New research highlights how the nutrient-packed fruit can be a potent weapon in your training armoury

In recent years, U.S. Montmorency Cherries have attracted an increasing amount of attention concerning their many potential health benefits.

A considerable number of academic studies have been undertaken, with the majority concluding that this bright red, tart tasting and nutrient-dense fruit does indeed make a difference when it comes to sport and exercise.

In a bid to fully understand the bigger picture, however, research teams from both Northumbria University and St Mary’s University recently produced what is known as a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis, which essentially means that they assessed all studies which met a set criteria to come up with an overall conclusion.

The findings have just been published in the International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism and are unequivocal – you really can put a cherry on top of your training.

The evidence would suggest that U.S. Montmorency Cherries can be a potent weapon in your nutritional armoury. Here, we take a closer look at how they aid recovery.

Cherries allow you to recover quicker and bounce back a little bit better

Long-distance runners know all too well that feeling of muscle soreness and general discomfort which can follow a big run or develop during periods of high mileage in training.

The repetitive nature of covering those miles damages muscle fibres, yet the anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties to be found in U.S. Montmorency Cherries can assist with the healing process.

“With marathon running you obviously get a huge metabolic stress, but you also get a marked damage response from the continual mechanical loading of pounding the streets over long distances” says Professor Glyn Howatson of Northumbria University, one of the authors of the review.

“The repetitive nature of it rips things apart. These cherries have got a great opportunity to take the edge off some of that.

“When athletes are doing a particularly long run or when the volume is starting to increase and they are having to do longer efforts, then the cherry juice can help them get back to where they need to be at an accelerated rate in order to maintain that volume over subsequent days.

“It allows you to recover quicker and then, rather than suffering two days later, you should be able to bounce back a little bit better.”

The American hurdler burst on to the athletics scene 45 years ago and Steve Smythe assesses the best of his fabulous career

Ed Moses has a good case for being regarded as one the world’s greatest track athletes.

He dominated his event in an unprecedented manner, winning 122 successive 400m hurdles races (including 107 finals) between 1977 and 1987.

However, there was no sign that Moses was a future world beater a year before the Olympics in 1976.

He had been an average high school athlete and did not break 50 seconds for the 400m flat or 15 seconds for the high hurdles but he began to show a little more potential in 1975 with a 45.5 clocking on a 440 yards relay leg and 14.0 for the 120 yard hurdles, though a 52.0 clocking that year over 440 yards hurdles still gave little away.

At the end of 1975 most experts were expecting the Montreal event to be between the 1974 American champion (and overall US athlete of the year) and world 440 yards hurdles record-holder Jim Bolding and the European and Commonwealth champion Alan Pascoe who between them had dominated the event the year before Montreal.

In 1976 Moses suddenly came on to the Olympic radar. He began with a 50.1 400m hurdles in a second-place in March, was down to 49.8 in April and then a 48.8 in May brought him to the attention of world athletics fans as a potential contender – if he could make the US team!

In June it did not go perfectly as he was only fourth in the US Championships (won by Tom Andrews in 48.55) as he ran 48.99.

However, the US trials went perfectly as he improved again to win in an American record 48.30 with Bolding surprisingly just missing out.

By now he was a huge favourite for the Olympics and he duly delivered and dominated the sport for the next decade.

He won two Olympic golds – missing out on an almost certain gold in 1980 only because of the American boycott – and he also won two world titles, though had they been every two years as is now and started earlier, he would have almost certainly won additional titles in 1977, 1979, 1981 and 1985!

Here we choose 13 of his greatest and most significant races. AW magazine subscribers can click here to see a more complete list of over 160 of his races between 1976 and 1988.

Olympic final, Montreal, July 25 1976
1st 47.64 (WR)

The semi-finals underlined that only one person was in contention when Moses won in a US record 48.29 and no one else ran faster than 49.73.

