British middle-distance runner Laura Muir delights her home crowd with a strong 1500m win on the first day of the Müller Anniversary Games

Laura Muir showed her Doha preparations remain on course when she won the women’s 1500m in 3:58.25, courtesy of a superb 57.54 last lap.

The early pace was a little on the slow side with Hannah Segrave running the first two laps in 65.21 and 2:11.03. The third lap was slightly quicker as Muir led past 1200m in 3:15.03 with Konstanze Klosterhalfen the only athlete able to stay close as Muir opened up.

In the last 200m, Muir began to edge clear before she pulled well away as the German wilted in the closing stages.

The Scot completed her last 300m in a vicious 43.14 and it was Winny Chebet who chased her home in a distant 3:59.93.

Muir’s last 800m was around 2:02 and she said: “It may have looked easy, but it wasn’t! I didn’t realise I ran a 57-second last lap and I’m so, so happy about that. The girls are really strong and I know that my advantage is in that kick, so I just sat in there and tried to take it easy. It was all about winning today and I did that.”

She added: “London is a really fast track and it’s always a great atmosphere. The conditions are usually pretty good. It was a little bit windy today, but the whole vibe of the place is really special and it makes athletes raise their game. It’s great to have so much competition. My goal now is to win a medal in Doha.”

In third, Gabriela Debues-Stafford set a Canadian record 4:00.26. In sixth, Britain’s Sarah McDonald set a PB 4:00.46 while Jemma Reekie – Muir’s training partner and the European under-23 double gold medallist – broke new ground with a 4:02.09 in seventh.

The very first track race of the day saw 2015 world champion Danielle Williams improve her 100m hurdles PB from 12.48 to 12.41 to just miss Janeek Brown’s 12.40 world lead and Jamaican record.

The heats did not go well for UK athletes. Cindy Ofili was sixth in heat one in 13.24 while Alicia Barrett was disqualified and in heat two and Yasmin Miller was last in 13.91.

In the final, Williams was even quicker as she smashed Brown’s national record with 12.32 to win by over two metres from Nia Ali’s 12.57. That moved her to seventh all-time.

Williams (pictured below) said: “I am thrilled with that. My aim was always to run fast. It has been coming all season and it was just about when. This track is a fast track and the fact that we get two opportunities because of the heats you can fix what you did wrong ready for the final.”

The 400m saw more success for Jamaica as Shericka Jackson finished strongly to win in 50.59 from team-mate Stephenie McPherson (50.74), but both had to work incredibly hard to catch Laviai Nielsen, who started fast and only lost the lead in the last 30 metres. The Briton’s reward was a big PB 50.83 as she moves to 12th all-time in the UK.

She said: “I’m absolutely over the moon. It’s a time I knew I could do, but it was just a matter of getting the competitions in and being competitive. This is my favourite place to run. Every time I’m here, the crowd just gives me goosebumps and I get a lift I just can’t describe. I just want to race here all the time.”

The 200m also went Jamaica’s way as Olympic champion Elaine Thompson won in 22.13 from Marie Josee Ta-Lou’s 22.36.

A clear third was Beth Dobbin, who improved her Scottish record to 22.50.

Dobbin said: “I’m over the moon with that. This time last year I missed the Anniversary Games because I had a shift at work, so to now be a full-time athlete, racing against Olympic champions, it’s just a dream come true. I was racing against my idols so I am absolutely buzzing. I didn’t expect to be in PB shape until the trials because every year we focus on peaking for trials so to run a PB here today it means a lot.”

At the back of the field, Bianca Williams just got the better of Katrina Johnson-Thompson with both running 23.19. Many thought the latter would go much faster as she normally runs the event at the end of the first day of the heptathlon and has run 22.79.

Jamaica also won the final event of the day, the 4x100m thanks to a superb anchor leg from Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce. She came from a long way back to pip Britain’s Daryl Neita.

Jamaica won in 42.29 with Britain second in a season’s best 43.30, which should go a long way to securing Doha qualification.

In the javelin, former European champion Tatsiana Khaladovich won a tight contest with a third round 66.10m with Kelsey Barber a close second with a final 65.85m.

