URBANA, Mo. – Ryan Gustin earned the 100th victory of his career in United States Modified Touring Series competition on Thursday night at Dallas County Speedway.

Gustin had to fend off a determined Dereck Ramirez in the inaugural Bullring Bash, with Gustin beating Ramirez in a photo finish.

“That was one heck of a race,” Gustin said in victory lane. “I thought he (Ramirez) took it away from us, but we gave each other a lane and always race each other clean.

“I wasn’t sure we were going to get number 100 this year or not,” Gustin said. “It’s a milestone, man, and it feels good. Looking forward to tomorrow.”

The winner never had a moment to rest as action was constant from the front of the field back.

From the pole position, Terry Phillips took charge at the drop of the green flag and ran the low line while Gustin churned the loose clay lining the long way around the track.

The lead duo found the back of the pack by lap 12 and Gustin was able to squeak by to lead for the first time on lap 18 just before a caution flag waved and let everybody catch their breath.

Phillips continued to challenge Gustin for the lead for the next 10 laps until the two made contact in turn four and Phillips wound up smacking a yuke tire near the exit of the corner.

Another yellow flag waved as Phillips saw his night come to an end, and on the restart Marriott followed Gustin but Ramirez stuck his nose underneath and claimed the second position.

The final 10 laps were intense as Gustin and Ramirez raced wheel-to-wheel lap after lap while four more cautions slowed the pace.

The final caution waved with three laps to go, and Ramirez edged in front of Gustin at the flagstand to lead lap 38 and again the next time around as they drag-raced beneath USMTS flagman Ryne Staley’s white flag.

The pair exited the final corner door to door as they raced to the checkered. Despite sending a shower of sparks off of the front-stretch concrete wall, Gustin nipped Ramirez by less than five one-hundredths of a second.

“This is a small deal, it’s elbows up,” Gustin added. “It doesn’t matter what you do to your car, you just have to get up on the wheel at these small little places and get after it.”

The win was worth $2,500 to the 28-year-old from Marshalltown, Iowa.

For Ramirez, it was his fifth runner-up finish in seven races during the Casey’s Hunt for the USMTS National Championship while Marriott, Rodney Sanders and Dean Wille completed the top five.

The finish:

Ryan Gustin, Dereck Ramirez, Hunter Marriott, Rodney Sanders, Dean Wille, Jake O’Neil, Jason Pursley, Terry Schultz, Stephen Muilenburg, Colson Kirk, Travis Saurer, Mike Striegel, Mickey Burrell, Mark Simon, Joe Duvall, Chris Clark, Jimmy Ray, Greg Skaggs, Terry Phillips, Adam Kates, Lance Mari, Austin Siebert, Ed Griggs, Tyler Wolff.

LOCUST GROVE, Ark. — Chris Madden continued his recent hot streak by winning Thursday night’s opener at Batesville Motor Speedway.

The win marks his third consecutive trip to victory lane in Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series competition. Madden survived a battle with Brandon Overton to score the victory on night one of the COMP Cams Topless 100 – Presented by Nutrien Ag Solutions.

Madden was unchallenged other than when he slid up the track after a lap 19 restart and Overton forged ahead on lap 21. Overton slid up the track a lap later which allowed Madden to get back by him and go on for the victory, his 11th career Lucas Oil Late Model Late Model Dirt Series win.

Madden; the 44-year-old South Carolina native; started alongside polesitter Mike Marlar on the front row for the 30-lap main event. Madden bolted to the lead at the drop of the green with Marlar going to the second position.

Those two were joined by Overton and Davenport in lapped traffic as a four-car battle for the race lead was developing until a caution for fifth-place running Tyler Erb slowed the field.

After losing the lead for just one lap, Madden managed to regain his momentum and powered his way to the victory. Overton crossed the finish line in second with Madden’s teammate, Scott Bloomquist finishing in third. Jimmy Owens and Jonathan Davenport completed the top five.

