HUMBOLDT, Kan. — Another first-time winner made the trip to victory lane on Sunday night at Humboldt Speedway with Jesse Colwell topping the POWRi Lucas Oil National / West Midget League feature.

Inheriting the lead after Zach Daum flipped on lap 25, Colwell controlled the final five laps and drove the Keith Kunz Motorsports, JBL Audio, Bullet/Toyota No. 71 to his first triumph.

Earning PAC Racing Springs High Point Man honors with a fifth-to-second heat race, Zach Daum paced the field aboard his Daum Motorsports, Bullet/Toyota No. 5d.

Jonathan Beason was slated to start on his outside, but trouble during the pace laps sent him to the work area and back to the tail, giving Blake Edwards the outside pole.

The initial green flag was short lived as a lap one caution involving Luke Howard, Devin Simmons, Cannon McIntosh and Holley Hollan, sent McIntosh and Hollan to the work area, with only Hollan returning to the track.

Driving away from the field, Daum immediately began to distance himself as a long-run was established. Building a three-second lead by lap ten, Daum grew his advantage further as he galloped into lap traffic near the halfway mark. While Daum was checked out in front, both Hollan and Beason were crafting stellar charges into the top ten from the rear, and Jesse Colwell and Jake Neuman began tracking down Daison Pursley for the second spot.

Hitting the 10 to go mark, Daum continued to stretch his lead while the battle for second heated up, as Colwell and Pursley went slider-for-slider with the runner-up position up for grabs. After swapping the spot back-and-forth for almost four laps, Colwell assumed the advantage and moved into second just before catastrophe struck.

Running away in lapped traffic with five to go, tragedy struck for Zach Daum in a big way. Hauling down the front stretch, his Toyota Racing powerplant suddenly locked-up and shot the No. 5D dead right into the wall. What ensued was a violent series of end-over-end flips before he came to a rest at the entry to turn one.

The scary moment concluded when a flame emerged and his machine caught on fire, but Daum was able to escape the wreckage and quickly climbed out of the car under his own power to the roar of the thankful crowd.

Inheriting the race lead following Daum’s rough misfortune, Colwell led the field back to green and controlled the final restart with ease. The Red Bluff, Calif., native pulled away to lead the last five laps and earn his first-career POWRi Lucas Oil National / West Midget League victory aboard the Keith Kunz Motorsports, JBL Audio, Bullet/Toyota No. 71.

Following Colwell to the line and earning his own career-best finish was 14-year old Daison Pursley with a second-place finish in the Keith Kunz Motorsports Toyota Racing No. 9.

Rounding out the podium with a strong 12th-to-third charge was Jake Neuman in the Jim Neuman Racing, BRANDT, BOSS/SR-11 No. 3n.

Closing out the top five was Jonathan Beason with a magnificent recovery to finish fourth after going tail back, and Holley Hollan scoring fifth with her own impressive rebound after heading to the rear of the field.

The finish:

Feature (30 laps): 1. 71-Jesse Colwell (7); 2. 9-Daison Pursley (3); 3. 3N-Jake Neuman (12); 4. 7-Jonathan Beason (2); 5. 67-Holley Hollan (6); 6. 44S-Andrew Felker (8); 7. 28X-Ace McCarthy (20); 8. 32-Trey Marcham (11); 9. 7M-Chance Morton (13); 10. 2H-Luke Howard. (17); 11. 5D-Zach Daum (1); 12. 20G-Noah Gass (14); 13. 7X-Blake Edwards (4); 14. 56X-Mark Chisholm (19); 15. 42-Hank Davis (15); 16. 17-Austin Brown (9); 17. 44-Wesley Smith (22); 18. 6-Merril Lamb (18); 19. F5-Devin Simmons (16); 20. 08-Cannon McIntosh (5); 21. 15H-Tony Hudlin (10); 22. 15L-Rick Horn (DNS); 23. 10J-Matt Sherrell (DNS).

MENOMONIE, Wis. — The last time the World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series saw Chase Junghans in victory lane, a shortage of confetti in the cannon put a minor damper on his glorious moment in the winner’s circle.