The Russian Anzhelika Sidorova won an exciting pole vault on countback with 4.75m.

Reigning world champion Katerina Stefanidi matched that but paid for a first-time failure at her opening height of 4.55m as the leading duo both failed at 4.82m.

Holly Bradshaw was third with a vault of 4.65m and was unlucky with her final vault of 4.75m.

In the T33-34 100m, there was a clear win for Kare Adenegan in 17.91.

Norwegian Karsten Warholm runs European 400m hurdles record during an eventful first day at the Müller Anniversary Games

Karsten Warholm promised to entertain the crowd on the first day of the Müller Anniversary Games in London and the Norwegian kept his word with a European 400m hurdles record of 47.12.

Returning to the scene of his world title winning exploits in 2017, the 23-year-old blasted around the London Stadium to go No.7 on the all-time world rankings as he improved his continental mark of 47.33.

Only world record-holder Kevin Young, with 46.78 from 1992, plus Abderrahman Samba, Ed Moses, Rai Benjamin, Bryan Bronson and Samuel Matete have run quicker, although Warholm believes he can go faster later this summer.

With Samba and Benjamin in such good form this year, the men’s 400m hurdles final in Doha will be one of the races of the championships – and Young’s 27-year-old world record is in danger.

“I always try to surprise but at the same time it’s not a given,” said Warholm, who beat Yasmani Copello (48.93) into second. “It takes hard work, dedication and a lot for me to get out those extraordinary times. I feel really good, but at the same time it’s a long time until the championships. I’ll try to do my own thing. Do what I think is the best.”

Another Norwegian to shine at this London leg of the Diamond League series was Jakob Ingebrigtsen. Still only 18, he clocked a European under-20 and Norwegian senior record of 13:02.03 just behind Hagos Gebrhiwet (13:01.86) (pictured below) who had won the Ethiopian world 10,000m trial in 26:48.95 in Hengelo just three days earlier.

Andy Butchart also excelled in the 12-and-a-half laps race as he improved his Scottish record to 13:06.21. “I’ll take that,” he said.

Behind, Ben Connor (13:19.47) and Alex Yee (13:29.18) clocked PBs as well with Connor’s time being a qualifying mark for Doha.

Zharnel Hughes also delighted the British crowd as he clocked 9.95 to finish runner-up behind Akani Simbine of South Africa’s 9.93 in the 100m. Yohan Blake, Yuki Koike and Andre De Grasse broke the 10-second barrier, too, while Adam Gemili made a fine return from injury to run 10.04 in sixth.

More dramatic, however, was James Ellington’s comeback after serious injuries sustained in a motorbike accident in January 2017. Many felt he would never run competitively again but the 33-year-old defied expectations with a 10.93 clocking on Saturday and says his true goal is to make the Olympic team next year.

“I am lapping every moment of it up,” Ellington said. “But I’m going to go back to the drawing board and try to sort these injuries out.

“I have had a back problem three days ago and I could not walk but there was no way I was going to miss this race. Yesterday I started to feel a bit better but in the warm up I started to feel pain and I walked out limping but I was not missing this.”

The men’s 800m also saw several brilliant British performances behind winner Ferguson Rotich – the Kenyan winning in 1:43.14 (pictured below). These were led by Jamie Webb, who smashed his 1:45.73 to clock 1:44.52 for 10^th on the UK all-time rankings. “I don’t care who I’ve passed on the all-time lists,” he said. “All that matters is that I beat my club record (at Liverpool Harriers) held by Curtis Robb!”

Kyle Langford also clocked a PB of 1:44.97 – a remarkable performance given the fact he missed two weeks’ training recently after injuring his knee stretching before a meeting in Marseille at the start of July.

There was disappointment for Nijel Amos, though. The Botswanan ran 1:41.89 in Monaco this month but did not finish here after pulling up in the back straight. “I’ll be back!” he shouted in upbeat fashion as he was wheeled off the track by medics.

A high quality long jump saw a win for world champion Luvo Manyonga – the South African jumping 8.37m to defeat Jamaican Tajay Gayle, who set a PB 8.32m. In the triple jump, meanwhile, Pedro Pablo Pichardo – now representing Portugal – won with 17.53m from Christian Taylor’s 17.19m.

