I Dig Sports
ORRVILLE, Ohio — Nearly sweeping the entire program, Cap Henry left Wayne County Speedway on Monday evening $5,000 richer, finally etching his name in sprint car racing history as an Ollie’s Bargain Outlet All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1 main event winner.
The driver of the Lane Racing/Beer Barrel Bourbon No. 4 accomplished his feat in exciting fashion, utilizing his pole position to lead all 30, non-stop circuits around Wayne County Speedway, all while holding off defending All Star Circuit of Champions title holder Aaron Reutzel.
Henry’s campaign at the front of the field was engulfed in slower traffic for much of the 30-lap distance. On top of that, the former All Star Circuit of Champions Rookie of the Year was forced to manhandle an ultra-fast, but tricky and choppy surface, nearly costing Henry his victory when steering issues became a factor in the final corner.
In fact, Henry’s margin of victory over Reutzel was a mere 0.024 seconds.
Buddy Kofoid chased Reutzel and Henry to the final checkers, followed by Cory Eliason and Dean Jacobs.
“Man, this is awesome,” Henry said in victory lane. “I feel like we’ve been trying to do this for like ten years. I can’t thank the guys from Lane Racing enough. They work extremely hard and actually had to rebuild this car two weeks in a row after I crashed it. They are great to work for; a great team.”
Starting from the pole position, Henry set the pace early, instantly jumping out to a commanding lead over Aaron Reutzel, Greg Wilson and Buddy Kofoid. Lapped traffic entered the picture early with Henry reaching the back of the field with only six laps knocked off the scoreboard. Solidly in second at the time, Henry’s momentum downshift in traffic allowed Reutzel to close the gap, actually making a bid for the top spot on lap nine. The slider through turns one and two failed allowing Henry to escape into the distance.
By lap 15, Reutzel was pressuring Henry for the lead yet again, utilizing periods of even heavier traffic to chase down the former All Star full-timer. Despite running up on the leader, Henry seemed to find another gear, once again separating himself from the Clute, Texas-native in traffic.
Ten laps later, Reutzel was all over Henry one more time, this time battling nearly nose-to-tail as the lead pair diced through slower cars.
In the meantime, it was apparent that the rut that had formed between turns three and four was giving Henry some trouble. Lap after lap, Henry would hit the rut and find himself nearly losing his balance. Although Henry was able to power his way out of the near-mess, the final lap nearly proved otherwise.
As Henry drove into turn three for the final time, the rut at the bottom of the speedway struck again sending the familiar No. 4 up the track. Henry’s mishap was an opportunity for Reutzel, ultimately opening the bottom groove.
In a desperate attempt to maintain the lead, Henry rocketed back down the track and drag raced Reutzel to the finish, actually making contact just before the flagstand. Suffice it to say, Henry came out victorious, finally kicking the All Star monkey off his back.
“When I hit that rut on the white flag lap, I messed the steering up. I felt bad about running Aaron (Reutzel) almost to the infield, but we wanted an All Star win and I wasn’t going to lift,” Cap Henry continued. “I kept trying to crash through that hole the entire race. That last lap, it about got me. I definitely panicked there.”
“He was able to maintain a nice pace the entire race,” Reutzel said of Cap Henry. “Lapped traffic wasn’t too bad for me, but there were a few cars that were trying to make it hard for us. I was just trying not to crash, honestly.”
The finish:
Feature (30 Laps): 1. 4-Cap Henry [1]; 2. 87-Aaron Reutzel [4]; 3. 11N-Buddy Kofoid [3]; 4. 26-Cory Eliason [5]; 5. 9-Dean Jacobs [9]; 6. 70X-Justin Peck [6]; 7. W20-Greg Wilson [2]; 8. 11-Dale Blaney [8]; 9. 70-Brock Zearfoss [20]; 10. 13-Paul McMahan [11]; 11. K4-Chad Kemenah [7]; 12. G1-Tim Shaffer [13]; 13. 3-Jac Haudenschild [16]; 14. 38K-Jordan Ryan [14]; 15. 97-Max Stambaugh [15]; 16. O7-Gerard McIntyre [17]; 17. 22-Brandon Spithaler [21]; 18. 23-Carson Short [23]; 19. 8-Cole Duncan [22]; 20. 45-Trevor Baker [12]; 21. 16M-Danny Mumaw [19]; 22. 99-Skylar Gee [24]; 23. 81-Lee Jacobs [10]; 24. O8-Dan Kuriger [18]; 25. 57X-Andrew Palker [25]
WEEDSPORT, N.Y. — Matt Sheppard beat out Danny Johnson and Larry Wight in a stunning three-car battle to win Monday night’s Super DIRTcar Series big-block modified feature at Weedsport Speedway.
