BRIEFLY : MARTIN'S RECORD TRY THWARTED BY SPENCER.

Jimmy Spencer used his head as well as his gas pedal in fending off Mark Martin's bid for a record victory Saturday in the All Pro Bumper-To-Bumper 300 Busch Grand National stock-car race in Charlotte, N.C.

Martin, who kept losing ground on pit stops and making it up on the track, caught Spencer for the final time 21 laps from the end of the 200-lap event at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

At the end, it was Spencer's Chevrolet by .231-seconds - about three car-lengths - over Martin's Ford in the battle of Winston Cup regulars. But the decision remained in doubt until the final turn as Martin tried hard to earn his 31st career BGN victory, which would break a tie with Jack Ingram as the top winner in series history.

Spencer gave himself a chance at the win when he stayed on the track and in the lead as Martin pitted for fresh tires during the sixth of seven caution periods. Martin was eighth for the restart on lap 156.

Martin caught Spencer at the start of lap 180 and drew alongside him coming off the second turn on lap 187. It remained a side-by-side battle for several laps, with Martin nosing ahead to take the lead at the finish line on lap 193 and Spencer regaining it going into the first turn and holding the top spot the rest of the way.

Cory McClenathan of Anaheim recorded the second fastest time in drag racing history during qualifying for the 10th annual Pennzoil Nationals in Millington, Tenn. McClenathan had a speed of 318.58 mph in the Joe Gibbs-owned McDonald's dragster, second only to Kenny Bernstein's 318.69 recorded last fall at the Texas Motorplex in Ennis, Texas. McClenathan also claimed the No. 1 spot in Top Fuel qualifying, covering the quarter-mile distance in 4.596 seconds.

TENNIS: Victories by Mary Pierce and Sandrine Testud gave France a commanding 2-0 lead over the Netherlands in the Fed Cup final in Den Bosch, Netherlands.

Pierce defeated Miriam Oremans 6-4, 6-1 after Testud downed Brenda Schultz-McCarthy 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 in front of a crowd of 7,000 at Brabant Hall. The remaining three matches - two singles and one doubles - in the best-of-five series will be played today.

Two of the hardest servers in tennis, Greg Rusedski and Mark Philippoussis, won semifinal matches in the Swiss Indoors at Basel. Fourth-seed Rusedski scraped past seventh-seed Petr Korda 6-7 (5-7), 6-3, 7-5. Philippoussis beat Tim Henman 7-6 (7-2), 6-4.

Top-seeded Jim Courier overpowered Sweden's Thomas Johansson 6-3, 6-4 in the semifinals of the China Open in Beijing and will face another Swede, Magnus Gustafsson, in the final. Gustafsson reached today's final with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Denmark's Kenneth Carlsen.

BOXING: Britain's Carl Thompson, gaining revenge for an earlier title loss, pounded Ralf Rocchigiani over 12 rounds to claim the WBO cruiserweight title in Hannover, Germany. Thompson dominated from the opening round in beating the German, who won the vacant title 28 months ago against Thompson when he retired in the 11th round with a separated shoulder.

In another fight in Hannover, Dariusz Michalczewski of Germany defended his WBO light heavyweight title by flooring Nicky Piper three times before the Welsh challenger's corner stopped the fight after seven rounds.

Giovanni Parisi retained his WBO super lightweight title in Vigo Valentia, Italy, when challenger Nigel Wenton did not answer the bell at the start of the eighth round.

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PHOTO no caption (Jim Courier)