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LEICESTERSHIRE, England – Kawasaki’s Jonathan Rea completed a World Superbike weekend sweep for the first time this season with a dominant Sunday rout at Donington Park.
With wins in both the Superpole and full-distance events, Rea’s World Superbike total stands at 78 leaving the British round of the championship.
There was action right from the start, with Rea coming out on top after another tough scrap with Toprak Razgatlioglu.
Rea grabbed the holeshot from the pole, but was challenged on lap three when Razgatlioglu took the lead at the circuit where he took his first WorldSBK career podium.
With a strong out-braking maneuver at the Melbourne Loop, Razgatlioglu was able to steal the advantage. However, two laps later, Rea took the lead back and one lap further on, Haslam momentarily got ahead of the Turk at the Foggy Esses.
Back at the Melbourne Loop, Razgatlioglu recovered and the 22-year-old retook second.
Razgatlioglu was able to retake the lead from Rea, with the two riders dancing side-by-side around the Donington Park circuit. Another late-braking move at the Melbourne Loop saw him retake the lead and then put the hammer down.
Razgatlioglu and Rea broke clear of the fading Haslam in third place, while Alvaro Bautista was all over the rear-end of Haslam for the position after a crash on Saturday.
With 12 to go, a rare error at the Foggy Esses from Razgatlioglu allowed Rea to cut through and take the lead back, a lead he wouldn’t relinquish again.
In the closing stages, there were two battles, one for first and second between Rea and Razgatlioglu, and one for third place between Bautista, Alex Lowes, Haslam and Loris Baz. Lowes eventually got ahead of Haslam with just three laps to go.
Going into the final lap, half-a-second split the leading two, while Bautista had a small buffer for a safe third place.
At the finish, it was Rea completing a hat trick over Razgatlioglu, with Bautista completing the podium. Lowes and Haslam finished fourth and fifth, respectively.
HOHENSTEIN-ERNSTTHAL, Germany – Marc Marquez completed a decade of dominance on Sunday at the Sachsenring with his 10th-straight victory at the German circuit.
Marquez’s dominant win in the German MotoGP Grand Prix was his 49th premier class triumph, fifth of the season and seventh in a row at the Sachsenring in MotoGP action.
The German won at the Sachsenring in the 125cc class in 2010 before claiming back-to-back Moto2 wins there in 2011 and 2012. He’s won every MotoGP race there since 2013.
Marquez beat Yamaha’s Maverick Viñales and journeyman Cal Crutchlow at the front of the field, but his victory wasn’t as easy as it might have seemed from the box score.
Marquez was sluggish off the line and it looked like he would get swallowed up heading into turn one, but the No. 93 was last among the late brakers and dove back into the lead as a result.
Fabio Quartararo slipped back from second to sixth at the start aboard his Yamaha as Viñales, Jack Miller, Alex Rins and Crutchlow all got past the Frenchman.
However, Quartararo’s race ended at turn three. The rookie went to get back past Ducati Team’s Danilo Petrucci on lap two, but the front of his Yamaha washed away from him as the 20-year-old crashed out of a race for the first time this season.
At the forefront of the MotoGP freight train, Marquez conducted the pace ahead of Viñales, with Crutchlow and Rins demoting Miller down to fifth as the top four started to edge clear of the rest of the field.
A 1:21.228 – a new lap record – on lap five saw Marquez’s lead creep up to just under a second over Rins, with the latter also stretching his advantage over Viñales and Crutchlow to the same distance.
Lap 10 saw Marquez go four tenths of a second faster than Rins as the gap rose above the two-second barrier. From then on, there was no stopping the nine-time Sachsenring winner from filling both hands with victories in the end.
“It was a perfect strategy, but I didn’t have a perfect start, as I ran a little deep at turn one,” noted Marquez. “After that, my plan was two slow laps to warm the front tire well and then push, and it’s exactly what I did. Step by step, I opened the gap and followed the plan as I needed to. Once the gap was at three seconds, I stayed there and saved the tire and enjoyed riding.
