SAO PAULO, Brazil – Max Verstappen was brilliant Saturday at Autódromo José Carlos Pace, leading every round of qualifying to earn his second Formula One pole of the season.
Verstappen was in command throughout Saturday’s qualifying session and eventually earned the pole thanks to a fast lap of 1:07.508. Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel was second fastest, .123 seconds slower during the final qualifying session.
Mercedes driver and reigning Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton will start third, followed by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and the second Mercedes driven by Valtteri Bottas.
Red Bull’s Alexander Albon recovered from a crash on Friday to qualify sixth fastest, followed by Toro Rosso’s Pierre Gasly, Haas’ Romain Grosjean, Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Räikkönen and Haas’ Kevin Magnussen.
There were only two significant issues during qualifying. Antonio Giovinazzi spun during the second round of qualifying, resulting the round being cut short. McLaren’s Carlos Sainz Jr. failed to compete a lap in the first round after a loss of power and will start last.
HOMESTEAD, Fla. – SS Green Light Racing has announced that Ray Black Jr. will return to the team next season to drive the No. 07 Chevrolet for the full NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule.
The 28-year-old driver from Palm Coast, Fla., is set to enter his third full season for Bobby Dotter and SS Green Light Racing.
“It’s unbelievable how much we were able to accomplish this year at SS Green Light Racing,” said Black. “It’s really exciting to see how much we’ve all grown and how competitive the organization has become since I started running for Bobby in 2016. Bobby Dotter has put his heart and soul into this race team and I’m just proud to be a part of it for another year. I have a lot of confidence after this year and think we have even more to accomplish in 2020.”
“Ray, in my opinion, really had a break out season this year,” team owner Bobby Dotter stated. “One of my favorite things about Ray is he’s the type of driver that’s going to get you the very most out of the car. He finds a way to get better throughout the race, keeps the car in one piece, and delivers the best result. I’m really excited to build on what we’ve already accomplished. It’s going to be a fun year.”
Long time crew chief Jason Miller is expected to return to the team next season as well. Miller has worked with Black for most of Black’s career.
In addition, Black will have a new primary sponsor next year, with additional details expected to be announced at a later date. Black’s current primary sponsor, Isokern Fireplaces & Chimneys, will return next season as an associate sponsor.
HOMESTEAD, Fla. – Tyler Reddick sent a message to his Championship 4 rivals Saturday afternoon at Homestead-Miami Speedway: the road to the title goes through his Richard Childress Racing team.
Reddick rocketed to the pole for the season-ending Ford EcoBoost 300 during NASCAR Xfinity Series qualifying, outperforming the three drivers he’s dueling with to defend his 2018 championship.
The Corning, Calif., driver toured the 1.5-mile South Florida oval in 32.322 seconds (167.069 mph) with his No. 2 Tame the Beast Chevrolet Camaro en route to his seventh career pole and fifth of the season.
Reddick will be joined by fellow title rival Cole Custer on the front row, while Christopher Bell rolls off seventh and Justin Allgaier – who had contact with David Starr during Friday’s rain-shortened practice session – starts 16th come race time, the lowest of the four title-eligible drivers.
Despite posting the top time among the drivers vying for the season championship, Reddick told SPEED SPORT after qualifying that many unknowns remain going into Saturday afternoon’s race.
“I guess the early takeaway is that we’ve been really fast here so far this weekend in the little bit of time we’ve had on track, but we still have a long way to go to work on the balance of a race car and get it where I’d like it to be,” Reddick admitted. “We’re going to make an adjustment here after qualifying and try and get a little bit closer for the race, but I truly don’t know after five laps what we have.
“We’re going to go for it, though, and we’re going to see right away what we’ve got compared to the 00 (Cole Custer) … and we’ll see what the 20 (Christopher Bell) and the 7 (Justin Allgaier) will do in these first two stages,” he continued. “I know they’re going to get back up there at some point, even though Justin’s got his work cut out for him here on the first stage. That team overcomes a lot of things, though, and I’m sure at some point we’ll all be battling each other at the front.”
Reddick added that, while track position is important in a race like the Homestead finale, he feels it may be less of a factor this weekend due to the minimal amount of laps that teams have been able to turn.
“I do feel like it becomes less important, and now in this situation it’s more about how much data you have coming into this,” he noted. “A lot of the teams had a (rookie) driver come down and test, so they have a lot to look at and a better idea of what these tires do on the long run and whatnot. Unfortunately, we’re the only ones of the four that didn’t have that luxury, but we clearly haven’t needed it so far yet this weekend to be good. And that’s exciting.
“We’ll see what we can do here in a little while, but I’m excited. I’m looking forward to this.”
Behind Reddick and Custer, Austin Cindric qualified third (32.469/166.312), with Brandon Jones and Chase Briscoe following in fourth and fifth, respectively.
