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Mercedes Steals The Show In Pilot Challenge Qualifying
WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. – On a sunny Friday afternoon at Watkins Glen Int’l, Winward Racing/HTP Motorsport and Mercedes-AMG stole the show in IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge qualifying.
Dutchman Indy Dontje led the effort by earning his first Motul Pole Award in the team’s No. 33 Mercedes-AMG GT4 with a time of one minute, 54.709 seconds (106.704 mph).
Dontje is in the middle of his first full season with Winward Racing in the top-tier Grand Sport class after running a partial schedule in 2018.
Dontje’s pole for Saturday’s four-hour Tioga Downs Casino Resort 240 is Mercedes-AMG’s second of the season, after Owen Trinkler scored the top spot at Sebring International Raceway in March. The manufacturer has a total of three in the series.
“It’s really fast, we don’t even go to second gear,” said Dontje, who co-drives with Russell Ward. “It’s all third gear corners, here mostly high gear corners, which makes it pretty interesting and pretty difficult at some places. It’s really cool to be on pole here at The Glen.
“We’re going to change a few things, but the car in the base is really good. Actually, we don’t touch it so much and our engine and our engineer Tomas will do a great job on that and we will be prepared. Maximum prepared we can be for the race.”
Just a mere .171 seconds back and starting on the outside of the front row is fellow Winward teammate Christian Hohenadel in the No. 57 Mercedes-AMG.
Hohenadel co-drives with Bryce Ward, who is Winward Racing’s team owner and the father of Dontje’s co-driver.
Winners of the season-opening race, Paul Holton and Kuno Wittmer in the No. 75 Compass Racing McLaren GT4, will line up third on the grid alongside the victors from Sebring, Tyler McQuarrie and Tyler Westphal in the No. 39 Carbahn Motorsports Audi R8 GT4.
After scoring the team’s first win in the last race at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in May – which also was Hyundai’s first in Pilot Challenge – the No. 98 Bryan Herta Autosport team landed on top of the leaderboard once again in Friday’s qualifying session.
Michael Lewis scored his first Motul Pole Award with a time of 1:56.888 (104.715 mph) to lead the TCR field to green in tomorrow’s Tioga Downs 240.
His pole position comes in what will be his fourth start in the series tomorrow.
“I really just have to say thank you to Hyundai and my teammate Mark,” said Lewis, who co-drives with Mark Wilkins. “This Veloster N TCR was so hooked up in this qualifying session and to get this Motul P1 position award is really cool. You see a lot of cool drivers earning this and to be that lucky driver today is pretty honorable, so I feel really honored to be in this position.
“For the team itself we’ve had one year last year in motor series getting used to TCR and that really helps because coming into this series, we knew the car really well and how to tune it basically,” Lewis continued. “My teammate Mark Wilkins is super solid as a co-driver so we had that down. We just needed to get used to pit stops and once we got those down, we really did a nice job last race at Mid-Ohio. Now we’ve just got to keep going. We’re on a little bit of a roll here, got this pole and it’s all thanks to the team putting in the effort last year and doing their work in the offseason.”
BHA will be playing defense, though, with two Audi RS3 LMS race cars on their heels starting second and third on the grid.
Michael Johnson in the No. 54 for JDC-Miller Motorsports qualified his Audi in second, with Jay Salinsky putting the No. 23 FAST MD Racing Audi in third.
WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. – Round three of the Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America championship produced another exciting race, which seems to happen whenever the series visits Watkins Glen Int’l.
A total of 19 Huracan EVOs were on the grid on a hot, steamy day in western New York, and the field was looking to get back to racing after an almost three-month gap following the first two rounds of the season.
At the end of the 50-minute battle, the No. 29 entry from Change Racing, Lamborghini Charlotte was the overall, and Pro Class, winner for the second consecutive race.
Pole sitter Richy Antinucci held his position through the first part of the race after being challenged in the first few turns by the field behind him. He held that lead until pitting with just under 23 minutes remaining and turning the car over to co-driver Corey Lewis.
After the cars all cycled through their pit stops, Lewis was still in the lead.