In the final, Moses, the first athlete able to run 13 strides all the way, was again in a different class. Britain’s Pascoe was the only runner who attempted to go with him but not fully fit he died a death over the last 100m and ended up last well over three seconds down on Moses. The American kept his form magnificently and smashed the world record with 47.64 to improve John Akii-Bua’s 47.82 from the previous Olympic final.

He won by eight metres from fellow American Mike Shine (48.69) for the biggest winning margin in Olympic history though he claimed he made a quite a few mistakes that cost him half a second.

AAU Champs, Westwood, June 11 1977
1st 47.45 (WR)

He ran a 48.64 in May but had not fully extended himself until this final. Up against defending champion Andrews who had beaten him in 1976, he again decimated the field and took 0.21 of a second off his own world record as he won by around 12 metres from Andrews (49.03)

IAAF World Cup Final, Dusseldorf, September 2 1977
1st 47.58

He had European wins in Cologne, Nice and Zurich after his US victory but did lose to Harold Schmid in Berlin in the week before this event.

In front of a huge German crowd and in the biggest ever global event outside of the Olympics, Schmid was hopeful of another win but Moses ran superbly and ran the second fastest time in history. Volker Beck (48.83) edged Schmid (48.85) for second but the pair were 10 metres in arrears of the stylish American.

IAAF World Cup Final, Montreal, August 24 1979
1st 47.53

In front of a sparse crowd in the Olympic stadium, Moses went faster than two years previously but Schmid (48.71) was slightly closer but again not enough to mount a serious challenge.

Milan, July 3 1980
1st 47.13 (WR)

His past record had lasted three years but he showed exceptional improvement by around three metres as he thrashed a distant and well-beaten Schmid (49.01) by one of the biggest ever margins.

Andre Phillips, who would eventually get his revenge, was exactly three seconds behind (50.13).

Lausanne, July 14, 1981
1st 47.14

With no one even vaguely close to him – and second here was Bart Williams (48.81) – he came agonisingly close to his year-old world record. He was totally out on his own at this stage as no one else broke 48 seconds in 1981.

IAAF World Cup Final, Rome, September 4 1981
1st 47.37

Should there be any doubt as to who would have won the 1980 Olympic race had the USA not boycotted, Moses ran one of his fastest ever times and beat Moscow champion Beck (49.16) by 15 metres.

IAAF World Championships, Helsinki, August 9 1983
1st 47.50

Moses was one of the clearest winners of any event in the inaugural World Championships. From the quite tight lane two, he again thrashed Schmid (48.61) in winning by 10 metres in taking his 81st consecutive victory in finals.

Koblenz, August 31 1983
1st 47.02 (WR)

Again it was a three-year gap and again Schmid and Phillips were in the field.

Philips (48.26) was much closer this time as Moses came so close to breaking the 47-second barrier. Schmid was only fourth (48.92).

Olympics Los Angeles, August 5 1984
1st 47.75

It was not the same dominance of past championships but again he won, though Harris, who had set a world junior record (48:02) in the US trials and was still only 18 years old, pushed him to within a few metres and here ran 48.13 just ahead of Schmid on 48.19.

World Championships, September 1 1987
1st 47.46

His decade of domination was at an end and Danny Harris had beaten him in June (47.56 to 47.69 in Madrid) and Schmid was in the form of his life having twice been inside 48 seconds in the summer.

In the semi-finals, Schimd (48.23) and Harris (48.24) were quicker than Moses (48.38) and the scene was set for a race that was arguably one of the greatest in history at any event.

Moses dominated the early stages and had a two-metre lead over Schmid and even went away slightly over the ninth hurdles but Harris began to close on the pair of them. As they hit the last hurdle Moses (42.15) still had a metre and a half on Schmid (42.32) with Harris a metre back (42.42).

Over the run-in the gaps between the trio closed and with Harris finishing the fastest the trio dipped through the line pretty much together but Moses eventually got the verdict by 0.02 of a second from both Harris and Schmid (47.48).

Unusually the top five finished in the same order as Los Angeles.

