Pittsburgh Steelers great Terry Bradshaw said he's happy Antonio Brown is no longer with the Steelers and that he'd have never thrown to the wide receiver had they been teammates.

"I'm glad they got rid of him and I'm upset now that I know how he got away ... (what) he was doing there," the Hall of Fame quarterback told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. "I wish the heck they would have gotten rid of him a long time ago."

"I had no idea they catered to Brown as much as they supposedly did," Bradshaw said, intimating that Brown got preferential treatment from the Steelers. "I can't stand players like Antonio Brown."

Brown forced a trade out of Pittsburgh this offseason, landing with the Oakland Raiders before being released from there and signing with the New England Patriots. In between, he dealt with frostbite on his feet, an extended problem with his helmet, a blow up with Oakland general manager Mike Mayock, and two separate fines from the Raiders before he was released last Saturday.

"I cannot emphasize how I cannot stand and have a disdain totally for players like that," said Bradshaw, a four-time Super Bowl winner with the Steelers. "I don't want any part of them. I wouldn't like them. They would hate me if they were on our team. They would hate me because I wouldn't throw to him.

"I will not put up with that kind of behavior. You don't win with it. Why haven't we won more Super Bowls? There is talent, [but] it's just guys like him. Let him go and his brand and whatever it is he's doing."

In his nine seasons with the Steelers, Brown reached the 1,000-yard receiving mark in seven of them, including in each of his final six years in Pittsburgh.

"Winning football games is all about the team and all about players caring about one another and everybody pulling together, not pulling apart," said Bradshaw, an NFL analyst for Fox. "You can't have Antonio Brown for all the greatness that they are, do you want the baggage that goes with that crap? I wouldn't."

In addition to his on-field, offseason issues, Brown is also facing a civil lawsuit in which a woman says he sexually assaulted her on three occasions. Despite the suit, Brown has not been placed on the commissioner's exempt list, sources told ESPN's Adam Schefter on Friday.

Brown is still waiting to make his 2019 debut. He was not eligible to play for the Patriots in Week 1, and coach Bill Belichick has not revealed whether or not the wideout will play in the team's Week 2 matchup against Brown's hometown Miami Dolphins.

Asked Bradshaw: "What's the over/under of him lasting in New England?"

Great to see sports retail brand Decathlon teaming up with squash
By JAMES ROBERTS – Squash Mad Roving Reporter

It was a very early start for me yesterday as I had to catch a ‘Flixbus’ from Angers to Nantes at 7am. Flixbus is quite a new phenomenon in France, being their equivalent of National Express, and has caused some controversy as it directly competes with SNCF, the French railways. At just 4,99 Euros for the trip you can see why.

I am dropped off at the North Eastern fringes of the city by a tram hub. My next aim was to get to La Maison du Squash at Sautron for the Amateur Tournament, which is completely the other side of Nantes. Looking at the tram, bus and rail connections, it seems that the trip would take too much time out of the day, so I unfortunately shelve this idea.

Instead, it is just a walkable distance to the next port of call – D’Sport and Co, a brand new squash club on the Nantes scene. It is here that I am meeting up with my friends from Northamptonshire – ‘Lings On Tour’ – who come away to France every September to play squash and just have a good time.

The Lings crew are still en route from St. Malo ferry port, so instead I walk to a large ‘centre commercial’ to grab some breakfast. I then decide to arrive at D’Sport and Co a bit early as they will be open so I can chat to the owners.

I am greeted there warmly by husband and wife team, Cyril and Gaelle Sepsault Le Moigne. The club is built into a standard industrial estate warehouse unit and Cyril and Gaelle have done a fantastic job: four CourtTech courts in a row, a lovely bar area overlooking the courts with kitchens to the side, a studio room, plush changing facilities and a balcony area overlooking the courts.

As with Squash du Lac de Maine yesterday, a main feature of the club is the amount of natural light coming into the building via the extensive skylights in the roof. You could literally play squash without artificial lighting in the day (sorry Philippe!).

They also have built an indoor beach volleyball arena, which also allows people to play other sports such as ‘Beachminton’ (who knew that was a thing!).

