I Dig Sports

United States, adding to medal list

Published in Table Tennis

Saturday, 07 September 2019 01:13

At the semi-final stage both pairs ended Latin American hopes; Nikhil Kumar and Amy Wang beat Puerto Rico’s Daniel Gonzalez and Melanie Diaz (8-11, 11-8, 11-9, 12-10), Zhang Kai and Lily Zhang halted the aspirations of Argentina’s Horacio Cifuentes and Camila Arguelles (14-12, 11-7, 12-10).

Meanwhile, in both the men’s singles and women’s singles events, the leading names made positive starts to their campaigns.

In the women’s singles, Canada’s Zhang Mo and Wu Yue of the United States, the respective top two seeds, were not called to action; the next in line, Lily Zhang, also from the United States and Brazil’s Bruna Takahashi were both summoned to order. Lily Zhang beat Mexico’s Clio Barcenas (11-5, 11-2, 11-6m, 12-10), Bruna Takahashi accounted for the host nation’s Melina Hermosilla (11-5, 11-5, 11-5, 11-8).

Imposing performances, it was the same in the opening round of the men’s singles competition. Kanak Jha of the United States, the top seed, accounted for Argentina’s Santiago Lorenzo (11-7, 11-9, 11-6, 7-11, 11-6); Brazil’s Gustavo Tsuboi, the no.2 seed, overcame Ecuador’s Diego Piguave. Likewise, Paraguay’s Marcelo Aguirre, the no.3 seed, beat Chile’s Manuel Moya (11-6, 11-8, 11-5, 11-6); Thiago Monteiro, the no.4 seed and like Gustavo Tsuboi from Brazil, emulated his colleague by causing Ecuador problems. He overcame Emiliano Riofrio (11-2, 11-3, 11-6, 13-15, 11-6).

The quarter-finalists known in the men’s singles and women’s singles events; in the men’s doubles and women’s doubles competitions the semi-finalists have been decided. Notably in each event, the top four pairs have advanced.

In the semi-final round of the men’s doubles event Brazil’s Eric Jouti and Gustavo Tsuboi, the top seeds, meet Chile’s Gustavo Gomez and Juan Lamadrid, the no.4 seeds; in the opposite half of the draw, Argentina’s Gaston Alto and Horacio Cifuentes confront Mexico’s Marcos Madrid and Ricardo Villa, the no.3 seeds.

Similarly, in the women’s doubles penultimate round, Wu Yue and Lily Zhang of the United States, the top seeds, face Puerto Rico’s Melanie Diaz and Daniely Rios, the no.4 seeds, Canada’s Joyce Xu and Zhang Mo draw swords with Chile’s Daniela Ortega and Paulina Vega, the no.3 seeds.

Play on Saturday 7th September focuses on the men’s singles and women’s singles events when matters will advance to the semi-final round; on Sunday 8th September the semi-finals and finals of the men’s doubles and women’s doubles events will be enacted.

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Living on the knife-edge dramatic conclusion in Ulaanbaator

Published in Table Tennis

Saturday, 07 September 2019 06:59

After recording a semi-final success against colleague Liu Yebo (15-13, 11-6, 11-3, 11-9), Xu Yingbin withstood a spirited recovery by the defending champion, Xiang Peng the claim the junior boys’ singles title, a contest in which he had to save one match point in the deciding seventh game (11-5, 9-11, 11-3, 16-14, 9-11, 5-11, 12-10), before raising his arms in victory.

Earlier in the day, at the semi-final stage Xiang Peng had ended the hopes of Japan’s Hiroto Shinozuka (5-11, 11-3, 13-11, 11-8, 11-5).

Colleagues meet

An all Chinese junior boys’ singles final, one match earlier it had been an all Japanese junior girls’ singles gold medal contest. Miyu Nagasaki accounted for Kyoka Idesawa (7-11, 11-6, 11-6, 11-5, 11-8), an engagement in which the champion elect adjusted to the close to the table attacking style of most worthy opponent.

