Vittorio Ghirelli won his second consecutive race at the 4,168-kilometer track on the Croatian Riviera and swept the race weekend.

The Italian led all 14 laps of an exciting EuroNASCAR 2 Round 6 with a lot of door-to-door battles and pure racing. Ghirelli also extended his championship lead.

The race started behind the safety car to allow the driver to familiarize with the damp track and all cars mounted General Tire wet control tires.

Ghirelli drove away as soon as the green flag dropped and crossed the finish line 8.594 seconds ahead of second place Martin Doubek.

“The conditions were not easy, it was slippery and wet!”, said Ghirelli, who scored his third NWES career win. “Thanks to the team Hendriks Motorsport for such a great car. I tried to get the maximum out of it every lap. I also thank my supporters and my family. I was very confident in the car today and I’m happy about leading the championship ahead of Valencia.”

The Czech started fourth and immediately put a lot of pressure on Feed Vict Racing’s Alessandro Brigatti. On lap six, Doubek managed to pass the young Italian with a fantastic manoeuvre at the wheel of his No. 7 Hendriks Motorsport Ford Mustang. On lap seven, he also got past Nicholas Risitano and then delivered another pass on lap nine for second place. Doubek finished second ahead of Ghirelli’s teammate Tobias Dauenhauer.

Dauenhauer had to settle for third after he was passed by Doubek in the battle for second. The Vallelunga double winner rounded out the overall podium, won the race in the Rookie Trophy and collected important points for the title race that will culminate in the double event at Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia, Spain. He also completed a 1-2-3 finish for Hendriks Motorsport.

Francesco Garisto was fourth under the checkered flag but he received a 10-second penalty at the end of the race for overtaking outside the track limits. The Marko Stipp Motorsport driver fell back to eighth, while Vladimiros Tziortzis, who was second in the Rookie Trophy, inherited fourth place.

CAAL Racing’s Dylan Derdaele ended up fifth after a solid race and completed the Rookie Trophy podium.

Manchester United midfielder Bruno Fernandes has said that the club possess the mentality to end their Premier League title drought this season.

United last claimed the league title in the 2012-13 season under Sir Alex Ferguson and have endured a frustrating period since, with rivals Manchester City and Liverpool building teams capable of dominating the league.

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United finished third in the league last season and reached the semifinals of the FA Cup and Europa League with Fernandes, who arrived at the club in January, playing a key role.

"For me, it doesn't matter about the other teams," Fernandes told UTD podcast. "People may say they're better than us, they have a better first eleven than us, guys who come from the bench are better.

"People can say what they think, I don't care. For a club like United, it's a long time since we won the Premier League. It's too long, I think.

"So you have to have in your mind -- all the players, all the staff -- we're here to win. And I think we have that mentality.

"I came to Manchester to win trophies. You're playing for one of the biggest clubs in the world. This club has made history in the past, an amazing history."

United have made a disappointing start to the campaign and sit 14th after three victories, three defeats and a draw from their opening seven games.

Fernandes was instrumental in the 3-1 victory at Everton before the international break contributing with two goals and an assist.

United welcome newly-promoted West Bromwich Albion to Old Trafford next Saturday.

Lewis Hamilton joined Michael Schumacher as a seven-time world champion after securing the title with a supreme drive to win the Turkish Grand Prix.

Hamilton clinched the title with his 94th career win with a trademark wet-weather performance to win from sixth on the grid, one of the best drives of his illustrious career.

Speaking after the race, Hamilton said: "I always say it's beyond my wildest dreams, but I think my whole life secretly I probably have dreamt as high as this. But it felt so farfetched.

"I remember watching Michael winning those championships and all us drivers here are always doing our best job we can. Just to get one, or two, or even three, it's so hard to get. Seven is just unimaginable."

Its Hamilton's fourth straight championship and his sixth in eight seasons with Mercedes. Like Schumacher, Hamilton has accumulated the majority of his titles in a long run of dominance with one team -- before joining Mercedes, Hamilton had the 2008 title to his name.