Once Sheppard got out in front, it was his show at the front of the field. Johnson finished second but led much of the first half of the race. Johnson and Wight battled wheel-to-wheel in the waning laps but Johnson edged the Gypsum Racing No. 99L to put himself on the second step of the podium. Wight flashed across the line in third.
For the eighth time in 2019, Matt Sheppard climbed atop his No. 9s Big Block Modified to celebrate a Super DIRTcar Series victory. Sheppard is now inching away from Erick Rudolph and Mat Williamson in the standings as the season winds down.
“It got pretty wild there,” Sheppard said. “I got rolling on the bottom and Danny [Johnson] was caught in the middle. I think we were trying to lap Jimmy [Phelps] and he couldn’t get by him and I couldn’t get by Jimmy. We were jammed up for a long time. Then all of a sudden here comes Larry [Wight] around the outside of all of us.”
Sheppard retook the lead from Wight shortly thereafter.
“We were fortunate to get through that mess of lap cars out in front. Then after the yellow and I figured I better go back to the top because of anybody’s going to drive around me it’s Larry Wight,” noted Sheppard.
A system of soaking rains moved through the area in the morning of the race. That appeared to have created a much different set of track conditions on the historic Weedsport Speedway than the drivers were expecting or used to.
“The top surprised me a little bit. I had thought the top was going away and I was glued to the bottom. Then I found a little something at the top of one and two. Larry showed us the line up there. I was quite surprised had the end of the race to be running the top instead of the bottom,” Sheppard detailed.
Fan-favorite Hall of Famer, The Doctor Danny Johnson was the early leader until Sheppard and Wight pounced.
“Matt [Sheppard] has been good all year. You gotta give credit where credit is due,” Johnson said.
“We ran a good race and just needed to be a little bit better,” said Johnson with a grin and an emphasis on little. The second-place is one of the best finishes in a while for the No. 27j.
He needed a little more to take the fight to Sheppard.
“I think he [Sheppard] was running the top a bit better and I was stuck in the middle. I thought I was good there but obviously I wasn’t.”
The finish:
Feature (100 Laps): 1. 9S-Matt Sheppard [5][$7,500]; 2. 27J-Danny Johnson [3][$4,000]; 3. 99L-Larry Wight [7][$2,500]; 4. 91-Billy Decker [8][$1,800]; 5. 88-Mat Williamson [14][$1,600]; 6. 5H-Chris Hile [10][$1,400]; 7. 111-Demetrios Drellos [9][$1,300]; 8. 83X-Tim Sears [12][$1,200]; 9. 6H-Max McLaughlin [6][$1,100]; 10. 25-Erick Rudolph [18][$1,000]; 11. 19-Tim Fuller [16][$800]; 12. 98H-Jimmy Phelps [25][$700]; 13. 35-Mike Mahaney [4][$600]; 14. 93-Danny Varin [21][$575]; 15. 42P-Pat Ward [19][$550]; 16. 21A-Peter Britten [11][$525]; 17. 26-Ryan Godown [17][$500]; 18. 18-Anthony Perrego [24][$500]; 19. R2-Rusty Smith [27][$500]; 20. 14J-Alan Johnson [2][$500]; 21. 11R-Rob Bellinger [20][$500]; 22. 32R-Ronnie Davis [1][$500]; 23. 15-Todd Root [23][$500]; 24. 2L-Jack Lehner [26][$500]; 25. M1-Dave Marcuccilli [30][$500]; 26. 37-Paul StSauveur [28][$500]; 27. 3-Justin Haers [22][$500]; 28. 121-Gary Tomkins [15][$500]; 29. 9X-Tyler Trump [13][$500]
ELMA, Wash. — With a dominant performance Monday night at Grays Harbor Raceway, Daryn Pittman earned his 84th career World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series victory — tying his idol Stevie Smith on the all-time wins list.
