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BRISTOL, Tenn. – Canadian Raphael Lessard has joined Bill McAnally Racing to contest this weekend’s NASCAR K&N Pro Series East event at Bristol Motor Speedway.

The 17-year-old native of St.-Joseph de Beauce, Quebec will pilot the No. 50 FRL Express Toyota Camry, a fourth entry for the traditional K&N West juggernaut, in Saturday’s Zombie Auto 150.

Lessard will be teammates with K&N East championship leader Derek Kraus, K&N West point leader Hailie Deegan and series rookie Brittney Zamora as he makes his series debut.

“The car looks really good sitting here, doesn’t it?” Lessard joked to SPEED SPORT on Friday morning at Bristol Motor Speedway. “The guys at BMR did a really good job at getting it ready for us. This came together pretty quick; I was not supposed to race a whole lot this year, but I think the first few races I’ve run with Toyota this season have proven that I deserve a place running with some of the veterans.

“I just can’t thank Bill McAnally Racing, NAPA Belts & Hoses and FRL Express enough, along with all the people who support me, for helping to make this opportunity possible,” Lessard added. “It’s awesome and I’m really glad to be back here at Bristol again.”

Lessard returns to Bristol this weekend full of confidence, and for good reason. He won the CARS Super Late Model Tour portion of the Short Track U.S. Nationals last May at the half-mile concrete coliseum and believes he has a chance at similar success in a K&N car this weekend.

“For sure, I believe we can have success this weekend,” Lessard noted. “I know what it takes to win here after last year, coming in with Kyle Busch Motorsports and leaving with a sword! I actually believe the super lates are faster than the Cup cars are here, so coming back now in a K&N car will be a little bit different experience to adapt to.

“I’m ready, though. I’m excited and we’re here for the win.”

Contrary to many who come to The Last Great Coliseum, Lessard enjoys the high-intensity style of racing that Bristol’s half-mile of high banks delivers in every series that races there.

“I just love the high banks and the speed; it’s so much fun,” said Lessard. “You always have to be on your game, focused and looking at everything, because if someone wrecks in front of you, it happens really quickly. You have to react fast to stay out of trouble and Bristol, for sure.

“There’s a lot of pressure on your body, especially through the corners, but I love those types of tracks.”

After a recent near-miss in the ARCA race at Five Flags Speedway and a rough-and-tumble NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series debut at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway, Lessard is hoping for smoother sailing this time around as he chases his first victory of the season.

“We’ll see what happens, but I’m looking forward to this whole weekend,” he said. “I was not very used to the big cars before the season started, but running the ARCA car in Pensacola and the Truck at Martinsville has gotten me more used to how they race, even if we have had some bad luck. I believe it’s going to be a fun weekend, though, and that we can shake all that off and focus ahead.

“I know the first couple of laps will be about getting a good feel, and after that it will be all about figuring out how to make this thing go fast around here.”

Lessard is hoping to soak in as much as he can this weekend, in advance of his return to Bristol in August for his final of three scheduled Truck Series starts with Kyle Busch Motorsports this season.

“It’s all about learning,” he said. “I want to come back and be really strong in the trucks. That’s my goal.”

The post Lessard & McAnally Unite To Tackle Bristol appeared first on SPEED SPORT.

BRASELTON, Ga. – U.S. work visa delays have forced British-born motorcycle racing presenter Dylan Gray to sit out the inaugural broadcast of the new MotoAmerica Live+ streaming of this weekend’s season opener at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.

All options are being explored to resolve the issue in a speedy manner and allow Gray to rejoin the MotoAmerica team as soon as possible.

Noted broadcaster Jonathan Green will fill in for Gray while the situation is being resolved.

“I’m extremely upset that I’m not able to be part of the first MotoAmerica Live+ broadcast,” Gray said. “Ever since Wayne (Rainey) first mentioned this project to me, I have been looking forward to it immensely. Having met a lot of people in the paddock and having already communicated with most others in some way or another, I cannot tell you how nice the people here are. I sincerely hope that I can repay the kindness shown towards me by everyone involved in MotoAmerica in the very near future.”

