I Dig Sports
DODGE CITY, Kan. – The Lubbock Wrecker Service DCRP 305 Sprint Car Nationals turned out to be a lucrative venture for Arvada, Colorado’s Jake Bubak and the Dubose/Wells-powered Coyote Candle Company No. 74b Maxim sprint car team.
After topping both the Thursday and Friday preliminary features, Bubak topped the Triple 8 Trucking Dash for Cash to earn the pole position for Saturday night’s 30-lap championship feature atop the Dodge City Raceway Park clay oval.
He then led every lap to run his weekend winnings to $6,300 – including $1,500 in lap money and the $3,000 feature winner’s share.
It wasn’t as easy as it may sound though, as Liberal native and current Nebraska resident Jason Martin kept the pressure on throughout and briefly slid past Bubak on a pair of occasions only to have the latter successfully counter the move.
Martin first slid past Bubak in turn four momentarily after a lao four restart and then repeated the move in traffic on the 17th circuit.
Bubak successfully navigated past a pair of lapped cars and then found open track once again when a final caution waved with a dozen laps remaining.
Bubak reached the tail of the field once again in the final pair of laps, but was able to keep Martin at bay.
“I felt like I wasn’t as good as I needed to be in traffic, but we made it work,” Bubak commented afterward. “Once he showed me the bottom down in turn three and four, I changed my line up some and got a lot better.”
Martin settled for runner-up honors in the Myers-powered Trucks Plus/Midwest Linings No. 5x Eagle and collected an added $850 in lap money after holding down the second position over final 27 rounds.
After winning last year’s DCRP 305 Nationals, Fairview, Oklahoma’s Jake Martens claimed the show position in the Myers-powered Martens Machine Shop No. 48 Eagle, with Tony Bruce Jr., advancing four positions over the final half of the race to capture fourth.
Brian Herbert rounded out the top five ahead of Taylor Velasquez, Zach Blurton, Jeremy Huish, Luke Cranston and Brandon Anderson.
Steven Shebester held down fourth until the lap 18 caution, when he suffered race-ending damage after contact with a spinning lapped car.
In the accompanying 15-lap IMCA Sport Modified feature event, multi-time and defending track champion Jeff Kaup battled into the lead early and went on to snap a winless streak dating back a full calendar year, to last June 16.
A winner of 18 DCRP features since the 2012 season, Kaup’s first win of the season came ahead of Brian May, with Mike Lunow, Bart Baker and Mike Appel rounding out the top five.
The finish:
A-main (30 laps): 1. 74b-Jake Bubak (1) [$4,500], 2. 5x-Jason Martin (4) [$2,850], 3. 48-Jake Martens (3) [$2,330], 4. 11x-Tony Bruce, Jr. (8) [$1,400], 5. 97-Brian Herbert (2) [$1,120], 6. 21x-Taylor Velasquez (13) [$900], 7. 2J-Zach Blurton (9) [$800], 8. 88J-Jeremy Huish (21) [$700], 9. 49x-Luke Cranston (5) [$600], 10. 55b-Brandon Anderson (7) [$500], 11. 0-Steven Richardson (15) [$475], 12. 911-Ty Williams (11) ]$450], 13. 28-Tracey Hill (18) [$425], 14. 45d-David Luckie (12) [$400], 15. 72-Ray Seemann (17) [$400], 16. 78-Tanner Conn (16) [$400], 17. 16s-Steven Shebester (6) [$400], 18. 98-J.D. Johnson (20) [$400], 19. 45-Monty Ferriera (190 [$400], 20. 27-Andy Shouse (14) [$400], 21. 32k-Chris Kelley (10) [$400], 22. 2b-Brett Becker (22) [$400].
Lap Leader(s): Jake Bubak 1-30.
PORT ROYAL, Pa. – For Tyler Courtney, June 15 and Port Royal Speedway mean far more than just another stop on the AMSOIL USAC National Sprint Car Series schedule.
Port Royal was the half-mile dirt oval where his late mentor, Bryan Clauson, recorded his record sixth and final Eastern Storm win in 2016.
Saturday night also marked what would’ve been Clauson’s 30th birthday.
Courtney, the defending series champion, was bound and determined to make his own personal mark to honor BC on this night during round three of the 13th annual Eastern Storm, and make a mark he did by leading all 30 laps in dominant fashion.
Afterward, Courtney said he felt there was a spirit helping him along the way.
