I Dig Sports
ELKHART LAKE, Wis. – One year ago, Wisconsin-based Pabst Racing claimed the pole position for both Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship races at Road America, only to fall short of the victory on each occasion.
Saturday’s Cooper Tires Grand Prix of Road America Powered by Elite Engines turned out better for the local team as New Zealand’s Hunter McElrea worked his way past pole-sitting teammate Colin Kaminsky and went on to score his maiden victory.
Kaminsky chased home for the best result of his career to date, while Cameron Shields followed up his own spectacular maiden victory in the most recent race at the Lucas Oil Raceway oval by completing the podium for Newman Wachs Racing.
The leading pair quickly separated themselves from the main pack after an incident at the first corner saw contact between several cars as they jostled for position. Second and fourth-fastest qualifiers Alex Baron and Darren Keane were the biggest losers. Keane rejoined a distant last after he was sent spinning off the road, while Baron incurred two flat tires and bodywork damage which sent him to the pits and out of contention.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, Denmark’s Christian Rasmussen emerged in third place having started in seventh. Behind him at the end of the first lap were a squabbling pack comprising Mexico’s Manuel Sulaiman, Shields and championship leader Braden Eves, who had started eighth for Cape Motorsports.
Kaminsky maintained his lead for the opening two laps, but McElrea remained glued to his gearbox, anxiously looking for a way past. A fast exit from Turn 14 at the end of the second lap gave him the chance to tow up alongside Kaminsky on the front straight and make the decisive pass into turn one. McElrea never looked back, inching away little by little to take the flag fully 3.5352 seconds to the good.
“This feels like an entire elephant off my back – maybe two,” said McElrea. “This is what you work for, these moments. I knew I had the guys behind me to do it, it was just a matter of time. I’ll remember this day for the rest of my life. I’m so glad to bring this result to Augie and the team, they deserve it. We’re really a family-based team so to get this result in the team’s backyard is just unbelievable. It was great to get a win but to have Colin P2 made it that much better. We’re teammates and we had pace on the field, so our plan was to work together so we could pull away before we battled. We showed each other respect and once I had the lead it was just about extending the gap. It was a straightforward race which is what you always dream about.”
Rasmussen was shuffled back to sixth after the first few laps, where he remained until just two laps shy of the finish when he was punted from behind in the braking area for turn 12 by DEForce Racing’s Jak Crawford. A subsequent 30-second penalty dropped Crawford from seventh to 14th in the final results.
Sulaiman ran third for a while before being demoted firstly by Shields and then by Eves, who continued their battle to the finish line, separated by less than half a second and having closed up almost onto the tail of second-place finisher Kaminsky in the closing stages.
Brazilian Bruna Tomaselli, the only female in the field, also drove a strong race by rising from 11th on the grid to sixth, making several incisive passes as the race progressed.
ELKHART LAKE, Wis. – The future of the NTT IndyCar Series was on full display in Saturday’s Fast Six qualifications at Road America.
The battle for the pole for Sunday’s REV Group Grand Prix at Road America came down to a battle between 27-year-old Alexander Rossi and 19-year-old Colton Herta.
Rossi made two attempts during the final 8-minute round of qualifications while Herta chose to wait it out and make one fast attempt. By the time the session was completed, it was Herta who claimed the pole with a fast time of 1:42.9920 around the 4.014-mile, 14-turn Road America road course for a speed of 140.306 mph, becoming the youngest pole winner in Indy car history in the process.
“We’ve been so fast all weekend, and this is the cherry on top,” Herta said afterwards. “Alex has been a great teammate for me, and all of the Andretti drivers have been great to work with.”
It was the first pole for Harding Steinbrenner Racing and Herta, who is 19 years and 83 days old. Graham Rahal was previously the youngest pole winner in Indy car history. Rahal was 20 years and 90 days old in St. Petersburg, Fla., in 2009, one year after he became then youngest race winner on the same track.
Rossi’s fastest lap was 1:43.1693 (140.065 mph) in the closing stages of the final round of qualifications. Rossi believes he drove as good a lap as the car could give him, but the competition level in the series is so high at the moment, it takes a perfect lap to win the pole in this format.
