TULARE, Calif. – Rico Abreu did it all at Tulare Thunderbowl Raceway during the 26th annual Abreu Vineyards Trophy Cup presented by Rudeen Racing.

After preliminary wins on Thursday and Friday, Abreu won the 50-lap Saturday night main event along with the event championship, earning $26,000 over three days of racing.

The final night of Trophy Cup assigned the top 48 point cars to heat races. These very tough 10-lap sprints featured a complete inversion by points. The standard 36 points to win with a three-point drop was used.

After the six heats, the top 20 in points went directly to the main event regardless of finishing position. The next 20 in points earned B-main starting spots, and the final eight went to the C main, joined by transfers from D-main racing.

With the top 48 in points assigned to a heat, the remainder of the 78 cars on hand were split into a trio of D mains. The evening started with these mains, moving the top four from each to the C main.

Six heats followed, offering an opportunity to earn more points to improve main event positioning. Abreu had a larger than usual point lead starting the evening, six points over Shane Golobic and seven ahead of his teammate, Jac Haudenschild.

Abreu’s lead evaporated after two heats, when Golobic finished fourth to Abreu’s sixth to tie in points at 304.

Third in points, Haudenschild was caught up in a nowhere-to-go situation in his heat and lost ground with a DNF and fewer points.

Kyle Hirst was high point car in heat four and finished second from eighth to take the point lead at 305. Willie Croft’s win from seventh put him near the top at 300.

Heat five was Jonathan Allard’s heat, and he helped himself with a fourth, leaving him six points behind Hirst.

The final heat continued the trend when Cory Eliason won from eighth to tie Hirst for the point lead, creating a cluster of drivers at or very near the top.

With only one B main, the field was even stronger. When Bud Kaeding blew a motor on lap 24, Tim Shaffer and D.J. Netto got caught in the smoke and oil. Shaffer had a flat and Netto hit the wall hard, and third through fifth in the order lost their transfer chance.

Finishing the last two laps sent Mitch Moles, Buddy Kofoid, Randy Hannagan, and Jason Statler to the A main. Statler transferred out of the C main and ran the entire 50 lap finale to finish 16th after 95 laps of main event racing.

With a 20 invert by points, Hirst and Eliason filled row 10 while Abreu and Shane Golobic started in row nine. With one point separating the two rows, the champion was likely be one of those four. The A main paid 150 points with a three-point drop per position.

Aaron Reutzel led from the pole at the start with Jason Solwold and Chase Johnson in pursuit. Johnson took second on lap three with a low-line drive into turn one, while contender Croft got spun and hit, ending his night.

Tim Kaeding moved into third on lap 11, driving the high side out of turn four on the same lap that Abreu used the low line into turn one to pass Golobic and take the point lead.

The last 39 laps had Abreu in front of his three main challengers, and he was in the point lead during that period. Abreu kept two cars between himself and Golobic and a yellow on lap 32 led to the planned fuel stop.

Lap 35 was tough for Johnson, when he flipped in turn two after running 33 laps in second. The restart had Reutzel continuing to lead, with Solwold now second and Haudenschild in third.

The question became would Abreu collect his third win, and after some slider trading, Abreu was up to second on lap 39 with Tim Kaeding close behind.

Abreu closed on Reutzel, eliminating a substantial lead in six laps, and Reutzel bounced off of the turn-two wall on lap 44 to open the door for Abreu.

Reutzel recovered in time to hold onto second, but Abreu was gone and led the last seven laps for the sweep.

Reutzel finished second, Tim Kaeding was third, Solwold took fourth and Haudenschild completed the top five.

Abreu’s history-making Trophy Cup performance had never been accomplished before. He won main events from fifth, 10th and 17th.

The Saturday payout is listed at $109,505 but will be considerably more. The Trophy Cup champion is guaranteed $26,000 and money will be added to the amount won to reach that level.

Each Saturday A-main starter is automatically part of the point fund and will receive a minimum of $5,000 for the three days of racing. About half of the A-main field will be paid additionally above the standard purse amount to reach the $5,000 total earned.

Between the normal payout and the added payout, the total purse was roughly $200,000.