Schumacher won five in a row between 2000 and 2004. Hamilton will look to match that with a fifth straight championship in 2021.

Hamilton is yet to sign a contract for next season but is widely expected to do so now he has clinched the championship.

We are all now totally clear as to how England are going to play.

England were facing a tier two side, but the team were still determined to dominate up front and go through their patterns as if they were playing South Africa.

My concern is, what happens when that is not effective? England have come unstuck on a few occasions.

It is not so much an issue when you are playing against Georgia. You can stutter and hesitate and get away with it.

Ireland next weekend will be a very different proposition. But I would still like to think that England can play like that throughout the Autumn Nations Cup and be alright.

My concern going forward is if you have a repeat of the 2019 World Cup final. There are few sides in the world who will get dominance over England up front, but South Africa did and they won.

If England do continue to dominate in the forward pack, they are always going to get opportunities to convert.

You are not going to win the World Cup by beating Georgia. Against the top teams in the world you might have three opportunities in the game.

You have to convert those opportunities. They might be in the forward pack but if you get dusted up in the scrum, what else are you going to do about it?

People have also raised concerns that England's style is not enjoyable to watch for fans, but I am not sure that is what supporters would say.

Are fans really concerned with the style of rugby that England play? They like that physicality, dominance and grinding away, then little flashes of brilliance.

The DNA of English rugby has been like that forever and the England fans have had a good ride with it over the decades.

I never have been concerned, and I do not think I ever will have the mindset that I want to be entertained. I want to win.

'Farrell was off the pace'

England's forwards dominated Georgia, but the backline lacked a clinical edge.

Captain Owen Farrell was by no means at his best playing at fly-half. He just looked a couple of percent off the pace mentally and that was reflected in the backline.

England's usual starting 10 George Ford has missed the past two games with injury, so Farrell has moved from inside centre.

There is such a difference between them. Ford has incredible vision of delivery, putting people through gaps.

Farrell is a tactical magician. He will kick you into the right positions and give good passes, but not in the zippy way that Ford does.

When you move Farrell to fly-half, you are actually playing a very different style of organisation.

The last couple of games the backline has been very lateral. It looks like it is an afterthought to go to the backs.

It might be better to bring in another 10 and have Farrell back at 12.

'A debut with fans is a different adrenaline rush'

Jack Willis made his England debut at an empty Twickenham.

Thinking back to my first cap, you think about games in your childhood that you have watched on TV. You have soaked up the atmosphere, heard the crowd cheer, belting out the national anthem.

Having fans is a significant part of the dream and, afterwards, of the memory.

It is still a huge thrill to walk out on to the pitch with an England shirt on and sing the national anthem. Willis will never have that feeling again.

But when he does go out and do that with a full crowd, it will be a different adrenaline rush.

Team of the week

Here is my team of the week from all the games in the Autumn Nations Cup. I had to throw some Argentina players in there too after their historic victory against New Zealand in the Rugby Championship.

Matt Dawson was speaking to BBC Sport's Becky Grey.

When Gustavo Hamer's 30-yard header looped over Ben Foster's head, the Watford goalkeeper's first thought was "Oh s---, s---, here we go..." Then came the self-loathing, analysis, acceptance and refocus. "Even as I'm diving for it, I can still remember thinking 'I should be saving this' and I just didn't, for whatever reason, get enough contact on the ball, whatever it was, it was a technical error," Foster told ESPN. "As soon as it happened, I thought oh, no, no, no."

The process took 30 seconds, and all of it was captured by the GoPro camera that Foster had placed in the back of his goal before kickoff. His Watford side eventually ground out a much-needed 3-2 win over Hamer's Coventry City in the Championship last weekend. Afterwards, as he did the postmatch hand-shaking, he carried around his GoPro, thanking his teammates for bailing him out. As Foster arrived back in the changing room, he was greeted by teammate Will Hughes. "He [Hughes] was standing there, just sort of looking at me with the mischievous face of like, this is gonna look incredible on the YouTube channel!"

