A Roundup Of The Sports Information Of The Week

BOWLING—BILLY HARDWICK of Louisville won the $6,030 first prize in the $70,000 Smallcomb Classic at Redwood City, Calif., beating Jim Stefanich of Joliet, Ill. 289-192. The victory, Hardwick's fourth this year, increased his earnings to $41,825—tops in the sport.

GOLF—BILLY CASPER, sloshing through a final-round four-under-par 67, won the $130,000 Western Open at Midlothian, Ill., the tour's last tournament before the U.S. Open. Casper finished four strokes ahead of Rocky Thompson after an 18-hour rain that left the course in what Doug Sanders called "miserable but playable" condition. It was Casper's third Western win; the $26,000 first-place purse boosted his career earnings to $950,000.

Susie Maxwell Berning won her first tournament since the Women's Open, the $20,000 Lady Carling in Baltimore, with a 213, one stroke ahead of Donna Caponi. Carol Mann, who had led the first two rounds, dropped into a third-place tie with Sandra Haynie and Sandra Spuzich, finishing at 215.

HARNESS RACING—Mrs. Helen Buck's OVERCALL ($4.80), driven by Del Insko, paced the fastest mile and a half in the history of harness racing—3:02[3/5]—as he defeated Blaze Pick by 8� lengths in the $50,000 International at Yonkers Raceway.

HOCKEY—NHL: In a shuffle on the Coast LEONARD (Red) KELLY, 41, was out as head coach of the Los Angeles Kings, fourth-place finishers in the West Division last season, and HAL LAYCOE, 46, was in. The Kings beat Oakland in the playoffs, then lost in four straight to St. Louis. Kelly's 55-75-20 record with the Kings followed a 20-year playing career with Detroit (1947-1960) and Toronto (1960-1967), which included 164 Stanley Cup games and eight cup championship teams. Signed to a two-year contract was Laycoe, formerly a defenseman with New York, Montreal and Boston in the NHL and longtime coach of the Portland Buckaroos of the Western Hockey League. "I'm pretty strong on discipline," Laycoe said, "and I think my record shows I can handle men. We're going to do better than ever before."

HORSE RACING—ARTS AND LETTERS ($5.40) benefited from an extraordinarily slow early pace to win the $147,800 Belmont Stakes by 5� lengths over Majestic Prince, depriving him of the Triple Crown (page 24). The day's betting handle for nine races was a world-record $6,371,829.

At Hollywood Park RISING MARKET ($5.20) was 2� lengths better than Dewan in the $55,350 Inglewood Handicap. Laffit Pincay Jr. rode the winner to his first victory in the last five starts, covering the 1? miles in 1:46[3/5], [1/5] second off the track record.

On the hard, dry track at Ak-Sar-Ben in Omaha, VALE OF TEARS ($5.20), ridden by L. J. Durousseau, equaled the world record of 1:07[2/5] for six furlongs in winning the $20,000 J. E. Davidson Handicap.

Back East, NORTH FLIGHT ($15), carrying top weight of 123 pounds, was ridden by Jockey George Cusimano to a 1�-length victory over Eaglesham in the $30,080 Kent Stakes—one mile on grass at Delaware Park.

The 190th English Derby was Jockey Ernie Johnson's first, and a winning one, as he brought BLAKENEY (15 to 2) in by a length over Shoemaker in the $224,856 classic. Charles Engelhard's 7-to-2 favorite, Ribofilio, finished fifth in the 26-horse field. Later in the week at Epsom, 87-year-old Lord Roseberry won his first Oaks with SLEEPING PARTNER (100 to 6), who defeated Frontier Goddess by a� length. Across the Channel at Chantilly the $340,000 Prix du Jockey Club, the French Derby, went to Maurice Lehmann's GOODLY by a head over Beaugency, with Baron Guy de Rothschild's Djakao third.