Notably the backhand attacking strokes exerted with minimal top spin had totally demoralised China’s Wu Yangchen at the semi-final stage (11-4, 11-6, 11-5, 11-4). In the counterpart penultimate round duel, Miyu Nagasaki had ended the progress of 15 year old colleague, Haruna Oji.

Doubles gold for Japan

Success for Miyu Nagasaki came after she had partnered Miyuu Kihara to junior girls’ doubles gold, accounting for Korea Republic’s Shin Yubin and Ryu Hanna in the final (11-8, 11-6, 5-11, 11-8). The top step of the podium for Japan, in the junior boys’ doubles competition it was the top two steps; Yukiya Uda and Shunsuke Togami secured the title at the final expense of Kakeru Sone and Hiroto Shinozuka (6-11, 11-5, 11-5, 6-11, 11-4).

Three titles for Japan on the concluding day of play, it was the same number for China. Chen Yuanyu won the cadet boys’ singles event beating India’s Payas Jain in the final (13-11, 11-6, 11-8, 11-5), the success coming after Chen Yi had overcome Japan’s Kaho Akae (11-7, 6-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-8) to be crowned the cadet girls singles champion.

World Junior Championships places

Meanwhile, the third position in the junior boys’ team and junior girls’ team events for places in the 2019 World Junior Championships went respectively to Chinese Taipei and Japan.

Based on the best cnclusion by the highest ranked player from the losing team semi-finalists, for the boys Chinese Taipei’s Tai Ming-Wei finished in first place in his group, as opposed to Korea Republic’s Jung Seown who had to settle for second position.

Somewhat differently, in the junior girls’ singles event, Japan’s Miyuu Kihara and Korea Republic’s Shin Yubin, the leading names, both ended their journey in second position in their initial phase group. Thus the finish achieved by the second highest ranked from each team was considered. Haruna Ojio advanced to the semi-finals, Ryu Hanna ended matters in second place in her group.

Chinese Taipei joins China and India in the boys’ team event at the 2019 World Junior Championships; in the girls’ team competition, Japan lines up alongside China and DPR Korea.

The 2019 World Junior Championships will be staged in Korat, Thailand from Sunday 24th November to Sunday 1st December.

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Rivalries resumed as Egyptians contest China finals

Published in Squash

Saturday, 07 September 2019 10:32

Top seed Raneem El Welily plays a textbook forehand drop

Husband and wife bring new season to life, but mighty Mo wants that No.1 ranking back
By ELLIE MAWSON in Shanghai

Egypt’s World No.5 Nour El Tayeb swept aside compatriot and 2019 British Open champion Nouran Gohar to book her place in the final of the J.P. Morgan China Squash Open PSA World Tour Gold tournament.

The 26-year-old Egyptian has been in formidable form this week, despatching both former World No.1 Rachael Grinham and compatriot Nadine Shahin in less than 20 minutes in her previous rounds, and today proved no different as she started brightly against Gohar.

World No.4 Gohar looked out of sorts as she struggled to deal with El Tayeb’s quick start and accuracy, eventually losing 11-6, 11-5, 11-8 in 28 minutes.

“Today was one of my best performances,” said 26-year-old El Tayeb afterwards. “I’ve been very focused during the off season and this match just proves that I am on the right track and that I’m playing well.

“I’m very excited to be in the final of my first tournament. It gives me a lot of confidence and obviously it doesn’t get any better than playing the World No.1, defending champion and the best player of the last 12 months. I’m very excited for it.”

El Tayeb will take on World No.1 Raneem El Welily for the trophy tomorrow after she overcame World Junior champion Hania El Hammamy in straight games.

Nour El Tayeb has been in phenomenal form all week

El Welily, who won the China Squash Open title last year, will be eyeing a repeat performance as she looks to pick up the first honour of the new PSA World Tour season.

“I’m very pleased to be through to the final here in China,” said 30-year-old El Welily. “It’s such a special place for me now, I’ve had good results almost every time here now, so I’m really pleased.

“My squash has been a bit up and down mentally and playing in patches throughout the entire week. I’d like to see myself more consistent and more solid.”