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When football stopped back in March, Foster, 37, used his time and energy to merge his football career and passion for cycling with his new YouTube channel, "The Cycling GK," which hints at some of his plans for life after football. Amid the gloom of another lockdown in the UK, Foster and his YouTube channel offer an antidote. In a sport where so often personalities are hidden, he breaks the norm, granting us an insight into a career well-lived, but also a man you'd love to spend an afternoon in the pub with.

"I love football, don't get me wrong. I love it," Foster says. "I love the Saturday afternoon; the adrenaline buzz I get from it is incredible. But for the rest of it, I could take it or leave it -- genuinely take it or leave the rest of it, the crap that comes with it -- the celebrity, the fame, all that kind of stuff. It doesn't matter to me whatsoever."

As we chat over Zoom, Foster reels off the things that get him enthusiastic and ignite his beaming smile: beers, his family, food, the thrill of taking his new Tarmac SL7 bike out for a ride for the first time ("It's like going to see your new baby that's just been born"), the Giro d'Italia and his YouTube channel. Oh, and saving penalties, as he did in one episode against Blackburn Rovers' Adam Armstrong.

Foster's channel offers viewers a unique insight into life on and off the field as a goalkeeper. The GoPro he nestles behind him in goal offers an opportunity to eavesdrop on everything that goes on: a personal highlight was one Luton player shouting at another 'You selfish piece of s---' after he scooped a shot well over the bar, instead of passing to a teammate in a better position. Then there are the moments in another episode where Foster lambasts his defence for allowing a shot on goal or guiding one of their full-backs to force the Coventry attacker on to his weaker right foot. It's incredible access -- the sort we all pine for with every new fly-on-the-wall documentary released on streaming media.

Watching "The Cycling GK" also allows you to tap into Foster's infectious enthusiasm; somehow, after our chat, his joie de vivre led me to purchase a few bottles of the red wine he recommended -- a Tempranillo called The Guv'nor -- and wonder whether I can get my well-insulated frame on one of these lightweight bikes blessed with technology and precision that'd make NASA blush.

Foster is now in the twilight of a career that's seen him play for Manchester United, West Bromwich Albion, Birmingham City and his current side Watford, while winning eight England caps. We talk through a few highlights -- the time he saved a Steven Gerrard penalty in front of The Kop, his England debut, playing under Sir Alex Ferguson -- then he laughs as he remembers when opposition goalkeeper Paul Robinson lobbed him from 80 yards. But Foster is anchored in the present and not defined by the sport.

By way of a mission statement, he says: "My name is Ben Foster: I'm a husband, I've got two lovely kids, I love cycling, I play football for a living. That's how I live my life. You need to learn to kind of try and get a little bit of a partition in between who you are and what you do for a living as well.

"I've learned to not really give a crap about what anyone else thinks, and all the crap that comes with football you need to just learn to let it go because it doesn't matter. For a goalkeeper especially, you have to say stay on that kind of even keel, if that makes sense."

He sees himself as much as a cycling obsessive as he does a footballer, which formed the genesis behind this new YouTube channel that takes you into the heart of life at Watford -- including a lot of Hughes' colourful language. "It doesn't matter what Hughes is doing, he's swearing, so as long as we sort of blur his mouth and bleep his like swear words out, we're fine. He loves it, honestly, he's a sneaky one. He's one of them who acts like, gives it the big'un and he's like, 'I'm never coming on, I'm never talking, blah, blah, blah.' And then as soon as I've got the camera up, he runs up behind and he's getting on and jumping in and swearing and all this kind of stuff."