Olympic Trials, Indianapolis, July 17 1988
1st 47.37

The best quality race of the year was not the Olympics but the American trials as by the end of the race it featured five of the six fastest runners of all-time! The pressure was on Moses to triumph in a record fourth Olympic trials and he won an exciting race by a few metres from Philips (47.58) who was still to beat him. Only four hundredths of a second covered the next three with Kevin Young (47.72) surviving a ninth hurdle stumble to edge David Patrick (47.75 to go sixth all-time) and Harris (47.76), who both failed to make the Olympic team despite their brilliant times.

Olympics, Seoul September 25 1988
3rd 47.56

Now 33, he was not getting any faster but he was maintaining his level in the mid-47s. This time was quicker than he ran in his previous Olympic wins but others were improving and he was well beaten by Philips (Olympic record 47.19) and Amadou Dia Ba (47.23) as he finished three metres down, with Philips always marginally ahead with Dia Ba finishing the strongest and only narrowly falling short. Moses faded slightly from the last hurdle in his last race.

Young finished fourth in 47.94. He would win four years later in Barcelona in a still-standing world record 46.78.

Top 10 times
1 47.02 Koblenz 31 Aug 1983
2 47.13 Milano 3 Jul 1980
3 47.14 Lausanne 14 Jul 1981
4 47.17 Berlin 8 Aug 1980
5 47.27 Berlin 21 Aug 1981
6 47.32 Koblenz 29 Aug 1984
7 47.37 Roma 4 Sep 1981
7 47.37 Zürich 24 Aug 1983
7 47.37 Indianapolis 17 Jul 1988
10 47.38 Lausanne 2 Sep 1986

Moses had 121 times at 48.90 or faster and a further four hand-timed runs at 48.9 or faster.

In Mel Watman’s book My Life in Athletics (published in 2017), he analyses all the events to ascertain the leading exponent in each (scoring points for titles, records and world rankings) and in the 400m hurdles, Moses scores 174, well clear of Young (119) and Glen Davis (110).

Other PBs
400m: 45.60 (Bruxelles 1977)
110m hurdles: 13.64 (Bruxelles 1978)

Only four men have run quicker in the near 40 years since his record and three of them have been in the last few years:
Kevin Young, 46.78, Barcelona 1992
Karsten Warholm, 46.87, Stockholm 2020
Abderrahman Samba, 46.98, Paris 2018
Rai Benjamin, 46.98, Zurich 2019

Reigning 1500m and 3000m champion will sit out championships in Torun next month as she directs all of her energies towards the Olympics

Laura Muir will not be attempting a “triple double” at next month’s European Indoor Championships in Poland. The 27-year-old created history in Glasgow almost exactly two years ago when she successfully defended her 1500m and 3000m titles but, with the postponed Tokyo Olympics in mind, she is not planning to toe the start line in Torun on March 5-7.

“In the year of the Olympics we tend to focus on the outdoors,” she told AW in an exclusive interview. “I didn’t do a big indoor season in 2016 so I wasn’t looking to do the championships.

“I love racing indoors and it’s a nice opportunity to check where you’re at but I wouldn’t have done any of the major championships and it’s nice not to be worrying about that championships [the European Indoors] because we’re not going to be considering it, anyway.”

A few travel hiccups aside, Muir has been putting in some solid training time at a British Athletics camp in Dubai of late and, in these pandemic-altered times, has been enjoying having the single focus of athletic improvement.

There are still no hard and fast answers about how this sporting year will look but the reigning European 1500m champion is approaching 2021 with a renewed confidence following calf problems which hindered her build-up to the 2019 World Championships in Doha and subsequent Achilles issues.

In the February issue of AW, Muir speaks in further detail about how she set about overcoming some of the worries and self doubts which had crept in during that time

She finished 2020 on top of the 1500m world rankings, while there was also a British 1000m record run of 2:30.82 to celebrate in Monaco as each racing opportunity was seized during last year’s interrupted summer.