Meanwhile, El Tayeb’s husband and World No.1 Ali Farag will contest the men’s final against World No.2 and close rival Mohamed ElShorbagy after they defeated India’s Saurav Ghosal and Marwan ElShorbagy, respectively.

Ali Farag in action against Saurav Ghosal

Farag took out Ghosal – the only non-Egyptian left in the tournament – by an 11-4, 11-9, 11-4 margin as he and wife, El Tayeb, look to repeat their 2017 U.S. Open performance, when they made history by becoming the first sporting couple to lift the same major title on the same day.

“It was a good performance and I’m very happy,” said 27-year-old Farag. “It is the best I have played all week. I couldn’t afford to let Saurav get in front of me and I think I did that very well today.

“We haven’t done it ever since [repeat the U.S. Open victory with wife Nour El Tayeb], even though it’s not a Platinum event, it is still quite a prestigious one and I would love for the two of us to grab the first titles of the season. We know the challenge that lies ahead of us though in Raneem El Welily and Mohamed ElShorbagy, so we will have to be at our very best.”

Farag will face familiar rival in Mohamed ElShorbagy in the final, after the 28-year-old defeated his younger brother, Marwan, in the earlier semi-final.

Mohamed ElShorbagy triumphed in a fierce battle with brother Marwan

The siblings played out a brutal match with both players pushing each other to their limits on the humid court as Mohamed overturned a one-game deficit to win 8-11, 11-5, 11-8, 11-9 in 64 minutes.

“It’s very tough, physically and emotionally, to play against my brother,” said 28-year-old Mohamed afterwards. “We know each other very well. Mentally, it’s so hard when you know each other.

“To play the first tournament of the season and to win it would be a huge confidence boost and send a message to the rest of my opponents. I’m here to get back to World No.1, I’m not here to do the same results I did last season because it wasn’t good enough and I fell to No.2.

“I’m back and want to be playing in finals and winning tournaments and tomorrow is another step towards doing that.”

Action from the finals of the J.P. Morgan China Squash Open takes place at 19:00 local time (GMT+8) tomorrow (Sunday September 8) on the glass court in the evening at the Peninsula Shanghai.

J.P. Morgan China Squash Open, Shanghai, China.

Men’s semi-finals:
[1] Ali Farag (EGY) bt [3] Saurav Ghosal (IND) 3-0: 11-4, 11-9, 11-4 (34m)
[2] Mohamed ElShorbagy (EGY) bt [4] Marwan ElShorbagy (EGY) 3-1: 8-11, 11-5, 11-8, 11-9 (64m)

Women’s semi-finals:
[1] Raneem El Welily (EGY) bt Hania El Hammamy (EGY) 3-0: 11-8, 12-10, 11-8 (37m)
[3] Nour El Tayeb (EGY) bt [2] Nouran Gohar (EGY) 3-0: 11-6, 11-5, 11-8 (28m)

Men’s final (September 8):
[1] Ali Farag (EGY) v [2] Mohamed ElShorbagy (EGY)

Women’s Final:
[1] Raneem El Welily (EGY) v [3] Nour El Tayeb (EGY)

Report by ELLIE MAWSON (PSA). Edited by ALAN THATCHER.

Pictures courtesy of PSA

Posted on September 7, 2019

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Rugby World Cup 2019: Pick your England XV to face Tonga

Published in Rugby

Saturday, 07 September 2019 04:04

All eyes turn now to Sapporo.

After a 37-0 victory in their final Rugby World Cup warm-up match against Italy on Friday night, England will next step onto a field in anger on Sunday, 22 September when they face Tonga in their Pool C opener.

What team do you think head coach Eddie Jones should pick?

Is Owen Farrell a fly-half or a centre?

Which two of Maro Itoje, Joe Launchbury, George Kruis and Courtney Lawes make up the second row?

Which combination of Tom Curry, Sam Underhill, Mark Wilson and Lewis Ludlam gives you the right back-row balance?

And do you risk Jack Nowell or Henry Slade after they picked up injuries in the build-up to the tournament?