John Hunter Nemechek, Bell, Justin Haley, Harrison Burton and Noah Gragson filled out the top 10.
The Ford EcoBoost 300 takes the green flag shortly after 3:30 p.m. ET, with live coverage on NBC, the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, channel 90.
HOMESTEAD, Fla. – After knowing for three months that he was going to receive the honor, Tyler Ankrum officially received Sunoco Rookie of the Year honors in the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series Friday night at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Ankrum, who clinched being the top rookie in the series when he became the only first-year driver to qualify for the playoffs, capped off his year with a 22nd-place finish in the Ford EcoBoost 300.
Though being two laps down at the checkered flag wasn’t how Ankrum wanted to end his campaign, the 18-year-old from San Bernadino, Calif., still produced a banner season in his move to the Truck Series.
Highlights for Ankrum included the win at Kentucky Speedway in July that qualified him for the playoffs, as well as three top-five and eight top-10 finishes, despite missing three races due to age restrictions.
It all added up to a solid maiden voyage for Ankrum, who was pleased to have something to celebrate Friday night after all was said and done.
“It’s really nice (to win rookie of the year) because you’re not walking away at the end of the season without anything,” Ankrum said. “We had a really great season, I thought. I think it did compose itself mostly of lows, but we were able to bounce back almost every single week. When we had highs, they were really, really high highs.
“With that said, I’m really proud of my (DGR-Crosley) guys. I learned a lot this year,” Ankrum added. “I’m sad to leave them, but you know, I think maybe it’s for the best for all of us to be able to learn and grow.”
Ankrum told SPEED SPORT after the race that his emotions were “very jumbled” and “a little all over the place” when it came to his feelings, both about the race and about departing DGR-Crosley for new opportunities.
“It’s a little bit of everything, to be honest,” Ankrum admitted. “I’m really happy to get Rookie of the Year, but honestly, at the same time I’m still disappointed to leave DGR. I’m disappointed to leave my guys, because Bono, Dan, Chad, T.J., Martin, Don – I’ve loved working with them all year.
“At the beginning of the race, this was like our final hurrah. It was really upbeat, and I was really happy, which I was glad for. No one was down,” he continued. “No one was really, like, somber. But you know, it just didn’t end the way we wanted it to. You’ll have that in racing sometimes and now we just all start moving forward here and see where these new roads take us going into the next season.”
The upcoming year will see Ankrum move from DGR-Crosley, the only NASCAR team he’s known since breaking into the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East and winning that division’s championship in 2018, to GMS Racing in a third full-time truck alongside teammates Brett Moffitt and Sheldon Creed.
It’s a move that, while it comes with a lot of new for the Golden State teenager, is one he’s amped up to make.
“Oh my gosh, I was so excited that Chevrolet and GMS would even consider me, when I found out that they were interested in having me drive for them next year,” Ankrum said with a smile. “At the same time, it’s been a long time since I’ve gone anywhere else other than DGR. David Gilliland got me started in the late models, the K&N car and the truck, I got the K&N East championship last year with David, and got my first truck win with him. He did all of that for me and helped make it all happen. He’s always seen something in me, and I pretty much owe everything to him for everything that I’ve done so far. All that has allowed me to go on and move on with a team like GMS.
“I’m really thankful for him and really excited to see what we have in store with GMS,” Ankrum continued. “It’s really exciting to get ready to work with my new teammates, Brett and Sheldon, and I think we’re going to have a really busy off‑season. I’m excited, though, and ready to get to 2020.”
Russell Henley went from contending to likely missing the cut Saturday at the Mayakoba Golf Classic thanks to an unfortunate and costly mistake.
Henley was signing balls for fans after his second round when he realized one of the balls was slightly different from the one he uses. Henley said he was unsure how the ball got in his bag but that he used it on hole Nos. 9-12.
As a result, Henley was penalized two shots on each hole, eight strokes in all, for violating Rule 20-3, which covers all rules not laid out in the Rules of Golf.
The specific rule that was breached was the One Ball Rule, which the PGA Tour and most pro and high-level amateur events recognize. In regards to the One Ball Rule, the USGA states: "When changing balls, the player is permitted to substitute a ball of another brand or type unless the committee has adopted the One Ball Condition of Competition (see Appendix I; Part C; Section 1c)."
Henley ended up with a 6-over 77, which dropped him to 1 over. Instead of entering the third round at 7 under and in contention for a possible victory, Henley will likely miss the cut.
The toss is one of cricket's many, many nuances. That one flip of the coin that, for club cricketers, goes a long way to determining the happiness of a weekend forfeited to chasing leather around a field. For the professionals, it has the potential to decide the outcome of a match, potentially a series.