Cyril and Gaelle have invested their life’s savings into this project and have invested well. Early signs are good, with over 200 regular players having been attracted to the facility, with many more ‘casuals’ who play from time to time.

They believe squash is on the cusp of a revival in France, citing the fact that Decathlon, the major sports retail brand, has invested in a squash dedicated brand ‘Opfeel’, with whom they have partnered. The French Open in Nantes is also playing its part on that front.

Like at Lac de Maine, they are mainly concentrating on the leisure player market. They have also affiliated the club to the Fédération Française de Squash and the local Nantes Association, which is included in the annual membership fee. Players then pay for court time, although there is also an all inclusive membership for 700 Euros which allows members to play unlimited any time.

The Lings crew arrive and we all get changed to go on court. We have the courts booked for 3 hours and everyone enjoys both singles and doubles play, especially doubles as they love doubles at Lings.

One of the club’s most regular players, Nicolas, arrives and plays singles against 4 or 5 different English players. When I play him, he tells me his is 55 and has been playing squash for 40 years. He is still at a very decent level and although I lose 3-0, it is a very good game. In fact, he only loses 1 of his matches, to one of the better players at Lings, and 3-2 as well.

The group then heads for the house that we have hired in Nantes for our stay, with a splinter group going to the huge Leclerc supermarket in that centre commercial I visited earlier to buy provisions. The house is amazing, in the plush Nantes suburb of St Sébastien-Sur-Loire, able to accommodate 22 people, with swimming pool.

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We are not able to admire the house for long, as we have to get to the Chateau for the semi-finals. Arriving at the venue, we are struck immediately by an unusual phenomenon – a long queue at a squash tournament, which stretches over the moat bridge and into the street. Luckily, as we all have tickets, we can join the left hand queue which is much shorter.

I have been in touch with Ian White of Squash Travel earlier and he has arranged for me to collect my ticket on the door. My first task was to find Matt of the PSA to find out how the World Squash Day shirt signing is going, but he finds me easily dressed in my own World Squash Day t-shirt. He has done a fantastic job, as the shirt is full of player signatures. He tells me he will take it to San Francisco for the NetSuite Open so he can obtain even more top player signatures – awesome!

Romain Suire, the highly animated and enthusiastic tournament MC, is as good as his word, giving World Squash Day a huge plug over the mic, as well as for Squash Travel.

Unfortunately, I am unable to join the Squash Travel group as they have already installed themselves in back wall seats and there are none free in their vicinity, tickets not having a seat number allocated.

The Lings crew and I find some seats high up to left hand side of the backwall. I won’t go into great detail about how the matches went as this has been done by other more qualified people than me in great detail.

The only thing I will mention is that we decided as a group to go against the grain of the main crowd and support our man Joel – well he’s Welsh so that makes him British which is good enough for us! We hope you could hear our raucous ‘come on Joel’ and foot stamping on the Squash TV coverage. We also hope this contributed in some small measure to helping Joel achieve that remarkable comeback.

The Lings crew only had tickets for the first semi-final session so have headed into town to eat. I decide to call it a day after the SJP/Sobhy semi-final as I would otherwise be in danger of an expensive sole taxi ride back to the house.

I find them near to the Chateau and I join a small group of 4 on the hunt for a taxi. We head towards La Gare and have to call in to a local hotel to obtain a taxi firm telephone number.

A long and energetic day and my voice is a bit croaky today, like I’ve been to a great gig or major football match. Not used to that after a squash tournament!
 

Pictures by JAMES ROBERTS 

MECHANICSBURG, Pa. — Brian Montieth fought the battle with Freddie Rahmer and won the war at Williams Grove Speedway on Friday night, claiming the 25-lap Dirt Classic Qualifier for 410 sprint cars.

For Montieth, the victory broke a 17-month win drought at the half-mile oval after last scoring a win in April 2018.

The win means that the Phoenixville flyer has earned a guaranteed starting spot in next Saturday’s prestigious Dirt Classic at nearby Lincoln Speedway.

In the 305 sprint main on Friday night, Dave Grube picked up the win from the second starting spot.

The initial start of the 410 sprint car feature saw a yellow flag unfurl when the rear of the field bunched up in the fourth turn as it came to the green flag.