Toward the end of the first of two days at the London Stadium, Jonnie Peacock delighted the crowd with a 10.70 victory in the T44-64 100m.

Wales assistant strength and conditioning coach Huw Bennett says being fitter than other teams is the key to their success.

Head coach Warren Gatland has taken his squad to the Swiss Alps for a training camp as the Six Nations champions build for the Rugby World Cup.

GREENWOOD, Neb. – Mason Zeigler and Tim McCreadie earned the front row for I-80 Speedway’s Imperial Tile ninth annual Silver Dollar Nationals on Friday evening.

The starting lineup was set via a unique format of heat races, which were run in two rounds.

In the first round, heat one was won by four-time Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series National Champion Earl Pearson Jr., who led all the way to pick up the win. Cody Laney finished in the second spot with Corey Zeitner and sixth-place starter Kyle Bronson trailing at the checkers.

In heat two, McCreadie used a restart after a caution flag to take the lead from Allen Hopp as he came from the fourth starting spot to take the victory in the 12-lap race. Hopp came home in second followed by sixth-place starting Tyler Bruening and Jimmy Owens, who came from seventh.

In heat three, it was all Team Zero, as teammates Chris Madden and Scott Bloomquist finished one-two in the 12-lap race. Madden won in his first appearance at I-80 Speedway. Mike Marlar came from the eighth starting spot to secure the third-place finish just ahead of fourth-place finisher Devin Moran who started ninth.

In heat four, current Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series point leader Jonathan Davenport went uncontested for the victory. Zeigler was the big mover of the heat after coming from seventh to finish in second behind Davenport. Brandon Sheppard snared the third spot with Nick Deal in his Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series debut rounding out the top four.

The final heat in round one saw a terrific race between Nebraska native Bill Leighton Jr., Tyler Erb, and Bobby Pierce. Leighton led Erb and Pierce to the line. Leighton went back-and-forth several times in the race for the lead and scored his first Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series heat win in front of the home crowd. Josh Leonard finished fourth.

The first heat in round two went to three-time Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series National champion Jimmy Owens, who came from the fourth starting position. Bobby Pierce came from seventh to finish in second, with Sheppard and Dennis Erb Jr. finishing third and fourth.

The second heat in round two was taken by Hall-of-Famer Billy Moyer over Hudson O’Neal. O’Neal stayed close to Moyer for most of the race, finishing one-car length behind at the checkers. Tyler Bruening came from fifth to take third with Nick Deal finishing fourth.

The third heat saw Devin Moran fade to fifth at one point early in the race but recover to capture the victory over Josh Richards, Chad Simpson and Bloomquist.

The fourth heat went to Zeigler. The 2018 Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Rookie of the Year grabbed the win after starting in fourth. Billy Moyer Jr. led for most of the race before yielding to Zeigler. Moyer Jr. was second with Michael Norris and seventh-place starter McCreadie rounding out the top four.

The final heat of the night went to Ricky Weiss as the defending Sunoco Race Fuels North/South 100 winner cruised to the win by leading every lap. Shanon Buckingham and Tyler Erb had a terrific battle for the runner-up spot with Buckingham taking the spot. Erb was third with Corey Zeitner finishing in fourth.

PARAGOULD, Ark. — Picking up his sixth career victory with the Stealth Recovery ASCS Mid-South Region on Friday night, Derek Hagar topped action at Crowley’s Ridge Speedway.

Getting the pole for the 25-lap feature, Hagar led start to finish for the night’s $2,000 score.

Brad Bowden was second with Dale Howard third, however, a nose-wing infraction resulted in the No. 47 being disqualified, giving third to Marshall Skinner who came up from the sixth starting spot.

Tearing a hole in the wind from 18th, Joe B. Miller screamed from 18th to fourth with Ernie Ainsworth filling the top five.

