BRIEFLY.

Byline: - Daily News Staff and Wire Services

Race car crashes into stands, kills 2

A race car crashed into the stands at a southern Illinois track, killing two spectators and injuring six other people, officials said. The driver also was hurt.

State police were trying to determine what caused the car to shoot off the quarter-mile dirt oval track Saturday night at Mount Vernon (Ill.) Raceway. It was the only vehicle on the track at the time. The driver was doing a qualification run.

The car's speed wasn't known, but it flew deep into the stands, said Capt. Conan King of the Jefferson County Fire Protection District.

``I believe there's about 25 rows of bleachers,'' he said. The car ``landed probably two rows from the top.''

Jefferson County Sheriff Roger D. Mulch said two men suffered major injuries. Three other spectators and the driver, Kevin Beatiee, 38, of Benton, suffered minor injuries.

The dead were identified as Donald Roznowski, 51, and his daughter's boyfriend, Jeff Conner, 18, both of Du Quoin.

BADMINTON: Tony Gunawan and Howard Bach became the first Americans to have a shot at a world badminton title by winning a men's doubles semifinal Saturday night in the World Badminton Championships.

The 13th-seeded team of Gunawan, from Fullerton, and Bach, of San Francisco, swept No. 4 Luluk Hadiyanto and Yulianto Alven of Indonesia, 15-9, 15-13.

Second-seeded Candra Wijaya and Sigit Budiarto of Indonesia were slated to meet Gunawan and Bach in the finals late Sunday at the Pond in Anaheim.

BASKETBALL: Boston College's Craig Smith scored 16 points and Duke's Shelden Williams added 15 points and 14 rebounds Sunday, leading the United States past Ukraine 85-70 for the basketball gold medal at the University Games in Izmir, Turkey.

The U.S. men finished with an 8-0 record and won their 13th basketball gold at the University Games since 1965, but first since 1999.

--The USC men's basketball team received a commitment from Kevin Galloway, a 6-foot-5 guard from Sacramento High.

- Scott Wolf

SOCCER: Ivorian striker Didier Drogba's fortunate goal, with the ball bouncing in off his shin, carried defending champion Chelsea to a 1-0 victory Sunday over London rival Arsenal in the English Premier League.

--First-half goals by Daniel Luduena, his third of the season, and Antonio Hernandez carried Guadalajara-based UAG Tecos to its first Apertura victory in the Mexican Primera Division, 2-1 over visiting Monterrey.

FOOTBALL: Former NFL running back Lawrence Phillips, who was wanted by police for domestic violence, was arrested after allegedly running his car into three teenagers who argued with him during a pickup football game, police said.

Phillips joined a group of 16- and 17-year-olds in a pickup football game in Exposition Park on Sunday and got into an argument with several of the teens, Los Angeles police officer Sandra Escalante said. He left the park, but returned and drove a black Honda onto the field, allegedly running into three teenage boys, she said. The teenagers were taken to a local hospital with non-life threatening injuries, police said.