Area sports digest 8/13/02

Ward back in victory lane at ATP Racepark

It took a while to get there, but Mike Ward of Memphis, Tenn., returned to victory lane in Saturday's sprint division feature race at Auto Tire and Parts Racepark near Benton, Mo.

Ward started at the front and led every lap of the 25-lap feature, which was interrupted by eight caution periods and three red-flag delays. Daron Clayton of Sikeston, Mo., was the only racer to contend for the lead, but his early-race pass of Ward was erased by a caution flag. Lee Dunn moved past Clayton on the 10th lap to take over second and finished there.

Robbie Standridge finished third.

Jeff Parmer came out of a four-car battle for the lead on the final lap to win the modified feature. Parmer, of Fenton, Mo., chased early leader Larry Hull before taking command on the fourth lap.

Hull finished second with Shawn Haynes third.

Jeff Beeson and Danny Hampton made it a close race in the pure stock class before Beeson, of Benton, scored the win, the first of his career. Second was Hampton with Jason Mueller third.

Jason Guardian and Daniel Hancock of Jonesboro, Ill., won in cruisers for the second week in a row.

Point leader Simmons wins at drag strip

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Division point leader Ron Simmons of Cape Girardeau won the super pro class Saturday at Sikeston Drag Strip with a 107-mph run (6.3 seconds). His reaction time was 0.518.

Mike Buckley of La Center, Ky., was second in 5.87 seconds (122 mph). His reaction time was 0.527.

In the pro class, Bear Nichols of La Center won on a breakage by Greg Harty. No times were available.

Colby Gossett of Van Buren, Mo., won in the ET class with a 7.59 second run (84 mph). Robert Barnett was second in 7.97 seconds (86 mph).

In the outlaw pro-mod special event, Jason Scruggs of Satillo, Miss., won with a track-record run of 4.03 seconds (181 mph). Randy Merick of Zalma, Mo., was second in 4.22 seconds (167 mph).

E. Illinois edges Otahks in preseason soccer poll

Southeast Missouri State University got 33 points -- one point behind first-place Eastern Illinois -- in the preseason Ohio Valley Conference women's soccer poll released Monday.

Eastern got four first-place votes. Southeast, which welcomes back eight starters from a 16-2 team, got three.

The rest of the poll: Murray State, 24 points; Tennessee Tech, 23; Tennessee-Martin, 15; Morehead State, 12; Austin Peay, 6.

Voting was done by the league's coaches.

Benton squad wins at Babe Ruth World Series

GREENVILLE, S.C.-- Benton, Mo., slipped past Concord, Ca. 4-3 in the Babe Ruth 16-and-under World Series. Whitney Beggs allowed four hits and no earned runs over six innings and recorded the win.

Ashley Kern went 2-for-3 including a two-run triple in the fourth to give Benton the lead. Stacy Schwartz was 1-for-3 with a double in the sixth. Schwartz later scored on a single from Kern.

Kelly Essner, Jessica Burnett and Katie Pfefferkorn also scored runs.

New Hamburg suffers loss in world series

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Washington Township (3-0) defeated New Hamburg (2-1) 9-2 in the Babe Ruth 12-and-under World Series.

Kristain Burger took the loss after allowing two runs on three hits in four innings. It was only 2-0 until the sixth when Washington unloaded seven runs on New Hamburg. New Hamburg finished with four errors in the game.-- From staff reports