Four Egyptians in top five (situation normal)
By SEAN REUTHE – Squash Mad Correspondent

Egypt’s Raneem El Welily has stayed at World No.1 for a 10th successive month after the PSA Women’s World Rankings for September were released today.

El Welily leads an unchanged top 20, while Nour El Sherbini (No.2), Camille Serme (No.3), Nouran Gohar (No.4) and Nour El Tayeb complete the top five.

New Zealand’s Joelle King stays at No.6 ahead of England’s Sarah-Jane Perry (No.7), Amanda Sobhy (No.8), Tesni Evans (No.9) and Annie Au (No.10).

England’s Alison Waters stays at No.11, with Victoria Lust (No.12), Joshna Chinappa (No.13), Salma Hany (No.14) and Hania El Hammamy rounding out the top 15.

The rest of the top 20 contains Yathreb Adel (No.16), Joey Chan (No.17), Nele Gilis (No.18), Olivia Blatchford Clyne (No.19) and Zeina Mickawy.

The biggest riser on the women’s tour was Dutchwoman Elena Wagenmans, who rose 72 places to World No.213 after reaching the quarter-finals of the South Australian Open.

Meanwhile, a semi-final finish at the Moscow Open was enough to see Hungary’s Chukwu Hannah surge up the rankings by 62 spots to World No.223.

PSA Women’s World Rankings Top 20 – September 2019 .

Picture and graphic courtesy of PSA

Seven months at the top for Farag
By SEAN REUTHE – Squash Mad Correspondent

Egypt’s Ali Farag heads up an unchanged top 20 after the PSA Men’s World Rankings for September were released today.

Farag, the 27-year-old from Cairo, has now held on to the World No.1 spot for a seventh successive month, while Mohamed ElShorbagy (No.2), Tarek Momen (No.3), Karim Abdel Gawad (No.4) and Simon Rösner complete the top five.

They are joined in the top 10 by Paul Coll (No.6), Mohamed Abouelghar (No.7), Diego Elias (No.8), Miguel Rodriguez (No.9) and Saurav Ghosal.

Marwan ElShorbagy stays at No.11 ahead of Joel Makin (No.12), Omar Mosaad (No.13), Zahed Salem (No.14) and Fares Dessouky (No.15).

Gregoire Marche (No.16), Declan James (No.17), James Willstrop (No.18), Daryl Selby (No.19) and Ryan Cuskelly complete the top 20.

India’s Yash Fadte is the biggest mover in the men’s rankings. The 17-year-old moved up 223 ranking spots to World No.337 after reaching his first ever PSA semi-final at the SRFI Indian Tour earlier this week.

His compatriot, Velaven Senthilkumar, also reached the last four of that tournament, and he too is rewarded with a hefty increase in his World Ranking, moving up to World No.311 from No.500.

PSA Men’s World Rankings Top 20 – September 2019.

Report by SEAN REUTHE (PSA). Edited by ALAN THATCHER.

Picture and graphic courtesy of  PSA

Rhys Patchell will be Wales' back-up fly-half to Dan Biggar for the World Cup, after being named in Warren Gatland's final 31-man squad.

That means Cardiff Blues 10 Jarrod Evans, who started Saturday's warm-up loss to Ireland, misses out.

Lock Cory Hill is included despite currently being sidelined with a small fracture in his leg.

There is no place for Scarlets props Samson Lee and Rob Evans, or centre Scott Williams.

Evans was first choice during Wales' 2019 Grand Slam campaign but Saracens' Rhys Carre makes the plane to Japan as one of five props after making his debut against the Irish.

Nicky Smith, Tomas Francis, Dillon Lewis and Wyn Jones are the other props. Jones will cover both sides of the scrum with only two tight-heads selected.

Ken Owens, who is heading to his third World Cup, Elliot Dee and Ryan Elias are the three hookers in the squad.

"Selection is always the toughest part of the job and that is especially true come RWC time," said Gatland.

"Reducing the squad down to 31 has been extremely hard especially when you look at the depth we have created and the amount of work the training squad have put in."

Hill is not expected to be available for the start of Wales' campaign, which begins on 23 September against Georgia.