The No. 34, with D. Bryce Miller behind the wheel, spun in the Esses with 12 minutes remaining and the first full course yellow of the race was brought out, promising to make the end of the race a close one.
There were five minutes remaining when the field was shown the green flag, which translated to about three laps remaining.
As the cars crossed the line, Lewis left the rest of the field in his rear-view mirror, opening almost a three second lead for the remainder of the race as he drove to victory.
“That last restart was probably a little more than what I wanted,” admitted Lewis. “We managed our tires and with the restart we knew we had enough tires to defend our lead. We timed that restart perfectly. Hats off to Richy, Change Racing and Lamborghini Charlotte and everybody involved. We have one more to go and we will see how that plays out.”
“It was a great race. I felt like we had a little gap and I tried to manage that and I wanted to give as much tire as possible to Corey, because it was hot and we didn’t know if we would have a yellow,” added Antinucci. “On the restart you saw what he could do. It was amazing.”
Andrea Amici and Sandy Mitchell in the No. 1 Prestige Performance/Wayne Taylor Racing, Lamborghini Paramus entry finished second in class.
The No. 46 from Precision Performance Motorsports, Lamborghini Palm Beach with Conor Daly and Brandon Gdovic was third.
The Pro-Am Class had its own drama throughout the 50 minutes as just after the start,
Jake Eidson (No. 09 US RaceTronics, Lamborghini Vancouver) suffered a drive-through penalty for jump-starting the race which knocked him out of the class lead.
That gave the lead to Ryan Hardwick in the No. 22 Dream Racing Motorsport, Lamborghini Atlanta and he held the lead until the pit stops were over.
After the stops, Damon Ockey re-gained the lead in the No. 09 from Supercross star Chad Reed who was making his first-ever start in Super Trofeo. Ockey held that lead for most of the second half of the race until the restart with five minutes remaining.
After that Bruno Junqueira in the No. 53 Prestige Performance Motorsport/Wayne Taylor Racing, Lamborghini Paramus assumed the lead and went on to win with his teammate Bradley Baker in their first race of the season.
Ockey and Eidson finished second place while Hardwick and Reed were third in class.
The Am Class featured a classic battle between two of the youngest drivers in the field in 21-year-old McKay Snow (No. 63 Change Racing, Lamborghini Charlotte) and 16-year-old Steven Aghakhani in the No. 6 US RaceTronics, Lamborghini Beverly Hills.
Snow, who won the first two rounds, jumped out to an early class lead with Aghakhani right behind through the first part of the race. Following the pit stops Aghakhani grabbed the lead and held a second and a half lead until the restart.
Snow regained the lead on the restart but Aghakhani quickly slipped back by him on that first lap and opened a slim half a second lead and held on for the class win in his first-ever Super Trofeo start.
Ashton Harrison was fastest in both qualifying sessions and her speed showed as she took the lead in LB Cup to start the race. When she passed the car along to her teammate Stephanie Cemo after the mandatory stop, the result was same as they were in the lead and remained in that position until there were about two minutes left in the race.
Mel Johnson in the No. 08 GMG Racing, Lamborghini Newport Beach, who won the first two rounds, moved around the No. 43 and took the class lead away from them after they held it for almost 48 minutes. The victory made him three-for-three this year.
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – The Porsche GT3 Cup Sebring November Fest is coming to Sebring Int’l Raceway later this year.
The unique three-race, two-day event will be part of the annual IMSA Michelin SportsCar Encore this year and will replace the Global MX-5 Cup Challenge that ran as part of the Encore weekend in 2018.
“The entire weekend was a success last year and the addition of Porsche GT3 Cup promises to make this another memorable event for competitors and spectators,” IMSA CEO Ed Bennett said. “It is an opportunity for current IMSA teams to continue their year at an iconic venue and for others to enjoy the experience of an IMSA weekend and run their cars on Yokohama tires which is done throughout the season.”
The November Fest on-track Saturday schedule will feature a pair of practice sessions, qualifying and Race No. 1. They will finish the weekend with two races on Sunday. All three races will be 45 minutes.