“Everything had been up in the air and you didn’t really know what opportunities you were going to get so I guess when races came around we just had to say ‘we’ll do this one, we’ll do that one’ and there was no sort of pressure in terms of peaking for a major championships or aiming for a specific time, I could just go into races and be relaxed,” says Muir.

“It was really good fun and nice to get a bit of confidence back, to get some races in, to be running fast and winning races as well.”

Victory is also at the top of the agenda when it comes to Tokyo, should the Games take place. Muir, not surprisingly, will continue to operate as if they are.

“We’ve got to have the mentality that the Olympics are going ahead because you would hate for them to come around and not be prepared,” says Muir. “All we can do is try and be as best prepared as is possible considering the timelines we’ve got at the moment.

“I think last year was actually quite nice in the sense that we didn’t have the Olympics or the Europeans and we didn’t know if there were going to be any competitions at all but I still found that I was motivated to train and I really enjoyed my training.

“For me it was a case of ‘okay, I don’t need a major championships to still enjoy my running’, which was really nice to kind of work out because for so many years it had been so intense with so many things going on. It was nice to have that experience last year – to know that I can still train well and perform well, no matter how things go.”

All being well, a second Olympic experience beckons later this year. Muir is a very different athlete to the one who went all in in Rio, opting to go for gold and follow the move made by eventual 1500m champion Faith Kipyegon but ultimately finishing seventh.

The Tokyo Olympics are likely to be a very different experience in all sorts of ways, but the Scot will never forget her first taste of the greatest sporting show on earth.

“When I first got into the village, I remember walking over to our [accommodation] block and the Olympic rings were in the middle of the village and I thought ‘wow, this is pretty cool’,” she says of her time in Brazil in 2016.

“Even before we got to the Olympics we had our kitting out day, you were getting all your kit and being sized up and to have those Olympic rings on the t-shirt you were holding it was ‘wow’. There are so many different things in the lead-up to it and the Games themselves, flying back home with all the other athletes too, it’s a big trip.”

Muir will hope she is joined on that trip by her training partner Jemma Reekie. It’s just over a year since the 22-year-old – Female Athlete of the Year in the AW Awards of 2020 – enjoyed the week of her athletic life, breaking three British records inside eight days during the indoor season, in the 800m (1:57.91), 1500m (4:00.52) and mile (4:17.88). Her 800m time was a world indoor lead and she also ran 1:58.63 outdoors.

She did nothing to quell the growing attention which surrounds her outdoors as she finished the year with six wins in nine races, including the 800m at the Stockholm and Rome Diamond Leagues, as well as that quickest two-lap showing of 1:58.63 in Chorzow, Poland.

Keely Hodgkinson’s recent world U20 record of 1:59.03 has underlined just how competitive the British women’s 800m will be and the attention will only intensify as the summer edges closer.

Muir is confident that her friend will be able to handle it all, particularly given the extended Olympic lead-in.

“Jemma’s very, very good at dealing with expectation and pressure, from what I’ve seen so far. She did the double in the European U23s [Reekie won the 800m and 1500m titles in 2019] and did amazingly at coping with the pressure of the indoor season last year.

“I do remember we were both speaking to the media at one point and they were getting very excited, which is understandable because she is running incredibly, incredibly well but I was like ‘whoa, hold on a minute here’. Obviously there’s no reason why I don’t think she can do very well but calm down a little bit, let’s not get too ahead of ourselves.

“It is very easy to hype up athletes when they do well, which is nice because it is recognising that they are doing well, but at the same time there is an awful lot that goes into things like that.

“She is mentally very focused and prepared. She seems to deal with things very smoothly, which is great to see because obviously in Olympic year it’s going to be intense and I think it was nice for her to have that year last year to develop things a little bit, both physically and mentally ahead of this year.

“It will prepare her a little bit better for the Olympics than she might have been able do to last year.”

Ken Owens hopes Wales can help lift the nation during the 2021 Six Nations that will start during a Covid-19 lockdown.

Owens believes the side have a chance to help the nation in Covid-19 times.