But after the checkered flag waved in Sunday’s series debut at Red Cedar Speedway, Junghans had never been happier to climb atop his ShopQuik Convenience Stores Rocket Chassis to a big confetti shower after driving away from Shane Clanton and Ricky Weiss to pick up his first victory of the season.

“We’ve been close all year,” a tired, but smiling Junghans said after the race. “We just finally got to put a complete night together.”

Picking up the win in Drydene Heat race number two, Junghans redrew the pole, took the lead from Clanton on the very first lap and never broke his concentration once throughout the 50 laps he led.

Not even a late-race caution that re-stacked the field and put 13-time winner Brandon Sheppard on his rear bumper could shake his poise out front.

For 21 straight laps, Sheppard chased Junghans through lapped traffic, pressuring him to make a mistake on the top side. But that mistake never came, and Sheppard faded back a bit as the laps clicked off. Junghans was flawless.

“I only saw the [Rocket] 1 car one time out of the corner of my eye,” Junghans said. “But those guys are damn good, and it feels really good to beat them. They’ll be on their A-game when we start racing again, so we’ve just got to keep our heads down and keep on chugging along.”

Junghans spent almost the entire race on the high side, leaning on the cushion in every corner. Nobody seemed to be able to work the top groove quite like he did or use it to get through several packs of lapped traffic in the way that he made it work. The race’s only caution didn’t come until lap 40, and Junghans found himself in lapped traffic by lap 10.

“There were lapped cars left and right, and I was trying to look at my crew guy to see how big of lead I had at one point,” he said. “But when you’re on the top and you’re bouncing off that cushion, it’s hard to be consistent. But this car was phenomenal tonight.”

Multiple times, Junghans drove it a bit deeper into the corner and switched to the bottom lane to get around traffic racing in his way on the high side, even threading the needle in between a pair of slower cars to make the move at one point. With the competition that he knew was behind him, Junghans had zero time to waste.

“With any of these races today, you have got to go,” he said. “You can’t hesitate. At one point, I was thinking ‘I need to save tires,’ but once that caution came out, I started weaving to keep heat in them, and they felt good. We restarted well, and it was all over by then.”

Shane Clanton finished second.

“We were a little tight,” Clanton said. “We tightened it up a little too much, thinking that it was going to be slick all over. We were just a little too tight across the middle to get to the traction on the bottom that we needed to run with [Junghans].”

It might not have been that pesky first World of Outlaws win that he was looking for, but Ricky Weiss’s hot streak is certainly alive and well after his third-place effort on Sunday night.

“We’ve had some issues with our tires sealing up the last few nights,” Weiss said. “But we tried something different and it definitely helped.”

The finish:

Feature (50 Laps) 1. 18-Chase Junghans [2][$10,000]; 2. 25-Shane Clanton [1][$5,000]; 3. 7-Ricky Weiss [4][$3,000]; 4. 1-Brandon Sheppard [3][$2,500]; 5. 97-Cade Dillard [6][$2,000]; 6. 28-Dennis Erb [10][$1,700]; 7. 28m-Jimmy Mars [7][$1,400]; 8. 27-Jake Redetzke [14][$1,300]; 9. 55c-Chad Mahder [9][$1,200]; 10. 15-Nick Anvelink [13][$1,100]; 11. 29-Darrell Lanigan [11][$1,050]; 12. 71-Rick Hanestad [20][$1,000]; 13. 99B-Boom Briggs [19][$950]; 14. 85-John Kaanta [12][$900]; 15. 68-Mike Prochnow [22][$850]; 16. 6-Blake Spencer [21][$800]; 17. 11g-James Giossi [17][$770]; 18. B1-Brent Larson [8][$750]; 19. 11-Pat Doar [15][$730]; 20. 10-Paul Parker [23][$700]; 21. 942-Terry Casey [18][$700]; 22. 6m-Jeff Massingill [24][$700]; 23. 7x-Jesse Glenz [16][$700]; 24. 44-Darrell Nelson [5][$700] Hard Charger: 71-Rick Hanestad[+8]

SWEET SPRINGS, Mo. — Tanner Carrick became the fourth first-time winner of the season in Sunday night’s USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget Series feature at Sweet Springs Motorsports Complex.