But the 27-year-old gets the nod in the second-row alongside captain Alun Wyn Jones, Jake Ball and Adam Beard.

Wales have named six back-rows in James Davies, Ross Moriarty, Josh Navidi, Aaron Shingler, Justin Tipuric and Aaron Wainwright.

Gatland has chosen 18 forwards and 13 backs in his 31-man squad.

Gareth Davies, Aled Davies and Tomos Williams are named as the scrum-halves.

Centre Owen Watkin has been given the nod ahead of Ospreys team-mate Scott Williams, while Hallam Amos is selected in the back three ahead of Owen Lane who scored on his debut in the 22-17 defeat against Ireland.

Jonathan Davies, Hadleigh Parkes and Watkin are the centres in the squad, with Josh Adams, Amos, Leigh Halfpenny, George North and Liam Williams included as back-three selections.

The nine players who have missed out on World Cup selection are Jonah Holmes, Lane, Steff Evans, Scott Williams, Jarrod Evans, Rob Evans, Lee, Leon Brown and Bradley Davies.

"We are really happy with the final 31, we feel there is an excellent blend to the squad, in terms of talent, experience and age profile and we are all incredibly excited about heading to Japan and what lies ahead," Gatland added.

"These players have performed and delivered for Wales and deserve the opportunity to represent their nation at the game's showpiece tournament."

What started as an extended training group of 42 players had already been reduced by two tournament-ending injuries to number eight Taulupe Faletau and fly-half Gareth Anscombe.

Wales begin their World Cup campaign in Japan against Georgia on Monday, 23 September in Toyota City before further pool matches against Australia, Fiji and Uruguay.

Wales World Cup squad

Forwards

Props: Nicky Smith (Ospreys), Wyn Jones (Scarlets), Rhys Carre (Saracens), Tomas Francis (Exeter Chiefs), Dillon Lewis (Cardiff Blues).

Hookers: Ken Owens (Scarlets), Elliot Dee (Dragons), Ryan Elias (Scarlets).

Second-rows: Alun Wyn Jones (Ospreys, capt), Adam Beard (Ospreys), Cory Hill (Dragons), Jake Ball (Scarlets).

Back-rowers: Aaron Shingler (Scarlets), Josh Navidi (Cardiff Blues), Ross Moriarty (Dragons), Aaron Wainwright (Dragons), Justin Tipuric (Ospreys), James Davies (Scarlets).

Backs

Scrum-halves: Gareth Davies (Scarlets), Tomos Williams (Cardiff Blues), Aled Davies (Ospreys).

Fly-halves: Dan Biggar (Northampton), Rhys Patchell (Scarlets).

Centres: Hadleigh Parkes (Scarlets), Jonathan Davies (Scarlets), Owen Watkin (Ospreys).

Back three: Liam Williams (Saracens), Leigh Halfpenny (Scarlets), George North (Ospreys), Hallam Amos (Cardiff Blues), Josh Adams (Cardiff Blues.

ELDON, Mo. — Capitalizing on Cannon McIntosh’s late-race misfortune, Thomas Meseraull assumed the lead with five laps remaining on Saturday night at Lake Ozark Speedway and held on for his fourth POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget League victory.

With 24 cars in attendance for the POWRi National / West Midget show, a trio of heat races were presented to the enticed Labor Day weekend crowd.

As Zach Daum and Meseraull brought the 24-car field to life in the main event, it was T-Mez powering his Matt Estep owned, Envirofab, Spike/Toyota No. 7x to the point. Commanding the opening six laps, Meseraull was quickly chased by fourth-starter Cannon McIntosh, who maneuvered by Daum and set his sights on the race lead.

Taking the top spot on lap seven, McIntosh wheeled his Dave Mac Motorsports, Drive WFX, Spike/Toyota No. 08 to the front and looked to cash in for his first-career POWRi National Midget triumph.

Driving away and holding a tight grasp on the lead, it looked as if McIntosh was finally due to break his spell of bad luck and strike gold with that elusive victory. However, heartbreak soon ensued, as mechanical issues on lap 25 saw the Bixby, Okla., 16-year old retire from the lead in devastating fashion.