“We were bottoming out getting into one. We shoved the nose across the center, and we got hung up in the fluff,” Madden said.. “It opened the door for Brandon. We gathered it back together and made a good corner in three and four. Right now going through the race I am wondering what we are hurting in this race and what we need to maintenance the car for tomorrow night’s race. We don’t want something to bite us that we overlooked tonight for Saturday’s big race.”

Overton, who was seeking his fifth Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series victory was in the hunt the entire race.

“As soon as he [Madden] pushed up the race track we were able to get by him,” Overton said. “Then I went down there and did the same thing. I just got a little choppy and if you let it roll in there it would sit down for a little bit. Chris has the best car in the country right now so congratulations to him.”

Bloomquist ended up on the podium after starting in fifth.

“Definitely this car is on track now. We can race now. I felt like we were holding our own out there. We might have to tweak it little bit more. We have got a different car under me now. It is great to see Chris winning. It’s great to know our cars are good right now. We just have to keep working hard and we will be fine.”

The finish:

Chris Madden, Brandon Overton, Scott Bloomquist, Jimmy Owens, Jonathan Davenport, Josh Richards, Hudson O’Neal, Mike Marlar, Earl Pearson Jr., Tony Jackson Jr., Devin Moran, Billy Moyer, Neil Baggett, Tim McCreadie, Billy Moyer Jr., Michael Norris, Austin Rettig, Jack Sullivan, B.J. Robinson, Timothy Culp, Tyler Erb, Logan Martin, Shannon Babb, Mason Oberkramer.

MIDDLETOWN, N.Y. — Matt Sheppard raced from third starting position to snatch the $10,000-to-win Battle on the Midway 100 at Orange County Fair Speedway Thursday night.

In his tracks, Ryan Godown fought off red hot runner Erick Rudolph to secure his best Series finish and a guaranteed starting spot in the Billy Whittaker Cars 200 at NAPA Super DIRT Week XLVIII.

Sheppard parked his big-block modified in victory lane among hundreds of his swarming fans. Once out of the car, he hoisted the VP Race Fuels checkered flag high above his head and pumped his fist in a blizzard of confetti celebrating the $10,000 payday.

Sheppard’s car was on rails.

“This thing was really good tonight,” he said. “We went to our Central New York setup,” which due to the new slick and smooth surface at Orange County, proved to be part of the winning formula.

“Our car was so good on the bottom I was afraid to go around the outside of guys [lapped cars]. That’s how Ryan [Godown] lost the lead,” said Sheppard who passed Godown for the lead at the quarter mark of the race.

The win marks his seventh series victory in 2019 but he knows the competition is close behind.

“The series points are getting down the end of the season. Erick [Rudolph] has been close all year,” noted Sheppard.

Ryan Godown, driver of the yellow No. 26 machine, is now the clear favorite for rookie of the year. He started on the front row and never gave an inch. Only Sheppard managed to pass him but Godown held off championship contender Erick Rudolph to claim second.

“It feels unbelievable. We’ve been running 10th to 15th all year and we couldn’t seem to get on track. We’ve changed it up here and there the last couple weeks and it’s starting to get a little better. For me it’s just unbelievable right now,” Godown said.

Rudolph and his team are putting up a tremendous mid-season push for his first series championship.

“We didn’t start the season out how we needed to, a bunch of DNFs, a bunch of poor performances, but starting late June and all through July and into August we’ve been really putting in excellent efforts,” Rudolph explained.

Late in the race, Rudolph had a few chances to overtake Godown.

He said, “I think I was a little bit better than Godown, especially at the end of the race. Sheppard was out a little ways. We might have had something in lapped traffic for him.”

Sheppard was fast off the trailer. He was the quickest in hot laps, picked up the Billy Whittaker Cars Fast-Time Award, won his heat race, and of course, took the feature win.