There have been 11 episodes published to date: viewers have learned that Foster is uber-competitive on a Wattbike, he adores tomato ketchup, (again) Hughes swears a lot, the unsung heroes at Watford like the kit man and the bus driver are the lifeblood of the club, and Foster judges a hotel on whether there's a USB connector by the bed or not (he's quick to praise their chosen team hotel for home games on their recent refurbishment and new USB connectors -- "sweet as a nut, mate!").

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Cycling is as much Foster's hobby as it is his refuge. The two hours he spends daily on the bike offer him a chance to clear his head, get the endorphins pumping and permit him to "eat and drink what I want" when he gets back home. He has a glass of wine off camera as we talk and laughs as he talks about how quickly he consumed a bag of crisps earlier in the day, having already burnt 2,000 calories. His dream holiday is four or five days in the mountains with mates on bikes, then an afternoon by the pool.

But this passion was originally triggered by necessity. He has suffered three ACL injuries in his 19-year career, and the bike allowed him to regain fitness while not putting pressure on his surgically repaired knees. It also kept his mental health in check during the UK's first COVID-19 lockdown.

"It was the best sort of drug for me ever -- I had to do it every day, whether it would be on the watt bike, or I'd get out on my bike, and I'd go out for an hour, two hours, whatever it would be. My fitness levels went crazy high because I was at home and I was worried I put weight on, but because I've been nailing the bike so hard, like I was as fit as I'd ever been like mentally though, I think that's a big thing for me mentally."

And you see all this through "The Cycling GK." While YouTube is offering him an outlet and a post-football business venture, he's also aware of how brutal social media can be for those finding their feet in the early stages of their careers. "I've seen them when we get in at full-time, and the first thing they're doing is checking what some random bloke in his bedroom has said about him and they take it in as well. Their reaction is not like 'what a d---head,' they fully take it in, and it really affects them. It's a shame, really, because the only people you should really listen to are the coaches, your loved ones, your parents, people that really matter."

So that's why he tries not to take himself, or the rollercoaster life as a goalkeeper, too seriously. But he's also aware of his footballing mortality. He has played 480 professional games to date; his body reminds him of it on Sunday mornings. "I peel myself out of bed.. like everything feels so much stiffer and 'oh God, I can't wait for this to not hurt anymore.'"

Foster has two years left on his Watford contract and would dearly love the next, and potentially final, year to be back in the Premier League. Cycling is helping him keep retirement at bay, but he never wants to be a No. 2 goalkeeper. It's not in his nature. "You never know with football; I don't think you can ever say never. We'll just gauge it at that moment in time and see how we feel."

When the time comes to hang up his gloves, he'll stay in the game in some capacity ("maybe I'll do media or commentating or this or that, whatever"), but he is already dreaming up adventures on his bike.

"There's loads of bucket list things I want to do," he says. "There's like things called the Hoate Route or L'Etape du Tour where you do like the seven hardest stages of the Tour de France or the Giro d'Italia or whatever. And you'll do them each day. But you're not doing them in a race, it's just like a big old kind of group of people having a good time. There will be a group who'll race it, but I'll be in a group with people that just want to have fun and then you're in the bar and have another few drinks. You do the same thing the next day. It's such a good social. Mate, I honestly... I can't wait to do it."

Then there are projects closer to home, like the new house he's building on a 30-acre farm he lives on in Warwickshire. He's got new neighbours too, belonging to the lady who owns the farm. "She has got like the maddest, maddest animals. She's got four llamas. She's got three ostriches, who just had babies which are called rheas. She's got six or seven ostriches now. She's got a Dobermans, like a guard dog who's lovely, brilliant, wicked guard dogs as well.

"There's two massive lakes literally outside the front door. There's about a hundred Canadian geese, she's got friggin' herons all over the place. There's carp in the lake -- you're talking like a three, four- or five-pound carp. She's got two peacocks as well, just for good measure, and they've just had babies as well."

Then there are the guests he'd love to get on his show. "Dream guest wise would be... he's just won the Giro, Tao Geoghegan Hart. We're kind of like internet friends. He's a big football and Arsenal fan."