Assuming the lead in the midst of McIntosh’s woes, Meseraull was back at the point and had only five laps separating himself from the checkered flag. The San Jose, Calif. native survived the final restart with ease and ran away to victory.

Rounding out the top five behind Meseraull were Daum, Jesse Colwell, Tucker Klaasmeyer and Michael Pickens.

The finish:

Feature (30 Laps): 1. 7X-Thomas Meseraull (2); 2. 5D-Zach Daum (1); 3. 71-Jesse Colwell (6); 4. 27-Tucker Klaasmeyer (10); 5. 1NZ-Michael Pickens (8); 6. 67-Holley Hollan (3); 7. 91T-Tyler Thomas (20); 8. 32-Trey Marcham (12); 9. 97K-Jesse Love (5); 10. 42-Hank Davis (11); 11. 9-Daison Pursley (17); 12. 20G-Noah Gass (16); 13. 97-Maria Cofer (21); 14. 2H-Jordan Howell (22); 15. 08-Cannon McIntosh (4); 16. 7M-Chance Morton (7); 17. 44S-Andrew Felker (14); 18. 8M-Kade Morton (19); 19. 00-Luke Howard (18); 20. 21KS-C.J. Leary (13); 21. 3N-Jake Neuman (9); 22. 28-Ace McCarthy (15); 23. 71K-Tanner Carrick (23); 24. 3321-Chad Winfrey (24).

CALISTOGA, Calif. — Dominic Scelzi passed Chase Johnson with only three laps remaining to score Saturday’s exciting King of the West by NARC Fujitsu Sprint Car Series feature at Calistoga Speedway’s Louie Vermeil Classic.

The victory was worth $6,000 for Scelzi and the Dennis and Teresa Roth HR Livestock Transportation KPC team.  It was their fourth series win of the season.

Johnson claimed the Sunnyvalley Bacon dash to earn the right to start the 25-lap affair on the pole. He jumped out to a healthy lead and despite some early race cautions consistently held his closest pursuers at bay. Ryan Bernal moved into the hunt and reeled in the frontrunner as the pair negotiated slower traffic midway through the event.

Bernal managed to get past Johnson in the third corner on the 16th circuit and quickly expanded his advantage over the next mile and a half until his right rear tire shredded.  This brought out the caution and handed the lead back to Johnson for the restart.

Both Scelzi and Willie Croft immediately jumped into the fray and the front trio battled wheel-to-wheel for a couple of laps until Johnson’s ride sputtered going down the front straightaway. Both drivers jumped on the opportunity to get past the leader. Scelzi would hold on to his advantage and hold off Croft to score the win.

“I got lucky,” said Scelzi. “Chase had a good car for most of the race, until I saw it sputter.  That got me fired up because I knew I had a shot. I’m just glad I could get this win for my team at Calistoga. It’s special to win here.”

Croft secured second in his Amerikote/Holey Smokes BBQ sprinter. Eighth starter Bud Kaeding locked down the third spot in the Alviso Rock Maxim.

King of the West by NARC championship point leader D.J. Netto finished fourth in the Netto Ag/Rotella Shell KPC.  Bullet Impressions fast qualifier Rico Abreu rounded out the top five in his Abreu Vineyards/McDonald-sponsored car.

The finish:

Dominic Scelzi, Willie Croft, Bud Kaeding, D.J. Netto, Rico Abreu, Colby Copeland, Mitchell Faccinto, Jason Statler, Sean Watts, Chase Johnson, Nathan Rolfe, Geoff Ensign, JoJo Helberg, Matt DeMartini, Nathan Shank, Shane Golobic, Ryan Bernal, Kenny Allen, Shane Hopkins

ALGER, Wash. — Despite overheating issues and a minor rear-end fire with three laps remaining, Logan Schuchart led every lap to win Saturday night’s World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series races at Skagit Speedway.

He swept the weekend doubleheader at the three-tenths-mile track and won the $15,000 payday – $23,000 between the two days. It was his sixth victory of the season.

“If you would’ve told me a couple of years ago or at the beginning of this year you’re going to be winning a couple of races in-a-row and have six wins on the season… you know, I knew it was something we were capable of doing,” Schuchart said. “I’m just really proud of this team. It’s awesome to get big wins like this.”