The finish:

Feature (100 laps): 1. 9S-Matt Sheppard [3][$10,000]; 2. 26-Ryan Godown [2][$5,000]; 3. 25-Erick Rudolph [7][$3,000]; 4. 91-Billy Decker [6][$2,750]; 5. 20-Brett Hearn [8][$2,500]; 6. 1P-Billy Pauch [10][$2,250]; 7. 21A-Peter Britten [1][$2,000]; 8. 27j-Danny Johnson [17][$1,750]; 9. 3w-Mat Williamson [9][$1,500]; 10. 98H-Jimmy Phelps [12][$1,400]; 11. 5H-Chris Hile [14][$1,300]; 12. 18D-Billy Dunn [16][$1,200]; 13. 35-Mike Mahaney [28][$1,150]; 14. 99L-Larry Wight [34][$1,100]; 15. 18s-Tim Sears [23][$1,050]; 16. 42p-Pat Ward [19][$1,000]; 17. 66-Tom Meier [22][$975]; 18. 111-Demetrios Drellos [25][$950]; 19. R2-Rusty Smith [36][$425]; 20. 37-Paul StSauveur [35][$900]; 21. 17-Marcus Dinkins [37][$375]; 22. 44-Anthony Perrego [21][$850]; 23. 43H-Jimmy Horton [4][$825]; 24. 17Z-Brian Krummel [11][$800]; 25. 4v-Billy VanInwegen [20][$775]; 26. 35L-LJ Lombardo [5][$750]; 27. 4-Andy Bachetti [15][$725]; 28. 6D-Dillon Steuer [13][$700]; 29. 16x-Daniel Creeden [29][$675]; 30. 7-Rick Laubach [32][$650]; 31. 93X-Craig Mitchell [31][$625]; 32. 69-Tyler Boniface [30][$500]; 33. 19-Tim Fuller [18][$500]; 34. 126-Jeffery Strunk [27][$500]; 35. 3p-Billy Pauch [33][$500]; 36. 244-Chris Whitehead [24][]; 37. 2L-Jack Lehner [26][]

FAIRBURY, Ill. — Adding his second POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget League victory on Thursday night, Zeb Wise wheeled the Clauson-Marshall Racing Driven 2 Save Lives, Spike/SR-11 No. 39bc to the win on Thursday night at Fairbury American Legion Speedway.

Starting second, Wise took the green flag alongside PAC Racing Springs High Point Man Thomas Meseraull. Sliding across turns one and two in front of Wise, Meseraull made an immediate bid for control of the lead, but Wise was too quick with the crossover as he snuck down and drove back by the No. 7x to lead the opening circuit.

Heading straight for the cushion, Wise rocketed away in the early stages as his Clauson-Marshall teammate, Tyler Courtney, made his way into the second spot with a pass on Meseraull.

While Courtney set his sights on Wise out front, Logan Seavey was the hard charger storming through the field aboard his Keith Kunz-Curb Agajanian Motorsports, Mobil 1, Bullet/Toyota No. 67.

Catching Wise with six laps left, Courtney was within striking distance and set himself up to attack his teammate for command of the top spot. Tossing a slider as they came to the five to go signal, Courtney cleared Wise, but was quickly relegated back to second as the caution flag waved for Thomas Meseraull.

Restarting with six to go, Wise led the field back to green fully aware of Courtney’s presence behind him. Another caution on the 27th circuit for Maria Cofer lined the field up for one final restart as Wise led Courtney and a rocket-fast Seavey.

Expecting a challenge for the lead, Wise received nothing in the final three laps as Courtney’s hands were too full with an exchange of sliders from Seavey. While those two fought head to head, Wise snuck away and drove the No. 39bc to victory, marking his second POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget League win.

Seavey chased Wise to the line, capping an impressive 14th-to-second charge aboard his No. 67. Courtney rounded out the podium in third with Tanner Thorson and Zach Daum closing out the top five.