You can pick your team below, and when you are done have a look below to see which XV rugby union correspondent Chris Jones has gone for...

England starting XV against Tonga

Choose your players from the list below.

Chris Jones' England XV to face Tonga

1. Joe Marler

Mako Vunipola - who worryingly has had a setback in his recovery - is England's starting loose-head prop when fit, but Marler has looked hungry since coming out of international retirement. Ellis Genge to make hay off the bench.

2. Jamie George

Without Dylan Hartley, George has become the man in the number two shirt, having a brilliant season for club and country. Luke Cowan-Dickie is still inexperienced and Jack Singleton is very much travelling as back-up.

3. Kyle Sinckler

Dan Cole's experience and technical nous will be an asset this World Cup, but there is no doubt Sinckler is England's starting tight-head. Part of an England forward pack full of power and dynamism.

4. George Kruis

Kruis has enjoyed a fantastic 2019, allying his lineout expertise with hugely improved physicality.

5. Maro Itoje

Works superbly with Kruis, and provides so much of England's energy both sides of the ball.

6. Mark Wilson

Tempted to play Tom Curry here with Sam Underhill at open-side flanker, but Wilson deserves to be in England's first-choice pack after a strong year. Will provide industry for the first hour before the game opens up.

7. Tom Curry

Not much between him and Underhill at the moment, with Curry's improved ball-carrying just about getting him the nod. Underhill to make an impact off the bench - possibly alongside Curry.

8. Billy Vunipola

England's only specialist number eight in the squad - and, like his brother, a man who can lay claim to being the best in the world. If Billy is injured, England's World Cup hopes may go with him.

9. Ben Youngs

Eddie Jones has curiously made scrum-half an uncompetitive position: if Youngs is fit, he starts. A class act, but has looked a little rusty in the warm-ups. Improved showing against Italy but could still back himself more with ball in hand.

10. George Ford

Whether Ford starts the big knockout games remains up in the air, but his partnership with Farrell will give England the chance to hit the ground running in Japan. A fantastic ball player who ruthlessly picks teams apart when given quick ball.

11. Jonny May

Has become a central figure for England, and has been a stand-out player for the past 12 months. Has worked on both his speed and physicality in the training camps and is a shoo-in.

12. Owen Farrell

With Henry Slade short of fitness and game-time, Farrell switching to 12 seems the sensible option at the start of the tournament. It was clear against Ireland that England won't miss a trick wherever the captain plays.

13. Manu Tuilagi

Has returned to his destructive best, a sight many English coaches hoped for, but rarely saw. With Ben Te'o jettisoned, Tuilagi has to stay fit. A trump card.

14. Anthony Watson

Jack Nowell would be in strong contention to start on the right wing - but has been battling injury and illness and can't be risked. Watson is back from his long-standing Achilles problem and looking sharp. Can interchange with Daly in attack and defence.

15. Elliot Daly

Daly at full-back has not been wholly convincing - which is why I would have had the safety blanket of Mike Brown in the squad - but he must play somewhere in the back three. His footballing quality will spark England on the counter-attack, which is why Jones puts him at 15 rather than on the wing.

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All Blacks score 92 points in final World Cup warm-up

Published in Rugby

Saturday, 07 September 2019 04:58

World Cup favourites New Zealand hammered Tonga 92-7 in their final warm-up game before the tournament begins in Japan.

The All Blacks were in awesome form as they ran in 14 tries in Hamilton with nine different try scorers.

They were relentless from the off and had already scored eight tries by half-time as they led 54-0.

New Zealand begin their quest for a third successive title against South Africa in Yokohama on 21 September.

They will later play Canada, Namibia and Italy in Pool B and could play either Ireland or Scotland in the quarter-finals.

Tonga, known for their physicality, could not match New Zealand's intensity and were blown away as winger George Bridge led the way with four tries. Ben Smith and Ryan Crotty each scored two and Sevu Reece, Codie Taylor, captain Kieran Read, TJ Perenara, Matt Todd and Ardie Savea all crossed the tryline.

Just as important for the hosts, there were no fresh injury concerns from the match.

