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

Vikings Stadium Project Remains Stalled

Minnesota legislators “appeared to be making little immediate headway on a special legislative session needed to approve” a proposed Vikings stadium project one day after a “crucial report”  on a new stadium in Arden Hills, according to a report in The Minneapolis Star Tribune.

Governor Mark Dayton said that team owners, who have offered $407 million, were “going to be required to put up … probably close to a half-billion dollars when all is said and done.”

Lester Bagley, the Vikings’ vice president for public affairs and  stadium development, said the team “hopes to meet with the governor next week but that no date has been set.”

 The Star Tribune reported that the team had “made clear it wants a special session approving the Arden Hills project by the end of this year, but significant hurdles remain.”

There is “still no state funding plan, no clear political roadmap to getting the needed 102 votes at the State Capitol and continued doubts about the sprawling suburban site the Vikings have chosen for a 65,000-seat stadium,” the newspaper said.

Dayton said he would “begin meeting with legislators and others next week.”

Meanwhile, State Representative Greg Davids said  he “would insist on public hearings for any stadium subsidy plan before a special session.”

Davids added: “There’s a lot of tax implications here. I want to hear from the public.”

Angels to interview D-Backs executive Jerry Dipoto for GM job

The Angels have received permission from the Arizona Diamondbacks to interview Jerry Dipoto for their general manager's job, a major league source confirmed Friday. Dipoto, who spent parts of eight seasons as a reliever in the big leagues, is Arizona's senior vice president of scouting and player development.

Dipoto, 43, was part of the Boston Red Sox front office during the team's run to the 2004 World Series championship before joining the Colorado Rockies as director of player personnel in 2005.

Dipoto joined the Diamondbacks as their vice president of player personnel in 2006 and took over as interim GM when Josh Byrnes was fired in 2010.

It was Dipoto's call to trade pitcher Dan Haren to the Angels for a package that included pitcher Joe Saunders and highly regarded pitching prospect Tyler Skaggs. He also dealt pitcher Edwin Jackson to the Chicago White Sox for Daniel Hudson.

Dipoto interviewed for the permanent job that eventually went to Kevin Towers, but he remained with the club in the position he currently occupies.

Dipoto brings to at least three the number of candidates the Angels will interview for the job that opened when Tony Reagins was dismissed two days after the season. Two Yankees executives, Damon Oppenheimer, the team's vice president of amateur scouting, and Billy Eppler, the team's director of professional scouting, have confirmed that they will interview.

-- Mike DiGiovanna

Photo: Jerry Dipoto, left, and Kirk Gibson both got big breaks with the Arizona Diamondbacks on an interim basis, DiPoto as GM and Gibson as manager. Each took advantage of their opportunities. Credit: Ross D. Franklin / Associated Press