Montieth started fourth in the main event when action got underway and he was able to muscle by Ryan Smith for second on the opening lap, behind polesitter and leader Freddie Rahmer.

Montieth got a clear shot at Rahmer on a lap two restart but Smith returned the favor and reclaimed second with a turn three dive.

Smith ended up losing second on the seventh tour when a lapped car pushed him high as he entered the first turn, allowing Montieth to bolt by on the low side of the first and second turns.

By the halfway point, Montieth had run down Rahmer’s advantage and the pair was nose to tail across the line as they worked the backmarkers.

Setting a hectic pace on a quick racing surface, Rahmer did his best to dart through traffic and preserve his lead but a miscue as he worked through turns three and four with 10 laps to go allowed Montieth to buzz the top and snare control at the line.

Rahmer remained hot on Montieth’s heels however and with 19 laps complete he got back to the leader’s inside as they raced through the first corner.

Montieth then drag raced Rahmer onto the backchute before edging ahead on the cushion into the third turn and when he had to check up for a slower car just in front, Rahmer was that close to his tail tank that he had nowhere to go and ended up smashing into the outside fence, causing a yellow flag.

Smith inherited second for the restart but failed to challenge.

Another restart with four laps to go after Trey Starks dropped ouf of fifth spot again found Smith failing to produce a challenge as Montieth sped to the win, worth $5,000.

Smith settled for second, 1.927 seconds behind the winner, followed by Kerry Madsen, Brian Brown and Danny Dietrich.

The finish:

Feature (25 laps): 1. Brian Montieth, 2. Ryan Smith, 3. Kerry Madsen, 4. Brian Brown, 5. Danny Dietrich, 6. T.J. Stutts, 7. Matt Campbell, 8. Lucas Wolfe, 9. Steve Buckwalter, 10. Anthony Macri, 11. Cory Haas, 12. Adam Wilt, 13. Tim Wagaman, 14. Chad Trout, 15. Rick Lafferty, 16. Brett Michalski, 17. Greg Plank, 18. Troy Fraker, 19. Trey Starks, 20. Freddie Rahmer, 21. Barry Shearer, 22. Jeff Halligan, 23. Kyle Moody, 24. Chase Dietz

CHILLICOTHE, Ohio — With plans to compete in Pennsylvania during the coming weekend, Speedweek: Reloaded winner James McFadden was unsure of his team’s return to Atomic Speedway for Friday’s Night Before The Knittel.

Suffice it to say, the decision to stay in the Buckeye State proved exciting, as well as valuable.

For the second time in as many nights, McFadden won an Ollie’s Bargain Outlet All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1 feature.

The victory, valued at $5,054 with the ‘54’ honoring the late Dean Knittel’s car number, was accomplished in convincing fashion, eventually driving by Rudeen Racing’s Cory Eliason on lap 16 before escaping to a lengthy command in traffic.

The multi-time World Series of Sprintcars champion now owns four All Star Circuit of Champions victories this season.

Although no match for McFadden during the late stages of the 30-lapper, Cory Eliason chased the Kasey Kahne Racing with Mike Curb entry to the final checkers, followed by Tony Stewart/Curb-Agajanian Racing super sub Tim Shaffer, Aaron Reutzel and six-time series champion Chad Kemenah.

“Everyone knows the Kasey Kahne Racing guys, as well as the No. 9 cars, are some of the best in the world,” McFadden said. “They really make my job a lot easier. I certainly enjoy driving their car.”

Starting fourth, McFadden gained his first spot in the running order with only one lap knocked off the counter, as outside-pole sitter and lap one leader Reutzel lost his footing in turn two and fell off the edge of the speedway. Although Reutzel was able to quickly regain his momentum, multiple spots were lost, ultimately dropping from first to fourth.

After a caution on lap four, green flag competition returned with McFadden chasing Kemenah and Eliason. Slower traffic entered the picture by lap nine giving McFadden the opportunity to close-in on the lead pair’s advantage.

Just two circuits later, McFadden made a move, this time driving by Kemenah with a slide job through turns three and four.

Unaffected by lappers stacking up two and three wide ahead of him, McFadden remained collective and continued his pursuit of Eliason’s familiar No. 26.

