Sports briefs 9/22/04

Baseball

Barry Bonds will have two more seasons to break Hank Aaron's career home run record with the San Francisco Giants, who decided Tuesday to drop their right to void the final year of his contract.

The Giants scheduled an announcement for Tuesday night, and a source in baseball, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the news conference was to announce the change to Bonds' deal.

Under the $90 million, five-year contract agreed to in January 2002, San Francisco could have voided the 2006 season if Bonds failed to reach 500 plate appearances next year or 1,500 combined from 2003 to 2005, including at least 400 next season.

But with Bonds as dominant as ever, the Giants decided to keep the 40-year-old outfielder for two more seasons. Bonds, who needs 55 homers to pass Aaron's mark of 755, will make $20 million in 2005 and $18 million in 2006,

Cycling

Olympic time-trial champion Tyler Hamilton declared his innocence Tuesday after his pro cycling team said he's being investigated for possible blood doping and could be stripped of his gold medal.

Tests at the Athens Olympics on Aug. 19 and at the Spanish Vuelta on Sept. 18 showed evidence of blood from another person, cycling's governing body said, according to a spokesman for Hamilton's team, Phonak. Follow-up tests were scheduled for later Tuesday.

Phonak spokesman Georges Luedinger said Hamilton denied having a transfusion -- which can boost an athlete's performance by increasing the amount of oxygen-transporting red blood cells in his system.

If found guilty of a violation at the Olympics, Hamilton would lose his gold.

Motorsports

• Larry Phillips, a lifelong stock car racer who drove to more than 2,500 wins, including five Winston Racing Series championships, died Tuesday at St. John's Regional Health Center in Springfield. He was 62.

Phillips died after a four-year battle with lung cancer.

His career included five Winston Racing Series National Short-Track Championships, seven regional NASCAR championships and a spot in the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame. In one season, Phillips won 38 of the 40 Winston Racing Series events.