The finish:

Feature (30 Laps): 1. 39BC-Zeb Wise (2); 2. 67-Logan Seavey (14); 3. 17BC-Tyler Courtney (3); 4. 98-Tanner Thorson (12); 5. 5D-Zach Daum (4); 6. 88-Robert Dalby (6); 7. 27-Tucker Klaasmeyer (17); 8. 71-Jesse Colwell (5); 9. 71K-Tanner Carrick (9); 10. 08-Cannon McIntosh (19); 11. 28-Ace McCarthy (22); 12. 21KS-C.J. Leary (13); 13. 9-Daison Pursley (20); 14. 67K-Holley Hollan (8); 15. 86C-David Camfield (21); 16. 47BC-Andrew Layser (10); 17. 97K-Jesse Love (15); 18. 21MC-Maria Cofer (16); 19. 7X-Thomas Meseraull (1); 20. 3N-Jake Neuman (18); 21. 3B-Shelby Bosie (11); 22. 91T-Tyler Thomas (7).

Liverpool are facing a goalkeeping crisis ahead of the Premier League trip to Southampton after Adrian was injured by a supporter during the UEFA Super Cup celebrations in midweek.

The Spaniard, who was a hero in the 5-4 penalty shootout victory over Chelsea after saving Tammy Abraham's penalty to clinch the win, has a swollen ankle caused by the fan sliding into him after trying to evade security at Vodafone Park in Istanbul.

- ESPN fantasy: Sign up now!
- When does the transfer window close?

Jurgen Klopp, who is already without first-choice goalkeeper Alisson due to a calf issue, revealed it is not "100 percent clear" whether Adrian can feature at St Mary's.

"When we were all together, a supporter jumped over, was chased by some security guys, slipped and kicked his ankle," Klopp told a news conference. "Crazy! Yesterday it was swollen and today I spoke to him and he said it's much better, but we have to see.

"He couldn't have played directly after we landed in Liverpool, but I saw him now he's better."

Adrian was unexpectedly drafted into action during the first half of the 4-1 win over Norwich on the opening day of the Premier League season after Alisson limped off.

The former West Ham keeper -- recruited as a free agent on Aug. 5 -- wasn't afforded time to settle before featuring, but Klopp saluted the player's "big personality."

Andy Lonergan, who trained with Liverpool during their preseason tour of the United States, was signed on a short-term deal as experienced cover earlier this week with highly rated young keeper Caoimhin Kelleher shaking off a wrist injury.

Asked if Lonergan or the 20-year-old could start against Southampton, Klopp said: "If we have to make a decision, then we make a decision.

"Caoimhin is a boy we are all excited about. He's now in training, but not 100 percent yet. He has to be in training today, then we will see."

Meanwhile, Naby Keita will sit out the game due to a hip muscle injury, which Klopp labelled minor but could not put a time frame on the midfielder's return.

The LA Galaxy will be looking for a second straight win when they take on the Seattle Sounders on Saturday, while Real Salt Lake's post-Mike Petke era continues at home against league leaders LAFC. Those games, plus an old-school rivalry game between the New York Red Bulls and the New England Revolution, feature in this weekend's MLS action.

Galaxy stabilize summer swoon at home

Needless to say, the road was quite unkind to the LA Galaxy, who lost all three games on their road trip and suddenly found themselves barely hovering above the playoff line after a 2-1 loss to D.C. United.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic's anger seemed to be rising every minute he was on the field, and his MLS record of most shots in a game without scoring is one he'll want to forget. But a funny thing happened on the way to the Galaxy's summer collapse: They returned home on Wednesday and beat FC Dallas thanks to Ibrahimovic's double.

The big Swede earned the headlines, but in the 90 minutes against the Texans it was the play of new arrival Cristian Pavon that made the difference. The former Boca Juniors man had a hand in the first goal and then drew the penalty for the second score of the night.

Ibrahimovic has played with and against the world's best and knows quality when he sees it, and he hailed the Argentine after Wednesday's affair. That on-field understanding will only get better with time, with Saturday's home date with the Seattle Sounders (10 p.m. ET, ESPN2) being the next chance. Seattle's defense is haemorrhaging goals at the moment -- nine in their past three -- so the chances will be there for the taking for Ibrahimovic and Pavon.