The Porsche GT3 Cup portion of the weekend will be run to IMSA GT3 Cup Challenge sporting and technical regulations, and both Gen 1 and Gen 2 Porsche 991 GT3 Cup cars will be eligible to participate.
The field will feature a maximum of 60 cars and cars will be gridded by qualifying time. The qualifying driver must start race 1 on qualifying Yokohama tires.
Those signing up for this event will also have the opportunity to register for the 2020 Porsche GT3 Cup season during the entry process.
Entries for the Porsche GT3 Cup Sebring November Fest open on Sept. 18 and will close Oct. 22.
BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The Buffalo Sabres have acquired defenseman Colin Miller from the Vegas Golden Knights for a pair of draft picks, the Sabres announced Friday.
The Golden Knights acquired a second-round pick in the 2021 NHL draft and a 2022 fifth-round selection.
It's the second trade in two days for Vegas, which continues to shed payroll in a bid to get under the $81.5 million salary cap. Miller completed the first year of a four-year, $15.5 million contract he signed last summer. On Thursday, the Golden Knights traded forward Erik Haula to Carolina.
The 26-year-old Miller has four seasons of NHL experience and had three goals and 26 assists for 29 points in 65 games last season. That was a drop-off from the previous year when he led Golden Knights defensemen with a career-best 41 points (10 goals, 31 assists).
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Stricker (64) goes low again for U.S. Senior Open 36-hole mark
SOUTH BEND, Ind. – The boys from Madison are making it look easy at Notre Dame in the U.S. Senior Open.
For the second straight day, Steve Stricker and Jerry Kelly, friends and competitors since their junior years in Wisconsin, took apart the rain-softened Warren Golf Course, each shooting bogey-free rounds of 6-under 64 in the second round Friday.
Stricker broke the tournament 36-hole record at 14-under 126, a day after shooting an event-record 62 for a share of the first-round lead with defending champion David Toms. Kelly, a playoff winner over Stricker and Retief Goosen last week in the Madison event that Stricker hosts, was two strokes back after their morning rounds.
"I've known Jerry from a young age when we were playing amateur events and junior events across Wisconsin," said the 52-year-old Stricker, the Regions Tradition winner last month for his first major title. "It's good to see him playing well. I knew this course would set up well for him. He's doing everything well as it shows from winning last week."
Stricker has plenty of motivation from his loss Sunday when he missed a birdie putt on the final hole of regulation and bogeyed the first playoff hole.
"It stings a little bit," Stricker said. "I feel good going around this course. It fits my eye well. It's a treat to go around here and play, and I like what I've been doing so far."
The 53-year-old Kelly, who admits his personality is the polar opposite of Stricker's quiet nature, says they have helped each other during their low moments on both tours.
"It's competition and support and friendship," Kelly said. "I appreciate everything (Stricker's) done for my game. I hope he knows I've been there for him."
The victory last week was Kelly's fourth on the 50-and-over tour. He won three PGA Tour titles.
"Definitely a continuation of last week," he said. "(I've) got a great feel the last five weeks. It's low every week (on the PGA Tour Champions). So it teaches you to keep going, keep going."
Toms was third at 11 under after a 67. He played in the afternoon when wind the picked up.
"I had some ups and downs, not quite as solid as yesterday but not many days are," Toms said. "I think the wind played a factor, what wind we had in the middle of the round, as far as trying to get a ball close to the pin. You had to pay attention to that."
Two-time U.S. Open champion Retief Goosen had a 65 to get to 9 under in Senior Open debut. The South African rebounded from a bogey on the 13th hole with four straight birdies.
"It's nice to have that finish and (be) five behind with two rounds to go," Goosen said. "Just got to get on a good run."
Bob Estes (65), Chris DiMarco (66) and Kirk Triplett (68) followed at 8 under.
Among those returning for the weekend is Tom Watson, who matched his age with a 69 on Thursday and bettered it Friday with an afternoon 68 that included consecutive birdies at holes 15-17.
