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ByRichardRosenblatt APRacingWriter BALTIMORE American Phar- oah won the Kentucky Derby, yet didn't look unbeatable, as he had in his previous races. His trainer says he struggled. His jockey went to the whip about 30 times to urge him on in the stretch. His owner says the Derby wasn't even close to his best effort. And now it's time for the Preakness, where a victory Sat- urday would set up American Pharoah for a Triple Crown chance at the Belmont Stakes in three weeks. It also would give trainer Bob Baffert an unprece- dented fourth Triple try. Is American Pharoah up to the task? "That horse didn't really get his A game together in the Ken- tucky Derby, and he still won," marveled Hall of Famer D. Wayne Lukas, who trains long shot Mr. Z, on Friday morning outside the stakes barn at Pim- lico Race Course. "That's a scary thought." American Pharoah, owned by Ahmed Zayat, is the 4-5 morn- ing-line favorite in an eight-horse field, and will be ridden by Victor Espinoza. Stablemate Dortmund, third in the Derby, is the second choice at 7-2, and Derby runner- up Firing Line is 4-1. Dortmund also is trained by Baffert, setting up the possibility of a trainer spoiling his own Tri- ple Crown chance. It happened 20 years ago to Lukas, but Baf- fert says of Dortmund: "He de- HORSE RACING AmericanPharoahset asPreaknessfavorite WithvictorySaturday,KentuckyDerby winner would set up Triple Crown chance PHOTOSBYGARRYJONES—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS Exercise rider Jorge Alvarez gallops Preakness Stakes entrant American Pharoah at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore on Friday. Trainer Bob Baffert, who has both American Pharoah and Dortmund in the field for the 140th Preakness Stakes, watches the draw Wednesday at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore. By Michael Marot The Associated Press INDIANAPOLIS IndyCar manu- facturers Chevrolet and Honda are taking a deep look into their oval aero kit packages follow- ing two spectacular crashes this week at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. They haven't found a common denominator yet, though safety concerns continue to loom over the Indianapolis 500. The linger- ing image of three big crashes, two that sent drivers airborne, has many wondering if this al- ready risky business is being compounded by the debut of the new packages on the series' fast- est track. Friday's practice finally went off without a hitch, something those working on and driving the cars expected. "I think that people have no clue what they're talking about. They speculate," said Tony Kanaan, the 2013 Indy winner who drives for Chip Ganassi Racing. "The two accidents were completely distinct. One was driver error and actually flipped the car. The other one a tire went down that went underneath the car and made the car roll over. It didn't flip. So we're not hav- ing cars flying in the air." The replays paint a different INDIANAPOLIS 500 Spectacular crashes raise safety concerns Friday's practice goes just fine as car makers take deep look into oval aero kit packages DICK DARLINGTON — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS The car driven by Helio Castroneves flips a er hitting the wall in the first turn during practice Wednesday for the Indianapolis 500 race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indianapolis. Staff Reports QUINCY Red Bluff High School graduate Zane Medeiros, now a relief pitcher for the Feather River College Golden Eagles in Quincy, has been named to the Golden Valley Conference All-Academic Team. Medeiros, who graduated from Red Bluff High School in 2011, graduates from the college this month and will continue to play baseball at the University of An- telope Valley in Lancaster. He plans to study business management. The Golden Eagles defeated Co- sumnes River in a best-of-three matchup that wrapped up May 10 and will travel to Fresno City College this weekend to compete in a sectional series of the Califor- nia Community College Athletic Association playoffs. Should Feather River College prevail, it will move on to the fi- nal four portion of the playoffs on May 23. RED BLUFF Local pitching product honored RB grad earns spot on GVC All-Academic Team COURTESY PHOTO Red Bluff High School graduate and Feather River College pitcher Zane Medeiros has been named to the Golden Valley Conference All- Academic Team. By Howard Fendrich The Associated Press WASHINGTON Avoiding overtime in Game 6 when Paul Pierce's po- tential tying 3-pointer was re- leased after the clock expired, the Atlanta Hawks made it to the Eastern Conference finals for the first time by beating the Wash- ington Wizards 94-91 on Friday night. The Hawks held on thanks pri- marily to DeMarre Carroll's play- off career-high 25 points, includ- ing two layups in the last minute off assists from Jeff Teague. After Al Horford went 1 of 2 from the free-throw line for a three-point lead, the Wizards in- bounded the ball with 6.4 seconds left. They got the ball to Pierce, who won Game 3 on a banked-in buzzer-beater, then put Washing- ton briefly ahead late in Game 5 with a 3. This time, his 3 from the corner swished through, but after a couple of anxious minutes for both teams, a replay review de- termined it was too late. Once trailing 2-1 in the best-of- seven series against the Wizards, the Hawks won three straight games. They improved road teams to 6-0 this postseason in Game 6s. NBA PLAYOFFS Pierce's shot late as Hawks hold on, knock out Wizards HAWKS94,WIZARDS91 Up next: Atlanta wins series 4-2; Cleveland at Atlanta, 5:30p.m. Wednesday, TV on TNT. THESCORE Islamic State militants seized the main government head- quarters in Ramadi, raising their black flag over the com- pound and setting it ablaze hours a er a series of suicide car bombings. IRAQ ISseizesgovernment compound in Ramadi FULL STORY ON PAGE B6 The Presbyterian Church of Red Bluff will hold its Vacation Bible School — G-Force: God's Love in Action — 9a.m. to noon June 15-19at the church, 838Jefferson St., for a week of Bible stories and more. PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH Vacation Bible School registration open FULL STORY ON PAGE B3 Coverage of the doubleheader playoff matchup between Red Bluff High School's varsity baseball team and Pleasant Valley on Friday is available on the Daily News website at redbluffdailynews.com. BASEBALL PLAYOFFS Red Bluff doubleheader coverage is online Corning High School's varsity so ball team was ranked third in Division IV playoff points released earlier this week, and a playoff seeding meeting will be held at 10a.m. Saturday at Durham High School. SOFTBALL PLAYOFFS Northern Section CIF seeding meeting set PREAKNESS PAGE 2 INDY PAGE 2 HAWKS PAGE 2 SPORTS » redbluffdailynews.com Saturday, May 16, 2015 MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS B1