Carrick ran fifth with five laps remaining as point leader and race leader Tyler Courtney and defending champ Logan Seavey waged their battle for the lead. Seavey mustered a big, bold slider for the lead entering turn three. Courtney quickly countered underneath to steal the spot back from Seavey off turn four.

Seavey remained just about three car-lengths back on the following lap until his car got a bit tight on the cushion in between turns three and four, allowing Courtney to open up a roughly eight car-length lead despite catching the lapped car of Brady Bacon in traffic as he worked turns one and two.

Traffic parted the seas for Courtney with a free path on the high side entering turn three.  With seemingly everything in check, Courtney snagged the turn three cushion, flipping him over.  On Courtney’s rebound, second-running Logan Seavey clipped his own right front wheel against Courtney’s tail tank, giving terminal damage to Seavey’s car and eliminating him from a repeat Sweet Springs victory.  Courtney restarted, albeit from the tail and out of contention for his seventh series win of the year.

That slotted Carrick into third on the final restart behind McDougal and Windom. Throughout much of the duration of the 40-lapper, Carrick had been waging in a see-saw slider session behind Courtney and Seavey, battling the likes of McDougal, Windom and Kevin Thomas Jr., just to name a few, for what, at the time, seemed to be for “best in class” for third as the front two checked out.

On the lap-38 restart, McDougal went topside as Windom headed to the bottom to toss a slider at McDougal.  Windom appeared to not have enough mustard on the slide to get up in front of McDougal but was content to fall in line and chase him into the next corner.

Before all that could even play out, McDougal’s right rear snagged the turn two cushion, turning him to the right and pushing him into the outside wall.

Windom ducked under McDougal to take the lead momentarily heading down the back straightaway. Yet, even lower on the track was Carrick, who used the bottom to pull ahead of Windom at the entrance to turn three.

Carrick slid up in front of Windom to the top, while Windom charged to the bottom as Carrick nipped Windom at the stripe by three-quarters of a car length.

“I just wanted to be there at the end,” Seavey said. “I saved my stuff. I kind of figured (Windom) was going to try to slide McDougal (on the restart). My only odds were rolling the bottom on the last restart and getting to the lead. and it worked out.”

Carrick was on a mission to take away Windom’s line and prevent the slider into the first turn as he dove across the nose of Windom to secure the bottom before sliding up to the top in turn two as Windom had the front left wheel kicking up a little dust on the inner berm.

Carrick was meticulous in sliding himself into each corner from bottom to top, leaving Windom and hard-charging Zeb Wise a narrow window of opportunity that Carrick had no intentions of relinquishing.

Carrick, the 2017 series Rookie of the Year in his 54th career start, finished it out with authority for his first career series win. Wise, who returned from an opening lap flip, rode the rim around Windom on the final lap to take second by two car lengths over Windom, while McDougal fell to fourth and Chad Boat rounded out the top five.

“It means a lot to me getting a win for (crew members) Big Al (Scroggins), for Ronnie (Gardner), for Keith Kunz, everyone that helps out on the team,” Carrick said. “We’ve been really close. I’ve been really close lately. I could say there’s numerous races I should’ve won but didn’t play out my way, but this one did.”

USAC NOS Energy Drink Midget National Championship, Sweet Springs Motorsports Complex, Sweet Springs, Mo., July 14, 2019