The finish:

Feature (25 Laps): 1. 9JR-Derek Hagar, [1]; 2. 39-Brad Bowden, [2]; 3. 26-Marshall Skinner, [6]; 4. 51B-Joe B. Miller, [18]; 5. 91A-Ernie Ainsworth, [3]; 6. 8Z-Zach Pringle, [5]; 7. 2-Joseph Miller, [7]; 8. 21B-Brandon Hinkle, [13]; 9. 99-Blake Jenkins, [10]; 10. 21K-Kevin Hinkle, [8]; 11. 44-Ronny Howard, [12]; 12. 92-Cody Hays, [14]; 13. 32X-Robert Richardson, [16]; 14. 95-Asa Swindell, [17]; 15. 18T-Tyler Vaughn, [15]; 16. 1X-Tim Crawley, [9]; 17. 7D-Dylan Dejournett, [11]; (DQ) 47-Dale Howard, [4]

BILLINGS, Mont. — For the seventh time this season, Sam Hafertepe Jr. rolled the Heidbreder Foundation/Hills Racing Team No. 15h sprint car into Sawblade.com Victory Lane with the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by the MAVTV Motorsports Network, topping Friday’s Battle at Big Sky Speedway presented by Track Enterprises.

“I knew we had a good car. Just got in the right spot and drove by all those guys to get the lead,” Hafertepe said.

Rolling off seventh for the 25-lap affair, the first start was short-lived as polesitter Travis Reber spun in the second turn, collecting Bryan Brown and Cody Masse in the process. None of the three drivers were able to continue.

Moving Hafertepe to sixth on the restart, the No. 15h was up to third by lap two as Harli White took command over Blake Hahn. Moving to third the following lap, the leaders began inching towards traffic with Hafertepe trailing by nearly a second before finally getting the run on White.

Searching around the three-eighths-mile oval, Hafertepe pulled side by side with White on the ninth laps, with White able to hold the point. Working lap 10, however, the lead swapped hands as Hafertepe shot to the top of the leaderboard.

Hafertepe pulled away as White raced with Scott Bogucki. Swapping the positions numerous times over the next couple laps, Bogucki secured the spot on lap 18 with Blake Hahn following two laps later.

Having worked to a half straightaway advantage, Hafertepe’s lead was chopped to mere car lengths as the No. 15h was held at bay by slower traffic battling for position.

Rolling to the right of Mindy McCune several times, Hafertepe kept the 15^th-place driver as a pick until the final two laps. With Bogucki and Hahn nearly on Hafertepe’s back bumper, neither was able to make any moves before the checkered flag dropped.

“When we got to traffic, I knew we were better, but I didn’t want to press it,” Hafertepe explained. “I just played the block on the outside with guys on the bottom. On a deal like that, no one is going to get beside you. We just had to play our cards right and be at the right place at the right time to get it done,”

Bogucki, Hahn, White and Roger Crockett, who started 17^th, completed the top five.

The finish:

Feature (25 laps): 1. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr., [7]; 2. 28-Scott Bogucki, [8]; 3. 52-Blake Hahn, [2]; 4. 17W-Harli White, [3]; 5. 11-Roger Crockett, [17]; 6. 95-Matt Covington, [6]; 7. 2X-Tucker Doughty, [5]; 8. 14-Jordon Mallett, [12]; 9. 77X-Alex Hill, [4]; 10. 37-Trever Kirkland, [13]; 11. J2-John Carney II, [16]; 12. 2JR-Kelly Miller, [18]; 13. 21P-Robbie Price, [15]; 14. 9K-Kory Wermling, [9]; 15. 11M-Mindy McCune, [10]; 16. 0J-Jeremy McCune, [19]; 17. 0-Ned Powers, [21]; 18. 33-Robert DeHaan, [11]; 19. 3-Jordan Milne, [14]; 20. (DNF) 77-Damon McCune, [23]; 21. (DNF) 88-Travis Reber, [1]; 22. (DNF) 38B-Bryan Brown, [20]; 23. (DNF) 35M-Cody Masse, [22]

PLYMOUTH, Ind. — Tyler Courtney bounced back from a 23^rd-place finish on Thursday to collect his second USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship victory in three nights Friday at Plymouth Speedway.

It was the fourth victory of the season for Courtney and his Clauson/Marshall/Newman Racing team.

The team’s high success rate, now with Courtney and CMNR scoring 15 wins in 55 USAC Sprint Car races together since the beginning of their championship campaign in 2018, a winning rate of over 27 Percent  clip, hasn’t provided them much of an opportunity to be in a “bounce back” situation, all to their credit.