“It’s a great feeling to win here again and to enter the summer break in this way,” Marquez added. “I want to say thank you to the Repsol Honda Team for their work in this race and the first half of the season.”
Viñales crossed the line second for his second-straight podium of the season, with Crutchlow equaling his best result of the year in third, his first podium since the Qatar GP after battling a torn anterior cruciate ligament and a small fracture to the top of his tibia.
Petrucci finished fourth and Andrea Dovizioso climbed from 13th to complete the top five.
Miller was sixth ahead of Joan Mir, Valentino Rossi, Franco Morbidelli and Stefan Bradl, who was subbing for the injured Jorge Lorenzo.
HARRISBURG, N.C. — The changes NASCAR made to its Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series schedule for next season are only an appetizer, as we anxiously await the main course.
The sanctioning body’s contracts with its race tracks expire following the 2020 season and that’s when fans can expect the Cup Series schedule, which has remained basically stagnant for two decades, to undergo a major reconstruction.
Rumors of what’s in store for the 2021 season are hotter than the July weather as even industry insiders speculate on what NASCAR will do in an effort to increase attendance and improve TV ratings.
There’s talk about the season possibly ending in late September or early October. Will we see multiple doubleheader weekends with races on both Saturday and Sunday? Will there be more short-short track events? Does Iowa Speedway finally get a Cup Series date? How about mid-week races?
Everyone expects the schedule to be scaled back, with most putting the number of races for the 2021 season between 24 and 28.
Does Indianapolis Motor Speedway continue the tradition of the Brickyard 400 or does that race fade into the history books? Will there still be an All-Star Race? What happens to the Shootout at Daytona? Will the playoffs continue to be comprised of 10 races or is that number also reduced?
At this point, there are more questions than answers, but one thing is certain: NASCAR has to get this right, because the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series schedule will chart the course for the future of major-league stock car racing.
If the schedule properly addresses the issue of supply and demand and provides a fresh mix of tracks that enhances the on-track product, the sport could very well experience a rebound that could last for decades.
If the schedule changes are only minor tweaks and fail to properly address the underlying issues that have been eroding the sport’s popularity, we should expect a continuation of the status quo with sub-par attendance and mediocre TV ratings.
— On Wednesday morning prior to the Indianapolis 500 and the Coca-Cola 600, we discovered a drastic difference in the way the two marquee motorsports events were being covered by the major newspapers in the host cities.
A review of the landing page for the Indianapolis Star’s website revealed 13 links to stories, photos and information related to the 103rd running of the Indianapolis 500.
The headlines ranged from “James Dean, the Indy 500 driver who could’ve been” and “How to ride a scooter to the Indy 500” to “‘Winning’ starred Paul Newman and a cast of Hoosiers” and “The best Indy 500 bars and restaurants.”
The Indianapolis Star has long set the standard with its coverage of The Greatest Spectacle in Racing and the amount of content generated for its website this year tells us the current editors continue to recognize the importance of covering this event from multiple angles.
Meanwhile, a similar visit to the home page of The Charlotte Observer’s website revealed only one link to anything having to do with the 60th running of the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
It was a feature story headlined: “Daniel Hemric idolized Dale Earnhardt as a kid. Now he wants to drive like him.”
For more than five decades, The Charlotte Observer was a leading source of NASCAR news and information as the stock car industry planted roots and grew in the Charlotte region.
Now, it appears as if those making the editorial decisions for the Queen City’s primary news outlet have little — if any interest — in the sport. What a shame.
— We still vividly remember the focus and intensity that consumed sprint car racing’s brightest stars as they prepared to battle for $50,000 during the inaugural Kings Royal at Ohio’s Eldora Speedway on July 28, 1984.
With $175,000 awaiting the winner of this year’s edition of the Kings Royal, look for the intensity level to far exceed that seen 35 years ago as Eldora Speedway’s premier open-wheel event once again offers sprint car racing’s richest first-place prize.
This is part two of a special Q&A with veteran USAC star Dave Darland, which appeared in the July issue of Sprint Car & Midget Magazine. The full version can be viewed at www.sprintcarandmidget.com and requires either a print subscription to Sprint Car & Midget Magazine or online subscription to www.sprintcarandmidget.com to read.