Fatheadz Eyewear Qualifying: 1. Chris Windom, 17BC, Clauson/Marshall-11.951 (New Track Record); 2. Tanner Thorson, 98, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.959; 3. Tanner Carrick, 71K, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-11.970; 4. Jason McDougal, 76m, FMR-11.979; 5. Tyler Courtney, 7BC, Clauson/Marshall-12.004; 6. Andrew Layser, 47BC, Clauson/Marshall-12.073; 7. Logan Seavey, 67, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.080; 8. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 5, Petry-12.081; 9. Zeb Wise, 39BC, Clauson/Marshall-12.171; 10. Sam Johnson, 72, Johnson-12.233; 11. Tucker Klaasmeyer, 27, Kunz/Curb-Agajanian-12.248; 12. Brady Bacon, 21H, TKH-12.251; 13. Ethan Mitchell, 19m, Bundy Built-12.257; 14. Clinton Boyles, 9, Mounce-12.262; 15. Chad Boat, 84, Tucker/Boat-12.341; 16. Jerry Coons, Jr., 25, Petry-12.380; 17. Cole Bodine, 35, Petry-12.658; 18. Chad Winfrey, 321, Winfrey-12.830; 19. Curtis Spicer, 4, Spicer-13.120; 20. Joe Boyles, 98B, Boyles-13.212; 21. Chad Frewaldt, 4F, Frewaldt-13.291; 22. Casey Hicks, 5H, Hicks-14.034; 23. Daniel Robinson, 11, Harris-NT; 24. Shaun Shapel, 84s, Shapel-NT; 25. Gunner Ramey, 19s, Mounce-NT.

Simpson Race Products First Heat (10 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Sam Johnson, 2. Jerry Coons, Jr., 3. Ethan Mitchell, 4. Jason McDougal, 5. Logan Seavey, 6. Chris Windom, 7. Curtis Spicer, 8. Casey Hicks. NT

Competition Suspension Second Heat (10 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Cole Bodine, 2. Kevin Thomas, Jr., 3. Tyler Courtney, 4. Tucker Klaasmeyer, 5. Tanner Thorson, 6. Daniel Robinson, 7. Joe Boyles, 8. Clinton Boyles. NT

Autometer/Indy Race Parts Third Heat (10 laps, all transfer to the feature) 1. Zeb Wise, 2. Chad Boat, 3. Tanner Carrick, 4. Andrew Layser, 5. Brady Bacon, 6. Chad Winfrey, 7. Chad Frewaldt. 2:10.11

Feature (40 laps, starting position in parentheses) 1. Tanner Carrick (5), 2. Zeb Wise (9), 3. Chris Windom (7), 4. Jason McDougal (4), 5. Chad Boat (15), 6. Kevin Thomas, Jr. (8), 7. Jerry Coons, Jr. (16), 8. Daniel Robinson (23), 9. Tucker Klaasmeyer (11), 10. Andrew Layser (2), 11. Cole Bodine (17), 12. Tyler Courtney (3), 13. Joe Boyles (20), 14. Chad Frewaldt (21), 15. Casey Hicks (22), 16. Logan Seavey (1), 17. Brady Bacon (12), 18. Chad Winfrey (18), 19. Clinton Boyles (14), 20. Ethan Mitchell (13), 21. Sam Johnson (10), 22. Curtis Spicer (19), 23. Tanner Thorson (6). NT

WEST LEBANON, N.Y. — Brock Zearfoss led Sunday night’s Ollie’s Bargain Center All Star Circuit of Champions feature flag to flag on a night that saw the high banks of the half-mile Lebanon Valley Speedway littered with trashed sprint cars.

Davey Franek was a distant second in the finale of the New York swing, with Danny Dietrich, Gerald McIntyre and Corey Eliason rounding out the top five.

“It’s never easy,” offered Zearfoss. “But we were quick tonight. It was just one of those deals where everything comes together for you.”

Zearfoss blasted off from the pole on the initial break and had a comfortable lead when the first yellow, on lap three, brought him back to the field.  The turn one melee left Tony Stewart and Paul McMahan needing repairs before returning and fast-timer Lucas Wolfe with a trashed race car after hitting the turn-one wall a ton and flipping down to the infield.

With order restored, Zearfoss once again flew away from his pursuers as Justin Peck and Dietrich swapped fourth position back and forth behind him.  By lap five he had a full turn lead over Franek, point leader Aaron Reutzel and Justin Peck and by lap 12 he’d run down the backmarkers.

But Zearfoss lost his advantage once again on lap 16, as Reutzal had a run on Franek into turns three and four with Peck trying to follow him when the trio ran out of room. Peck went around while Reutzal blasted the wall before flipping hard at the top of the frontstretch to draw another red flag.

“I didn’t miss that mess by much,” said Dietrich.  “I dove low and hit the berm trying to get away.  Something is bent, because the car was never right after that!”

