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Friday NASCAR — Zippo 200 practice, 11 a.m., ESPN2 MLB — Giants at Braves, 4:30 p.m., CSNBA Tennis – ATP US Open Series, 9 a.m., ESPN2 Tennis – WTA US Open Series, 8 p.m., ESPN2 Sports 1B Friday August 6, 2010 Phelps, Soni win titles at US nationals IRVINE (AP) — World and Olympic champion Michael Phelps won the 100-meter butterfly at the U.S. national championships on Thursday night with the fastest time in the world this year. Phelps led all the way and touched in 50.65 seconds, easily topping the previous quickest time of 51.70 set by Evgeny Korotyshkin of Russia. ‘‘I was real happy,’’ he said. ‘‘I wanted to put some distance between my time and the fastest in the world.’’ Phelps won his 50th career nation- al title, topping Tracy Caulkins’ mark of 48. ‘‘When you go to so many champi- onships and swim five events every time, it’s going to happen,’’ he said. Tyler McGill was second in 52.20, and Timothy Phillips took third. Back- stroke specialist Aaron Peirsol fin- ished fourth. The men’s 50 freestyle was swum under protest, with Olympian Nathan Adrian touching first in 21.70 seconds. Olympian Cullen Jones and Josh Schneider tied for second, but the results were not immediately declared official. The controversy involved Schnei- der, who was entered in the morning heats of the 100 butterfly and 50 free. He failed to scratch out of the 100 fly, which according to the rules meant he was ineligible to swim his next event, the 50 free. But he swam the 50 free heats and then swam the final under protest. Schneider’s entry into the final bumped Jimmy Feigen from the ’A’ final to the consolation final. World champion Rebecca Soni won the 100 breaststroke with the world’s fastest time. Soni was second at the turn, then poured it on down the stretch to win easily in 1 minute, 5.73 seconds. She was 2.34 seconds ahead of sec- ond-place Ann Chandler, who touched in 1:08.07. Micah Lawrence was third. Soni trounced a loaded field that included world recordholder Jessica Hardy, who led at the turn before fad- ing to seventh; 2000 Olympic champi- on Megan Jendrick, and 1996 Olympic silver medalist Amanda Beard. Jendrick was fourth and Beard sixth. Soni earned a spot on the U.S. team for the Pan Pacific championships later this month. Hardy swam the first 50 meters in 30.92 seconds to Soni’s 31.01. But MCT photo Swimmers dive into the pool for the Women's 100 Meter Backstroke Final during the National Swimming Championships in Irvine Wednesday. Soni used her trademark strong finish to close in 34.72, while Hardy had the slowest second lap in the eight-woman field at 38.32. Hardy and Soni are the two fastest women ever in the event. They train in the same pool at the University of Southern California, though Hardy is a sprinter and Soni stretches out to 200 meters. Olympian Kara Lynn Joyce won the 50 free in 24.86, just the second national title of her career. She won her first four years ago. ‘‘It feels so good to come here again and go faster,’’ said Joyce, who Gradkowski has to climb depth chart NAPA (AP) — Bruce Gradkowski dropped back to throw, launched a deep completion down the right sideline and ran to bump chests with offensive lineman Khalif Barnes. Then he sought out wide receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey and did a leaping hip-bump. The Oakland Raiders’ journeyman quarterback is having fun, even if he’s buried on the depth chart again. It’s not where Gradkowski expected to be, not after coming off the bench in 2009 and leading the Raiders to a pair of late-season wins while infusing the offense with a much-needed spark. At the very least Gradkowski assumed he’d enter training camp with a legiti- mate shot at the starting job. Instead, Oakland traded for Jason Camp- bell during the NFL draft in April and head coach Tom Cable named Campbell the starter the day before training camp began. ‘‘From what I’ve been through through my career, why get handed something now?’’ Gradkowski said with a grin Thursday. ‘‘I’m never going to get handed anything. That’s just the way I was brought up. You have to work for it and you have to earn it. I’ve never expected anything to come easy.’’ Gradkowski started 13 games as a rookie for Tampa Bay in 2006 then quickly fell off the map and into backup territory. Over the next two years, he started just six games for the Bucs and Cleveland Browns, then signed on as the Raiders’ fourth quarterback before last sea- son. In Oakland, Gradkowski was behind former No. 1 overall pick JaMarcus Russell, Jeff Garcia and Andrew Walter when camp began. By midseason, he had vaulted to the top of the depth chart and was a big hit at the Oakland Coli- seum, where fans had grown tired of Russell’s inef- fectiveness and attitude. Gradkowski started four games for the Raiders, including a 27-24 road win over the Pittsburgh Steelers on Dec. 6. Gradkowski grew up less than 10 minutes from See RAIDERS, page 2B failed to make the final at last year’s nationals. ‘‘I couldn’t be happier and I think it showed in my swimming.’’ Madison Kennedy was second in 25.15. Olympian Amanda Weir was third. Dana Vollmer tied for fourth, while Hardy was sixth in the event she had focused on this week. ‘‘I overthought it. What happened as the result of my head and not my physical capacity,’’ Hardy said. ‘‘It was completely mental, a panic. I regret how I approached both events.’’ Hardy is swimming in her biggest meet since she served a one-year dop- ing ban that ended last August. 