“It’s what we have week-in and week-out and requires perfection from the team and the driver,” Rossi said. “Colton did a good job, but it’s unfortunate I didn’t get that point for the pole. But we’re still ahead of Josef Newgarden and hopefully we keep it that way on Sunday.”
Rossi was referring to Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden, the current leader in the NTT IndyCar Series standings by 25 points over Rossi.
Team Penske’s Will Power was third at 1:43.3749 (139.786 mph), followed by Newgarden at 1:43.6036 (139.478 mph). Rahal was fifth at 1:43.8076 (139.204 mph) followed by his teammate Takuma Sato’s 1:43.8790 (139.108 mph).
“As per usual, it was a pretty competitive session,” Rossi said. “I don’t think we went in expecting anything less.
“Ultimately, we came up a little bit short. I think we were 1/10th or 2/10ths off all session. We have to look into that, see how we can improve for tomorrow.
“I don’t know that it’s any different here than other places. There’s just probably more dramatic camera angles and shots here than others. You have to push every lap. It’s really no different today. I think we had a good lap in the first round, made some changes that maybe weren’t ultimately the best.
“Regardless, we’re on the front row. We’ll take it. We’re ahead of our championship competitors. Hopefully that’s a good omen for tomorrow.”
At 19, Herta is still just a kid, but drives with all of the racing savvy of a proven veteran. He became Indy car’s youngest winner when he was a week shy of his 19th birthday with the win in the IndyCar Classic at Circuit of the Americas on March 24.
Now, he is the youngest pole winner in Indy car history.
“I think we’ve been in the Fast Six quite a bit and we’ve tried these different tire strategies,” Herta explained. “Some were successful, some weren’t. This time we stayed solid on not going out and just doing two laps on our best set of Reds.
“I’ve had plenty of practice this year to do these one-lap, fast-lap type qualifying. I don’t think it was a lack of experience. I’ve had plenty of experience from this year already.
“We had a clear plan on what we were going to do. I’m glad we stuck to it because it was the right one.”
For complete qualifying results, advance to the next page.
MADISON, Ill. – Michael Self will start Saturday’s ARCA Menards Series race at World Wide Technology Raceway from the pole after setting the fastest time in the lone practice.
The weather in metro St. Louis finally cleared and allowed ARCA teams to get on the track for an hour of practice for Saturday night’s Day to Day Coffee 150. Series championship leader Michael Self led the incident-free session with a lap of 33.105 seconds at 135.931 mph and, per the ARCA Menards Series rule book, will start from the General Tire Pole for Saturday night’s race.
Self’s Venturini Motorsports teammate Christian Eckes was second fastest in practice and will start alongside on the front row. Eckes’s fast lap was 33.125 seconds at 135.849 mph. Sixteen-year-old Corey Heim timed in third fastest in practice, followed by Chandler Smith and Bret Holmes.
Sam Mayer, Tanner Gray, Ty Gibbs, Drew Dollar and Travis Braden completed the top-10.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- The Toronto Maple Leafs found a taker for veteran center Patrick Marleau's contract, but it cost them a first-round draft pick.
The Leafs moved Marleau to the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday morning, along with a conditional first-round pick and a seventh-round pick, both in the 2020 NHL draft. The Hurricanes sent back a sixth-round pick in the 2020 draft.
The condition on the first-rounder is that if the Leafs' pick is in the top 10 in 2020, the Hurricanes will instead receive Toronto's first-rounder in 2021.
Marleau had to waive his no-move clause for the deal.
Toronto general manager Kyle Dubas on Thursday said the Leafs were trying to "accommodate" the 39-year-old center. Marleau's family recently moved back to the San Jose area, where he spent the first 19 years of his career, and Marleau put his Toronto home up for sale.
The expectation is that the Hurricanes will buy out the remaining year of his contract, making him a free agent and setting up a potential return out west at a much lower salary.
He has a cap hit of $6.25 million; because his contract was signed as an over-35 player, the full hit will count against the Carolina cap. Even after the Marleau trade, the Hurricanes have over $21 million in open cap space, but with 15 players under contract.