Franek escaped to remain runner up for the restart, with Dietrich advancing to third. Zearfoss was long gone again once the green returned, with the remainder of the field settling into single file behind him. They ran that way to the finish, with Stewart, Justin Barger, Greg Wilson, McMahon and Dale Blaney comprising the second five.

Franek, among the best in the 360 division in the Northeast, was happy but not overjoyed by his runner-up finish, saying, “Second is tough. You always want to win. But this is only my second or third start with the 410’s, so we’ll take it. This place is so fast that it’s really tough to pass, but overall we were really good.”

Blaney’s finishing position was notable in that he’d caught the turn two wall in hot laps, nearly ripping the rear end out of his McGhee Motorsports car and necessitating the use of his backup car. His crew rapidly installed an engine, swapped Blaney’s seat and various other parts onto the spare and he was ready for his heat.

The first heat was also tough on race cars, as Wolfe jumped the cushion on the start and hit the turn one wall, necessitating both a new front axle and a new rear end. Then, midway in the qualifier, Skyler Gee took a hard flip in turn four, trashing his ride in the process.

Zearfoss, Dietrich and Franek shared heat wins as the 19-car field qualified, with Zearfoss adding to a near perfect night with a convincing score in the dash.

The finish:

Feature (25 Laps): 1. 70-Brock Zearfoss [1]; 2. 28F-Davey Franek [2]; 3. 48-Danny Dietrich [5]; 4. O7-Gerard McIntyre [10]; 5. 26-Cory Eliason [11]; 6. 14-Tony Stewart [7]; 7. 5-Justin Barger [9]; 8. W20-Greg Wilson [12]; 9. 13-Paul McMahan [3]; 10. 11-Dale Blaney [13]; 11. 90-Jordan Givler [15]; 12. 40-George Hobaugh [8]; 13. 87-Aaron Reutzel [4]; 14. 70X-Justin Peck [6]; 15. IO7-Mark Coldren [17]; 16. 91-Scott Holcomb [18]; 17. 55-Darren Schott [19]; 18. 5W-Lucas Wolfe [16]; 19. 87jb-Jim Bob [20]; 20. 99-Skylar Gee [14] Lap Leaders: Brock Zearfoss [1-25]

WHEATLAND, Mo. — Jonathan Davenport picked up his second CMH Diamond Nationals Presented by Super Clean on Sunday night at Lucas Oil Speedway.

It was not easy for the defending Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series National Champion as he had to hold off a hard-charging Mike Marlar to pick up the $15,000 victory. Davenport’s only other win in the annual July event was in 2015.

Marlar managed to pass Davenport for the lead as the two came out of turn two on lap 52 but a caution for Tyler Erb negated the pass for the top spot. Davenport opened up a couple of car lengths advantage over Marlar on the restart. Marlar closed the gap in the final two laps, but came up just short at the finish line.

Shanon Buckingham started alongside Marlar in row number five and went on for another impressive run for the second night in a row as he captured the third finishing position. Tim McCreadie, who led the first ten laps of the race, finished in fourth followed by Billy Moyer.

Davenport and McCreadie started on the front row. McCreadie got the jump on Davenport and took the early lead. Davenport passed McCreadie for the lead on lap 11 and held a comfortable lead for a large portion of the race as McCreadie held the second spot.

As the checkers grew closer, Marlar started to make his move by taking the second spot away from McCreadie on lap 45. Marlar then tracked down Davenport but lost all momentum, after clearing Davenport just before the caution for Erb came out. Davenport led the last seven laps to record his ninth series win of 2019.

“The track started to clean up at the end we were trying to move around,” said the 35-year-old Georgia native. “We were trying to find a line that would work. My line kept going away at the top, so I moved back to the bottom. I guess that caution saved us. Mike [Marlar] has been really good here lately. He has been really consistent. We finally got some speed back in this thing.”

“We would have had the pass of the night,” said Marlar. “I am not going to whine about it. I got paid to drive a race car tonight so things aren’t so bad. I really enjoy coming out here. It is such an awesome facility. It is always a great crowd here. There’s a lot of electricity in the air. We had an awesome weekend.”