49ers counting on deep receiving corps SANTA CLARA (AP) — When Alex Smith drops back to pass these days, the quarterback sees the most talented and promising collection of wide receivers since he joined the San Francisco 49ers five years ago. That’s quite a difference from the unsettled group Smith has worked with since he became the NFL’s No. 1 overall draft pick in 2005, and it’s the reason the 49ers are confident their passing attack this season can lift an offense that has been among the NFL’s worst over the past six years. For the first time in his career, Smith came to training camp this week with the same two starting wideouts who lined up beside him last year: Michael Crabtree and Josh Morgan. Crabtree There also is plenty of potential in other candidates competing for roles in the receiver rotation. ‘‘It’s fun being a quarterback and having all those weapons outside,’’ Smith said. ‘‘There’s a lot of possi- bilities there. We have a lot of versatility and a lot of different guys that are capable of a lot of different things.’’ The optimism begins with Crabtree, who is asserting himself as the team’s No. 1 receiver in his first training camp with the 49ers. The No. 10 overall draft pick in 2009, Crabtree did- n’t join the 49ers until early October because of a con- tract stalemate and missed the first five games of the season. But he became a starter as soon as he hit the field and was the team’s best wideout by the end of the season. Crabtree led NFL rookies with an average of 56.8 receiving yards per game. Now Crabtree looks like a skilled veteran ready to take the next step. He catches everything in sight and runs smooth, precise routes that make him stand out. ‘‘I’m a lot more comfortable now,’’ Crabtree said. ‘‘I know where I’m playing and I’ve got a feel for the game with the whole concept of the offense and having a full offseason. I really know what I’m doing and I feel good. That’s the main thing.’’ Third-year veteran Morgan starts opposite Crabtree, and the pair promise to give San Francisco a set of big, productive starting wideouts well into this decade. Morgan started 15 games last season and led 49ers wideouts with 52 receptions. Crabtree had 48 catches. The 49ers have seen a slew of veteran receivers come and go over the past six years in an attempt to upgrade this group. Veterans such as Johnnie Morton, Antonio Bryant, Darrell Jackson and Ashley Lelie all had one-year stints with the Niners during that period but failed to provide the continuity and production they were seeking. Those receivers worked in an offensive scheme that changed from one year to the next. The 49ers had seven offensive coordinators in seven seasons before Jimmy See 49ERS, page 2B Birthday boy’s long ball beats Giants ATLANTA (AP) — Team- mates quietly wished Eric Hinske a happy birthday before the game. The celebra- tion came after- ward. Hinske snapped an 0-for-17 hitless streak with a tiebreaking, sixth-inning home run off Tim Lincecum to help the Atlanta Braves to a 3-2 victory over the San Francisco Giants on Thurs- day night. Alex Gonzalez hit a two-run homer in the second inning — his second as a Brave — for the only other runs off Lincecum (11- 5). Hinske talked more about the home run by Gon- zalez than he did about his own game-winner. The Giants had taken a 2-0 lead on single runs in the first two innings before Gonzalez tied it. ‘‘Usually when you give the two-time Cy Young Award winner a two-run lead, it’s over. It was a huge win for us. You can’t underestimate getting a win against their No. 1,’’ Hinske said. ‘‘It was great. We beat tonight one of the best pitchers in the National League. We hit at the right time,’’ Gonzalez said. ‘‘Those two pitches were the dif- ference in the game,’’ Lincecum said. ‘‘Except for two pitches, I would have been OK.’’ He didn’t think either home run would go out, though. ‘‘They had enough to clear the fence, and that’s all that matters,’’ he said. Jair Jurrjens (4-4) went six innings for the Braves, allowing seven hits, two runs and three See GIANTS, page 2B Watson opens with 64; Tiger struggles AKRON, Ohio (AP) — Not even one of his favorite golf courses is much use to Tiger Woods these days. Facing the two easiest holes to start his round, he hit tee shots into the trees and made bogeys. On the course where he has won seven times in his last nine appearances, he posted a 4-over 74 for his highest score ever at Firestone. That put him 10 shots behind Bubba Watson, the largest first- round deficit Woods has faced since he returned at the Masters. And it didn’t get any better when he finished Thursday in the Bridge- stone Invitational. As he took the 100- yard walk to the scoring trailer, one spectator called out to Woods, ‘‘You’re washed up, Tiger. Give it up.’’ Woods, sporting a goatee but rarely a smile, offered no excuses. MCT photo Bubba Watson hits a chip shot on to the 17th green during first-round action Thursday. ‘‘Only thing I did good today is I kept my patience out there,’’ he said. It was another exam- ple of Woods at war with his game, even on golf courses where he once won with alarming regu- larity. He collapsed early in the final round at Pebble Beach, where he had won the U.S. Open by 15 shots the last time it was there. He was never a factor at St. Andrews, where he had won the British Open twice by a combined 13 shots. His dominance is even more defined at Firestone, where he had never shot worse than 72, where he had never finished worse than fifth. Instead, the day belonged to a guy who had never been here. Watson made his debut at Firestone by running off four straight birdies on the back nine and making a long putt on the final hole for a 6- under 64 and a two-shot lead over a group that included Masters cham- See WATSON, page 2B