The 2020 Trophy Cup will take place at Tulare Thunderbowl Raceway Oct. 15-17.

The finish:

Rico Abreu, Aaron Reutzel, Tim Kaeding, Jason Solwold, Jac Haudenschild, Shane Golobic, Mitchell Faccinto, Kyle Hirst, Cory Eliason, Justin Sanders, Ryan Bernal, Jonathan Allard, Buddy Kofoid, Colby Copeland, Randy Hannagan, Jason Statler, Mitch Moles, Chase Johnson, Justyn Cox, Dominic Scelzi, Kalib Henry, Willie Croft, Colton Heath, Paul McMahan.

LAS VEGAS – The ninth annual Monster Energy Cup delivered the excitement promised by the biggest purse and most unique race format of any motorcycle race in the world.

The event brought some new twists to Sam Boyd Stadium this year, with the three Cup Class main events held on three different track variations, each requiring the racers one pass through a slower-route Joker Lane.

With a million dollars to any rider who could sweep the three Main Event format, it was Monster Energy Kawasaki’s Adam Cianciarulo who edged out his teammate – two-time and defending Cup champion Eli Tomac – for the event win and $100,000.

In the process, Cianciarulo proved that even as a 450cc class rookie, he has the speed and the mental nerve to take on the competitive 450cc Supercross Class racers. He also earned sweet redemption in Las Vegas after losing the 250SX West title there back in May.

From the first gate drop, the excitement of 35,424 fans spiked as Cianciarulo grabbed the holeshot in his class debut and looked fast enough to gap the two racers behind him, GEICO Honda’s Jeremy Martin and Smartop/Bullfrog Spas/Motoconcepts Honda’s Malcom Stewart, both in their first appearances since big injuries in previous seasons.

Smartop/Bullfrog Spas/Motoconcepts Honda’s Vince Friese, visiting three-time world champion and Team Honda HRC rider Tim Gajser and defending Monster Energy Cup champion Tomac were right behind the top three.

In the same stadium where a simple mistake cost him a Western Regional 250SX Class Supercross title just five months before, Cianciarulo made another small mistake; the Kawasaki rider washed out the front end in a corner and dropped back to fifth as Friese grabbed the lead.

Tomac reached second place but then lost his bearings on which track section he was on and drastically mis-timed a triple jump. Tomac recovered and on lap six got into the lead.

The top riders waited until the final lap to make their pass through the Joker Lane, a slow section comprised of three steep wall jumps separated by deep, white sand. Tomac took the win, separating himself as the only rider in the running for the million dollars.

His new teammate Cianciarulo crossed the checkered flag close behind in second.

On the podium Tomac said about his mid-race mistake, “… our normal line right now is double double, [but] I went double triple. I totally brain-farted. That’s the track getting me right now. … That was scary.”

The second main event of the Cup Class proved that anything can happen in racing. Jeremy Martin jumped out with the holeshot with Friese close behind. Tomac was buried closer to tenth place than to first, and his teammate Cianciarulo was outside even the top 10.

Tomac went to work fast, at times passing a different rider in two consecutive corners. By lap three he was up to second place, with Friese in sight right ahead. But then Tomac highsided while landing off the roller on the track’s high-speed sweeper.

Tomac jumped back onto the bike, but the crash put him into 10th place and over eight seconds from the leader. At the midpoint Malcom Stewart passed his teammate Friese to take the lead and bring home the win.

It marked Stewart’s first race in nine months after an injury ended his Supercross season.

Stewart was a happy man on the podium.

“Man, we’re already making dreams come true. I’ve already marked things off my checklist,” said Stewart. “It was just to win a Main Event. I said, ‘Let’s go, now the goal is to win this overall.’ … This is what Monster Energy Cup is all about. This is what they wanted, you guys want a … three race battle? Here you go! You got it!”

With Stewart taking the win, Cianciarulo finishing second, and Tomac working his way up to third, those three riders went into the final main tied in points for a winner-take-all Vegas finale.

Continued on the next page.

Hideki Matsuyama will enter Monday’s Challenge: Japan Skins on a high note.