The cap situation for the Leafs just improved mightily. With over $14 million open, and more moves potentially on the way, Toronto is in a much better position to re-sign restricted free-agent forwards Andreas Johnsson, Kasperi Kapanen and especially leading scorer Mitch Marner.
The negotiations between Toronto and Marner have been contentious, with leaks to the media indicating they are far apart on money and term. Dubas has said that if Marner seeks out an offer sheet from another team to set his price with the Leafs, there's no guarantee Toronto would match.
"I don't think there's any fear in addressing it. If it happens, it happens," Dubas said. "It's been clear to all that it's going to be where they're at. Where they fit in our internal economics, we'll see. I hope it never comes to that. But I also don't think it benefits to shy away from the fact that it may happen."
VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- The Tampa Bay Lightning earned a little breathing room under the NHL salary cap by shipping forward J.T. Miller to the Canucks on Saturday.
Miller was moved for goalie Marek Mazanec, a third-round pick in the 2019 draft and a conditional first-round pick in either 2020 or 2021. Tampa Bay used the third-rounder on Swedish goaltender Hugo Alnefelt.
The 26-year-old Miller is signed through 2023 at a $5.25 million cap hit annually. The Lightning had just under $5.9 million in cap space before the deal.
Miller is a versatile player who plays all three forward spots. He scored 13 goals and 34 assists with Tampa Bay last season, his second with the Lightning after being shipped there from the New York Rangers in 2018 in the Ryan McDonagh trade.
The move opens up cap space for the Lightning, who have 17 players under contract for next season. The highest priority is to re-sign standout center Brayden Point this summer. Point, 23, is a restricted free agent coming off a season of 41 goals and 51 assists.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- The NHL salary cap for next season has been set at $81.5 million, which is $1.5 million lower than initially projected.
The league and the NHL Players' Association announced the figure Saturday, a day before teams can begin meeting with prospective unrestricted free agents ahead of the signing period opening July 1.
The cap rose by $2 million from last season, though teams at or near the maximum were counting additional room in order to sign or re-sign players.
The cap crunch was notable in leading to several teams shedding high-priced salaries during the second and final day of the NHL draft Saturday. The most high-profile trade involved Nashville dealing defenseman P.K. Subban to New Jersey.
Trade Grades: Devils add more star power with deal for P.K. Subban
The New Jersey Devils and Nashville Predators kicked off the second day of the 2019 NHL draft with a bang, as the electrifying P.K. Subban finds a new home in the Metropolitan Division.
Devils get: D P.K. Subban
Predators get: D Steve Santini, D Jeremy Davies, 2019 second-round pick (No. 34 overall), 2020 second-round pick
New Jersey Devils: B+
‘Dead’ Koepka has caught himself yawning in wake of latest major run
CROMWELL, Conn. – Brooks Koepka probably won't go to the gym Saturday. That’s how tired he is.
“I’m dead. I’m fried,” Koepka said after a 2-over 72 Saturday at the Travelers Championship. “My body is starting to ache, too.”
Koepka has one round left to play at TPC River Highlands, but he doesn’t sound like he has much left to offer. The world No. 1 was bested by his playing partner – Monday qualifier and No. 805 Chip McDaniel – by four shots in the third round.
“Nice kid. Good player,” Koepka said. “I know he's played, what, five, four events out here? Five events. Good player. He'll figure it out.”
The Travelers is Koepka’s third start in as many weeks, following a pre-major tuneup at the RBC Canadian Open and a runner-up finish last week at the U.S. Open.
Koepka said Wednesday that he and caddie Ricky Elliott intended to play this event with a major-like level of intensity, but fatigue has made it “hard to focus.”
Sounding a bit like Tiger Woods after the Masters, Koepka indicated Saturday that he’s still reeling from his last major victory.
“I'm just pretty – I don't think I'm even over the PGA,” he said. “And then to exert all your energy there last week, just fried. I mean, I've caught myself yawning on the golf course. I don't think I've ever yawned on a golf course before.”