“That’s pretty cool,” Pittman said. “That’ll take a little while to sink in.”
Smith had two wins at Grays Harbor. Pittman’s victory was his first at the raceway and his third win of the season with Roth Motorsports.
It took seven months — since his 83rd win in February — and 30 grueling laps around three-eighths-mile raceway to get win number 84.
He put himself in position to get the victory by first winning his Drydene Heat race and then finishing second in the DIRTVision Fast Pass Dash behind fellow Oklahoma driver Shane Stewart. Stewart was eager for another win – having not won since June.
Their desperation to hold the checkered flag again manifested in the first three laps. They drag raced past the soaring green flag; their bumpers aligned. Sailing into turn one, Stewart went low, Pittman high. The Killer Instinct Crossbows No. 5 car edged Pittman by half a car into the corner and on exit.
Carrying more momentum off turn two, Pittman crept his way alongside Stewart down the backstretch. Before entering turn three the two almost made contact forcing Pittman to halt his run. The lead was now in Stewart’s control.
Pittman had let too many victories slip through his fingers. He wasn’t going to let another opportunity drive away. He powered back to the outside of Stewart in turn one and kept alongside him down the backstretch.
Knowing Pittman was there, Stewart launched his car to the bottom of the track in turn three. Pittman stayed high, allowing himself to build momentum around the top and dive underneath Stewart on the exit of the turn. They again drag raced side by side down the front stretch. When turn one approached, Pittman stayed in the throttle, darting past Stewart for the lead on lap three.
The Roth Enterprises No. 83 car then began to pull away. However, a few laps later Pittman slid out of the racing groove into loose dirt in turn two, sending his car sideways. Dancing with the throttle and steering wheel, he worked his way out of the mistake. But Stewart was now back within striking distance.
On lap 11 Stewart was side by side with Pittman due to a caution for a slowing Jason Sides. When the race restarted, Pittman accelerated back in front of the field. Stewart was no longer behind him, though. An aggressive Carson Macedo snuck his way by Jacob Allen and Stewart on the restart to move into second.
The rookie wasn’t able to keep pace with the determined veteran. Pittman pulled away to a comfortable lead. On lap 19 he was again forced to give it up. Stewart came to a stop in turn four due to power steering issues and brought out the caution.
On the restart, Macedo gave Pittman a scare. The California-native stayed with him down the front stretch and held onto his bumper down the backstretch before diving underneath the No. 83 car into turn three. The high side continued to favor Pittman, though. He used the available grip to launch ahead of Macedo and maintain his throne as the leader.
“I gave away a chance at winning 40 grand at Jackson (Motorplex) by choosing the outside, and trust me that’s haunted me for a while and the next race I’m going to lose by choosing the inside, and I told myself that,” Pittman said. “Won the first restart against Shane and never saw him and Carson scared the crap out of me there on the last one.”
With Pittman pulling away to more than a second lead, Macedo had to turn his attention to fending off 10-time series champion Donny Schatz. The reigning champion worked his way around Macedo for second on lap 23, but the Kyle Larson Racing driver was ready for a brawl to the finish.
Macedo powered through the ruts in the track to keep pace with Schatz and capitalized on the North Dakota driver’s slip up with three laps to go to move back into second. With an 11th championship on the line and the season quickly coming to an end, Schatz is not willing to give up points. He stalked Macedo in the closing laps and snuck his way by him on the final lap to finish in the runner-up spot for the second night in-a-row.
“That’s the way it goes,” Schatz said. “We had to race our way there. At one point we were back in fifth or sixth. To get back up there is good. Consistency wins races. We’ll keep plugging away.”
Macedo admitted he made a mistake by staying up high in the closing laps, allowing Schatz to get back by him. However, he is happy with a podium finish in his first appearance at Grays Harbor Raceway.
To see full results, turn to the next page.
MOORESVILLE, N.C. – Southeastern Equipment & Supply, Inc., a leader in reconditioned and new floor scrubbers, will team up with Front Row Motorsports and Matt Tifft at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sept. 8.