SC&M: Well, the follow-up of that question would be what your thoughts are that NASCAR turned into a series where teams focused so much on looking for 17- or 18-year-old kids and turning their backs on older drivers? As you said, you could still win midget races, but you likely could have also adapted to a stock car or Indy car at that age and won races as well. Not everyone that’s a fan of NASCAR is 18, and I’m sure a lot of racing fans would have liked to have seen what you could have done in NASCAR.
DARLAND: Well, I understand it, but it seemed to switch right at the wrong time for me. When I was 17 or 20 years old, they wanted the older, more experienced guys, guys with experience that took care of things. But then it switched around to where when I was an experienced 30-year-old then they wanted the kids, the young talent. Maybe some of them had a little backing to help the team too, so I was just on the opposite side of the list of qualifications.
My personality…I’m a sprint car driver. That’s what I like to do; it’s what I was cut out to do. That’s what I’m gonna do for the rest of my life, it looks like. So, I certainly enjoy driving sprint cars. I’m not sure whether I would have been the right mold or the right guy to be a NASCAR or Indy car driver. It would have been fun, I think. It would have been a good experience to be able to go on to some sort of bigger series or bigger and better things maybe, but I got an opportunity to drive both of those cars at some point, but I don’t know, I’m a sprint car driver and that’s what I’m gonna be.
SC&M: But, being a lifelong Indiana open-wheel racer, driving the Indy 500 had to have been on your bucket list.
DARLAND: Yeah, I certainly would have liked to have done the Indy 500 or, like some of the guys did, just do a little short spurt of something like that. I would have liked to have drove the Indy 500 a time or two, or 10 maybe, but as far as being a fulltime Indy car driver, I had no desire to want to try to do that. To drive some races, though, I certainly would have enjoyed.
Read the full Sprint Car & Midget Magazine exclusive story by clicking here.
Noh, 17-year-old Monday qualifier, eyes win in pro debut at Thornberry
Yealimi Noh is looking to complete a spectacular LPGA debut as a professional.
It will be something special if the 17-year-old can win the Thornberry Creek Classic as a Monday qualifier.
Only two Monday qualifiers have ever won an LPGA event.
It’s beyond special if Noh wins beating the current Rolex world No. 1 and a pair of former No. 1s in a final-round showdown.
That’s the setup for Sunday’s finish at Thornberry Creek in Oneida, Wis.
“It feels really weird,” Noh said. “I wasn't expecting to be in this position. I'm really excited for tomorrow.”
Noh, who turned pro in January after a dynamic finish to her amateur career, will turn 18 in three weeks. She started Saturday one shot behind world No. 1 Sung Hyun Park. Noh didn’t look in awe at all playing alongside Park. She didn’t blink.
Instead, it was Park who looked ruffled late in the third round, opening the door to Noh and others with a double bogey and a bogey over the final four holes.
Noh was five shots back with four holes to play when Park stumbled.
"I was just like, 'Wow, she makes mistakes, too,'" Noh said. “Obviously, she's human, but it was surprising, because she was playing so well. To see that double I was like, 'Oh, even the No. 1 player does that.'"
At 20-under overall, Park left the course tied for the lead with former world No. 1s Ariya Jutanugarn (67) and Shanshan Feng (65) and with Tiffany Joh (66).
Noh (69) is one shot back.
“The third round wasn't my best, but I still am at the top of the leaderboard,” Park said. “There is still a chance for me to do well tomorrow.”
Noh, an American from Concord, Calif., won the U.S. Girls’ Junior, the Junior PGA Championship and Canadian Women’s Amateur in consecutive weeks last year. She has been playing mostly mini-tour events this year while trying to Monday qualify for LPGA and Symetra Tour events.
Brooke Henderson and Laurel Kean are the only players to win LPGA events as Monday qualifiers. Henderson won the 2015 Cambia Portland Classic and Laurel Kean the 2000 State Farm Classic.
Park appeared intent on following up her victory at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship last week with a record-setting victory this week. With a hot start Saturday, Park was on pace to break the 72-hole LPGA scoring record set by Sei Young Kim at Thornberry Creek a year ago.