The All Blacks only eased up in the last 15 minutes when coach Steve Hansen deliberately reduced them to 14 men as practice and the South Sea islanders scored a consolation try.

Tonga will be England's first opponents at the World Cup, with the two countries meeting in Sapporo on 22 September.

Australia rounded off their preparations for the tournament by scoring six tries as they defeated Samoa 34-15 in Parramatta.

The Wallabies were 22-3 up at half-time but faced a second half fight-back as replacement scrum-half Dwayne Polataivao twice went over to reduce the deficit to 22-15 before late scores from Dane Haylett-Petty and centre Matt To'omua secured the win.

One positive was a first appearance since March for flanker David Pocock after a calf injury, but there will be concerns over fly-half Bernard Foley only landing two of his six kicks.

Australia, who are in Pool C with Wales, start against Fiji on 21 September in Sapporo whereas Samoa face World Cup debutants Russia in Pool A three days later in Kumagaya.

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World Cup warm-up: 'Ireland choked us in the second half' - Gatland

Published in Rugby

Saturday, 07 September 2019 10:14

Wales coach Warren Gatland laments their second-half discipline as Ireland "choked" them after the break in their final World Cup warm-up defeat in Dublin.

The visitors lost 19-10 ahead of the forthcoming tournament in Japan.

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Rugby World Cup: Ireland beat Wales 19-10 in final warm-up game

Published in Rugby

Saturday, 07 September 2019 07:59

Ireland will travel to Japan as the world's number one ranked side on the back of two wins over Wales after defeating Warren Gatland's side 19-10.

Rob Kearney and Hadleigh Parkes traded first-half tries before scores from Tadhg Furlong and James Ryan put the hosts in control after the break.

Welsh fly-half Rhys Patchell was replaced in the first half after failing a Head Injury Assessment.

Injury also forced off Ireland's Cian Healy and Keith Earls in Dublin.

The game also gave the Aviva Stadium crowd the chance to say farewell to the departing duo of captain Rory Best and head coach Joe Schmidt.

With warm-ups now complete, both sides will travel to Japan next week with Ireland beginning their campaign against Scotland on 22 September and Wales facing Georgia a day later.

Ferocious Welsh start amid faltering Irish line-out

Having fielded a weakened team for last week's meeting in Cardiff, Gatland returned to near full-strength for the final warm-up match as Wales started at a ferocious pace.

The visitors could have led by double scores only for Leigh Halfpenny to uncharacteristically miss a regulation penalty before Kearney's timely interception denied George North from latching onto Halfpenny's kick through.

Meanwhile, the hosts continued to struggle at the set-piece as Best, in his final home appearance before retiring, misfired from his first two line-outs.

Ireland's third line-out came as they entered the Wales 22 for the first time after 20 minutes, with James Ryan collecting the throw before the ball was moved left through the phases as Kearney crossed.

Henshaw marks return in style

With Ireland's crucial World Cup opener against Scotland just two weeks away, all eyes were on Johnny Sexton as the 2018 World Rugby player of the year made his first appearance of the warm-up games.

After his first involvement saw the veteran fly-half send his restart directly into touch, Sexton settled well to conduct Ireland's attack with typical efficiency.

However it was Sexton's Leinster team-mate Henshaw, playing his first international game since Ireland's opening Six Nations defeat by England in February, who made the biggest impact upon his return.

With questions hanging over the Irish defence following their 42-point thrashing against England, Henshaw's return inspired a vastly improved display in that regard, and further underpinned his importance to Schmidt's gameplan.

It was Henshaw's outstanding try-line tackle that denied Dan Biggar a certain score after the replacement fly-half had picked off Sexton's pass on halfway.

However, Henshaw was powerless to stop Parkes from bulldozing his way over just moments later, after the Scarlets centre picked a brilliant line to rip through Ireland's defence.

Second half belongs to Ireland

Where in the first half it was Wales who controlled the pace of the game, Ireland were the dominant force after the restart, setting up camp inside the Welsh 22.

Prop Furlong drove over from short range after a sustained spell of pressure before Ryan did the same eight minutes later to give the hosts a two-score lead.