And perhaps new goals for his GoPro. "I'd love to put one in Manchester City keeper Ederson's goal. I've seen him Cruyff turn somebody two yards out from his own goal and I'm thinking 'you don't give a s--- mate.' It's wicked. And that kind of mentality though, is worth its weight in gold. He's class. From the past, I think also just to hear Peter Schmeichel's vocals and hear him coming after people, and roasting people like you wouldn't believe would be amazing."

And then it'll be off to find his next obsession. "I am world class at finding a hobby. I think I get it from my dad a little bit because he's a bit of a collector of things. He's always collected Star Wars memorabilia; he's got so much stuff at home, it's a joke -- like some of them real old-school little figurines still in their boxes and all that kind of stuff. I get the kind of collecting gene from him. I just love it. I don't think it's a bad way to be, to be fair."

But for now, it's about getting Watford back into the Premier League and loving that buzz of the matchday, while doing his best to capture life as a professional footballer -- and lover of two wheels -- on camera.

"With football you can never ever get too high, never get too carried away," Foster says. "And then on the other side, you can't get too down and too low because then you'll start thinking about it and worrying about it too much.

"When we're on camera filming away, I just try to show people know that's how I deal with football. And I've found the best way I can deal with it all, is how I am now. This YouTube stuff has opened so many more doors ... but people are really watching it! Even like for the cycling videos, I'm getting 100,000 views. This is amazing. It's working. I love it."

The New Orleans Saints are facing significant discipline for not wearing masks during their postgame celebrations last Sunday night -- as seen in videos they posted to social media, including the team's own Twitter account -- after their victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, league sources tell ESPN.

Video of Saints players and head coach Sean Payton dancing and celebrating their 38-3 vctory over Tampa Bay went viral last Sunday nght. Multiple players were clearly not wearing masks during the celebration in the locker room, which is a violation of the NFL's COVID-19 protocols -- and the league noticed, according to sources.

The Saints are facing stiff fines and the loss of a draft pick, similar to the action the NFL took against the Raiders earlier this month, when Las Vegas was fined $500,000, head coach Jon Gruden was fined $150,000 and the franchise was stripped of a sixth-round pick for COVID-19 protocol violations.

Discipline is expected to be handed down to the Saints this upcoming week, according to a source, though the NFL and the Saints' legal team spent previous days discussing the issue.

One issue the league is focused on, according to sources, is that like Gruden and the Raiders, Payton and the Saints are repeat offenders. Payton was fined $100,000 and the Saints $250,000 because Payton was not wearing a mask during New Orleans' Week 2 loss in Las Vegas. NFL discipline almost always is more severe for repeat offenders.

Conversations between the Saints and the NFL will continue, according to sources, but the locker-room celebration video was there for everyone to see. Payton, linebacker Demario Davis and quarterback Jameis Winston, who made his season debut in the victory over his former team, were among those seen dancing and celebrating in the video posted to Instagram by receiver Tre'Quan Smith.

Davis and CJ Gardner-Johnson also posted videos of the postgame dancing and celebrating on social media. The Saints no longer have any videos of the locker toom celebration on their official Twitter account.

The Saints, who have won five games in a row, handed Tom Brady the worst loss of his career while delivering one of the most convincing wins in the Payton-Drew Brees era. The victory was so thorough that Winston made his Saints debut as Brees' backup, completing his only pass for 12 yards while running out the clock over the final six minutes.

Winston flashed his trademark "Eating a W" sign multiple times after the game, both during Brees' postgame interview and during the locker-room celebration.

The British race walk star shares his experience of contracting coronavirus and says patience is key to recovery

Tom Bosworth has voiced words of coronavirus warning to athletes after his recovery from the illness was prolonged by an understandable eagerness to get back to training.