“That’s what makes our team so good,” Courtney explained. “We don’t dwell on the night before.  We just go back the next night and try to do our job. That’s win races. We haven’t won as much as we did at this point last year, but we’re not going to give up. We have one heck of a team right now. (Crew chief Tyler Ransbottom) is really working his tail off to make this thing perfect and make my job easy. I’m just getting back in the swing of running a sprint car again. I think I’ve been more of a midget guy here lately. If we’re going to get into the swing, this is the week to do it.”

Courtney started the 30-lap feature sixth after garnering quick time earlier in the evening during Fatheadz Eyewear Qualifying. Up front, however, front row occupiers Chris Windom and Chase Stockon raced side by side for the duration of the first lap with Stockon taking the advantage by a half car length at the stripe.

Windom immediately slid Stockon into turn one on the second lap to grab the position where he would stake claim for the first third of the race while Brady Bacon rolled the bottom in second behind the high-riding Windom.

Bacon continued to eat up ground, bottom-feeding to within a car length of Windom at the start/finish line at the conclusion of lap 12. Bacon tickled the infield tires and used a run off turn two to pull ahead of Windom just in time to greet lapped traffic in the third turn.

A red flag just one lap later brought the race to a halt when 18th running Brandon Mattox hopped in turn one, landed on the left side wheels and barrel-rolled.  Mattox was uninjured.

On the restart, Bacon spurted away on the bottom while Windom and Courtney engaged in a side-by-side battle for the runner up spot. Courtney worked the top to race around Windom for second as the crossed flags were displayed for the halfway mark.

Courtney was charging, eating up the gap and appeared to have a run on Bacon around the outside for the lead at the exit of turn two on lap 18. Bacon drifted wide on exit, stifling Courtney’s momentum, stealing his line momentarily, and forcing him to check up.

“I knew he was good on the bottom,” Courtney recalled. “I could run down there, but I wasn’t as good as him, so I needed to go do something else. That’s the advantage of running second or third midway through the race. I got by Chris around the top, so I knew there was something there. I showed (Bacon) a little bit, but he did what he needed to do to maintain.”

Courtney gathered himself and went back to work on Bacon. Moments later, 17th running series rookie Zane Hendricks tagged the front straightaway wall with his right-rear tire, then proceeded to go into turn one with a full head of steam, tagging the turn one wall and flipping wildly along the topside of the three-eighths-mile dirt oval.

During the red flag period, second-running Courtney and team made a couple of shock adjustments, but agreed they had a pretty good race car and shouldn’t have to do too much.

On the lap 19 restart, Courtney wasted no time putting himself back into contention, switching the game plan up when Bacon slid from the bottom of turn three to the top of turn four.  Courtney anticipated the move and had his NOS Energy Drink – Competition Suspension, Inc./Spike/Rider Chevy locked and loaded to diamond off the top of three toward the bottom of turn four to win the race to the line by a car length

“When we got that red there, I got a good restart,” Courtney remembered. “He slid a little high in four, I got underneath him and cleared him at the line right before the yellow. That played in our favor. If I could just stick the bottom in one and two, I could get out and run my own race. These races are tough to win, especially when everybody’s as close as they are right now.”

Moments later, Thomas Meseraull, who was running 13th, spun around in turn four, forcing out the yellow flag.

Courtney secured the lead with 12 to go, and there wasn’t much that was going to alter that as a gaggle of cars led by Justin Grant, Windom, Bacon, Leary, Jason McDougal and a whole host of others battled for second as Courtney disappeared into the nighttime horizon, expanding his lead to more than a second in the dwindling laps.

Leary, who finished a heartbroken second the night prior at Gas City, was a rocket during the final laps, utilizing the topside to drive around the outside of Grant for the second spot at the finish line.

But, crossing that same line three-quarters of a second earlier was Courtney, who knocked out the 21st USAC National Sprint Car win of his career, equaling 1967 champ Greg Weld for 28th all time.

Behind Courtney, Leary and Grant at the checkered were fourth-place finisher Bacon and Jason McDougal who rounded out the top five.