"I wanted to be here on the weekend again," Watson said. "At my age, you never know how many more USGA championships you're going to play in."
Watson's long-time rival, 18-time major winner Jack Nicklaus, is now a behind-the-ropes fan and raised his arms in celebration next to wife Barbara when son Gary, playing in his first Senior Open, birdied his final hole for a 71 that left him at 1-under 139 and also playing this weekend.
There were 41 golfers under-par 140 after two rounds with the 36-hole cut coming at 2-over 142. After yielding 41 sub-par rounds Thursday, Warren surrendered 39 Friday.
Kaufman makes cut at Rocket Mortgage Classic, his first in 18 months
DETROIT – For the first time in 18 months, Smylie Kaufman is playing the weekend.
The former spring break star won on Tour in 2015 as a rookie and played in Sunday’s final pairing at the 2016 Masters. But it’s been downhill ever since, as Kaufman has struggled with confidence and injury while losing control of his game. He entered this week’s Rocket Mortgage Classic on a run of 21 straight missed cuts or mid-tournament withdrawals, a stretch that combined starts on the PGA, Asian and Korn Ferry tours. Last month he finished dead last at the AT&T Byron Nelson, four shots behind former NFL quarterback Tony Romo.
But Kaufman got off to a hot start Thursday in Detroit, briefly grabbing a share of the lead, and after rounds of 69-70 he made the cut for the first time since the Desert Classic in January 2018.
Full-field scores from the Rocket Mortgage Classic
Rocket Mortgage Classic: Articles, photos and videos
Granted, it wasn’t a stress-free afternoon for Kaufman at Detroit Golf Club. Two early bogeys left him flirting with the cut line, and it wasn’t until he buried a 12-foot putt on No. 8, his 17th hole of the day, that he knew for sure he’d make the weekend.
“Being able to hole a putt on 8, it seemed like I’d had this scenario like all year, just haven’t been able to finish it off. It’s just nice to know that I’m able to do it,” Kaufman said. “That was fun to see today, so I’m really excited. Just kind of needed this in my game, just to start playing more. These two-day tournaments are starting to get pretty old.”
Kaufman is currently playing on a major medical extension that stems from an elbow injury that caused him to sit out the latter half of 2018. He has two starts remaining after this week and plans to stay busy, playing both the 3M Open and John Deere Classic. After that, he’ll head to the Korn Ferry Tour Finals in August to try to earn a PGA Tour card for 2020.
But for now, he’s savoring a chance to stick around for a couple more days.
“It’s huge. In the grand scheme of things, I practice as hard as I can and I give it all that I can. If it’s not enough, it’s not enough,” Kaufman said. “I just really feel like I’m starting to trend in the right way, so I think today was big in that I get more opportunities to play more golf, to try to get more confidence which is what I need.
“When you’re just sort of searching for confidence, you try to grab onto anything. But it’s nice to go out and do it in competition.”
Howell III (67) in mix at Rocket Mortgage Classic hoping to end summer struggles
DETROIT – Charles Howell III has been one of the most consistent players on the PGA Tour for nearly two decades, racking up hefty paychecks with incredible regularity. He just usually doesn’t shine when the temperatures heat up.
Howell has 34 top-10 finishes on Tour dating back to 2012, including his drought-breaking win last fall at the RSM Classic. But 33 of them have come in the fall or early portion of the season, as the veteran has only one recent top-10 in the months of June, July, August or September: his playoff loss to Kyle Stanley at the 2017 Quicken Loans National.
“I’ve tried it all. I’ve tried taking more weeks off some years, some years I’ve tried taking less weeks off,” said Howell, who joked that he “even tried surgery one summer on my neck” to solve his mid-year drought. “I don’t know why it is, I really don’t. But I’m more than aware of it.”
Howell appears in position to put an end to his summertime swoon this week at the inaugural Rocket Mortgage Classic, where he heads into the weekend alone in third place after rounds of 65-67 left him at 12 under, two shots behind Nate Lashley. His second round included six birdies against one bogey, highlighted by a hole-out from the greenside bunker on No. 15.