Buckingham, who is one of 11 drivers to win an LOLMDS race this season, had his best ever finish at Lucas Oil Speedway.

“This place is super nice,” Buckingham said. “How could you not like this place? For whatever reason this track just fits my driving style. My crew worked themselves to death to get us a podium finish here tonight. Those cautions killed me, if we could have had the last 19 laps all green, I think we would have been up there challenging for the win.”

The finish:

Jonathan Davenport, Mike Marlar, Shannon Buckingham, Tim McCreadie, Billy Moyer, Josh Richards, Scott Bloomquist, Shannon Scott, Will Vaught, Devin Moran, Shannon Babb, Earl Pearson Jr., Rick Eckert, Hudson O’Neal, Kaeden Cornell, R.C. Whitwell, Jimmy Owens, Billy Moyer Jr., Austin Siebert, Logan Martin, Tyler Erb, Mitch McGrath, Payton Looney, Tony Jackson Jr., Kyle Bronson, Terry Phillips, Michael Norris, Austin Rettig

Stan Kroenke has been criticised by Arsenal supporters' groups in a letter that labels the American billionaire "passive" and "absent" and using the club as an "investment vehicle."

A two-page letter, signed by several major supporters' groups and bloggers, claims that "Arsenal is at a crossroads. Things need to change" as well as describing Emirates Stadium as a "soulless place" on matchdays.

- Premier League fixtures 2019-20 in full
- Who has qualified for Europe from the Premier League?
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It reads: "As Arsenal fans we have watched with frustration as the team's football performances have declined over the past decade. When Stan Kroenke began buying Arsenal shares the club had just competed in a first Champions League final. Twelve years on Arsenal are about to play in the Europa League for the third year running.

"Off the pitch fans have never felt more marginalised, less listened to or valued. This was sadly illustrated when Stan Kroenke forcibly bought out the last remaining supporter-shareholders without even a word of appreciation for their custodianship role in the club.

"It feels as though Arsenal is at a crossroads. Things need to change. What all of us as signatories to this statement want to see is meaningful action by Stan Kroenke to reinvigorate our football club."

Kroenke first invested in Arsenal in 2007 and went on to become majority shareholder in 2011.

Arsenal have not won the Premier League since 2004 and the 2019-20 season will be their third in a row without Champions League football.

Their only signing so far this summer is Brazilian teenager Gabriel Martinelli, while Aaron Ramsey has left for Juventus and captain Laurent Koscielny is on strike.

The letter continues: "Arsenal have invested money in recent years but their approach to both buying players and paying wages looks uncoordinated and appears to lack strategy.

"There has also been a lot of turnover in the senior football personnel. A strong board would be proactively managing this.

"On a matchday the Emirates Stadium can be a soulless place. The atmosphere is poor and there are thousands of empty seats blighting almost every game.

"If Arsenal really cared they would make sure seats weren't left empty by investing in an improved ticketing system and actively supporting initiatives like safe standing. The club uses the strapline 'Always ahead of the game'. It would be good to see action to demonstrate this."

It also urges Arsenal to make public their position on proposals of a European Super League that they say is "driven by greed."

Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has said he needs a player like Bryan Robson in his team as he looks to strengthen his midfield ahead of next season.

Solskjaer is looking for at least one new midfielder this summer after Marouane Fellaini's January move to Shandong Luneng and Ander Herrera's departure on a free to Paris Saint-Germain.

- Premier League fixtures 2019-20 in full
- Who has qualified for Europe from the Premier League?
- When does the transfer window close?

And the Norwegian has said Robson, a dynamic midfielder known for his leadership qualities as captain of both United and England, is the type of player he is looking for.

"We are on the way to building a new squad," Solskjaer said, speaking at a fan event alongside Robson in Perth. "We've got new staff in, coaching staff.

"I believe so much in this club and this project. To be manager of this club is fantastic. I never had the honour of playing with Robbo but we need a player like him in the team."

Solskjaer may have even more work to do on his midfield if Paul Pogba gets his way and engineers an exit before the transfer deadline.

Negotiations are continuing with Leicester for defender Harry Maguire and there is still interest in Sean Longstaff and Bruno Fernandes but the United boss said he is running out of time with less than a month left of the window.