"We have spoken about that and Alun Wyn Jones mentioned it at the start of the week, it's an opportunity to put smiles on faces," said Owens.

"Ever since I have been involved, you can feel the nation lift when you are walking down the street on the Sunday or Monday after a Six Nations result or Autumn international.

"It gives the nation a huge lift and everybody gets behind it. It can give people an opportunity because it gives something else to talk about especially in this time.

"We do feel that pressure and it is something we can enjoy because of what the red shirt and national team means to the people of Wales. It is something we don't take lightly.

"We have spoken about it and the opportunity to entertain the nation and give them something to get behind and support in this tough world we are living in at the moment."

Owens, 34, missed the autumn campaign with a shoulder injury. Wales finished fifth in last year's Six Nations while the side only won three competitive matches out of 10 in Pivac's first full year in charge.

"The coaching staff have had a good review of the autumn and have seen what worked and what didn't work," Owens told the Rugby Weekly podcast.

"The mindset is still going to be try and play rugby and shift the ball around, but I think where we got caught out on a couple of occasions was not winning the gainline during the autumn and the Six Nations last year.

"There is going to be a huge focus on us being pragmatic in the way we play, trying to play in the right areas of the field while having a positive mindset as well.

"It will come down to the battle of the gain line in attack and defence and the contact area. If you get the speed of ball it gives you a chance to play that expansive game."

Wales begin against Ireland with Owens knowing victory can inspire their campaign.

"It's a huge game for us," said Owens.

"I have played in a lot of Six Nations now and there is only once I can remember losing the first game and still manage to build momentum and finish on a positive back. That was 2013.

"Getting that first win changes the mindset of the supporters because in Wales I don't think a lot of people are expecting much.

"We are putting a lot of pressure on ourselves as a squad and if we can get that win on Sunday, it sets us up.

"Building that momentum is important and it can spiral from there."

Flanker Tom Curry says defending champions England must produce a "full 80-minute performance" against Scotland in their opening Six Nations game.

Curry says the hosts "cannot switch off" when they begin the defence of their title on Saturday.

"We fully understand what is coming and we are prepared for that," Curry added.

"We know they have players who can make something from nothing.

"They have an ability to be relentless and we have to bring that element of control to the breakdown."

Scotland have not beaten England at Twickenham since 1983 but the talented Finn Russell is expected to orchestrate the visitors' attack from fly-half.

Curry, 22, says it will take a "whole team" effort to try and nullify Scotland's attack.

"We cannot have ones and twos going after it," added Curry.

"It's driven by the whole team and if everyone is working together, we have that ability to stop those unpredictable plays. We can react better if we are all reading off the same page."

Those comments were echoed by defence coach John Mitchell, who has signed a contract extension with England until the 2023 World Cup.

"If you look at the history between the two countries in the last few years they have been really tight affairs," said Mitchell.

"In 2019, you had one half where we were superb, and then they had a fantastic second half where we were very fortunate to get ourselves back and draw the game.

"Both teams will raise themselves for the contest."

Chess and missing Underhill's guitar

With Covid-19 restrictions in place at England's training base at St George's Park, which is the Football Association's national football centre, the players have been finding new ways to safely socialise when they are not training.

Chess is a popular game among the players and Curry says he has "jumped on the bandwagon".

"The chess is still going and it's a massive game which is exciting," said Curry.

"It's taken very seriously. Jonny [May] goes away and researches the game and he has some technical moves.

"I've lost to Mako [Vunipola] so it's not going too well, but ask me how I'm getting on in a few weeks."

Curry's back row partner Sam Underhill has pulled out of the squad with a hip injury, and the Sale flanker says he is missing his team-mate's musical ability.

"I'm missing his guitar especially," said Curry.

"I've spoken to him a bit and he is doing well and focusing on getting back injury-free.

"As a back row, in terms of rugby, we have practised changing combinations for years. We are able to adapt to those kinds of scenarios and we have great personnel in at the moment."