Howell admitted that in years past part of his summer struggles likely stemmed from an effort to chase position in the season-long points race, as he viewed qualifying for the Tour Championship as his best avenue to gain entry into the majors, including the Masters. But after celebrating a birthday last week, he’s hoping that a more stress-free approach will yield better results during a typically dry portion of the calendar.
“The funny thing about turning 40 is, you just quit worrying about that stuff. It used to keep me up at night, and I used to grind over that stuff,” Howell said. “You come to a point where you realize, ‘I’ll work as hard as I can, I’ll get the proper help that I need, and then we’re just going to play and whatever happens is going to happen.’ But I think you can only really arrive at that point after a certain amount of years and time, and maybe a certain amount of disappointments if you will, to get there.”
Lashley fires second-round 67 to retain lead at Rocket Mortgage Classic
DETROIT – Cameron Champ played one of the best stretches on the PGA Tour this season, matching the lowest nine-hole score and the longest birdie-eagle streak.
Champ had an 8-under 28 on the front nine thanks, shooting under par for six straight holes.
"The hole looked pretty big for a while," he said.
The rookie cooled off on a steamy day with a 1-over 37 on the back nine, closing with a bogey after pushing a 4-foot putt just to the right and past the cup for a 7-under 65.
Nate Lashley took advantage of the opportunity to put his name on top of the leaderboard for the second straight day. Lashley shot a 67, putting him at 14-under 130 for a one-shot lead at scoring-friendly Detroit Golf Club.
"A lot of the weeks the courses are really difficult, so it's a nice change coming here," said Lashley, who is ranked No. 353 in the world.
Charles Howell III (67) was two shots back. J.T. Poston (63) and Ryan Armour (69) were another stroke back.
Dustin Johnson, the world's second-ranked player, and U.S. Open champion Gary Woodland finished at 2 under to miss the cut by three strokes.
"It just seemed like every time I hit a bad shot, it was in the wrong spot and made bogey," said Johnson, who had four of five bogeys on his back nine.
Woodland opened with a 72 in his first start since winning his first major and bounced back with a 69, an up-and-down round with eight birdies and five bogeys.
He and Johnson will have an extra couple of days to prepare for the British Open.
"Yeah, I need to get ready, but I'm excited about Portrush," Woodland said. "I've heard great things. But I've got some work to do, just tighten some things up. I wasn't prepared as much as I probably should have been this week. But two weeks off, I'll have plenty of time and I'll be ready to go."
Chez Reavie, who won the Travelers Championship last week, and Bubba Watson also failed to make it to the weekend.
Reavie was tied for fourth entering the day and was 6 under on his 13th hole of the second round. He closed with a bogey, double bogey and triple bogey to plummet to 1-under 143. Watson shot a 75 after opening with a 68.
The 36-year-old Lashley slipped into the tournament as an alternate Wednesday.
"The way I'm playing, yeah, I feel like I should be out here every week," he said.
Lashley is No. 132 in the FedEx Cup standings.
"I need a good week and move up into that top 125," he said. "To do it this week comfortably would be great. To be able to kind of relax the last few events of the season would be really nice."
Lashley's only top-10 finish during his two-year PGA Tour career was in February, when he tied for eighth at the Puerto Rico Open.
The 24-year-old Champ won the Sanderson Farms Championship in October and added a pair of top-10 finishes in November. In his last 10 tournaments, though, he has missed seven cuts and withdrawn once with a finish no better than a tie for 54th.
Champ, who is from Sacramento, California, leads the tour in driving distance at 316.6 yards and ranks 187th in accuracy.
After a ringing phone distracted him on the 17th tee, he sent a 320-yard drive to the left into the rough behind a tree 251 yards to the pin. Champ originally planned to use a 3-iron before choosing a 4-iron for his second shot and sent a low line drive under branches that left him 91 feet away.
"I was just looking to see if I could get a 3-iron out of that lie," he said. "There was no chance."
His chip set him up for a 9-footer for birdie, his only one on the back nine.
"The back side I really didn't play terrible, I just hit a few shots that kind of limited my ability to get it close to the hole," he said.