Incidentally, the midpoint of the 30-lap program marked as the turning point for McFadden. Utilizing a near-perfect drive through the first and second corner on lap 16, McFadden exited turn two right on the back bumper of Eliason. Exercising his signature slider yet again, McFadden dove hard into turn three and drove past the Rudeen Racing entry.

Although caution flags would reappear on lap 20, the quick momentum shift proved to be nothing but an advantage for McFadden, using the restart to escape to a near-straightaway margin.

The front-runners did encounter traffic one more time during the final five circuits, but McFadden was on point.

“Things were very similar in the end, maybe a little more slick than last night,” McFadden continued. “We weren’t very far off from where we were last night. Our base package is pretty good right now.”

The finish:

Feature (30 Laps): 1. 9-James McFadden [4]; 2. 26-Cory Eliason [1]; 3. 14-Tim Shaffer [6]; 4. 87-Aaron Reutzel [2]; 5. K4-Chad Kemenah [3]; 6. 22C-Cole Duncan [8]; 7. 11-Dale Blaney [11]; 8. 70-Brock Zearfoss [17]; 9. 11N-Buddy Kofoid [18]; 10. A79-Brandon Wimmer [7]; 11. W20-Greg Wilson [20]; 12. 13-Paul McMahan [13]; 13. O7-Gerard McIntyre [12]; 14. 9J-Dean Jacobs [16]; 15. 42-Sye Lynch [5]; 16. 60-Kory Crabtree [10]; 17. 4X-Jimmy Stinson [19]; 18. 21-Brinton Marvel [14]; 19. 40-George Hobaugh [15]; 20. 4D-Josh Davis [23]; 21. J4-John Garvin [22]; 22. 4-Cap Henry [21]; 23. 1B-Keith Baxter [24]; 24. 70X-Justin Peck [9] Lap Leaders: Aaron Reutzel (1), Cory Eliason (2-15), James McFadden (16-30)

BELLEVILLE, Ill. – Taking the wheel of the Team Ripper No. 21KS Friday night at Belle-Clair Speedway, Jake Neuman delivered a long-overdue first win of the year for car owner Steve Reynolds and crew chief Flea Ruzic.

After taking the lead on lap six, Neuman fended off mid-race pressure from Austin Brown and survived a late charge from Logan Seavey to score his third win of the season and the fifth of his POWRi National Midget career.

Making his 179th career appearance with the POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget League, Friday’s attempt aboard the No. 21KS marked the first time in his seven-year career that Neuman drove for anyone other than his father, Jim Neuman.

A series of severe crashes and recent motor trouble over the past month in his own No. 3N contributed to the decision to make a one-off appearance, a decision that paid dividends.

For Team Ripper, the eighth time was the charm, as Neuman became the eighth driver to pilot the No. 21KS in 2019, but the first to park it in victory lane.

The list of racers before Neuman is a who’s who of today’s motorsports landscape. Karter Sarff, USAC sensation Jason McDougal, modified driver Nick Hoffman, micro sprint star Joe B. Miller, Triple Crown champion Tracy Hines, USAC Sprint Car points leader C.J. Leary and California gasser Maria Cofer all tried, but it was Neuman who got the job done first.

Starting the 30-lap feature from the fourth-spot, Neuman earned his slot in the outside of row two after jetting away to a dominant heat race win from the pole. However, it was Daniel Robinson who led the field to green after snagging PAC Racing Springs High Point Man honors courtesy of a seventh-to-second charge in the opening heat.

Leading the charge into turn one, Robinson quickly assumed the point while Neuman went top shelf to jump from fourth-to-second in the first lap. A lap five caution for Holley Hollan, Andrew Felker and Jesse Colwell halted the action and threw a wrench in the championship battle, sending Colwell to the infield with a DNF as he watched his points lead diminish.

Going back to green, Neuman saddled up and drove flatfooted into turn one with a big slider heading for Robinson as he mounted a bid for the lead. Unable to come back at him, Robinson settled into second as Neuman took the point and focused on clear track ahead on the sixth circuit.

While the high side came in and proved to be the prime place to play, the ultra-fast fifth-mile surface became tough to manage in the pack as the speed ramped up lap after lap.