Matsuyama, who will tee it up in the exhibition at Narashino Country Club in Chiba alongside Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and Jason Day, closed in 7-under 65 Sunday to tie for third at the CJ Cup. He made seven birdies as part of his bogey-free final round at Nine Bridges, including three in his last four holes.

The world No. 31 will also compete in Japan’s inaugural PGA Tour event, the Zozo Championship, which begins Thursday.

“I’m really looking forward to next week,” Matsuyama said. “We've waited a long time for an event to come to Japan. As far as winning, I mean, all I can do is just get out there and do my best and hopefully I can continue the same form as I had this week and give it a good shot.”

Woods and McIlroy took this week off, but Day was also in action at the CJ Cup, tying for 31^st despite an opening 66. Day’s final-round 71 included five birdies but also three bogeys in his first six holes.

“I just didn't score well enough,” Day said. “I either start really well and then finish poorly or start poorly and finish well. … I shot 6 under the first round, and pretty much from there I just kind of struggled a little bit coming in. I think overall I need to focus on the positives and try to take that into next week.”

Asked how many skins he planned to win Monday, Day responded greedily.

“Hopefully, all of them,” Day said. “That would be nice. I think we're going to have a lot of fun tomorrow. I've never played in a skins game before, so that's going to be interesting. I don't know when the last time Tiger had played, either. He's just coming off a bit of an injury. I think there's going to be a little bit of back and forth with the banter, so I'm excited about that.”

The Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook has Day listed as the underdog at 7/2 while McIlroy (2/1) is the favorite, followed by Matsuyama (5/2) and Woods (3/1).

Jordan Spieth experienced a bit of déjà vu Sunday at Nine Bridges. Just like he did in Saturday’s third round, Spieth bogeyed each of his first two holes.

Luckily for Spieth, he also fought back for the second consecutive day.

While he was never in contention to win Sunday at the CJ Cup, he carded five final-round birdies and shot 1-under 71 to open his 2019-20 season with a T-8 finish. Spieth, who hadn’t played since the BMW Championship more than two months ago, now has five top-10s in his last 11 worldwide starts.

“Certainly a better start than last season,” said Spieth, who began last fall with a T-55 in Las Vegas before missing cuts in Mayakoba and Honolulu.

Spieth’s strong performance in South Korea was bolstered by his putting and short game. The ball-striking, though, is still a “work in progress,” said Spieth, who ranked 157^th in strokes gained tee to green last season.

“It's sometimes difficult to trust on course with different lies, different shots and trouble in play versus a driving range, but that's what I wanted to see,” Spieth said. “I wanted to kind of see and feel where everything was and where it can be adjusted as we go into next week, so I'm excited. … Eighth-place finish, that's good considering how I felt I played.

“It means that as I start to kind of get the rest of it under control, should be able to have a chance to win.”

Spieth, who hasn’t won since the 2017 Open Championship, is scheduled to play for the second straight week, at the Zozo Championship, as he chases a potential President’s Cup captain’s pick.

In recent conversations with Gary Woodland about the Presidents Cup, Tiger Woods has made one thing clear.

“He wants the guys out playing and he wants guys playing well,” Woodland said earlier this week in South Korea. “Unfortunately, I didn't secure my own spot, so I've got to rely on a pick. … I have two weeks left to go out and prove that my game's in a good enough spot that I deserve a pick.”

So far, so good.

Woodland, who was not among the eight automatic selections for Woods’ U.S. team, closed in 6-under 66 Sunday at the CJ Cup to tie for third, his first top-10 since winning the U.S. Open in June.

“I just started playing better, really on Friday,” said Woodland, who shot 13 under on the weekend at Nine Bridges. “Thursday was a rough day, scored all right (71), and then started progressively getting better on the weekend. It's been a while.”

Woodland won’t play in the WGC-HSBC Champions, the last event before the picks are made, in two weeks, but he will tee it up at next week’s Zozo Championship. Joining Woodland in Japan will be other potential picks Tony Finau, Patrick Reed, Kevin Na, Jordan Spieth and Woods.

Of that short list, Spieth and Na played in South Korea, tying for eighth and 20^th, respectively.