“We are working diligently with Dylan to get this situation resolved,” added MotoAmerica President Wayne Rainey. “It’s an unfortunate situation for our season opener, but we’re confident the issues can be resolved and Dylan will be able to continue in his role with us.”

The post Gray To Miss Launch Of MotoAmerica Live+ appeared first on SPEED SPORT.

The 2019 Remax Vernon Squash Tournament will have a special guest.

The event takes place April 12 to 14 at The Roster Sports Club (Rosters) with a field of 80 players from all over North America.

Special guest will be the greatest squash player Canada has produced, Jonathon Power.

“Jonathon will be playing Interior Squash Academy head coach Adam Terheege, as well as Justin Todd and Sarfaraz Ahmed, both top-10 players in Canada,” said Teerheege, tournament spokesperson.

RELATED: World squash champions wow Rosters

Power, who was also a guest at the event in 2018, became the first North American in 1999 to reach the World No. 1 ranking. He also won 36 top-level squash events during his glittering career, including the World Open in 1998 and the British Open in 1999.

The Canadian is considered to be one of the greatest shot makers in the history of the game, having perfected a wide range of drop shots and deception shots.

He was named the fifth greatest male squash player of all time in a 2018 Professional Squash Association poll.

The A draw of the Remax Vernon tournament will also feature a local talent.

William Rutter, 15, from Vernon, is one of the best U17 juniors in B.C. He attends W.L. Seaton Secondary and trains with Terheege at Rosters.

READ ALSO: Squash academy hitting big strides

The exhibition matches start at 6:30 p.m. on on Friday and the Open final will start at 7 p.m. Saturday evening.

Tournament sponsors include Remax Vernon including realtor Murray Bennetto, Davidson Pringle, Hyundai Vernon, Gold’n Time Jewellry, Nokomis Landscaping, CIBC Gaskell Financial Services, Rossworn Henderson, Austin Engineering, Vernon Dental and Wilf Lunde.

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SINGAPORE - Throughout the Schools National B Division girls' squash final on Wednesday (April 3), a favourite cheer among the Singapore Chinese Girls' School (SCGS) supporters was how their fellow student Rachel Tan "takes no Ls".

The chant proved both catchy and prophetic as the 16-year-old never looked like losing as she easily beat Methodist Girls' School (MGS) captain Michelle Lai 11-3, 11-6, 11-5 to secure the gold medal for her team.

Hers was the fourth match which clinched the tie at the Kallang Squash Centre before teammate Waverly Wu defeated MGS' Gabrielle Chong 11-9, 11-3, 11-4 to complete the overall 4-1 scoreline.

SCGS also won last year's final by the same margin.

Rachel, who is SCGS' vice-captain, pumped her fist and grinned at her supporters after winning her match. She ended the season with a perfect record from her eight matches.

"I was very happy because it's my last year in SCGS and I wanted to end it on a good note," she said. "I was nervous because it was the final, but I just told myself to do my best and forget everything else."

There was also added motivation for the SCGS team this year, as they were runners-up to the same opponents in the C Division competition two years ago.

And they begun strongly as SCGS captain Lim Yu Xuan and Hanaan Khaleel Hussein Abo Al Thinin both won their respective singles ties 3-0 to give the defending champions a 2-0 lead.

MGS' Cheyenne Mah halved the deficit after she overcame Felicia Ong 11-6, 11-8, 11-6, but it proved a short reprieve.

SCGS captain Yu Xuan, 16, acknowledged there was pressure to retain their title.

But she coped with those nerves by focusing on each point in the match instead of the raucous crowd, whose cheers after every point drowned out the voice of the marker announcing the score.

Her MGS counterpart Michelle, 15, rued her jittery start. She said: "I know I started off really badly, so I had to calm myself and think because my brain was like TV static... I gradually managed to calm myself down, but it wasn't in time."

