Dutch star wins women’s 400m in emphatic style as Jodie Williams takes hard-fought bronze and GB team-mate Holly Archer earns silver in tactical 1500m behind Elise Vanderelst

Femke Bol’s meteoric rise continues. The 21-year-old Dutch athlete looked effortless as she cruised to victory in 50.63. It is not even her specialist event either as she focuses on 400m hurdles outdoors.

“I was thinking ‘please, please, nobody come’. I was so tired,” she said on the closing stages after having passed team-mate Lieke Klaver down the backstraight on the final lap before then holding off the challenge of fast-finishing Polish runner Justyna Swiety-Ersetic.

“It all gives me a lot of confidence for the hurdles outdoors.”

Swiety-Ersetic took silver with 51.41 while Jodie Williams earned bronze for Britain with a 51.73 PB after a smartly-run race.

The GB captain led by example exactly 10 years since she last ran in the European Indoor Championships, on that occasion finishing fourth in the 60m.

“I proved to myself that I can get on to podiums again,” said Williams. “This champs was about overcoming those mental barriers again.

“Last time here I was fourth so it’s really positive now for me to win a medal here. It’s taught me how to fight again.”

It will be exciting and interesting to see what Williams can do over 200m or 400m this summer. Bol, who is a former judo player, will also be tackling only her third season at 400m hurdles and she is set for some mouth-watering clashes against athletes like Dalilah Muhammad and Sydney McLaughlin of the United States at the Tokyo Olympics.

Elise Vanderelst won a painfully scrappy women’s 1500m final in a slow 4:18.44. The Belgian was fastest on paper going into the race and out-manoeuvred her rivals to take gold.

The 23-year-old finished ahead of Holly Archer but the Briton was initially disqualified for pushing and shoving along with Spain’s Agueda Munoz.

However, with shades of the previous evening’s men’s 1500m final, a British protest was successful and Archer was reinstated and awarded silver with 4:19.91 as her team-mate Katie Snowden finished sixth in 4:21.81.

The first 400m was passed in only 75.96 and 800m in a pedestrian 2:30.43. Archer was trapped on the inside near the back and struggled to extricate herself on the box.

Finally, after a tense first kilometre, Esther Guerrero of Spain cut loose but after blasting through the penultimate lap in 28.73 she began to die on the final lap as Vanderelst cooly strode past her.

Guerrero faded to fifth as Archer finished strongly for silver and Hanna Klein of Germany came through for bronze just ahead of another Spaniard, Marta Perez.

“That was the longest wait ever,” said Archer on the appeals process. “It was supposed to be half an hour but it turned into three hours. I feel absolutely delighted. To come so close and then get it taken away, I’ve been on a rollercoaster, but I’m really happy to finally get that silver.”

The 1500m runner-up added: “It was a total blur. From the gun, it was just jostling. The first 10m, arms and legs were going everywhere so I don’t really remember much.”

Keely Hodgkinson turned 19 this week but ran her 800m semi-final like a wily veteran. The Briton posted the fastest time, too, of 2:03.11 as team-mates Ellie Baker (2:03.29) and Issy Boffey (2:03.34) also made the final on Sunday after finishing runners up in their races.

“It’s amazing. It’s really exciting,” said Hodgkinson on the British success. “The girls really deserve it. Issy came through strong and Ellie held on at the end. To get three out of three through to the final when most people weren’t expecting it, is really good.”

Baker added: “It just shows how dominant our GB middle distance girls are. I’m so proud of them as well as myself. I can’t wait for us to put on a show for everyone in the final.”

Lamont Marcell Jacobs wins the men’s 60m in second fastest winning time in the history of the European Indoor Championships while Kevin Mayer is on course for heptathlon gold in Toruń

Britain have a superb record in the men’s 60 metres and had won 12 of the past 20 European indoor titles and taken 21 medals in that period but couldn’t quite add to their collection in Poland on Saturday (March 6).

Andy Robertson was in contention for much of the race but the Brit ultimately finished fourth in a race won surprisingly easily by Lamont Marcell Jacobs in a superb world-leading and Italian record 6.47.