Rickie Fowler, considered by some to be a lock for a pick, hasn’t played since the Tour Championship as he recently got married, though he is expected to return for Shanghai.

Phil Mickelson likely needs a win in Shanghai to make the team. He shared 31^st at the CJ Cup and won’t play the Zozo.

Justin Thomas didn’t exactly have the best memory of Nine Bridges’ finishing hole fresh on his mind as he walked toward the island green Sunday at the CJ Cup.

A day earlier, Thomas had rinsed his second shot into the par-5 18^th and then watched as Danny Lee drained an eagle putt to complete a three-shot swing and tie Thomas entering the final round.

With Lee again looking at an eagle putt and Thomas facing a tricky two-putt birdie, Thomas turned to caddie Jimmy Johnson and said, “We’ve got to make birdie here.”

“To be perfectly honest, how the day had gone for him, I wouldn't have been surprised if it had gone in,” Thomas said. “He made a lot of putts and every single one of them went in the center. It's not like they ever looked like they were going to miss.”

Lee’s bid to force a playoff ended as he narrowly missed the eagle try, and Thomas followed by sinking his birdie putt to win by two shots, capping a 20-under performance with a closing 5-under 67.

The victory marks Thomas’ second in three editions of the CJ Cup. It is also the 26-year-old’s 11^th career PGA Tour title, which pulls him even with Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth for most Tour wins before age 27; only Tiger Woods (34) and Jack Nicklaus (20) had more. (Thomas turns 27 on April 29.)

More impressively, he’s won eight of those events while holding the 54-hole lead or co-lead, and has failed to convert just three of his 11 three-round advantages into wins.

But is Thomas the best closer currently in the game? For Thomas, he’s still got a long way to go.

“I don't think you can ever necessarily call yourself the best closer,” Thomas said. “I've only won 11 times. I feel like once I get to 40 or 50 times and I've closed a lot of those, then I think that's kind of different. But I don't know. I mean, the biggest thing I think that I've gotten a lot better at is just learning, taking experiences and learning from them. That's what I did early in my career. There were a couple times I felt like I should have won the tournament, but I did something incorrectly or hit a wrong club or thought how I shouldn't have, and I was able when I finished to look back at that.

“There's going to be things today that once I sit down and digest it and pay attention to kind of what happened out there, I'll be able to learn from it. That's all I'm trying to do because I feel like if I can just improve a little bit every year, then there's not really a ceiling that I feel like I can't reach. I just want to try to win as many tournaments as I can.”

Here are the complete purse and FedExCup breakdowns for the CJ Cup at Nine Bridges, where Justin Thomas won by two shots over Danny Lee:

Germany international Niklas Sule suffered an anterior cruciate ligament tear in his left knee during Bayern Munich's 2-2 draw with FC Augsburg on Saturday, the Bavarian club announced on Sunday.

The defender will undergo surgery on Sunday and now faces a race against time to be fit for the Euro 2020 finals, which starts in eight months' time, should Germany qualify.

- ESPN+ obtains Bundesliga rights from 2020

He suffered the injury in the opening stages of the game when he landed awkwardly on his left leg and immediately reached for his knee.

Limping off the pitch at Augsburg, Bayern's and Germany's worst fears became reality following an examination early on Sunday in which the full extent of Sule's injury was revealed. Bayern described the injury was "a big blow."

German boss Joachim Low added: "That's bitter news for Niklas himself, and we wish him all the best. But losing him also hurts us and compromises the development of our young team.

"Niklas is a face of the new generation. He was an anchor in our plans."

Sule had started all 12 competitive matches for Bayern this season and could now be replaced in the starting lineup by former Germany international Jerome Boateng, who was close to completing a move to Juventus this summer and had been expected to leave the club in the winter.

Bayern have already conceded 10 goals this term and following Saturday's draw with Augsburg, and have only won four of their first eight league games this season.

This is Sule's second ACL tear in his left knee, having suffered the same injury during the 2014-15 season when he was still a Hoffenheim player.