The multiple world race walk record-holder went from setting back-to-back British records to struggling to even do a spot of gardening after he contracted Covid-19 in March. Only now is he back to full training and the 30-year-old hopes that by sharing his story, his fellow athletes might benefit from the advice.

“It was a Saturday evening,” Bosworth recalls, reflecting back to March. “I was on a Zoom call with a friend at around 8:30pm and I said ‘do you know what, I’ve got to go to bed, I feel totally awful’.

“I had done a great week’s training and I was due a rest day the next day anyway, so I just put it down to training. My joints were aching, my body was throbbing. I woke up and I had this headache right behind my eyes and it was agony. That was one of the worst things I remember to this day. Rolling over in bed I was like ‘flipping heck, have I got this? Have I got Covid?’

“Harry (Bosworth’s fiancé), about 72 hours earlier, had come down with the same things and I was giving him stick saying ‘oh you’re just sick, you haven’t got Covid’, and then as soon as I got the symptoms it was like ‘yes, definitely Covid!’

“Then the cough started, a real dry cough. We were both eating dinner one evening and I couldn’t taste or smell it at all. It wasn’t that my taste or smell had changed, it had just gone completely.

“That was over the course of about a week, 10 days. We started to recover and then it was just the fatigue.”

“Rolling over in bed I was like ‘flipping heck, have I got this? Have I got Covid?’”

Bosworth had been in the form of his life at the start of the year, clocking 18:20.97 to win the 5000m race walk in a national record at the British Championships before another British record of 39:10 outdoors over 10km at the beginning of March.

“By the beginning of May I started training again,” Bosworth continues. “I had done three weeks of training and I still had that underlying fitness from March. On June 2 I did about three miles in the morning but it was taking a long time and hurting a lot! The next day I did 2km – 1km out and back – because it was agony. I knew there was something really wrong.

“We lost all of June. I didn’t do any training in June and then just some light training in July, easing my way back. At this point mentally I was exhausted – from being ill, then getting back to training, going off again and then back into training. Racing seemed like a long, long way away.

“It did start to get better through August but I think my head was just gone. My motivation had gone, my body wasn’t right still. We called it a day in August.”

Rest is key

“The virus isn’t going to go anywhere, even if we do get a vaccine or better testing and that sort of thing – there’s still a chance you’re going to catch it,” Bosworth adds. “God forbid if somebody catches it a month out from an Olympic Games – you’re not going to stand much of a chance of competing, which is terrifying.

“You have your symptoms, which is quite a short stage, then you’ve got a period of time where your body is recovering and that’s the key bit. I didn’t leave it long enough. When you feel okay, you’ve got to leave it another two weeks. Allow your body to get used to feeling okay again.

“I was sick during lockdown so we were still spending time in the garden doing gardening and really basic things, but they were taking a lot out of me. I was noticing I felt really unfit even though I felt normal. It was quite strange.

“You’ve got a period of time where your body is recovering and that’s the key bit. I didn’t leave it long enough”

“As soon as I started to feel a bit more normal, I started to go back to training and things just weren’t right.

“Now if we’re in the season there and you’ve got two or three months still until a big race or something like that, you have enough time to recover. But an extra week’s recovery during that period could be crucial to then being able to get back to normal rather than getting back to normal, doing some training and then having to take further time off because your body wasn’t ready and you’ve actually sent yourself backwards, almost back to the start of the recovery period again.

“I would just say rest. It’s the worst thing for an athlete, they don’t want to hear that, but it will be the best thing you can do. Just rest. Keep active but just give your body a chance.

“I was so desperate – I had come from a place where I had set back-to-back British records and world leads and that sort of thing, to being completely unfit – so I was desperate to get back there as quickly as possible and all I did was hinder the rest of the summer.”

INVERNESS, Fla. – L.J. Grimm held off a late challenge from 2017 series champion John Inman to win Saturday night’s Southern Sprint Car Shootout Series event at Citrus County Speedway.

It was Grimm’s first-ever series win.