Friday night he led all 30 laps en route to the victory. Saturday night he did the same, but with 10 more laps. Unlike Friday night, though, where Schuchart stretched his lead throughout the race, Sweet made Schuchart work for his second win at Skagit Speedway.

The start of Saturday’s 40-lap feature was almost a mirror image of Friday night’s race. Schuchart drag raced side by side with polesitter Tim Kaeding down the frontstretch on the initial start. The two stayed that way into the corner, but Schuchart, riding the high line, had the better grip. He rocketed by Kaeding for the lead down the backstretch.

While Schuchart pulled away, catching lap traffic on Lap six for the second night in-a-row, Californians Kaeding and Sweet were the show for the opening eight laps. The two raced side by side, lap after lap, corner after corner. Kaeding ran high, while Sweet threw dive bombs to the bottom each lap.

Kaeding eventually put distance between he and Sweet, but a lapped car hindered his run off turn two, allowing Sweet to stay in the throttle and dive underneath him again in turn three. This time it worked for the “Big Cat.” Sweet cleared Kaeding off turn four on lap eight and began to hunt Schuchart.

It wasn’t much longer before Sweet was to Schuchart’s bumper with the help of a caution on lap 12 for Kraig Kinser spinning in turn two. However, the Drydene No. 1s car accelerated better than Sweet on the restart and pulled away with the lead by several car lengths. Once Schuchart hit lapped traffic again a few laps later, Sweet was able to make up ground.

On lap 23 Sweet was close enough to throw a slide job into turn one, sliding up in front of Schuchart by turn two. The Shark Racing driver was ready for it, though. He held his line and charged underneath Sweet on the exit of the corner, making slight contact with the NAPA Auto Parts No. 49 car before reclaiming the lead.

“I tried to cross back underneath him and he kind of blocked me a little bit and we kind of touched,” Schuchart said. “I was just happy to get back by him. As the race went on I felt like I had a line that felt good to me that I could make moves but also defend myself.”

Sweet tried the same move again four laps later, but didn’t have enough of a run this time to put his car in front of Schuchart. He slid up next to the No. 1s car and then watched it drive away down the backstretch. It was the closest he was going to get to trying to pass Schuchart, even with several late cautions.

“We sure did try,” Sweet said. “Every time we timed it pretty good in traffic Logan was able to counter. We made a little contact that one time, but it was all hard racing. I knew I needed to get the lead and kind of went a little too hard and burned up my tire. The track was really aggressive when you’re running high.”

Behind Schuchart and Sweet, Kaeding, Donny Schatz and Daryn Pittman had a fierce battle for third.

Schatz eventually bested the two with aggressive maneuvers to take the spot. Those moves further paid off on a late restart with three laps to go. Schatz snuck his way by Sweet to end the race in second.

“It’s (the season) winding down,” Schatz said. “You want to get the best finishes you can when you can’t win. Logan was obviously really good and set a pretty good pace. I pretty much used everything up getting to that point. It was pretty aggressive up there (on the high side) on the tires. I tried to save as much as I could, but at the end I was sliding and moving around a bit and that’s what got us the spots we got.”

To see full results, turn to the next page.

WEST LEBANON, N.Y. — Kenny Tremont Jr., who clinched his 15th Lebanon Valley Speedway modified championship by taking the green flag, celebrated with a convincing win in Saturday night’s 101-lap Mr. Dirt Track USA event on the high banked half-mile.

The Super DIRTcar big block series win, worth some $25,500, was Tremont’s second consecutive score in the event.  It came at the expense of polesitter Ronnie Johnson, who got the best of front row companion Brett Hearn n the initial start and prevailed through a handful of restarts that saw Hearn get even but not quite by before Johnson’s momentum off the banked turns put him back in command.

As the duo battled, Tremont was clawing his way forward from the eighth starting position, surviving especially hard battles with first Wayne Jelley and then Danny Johnson.  As the race neared the halfway point, he finally got by Johnson to take over fourth, then had a back and forth tussle with Andy Bachetti for third that saw Tremont finally prevail on a lap 48 restart.