I. Park (62) takes first-round lead at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship
ROGERS, Ark. – Inbee Park had five straight birdies in a 9-under 62 to take the first-round lead Friday in the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship.
Seeking her 20th LPGA Tour victory and first since early last year, the South Korean star began the birdie run on the second hole of the round that started on No. 10. She also birdied the par-5 18th to make the turn at 6-under 29 and added three birdies on the second nine.
"It's always great to see the ball rolling in the hole," Park said. "I haven't been seeing that for such a long time. For a couple of years or so I have been missing a lot of short putts. ... I was just trying to be patient and trying to wait for the day that's to come. I know I have a good feel on the putter, and it just wasn't going in the last couple of years or so. I was really waiting for this moment and, hopefully, I can keep this going."
Park is trying to win for the second time at Pinnacle Country Club after taking the 2013 title.
"I have played this golf course so many times, so it helps me playing through this week," Park said. "I love playing this golf course."
Paula Creamer, Carlota Ciganda and Sherman Santiwiwatthanaphong were a stroke back.
Creamer won the last of her 10 LPGA Tour titles in 2014. She was 8 under after 12 holes, then played the final six in even par with a bogey on the par-3 sixth and birdie on the par-5 seventh.
"I hit the ball really well," Creamer said. "I don't think I missed one fairway today. I had 6-, 7-, 8-footers pretty much on all the holes. I made them. I was putting really well and it was kind of one of those days where I felt like I was going to hit a good shot and make the putt."
Ciganda matched Creamer with nine birdies and a bogey.
"I really like this course," Ciganda said. "I think you can go out there and shoot a low score. ... I hit my irons really good today, my wedges and then I made some good putts. Very happy with the round."
Ariya Jutanugarn, Annie Parkand Maria Torres shot 64.
Top-ranked Jin Young Ko opened with a 65.
Former University of Arkansas star Stacy Lewis had a 68. She won the 2014 event.
Maria Fassi, the 21-year-old Mexican player who won the NCAA title last month for the Razorbacks, opened with a 70.
Rapinoe: U.S. players 'keep it chill', ignore critics
Now just two games away from winning another Women's World Cup, the United States is not discussing any of the criticism aimed at standout forward Megan Rapinoe, she told ESPN after Friday's 2-1 quarterfinal win over hosts France.
Rapinoe scored both of the Americans' goals, two days after U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted about her "disrespect" for the country following the release of a months-old video of Rapinoe saying, ""I'm not going to the f---ing White House."
But while her comments and the president's response might be driving headlines, Rapinoe said she and her teammates are talking about practically anything else they can.
"I haven't been thinking about it too much. Obviously, I'm thinking about it a little bit -- we're having to talk about it, whatever -- but I've never been one to get in my [Twitter] mentions, so I'm not getting in them now," she told ESPN. "Stay out of it; just keep within the team environment and the bubble.
"I have so much support around me, from the media team helping me to just the group and my family and friends and everybody. So we just keep it chill; we just basically -- kinda just shoot the s--- every day, and we're just trying to find stuff to talk about -- and that's not what we're talking about."
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On the field, Rapinoe has now scored five goals in four appearances in France to set up a semifinal clash against England, and after the president tweeted to "WIN first before she TALKS!" in reference to Rapinoe, she acknowledged the U.S. still has a long road ahead.
"Obviously we're very excited about this, and we can be excited about it for a minute; and then you gotta put it away," she said. "We haven't done anything that we want to do yet. We have a tremendous team ahead of us in England, who had a very dominating performance in their last game. So we'll just rest, chill, have a good trip down on the train to Lyon tomorrow, and start to focus in on England."
Despite the high stakes, Rapinoe is still managing to have a little fun. Asked in the mixed zone after the game if her performance against France meant more coming the night before the Paris Pride march, Rapinoe, who is openly gay, replied: "Go gays. You can't win a championship without gays on your team, it's pretty much never been done before ever. Science, right there. ...
"To be gay and fabulous during pride month at the World Cup is nice."
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