“We’ve kind of struggled all week,” Courtney admitted. “But I think we had somebody looking down on us tonight. This one’s for him. He’s done a lot for my career. He’s done a lot for everybody on this team. Even without him being here, he helped us more than he knows.”
The emotional victory for Courtney aboard his Clauson-Marshall-Newman Racing/NOS Energy Drink Spike-Rider Chevy appeared as smooth as silk for 30 laps with barely any threats posed en route to his second series victory of the year.
His half-mile record with the series in 2019 now includes wins at Eldora and Port Royal to go along with a podium finish at Terre Haute.
Courtney started from the outside of the front row and was seemingly gone, ripping the top, as Chris Windom attempted to keep pace in second.
His lead stretched out to three-quarters of a straightaway over Windom in the first-third of the race, until 2015 Port Royal winner Robert Ballou made contact in turn three, heavily damaging the torsion bar and the left rear wheel to sideline for the rest of the night.
Courtney had been solid as a rock at Port Royal in his previous two campaigns, but Windom, who lined up second on the next restart, was victorious in both of those races.
Windom’s best opportunity to get past was to dive low in one to the inside guardrail to throw the slider on the restart. He did just that when racing resumed on lap 12, but there wasn’t enough mustard on the fastball to surge ahead.
Yellows and restarts were the only things tugging on Courtney’s cape this night, as each time Courtney stood on the throttle, his competition was left in the distant past.
The separation from Courtney to Windom was instantly a half-straightaway while Windom found himself with a 10-car length lead over the fierce battle for third between Kevin Thomas Jr., Chase Stockon and new track record holder C.J. Leary.
At the midway point, Thomas slid by Stockon on the bottom of turn three. Stockon countered to regain third exiting four. Stockon’s grasp on the spot was hanging in the balance and Thomas was able to pick Stockon off in turn two on the 16th lap.
By turn four of the same lap, Leary had slid by Stockon to take ownership of fourth to begin the second half of the 30-lapper.
Meanwhile, Courtney was cruising with nothing but Warren Alston’s double checkers on his mind and in front of him with six laps remaining.
That was until third-running Thomas, who was on the topside of turn three and in the midst of a joust with Leary for third, suffered a blown right rear tire which sent him hard into the outside guardrail with a mighty wallop.
The incident ended Thomas’ night with a disappointing 18th-place finish and placed a huge dent in his Eastern Storm title chances, where he dropped from second to eighth.
Four lapped cars separated race leader Courtney and second-running Windom on the lap-25 restart, negating any reasonable chance for Windom to toss a slider for the lead heading into turn one.
Instead, all Windom could do was stay pat on the topside while the lappers cooperated on the bottom.
Once again, any notion of anyone else having a shot at taking down Courtney was all for naught, as Courtney opened it up to a lead of three seconds, while Leary tried to step up a spot by challenging Windom, to no avail.
Courtney finished off a sterling performance by setting his fastest lap of the race on the 30th and final lap, ultimately taking his second Eastern Storm victory by 3.15 seconds over Windom, Leary, Stockon and Justin Grant.
“I think we just came to the conclusion that we weren’t really having fun,” said Courtney of struggles earlier in the week. “So, we went back to the basics, ‘have some fun.’
“(Port Royal) is a place that suits our style, high speed, and when you get to run it nice and straight up against the wall like that, it’s a lot of fun.”
Courtney’s win was the 19th of his AMSOIL USAC National Sprint Car Seroes career, moving him to within two of 1967 champion Greg Weld’s 21 victories for 28th on the all-time list.
To view complete race results, advance to the next page.
KNOXVILLE, Iowa – Reigning Knoxville Nationals winner Brad Sweet proved on Saturday night that he hasn’t forgotten the way to victory lane at Knoxville Raceway.
Sweet prevailed over Logan Schuchart in a thrilling and frenetic finale to the Brownells Big Guns Bash at the black-dirt, half-mile oval, passing the Shark Racing driver for good with eight to go and driving away down the stretch.
In a 25-lap feature that featured three different leaders and three lead changes in the second half of the event, Sweet ultimately prevailed by one second at the checkered flag in the No. 49 NAPA Auto Parts machine for Kasey Kahne Racing.
That didn’t mean his fourth World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series win of the season – and the 38th of his Outlaw career – was easy, however. Sweet noted in victory lane it was anything but.
