier for the African Cup of Nations. . . . Guatemala beat Barbados, 3-1, in a World Cup qualifying match at Bridgetown, Barbados. Barbados faces the U.S. in Barbados on Nov. 15. . . . Argentina retained its lead in World Cup qualifying play with a 2-1 victory over Uruguay at Buenos Aires.

Sophomore forward Johanes Maliza scored at 60:13 to give the fourth-ranked Stanford men’s team a 1-0 victory over top-ranked UCLA at Stanford. The win was Stanford’s first over the Bruins since Oct. 11, 1987.

Jurisprudence

Prosecutors in Charlotte, N.C., said they want notes written by Rae Carruth’s slain girlfriend, Cherica Adams, to be introduced into evidence during the murder trial of the former Carolina Panther player, which begins Oct. 23.

Miscellany

Donald Duff, 65, competing in his first triathlon in Pensacola, Fla., died during the swimming portion of the race. Duff was less than 75 yards from shore when lifeguards were summoned.