This was MGS vice-captain Erin Chan's first B Division match this year after recovering from a torn elbow ligament and, while it ended with a loss, she was not disheartened.

The 15-year-old said: "I should be sad because it's our last year and I want to win, but I feel so proud after watching my teammates play and watching them each break their own mental barriers in squash.

"It's the friendship that will last... If I look back on this year, I wouldn't really care that I won or lost, I would care more that my team and I had so much fun together."

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This year’s World Squash Federation (WSF) Initiative will be hosted by the Kenyan Squash community in Nairobi, Kenya.

Launched in 2011, the WSF international promotional initiative takes leading squash players, together with an international coach and referee, into younger squash nations to help raise the sport’s profile.

This is done through clinics, exhibition matches, refereeing, coaching seminars, and media presentations.

Kenya will be proud hosts of the sport’s ultimate Ambassador Nicol David former Number 1 from Malaysia who shortly after bringing her illustrious professional squash career to a close will join fellow players Camille Serme France World number 4 and Borja Golan Spaniard former world number 5 for the 2019 WSF Ambassador Programme visit to Kenya.

Joining the three will be Belgian national coach Ronny Vlassaks and international referee Marko Podgorsek, from Slovenia in the campaign that will take place take place from 27 to 30 June.
David, 35 is a tireless squash campaign and ambassador with a record eight time world champion having played significant roles in all the sports Olympic bids since 2005.

She has been leading light in several women’s tour promotions visits to raise the profile of the sport in all corners of the globe in the 11 years preceding the WSF programme and participated in four of the ‘Ambassadors’ initiatives from 2011 to 2015.

“We are all excited as this is truly the biggest event yet for our sport,” said the squash national representative Gakuo Ndirangu.

Gakuo who was speaking ahead of the visit, said the timing is perfect and that Squash is now really on the up and with all the squash clubs taking up a greater initiative in the promotion of the game at all levels.

“Having these great players, coach and referees here in June will stimulate this even more. Events will be hosted by Parklands Sports Club and the Nairobi Club, with all others joining in too,” he said.

WSF CEO Andrew Shelley added: “As always, we are immensely grateful to Camille and Borja for taking time away from the busy international tour schedule to lead this vital promotional visit and are thrilled that Nicol David will be able to be with us again too and delight Kenyans with both her charm and her skills.

“We look forward to meeting and interacting with the Kenyan squash community and help the national federation boost the sport’s profile,” Shelley said.

The WSF Ambassador Programme first visited the Baltic country of Latvia in 2011, followed by a trip to the African countries of Malawi and Namibia, then Panama and Venezuela in 2013, Papua New Guinea in 2014, before focusing on the Balkan region in 2015 with appearances in Serbia, Romania and Croatia. In 2016, the team visited Dalian and Macau in China. After the 2017 edition was postponed, the WSF team headed to Armenia, Ukraine in 2018.
The sports game in the country although growing and gaining popularity has been a slow game as it is not played at school levels.
Looking at the game, one might take it like a simple exchange of balls between players, but according to players, it is a game that has to be well thought out and combines physical agility and strategy.
According to Gakuo who has been in the team that organizes the KENGEN squash competition tournaments at the Parklands Sports Club including the national tournaments, the game which is also played using rackets just like tennis is however faster than tennis and players have to be alert, balanced and quick on their feet using the right gear.
“During the tournament, silence is encouraged in the courts for better concentration as it is intense,” he said adding that in order for the game to grow they organize competitions from junior levels to the senior level throughout the year in their squash calendar.
By Wangari Ndirangu

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WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Richmond Dragway has one of the most impressive pedigrees of any race track in the country and has hosted drag racing events for 55 years.

The 130-acre International Hot Rod Ass’n sanctioned facility in Sandston, Va., featuring a 1/quarter-mile drag strip, was founded by Dan Weis in 1964. It remains a family operation with the track owned by Weis’ nephew Johnny Davis and his wife Allison.

Beyond their blood relatives, Weis sees those who support the track as an extended family.