He has started to put his own stamp on the squad with the arrivals of Daniel James and Aaron Wan-Bissaka and despite still looking for more additions, he is confident he is taking the club back in the right direction.

"I'm following some great managers," Solskjaer said. "Sir Alex was the best and I'm trying to take the best from him and put my own personality on the job.

"We've got such a big fanbase and such a history that I feel that it is a fantastic opportunity for me. We're waiting for the young ones to come through because we've got so many exciting players and I'm sure we'll see the best of them in the years to come.

"There are some experienced ones as well that still have a few years left in them. We can back to the level we were, definitely.

"I come in at 7 a.m. thinking I'm the first one and Michael [Carrick] and Kieran [McKenna] are already there planning the sessions. I know this club is going places because of the people we have here."

United continue their preseason preparations with a game against Leeds United in Perth on Wednesday.

Leeds have left a number of players at home and arrived in Perth with just a 16-man squad. Manager Marcelo Biesla is not due to arrive in Australia until Tuesday and has left open the possibility of returning home immediately afterwards while his players continue on to Sydney to play the Western Sydney Warriors on Saturday.

It means the Argentinian could spend as little as 36 hours in the country either side of two 17-hour flights.

The game against United will also see former Valencia teammates Pablo Hernandez and Juan Mata go head-to-head before Solskjaer's team move on to Singapore to play Inter Milan.

"When I arrived here, I text him and he text me: 'See you Wednesday'," Hernandez said. "He told me he wants my shirt and I want his shirt, I have a lot of his shirts but I want the new one.

"He was my teammate for four years in Valencia and my roommate and I am happy to play against him."

Beating Monday's 4 p.m. ET deadline for franchised players to sign long-term extensions this year, the San Francisco 49ers and kicker Robbie Gould reached agreement on a two-year, $10.5 million fully-guaranteed deal that, including an option clause, can turn into a four-year, $19 million deal that includes $15 million guaranteed, league sources tell ESPN.

It is likely to be the only deal done before the deadline, per sources. The other two players facing a deadline are Houston linebacker Jadeveon Clowney and Atlanta defensive tackle Grady Jarrett. Clowney will not get a deal done before the deadline, per sources, and it will be difficult for Jarrett to get one as well.

Gould's deal, which his agent Brian Mackler and 49ers executive Paraag Marathe have been working on for months, reached a breakthrough over the weekend. At the start of the weekend, both sides thought it would be challenging to get it done, but the two sides reached a compromise on Sunday, by installing an option clause that gave each side comfort.

The 49ers have an option in which they can pick up the remaining two years on Gould's contract by the 17th week of the 2020 season, per source. To do that, the 49ers would have to fully guarantee Gould $2.25 million at that time, and then another $2.25 million on April 1, 2021.

The deal includes a $3 million signing bonus and a $3.15 million fully-guaranteed base salary this season, then a fully-guaranteed $4.35 million base salary in 2020, per a source. If the option is picked up, the deal would include a $4.5 million base salary in 2021 and a $4 million base salary in 2022.

But the 49ers have assured themselves of having their 36-year-old franchise kicker under contract for at least the next two seasons, and up to four seasons.

Back in April, the sides were at such an impasse that Gould requested a trade. The team said then it wouldn't honor Gould's request.

San Francisco put the franchise tag on Gould in February, a designation that came with an offer of a one-year deal for around $5 million.

That tag came after months of negotiations that did not result in a deal, and Gould told ESPN he was discouraged by the Niners' interest in kicker Stephen Gostkowski, who ultimately re-signed with the New England Patriots.

An inability to come to terms on a long-term contract combined with Gould's desire to return closer to his Chicago home prompted him to shut down any further contract talks and to formally request a trade via his agent, Brian Mackler.

Gould had been living in a hotel near the Niners' team facility in Santa Clara the past two years while his wife and family remained in Chicago during the season.

In two seasons with the 49ers, Gould has been one of the league's best kickers. Gould, 36, has made 72 of 75 field goal attempts since signing with San Francisco and led the league in field goal percentage (97.1) last season.

Information from ESPN's Nick Wagoner was used in this report.