With seven birdies over the first 13 holes, Park built a three-shot lead, getting herself to 23 under.
But then Park knocked her second shot at the 15th into the water. She followed that up three putting from 20 feet to make double bogey. An errant tee shot set up a bogey at the 16th.
“I'm relieved that today was just the third round,” Park said. “I look forward to tomorrow's round.”
Ten players are within four shots of the lead on a course that yields birdies in bunches.
“It’s going to be a bit of a horse race tomorrow,” said Joh, 32, who is seeking her first LPGA title. “I'm just going to go out there and have a bunch of fun, and whatever happens, happens.”
Four share Thornberry lead as S.H. Park falters late on Moving Day
ONEIDA, Wis. - A late slip cost Sung Hyun Park control and she fell into a four-way tie for the lead going into the final round of the Thornberry Creek LPGA Classic.
Park, who returned to No. 1 in the world after winning last week in Arkansas, made double bogey on the par-5 15th at the Thornberry Creek of Oneida course on Saturday.
She missed a 15-foot birdie putt on the final hole and remained tied for the lead with Shanshan Feng (65), Tiffany Joh (66), and Ariya Jutanugarn (67).
They were at 20-under 196.
Yealimi Noh, the 17-year-old who got into the event through Monday qualifying, played in the final group with Park and matched her with a 69. Noh had a chance to share the lead until her 18-foot birdie chance missed.
Martin Kaymer came up one shot short of qualifying for The Open Sunday at the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open, leaving his decade-plus streak of major appearances in serious jeopardy.
The former world No. 1 closed with a birdie on No. 18 to finish a 5-under 65 that left him at 11 under for the week, five shots behind eventual winner Jon Rahm. With three spots to Royal Portrush available to top finishers, Kaymer appeared in position to snag a late entry until Paul Waring birdied the 72nd hole to get to 12 under and knock Kaymer out.
Kaymer has two major titles to his credit, but his last worldwide win remains the 2014 U.S. Open at Pinehurst. That victory brought with it a five-year exemption into the majors, one that doesn't cover The Open in two weeks. Kaymer has qualified for every major since the 2008 Masters, missing only one start in that span when he withdrew from the 2017 PGA Championship because of injury.
The three qualifying spots from the Irish Open went to runner-up Bernd Wiesberger, Robert Rock who tied for fourth and Waring, whose late birdie lifted him into a tie for seventh.
Kaymer lost a late lead last month at the Memorial when Patrick Cantlay won, and Sunday came up one shot short of qualifying. Joining him on the outside looking in at 11 under was Edoardo Molinari, whose brother Francesco will defend the claret jug at Portrush. Edoardo has not made an Open appearance since 2015.
There are four more qualifying spots left up for grabs as part of the Open Qualifying Series. The top three players not otherwise exempt from the top 10 and ties at next week's Scottish Open will qualify, as will the top finisher not otherwise exempt among the top 5 and ties at the John Deere Classic.
LYON, France -- With her penalty kick in the 61st minute to give the U.S. its first goal in its 2-0 victory over the Netherlands in Sunday's Women's World Cup final, forward Megan Rapinoe became only the second American woman to win the coveted Golden Boot award for the tournament's top scorer.
Rapinoe finished tied with U.S. forward Alex Morgan at the top of the standings with six goals and three assists apiece, but Rapinoe won the third tiebreaker, having played fewer minutes in the tournament than Morgan, who was awarded the Silver Boot.
Before Rapinoe, Michelle Akers, in 1999, was the lone American to win the Golden Boot.
Netherlands goalkeeper Sari Van Veenendaal was awarded the Golden Glove award for the tournament's top goalkeeper, and the Gold, Silver and Bronze Balls for the top three players in the World Cup went to Rapinoe, Lucy Bronze of England and Rose Lavelle, who scored the second goal for the Americans -- her third tally in six games.
Two American women had previously won the Golden Ball: Carin Jennings in 1991 and Carli Lloyd in 2015, who also won Goal of the Tournament.