Essentially a cowboy up atmosphere on the lip, it was slide or be slid to take position, making for intense mid-race restarts.

The final restart roared to life with 13 laps left as Neuman maintained a strong pace ahead of Austin Brown, who won the May showing at Belle-Clair, and Logan Seavey, who was hungry for his 10th win of the season after starting in the tenth spot.

While Neuman put his head down and ran away with the lead, Seavey shot by Brown with eight to go and immediately began cutting into Neuman’s 2.6 second advantage.

Eating into the gap each lap, Seavey snuck closer and closer to Neuman’s rear bumper as the race came to a close. By the time the two-to-go signal was given, Seavey had the No. 21KS in sight and was only behind by one-second, but the time was running out too fast.

Seavey’s late-race charge did not come fast enough, as the checkered flag dropped, and Neuman won over Seavey, Austin Brown, Zach Daum and Cannon McIntosh, who recovered from a spin on lap 11 to complete the top five.

Daum made a massive gain in the hunt for the title, as his fourth-place finish narrowed Colwell’s advantage from 350 points to 180 points.

Sarff, Tanner Carrick, 14-year old Daison Pursley, hard charger Ace McCarthy and Shelby Bosie were the balance of the top 10.

The finish:

1. 21KS-Jake Neuman (4); 2. 67-Logan Seavey (10); 3. 17-Austin Brown (2); 4. 5D-Zach Daum (11); 5. 08-Cannon McIntosh (3); 6. 37X-Karter Sarff (14); 7. 71K-Tanner Carrick (15); 8. 9-Daison Pursley (9); 9. 28-Ace McCarthy (23); 10. 3B-Shelby Bosie (19); 11. 11-Daniel Robinson (1); 12. 5F-Danny Frye III (21); 13. 86C-David Camfield (18); 14. 21X-Steve Stroud (22); 15. 5H-Danny Frye (20); 16. 97K-Jesse Love (6); 17. 20G-Noah Gass (16); 18. 1T-Thomas Chandler (24); 19. 55-Nick Knepper (13); 20. 17C-Devin Camfield (12); 21. 67K-Holley Hollan (8); 22. 44S-Andrew Felker (5); 23. 71-Jesse Colwell (7); 24. 103-Broc Hunnell (17).

Lap Leader(s): Robinson 1-5; Neuman 6-30.

Hard Charger(s): McCarthy (+14)

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. — Justin Grant won the 20th running of the Jim Hurtubise Classic for USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Cars Friday night at the Terre Haute Action Track.

It was his first victory at the historic half-mile dirt track where he first raced in 2010.

“In my first race here in 2010,  I sailed it out of the park in turn one and I smashed a guy’s Buick or Plymouth, or something, whatever it was,” Grant recalled. “I made it a long way out there too.  Terre Haute had my number for quite a while and it’s taken me nine years to finally get a win here, but we did it, and it feels really good. At one point, it was probably my worst track on the tour. To come here and win, it means a lot to me personally.”

Grant, a 2018 Sumar Classic Silver Crown winner at Terre Haute, had a topsy-turvy turn of events to begin his night. Shortly after racing from fifth to first to win the first heat race, on his cooldown lap, Grant encountered trouble, without warning, that nearly spelled disaster.

“We had a left front radius rod come apart, and you can’t steer,” Grant explained. “The axle rolls back and falls off the arm.  I lifted off of (turn) two, and halfway down the backstretch, it started squirrelling all around and I thought ‘Whoa, we got a problem here.’ I knew the front end was falling out, and when you get on the brakes, it just folds them up.

“I was just trying to coast it to a stop; I got it whoa’d down pretty slow, then it dropped, and the frame rail dug in and it just turned me right into the inside wall. Luckily, it just front-bumpered into it. No harm, no foul. We brought it back, put a bolt in it and we were ready for the feature.”

Grant rolled off for the 30-lap feature from the third position, but it took no time flat for him to race his way into the lead, grooving the bottom past pole sitter Nick Bilbee in the first turn to secure the lead while seventh starting Jason McDougal charged all the way to second by the conclusion of the opening lap, but a full second behind Grant.