To see full results, turn to the next page.

ROSSBURG, Ohio — Donny Schatz won his second World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series feature in three nights Friday at Eldora Speedway.

Stewart’s triumph in the Knight Before the Kings Royal main event was the 300^thfor team owner Tony Stewart.

“Eldora has always been really good to me,” said Schatz, who’s now won at the speedway 18 times and has an average finish of 1.25. He led all 30 laps on Friday night.

Hunting the 10-time series champion was a fierce David Gravel. Coming off two podium finishes in a row at Eldora, the Jason Johnson Racing driver was eager to claim his third victory at the speedway — his last coming in 2016.

Schatz started on the pole — a virtue of winning the first DIRTVision Fast Pass Dash. Daryn Pittman won the second dash and lined up alongside Schatz. When the race went green, Schatz jumped to the lead and immediately began to put distance between he and Pittman.

The reigning champion had a horse capable of charging to the victory. However, 10 laps into the run, Pittman and third-place Gravel began reeling in Schatz.

While Schatz rode the bottom lane, Pittman powered along the cushion — the same line Brad Sweet used to win at Eldora the night before. The Roth Motorsports No. 83 had a run brewing to challenge for the lead. But while he tried to focus on catching Schatz, Gravel continued to poke his nose under Pittman lap by lap, looking to find enough grip on the bottom to make the pass for second.

With 19 laps to go Pittman came within feet of Schatz’s bumper going into turn one, but unlike the lap before Schatz chose the high line. That decision gave Schatz a strong enough run off turn two to put about a six-car length distance between he and Pittman. Then Gravel dove underneath Pittman the next corner and took the position on the exit.

However, Pittman charged back, driving underneath the Watertown, Conn.-native down the front stretch and back by him into turn two. The next time into turn three Gravel mimicked his previous lap, again, diving underneath Pittman. This time it worked, though. He cleared him off the corner and maintained the position into turn one with 14 laps to go.

The hunt for Schatz was on. Lap after lap, running the bottom in turns one and two and the high side in turns three and four, the Mesilla Valley Transportation No. 41 crept closer and closer to the Toco Warranty No. 15 car.

Schatz said he and his team tried something new with the set up and while it worked in the dash, he was just hanging on to his car throughout the Feature. He wouldn’t have been surprised if someone drove by him.

With 11 laps to go, Schatz went from a dot in Gravel’s line of sight to a boulder. But despite Gravel’s charge, Schatz’s proficiency with running the bottom of the speedway threw a shield in Gravel’s run. A few car lengths distance was as close as Gravel could bring his car to Schatz.

To beat Schatz, he was going to need help. With six laps to go, he got it in the form of lap traffic.

Twenty-third-place Parker Price-Miller gave the leader his biggest challenge of the night. Schatz attempted to pass the slower No. 71p car on the bottom through turns one and two — where he struggled to find grip all night — but Price-Miller charged back in front of him down the backstretch. Into turns three and four Schatz, again, tried to pass Price-Miller on the bottom and, again, failed.

“I could make good laps in (turns) three and four and hold my own, but in turns one and two, I was just… I got to lapped traffic and watched the 71 car drive by me,” Schatz said. “I had to change everything I did. I was stomping and stabbing and slinging, doing everything I could. I just couldn’t make it do what I wanted it to do.”

Schatz’s battle with Price-Miller put Gravel a car length behind him.

With five laps to, Schatz launched underneath Price-Miller into turn one, finally able to make the pass. However, he lost traction off turn two, allowing Price-Miller to charge underneath the No. 15 car with Gravel following his trail.

Choosing the middle lane of the track in turn three, Schatz cleared Price-Miller and pulled away from him and Gravel, who had to make a split-second evasive maneuver around the slower Price-Miller into turn three.

Behind them, Pittman and Logan Schuchart traded slide jobs lap after lap for third place.

While they battled for third, Schatz had pulled back to a comfortable half a straightaway lead over Gravel. He looked to be en route for another Eldora Speedway victory, but with three laps to go the caution came out for Cory Eliason, who spun on the backstretch.