“We have a great group of racers and the message resonates like probably every IHRA track where our racers are like family,” Davis said. “We would be nothing without them, and we love having an extended family of racers. We take a lot of pride in we feel like a family track where it’s safe to bring your kids.”

They’ve long been part of the IHRA family as well, and a huge supporter of the IHRA Summit SuperSeries, the largest and most prestigious championship in bracket racing. David Tanner (Top), Wendell Wilson (Mod) and Katie Hall (Junior) won track championships in 2018.

Chris Moren (Mod) also advanced to the IHRA Summit World Finals by winning an all-Richmond Dragway final over Jonathan Martin at the IHRA Division 1 team finals.

“We’ve been part of the Summit SuperSeries since it was created,” Davis said. “There is a high level of affinity with us and our racers for the SuperSeries. Last year, we not only sent our three track champs, but one of our racers won the Division 1 Summit Team Finals in Maryland.

“Four of our drivers went to Memphis to compete and I realized with that event, the way four drivers took a pretty good tow, the SuperSeries meant something to our racers and their families. Our drivers are among the best in the world and the way they find that out is competing against drivers in the Summit SuperSeries.”

Richmond Dragway features a full-service concession stand, a three-story timing and scoring tower. It utilizes a state-of-the-art Accutime Timing System along with large scoreboards and LED dial-in boards for drivers to verify their dial-ins.

They’ve earned a reputation of being good neighbors with other racing facilities, while hosting their own number of special events.

“We try to work with other local tracks and make sure we’re not hitting the same kind of events,” Davis said. “We try to balance our schedule with other tracks in the Richmond area.”

The post Richmond Dragway Renews Pact With IHRA appeared first on SPEED SPORT.

SALISBURY, N.C. – Lucas Sipka survived a steep learning curve to record a top-10 finish in his Open division debut on Wednesday night at Millbridge Speedway.

Sipka, who jumped from Box Stocks right into the premier class for outlaw karts at the sixth-mile dirt oval, started 12th and battled back from three spins and contact with the turn-one wall to finish 10th.

Driving Kyle Beattie’s No. 21 SKE Chassis house kart, Sipka ran solidly during the early laps and found the second groove during a mid-race green flag run, picking off several positions before contact with the outside concrete spelled an end to his night with just two laps left.

Just before the crash, Sipka was running eighth – the highest position he had been in all night long.

“The whole night, honestly, was amazing … right up until I found the wall,” Sipka told SPEED SPORT. “We did pretty well on the start, even though I made a rookie mistake and flooded the engine on the green flag, but the rest of me restarts were fine, I felt like. I was making up positions and felt comfortable.

“Then the car just sucked around on me in turn one. I don’t know exactly how – I didn’t jam the brakes or anything – but it went spinning and the next thing I knew, I was in the wall and pretty much tipped her over,” Sipka added. “Thankfully, it stayed on four wheels and wasn’t damaged too badly. It’s certainly not the way we wanted to end our night, but I’m trying to take the positives out of it.”

Though Sipka had to retire from the feature after 18 of the 20 laps, he was trying to soak in as much knowledge as he could throughout the night, qualifying 14th and then finishing sixth in his heat race.

The higher speeds of the 500cc Open engines were a big part of Sipka’s on-track education Wednesday.

“It’s just a completely different thing than anything I’ve raced before here,” Sipka noted. “It’s just so much faster than anything else. The Opens are a lot harder to control, but I think with some more practice and some more seat time I’ll be able to get the hang of it.

“I was having to learn everything on the fly. The starts were crazy, passing is so much harder (than in Box Stocks) … it’s just a completely different ballpark because I’m racing against people who had done it for years and the competition level is that much higher,” he continued. “Going from running up front to fighting in the back is a little discouraging, but I have to remember that I’m new at this level and I have to expect these kinds of challenges.”

Sipka even battled rough seas as a car owner on Wednesday night, as the Box Stock he piloted last year finished second in a dead-heat photo finish with Tyler Conover at the controls earlier in the evening.