Kevin Thomas Jr., Brady Bacon and Tyler Courtney worked their way around McDougal and formed a triumvirate in their pursuit to run down Grant with seven laps complete.

Grant was introduced to lapped traffic by the 10th circuit, allowing Thomas to close the gap to under a second. The lapped cars of Dustin Christie and Aric Gentry battled for position in their own right, but Grant escaped from Thomas for the time being, maneuvering around the outside of Christie off turn four, then dove low, sliding by Gentry at the entrance of turn one.

Thomas kept Grant in check, and as Grant slid into the fluff on the outside of turn two on the 11th lap, Thomas used a massive run to drive by Gentry and charge into turn three side-by-side momentarily to the inside of Grant.

Grant withheld the challenge and remained in control past halfway, until lap 18, when Thomas went on the attack once again, throwing a monster slider on Grant who was able to stand his ground and firm his grip of the lead as he split the lapped cars of Steve Thomas and Dustin Smith to sneak away and increase the interval to 2.5 seconds.

Grant stood up in the seat and regularly entered above the cushion as he began to assert his authority and rebuild his advantage.

With just five laps remaining, however, Grant’s two-plus second lead was deleted when two-time Jim Hurtubise Classic winner Brady Bacon encountered trouble and heavy right-side damage, coming to a rest against the turn-one wall.

“I didn’t want to see that,” Grant said of the yellow flag. “I knew I had gotten through lapped traffic pretty quickly for as thick it was. We were honestly in a pretty good rhythm.  Here, you never want to see a yellow when you’re leading. The frontstretch is so long and so slick and if you slide yourself, there’s nothing off of two and you’re a sitting duck. You can’t block the slider; you just hope you get a good enough restart and you can beat the slider to the center.”

Grant was fully prepared for the challenge that was going to be presented to him at the drop of the green flag from Courtney.

Courtney reared back on the start and fired his machine to the bottom in hope to slide up in front of Grant by turn two.  Grant never wavered, kept his right foot on the throttle and squeezed through to the miniscule peak of daylight between Courtney to his inside and the concrete wall.

Courtney took his shot and sold out for the lead in the process, as Grant shot back out to a half-second advantage while Thomas took advantage of Courtney’s loss of momentum exiting the second turn to move back to second.

In the final laps, Thomas utilized a line lower than Grant’s top side ride but wasn’t able to get close enough to fire off a slide job for the top spot.

Grant, meanwhile, raced to his third USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car win of the season by .925 seconds over Thomas, Courtney, fast qualifier Chris Windom and point leader C.J. Leary.

To see full results, turn to the next page.

STOCKTON, Calif. — Logan Schuchart could see victory at the Stockton Dirt Track with three laps to go. He could see his opportunity to sweep the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series races at the track. And he could see collecting the $20,000 award for winning the NOS Energy Drink Showdown.

However, he could also see his Shark Racing teammate Jacob Allen leading, searching for his first World of Outlaws win.

Cruising down the backstretch, he saw Allen’s Drydene No. 1a car power into turn three, heading for two laps to go. When Schuchart exited turn four, he no longer saw Allen in front of him. The white-and-blue No. 1a slowed and pulled into the infield.

The lead was Schuchart’s. And after two clean laps, so was victory.

“It’s a tough deal,” Schuchart said. “I’m happy to get the win. It’s awesome to have these cars up front. Whatever happened, this team works really hard to keep these cars on the race track.”

The victory was Schuchart’s seventh of the year — further breaking his record of winning at most four wins in a season — and 15th career World of Outlaws win overall.

While he celebrated in victory lane with his Drydene cladded Shark Racing team, Allen was back at the trailer diagnosing an engine failure with his crew under a full moon Friday the 13th night.

“Pretty much a heart break,” said Allen, trying to find the words to describe the loss. “It’s kind of tough.”

The Shark Racing duo was fast all night. Schuchart qualified third and Allen fourth — both setting times that broke the previous track record. Ten-time series champion Donny Schatz set quick time and a track record with a time of 12.543 seconds.

Schuchart and Allen went on to both finished second in their Drydene Heat races. Then finish third and second, respectively, in the DIRTVision Fast Pass Dash won by Austen Wheatley.