That was the second fastest winning time in European Indoors history and only bettered by Dwain Chambers’ 6.46 in 2009. And it was the first Italian win since Stefano Tilli in 1983.

In terms of reaction, Poland’s Regigiusz Olszewski was clearly the best with 0.117 with most of the other contenders around the 0.150 mark.

Robertson was quick into his pick-up and certainly in a medal position halfway with little between him, European leader Kevin Kranz, defending champion Jan Volko and Jacobs, who had greatly impressed in his recent World Indoor Tour races.

It was the latter who began to draw away and the last 20 metres was all the Italian. He said: “It’s amazing. A dream come true. I was not expecting to run 6.47. I’m just in shock.”

Jacobs was the only major contender to get faster from his semi (6.56) and it was as if his blazing finishing speed caused the others to tighten up.

Kranz (6.60 after 6.58 in his semi) narrowly got second from Volko (6.61 after 6.57 in his semi) as Robertson lost a little form in the closing stages and ran 6.64. A repeat of his heat and semi final form would have won him a medal.

In the morning heats he won in 6.60 and he improved that to 6.59 in winning his semi final and felt there was more to come.

Oliver Bromby was third in his semi-final in a season’s best 6.64 but just missed out on making the final. Harry Aikines-Aryeetey also did a season’s best 6.67 despite pulling his hamstring.

In the heptathlon European record-holder Kevin Mayer took four events to get to the front but he leads overnight by 33 points from an inspired 21-year-old Simon Ehammer, who relatively struggled in the high jump with a 1.95m leap compared to the Frenchman’s 2.04m.

Mayer had started consistently enough with a 6.86 time for 60m and 7.47m long jump and then set a PB in the shot of 16.32m but still trailed Ehammer after three events by 49 points.

The in-form Swiss athlete began with a 6.75 win in the 60m followed by another big win in the long jump with 7.89m and a 14.75m shot was sufficient to give him an advantage. Mayer actually ended his high jump campaign early but had done enough on 3571 points to overhaul the Swiss’s 3538.

He said: “I feel good. I just decided not to continue to make sure I do not get into complications and spare energy. I feel confident and am looking forward to tomorrow.”

Three athletes jumped 2.10m and that included defending champion Jorge Urena and that moved him up to third overnight on 3424 just ahead of Andreas Bechmann (3419)and Pawel Wiesiolek (3407) in what looks a very open battle for the other medals.

Edinburgh's Pro14 match against Benetton on Sunday has been postponed after a positive Covid-19 test in the Benetton camp.

The match is likely to be rescheduled in April.

Richard Cockerill's Edinburgh, who are fifth in Conference B, are scheduled to play away to Connacht next Saturday.

Glasgow Warriors came from behind in Italy to earn a 17th consecutive Pro14 victory over Zebre.

But Glasgow, who had Sam Johnson and Ollie Smith in the sin bin either side of the break, responded well.

Jamie Dobie, Tom Gordon and Nick Grigg all crossed to put them four clear of Zebre in fourth place in Conference A.

England and Wasps flanker Jack Willis "could be out for up to a year" after having surgery on a medial collateral ligament injury in his left knee.

He was treated for 10 minutes before being carried off on a stretcher.

"I've torn my MCL off the bone at the bottom, torn a bit off the top as well, so I am going to need that fully repaired," Willis said on Instagram.

"Torn both meniscus, the medial meniscus from the root one side. Pretty gutted."

Willis has previously recovered from a knee ligament injury which forced him to withdraw from England's squad for their tour of South Africa in 2018.

He made his England debut in the Autumn Nations Cup win over Georgia in November and won his third cap against Italy.

CRANDALL, Texas — The most anticipated opening night in the 23-year history of the Summit USMTS National Championship fueled by Casey’s finally took place Friday night and the 11th annual USMTS Texas Spring Nationals at the RPM Speedway did not disappoint.