As is the case with most of cricket's quirks, there are layers to this act; the fall of a coin carrying so much weight in the outcome of a sport otherwise defined by fine margins, sure, but the majority of which are without such a reliance on good fortune.
Luck is, of course, something that touches all sport but it is rarely as tangible as it is in cricket.
It can be a look up at the clouds in Headingley, a pre-empted prayer to the cricketing gods that you bat first in Adelaide or send shivers down a side asked to bat last in a Test match in Galle. And T10 is no different to its cricketing forefathers. There is a clear formula: win the toss, put the opposition in. Wash. Rinse. Repeat.
Across 47 completed matches of T10 cricket in a nudge over two years of its existence, only five captains have won the toss and elected to bat. There were four such instances in 2017, just one in 2018 and none so far from six matches across the first two days in Abu Dhabi.
Shane Watson, the captain of Deccan Gladiators who has played in the past two editions as well, explained it as such after losing their opener on Friday having been asked to bat first: "In T10 you don't really know how many is enough…but there's no question that when you're chasing, knowing you've got 10 overs and 10 wickets in hand, I don't know the statistics exactly but I remember last year that most teams that batted second found it easier chasing."
Indeed they did. In fact, only 13 teams have gone on to win after being told to strap on their pads by their opponents, a figure that equates to a win percentage of 27.6% of all T10 matches. Without knowing that figure, Delhi Bulls captain Eoin Morgan suggested on the first day that there is "probably a small percentage advantage" in chasing but should you "hold your nerve and execute well, it shouldn't really matter."
As Morgan's side became just the 12th team to lose batting second, the 33-year-old's words from the previous day certainly rang true. Even more so by the time Darren Sammy's Northern Warriors made it 13 sides with defeats chasing, the reigning champions feebly falling to Qalandars with the lowest total in T10 history and only the second team to be bowled out in 10 overs with their 46 all-out in a 66-run defeat.
As for Watson, less than 24 hours after defeat to Morgan's Bulls, he was calling correctly earlier in the day and had no hesitation in putting the Bangla Tigers into bat. The result? A six-wicket win.
"If you lose the toss, you don't want to feel like you're out of the game," Watson said after his side got their first points of the season. "There's no doubt from a mentality point of view, to know how many you've got to get and there's only 10 overs, it's definitely an advantage but that's not to say you can't set a really good total and then it's just too many for the opposition to chase."
The Australian's counterpart in the Tigers dugout, Thisara Perera, agreed that "every team likes to chase" but insisted that the toss is not at the forefront of his side's mind despite its continued influence in T10.
Even accounting for the Warriors making it two defeats from three for sides batting second on day two, the win percentage remains at 70.2% in favour of teams chasing. And with seemingly no captain in a hurry to set a target after winning the toss, they clearly see the value in coming out on the right side of things at the start of play.
The wins for Qalandars and Deccan Gladiators prove that it is far too simplistic to suggest that a won toss is a won match, but the formulaic actions of the captains in the middle, plus the numbers that indicate an advantage for sides chasing, should be enough for the league to ponder its trend.
Is T10 too predictable? Should the toss be optional like it is in the County Championship? Perhaps who bats first and second should be pre-determined in the scheduling?
The longer T10 remains repetitive, the more pressing the answers to these questions will become.
Five-star forward Isaiah Jackson committed to Kentucky on Saturday afternoon, giving the Wildcats their fourth five-star prospect in the 2020 class.
John Calipari's program now has the inside track to the No. 1 recruiting class in 2020, which would be the first time since 2016 that the Wildcats had the top class in the country. Prior to last year, Kentucky had a top-two recruiting class every year since Calipari took over in Lexington in 2009.
Jackson chose Kentucky over Alabama and Syracuse. He had one of the more difficult five-star recruitments to read, with very little information coming out of his circle and the schools involved in the dark as to his final destination. Jackson took official visits to all three schools during the fall.
A 6-foot-9 power forward from Waterford Mott High School (Michigan), Jackson is ranked No. 22 in the ESPN 100. He's the No. 4 player at his position. Jackson averaged 10.9 points, 6.0 rebounds and 2.3 blocks for The Family Detroit grassroots program on the Nike EYBL circuit last spring and summer. He's considered one of the best shot-blockers in the 2020 class and is continuing to improve on the offensive end.
Kentucky now has six players in the fold for 2020, following Jackson's commitment and point guard Devin Askew's decision to officially reclassify from the 2021 class into 2020. Askew signed his letter of intent earlier this week, making his long-rumored move official. Along with Jackson and Askew, the Wildcats have five-star wings B.J. Boston and Terrence Clarke, as well as top-50 prospects Lance Ware and Cam'Ron Fletcher.