“That (No.) 1s is very underrated. If he (Schuchart) gets up front in one of these (Knoxville) Nationals, he’s going to be tough to beat,” Sweet said of Schuchart. “He’s got a great-handling race car, he can time (moves) well and Logan’s getting better and better as a driver. He definitely got me up on the wheel there tonight; that was about all I had to be able to hold him off and beat him.”
The feature rolled off just before 1 a.m. CT, after showers led to a lengthy rain delay before hot laps.
“When the track is fast like that, it’s really tricky, because everything is happening way faster than you want it to,” noted Sweet of the heavy, lightning-quick surface the field was faced with. “You still have to hit that narrow bottom, though, and that was the key tonight … was getting the low line to work.”
After missing the feature on Friday night at Knoxville, Lance Dewease and the Don Kreitz-owned No. 69k came back 24 hours later and started from the pole after winning the DIRTvision Fast Pass Dash.
Dewease started strong, too. Despite a false start on the initial green flag and a caution with three laps scored for a stalled Trey Starks in turn two, the Pennsylvania kingpin paced the first 13 circuits with ease, opening up as much as a one-second lead before getting into lap traffic just before halfway.
That was when Sweet turned up the wick, powering to the inside in turns three and four to take command on the 14th round. Just as quickly, Sweet brought Schuchart with him into second, and a ferocious battle for supremacy was on.
Schuchart wasn’t content to ride, shooting past Sweet on the outside to assume the top spot down the backstretch with 10 to go, but Sweet had a counter-play lined up and ready to go.
With seeming ease, Sweet retaliated on lap 18 with a dive to the inside entering turns one and two, sliding across Schuchart’s line to break his momentum and taking a lead he wouldn’t relinquish again.
Though Schuchart didn’t come away with a win in the end, he admitted a runner-up finish and “being in contention” was exactly what his Shark Racing team needed going into the Knoxville Nationals in August.
“I was watching Brad and Lance there for a little while. I could hit the bottom early in the race, and any time you can run the bottom pretty snug here, that’s a good sign,” said Schuchart. “Once I got the lead, it was just tough to hit the bottom that many times consistently … and I just felt more comfortable going back to the top, especially with lap cars there.
“It ended up hurting me, but this team won the Nationals, and we ran them down and passed them,” Schuchart added. “In my book, that’s something to be proud of.”
Daryn Pittman rallied through the field from 10th on the grid to complete the podium, with Sheldon Haudenschild and David Gravel following in fourth and fifth, respectively.
Dewease fell back to sixth at the checkered flag, ahead of Friday winner Brian Brown, Shane Stewart, Carson Macedo and Lynton Jeffrey. KSE Hard Charger Ian Madsen came from 25th to finish 11th.
The finish:
Brad Sweet, Logan Schuchart, Daryn Pittman, Sheldon Haudenschild, David Gravel, Lance Dewease, Brian Brown, Shane Stewart, Carson Macedo, Lynton Jeffrey, Ian Madsen, Terry McCarl, James McFadden, Dominic Scelzi, Donny Schatz, Brent Marks, Kraig Kinser, Jason Sides, Sawyer Phillips, Matt Juhl, Justin Henderson, Trey Starks, Jacob Allen, Kerry Madsen, A.J. Moeller.
CHICAGO -- The Chicago Blackhawks have acquired defenseman Olli Maatta in a trade with the Pittsburgh Penguins for forward Dominik Kahun and a fifth-round pick in this year's draft.
The Blackhawks had been looking to upgrade their blue line after missing the playoffs for the second straight season. The 24-year-old Maatta, who helped Pittsburgh win the Stanley Cup in 2016 and 2017, ranked third on the Penguins with 116 blocked shots in 60 games last season.
Kahun, who turns 24 on July 2, played in all 82 games for Chicago in his first NHL season. The Czech-born German finished with 13 goals and 24 assists.
The deal was announced Saturday.
Maatta's contract runs through the 2021-22 season with an average annual value of $4,083,333. The Finn was selected by Pittsburgh with the No. 22 overall pick in the 2012 draft.
Spieth skips putting practice for lunch, makes 1 birdie in Rd. 3
PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – Jordan Spieth struggled on the greens during the third round of the U.S. Open, and part of his issues may have stemmed from the dining room.
Spieth was nowhere to be found before his 12:22 p.m. PT starting time at Pebble Beach, showing up to the putting green behind the first tee just minutes before he stepped to the tee box alongside Nate Lashley. That absence wasn’t a scramble as much as it was a conscious choice by Spieth to shake things up, one that he admitted may have backfired.