Polesitter Mickey Kempgens got the jump and led the opening lap while battling side-by-side with Shane Butler.

The duo made contact exiting turn two to bring out the first caution of the evening on lap one. On the double-file restart, L.J. Grimm got the jump and assumed the point.

After the restart Butler went for a wild ride after his car made contact with another car while battling for position three-wide. Butler rode the wall before coming to a stop and bringing out the red flag. Butler was OK.

Over the next 25 laps, several battles for position were taking place throughout the field, resulting in hard racing and contact on multiple occasions.

Troy DeCaire and Joey Aguilar made contact on lap 11 entering turn two, while battling for fourth, to bring out the next caution. DeCaire rode up over the left front tire of Aguilar, spinning him around and forcing DeCaire to restart from the tail of the field.

Grimm’s lead began to dwindle, and Inman had reeled him in by lap 27. The duo made contact attempting to get around a slower car. In the process, Inman’s front nose wing was torn off and virtually every one of his brake rotors were glowing red.

At that point, it appeared Iman’s chances of winning were slim. But Inman hung with him the final 13 circuits and Grimm won by only .703 seconds over Inman.

Inman was later penalized, however, dropping him to seventh in the finishing order.

Grimm, a local driver, was greeted with loud applause from the huge crowd in attendance.

”I was running a sportsman stock car here when I was 14. Then I moved up in the modifieds. My Dad raced here before that. I’ve been coming here for probably 20 years now, so it’s pretty special,” explained Grim.

“We had Florida’s top prospects here tonight. This ranks up there with any of my wins. I’m proud of this one,” Grimm added. “I’m still new to sprint cars and hesitate with lapped cars because I don’t wanna jump a wheel and go for a ride, hurt myself, or another car. I might have hesitated too much because it gave Inman a chance late.

“Somebody was gonna have to wreck me to win tonight.”

The finish:

L.J. Grimm, Joey Aguilar, Daniel Miller, Tommy Nichols, Mickey Kempgens, Stan Butler, John Inman, Travis Bliemeister, Gary Wiggins, Troy DeCaire, Bill Pettijohn, Mike Tharp, Shane Butler.

MILTON, Fla. – It took Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 14 years to return to victory lane with the United Sprint Car Series Outlaw Thunder Tour, but just one race to earn his second win of the season.

Stenhouse, who races full time in the NASCAR Cup Series with JTG Daugherty Racing, completed a weekend sweep with the USCS 360 sprint cars on Saturday night at Southern Raceway, starting from the pole and besting Justin Barger for the victory.

Wheeling his familiar NOS Energy Drink-backed No. 17jr, Stenhouse’s triumph was the ninth of his USCS career. Prior to the weekend, his last USCS win had been in 2006.

Barger took the checkered flag second, followed by Mark Smith, Dale Howard and R.J. Jacobs.

An 11th-place finish was enough for longtime veteran Terry Gray to put the finishing touches on his 13th career USCS national championship.

Unofficially, Gray earned the title by 34 points over Connor Leoffler, who finished sixth in Saturday night’s feature.

The finish:

Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Justin Barger, Mark Smith, Dale Howard, R.J. Jacobs, Connor Leoffler, Conner Morrell, Derek Hagar, Terry McCarl, Chase Howard, Terry Gray, Michael Miller, Zane Devault, Hayden Campbell, Kyle Amerson, Danny Smith, Jim Shuster, Brandon Blenden, Michael Magic, Jeff Willingham, Terry Witherspoon, Mallie Shuster, Ronny Howard.

MADERA, CALIF. – Fourteen-year-old Bradley Erickson won his sixth race of the season at Madera Speedway Saturday night, but his first in a Pro Late Model, by topping a strong field for the 75-lap, $2,000-to-win Turkey Triple Open.

Erickson was one of four winners during the late-season non-points finale, which was followed by an on-track presentation of the Championship Awards Banquet.

Phoenix’s Erickson won the 2020 51FIFTY Jr. Late Model Series on the strength of five victories in 2020.