Southeastern Equipment will serve as the primary sponsor of Tifft’s No. 36 Ford Mustang, while Minuteman and Meijer will serve as associate sponsors.
Headquartered in West Columbia, S.C., Southeastern Equipment specializes in all types of floor buffer and cleaning equipment, shipping new and gently used cleaning equipment to all 50 states and several countries worldwide. The family-founded business offers over 100 years of combined experience in equipment service and is operated by 2nd and 3rd generation family members.
“This is a really exciting partnership for us,” said Grady Martin, General Manager of Southeastern Equipment. “NASCAR offers such a great platform for us to spread the word about our organization and what we are all about. Matt’s story really resonated with us and we’re looking forward to working with him.”
“It’s great to see a new partner like Southeastern Equipment on board with us at Indy,” said Tifft. “The equipment they provide is essential to our operation. I’m looking forward to representing them on the car and showcasing what they have to offer our fans.”
Korn Ferry Tour Championship finish filled with hoorays, heartbreak
Tyler Duncan entered Monday’s final round of the Korn Ferry Tour Championship needing a special round to ensure a return trip to the PGA Tour.
He delivered.
The 30-year-old Purdue product, who arrived this week No. 41 in Finals points and was outside the top 25 heading into the final day at Victoria National, shot 6-under 66 with four back-nine birdies to finish T-4 and move to 12th in points.
“It could easily be the best round I’ve ever played,” said Duncan, who has played the last two years on the PGA Tour and will now keep his card for a third straight season.
Duncan was among those celebrating after a drama-filled finish to the Korn Ferry Tour season. England’s Tom Lewis won the Finals finale by five shots in his first career KFT start to earn a Tour card for the first time, while former Texas standout Scottie Scheffler (No. 1 in combined points and No. 1 in Finals points after a T-7 finish) locked up fully-exempt status for the upcoming Tour season.
But the real drama happened further down the leaderboard and Finals points list.
Scheffler’s college teammate, Doug Ghim, was 29th in Finals points to start the week, but found himself inside that number late Monday. After a bogey at the par-4 17th dropped him to No. 23 on the projections, Ghim faced a 10-footer for par at the par-4 18th – make and Ghim would be joining Scheffler on Tour, miss and he would be returning to the KFT next year.
He made, delivering a big upper-cut fist pump as the ball dropped into the hole.
“I’ve never felt nerves like that before,” said Ghim, who played in an NCAA final, was runner-up at the 2017 U.S. Amateur and low amateur at the 2018 Masters. “I’ve been in a lot of nervous situations. The only way I’d be devastated is if I had a putt to make it and didn’t make it, and that thought occurred when I got there. After all I went through throughout the whole season, to have a putt to make it is wild, and even wilder to have it go in, so I can’t even quantify in words what this means.”
Joining Lewis, Duncan and Ghim by moving inside the top 25 in Finals points this week: Fabian Gomez, who finished runner-up to climb from T-51 to No. 5; David Hearn, who made eight birdies Monday while rising from No. 42 to No. 13; Chris Baker, who tied for fourth and moved up 33 spots to No. 15 while playing just a few hours from his hometown; Cameron Davis, who played the back nine in 4 under to finish T-13 and go from T-34 to No. 21; and Richy Werenski and D.J. Trahan, who tied for the final two cards via Finals points.
When it comes to raw emotion, few days in professional golf can compare.
“My hair is turning gray. It’s taking years off all of us,” said Rob Oppenheim, who began Monday on the points bubble, at No. 25, before shooting 69 and finishing 20th on the Finals list. (Joseph Bramlett, No. 26 entering the final round, got his card, as well, after a closing 70 that left him No. 22 in points.)
But for all the celebratory moments that this event produces, there are equal – if not more – parts heartbreak.
Justin Harding entered the week 13th in Finals points before missing the cut. The South African then watched as two players already with cards, Grayson Murray and Lanto Griffin, struggled down the stretch to bump Harding out of the top 25. Griffin double-bogeyed No. 17 to move Werenski and Trahan past Adam Svensson and into T-25 in the projections, and then moments later Murray bogeyed the last to move the pair past Harding, who dropped from No. 24 to No. 26. Harding then watched as Griffin lipped out a short birdie putt at No. 18 that would’ve bumped him back inside the number.