“I didn’t give myself enough time to go through my normal routine today,” Spieth said. “I did a little early session and then from there I went in and ate lunch instead of putting, and it didn’t pay off today.”
Spieth was a longshot to contend after opening with rounds of 72-69, but any thoughts of adding another U.S. Open title to the one he snagged at Chambers Bay four years ago flew out the window with a third-round 73, where he was stuck in neutral. Spieth opened his round with 10 straight pars, made double bogey on No. 11 and didn’t make a single birdie until rolling in a 5-footer on the final green.
“My speed control just wasn’t as good as the last couple days, and that was simply it,” Spieth said. “If I see one of them go in early, on No. 3 or 4, I probably make five or six of them. It’s just, the hole started to look smaller and smaller every hole that they didn’t go in.”
The sluggish round dropped Spieth to 1 over for the week, and he’ll begin the final round in a tie for 33rd, 12 shots behind Gary Woodland. While he may look to budget his time a little differently before hitting the course Sunday afternoon, he did find a silver lining from an otherwise frustrating situation that stemmed from a late lunch.
“I wasn’t hungry out there,” he said. “So that’s the good news.”
'Tightwad': Kuchar heckled on 18th hole Saturday at Pebble Beach
PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – Just before Matt Kuchar stepped over a 3-foot putt to close out his third round at the U.S. Open, a hush that had fallen over the gallery lining the 18th green was suddenly broken.
“You’re a tightwad, Kuchar!” screamed one fan from the grandstand behind the green, a call that was clearly heard by Kuchar and playing competitor Chesson Hadley. It elicited an unsteady groan from the spectators in the immediate vicinity and was followed by a mix of boos and calls of “Kuuch.”
The comment harkened back to Kuchar’s mishandling of a compensation situation with his fill-in caddie at the Mayakoba Golf Classic in the fall, one of multiple controversial moments that have dotted a season in which the 40-year-old has played some of the best golf of his career.
Kuchar seemed to look in the fan’s direction after scooping the ball from the hole, having closed out an even-par 70 that left him at 5 under and six shots behind Gary Woodland.
“Fortunately, as a whole, everybody has been great. Every now and then you get somebody that does that,” Kuchar said. “Nice to hear that guy get jeered afterwards.”
Winless since 2014 entering this season, Kuchar has won twice and added a pair of runner-up finishes while leading the season-long points race. But he’s also had some hiccups, including the caddie situation in Mexico, a tap-in concession that wasn’t against Sergio Garcia in the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play, and an unsuccessful attempt to sway a rules official regarding an embedded ball at the Memorial.
But the mix of great results and controversial headlines isn’t lost on Kuchar, who hopes to tune out any subsequent hecklers during the final round while he tries to chase down Woodland on the course where he logged his lone prior top-10 finish in the U.S. Open (T-6 in 2010).
“I’ve never had any controversy, so it’s been an interesting year up to this point with the bits of controversy I’ve been through,” Kuchar said. “But listen, it’s been such a thrill playing good golf, having a couple of wins. Winning is such a challenge, and to get two this season has been a thrill for me. And being in contention, golf is fun when you’re in contention.”
Woodland, Rose co-favorites entering Sunday at U.S. Open
PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – Gary Woodland may have a slight edge over Justin Rose on the leaderboards lining Pebble Beach, but in the eyes of oddsmakers it’s a dead heat heading into the final round of the U.S. Open.
Woodland shot a 2-under 69 Saturday, and at 11 under he will carry a one-shot lead over Rose into the final round as he looks to win his first career major. The duo have a significant cushion over their next closest pursuers, with Brooks Koepka, Chez Reavie and Louis Oosthuizen all three shots behind Rose and four behind Woodland.
The situation led the oddsmakers at the Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook to list Woodland and Rose both at 7/4 heading into the final round. Woodland started as an 80/1 longshot when odds first opened last month, while Rose opened at 16/1.
Koepka, who is looking to become the first player since 1905 to win this event three straight years, is next at 5/1 – the same odds he opened with following his PGA win in May.