Fito Gallardo led the 26-car field to the green flag for the start of the 50-lap main event but it was Terry Phillips getting the advantage by the time they returned to the flagstand to complete the first lap.

Tyler Davis joined the action to make it a three-wide battle through the next corner, but Phillips was able to once again pull away as the field circled the racy, wide track again. He eventually increased his advantage to nearly a full straightaway by the end of the fifth lap.

Meanwhile, Gallardo and Davis continued their battle for second with Joe Duvall, Rodney Sanders, Dereck Ramirez, Jake O’Neil and Nathan Smith—who laid down the QA1 quickest qualifying lap earlier in the program—grappling for positions right behind the front trio.

Smith’s hot night turned to a simmer when he got sideways on lap 10 to bring out a yellow flag which sent him to the rear of the field for the restart. Two laps later, Gallardo smacked the backstretch wall and then veered straight into the outer concrete wall in turn three to bring out the race’s fourth caution and a tow truck to carry his injured machine back to the pit area.

With Phillips continuing to hold the point, Ramirez worked his way ahead of Davis for second place on lap 20 and then was gifted a yellow flag two laps later to put him on Phillips’ rear bumper for the restart.

To no avail, the 54-year-old Phillips left his pursuers behind as he streaked away from Ramirez and on to a $10,000 payday.

If a sixth caution had occurred in the final ten laps, Carlos Ahumada Jr. might very well have had something to show Phillips. Ahumada, who started tenth, passed three cars between laps 35 and 40 including O’Neil, Davis and Ramirez.

Despite shaving off nearly a half-second of Phillips’ advantage each of the final eight laps, the veteran “TP” was flawless up front as he moved in and out of lapped cars en route to his 34th career USMTS victory.

“Had no clue where to go,” Phillips said. “I figured they was all over me. Just when I caught traffic there it got so rough down there on the bottom that they didn’t have nowhere else to go.

“Car was pretty good. Threw a little different stuff at it over the winter here and it seems like it helped. I was off a little bit in the heat but got a good, lucky draw. Anyway, car was awesome. GRT (Race Cars) hanging in there and building winners.”

Ahumada, meanwhile, clawed his way to a career-best runner-up finish and a $5,000 prize. Davis bested Ramirez for third and fifth-starting O’Neil was fifth.

The finish:

Terry Phillips, Carlos Ahumada Jr., Tyler Davis, Dereck Ramirez, Jake O’Neil, Rodney Sanders, Lucas Schott, Joe Duvall, Tyler Wolff, Lance Mari, Mike Hansen, Jason Hughes, Tommy Davis Jr., Jason Ingalls, Dan Ebert, Kale Westover, Dustin Sorensen, Nathan Smith, Zack VanderBeek, Lucas Lee, Jake Gallardo, Bo Day, Tanner Mullens, Fito Gallardo, Brandon Givens, Jesse Glenz.

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — Dominic Scelzi led all 30 laps in route to victory on the opening night of the I-5 Classic for the Kings of Thunder 360 Series on Friday night at Kern County Raceway Park.

Scelzi’s red and white No. 41s started on the pole of the 22-car field.

Shane Golobic brought his Matt Woods Racing No. 17w home in the runner-up spot, being Scelzi’s only threat, ahead of Tim Kaeding in the Roth Motorsports No. 83 filling out the podium.

D.J. Netto’s No. 88n finished in the fourth spot after a late-race battle with Rico Abreu who would finish fifth in Gary Silva wrenched No. 57. The two swapped positions on the final lap after battling most of the late stages of the race.

Scelzi took little time taking command of the stout field, jumping to the lead at the drop of the green. The race however slowed quickly when Keith Day Jr. spun in turn one on the beginning of the second lap. Everyone behind him did a masterful job of missing the youth who had initially started mid pack. The restart was aborted when Cory Day came to a halt in the third turn.

The race would finally restart but would only go to lap four when Grant Duinkerken spun in the second turn and collected the car of J.J. Hickle.

Abreu was on the move and the only driver making any significant position change, taking over the fifth spot from front row starter Kaleb Montgomery. Montgomery put on a show trying to make the top groove work only to find it costly, losing positions and finally finishing eighth.