That put Tremont on arch-rival Hearn’s bumper and after another set of side by side laps, he put Hearn away on lap 53 and set out after Johnson.

A yellow for a Mike King spin on lap 65 that collected J.R. Heffner and series leader Matt Sheppard saw Bachetti and Hearn swap third back and forth on the restart while Tremont started working on Johnson, using the low groove to attack in the turns but not quite getting by.

“I was working hard there and decided I had to start moving around on the track because I knew I couldn’t do what he was doing,” said Tremont. “I finally got so I could hit the turns in the middle, then cut down under him and it paid off.”

Pay off it did, as Tremont, Lebanon Valley’s all-time leading winner, ran even with Johnson on lap 92, then pulled off a slide job the next time they hit turn three to take command.  From there he pulled out to a turn lead before the checkers flew.

“Losing one to Kenny Tremont here is nothing to be ashamed of,” said Johnson. “I was good, but he’s got a lot more laps here than I do.  We got beat by experience tonight.”

Hearn, who rounded out the podium finishers, tipped that he “was trying to play possum and be ready to go at the end but to do that, you have to have your tires at the end.  I had a tire that chunked off and I thought that Kenny’s right rear was coming apart too but when it was time to go, he went.”

Bachetti was fourth, with Mat Williamson turning in a strong run to claim fifth.

Jelley led the second five, trailed by Eddie Marshall, Stewart Friesen, Pete Britain and Marc Johnson.

When asked about Hearn’s observation about his tire, Tremont said “I worked it hard getting to the front and it’s used up, but it felt good the whole way. I should probably get a medal for working so hard to get by Wayne (Jelley) and Danny (Johnson). Danny and I may have touched once there but nothing serious.”

Notable events that changed the complexion of the race included fast timer Keith Flach hitting the turn three wall on lap 44 while climbing through the field and a frontstretch melee caused by Mike Mahaney’s crippled car that slowed on the frontstretch, then turned sharply, collecting Jack Lehner and Brian Berger.

In supporting action, Jason Casey claimed the track Pro Stock championship with a win over Chad Jeseo and Nick Arnold while Whitey Slavin prevailed over Jeff Watson and Rob Maxon in the crash-filled sportsman finale.

The finish:

Feature (101 Laps): 1. 115-Kenny Tremont [8][$]; 2. 2-Ronnie Johnson [1][$8,000]; 3. 20-Brett Hearn [2][$3,000]; 4. 4-Andy Bachetti [5][$1,800]; 5. 88-Mat Williamson [6][$1,600]; 6. 45-Wayne Jelley [7][$1,400]; 7. 98-Eddy Marshall [16][$1,300]; 8. 44-Stewart Friesen [15][$1,200]; 9. 21A-Peter Britten [11][$1,100]; 10. 33-Marc Johnson [4][$1,000]; 11. 111-Demetrios Drellos [17][$800]; 12. 9s-Matt Sheppard [13][$700]; 13. 25-Erick Rudolph [25][$600]; 14. 98H-Jimmy Phelps [9][$575]; 15. 91-Billy Decker [24][$550]; 16. 55-Mike King [21][$525]; 17. 26-Ryan Godown [26][$500]; 18. 74-JR Heffner [20][$500]; 19. 99L-Larry Wight [14][$500]; 20. 27j-Danny Johnson [3][$500]; 21. 11A-Kyle Armstrong [12][$500]; 22. 43-Keith Flach [10][$500]; 23. 37-Paul StSauveur [27][$500]; 24. 99-Kolby Schroder [22][$500]; 25. 35-Mike Mahaney [19][$500]; 26. 2L-Jack Lehner [28][$500]; 27. 606-Brian Berger [29][]; 28. 35L-LJ Lombardo [18][]; 29. 97-Bobby Hackel [23][]

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – American Flat Track’s Springfield Mile II at the Illinois State Fairgrounds has been postponed due to overnight inclement weather and rescheduled for Monday.

On-track activity is currently scheduled to begin at Noon CT with fan gates set to open at 10 a.m. CT.

Springfield Mile promoters and AFT officials continue to monitor developments in the weather forecast and will communicate any additional information to fans via AFT’s communications channels.

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