Wheatley and Allen made up the front row of the 30-lap feature — both attempting to win their first World of Outlaws race.

On the initial start, Wheatley hit the throttle and wheeled onto the frontstretch, allowing Allen to get the jump on him and pull away with the lead into the first turn.

His comfortable lead was eliminated in two laps when the first caution came out for Shane Stewart going off track in turn two. On the restart, Allen launched back to the lead, but Wheatley stayed close and got side by side with Allen through the first corner. Allen had the better grip on the high groove and drove away from Wheatley down the backstretch.

While Allen led, David Gravel worked his way around Schuchart for third and after dueling with Wheatley for eight laps moved into second. By that time, Allen had found himself in heavy lapped traffic. Gravel was able to gain yards on him every lap.

However, once Allen found clean air again, he left Gravel searching for speed by pulling away to about a straightaway lead.

With nine laps to go Allen caught more traffic, including Brad Sweet, and got loose exiting turn two. He lost traction exiting turn four, too, unable to hold his line. That allowed Gravel to go from being a straightaway back to being at Allen’s tail tank.

Allen continued to run the low line into turn one and Gravel darted high to try and get a run around him. However, the move cost Gravel a chance at a win. Going high opened the door for Schuchart to dive underneath. The two almost made contact at the apex of the corner, hurting Gravel most. Schuchart accelerated away from the Mesilla Valley Transportation No. 41 car down the backstretch.

“I kind of punched myself in the head there after that,” Gravel said. “I tried to pass Jacob on the top going into one and two, ended up giving the spot to Logan.”

Now, the only car Schuchart saw in front of him was his teammate. With seven laps to go inches separated the Shark Racing drivers due to a caution for Tim Kaeding going off track in turn two.

On the final restart of the night, Allen rocketed ahead of Schuchart. Schuchart couldn’t keep pace with his teammate and in the closing laps found himself having to hold off a hard-charging Schatz, who got around Gravel for third.

With three laps to go, Allen wore the appearance of a first-time winner. While driving through turns three and four his fairy tale turned into a horror movie when the engine let go.

“After that last restart, it felt like it was kind of starting to lose power a pinch,” Allen said. “But it’s hard to say. You know, you’ve got a lot on your mind. There’re only a few laps left. You’re just trying to finish it and win the race. It’s a pretty shitty deal really. I don’t know. It sucks. I guess it’s just part of it.”

Allen’s misfortune became Schuchart’s gain as he inherited the lead and drove to his second straight win at the Stockton Dirt Track.

“He was way faster than I was,” Schuchart said about Allen. “It showed after the restart. It’s tough. Once Jacob got to the lead, he was gone. I couldn’t really hit my marks there for a few laps. I was just trying to make myself wide. I was happy to run second in this race. But I’m a competitor at the same time. I was going to try and pass him if I got the spot.

“Jacob, he’s been working really hard at this deal. It’s tough. It takes a lot out of you. Especially when you get beat all of the time. But he’s right there. We’ve seen it in the past. I hope he can get his spirit up and win one of these things. I’ve never been so big as a fan as I was running second tonight.”

Schatz finished second and Gravel had to settle for third. With Schatz’s runner-up finish he was able to retake the points lead over Brad Sweet, who finished 10th. The reigning champion is now 14 points ahead of Sweet heading into the final California race of the year.

To see full results, turn to the next page.

Big Picture

South Africa's Vision 2019, their grand plan for 50-over World Cup success, went completely awry. World Cup hangovers aren't easy to shake off, but South Africa will now have to quickly shift their focus to the 2020 T20 World Cup in Australia. They are set to trial a new set of players - largely plucked out of the Mzansi Super League and the South Africa A sides - under a new captain in Quinton de Kock.

A few of these players were also part of a spin camp in Bengaluru last month, held to help them come to grips with Indian conditions ahead of the three T20Is and three Tests. And, while some of these players have also been part of the IPL, South Africa's squad lacks T20I experience on the whole. All told, their squad has a collective experience of 220 T20Is while India's potential top three - Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan and captain Virat Kohli - have a collective experience of 219 games in the format.

