Lobban to meet Marwan after Mosaad rolls his ankle
By GEOFF BEW, ALAN THATCHER and MATT COLES 

Greg Lobban pulled off the biggest victory of his career as he beat world No.4 Karim Abdel Gawad to make the quarter finals of the St. James’s Place Canary Wharf Classic. He had lost their six previous meetings, but used his electric movement to positive effect as he outfought his opponent on the way to an 11-7, 11-9 win in just 36 minutes.

It was sweet revenge for the Scotsman, who was beaten by the Egyptian in the final of last month’s Edinburgh SC Open.

Buoyed by victories against Daryl Selby and Paul Coll on the way to the Edinburgh final, the 27-year-old – being coached by England legend Nick Matthew – showed why is now a major threat to the top players.

Lobban came flying out of the gate and after a good run of points in the middle of the game, the Scot was able to take the first 11-7. He then got on a great roll at the start of the second game, scoring seven of the first eight points to take a commanding lead.

Gawad threatened to come back, as he has the tendency to do, especially in the best-of-five format, pulling it back to 7-8, but Lobban was able to push through. Despite seeing one match ball saved by the Egyptian, he was able to take the second, booking his place in the quarter-finals of a Gold level tournament for the first time in his career.

Speaking after his victory, he said: “There are very few players that play the game better than Karim so it is extremely rewarding to win this one.

“Without a doubt [the best result of my career]. Coming into today, it has always been tough getting into the last 16 of these tournaments because they are such strong events. 

“I had played Karim six times and never got close as that, never got two games off him before. Nick [Matthew] has played him plenty and I think it is good to go back to him to come up with a good game plan, and I was happy to execute it today.”

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No.7 seed Marwan ElShorbagy is waiting for Lobban in the quarter finals after beating Omar Mosaad in a match overshadowed by a nasty injury to his opponent.

ElShorbagy held a 4-2 lead in the third when he hit Mosaad on the back of the leg with the ball, with the Egyptian requiring treatment.

Just three points later, Mosaad went down again after accidentally standing on ElShorbagy’s foot. Mosaad actually rolled his ankle twice as he tried to move around his opponent in the region of the left-hand service box, crashing into the side wall and tumbling to the floor in obvious pain.

PSA physio Derek Ryan came on court to treat the 6ft 4in Egyptian who was then helped off court for a 15-minute injury break.

Mosaad bravely came back on court and hit the ball a few times but he was unable to continue and had to forfeit the match. ElShorbagy had earlier fought back after losing the first game 2-11 to take the second 11-6.

He appeared to be in control when his opponent’s injury happened. He said: “I just hope it is nothing too serious. We are in the middle of the season and I just hope that he recovers from it as fast as he can. Hopefully it is not serious, it is not the way I wanted to win. I just hope he is OK.

“To be honest, I didn’t understand what was happening but when I saw it on the replay I could see that it did not look good. We have a physio in Derek [Ryan] here, and I know Omar is in good hands.”

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Windy City Open champion Ali Farag eased into the quarter-finals after dispatching Declan James 2-0 in 27 minutes.

Farag may have lost the number one ranking last month, but there is no doubting the Egyptian’s determination to regain the top spot and he used guile and flair to win a series of physical rallies that saw him taste victory 11-6, 11-3.

The Egyptian spent just a couple of days on home soil before travelling to London, and it seemed to pay off, as he showed how fresh he was in his first match of the week, restricting the home favourite to just nine points.

Farag booked his place in the quarter-finals to further his aim of reaching a first final at the East Wintergarden. And he was complimentary about his opponent and the best-of-three scoring system which is delivering a tasty menu of high-intensity squash.

“Every time we play, he always pushes me to the wire. With the best-of-three I knew I had to start well. Even though I lost three of the first four point, I knew I started with the right game plan,” Farag said.

“I didn’t give him any easy points. If he was going to win then he would have to earn every single point and it paid off from that point on. I am really pleased. After I finished in the US, I wanted to go home for 24 hours but I pushed the flight back one more day, and I didn’t know whether that was the right thing to do. I was watching the tournament while I was still in Egypt and I was worried. The plan paid off today!