Queensland 264 and 5 for 102 (Labuschagne 33*, Peirson 22*, Winter 3-23) need 48 more runs to beat South Australia 221 and 192 (Bartlett 3-33, Gannon 3-41)

Test batting aspirants on both sides were left without much to show for themselves for the second innings in a row as Queensland's Sheffield Shield contest with South Australia was left poised for a tight finish after no fewer than 18 wickets fell on day three at the Gabba.

Of those batsmen in contention for the first Test against Pakistan in Brisbane next month, no-one managed more than Joe Burns' 22 to go with 39 in the first innings. Travis Head (a duck and 12), Usman Khawaja (2 and a duck) and Alex Carey (14 and 20) were all left shaking their heads, with the Queensland captain least happy of all.

Shaping to defend a left-arm delivery from Nick Winter, Khawaja was beaten on the inside edge and the ball appeared to brush his thigh before he was given out caught behind. Khawaja, having been lbw in the first innings, lingered at the crease, knowing his chances for a big score to press for a Test recall are starting to run out.

Burns' exit was more clear cut, at the start of a sequence in which the Bulls lost 5 for 7 having been 0 for 47 in pursuit of 150 for victory. After Burns, Khawaja, Matt Renshaw, Charlie Hemphrey and the debutant Bryce Street all fell in the space of three overs, Marnus Labuschagne and the wicketkeeper Jimmy Peirson steadied the chase to leave the hosts requiring another 48 runs on the final morning.

They required as many as 150 only through a spirited last wicket stand of 61 between Chadd Sayers and Wes Agar, after the Redbacks had again folded to the Queensland seamers on a pitch that had quickened up over three days though no longer offering much sideways movement.

An opening stand of 37 ended when Jake Weatherald cut forcefully but straight to backward point. Jake Lehmann ended a wretched match with a pair, nearly lbw first ball then caught behind when trying to leave his second.

Head got to double figures but was dismissed by a ball delivered from around the wicket once again, swishing wildly at Cameron Gannon to slice to gully, before Henry Hunt was unfortunate to be lbw to Michael Neser as the ball looked to be angling down the leg side. Tom Cooper edged an away swinger to Renshaw at slip, and Carey was annoyed at himself to nick an attempted forcing stroke in the same direction.

Tasmania268 and 9 for 132 (Starc 4-20) lead New South Wales 364 (Henriques 124, Smith 106, Meredith 5-98) by 36 runs

Australia paceman Mitchell Starc proved why he is such a valuable asset on flat pitches, tearing through Tasmania's top and lower order to put New South Wales on the brink of victory on day three at Drummoyne Oval.

Starc took 4 for 20 in 19 blistering overs as Tasmania crumbled to 9 for 132 in their second innings with a slender lead of just 36 heading into day four. He had match figures of 9 for 60 from 43.3 overs after claiming 5 for 40 in the first innings.

Starc picked up both openers when Alex Doolan failed to get on top a cut shot to be caught at point and Jordan Silk was lbw caught on the crease by a ball searing into middle from around the wicket.

Tasmania could not find a way to get the scoreboard moving against an unrelenting New South Wales attack. Beau Webster was castled by a sharp inswinger from Trent Copeland.

Test batsman Matthew Wade was uncharacteristically restrained, crawling to 40 off 113 balls before Sean Abbott found his outside edge.

Tim Paine was caught at square leg, cramped for room trying to pull Abbott to leave Tasmania 6 for 112 before Starc returned to fire a missile into the base of Alex Pyecroft's middle stump. He also found the outside edge of Sam Rainbird. Lawrence Neil-Smith and Riley Meredith bravely held out to stumps.

Earlier, Meredith's maiden five-wicket haul dragged Tasmania back into the game after twin centuries from Moises Henriques and Steve Smith put the Blues in a position to only bat once in the match.

Meredith picked up three wickets in two overs with some express pace of his own. He bounced out Henriques before rattling the stumps of both Peter Nevill and Smith. His yorker to remove Smith was especially impressive, leaving the world's No.1 Test batsman in a tangle.

New South Wales went from 3 for 286 to 9 for 338 when Meredith had Abbott caught at leg slip. Nathan Lyon produced a useful cameo of 30 while Kurtis Patterson, batting at No. 11 with a runner due to his quad injury, contributed 16 not out in a tenth-wicket partnership of 28.