Raikkonen Wins Pole for U.S. Grand Prix

Kimi Raikkonen won the pole Saturday for the U.S. Grand Prix Formula One at Indianapolis, giving him the top position and a huge advantage for the start of today’s 73-lap race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

“Of course it’s a much better position, but the race is long,” said Raikkonen, who qualified his McLaren Mercedes in 1 minute 11.670 seconds, or 130.839 mph over the 2.605-mile run.

Defending race winner Rubens Barrichello was second-fastest at 130.612.

Michael Schumacher, Barrichello’s Ferrari teammate, leads Juan Pablo Montoya by three points and Raikkonen by seven with two races left this season. First place today is worth 10 points.

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Adrian Fernandez won the pole for CART’s Grand Prix of the Americas in Miami.

It’s only the fourth pole in 177 starts for Fernandez, who will start alongside Bruno Junqueira in the front row today on the 1.15-mile temporary circuit.

Oriol Servia starts third, next to Sebastien Bourdais.

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Doug Kalitta recorded the fastest Top Fuel run in NHRA history and posted a national record for speed at the CARQUEST Auto Parts NHRA Nationals in Joliet, Ill.

Kalitta raced down the Route 66 Raceway quarter-mile in 4.428 seconds at 333.00 mph in his Mac Tools dragster. He needs to post a time of 4.472 seconds or faster today to certify the performance as a national record. Cory McClenathan, who qualified second with a 4.463-second effort in his dragster, also can set the national record by clocking a time of 4.507 or quicker.

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Brendan Gaughan picked up his fifth victory of the season by winning the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Las Vegas 350.

Gaughan led 107 of 146 laps after starting from the pole. He edged last year’s winner, David Starr, by just under a second -- about 10 truck lengths -- after a late caution erased a sizable lead.

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Scott Youngeren won the shortened 73-lap Auto Club Late Model Series feature at Irwindale Speedway in front of 5,150 fans.

Crashes resulted in the 100-lap race being shortened.

In the 35-lap Mini Stock series finale, Kevin Bernhardt won his second race of the season, but Tony Lawler’s attempt to erase a 16-point lead by Fred Adams fell short by two points as he finished only six places ahead of Adams, giving Adams the championship.

Cory Miles earned his third win of the season in the 35-lap King Taco Legend Cars Series feature.

Tennis

Top-ranked Kim Clijsters sprained her right ankle and quit while leading Anastasia Myskina in the Sparkassen Cup semifinals at Leipzig, Germany.

After getting injured, Clijsters had her ankle wrapped, then played one more game before stopping with the score 7-5, 4-4. She was taken to a hospital for X-rays and an MRI exam.

In today’s final, Myskina will face No. 2-ranked Justine Henin-Hardenne, who beat Venezuelan qualifier Maria Vento-Kabchi, 6-0, 6-3.

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Mark Philippoussis and top-seeded Jiri Novak reached the Heineken Open final at Shanghai. Philippoussis had little trouble beating Robin Soderling, 6-4, 6-4, while Novak had to rally to get past Wayne Arthurs, 6-7 (7), 6-2, 6-3.

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Top-ranked Juan Carlos Ferrero beat Croatia’s Ivan Ljubicic, 6-3, 6-3 to advance to the Thailand Open final at Nonthaburi. Ferrero will play Taylor Dent for the title. Dent defeated fifth-seeded Jarkko Nieminen of Finland, 7-6 (3), 6-2.

Miscellany

The Greek government and Olympic organizers denied a report that undercover agents found serious lapses while testing security for the 2004 Games.

“There have already been tests carried out by Greek police officers ... with the best possible results, one whole year before the games,” government spokesman Christos Protopapas said.

Protopapas was responding to a report in Saturday’s Washington Post that quoted unidentified American intelligence sources as saying undercover agents twice smuggled fake bombs past security checkpoints in Athens.

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USC basketball recruit Robert Swift, a nationally ranked 7-foot-1 center at Bakersfield High, has been declared ineligible for his senior season by the California Interscholastic Federation because of “fraudulent information presented to the CIF” and “pre-enrollment contact between the Swift family and Bakersfield High,” according to the Bakersfield Californian. USC cannot comment on prospective recruits until they have the signed letter-of-intent in hand.