The 2021 Six Nations will go ahead as planned after France's sports minister said quarantine restrictions would be eased for the tournament.

Roxana Maracineanu said matches would go ahead at the "scheduled date, in a bio-secure bubble, like the Tour de France".

France begin their campaign against Italy in Rome on Saturday (14:15 GMT).

Les Bleus will also play away in Ireland and England, while Scotland and Wales will visit the Stade de France.

"It was a decision everyone in rugby was awaiting," Maracineanu told French television.

"The FFR [French rugby union federation] submitted to us a rigorous, strict protocol, which was then submitted to the health authorities.

"The decision has been taken within government to ensure that the Six Nations championship is held on the scheduled date, starting February 6, with a bio-secure bubble, as was the case with the Tour de France."

Maracineanu added that visiting players would be excluded from periods of quarantine "since they will be tested every three days and remain in a closed bubble".

OCALA, Fla. – The USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car portion of Winter Dirt Games XII will take on a different look for its Saturday night, Feb. 13, finale at Bubba Raceway Park.

Over the first two nights of USAC Sprint Car events at the three-eighths-mile D-shaped track on Feb. 11-12, total points will be calculated, which will lock-in the top-five in total combined points into Saturday night’s feature event.

The program for the USAC Sprints on Saturday night will have no qualifying, and will instead consist of three qualifying races, each 10 laps in length, lined up straight-up based on points from the first two nights. The lineup will snake with sixth overall in points on the pole of the first qualifying race, seventh in points on the pole for the second qualifying race and eighth in points on the pole for the third qualifying race, and so on.

The top-four finishers from each qualifying race will transfer to the feature.  Those finishing fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth or ninth in each qualifying race will be placed into the semi-feature. Those finishing 10th on back in each qualifying race will be placed into a 10-lap C-Main, if needed, where the top-three finishers will transfer to the semi-feature and occupy the final three starting positions of that race.

The winning drivers of each qualifying race will transfer into a dash with the top-five locked in drivers. Starting positions for the dash will be drawn for with the qualifying race winners selecting first when they stop for their winner’s interview, followed by the lock-ins.  Positions one and two on the front row for the feature will only be available in the draw to the five drivers previously locked in. The finish of the eight-car, four-lap dash will determine the first four rows of the feature.

The top-five finishers from the 12-lap semi-feature will transfer into the night’s feature.

The feature will consist of 22 cars (not counting up to two provisionals) and 35 laps, as determined by the finishing order of the dash – first-place finisher starts first, second-place finisher starts seond and so on.

If Thursday’s or Friday’s events are canceled, Saturday night’s event will retain the standard format.

Winter Dirt Games XII begins with the 2021 USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget openers on Feb. 5-6 at Bubba Raceway Park in Ocala, Fla. A dedicated practice night will precede the festivities on Feb. 4.

The second half of Winter Dirt Games brings on the beginning of the USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car season Feb. 11-13 at Bubba Raceway Park.  A practice night on Feb. 10 for the series precedes three consecutive full nights of racing.

On race days, pits open at 4 p.m. ET, front gates open at 5 p.m. and cars on track at 6 p.m. with qualifying and racing immediately following.

Race day tickets will be available at the gate on race day. No pre-order is necessary.

For practice nights, on track action runs from 6-9 p.m. ET. Grandstand admission is free. Pit passes are $20 apiece.

Let’s face it, 2020 was about as fun as getting a root canal while riding a roller coaster.

It was wildly painful and unpredictable. We all lost some of our freedom while others lost much, much more during a year that was hammered by the COVID-19 pandemic. All of us were affected in one way or another and many small businesses had to close for good. Realistically, the general motto both in regard to life and business was simply “just survive.”

Race teams, series and tracks scrambled to make the most out of the hectic year. Races were canceled and most fans were unable to attend events in person, save for a couple of pockets around the country.

A new year has arrived, a vaccine has become available and the hope is that life will return to normal — not the new normal, just simply normal — this year. Most race teams, series and tracks are moving ahead with a full schedule in anticipation of a consistent season.