American goalkeeper Hope Solo twice won the Golden Glove, in 2011 and 2015. Briana Scurry shared the award with Gao Hung of China in 1999.
Social media celebrates United States' fourth Women's World Cup title
The United States remains on top of the world.
Thanks to Megan Rapinoe and Rose Lavelle, the U.S. women's national team beat the Netherlands 2-0 on Sunday to repeat as Women's World Cup champions.
It's the fourth championship for the U.S., which also won in 1991, 1999 and 2015. Only in this one, the Americans broke the record for most goals in a single Women's World Cup with 26.
Rapinoe scored on a penalty kick in the 61st minute, thanks in part to video assistant referee technology, while Lavelle's blast past Netherlands goalkeeper Sari van Veenendaal, who stood on her head with four first-half saves, doubled the U.S. lead.
People around the world gave the U.S. team the props it deserved:
Let's Go! ???
— Tom Brady (@TomBrady) July 7, 2019
Woo-hoo! Congratulations to the @USWNT on their World Cup win. Your persistence on and off the field inspires girls and women everywhere to dream big, fight hard, and win. #FIFAWWC #OneNationOneTeam
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) July 7, 2019
YES YES YES YES!
To our 2019 World Cup Champion @USWNT: you have inspired the entire country - and New York City knows how to celebrate champions. We'll see you Wednesday at 9:30 AM for the Ticker Tape Parade down the Canyon of Heroes. #OneNationOneTeam pic.twitter.com/bwCEoJYg3r
— Mayor Bill de Blasio (@NYCMayor) July 7, 2019
Yes! Fourth star. Back to back. Congrats to the record breakers on the @USWNT, an incredible team that's always pushing themselves-and the rest of us-to be even better. Love this team. #OneNationOneTeam
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) July 7, 2019
The US women's soccer team are the world champions! I'm so happy. These women are the best of what our country represents. You're welcome on my show any time. My World Cup runneth over. @USWNT #USA #FIFAWWC
— Ellen DeGeneres (@TheEllenShow) July 7, 2019
Congrats team USA! Billie says it best here! So happy for each one of you and so proud. ❤️ @USWNT https://t.co/WK2Yi2z8F4
— Serena Williams (@serenawilliams) July 7, 2019
Congratulations to the @USWNT
— Lucy Bronze (@LucyBronze) July 7, 2019
Worthy winners in the end #FIFAWWC
Can't wait for the next encounter already ??
Rose LaVelle is my favorite soccer player in the world ??⚽️??⚽️??⚽️??⚽️??⚽️??⚽️??⚽️??⚽️??⚽️??⚽️??
— Landon Donovan (@landondonovan) July 7, 2019
Incredibly inspiring World Cup by our @USWNT ?????????? so fun to watch ????????!!!! #FIFAWomensWorldCup #legacy #leadersonandoffthepitch #EqualPay
— Aaron Rodgers (@AaronRodgers12) July 7, 2019
Congratulations to 2019 Women's World Cup Champions @TeamUSA! ⚽️??
— Melania Trump (@FLOTUS) July 7, 2019
USA! ?? USA! ??
Congratulations and thank you @USWNT for your excellence, tenacity, and champion's spirit.
You did it. And we are ALL so proud! ✨ https://t.co/GG3Xq1tXf3
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) July 7, 2019
World champs-again!! To the amazing women of the #USWNT: Thank you for playing like girls. ?? pic.twitter.com/GWlLR0nwcX
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) July 7, 2019
US Women's soccer soooooo bad ass!!! Congrats ??????????????
— Kevin Love (@kevinlove) July 7, 2019
USA!!! World Champions!! @USWNT are so amazing!!
— Mia Hamm (@MiaHamm) July 7, 2019
WE STAN MEGAN RAPINOE ??
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) July 7, 2019
RAN. IT. BACK. ? pic.twitter.com/0UkVfZuxcw
— ESPN (@espn) July 7, 2019
It's 2-0! @roselavelle ?#USAvNED | #FIFAWWC pic.twitter.com/c5teQDCmKT
— NWSL (@NWSL) July 7, 2019
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