Five track champions crowned at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale

 

Connor Cantrell of Santa Clarita won his first NASCAR Super Trucks championship at Toyota Speedway at Irwindale before an estimated 3,500 on Saturday night.

Cantrell came into the season finale at the track with a 40-point lead over Ryan Partridge of Rancho Cucamonga and a four-race winning streak.

Partridge won the final race of the season with Cantrell in second place.

Tracks champions were crowned in the S2 stock cars, Legends Cars, Bandoleros and Super Stocks.

Go to Haddock in the Paddock for more on the track champions at Irwindale.

-- Tim Haddock

Unbeaten Frankel stakes claim as best race horse in the world

Another race, another Group I victory for unbeaten Frankel, who's nine for nine in his career after a four-length win Saturday in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot in England.

There's talk of Frankel being one of the greatest race horses of all-time.

Watch and see for yourself.

-- Eric Sondheimer

Drew Doughty injured, expected to miss at least seven to 10 days

Kings defenseman Drew Doughty is expected to be out at least seven to 10 days after suffering an undisclosed upper-body injury Saturday, though General Manager Dean Lombardi said via email that the injury was not to the defenseman’s head.

Doughty, who had a concussion early last season, was slammed hard on a rising, open-ice hit by Flyers forward Zac Rinaldo 20 seconds into the Kings’ game at Philadelphia. Doughty appeared dazed when he returned to the bench. According to the time-on-ice charts at the NHL’s website, the 21-year-old defenseman played one more shift before being held out of the game.

While sitting on the bench Doughty appeared to be favoring his shoulder. Lombardi would not say if that was where Doughty was injured but specified that the prized defenseman did not suffer a head injury.

Doughty missed most of training camp as a restricted free agent until signing an eight-year, $56-million contract before the Kings left for their season-opening trip to Europe.

It was not clear whether the league would impose any supplementary discipline against Rinaldo, who had three goals and 331 penalty minutes in 60 games last season with the Flyers’ American Hockey League farm team. Every play is reviewed in the NHL’s "War Room" in Toronto, and fines or suspensions can be imposed by executives of the hockey operations department if they feel sanctions are merited.

The Kings were scheduled to return to Southern California after Saturday's game and practice in El Segundo at noon Sunday. They will play their Staples Center opener on Tuesday against St. Louis.

-- Helene Elliott

Pete Sampras big winner at Staples Center

Pete Sampras outlasted longtime rival Andre Agassi, 8-6, to win the HSBC Tennis Cup at Staples Center on Friday night. The HSBC Cup is part of the new Champions Series, a 12-event tennis circuit that offers the top three point earners a chance to split a $1 million bonus pool.

Sampras is the leader by 1,000 points over Michael Chang with four events remaining.

Friday night, Sampras advanced to the final with a 7-6 (3) semifinal victory over Jim Courier. Agassi opened the evening’s action with a 6-3 semifinal win over John McEnroe.

Agassi’s win coupled with Courier’s loss moved both players into a tie for third place in the standings. Chang, Courier and Agassi are separated by only 100 points.

-- Diane Pucin

McKayla Maroney wins vault gold medal for U.S.

McKayla Maroney, a 15-year-old from Laguna Hills and a first-year competitor for the United States at the senior level of gymnastics, won her second gold medal at the world championships in Tokyo on Friday night.

After helping the United States women win the team gold medal earlier in the week, Maroney won individual gold in the vault event final.

Maroney's two vaults averaged a score of 15.3 and gave her a solid win over silver medalist Oksana Chusovitina, a 36-year-old from Germany, who won the silver medal. Thi Ha Thanh Phan of Vietnam won the bronze.

"I was really calm," Maroney said by telephone from Tokyo after the medal celebration. "I didn't worry, I just felt really good going out there."

Maroney said she didn't cry during the medal ceremony but she said her U.S. teammates gave her a hard time. "They said I wasn't smiling," she said. "I think I was smiling. I felt like I was smiling. I don't know, it is just so great."

Steve Penny, president of USA Gymnastics, said the international judges made a point of praising Maroney's skills and form on her vaults, both in the individual event final and during team preliminaries and finals. "She was really electrifying," Penny said, "not only impressing the people in the crowd but for the judges. Members of the technical committee said they were impressed by every one of her vaults."

It is the third year in a row an American has won the world championship vault gold medal. Alicia Sacramone, who tore her Achilles' tendon while training in Japan on Oct. 6, won last year and Kayla Williams won two years ago.

Sacramone, who flew home to Massachusetts to have surgery, congratulated Maroney via Twitter.

"So proud you kept it in the country! thats my girl!" Sacramone tweeted.

-- Diane Pucin

Photo: McKayla Maroney sticks a landing in the women's vault event final Friday night at the world championships in Tokyo. Credit: Koji Sasahara / Associated Press