Thirty open pro late models were in attendance, narrowed to 26 starters by a 30-lap B Main. An eight-car inversion placed 2018 Madera Late Model champion Jason Aguirre on the pole position.

Aguirre paced the first 18 caution-free laps. On the ensuing restart, Colby Potts dropped to fifth position on the outside line. Erickson knifed up to the second position by that point.

Fast qualifier Jason Romero worked from the eighth starting position to third by lap 25, then grabbed second from Erickson on lap 35.

Seth Wise spun with contact from Tim Skoglund for a caution on lap 37. Bakersfield’s Buddy Shepherd fell out of the race under that caution as well.

Aguirre gave Romero the outside on the restart, with Romero taking over the lead on lap 38. Eric Nascimento, Jr. followed on the outside to take second as well, before Aguirre held off Austin Herzog for third.

The next caution fell on lap 47 when Matt Wendt and Thomas Martin tangled in turn four. Justin Westmoreland slammed the turn three wall requiring a red flag on lap 48.

Romero chose the inside of Nascimento on the restart. Nascimento edged ahead on the outside, taking the lead by lap 50 when the caution fell yet again.

Romero tangled with Aguirre in a scramble for the second position when the race resumed, knocking Romero back to the 14th position.

A multi-car skirmish on lap 56 saw both Austin and Bryan Herzog sideways, resulting in Richard Herzog spinning and collecting Calvin Hegje.

Eric Nascimento, Jr. picked the inside on the next green flag and held the lead. Aguirre spun from the second position with a right rear flat tire in turn four on lap 59.

Nascimento again picked the bottom, this time against Bradley Erickson. Erickson showed veteran skill as he swooped around the outside to lead lap 60.

Erickson drove away from the pack while Seth Wise made it past Nascimento for second. The all-51FIFTY Jr. Late Model graduate podium saw Erickson, Wise, and Nascimento on top. They were followed by Potts and a resurgent Romero rounding out the top-five.

The Challenge Cup Series ran its final race of 2020 with another 51FIFTY graduate – Las Vegas’ Kyle Keller – topping the field in the 75-lap contest.

The race had several lead changes as Jesse James Burks led the first ten laps before sixth-starting Thomas Martin took over on lap 11.

Vince Little went third to first to lead lap 26. Both Martin and Little encountered issues, allowing Burkes to re-take the top spot on lap 31. Keller challenged Burks until grabbing the point on lap 51.

A lap-62 caution for debris did not deter Kyle Keller as he led Martin, Burks, Rich Innis and Thomas Suarez among the top-five finishers.

A season-best 13 Hobby Stocks raced for $700 to win in a 75-lap affair with Howard Holden overcoming an eight-car invert to win. Holden spun on lap three, but masterfully drove through the field to take the top position by lap 18.

Tyler Rogers went to the back for his involvement in the incident but advanced steadily through the field throughout the race. Holden led Brandon Jones, Rogers, Las Vegas’ Kyle Jacks, and Nick Rowe as the top-five finishers.

Jason Philpot won his 14th modified feature of the year as the 2020 Ukiah Speedway and All American Speedway champion won the 75-lap, $1,000 to win event at Madera.

Doug Hamm led 63 laps of the race before a caution fell on lap 64 for Sam Jacks stopping on the apron to the front stretch. Eddie Secord took over the lead on the restart.

Kayli Barker had a mechanical failure while both Hamm and Second spun on opposite ends of the track for a tumultuous lap 68. Barker was unable to continue while both Hamm and Secord were relegated to the tail of the lead lap for spinning.

Philpot assumed the lead on lap 69 while Secord, Hamm, and Jaron Giannini spun into turn three in a three-wide battle for third.

Hamm suffered heavy damage in the melee that ended his race, while Philpot led Secord, Giannini, Aaron Coonfield, and Tom Pfundstein across the finish line in the exciting finish.