Sports in Brief | 'Boys' owner says T.O. will get his due

Apparently,

Terrell Owens

has not yet worn out his welcome in Dallas.

ESPN.com yesterday quoted Cowboys owner Jerry Jones as saying for the first time that he is committed to paying the former Eagles wide receiver a $3 million roster bonus, due in June.

Jones said he is encouraged by Owens' recovery from two off-season operations to repair a torn tendon in the ring finger of his right hand. He added that within the last week, Owens has been able to catch passes in light throwing sessions with quarterbacks.

The Cowboys have also committed $5 million to receiver Terry Glenn and $1.3 million to receiver Patrick Crayton.

BMW Oracle Racing defeated Emirates Team New Zealand by 35 seconds in sailing off Valencia, Spain, to finish atop the Louis Vuitton Cup round-robin standings.

Earlier in the day, the Americans lost for the first time in the America's Cup challengers' series but still finished with 21 points, three more than the third-place Kiwis.

The second round-robin stage will begin today.

Bobby Labonte

pushed teammate

Tony Stewart

to the lead, then won with a dramatic pass in the last 200 yards in the NASCAR Busch Series race at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama.

Kyle Busch walked away from a spectacular, fiery, barrel-rolling crash on Lap 27.

Jeff Gordon, the first driver to make a qualifying attempt for today's Aaron's 499 at Talladega, posted a lap of 192.069 m.p.h. and then watched 51 other drivers fail to knock him off the pole.

Tony Kanaan, coming off a victory last week at Twin Ring Motegi in Japan, broke a 29-race pole drought, turning a lap of 214.118 m.p.h. on the 1.5-mile Kansas Speedway tri-oval in qualifying for today's IRL Kansas Lottery Indy 300.

Former heavyweight champion

Tommy Morrison

was pulled from a scheduled bout in Houston on Friday night because state boxing officials did not get the results of lab tests in time.

The 38-year-old Morrison was slated to fight Dale Ortiz in a four-round bout. Morrison tested HIV positive in February 1996.

Elsewhere: Felix Sturm regained his WBA middleweight title from Javier Castillejo, unanimously outpointing the veteran Spaniard in Oberhausen, Germany. . . . WBA lightweight champion Juan Diaz (32-0) added the WBO belt to his collection when Acelino Freitas' corner stopped their title unification fight at the end of the eighth round in Mashantucket, Conn.

Flying First Class

took control early and pulled away to win the $100,000-added Derby Trial by 33/4 lengths at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky.

The 3-year-old colt, ridden by Mark Guidry, covered 71/2 furlongs in 1 minute, 29.28 seconds and paid $15.20, $8.80 and $5.20.

Rafael Nadal beat David Ferrer, 7-5, 6-1, for his 71st straight win on clay and a place in the Open Seat Godo final against Guillermo Canas in Barcelona, Spain. Canas beat Agustin Calleri, 7-6 (1), 6-7 (5), 6-2, in an all-Argentine semifinal to make his second straight final.

Georgia's Courtney Kupets won the vault at the NCAA women's gymnastics championships in Salt Lake City. It was the fifth national championship for the sophomore, who scored 9.9188.

On Friday, Kupets led Georgia to its third straight championship and claimed her second consecutive all-around title.