Wales, by contrast, struggled to keep hold of the ball and could not keep their penalty count down enough to release the pressure valve.

Indeed referee Mathieu Raynal eventually lost patience, sending replacement lock Adam Beard to the bin with two minutes remaining.

Test match intensity comes at a cost

Although the benefits of a warm-up game played with Test match intensity are clear to see, both sides will bemoan losing players to injury before the tournament in Japan has began.

Patchell, who edged out Jarrod Evans for Wales' back-up fly-half spot following an inspired performance off the bench last week, did not return from a first half Head Injury Assessment having taken several heavy hits.

Ireland too lost out after prop Healy was removed at half-time following a HIA, before Earls limped off midway through the second half.

Ireland: Kearney; Larmour, Henshaw, Aki, Earls; Sexton, Murray; Healy, Best (c), Furlong, Ryan, Kleyn, Stander, van der Flier, Conan.

Replacements: Cronin, Kilcoyne, Porter, Henderson, Ruddock, McGrath, Carty, Ringrose

Wales: Halfpenny; North, Davies, Parkes, Adams; Patchell, Williams; Jones, Dee, Tomas Francis, Ball, Jones (c), Wainwright, Tipuric, Moriarty.

Replacements: Ken Owens, Nicky Smith, Dillon Lewis, Adam Beard, Josh Navidi, Gareth Davies, Dan Biggar, Liam Williams.

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Leclerc Claims Pole Amid Monza Confusion

Published in Racing

Saturday, 07 September 2019 09:26

MONZA, Italy – Charles Leclerc emerged with his fourth Formula One pole after a bizarre qualifying session Saturday at Autodromo Nazionale Monza.

Leclerc’s 1:19.307 was enough for him to earn the pole for the Italian Grand Prix, but it was how the session ended that had fans and competitors alike talking.

The final round of qualifying was halted after a crash by Kimi Raikkonen in his Alfa Romeo, but once the track was clear all of the drivers chose to wait before returning to the track.

Everyone was waiting, hoping to take advantage of the tow around Monza. Most of the cars hit the track extremely late, with only Carlos Sainz managing to get to the start/finish line before the checkered flag waved to end the session.

Sainz was unable to improve upon his time from earlier in Q3, meaning Leclerc had clinched the pole without turning a final lap.

Lewis Hamilton ended up second with his best time of 1:19.346, followed closely by his Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas in third. Sebastian Vettel qualified fourth for Ferrari, followed by the Renault of Daniel Ricciardo.

Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg, Sainz, Red Bull’s Alexander Albon, Racing Point’s Lance Stroll and Raikkonen completed the top-10.

Of note, Max Verstappen had an engine malfunction in Q1 and failed to advance. He’ll start last in the 20-car field Sunday afternoon.

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Kyle Larson Tops First Brickyard Practice

Published in Racing

Saturday, 07 September 2019 09:32

INDIANAPOLIS – Kyle Larson was the fastest driver in Saturday’s first Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series practice at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Larson, still in search of his first victory this year, circled the 2.5-mile speedway at 185.025 mph in his Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1.

Saturday’s morning practice is part of a revamped schedule where qualifications for the Big Machine Vodka 400 will be Sunday at 10:35 a.m. Eastern Time, followed by the race at 2 p.m. The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series teams have two rounds of practice on Saturday.

The two rounds of practice for the Big Machine Vodka 400 are important because Sunday’s race will be the final race of the regular season. The race will lock in the field of 16 drivers that will begin the NASCAR playoffs next Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Chip Ganassi Racing swept the top-two positions as Kurt Busch was second fastest at 184.763 mph. Last year’s Brickyard winner, Brad Keselowski, was third in his Team Penske Ford at 184.600 mph. Chase Elliott’s speed of 184.305 mph and Bubba Wallace’s speed of 183.685 mph rounded out the top-five.

Seven-time Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson is one of the drivers not locked into the playoff field. He is 18 points out of the Playoffs and essentially needs to win Sunday’s race in order to qualify. He was ninth fastest Saturday morning at 182.700 mph in the No. 48 Chevrolet.