Gravel was now close enough to reach out and touch Schatz’s bumper. When the race restart, Schatz chose the high line and Gravel launched his car to the bottom of the track in turn one, coming side-by-side with Schatz in the middle of the corner.

Schatz had the advantage, though, being able to carry the momentum of riding the high side down the backstretch, leaving Gravel to catch up.

The duo remained a few car lengths distance from one another the remaining two laps.

When the white flag was shown, Gravel made one last attempt at out dueling Schatz for the win by, again, diving underneath him in turn one. Like before, it wasn’t enough. Schatz had the run on the high side and carried it the remainder of the circuit to his sixth win of the season — 289th career World of Outlaws win overall.

“My dad always taught me to worry about what’s in front of me, not what’s behind me,” Schatz said. “It’s paid off this long in my career.”

Gravel picked up his sixth podium finish in-a-row, but he was left still hungry for more.

“I think we were good enough to win tonight,” Gravel said. “I wish the yellow didn’t come out. I liked the lap traffic. I had the shot to pass him (Schatz) that one time. I’m happy where we’re at, though. Just a touch off.”

Schuchart was able to make the pass on Pittman for third, collecting his third top-five in three races at Eldora Speedway.

“I just feel like we started too far back,” said Schuchart, who started ninth. “I feel like we might have had one of the fastest cars. On the last restart a bolt came out of the wing there and let it go the whole way back, so I got real tight. Before that, I feel like I was running right with those guys.”

To see full results, turn to the next page.

SINGAPORE - Maurizio Sarri has left the door open for a Juventus return for Paul Pogba by admitting his admiration of the Manchester United midfielder and refusing to rule out a bid for the 26-year-old.

Pogba left Juventus for United in a then-world record £89.3 million move to Old Trafford in August 2016, but the France international has spoken publicly of his determination to a seek a "new challenge" elsewhere this summer.

United have insisted that Pogba is not for sale, but sources have told ESPN FC that the club would only listen to offers in the region of £160m for the player.

But with Juventus keen to re-sign their former player, despite having already added Matthijs de Ligt, Aaron Ramsey, Adrien Rabiot, Lorenzo Pellegrini and Gianluigi Buffon to the club's wage bill this summer, former Chelsea coach Sarri stopped short of ruling out a move for Pogba when asked about the player in Singapore on Saturday.

"I am not the technical director, so I do not know [if Pogba will come to Juventus]," Sarri said. "I like him very much, but I don't know the situation.

"Paul Pogba is a Manchester United player, so I don't want to talk about that."

- When does the transfer window close?
- All major completed transfer deals

Meanwhile, Sarri confirmed that De Ligt is likely to make his first appearance for Juve in Sunday's International Champions Cup clash against Tottenham (Singapore; 7.30 a.m. ET, 11.30 a.m. GMT -- ESPN2, ESPN Deportes).

De Ligt finally completed his €75m summer move from Ajax earlier this week and Sarri admits he will play some part against Spurs.

"De Ligt just joined and he does not have a minute of practice in his legs," Sarri said. "But he has to play for the team, so we will hope to get him some minutes against Tottenham."

Manchester United have rejected a £54 million bid from Inter Milan for Romelu Lukaku, sources have told ESPN FC.

United value Lukaku, who has four years left on his contract, between £80m and £90m after paying Everton £75m for the striker two years ago.

The Belgium international is keen to move to the San Siro and United are open to letting him leave if a suitable offer is lodged.

Sources have told ESPN FC that manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer will look to replace the 26-year-old if he moves but with less than three weeks before the transfer deadline, time is running out.

United and Inter are both in Singapore for their International Champions Cup match at the National Stadium on Saturday.

On the eve of the game, Inter boss Antonio Conte confirmed he wants to sign Lukaku, who won't face the Italian side after picking up a knock in training.

- When does the transfer window close?
- All major completed transfer deals

"Lukaku is a United player," said Conte on Friday.

"This is the reality. You know very well I like this player.

"In the past when I was Chelsea coach I tried to bring him to Chelsea. But I repeat, today Lukaku is a player of Man United. This is the reality and this is the truth."

Sources have told ESPN FC that United have rejected the chance to sign Mauro Icardi. The Argentina international is available this summer after being told by Conte he has no future at the club.