Instead, Harding finished one-tenth of a point shy.
“It was a miserable feeling thinking I just might barely miss,” said Trahan, who birdied his last hole. “… I held my breath and it worked out well.”
It didn’t work out well, though, for several notable names. Peter Uihlein was projected to move inside the top 25 on the Finals points list, at No. 19 with two holes left to play. He had just birdied four straight holes and earlier eagled the par-5 10th, but Uihlein closed with double bogey at No. 17 and bogey at the last to finish 35th in Finals points.
Blayne Barber bogeyed three of his final five holes and ended up No. 31. Curtis Luck, who missed the cut, fell all the way from No. 15 to T-29.
Ollie Schniederjans won’t be returning to the PGA Tour after shooting 76-74 in the final two rounds and ending up 69th in Finals points. Neither will Jamie Lovemark, who tied for 67th this week and finished T-98 on the Finals list.
Harding misses out on PGA Tour card by the slimmest of margins
Several players controlled their own destinies Monday at the Korn Ferry Tour Championship. Justin Harding was not one of them.
The 33-year-old South African, who had missed the cut two days earlier at Victoria National, could only watch as he slowly dropped from 13th in Finals points, which is where he began the week, to 24th, just inside the bubble, with only a few groups left on the course.
Even then, Harding was on the cusp of earning his first PGA Tour card – until, of course, he wasn’t. Lanto Griffin, already among the 25 players to lock up a card during the regular season, double-bogeyed the par-4 17th hole and Grayson Murray, also already with a card clinched, bogeyed the par-4 18th to move D.J. Trahan and Richy Werenski past Harding in the projections.
Harding still had hope, though, as Griffin hit his approach to 5 feet at the last. But Griffin’s birdie putt lipped out, and Harding ended up No. 26 on the Finals points list just behind Trahan and Werenski, who ended up tied for 24th at 186 points.
But it gets worse: Harding fell one-tenth of a point shy of his card.
The Presidents Cup hopeful, who has won five times worldwide in the past two years, still has his European Tour card (he is 14th in the current Race to Dubai standings) and will now have playing opportunities on the Korn Ferry Tour next season, as well. Oh, and at No. 52 in the world rankings, Harding is closing in on a Masters berth.
But his PGA Tour card will have to wait.
Priority ranking for the 50 newest Korn Ferry Tour graduates
The biggest winner Monday at the Korn Ferry Tour Championship was Scottie Scheffler.
The former top-ranked junior and college All-American at Texas earned fully-exempt status on the PGA Tour for the 2019-20 season. Scheffler finished No. 1 in combined points between the regular season and three-event Finals, and he also edged another former top-ranked junior and college All-American, South Carolina product Matt NeSmith, as the leading point-getter in the Finals.
As a result, Scheffler will be the only grad next season who is exempt from any reshuffles and will receive an invite into the 2020 Players Championship.
The rest of the 50 Korn Ferry Tour graduates will play out of Category 26 and be subject to reshuffles, though they all figure to receive more starts than usual this fall thanks to a revamped Tour schedule that now features 10 non-WGC fall tournaments, including eight in or in close proximity to the U.S.
Here is a look at the initial priority ranking of Korn Ferry Tour graduates:
1. Scottie Scheffler (fully exempt)
2. Matthew NeSmith
3. Xinjun Zhang
4. Tom Lewis
5. Robby Shelton
6. Brandon Hagy
7. Harry Higgs
8. Kramer Hickok
9. Lanto Griffin
10. Fabian Gomez
11. Mark Hubbard
12. Viktor Hovland
13. Ryan Brehm
14. Brendon Todd
15. Kristoffer Ventura
16. Beau Hossler
17. Henrik Norlander
18. Ben Taylor
19. Zac Blair
20. Anirban Lahiri
21. Bo Hoag
22. Grayson Murray
23. Nelson Ledesma
24. Tyler Duncan
25. Rhein Gibson
26. David Hearn
27. Chase Seiffert
28. Bronson Burgoon
29. Mark Anderson
30. Chris Baker
31. Scott Harrington
32. Robert Streb
33. Michael Gligic
34. Tom Hoge
35. Sebastian Cappelen
36. Cameron Percy
37. Vincent Whaley
38. Hank Lebioda
39. Rafael Campos
40. Rob Oppenheim
41. Vince Covello
42. Cameron Davis
43. Michael Gellerman
44. Joseph Bramlett
45. Maverick McNealy
46. Doug Ghim
47. Tyler McCumber
48. D.J. Trahan
49. Tim Wilkinson
50. Richy Werenski
Tiger fist-pumps and cheers on Nadal in victory at U.S. Open
We're not sure how Tiger Woods' recently (re)operated left knee is feeling, but his right arm appears just fine.
