SPORTS BRIEFS - The Columbian (Vancouver, WA)

Biffle wins in Tucson, eyes $15,000

Vancouver driver Greg Biffle still has a chance to take the topprize in the Tucson Winter Heat racing series -- $15,000, the sameamount he won last year.

Biffle, although nearly two laps down at one point, stormed tothe150-lap Late Model win Sunday at Tucson Raceway Park in Arizona.'I was really concerned in the first half because I was drivinghard and all these cars were passing us,' he said.'When I got intothe pits at intermission (75 laps), my crew told me the right rearonly had 11 pounds of air. When I found that out I got a lot ofconfidence.'Biffle drove the first 75 laps with a punctured tire which wasslowly leaking. The pole sitter, Biffle went a lap down afterspinning, then struggled.After intermission, Biffle took advantage of several yellow flagsto inch closer. He passed four cars in the final five laps,including Tucson track champion and leader Carl Trimmer, to win bytwo car lengths.The next Winter Heat race is Jan. 12. Biffle is fifth in points.Should he jump to first, he would win the $15,000 Winston Challenge.St. Louis Blues fire coach, team presidentThe St. Louis Blues, floundering in the third season of the MikeKeenan regime, reportedly fired their coach and general managertodayas well as team president Jack Quinn. A St. Louis radio stationreported that the management team would be replaced by coach JacquesDemers, general manager Ron Caron and president Mark Sauer.Demers, currently an NHL broadcaster, coached the Blues from1983-86.Keenan apparently lost a power struggle with right wing BrettHull. The two have been feuding almost since Keenan came to town inJuly 1994.Lawyer charged with extortion in Camby caseA lawyer was charged today with attempted extortion in an allegedeffort to blackmail former UMass basketball star Marcus Camby.WesleySpears surrendered to police in West Hartford, Conn., this morningoncharges of first-degree attempted larceny by extortion and promotingprostitution, prosecutors said.Camby, drafted in June by the Toronto Raptors of the NBA, saidSpears tried to blackmail him in May after learning he was signingwith another sports agent.Judge dismisses Seles' civil suitA judge in Hamburg, Germany, today dismissed Monica Seles' civilsuit against the German Tennis Federation over her 1993 stabbing.Seles, 22, was seeking $15.7 million in damages for lost income,blaming the federation for lack of security. Seles, ranked No. 1 inthe world at the time of the attack, was sidelined for 27 monthsafter being stabbed in the back during a break in a match in Hamburgon April 30, 1993. Guenter Parche, a fan of German star Steffi Graf,was convicted and received a two-year suspended sentence.Yale hires new football coachJack Siedlecki, football coach atAmherst, was hired today as the new football coach at Yale,replacingCarm Cozza, who retired after 32 years.Siedlecki, 45, was one of six candidates who interviewed for thejob. He will be the 32nd head football coach at Yale.Montana QB heads All-America teamQuarterback Brian Ah Yat, who has Montana within a victory of itssecond straight national title, and 2,000-yard rusher Archie Amersonof Northern Arizona topped the AP's I-AA All-America team. Ah Yat,who threw for 3,615 yards and 42 TDs, leads a five-player Montanacontingent on the first team. Receiver Joe Douglass also made theteam, along with center Jason Kempfert, guard Mike Agee andlinebacker Jason Crebo.Woods to play in Phoenix OpenTiger Woods, Sports Illustrated's Sportsman of the Year, will playin the Phoenix Open golf tournament on Jan. 23-26. Woods, 20,followed his third straight U.S. Amateur title with two late-seasonPGA Tour victories.