“People say that the best-of-three is still taking the physicality out of the game, but I would argue with that. We play at a very high pace because we know we only have a maximum of three games to play. It adds more pressure on the higher-seeded players because the lower-seeded has nothing to lose.”

The Dark Knight had pushed Fearless Farag to four games in each of their three previous encounters, but despite his best efforts was never allowed to get a foothold in the match.

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The front left nick of the glass court should be renamed the Fares Dessouky Corner after a succession of stunning crosscourt volley kills made the difference against Mohamed Abouelghar in a battle between two players ranked 11 and 12 in the world.

Dessouky, 25, stepped up the pace after losing the opening game 8-11 and his all-out attacking strategy paid dividends as he took the next two games 11-7, 11-5 to wrap up victory in 42 minutes.

Abouelghar started brightly and treated the crowd to some creative winners of his own, as both players delivered another high-paced spectacle.

But Abouelghar found that any crosscourt, no matter what the height, provided cannon fodder for Dessouky’s stunning volleys. After burying two flat nicks off shoulder height crosscourts, he leapt into the air to attack a lob and the ball ended up in exactly the same place … locked into the front left nick with laser-like precision as 

The winner admitted afterwards: “I had to change my tactics after the first game and I’m glad it paid off.

“It’s always a tough, close game against Mohamed and I’m very relieved to be through.”

The quarter finals promises to be another mouthwatering attacking spree with five Egyptians, a Peruvian, an Indian, and a lone Scotsman in the mix.

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St. James’s Place Canary Wharf Classic, East Wintergarden, London, England.

Second Round (bottom half):
Greg Lobban (SCO) bt [4] Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY) 11-7, 11-9 (36m)
[7] Marwan Elshorbagy (EGY) bt [9/16] Omar Mosaad (EGY) 2-11, 11-6, 6-3 ret. (63m)
[9/16] Fares Dessouky (EGY) bt [8] Mohamed Abouelghar (EGY) 8-11, 11-7, 11-5 (42m)
[2] Ali Farag (EGY) bt Declan James (ENG) 11-6, 11-3 (27m) 

Quarter-Finals:
[1] Mohamed Elshorbagy (EGY) v [9/16] Saurav Ghosal (IND)
[3] Tarek Momen (EGY) v [6] Diego Elias (PER)
Greg Lobban (SCO) v [7] Marwan Elshorbagy (EGY)
[2] Ali Farag (EGY) v [9/16] Fares Dessouky (EGY)

Pictures by STEVE LINE courtesy of PSA and Patrick Lauson

Former Wales Under-20 lock Rhys Davies has signed a two-year deal to join Ospreys from Bath for the start of the 2020-21 season.

Davies, 21, was a product of the Ospreys academy system but left Wales aged 16 to attend Millfield School and linked up with Bath.

"I am from Swansea and have an emotional attachment to the Ospreys," said Davies.

"They are the side I grew up wanting to play for and now I have the chance."

During his time at Bath Davies worked with Toby Booth, who will become Ospreys head coach next season.

He is the fourth signing made by Ospreys for next season, along with scrum-half Rhys Webb, full-back Mat Protheroe and prop Nicky Thomas.

Davies will join Wales second-row trio Alun Wyn Jones, Bradley Davies and Adam Beard at Ospreys.

For the latest Welsh rugby union news follow @BBCScrumV on Twitter.

Saracens and England hooker Jack Singleton will join Gloucester on a season-long loan deal next season.

The 23-year-old is the third player to agree a temporary switch away from the already-relegated Premiership and European champions in 2020-21.

Ben Earl and Max Malins will both play on loan at Bristol next season.

Singleton, who was part of England's World Cup squad in Japan in 2019, has scored two tries in 14 appearances for Saracens since joining from Worcester.

"His ability to carry the ball, and his general set-piece work, are well suited to our style of play and Jack will get an opportunity to develop his game further at Gloucester," director of rugby David Humphreys said.

"Jack's an exciting addition to the squad for next season."

Singleton began his career with Saracens Academy before joining Worcester in 2014 and going on to represent England Under-20s.