Rivalry in Red Bull Arena

There is nothing quite like the sports rivalry between the cities of Boston and New York. While Red Sox-Yankees acrimony, plus Patriots-Jets animosity, have dominated that landscape, the New York Red Bulls-New England Revolution rivalry in MLS has also enjoyed its fair share of moments.

- Stream games LIVE on ESPN+
- Inter Miami FC: How the franchise is shaping up
- MLS Confidential: The definitive player poll

Among the more notable ones are the Revs winning the first contest between the two on a late own goal ("The Curse of Caricola"), New York's three-goal second-half comeback in 2003 in Tim Howard's last game before transferring to Manchester United and the Revs claiming the 2014 Eastern Conference final in Thierry Henry's career finale.

Yet for the first time in several years, these two teams will meet deep into the season with a lot of stake, with the Red Bulls and Revs sitting fifth and sixth in the conference standings, respectively, making Saturday's affair (7 p.m. ET, ESPN+) at Red Bull Arena a big one for both sides.

Of the two, New England was the more active in the transfer window in picking up Gustavo Bou and has catapulted itself up the table in the summer months. Meanwhile, for the Red Bulls, the 2019 season continues to be frustratingly inconsistent, and Kaku appears to be counting down the days until he can leave for Club America.

A win here for either side would help create a bit more elbow room in the jockeying for the postseason.

RSL find life after Petke

The news came down late Sunday that Real Salt Lake terminated the contract of coach Mike Petke, with assistant Freddy Juarez continuing as interim boss until the end of the season. The decision from RSL brass comes at a pivotal point of the season, with the club still above the playoff line, but just by four points over FC Dallas.

On the field, RSL is one of the best-equipped squads to handle a tumultuous moment. Goalkeeper Nick Rimando and midfielder Kyle Beckerman have seen and experienced just about everything in MLS, and listening to href="https://espn700sports.com/interviews/kyle-beckerman-comments-on-the-mike-petke-situation/" target="_blank">Beckerman's tone on the radio this week in the wake of Petke's departure suggests that locker room stability will be intact.

In addition, RSL have performed well under Juarez, with three wins and a draw, including a good-looking midweek 3-0 victory over Seattle after the Petke news came down. Truth be told, RSL have had a nice look to them since Juarez stepped into coaching duties, which gives an extra level of intrigue to Saturday's home clash with LAFC (10 p.m. ET, ESPN+). A win against the league leaders and Juarez could well be on his way to having his interim tag stripped away.

Scotland captain Kyle Coetzer has called for Euro T20 Slam organisers to show "a gesture" of good faith in order to restore confidence that the tournament will indeed go-ahead for 2020. Just two weeks before the start of the tournament, the organisers had cancelled the Euro T20 Slam.

Coetzer stated that the news, which was delivered to the Scotland squad in a team meeting on Wednesday before organisers sent out an official release to the general public, may leave Scotland players in a bind and many will now have to seek other ways to recoup the expected earnings from the tournament.

"Let's be honest, pretty much every one of the players was going to earn more in that space of time, to what they would earn in a full year playing cricket," Coetzer told ESPNcricinfo. "You have to look at the impact it may have on some guys and certainly there's a couple of boys that were potentially looking to go away at some time during the winter and now they probably need to get a job. It would have created giving guys an opportunity to feel an element of security in what we try and do."

The players from the three host countries were all due to earn between USD 10,000 and USD 35,000 in three salary tiers for Associate players in the three-week competition. Coetzer was due to receive USD 40,000 as all three T20 captains from the host countries - Ireland's Gary Wilson and the Netherlands' Pieter Seelaar - were stipulated to receive a USD 5000 bonus payment. In addition to the exposure of playing against world-class players, the financial lift to help professionalise players has now disappeared - which is significant.