In fairness, Koepka has yawned before – in a way that was weirdly perfect – but it’s clear that last week’s run at a third consecutive U.S. Open title took a lot of him.
Asked why he made the cross-country trip here after Pebble, Koepka said he wanted to honor his commitment and that he couldn’t have known in advance he would be this drained. Considering the reason, he’s happy to feel fatigued.
“When you're planning your schedule, you're not thinking you're going to compete in all three majors and still be fried from it,” he said. “It's fine. I don't mind it. ...
“It comes from the majors. It comes from being dead from playing so well. [I’m] mentally drained from playing in a major. It happens to everybody. If you're in contention you're going to be drained; if you're not in contention, it's a lot easier.”
Koepka is scheduled to take one week off and then return to action at the 3M Open. After the Minnesota stop, he’ll start prepping for the year’s final major. He said Wednesday that he plans to head to The Open Championship a few days early, as he's done in the past, to “get some work in” and “get acclimated.”
But he’s taking the rest of Saturday off.
“I’m still doing my thing. … I'm still going to the gym every day,” he said. “I think today might be a day off. Everything is aching. I feel like an old man today. ...
“Be nice to put my feet up and just relax the rest of the day. Probably go take a nap.”
Watch: JT channels 'inner Stephen Curry' with dunk chip-in at Travelers
Back in the day, kids were seen across the country yelling 'Kobe!' when throwing anything away or when tossing laundry in the hamper. Now kids channel their inner Stephen Curry, even when dunking in chips on the PGA Tour.
After missing the cut in his two previous starts at the Memorial and U.S. Open, Justin Thomas is playing his first weekend at the Travelers Championship since making his return from a nagging wrist injury. All signs point to a healthy wrist now, especially after showcasing an impressive dunk at the par-4 ninth at TPC River Highlands.
The birdie at the ninth moved Thomas back to even on the day. After two birdies and two bogeys on the back, Thomas ended his third round with an even-par 70 and finds himself a ways back from the crop of leaders.
Reavie catches fire, opens up 6-shot lead at Travelers Championship
Chez Reavie took advantage of some back-nine struggles by Zack Sucher to grab control of the Travelers Championship on Saturday. Here’s where things stand entering Sunday’s final round at TPC River Highlands in Cromwell, Conn.:
Leaderboard: Chez Reavie (-16), Keegan Bradley (-10), Zack Sucher (-10), Roberto Diaz (-9), Jason Day (-9)
What it means: Sucher led by five shots after nine holes, but he opened the back nine bogey-double-double to find himself two back of Reavie, who caught fire on the second nine to take a big lead of his own heading into the final round. Reavie, who was six back of Sucher after nine, birdied each of the first four holes on the back side and added three more, including at Nos. 17 and 18, to shoot 7-under 63 and open up a six-shot advantage.
Round of the day: Right behind Reavie for low round Saturday was Bryson DeChambeau, who fired a bogey-free 64 that included six birdies, just two missed fairways and four missed greens in regulation. He got up and down for par all four times, and he’s part of a four-way tie at 8 under that includes Tommy Fleetwood.
Best of the rest: Just a few weeks removed from his victory at the Memorial, Patrick Cantlay got back in the mix with a third-round 65 that included four front-nine birdies. Cantlay is now 7 under along with Andrew Landry, who also shot 65 on Saturday.
Biggest disappointment: Brooks Koepka admitted to being worn out from his recent major performances and it showed Saturday, as Koepka shot 2-over 72 to fall well off the pace. Bubba Watson was one shot worse, carding a third-round 73 to effectively end his chances at a fourth Travelers title.
Main storyline entering Saturday: Reavie is coming off a T-3 finish at last week’s U.S. Open. He has four top-3 finishes dating to the beginning of last season but no wins since notching his maiden PGA Tour victory at the 2008 RBC Canadian Open.
Shot of the day: Talk about finishing strong. Reavie stuck his final approach of the day to 5 feet to set up his eighth birdie of the round.
Phone: (800) 737. 6040
Fax: (800) 825 5558
Website: 
Email: 