Daniel Suarez, another driver on the borderline of making the playoffs, was 22nd at 180.527 mph. Ryan Newman, who is fighting Suarez for that final position, was 27th at 179.129 mph in a Ford.

Another practice session is set at 1:30 p.m. ET Saturday.

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Salinas’ Drive To Succeed

Published in Racing

Saturday, 07 September 2019 10:00

Stop if you’ve heard this story before. It’s about a poor but ingenious and industrious California man who lifted himself to success in drag racing, thanks in part to an incredibly smart tuner but more so a relentless focus on the task at hand. And he’s enjoying the notion his four daughters are sharing his drag-racing dream with him.

This isn’t about John Force.

Mike Salinas has exactly 148 fewer victories than John Force and he doesn’t drive a Funny Car.

Salinas, who has won twice this season, appeared to have come out of nowhere. Racing mostly on the West Coast with a spartan paint job on his Scrappers Racing dragster, he remained a mystery for about seven years.

But quietly and methodically, he put together a powerful presence with tuning wizard Alan Johnson, who has earned 12 Top Fuel championships with six different drivers.

“Our program’s a little different than where he’s been,” Salinas said. “I asked him to come on board, and he graciously came on board. We’ll call him my plumber. If I have a leak at my house, I don’t go tell the plumber how to do it. I leave him alone, let him do his job — let all the guys do their jobs.”

When Salinas won the four-wide race at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway this April, he bought every crew member a Harley-Davidson motorcycle. Before that, he said, “I had never won anything at any level of racing.”

Mike Salinas on track earlier this year. (NHRA Photo)

Salinas pressures himself to exceed his own expectations and sets the bar high for daughters Jasmine, Jacqueline, Jianna and Janae.

“I’m here for one thing, nothing else,” he said. “I want to go as fast as I can and win. That’s why I’m here. There are different levels of people and the ideology of how they do it. So if I shoot for the stars and go for the best, I’m going to get really close. We just keep knocking at the door. Nothing ever comes easy for us. It never has in this world, and it doesn’t come easy for anybody. All of us struggle every day. Things do not fall in your lap. I have my own reasons; and I don’t care what anybody in this world thinks but my four daughters. If I don’t win, how can they win? That’s just my theory of how we build our world.”

He built his world from scratch.

“We were the broke, poor kids and we had to work,” Salinas, 58, said of his early years. He remembered how, even as a child, he made sure his younger siblings had enough food to eat before he would take his own portion. And he and wife Monica have worked for 36 years to make their companies — and themselves — what they are today.

Although the Salinas family lives in California’s Bay Area and operates their firms out of San Jose, Monica Salinas is pursuing a distance-learning degree from Harvard, studying Middle East finances.

“We built our companies. Monica and I, this is our 36th year in business,” Salinas noted. “She had $3,500 and I had $3,000 when we started our company 36 years ago — 20-hour days, seven days a week. We never realized what we were going to build. I actually just went back and I’m walking through all the companies and watching what’s going on and it’s pretty amazing. You don’t realize it’s yours. We’ve been on that push for so long.”

And he still is. It’s difficult to imagine Salinas isn’t that same high-school kid who learned from one of his sisters how to drive a truck and bought a raggedy 1956 Kenworth to haul junk cars to scrapyards after classes each day.

“I can’t sit still. I sleep about two hours a night. My brain’s on kill 24/7 and it’s hard to stop. I don’t know how to stop,” Salinas said. “Driving, when I first started, that’s what it did for me. It calmed me down when I got in the car. Now we created another company. You look at what (Don) Schumacher goes through. You look at what (John) Force goes through, (Connie) Kalitta. Every time you add something on, it escalates. You know, we own a bunch of companies, so it escalates also there. More cars, more people, more funding, more this, more that. It doesn’t stop.

“The thing for me is I have four daughters and they all want to run, so that’s first and foremost. I’m lucky because they want to do it with us,” he said, “and we’re together as a family. That’s all. The rest I don’t really care about.”

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