ALSO READ: The T20 game: India haven't figured it out yet, but they are willing to change

Hashim Amla, Imran Tahir and JP Duminy have all retired from international cricket following the meltdown in England and Wales, while Faf du Plessis will tune up for the Test series with an extended spell at Kent. In their absence, the onus is on de Kock and Rassie van der Dussen, who has established himself as a well-travelled and versatile franchise T20 player - to lead the way with the bat.

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Kagiso Rabada, who was troubled by injury in the World Cup, will test out his hamstring, and 25-year-old tearaway Anrich Nortje, who had been sidelined from the entire World Cup with injury, will be awaiting his international debut. South Africa have at least nine matches to figure out their combination ahead of Australia 2020 while India have the bigger cushion of at least 17 games to work with.

The hosts have already begun their build up, having swept West Indies 3-0 in the Caribbean last month. They are now going to have to adapt to the changing T20 landscape, a departure from their safety-first approach in the previous T20 World Cup in 2016. This series is another chance for the likes of Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey and Rishabh Pant to settle in the middle order.

With India's premier spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal swapped out for this series too, finger-spin-bowling allrounders Washington Sundar and Krunal Pandya and legspinner Rahul Chahar will look to push their cases for a longer stint in the team.

Form guide

India WWWLL (completed matches, most recent first)
South Africa WWTLW

In the spotlight

Around this time last year, 19-year-old Washington Sundar was at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru, recovering from an ankle injury sustained while playing football during training in England. Washington doubted if he could be effective with the white ball on return, but he overcame that and posed a threat to the left-handers in the Caribbean and then was among the wickets in the one-dayers against South Africa A. South Africa could have at least three left-handers among the batsmen - de Kock, David Miller and Andile Phehlukwayo - and Washington will relish bowling to them.

Rassie van der Dussen stood out with his nous and middle-order gears amid South Africa's World Cup rubble, and even had du Plessis earmarking him as a future captain. He has also been there and done that in domestic T20 competitions at home, CPL, MSL and Global T20 Canada, and also has a reputation of being a good player of spin. Now, it's over to him to replicate that form in T20Is and take full charge of the middle order as South Africa rebuild for another World Cup.

Team news

Having been rested for the Caribbean tour, allrounder Hardik Pandya is set to slot back into the side. It remains to be seen whether KL Rahul or Shikhar Dhawan partners Rohit Sharma at the top.

India: 1 Rohit Sharma, 2 Shikhar Dhawan/ KL Rahul, 3 Virat Kohli (capt), 4 Manish Pandey, 5 Rishabh Pant (wk), 6 Hardik Pandya, 7 Krunal Pandya, 8 Ravindra Jadeja/Rahul Chahar, 9 Washington Sundar, 10 Deepak Chahar, 11 Navdeep Saini

South Africa's XI following the World Cup shake-up is hard to predict. Temba Bavuma, who has been widely perceived a red-ball player, might make his T20I debut, while allrounders Andile Phehlukwayo and Dwaine Pretorius are likely to fit into the lower-middle order.

South Africa: 1. Quinton de Kock (capt & wk), 2 Reeza Hendricks, 3 Temba Bavuma, 4 Rassie van der Dussen, 5 David Miller, 6 Andile Phehlukwayo, 7 Dwaine Pretorius, 8 Bjorn Fortuin/Anrich Nortje, 9 Kagiso Rabada, 10 Junior Dala, 11 Tabraiz Shamsi

Pitch and conditions

The pitch, too, is hard to predict, considering the rain threat. The pitch had to be covered because of afternoon showers on Saturday. Some rain has been forecast for Sunday too. The last time India faced South Africa in Dharamsala - it was the first T20 at this venue, in 2015 - South Africa hunted down 200 as Rohit's hundred went in vain.

Stats and trivia

• There is a case for South Africa to pick Junior Dala and let him have a crack at Rohit with the new ball. The seamer has dismissed Rohit three times in seven balls in T20s.

• Since his T20I debut in December 2017, Washington has claimed nine wickets in the Powerplay. Only Sri Lanka's Akila Dananjaya, England's David Willey, and Australia's Billy Stanlake have taken more wickets in the first six overs in T20Is, but they have all had the benefit of playing more games than Washington.