The next caution to slow the race came out on lap 12 when Devon Borden spun around in the second turn and was clipped by Austin McCarl.  The hit corrected Borden who was able to continue without stopping however McCarl suffered a blown right rear tire.  Borden however also suffered enough damage and stopped on the track under this caution and both cars retired from the event.

The race resumed and the leader Scelzi would start clicking off laps and finally caught the slower lapped cars. The result, Golobic was able to get within three car lengths of the high flying Scelzi but Golobic would also have to contend with the slower obstacles allowing Scelzi to build back up a comfortable lead with Kaeding still lurking in the third spot.

The action was intense on night one of the I-5 Classic from @KernRaceway on Friday as @DominicScelzi41 & @ShaneGolobic battled for the lead! Watch round two tonight at this link: https://t.co/aXUQsx27Ec pic.twitter.com/H2JMvd4843

— SPEED SPORT TV (@speedsporttv) March 6, 2021

Four laps from the end, the race’s final caution flag came out for Jason Solwold, who stopped on the back stretch and had to be pushed back to the pit area.

Scelzi survived the final laps and took home the checkered flag win worth $2,000 and an additional $300 courtesy of Country Builders for his win in the Dash.

The event was broadcast on the SPEED SPORT TV Network. Saturday’s finale is also available from SPEEDSPORT.tv.

The finish:

Dominic Scelzi, Shane Golobic, Tim Kaeding, D.J. Netto, Rico Abreu, J.J. Hickle, Ryan Robinson, Kaleb Montgomery, Jake Andreotti, Jace Vander Weerd, Cody Thornhill, Kyle Offill, Tucker Worth, Ian Madson, Mitchell Moles, Keith Day Jr., Jason Solwold, Jodie Robinson, Grant Duinkerken, Devon Borden, Austin McCarl, Corey Day.

BARBERVILLE, Fla. — With the spin of a wrench Phil Dietz lifted Carson Macedo from an uneasy feeling to the best car in the field on Friday night at Volusia Speedway Park.

The revered crew chief at Jason Johnson Racing went to work after a mediocre preliminary performance and provided Macedo with what he called “one of the best cars I’ve ever driven in my life.”

Macedo masterfully picked his way from 10th-to-first and executed a pass of Sam Hafertepe Jr. with four laps remaining to earn his first World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series victory of the season.

“It’s not every night that your car is that dominant,” Macedo said. “I mean that thing was just perfect to drive. Phil [Dietz], Clyde [Knipp], and Nate [Repetz] were incredible tonight. You know, I felt really balanced and great all through DIRTcar Nationals last month, but early tonight I just didn’t feel good. Phil and the guys made a lot of changes for the feature and nailed it. I could go anywhere I wanted. I’m so happy to get a win for this team, these sponsors, a lot of really great people involved.”

At the start of Friday’s 30-lap, $10,000-to-win feature, Hafertepe and David Gravel paced the field. Hafertepe led the first 11 laps. The first stoppage was a surprise when point leader Logan Schuchart stopped in turn four following contact with Gio Scelzi amidst a top five battle.

Macedo made his biggest move on that first restart, advancing four spots in one lap with a great fire off the high side of the half-mile. The next restart, however, spelled trouble when the No. 41 had to line up on the low line.

Restarting with 17 laps remaining, Macedo surprised himself and quickly took third from Sheldon Haudenschild  and began chasing Hafertepe and Gravel.

“Hafertepe chose the outside and I was stuck on the bottom, which made me nervous,” Macedo noted. “I was on the top every restart prior to that and the bottom wasn’t getting great starts. I didn’t really get a good start, but it was fairly decent and let me sneak back into the top groove in front of Donny. I got that run on Sheldon because he went low, and I was able to slide by him real quick. I felt like my car was as good as those guys, if not better once I got to third. I just needed traffic to move around a bit and capitalize.”

Macedo reeled in the lead duo and made it a three-way war with seven laps left.