“I couldn’t win for losing all night,” Sipka joked. “But I’m proud of Tyler; he did a great job for us. It’s just hard to see one slip away in a finish that was as close as that one was. It was exciting to watch, though.”

Though his maiden Open division voyage didn’t go exactly as planned, Sipka’s anticipation for his second time out is just as high – if not even more so – compared to his first start on Wednesday night.

“I’m very ready to do it again,” Sipka grinned. “Hopefully the next one ends up better than this one did.”

The post Sipka Battles Through Millbridge Open Debut appeared first on SPEED SPORT.

FARMER CITY, Ill. – Due to rainfall around the Farmer City area, World of Outlaws and Farmer City Raceway officials have decided to cancel Thursday’s Illini 100 practice session for all classes.

Friday and Saturday’s events are still on as scheduled at their original start times. Tomorrow, pit gates will open at noon, grandstands at 1 p.m. and hot laps at 6:30.

General admission tickets will be available at the gate, $30 for Friday-only, $35 for Saturday-only, $60 for the 2-day package. Pit passes are $35 for Friday, $40 for Saturday and $70 for the 2-day band.

The post Illini 100 Practice Falls To Rain appeared first on SPEED SPORT.

INDIANAPOLIS – Karsyn Elledge will welcome a new sponsor to her Tucker-Boat Motorsports midget team this weekend, as iRacing jumps onboard to back the 18-year-old driver at Kokomo Speedway.

The subscription-based racing simulation company will be featured as part of a blue, black and red paint scheme on Elledge’s No. 1, as she takes to the quarter-mile bullring for the Kokomo Grand Prix on Friday and Saturday.

Elledge has already turned laps at the virtual Kokomo quarter-mile as she prepares for her debut at the real-life version of the historic facility this weekend.

“To be able to run Kokomo on iRacing and be more ready for the two days I’m about to run there is pretty cool,” said Elledge. “It gives you a sense of calm, in a way, because I’ve never raced at Kokomo – I’ve only ever watched races there. Just to be able to see the race track from a somewhat-firsthand perspective and get a feel for it on iRacing gives me a little more peace of mind going into the weekend.”

Elledge, the granddaughter of seven-time Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series champion Dale Earnhardt, has a substantial family connection with the iRacing brand.

Her uncle – now-NASCAR on NBC analyst Dale Earnhardt Jr. – was one of the early pioneers of the service and won the inaugural race in what is now the eNASCAR Peak Antifreeze iRacing Series, the highest division of NASCAR-sanctioned competition on the iRacing simulation.

“Obviously, Dale has been on iRacing for a pretty long time, and as I was growing up and he realized that I was taking racing pretty seriously, he would mention here and there that they needed to get me set up on iRacing,” noted Elledge. “Finally, I got my own (gaming) computer, and Steve (Myers, iRacing’s Executive Vice President and Executive Producer) was great in helping me to get a membership and everything that I needed to be ready and to be a part of it.

“I’m going to be honest, I’m not the greatest at iRacing … so for me it has been more about getting on the track and just making laps, learning visual cues and things like that,” Elledge laughed. “For a while I couldn’t even make two laps on the sim at the Chili Bowl, but it’s been a great teaching tool for myself and for a lot of drivers and I’m proud to have them onboard with us this weekend.”

More than anything, Elledge is ready to put her recent NOS Energy Drink USAC National Midget Series memories behind her and make some positive magic this weekend at Kokomo, after her recent flip during the Shamrock Classic at the Southern Illinois Center in DuQuoin.

“I’m still a little bit nervous after what happened, because you never like to tear up race cars and bump your head like I did, but I’m ready to get after it again,” Elledge said. “I’m ready to go into a summer full of racing and have a lot of fun, because this is when the USAC season really starts picking up again.

“The last time we raced was a whole month ago, so I’ve been sitting here waiting on it and this weekend is finally the time we get to go out and try for better results again. That’s comforting for me.”

The post iRacing Backing Elledge & TBM At Kokomo appeared first on SPEED SPORT.