"It's always hard enough,"Coetzer said. "You're just getting by and no one complains because we all love playing for Scotland and we're all heading towards the same goal but it's gonna make things harder. It would have just given guys, even if it was a year of breathing space, just to let them ease their minds a little bit, just go and play cricket, show the passion, which we always show anyway. But it would have taken a bit of a weight off some of the guys' shoulders financially. That's gonna be tough for guys to take."

Coetzer had returned just days earlier from the Global T20 Canada, where his Montreal Tigers squad was involved in a player protest along with Toronto Nationals as players refused to take the field until overdue salary disbursements were paid out. The Scotland captain said that organizers, who are in charge of both events, need to consider a make-good financial gesture to restore the confidence and credibility in the eyes of players and fans.

"It's reasonably well documented that something happened in Canada," Coetzer said. "I think all the players felt as if they would be getting paid. Part of it was there was a structure within the contract that says certain amounts should be paid within certain dates and that's where the issue was. I feel if they hold onto those agreements when they agree to them, then there would be no issue."

"What they may need to do to convince people for the Slam would be possibly a kind gesture towards some of the players to say, 'Look, we apologize for this but it will go ahead next year.' They probably need to show some kind of sign that they're willing to do that because we need the people to believe that it will still go ahead next year. The international players, the marquee players, they still need to have confidence that they won't miss out on something else if they come to the Slam. A number of our guys didn't put their names in other competitions."

Scotland coach Shane Burger also felt that the news influenced his players mentally prior to taking the field in their first Cricket World Cup League Two ODI against Oman, a match in which they were bowled out for 168. But he hopes they'll be able to bounce back over the next three matches in Aberdeen against Oman and Papua New Guinea.

"I have no doubt that there was an impact," Burger said. "I think if there wasn't an impact because of that, then I'd be surprised. There was a massive disappointment when the news was heard. However, in saying all of that, this is a professional cricket team that needs to make sure that they can switch on and off when they need to. It's not gonna be the first time they get given bad news.

"This team has had to deal with a lot this season, people passing away, Euro Slam news, all of it. I believe the team has come a long way in terms of maturity and they should have been able to deal with the news, as tough as it is to handle. I don't think that played a role in us losing the game today. I just think they outplayed us."

Liverpool are facing a goalkeeping crisis ahead of the Premier League trip to Southampton after Adrian was injured by a supporter during the UEFA Super Cup celebrations in midweek.

The Spaniard, who was a hero in the 5-4 penalty shootout victory over Chelsea after saving Tammy Abraham's penalty to clinch the win, has a swollen ankle caused by the fan sliding into him after trying to evade security at Vodafone Park in Istanbul.

- ESPN fantasy: Sign up now!
- When does the transfer window close?

Jurgen Klopp, who is already without first-choice goalkeeper Alisson due to a calf issue, revealed it is not "100 percent clear" whether Adrian can feature at St Mary's.

"When we were all together, a supporter jumped over, was chased by some security guys, slipped and kicked his ankle," Klopp told a news conference. "Crazy! Yesterday it was swollen and today I spoke to him and he said it's much better, but we have to see.

"He couldn't have played directly after we landed in Liverpool, but I saw him now he's better."

Adrian was unexpectedly drafted into action during the first half of the 4-1 win over Norwich on the opening day of the Premier League season after Alisson limped off.

The former West Ham keeper -- recruited as a free agent on Aug. 5 -- wasn't afforded time to settle before featuring, but Klopp saluted the player's "big personality."

Andy Lonergan, who trained with Liverpool during their preseason tour of the United States, was signed on a short-term deal as experienced cover earlier this week with highly rated young keeper Caoimhin Kelleher shaking off a wrist injury.

Asked if Lonergan or the 20-year-old could start against Southampton, Klopp said: "If we have to make a decision, then we make a decision.

"Caoimhin is a boy we are all excited about. He's now in training, but not 100 percent yet. He has to be in training today, then we will see."

Meanwhile, Naby Keita will sit out the game due to a hip muscle injury, which Klopp labelled minor but could not put a time frame on the midfielder's return.