Macedo slid by Gravel for second on the 24th lap and two laps later, he was sliding Hafertepe for the top spot. His massive turn one slider with four laps to go was a thing of beauty, sweeping through the middle and clearing Hafertepe with ease to steal the top spot in the waning circuits.

The final four laps went by like a breeze as the 24-year-old pilot drove off into the Florida night with a 2.167-second advantage at the checkered flag.

It was his seventh career WoO victory.

Hafertepe finished second with Gio Scelzi third.

To see full results, turn to the next page.

HARRISBURG, N.C. — Forty-two years ago this month there was a seismic shift in the American motorsports landscape when Gordon Johncock won the first race organized by the new Championship Auto Racing Teams car owners group.

Prior to the March 11, 1979, event at Phoenix Raceway, Indy car racing had been the exclusive province of the United States Auto Club.

Johncock’s triumph in the Arizona Republic/Jimmy Bryan 150 was his fifth at the one-mile track and came as a complete surprise to the 1973 Indianapolis 500 winner who struggled with a malfunctioning radio. The 42-year-old Johncock thought he had lost the lead seven laps from the finish when Al Unser drove around him to get back on the lead lap.

“I didn’t know I had won until I saw Al pull onto the pit apron a lap after the checkered flag,” said Johncock, who wheeled the No. 20 North American Van Lines Penske PC6/Cosworth V-8 owned by U.E. “Pat” Patrick.

The victory marked the first time that a Penske-built Indy car had beaten Roger Penske’s own equipment to the checkered flag.

Rick Mears, driving a new Gould Charge Penske PC7, finished 1.3 seconds behind Johncock with Johnny Rutherford claiming the show money. Al Unser and Bobby Unser rounded out the top five as cars owned by CART board members swept the top seven positions.

The statistics show Johncock completed the 150-mile distance in 1 hour, 15 minutes and 23.016 seconds at an average speed of 119.389 mph. There were four caution flags for 25 laps and four lead changes among three drivers. Johncock earned $18,670 from the $75,000 purse.

Bobby Unser, driving Roger Penske’s Norton Spirit, started from the pole and led the first competitive lap in CART-racing history. Fourteen of the 21 cars were still running when starter Nick Fornoro waved the checkered flag.

There were six Offy-powered entries in the field with 10th-place finisher Larry Rice best among the four-cylinder brigade.

Four-time Indy 500 winner A.J. Foyt showed his allegiance to USAC by leaving his Indy car in the race shop and winning the USAC stock car season opener at Texas World Speedway.

In the March 14 edition of his Editor’s Notebook, Chris Economaki wrote, “The Championship Auto Racing Teams — SCCA premiere apparently went off very well with those present complimenting the organizers on the smoothness of the proceedings. It’s too bad the TV show did not parallel the CART modus operandi. The only complaint came in the area of scoring, some press types saying it was too long a wait for official results.”

CART oversaw 401 Indy car races before it filed bankruptcy and ceased operations following the 2003 season. Founded in 1996 as the Indy Racing League, the NTT Indy Car Series has been the lone sanctioning body for Indy car racing since it merged with CART’s replacement, the Champ Car World Series, prior to the 2008 season.

– It’s rare when a longtime short-track racer is able to walk away from the sport on his terms. That’s why we are thrilled to see Jac Haudenschild and Rico Abreu join forces for select sprint car events during what is planned to be the Wild Child’s final season of riding the cushion.

There was a sense of desperation in Haud’s voice when we talked late last year. He didn’t want to continue fielding his own car and he didn’t want to simply walk away from the sport that has been his life for more than 45 years.

Driving Abreu’s No. 24 car, Haudenschild has the opportunity to thrill his legion of fans a few more times — and he might even win a race or two. Wouldn’t that be the icing on the cake?

– A tip of the hat to SPEED SPORT colleague Jacob Seelman for being selected Media Member of the Year by the voting panel of the 410 Sprint Car Poll. It’s hard to find anyone in a pit area who can match the level of passion and dedication Jacob has for the sport of auto racing.