He earned his first senior England cap against Wales shortly after agreeing his return to Saracens last summer.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Lucas Kohl will compete with Turn 3 Motorsport at the Indy Pro 2000 Grand Prix of St. Petersburg presented by Allied Building Products and Cooper Tires this weekend.

The 21-year old Brazilian will drive the No. 3 ACR/Eastern/T3M car at the season opener in place of Antoine Comeau, who is tied up with work conflicts during the event.

Kohl has several years of experience within the Road to Indy ladder, most recently contesting as a rookie in the 2019 Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tire championship with Belardi Auto Racing and earning a top ten finish in every race.

Prior to that, Kohl served three seasons in the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship and finished third overall with Pabst Racing in 2018.

“I’m very happy to join the team, and I believe it’s a great opportunity for me to come back and fight for podiums and race wins again,” said Kohl. “The team showed it has the speed to be at the front, and I’m going to push as hard as I can and use my experience from previous years to fight for the top spot this weekend.”

Turn 3 Motorsport will go into the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg fresh off a successful test during Road to Indy Spring Training at Homestead-Miami Speedway this past weekend.

The team ran two cars during the test, topping one of the final sessions with test driver Toby Sowery and giving T3M a boost of confidence going into the season opener.

“It’s great to have Lucas join us for this weekend,” said team owner Peter Dempsey. “The circumstances are unfortunate as I would rather have had Antoine in the No. 3 car and Lucas in the No. 30 car, but with Antoine’s work commitments, it’s just not possible for him race at this event.”

“Lucas has a lot of experience in the Road to Indy, and to be able to bring that to our team is very important,” continued Dempsey. “He also has the track knowledge having raced at St. Pete for a few years. I’m very excited to have him with us. Hopefully we can get up to speed quickly. Lucas hasn’t been in a car for a few months, but I’m confident he can do a great job for our team.”

Imagine what it’s like to sit in an engineering debrief with Andretti Autosport during a typical NTT IndyCar Series race weekend.

The team has five full-time drivers, all with different driving styles. Throw in a satellite team in Meyer Shank Racing with driver Jack Harvey and the part-time Andretti Autosport effort for James Hinchcliffe and that is seven sets of data to accumulate and decipher.

So, the debriefing room would be jammed with seven drivers and seven race engineers, as well as Andretti Autosport technical director Eric Bretzman and chief operating officer Rob Edwards. Throw in a few more data acquisition engineers and frequently officials from Honda Performance Development, and the “debrief” can be anything but brief.

With so much data and so many different engineering concepts, how do the participants in this forum deal with information overload?

“With great difficulty,” Mark Bryant, Zach Veach’s race engineer at Andretti Autosport, told SPEED SPORT. “It is a massive task. Having another driver again for this coming season is a huge task.

“It is really trying to pick out those really important things in the debrief and making sure we work together as a group to point us all in the right direction, rather than the nitty-gritty details of certain things that aren’t specific to your driver that need to be portrayed. You look at how the setup has evolved over the weekend, rather than focus on every little detail.”

There are many advantages to having a multi-car operation. Each driver can work on different race setups in practice to determine which one is best for the entire team. Testing becomes more valuable because more can be accomplished simply by having more drivers and engineers.

Andretti Autosport, however, has taken multi-car teams to a new level. For years, it was a four-car operation. This year, Andretti Autosport, took over its partner team at Harding Steinbrenner Racing, which features 19-year-old Colton Herta, giving the team five full-time entries.

Another entry and another set of data.

Meyer-Shank Racing provided the sixth car when its previous technical partner, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, merged with Arrow and McLaren. That left team owner Michael Shank, who is a Honda loyalist, searching for a new team alliance.

Shank, who fields Acuras in IMSA, reached an agreement with Andretti Engineering for his Honda-powered Indy car wheeled by Jack Harvey.

Ryan Hunter-Reay, Alexander Rossi and Marco Andretti are the veterans on the five-driver Andretti Autosport squad that also includes Herta and Veach.

Add Harvey to the mix on the partner team and this is a very interesting collection of racing talent, as well as driving differences.

“We all get along really well,” Herta told SPEED SPORT. “We are more similar behind closed doors than most people think. We get along really well and that helps with a healthy relationship.”