Calipari knew he needed a big 2020 class, and he went out and did most of his work early in the cycle. Boston committed immediately after the end of the July live period, while Fletcher followed shortly after. Ware announced for the Wildcats in mid-September, and Clarke decided to reclassify and commit two days later. Askew and Jackson could round things out for Kentucky's class, although the Wildcats could also decide to stay in the mix for top-10 prospect Greg Brown.
Colin Kaepernick's NFL workout is being moved to a new location in the Atlanta area and will now start at 4 p.m. ET Saturday, representatives for the quarterback announced Saturday afternoon.
The NFL had previously declined to allow media and cameras into the workout, as Kaepernick had requested for transparency, attorney Ben Meiselas and agent Jeff Nalley said in a statement. They said media would now be allowed to attend the workout.
"From the outset, Mr. Kaepernick requested a legitimate process and from the outset the NFL league office has not provided one," Meiselas and Nalley said. "Most recently, the NFL has demanded that as a precondition to the workout, Mr. Kaepernick sign an unusual liability waiver that addresses employment-related issues and rejected the standard liability waiver from physical injury proposed by Mr. Kaepernick's representatives.
"... Mr. Kaepernick simply asks for a transparent and open process which is why a new location has been selected for today."
The workout will now be held at an Atlanta-area high school. It had been scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. ET at the Atlanta Falcons' practice facility.
More than 24 teams were expected to attend Kaepernick's workout. The NFL had said it would send video of the workout and an interview with Kaepernick to all 32 teams.
Former NFL coach Hue Jackson had been set to lead the drills, with former NFL coach Joe Philbin in attendance to assist, the league said Thursday.
Sources had told ESPN's Jeremy Fowler that the NFL was providing three wide receivers for the workout. But the league had not given out the names of those receivers. One receiver expected to attend the workout was Bruce Ellington, a source told Fowler. Ellington played with Kaepernick on the San Francisco 49ers in 2014 and 2015.
A source told ESPN's Howard Bryant that Kaepernick's team did bring in five wide receivers to be part of the workout, which will include about 60 passes.
Kaepernick, 32, has been out of football since 2016, the year he began protesting police brutality and racial injustice by kneeling during the pregame national anthem.
Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa was carted off in the second quarter of Saturday's game against Mississippi State with a hip injury. Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban said he didn't know the severity of the injury and Tagovailoa will be taken back to Birmingham for CAT scans and MRIs.
Tagovailoa was injured with three minutes remaining before halftime when he was brought down by two Bulldogs defenders while rolling to his left on a third-down play. He suffered a bloody nose and couldn't put pressure on his right leg when he was helped up by trainers.
Saban said he doesn't think the injury is related to the ankle injury that made Tagovailoa a game-time decision for Saturday's game. "It's kind of a freak thing that you seldom see," Saban said.
"He was good, at least as good as he was a week ago in terms of his ability to move," he added. "I don't think anything he did affected his performance in the first half. So the guy played, and I thought he played really well. And we hate it that he got injured. We hate it for him. We hate it for his family. I hate it when any player on our team gets injured. So Godspeed to him and his entire family and our thoughts and prayers are with them and hope this is not so serious it has any long-term effect on his future as a player."
Saban told ESPN's Molly McGrath that it was going to be Tagovailoa's final drive of the game. Saban said Tagovailoa was still in the game to practice a two-minute drill.
"That was going to be his last series," Saban said. "We were going to do two-minute before the half was over just for practice. First, we've got to block them better so he doesn't get sacked. It's too bad."
McGrath reported that Tagovailoa was undergoing X-rays. McGrath also reported that Tagovailoa was screaming in pain as trainers helped lift him off the cart.
The Tide were leading 35-7 at the time of the injury. Tagovailoa was 14-for-18 for 256 yards with two touchdowns.
Saban said the coaching staff considered putting backup quarterback Mac Jones into the game for Tagovailoa before the final series.
"I don't worry about players getting hurt," Saban said. "You certainly don't want to see anybody get hurt, especially him."
Tagovailoa, a Heisman Trophy contender and potential top-10 pick in next spring's NFL draft, had surgery on his right ankle Oct. 20, a day after he was injured in the Crimson Tide's 35-13 victory over Tennessee.
Surgeons performed a "tightrope" procedure on his right ankle, in which they drilled a hole from his fibula into the tibia and cast three tightropes through the bone and cinched it down to tighten it, according to Dr. Norman Waldrop, who was part of the medical team that performed a tightrope procedure on Tagovailoa's left ankle following the SEC championship game last season.
Tagovailoa missed Alabama's 48-7 win over Arkansas on Oct. 26 but returned to start against LSU last week. His mobility was limited, but he still completed 21 of 40 passes for 418 yards with four touchdowns and one interception in the Crimson Tide's 46-41 loss to the Tigers.
He was a game-time decision to start against Mississippi State on Saturday.
Arryn Siposs punt for 50 yds , Dominick Blaylock returns for no gain to the Geo 39
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