Woods, along with his son, daughter and girlfriend, spent Monday night in New York emphatically cheering on Rafa Nadal in his U.S. Open Round of 16 victory over Marin Cilic, including after this unbelievable shot that set up match point for the Spaniard.
Woods has long attended the U.S. Open, watching fellow Nike athletes Nadal and Roger Federer compete. The 15-time golf major champion tweeted out his appreciation of the 18-time Grand Slam champion's Monday-night performance.
In his post-match interview, Nadal was asked about his famous observer.
"For me, it's a huge honor playing in front of all of you of course," Nadal said to the crowd. "But playing in front of Tiger for me is a very special thing.
"I always said I never had big idols, but if I had to say one, one idol is him. I always tried to follow him every single shot that he hit during the whole year.
"For me, it's a big pleasure to have him here supporting. Means a lot. He's a big legend of the sport, one of the greatest sportsmen of all time. I just want to congratulate him for one of the more amazing comebacks in sport, winning the Masters this year."
Nadal is as much a fan of golf as Woods is of tennis, having played in pro-ams and attended events. Nadal joked that his golf swing isn't ready for Tiger's eyes, but, then again, we've never seen Tiger swing at tennis racket.
"Honestly, it's much better if Tiger doesn't see my swing," Nadal said, drawing laughs from Woods and the rest of the crowd. "Maybe he can lose a little bit of rhythm after that."
World Long Drive champion reflections: Maurice Allen
In anticipation of the 44th annual World Long Drive Championship (Aug. 30 - Sept. 4, with Golf Channel showcasing the final two days), worldlongdrive.com is highlighting past champions. Click here to view more of the series and information on the championship.
Last year’s World Long Drive champion Maurice Allen is attempting to become the first repeat winner in the Open Division since Jamie Sadlowski (2008-’09), after advancing on Sunday afternoon to the Round of 32.
“Nobody has gone back to back since Sadlowski, so it’s been 10 years,” Allen said. “And if you look at the list of hitters winning a world title since then, there have been some really awesome hitters. So, that shows you just exactly how hard it is to go back-to-back.”
Allen says he didn’t have a good expectation for how he would do going into last year’s championship, but after he won his group in the preliminary round, he had a different feeling.
“I had missed the TV round in [the] 2017 [World Long Drive Championship], so I just told myself I wanted to be competitive,” said Allen. “Getting on the plane and driving to the hotel and checking in the clubs I was honestly like, ‘Let’s just try to make the top 16,’ but, after the first round I knew I was going to win the world title. I wasn’t subtle about it. I told people who are really close to me after hitting that first day that it was over. I knew I was going to win.”
Allen’s win came in emphatic fashion, needing to successfully convert on his eighth and final ball in the championship match against Justin Moose.
“I talked to my dad quite a bit that day between rounds,” said Allen. “And the last conversation we had, he said, ‘You know, you have a whole lot more time on the clock than you think.’ That’s why I walked up to the ball, looked at the clock and then backed off and really got my composure. It was one of those times I can honestly say that when I hit the ball, the moment it came off the clubface, I knew it was good.”
Despite having made only one TV appearance this season (Ak-Chin Smash in the Sun), Allen feels like he’s accomplished all of his goals as a world champion.
“It’s been an absolutely amazing season,” said Allen. “Regardless of what happens on and off the grid, I’m one of the few people who can say they’ve done everything that there is to do in this sport. After a certain point, you have to expand and continue to raise the bar off the grid to help grow the sport.”
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