Each driver has a different style and that is what makes this collection so interesting.

“Some people have some strong suits in their driving where they can repeat better at other tracks,” Herta explained. “Rossi runs exceptionally well at Long Beach. I was really good at COTA and Laguna Seca. Ryan is really good at Iowa. You can go through and see where these guys are really good. Through all five of our drivers, we have places where somebody is good at that track and we can learn from them.”

Rossi’s driving style is as different as any of these six drivers.

“Alex can make things work,” Bryant said. “That is very true. Sometimes, it’s about being in the right zone, the right frame of mind. Some guys are able to pull that off more often than others.”

Finding the similarities and capitalizing on the differences are key to success for multi-car teams. That is why it’s important for each driver to recognize their own strengths and weaknesses while trying to help each other perform better.

“I think we try to help find things,” Herta noted. “Over the years working with teammates, you see patterns of what works for them and what works for you. That’s something that I enjoy. It’s something that you work toward through the years of experience. There is some stuff that is really clear that we want to do with the car and then there are other things that are not.

“You can see what happens to them when they do the change,” Herta added. “If there is drastic change and you are struggling with oversteer and the drastic change is for understeer, it is something you would want to try regardless of whether it suits your driving style or not.

“I’m probably more like Ryan Hunter-Reay when it comes to driving style,” Herta continued. “Marco Andretti is on a different spectrum. He likes a lot of understeer and Alex is on the opposite end of the spectrum. He likes a lot of oversteer.”

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ZEELAND, Mich. – KBR Development announced Wednesday that dirt track standout Andrew Scheid will drive for the team during the upcoming season.

Scheid will drive full time for KBR Development in the JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour presented by Chevrolet Performance. The just-turned 16-year-old will make his first asphalt stock car start at Michigan’s Flat Rock Speedway on Saturday, April 25.

Additional notable events include Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway, Berlin Raceway in Marne, Mich., Winchester (Ind.) Speedway, Lucas Oil Raceway near Indianapolis, and Fairgrounds Speedway Nashville.

Scheid will drive the No. 28 Chevrolet with sponsorship from Lake Cadillac Resort, with other partners to be announced throughout the year.

KBR will utilize brand new Rowdy Manufacturing chassis for its late model events in 2020, with powerplants from McGunegill Engine Performance.

Scheid has garnered a wealth of experience driving dirt sprint cars over the last three seasons, battling against the region’s best 360-ci competitors with the Great Lakes Super Sprints. Setting two fast times, including a new track record in 2019, Scheid scored two runner-up finishes among a number of top fives, along with 10 top 10s.

Prior to sprint cars, the Sparta, Mich., driver competed in Lightning Sprints, where he won a track championship at Merritt Speedway, along with numerous go-kart wins and championships.

Scheid attends Sparta High School, studying in several advanced placement courses. The sophomore student is also active in Young Life and plays on the school basketball team during the offseason.

“I am so thankful and blessed to have the opportunity to compete in a late model this year for Mr. Bursley and KBR Development. It will be a huge learning curve for me, but I love to be challenged behind the wheel and firmly believe KBR will set me up for success.” Scheid said. “I can’t adequately thank Mike Blackmer from Merritt Speedway, John with Cedar Valley, Bob at Kingdom Fire Protection and all the other amazing people who have supported me in my pursuit of a career in racing enough to get me to this point, and as we take on the new chapter head on.”

KBR Development has competed and collected big victories in keystone events across the country over the last several seasons. Erik Jones, Brandon McReynolds, Carson Hocevar, Raphael Lessard, Connor Mosack and others have all driven KBR equipment.

“We couldn’t be happier to have Andrew behind the wheel of our late models, and chase after a rookie of the year title with the CRA All Stars Tour this season,” said KBR Development President Mike Bursley. “Andrew has shown he has the skill and ability to battle for wins on the dirt track, and it will be fun for us to help him transition to asphalt late models.”

Scheid will also drive his familiar No. 77 sprint car, for Experience Cedar Valley, in 21 Great Lakes Super Sprints events, as his late model schedule permits.