Here’s a look at the full list of odds via Westgate on the contenders heading into what could be an exciting finale along the California coast:
7/4: Gary Woodland, Justin Rose
5/1: Brooks Koepka
10/1: Rory McIlroy
12/1: Louis Oosthuizen
25/1: Chez Reavie
60/1: Matt Kuchar
100/1: Jon Rahm
150/1: Henrik Stenson
200/1: Chesson Hadley, Graeme McDowell, Matt Wallace, Danny Willett, Adam Scott, Xander Schauffele
300/1: Dustin Johnson, Byeong-Hun An
100/1: Field (all other players)
PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – Temperatures plunged into the mid-50s by the time Brooks Koepka finished up his third round of the U.S. Open. Koepka blew into his hands to warm them up as he sat down for an interview afterward with Fox’s Joel Klatt.
When Klatt offered Koepka a coffee, the four-time major winner declined, saying that he’d never had a hot drink in his life.
Klatt was flabbergasted.
“No, growing up in Florida, man, you’re not gonna drink coffee,” Koepka said. “I don’t drink coffee in the morning. I don’t drink anything.”
But hot chocolate, Brooks? Surely you’ve had a hot chocolate at some point in your life, right?
“No, no hot chocolate,” he said. “Never had one.”
Never had one!
Of the many things we’re beginning to learn about Brooks Koepka – his affinity for hip hop, his disdain for slow play, his frequent “That’s Gucci, bruh” outbursts – this might be the most interesting.
Stenson hits fan in head with 'semi-shank,' lays down for selfie
PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – A potentially scary situation took on a more light-hearted turn for Henrik Stenson Saturday on the 16th hole at Pebble Beach.
Stenson was playing alongside fellow major champ Adam Scott during the third round of the U.S. Open when his approach to No. 16 sailed well right into the crowd, slamming into the forehead of an unsuspecting spectator.
“It was going to be a chippy 8-iron, but it was sitting up in the first cut,” Stenson said. “And I hit one of those famous like rockets, almost. It was a semi-shank, it wasn’t a full one. That would have been better, because then it would probably have hit the trees.”
When Stenson arrived to the scene, he found the male spectator still being attended to on the ground short and right of the green. Before too long, the Swede found himself lying in the same grass, snapping a picture alongside the injured fan to document the moment.
“I walk up to him and I said, ‘I’m sorry.’ What else can you say?” Stenson said. “And he says, ‘Can you do me one favor? Can I take a picture with you?’ So next thing I’m down on the ground as well, taking a picture, a selfie, laying down with him and his girlfriend. It feels like he’s had maybe one or two refreshments that might have eased the pain before the strike.”
Stenson went on to bogey the hole en route to a 1-under 70, and at 4 under he’ll head into the final round at Pebble in a tie for ninth place, seven shots behind Gary Woodland. Stenson shared that he wasn’t sure if the fan had suffered a concussion, but he had asked for contact information and plans to follow up with him at a later date.
“I might send him more than just one golf ball next time,” Stenson said. “I might send him a couple dozen or something to try to make up for my poor shot.”
Uriel Antuna scored a hat trick as Mexico got their Gold Cup campaign off to a dominant start with a 7-0 rout of Cuba in their opener at the Rose Bowl on Saturday.
The 21-year-old was a last-minute replacement for injured defender Jorge Sanchez in the Mexico squad for the tournament and the addition paid big dividends.
The LA Galaxy midfielder, on loan from Manchester City, gave Mexico the perfect start in their quest for a seventh Gold Cup title when he scored in the second minute of the match, moments after Raul Jimenez had hit the post from close-range.
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Antuna, who just made his international debut 10 days ago off the bench against Venezuela, gave his team a 4-0 advantage in the 44th minute, then capped his night with a final goal in the 80th minute.
Wolverhampton Wanders star Jimenez scored twice, while Diego Reyes and Ernesto Vega also tallied for El Tri.
Cheered on by a supportive crowd, Mexico showed no sign of letting down their fans down despite missing key figures like Hector Herrera, Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez, Carlos Vela and Hirving Lozano from their squad.
It was a first competitive win for new manager Gerardo "Tata" Martino, who was hired back in January and had overseen three friendly wins against South American opposition.
"I was surprised I was going to get the start," Antuna told Univision after the match. "But I just took advantage of the situation, [Martino] showed great confidence in me."
Cuba, making their first Gold Cup appearance since 2015, have now lost to Mexico four times in as many meetings in the biennial championship of the North, Central American and Caribbean region.
"We had a great match, we took the initiative from the beginning," Jimenez told Univision after the match. "The first goal helped us, it opened up with the match."
Canada earlier thrashed Martinique 4-0 at the same stadium in Saturday's other Group A match.
Information from Reuters was used in this report.
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