One of the biggest events during the opening months each year is the famed DIRTcar Nationals, which runs Feb. 2-13 at Volusia Speedway Park in Barberville, Fla. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the marquee event that features the Ollie’s Bargain Outlet All Star Circuit of Champions, the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series, the World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series and the Super DIRTcar Series, along with DIRTcar late models and UMP modifieds.

“We’re hammer down (for) a fully attended DIRTcar Nationals,” World Racing Group Chief Executive Officer Brian Carter told SPEED SPORT in mid-December. “The good thing is we increased the capacity of Volusia to a good extent last year with the grandstands, so we can spread people out. On the weekend with the Outlaws (sprint cars) we‘ll have a full house, but will do that very carefully.

“There are no limitations imposed by the state of Florida at this time. We’re operating to have the full facility, including the drive-ins of your own car in the infield to allow spectators to watch from the infield like we have in the past. We’ll have every grandstand seat available. Ticket sales are up already for 2021 versus 2020.”

Carter noted that while masks currently aren’t mandated on the property for spectators — World Racing Group employees are told to wear them — and people won’t be required to be six feet apart, the facility will be set up to the requirements that the state of Florida has mandated.

“Every state has taken a different approach,” he said. “Florida’s has been well documented. I think it benefits us for kicking off our season in Florida.

“We’re going to be compliant to the T on what the governor’s guidelines will be. The governor has not required us to mandate social distancing. We aren’t going to impose anything in addition to the governor’s mandates. That’s pretty much been the standard wherever we’ve gone. We’ve followed the guidelines in each jurisdiction and then give our fans the choice to come and enjoy the event or stay home and watch on DIRTVision.

“I think it’s prudent for everybody on the property to wear masks. I’ll wear a mask. That’s my choice,” Carter added. “There are reasons some people can’t. (My opinion is) just be respectful of your space and others around you. Everybody is dealing with a different situation. Candidly, our fans have been great. They are there to escape from whatever they want to escape from. When you have people who want to do that they really don’t look for a reason to be a disruption.”

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BATAVIA, Ohio – The Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series 2022 Georgia/Florida Speedweeks will run from Jan. 27 to Feb. 12 with visits to four tracks during a 17 day period.

The series will once again return to Golden Isles Speedway, Bubba Raceway Park, All-Tech Raceway and East Bay Raceway Park.

Action will get underway on Wednesday, Jan. 26 with an open practice at Golden Isles Speedway, in Brunswick, Ga. Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series teams will be competing on Jan. 27 for $10,000-to-win, Jan. 28 for $12,000-to-win, and Jan. 29 for $15,000-to-win.

Teams will take Sunday, Jan. 30 off to regroup before spending Monday, Jan. 31 and Tuesday, Feb. 1 at Bubba Raceway Park, in Ocala, Fla., for a pair of $10,000-to-win events.

The series will then take the action back North, approximately one hour, to Lake City, Fla. All-Tech Raceway will host three nights of racing, starting on Thursday, Feb. 3 paying $10,000-to-win. Friday, Feb. 4 will pay $12,000-to-win, while Saturday, Feb. 5 will show a top prize of $15,000.

From there, speedweeks will wrap up at East Bay Raceway Park in Gibsonton, Fla., with an open practice on Sunday, Feb. 6, followed by six nights of racing. Monday and Tuesday, Feb. 7-8, teams will compete for $5,000-to-win. Wednesday, Feb. 9 and Thursday, Feb. 10 will see drivers gunning for $7,000 in top prize money. Friday, Feb. 11, the stakes get higher with teams competing for the $12,000 paycheck. As an end to the week, on Saturday, Feb. 12, teams will be competing for $15,000-to-win.

Wrisco Industries Inc. has once again agreed to sponsor $4,000 for the Wrisco Industries, Inc. Speedweeks points fund, allowing teams a chance to earn bonus money at the end of the 13 nights of racing.