Freddy Johnson needs an Abba theme tune for his weird walk-on
By GORDON KERR – Squash Mad Correspondent in Vienna

The European Masters has brought a phenomenal array of talent across many generations to the wonderful city of Vienna.

By Friday, only the genuine elite remained in the main draws, battling for the trophies. When reflecting on the matches I witnessed yesterday three themes stand out: extreme athleticism relative to age; strict refereeing by the professional officials; and the fine line between competitiveness and respect for one’s opponent.

All three themes were prevalent during the matches between my Scots countrymate Ian Ross and England’s Larry Grover, and between Howard Cherlin and Barry Featherstone, both also English.

Both matches went to five and all four athletes are a credit to their generation and the sport, both for their fitness and sportsmanship. I was surprised but not shocked by the application of what I would term PSA refereeing standards to men in their 70s.

I have watched Ian play many times, and to see him threatened with the disciplinary procedure for crashing into his opponent when innocently attempting to demonstrate he could have reached a back corner ball at full stretch was so wonderful a tear welled in my eye. Ross will meet Cherlin in the final.

In the 65+ final today I fear my Middlesex team-mate Stuart Hardy will have his work cut out against the age defying Stephen Johnson. Hardy did well to beat 2013 60+ champion Nick Drysdale. But the athleticism on display between Johnson (SJ) – who had survived a gruelling QF against another great athlete, Welshman David Wright the previous day – and Geoff Redfern was on a different plane. Geoff must consider himself unlucky with the seedings to be in the same half of the draw as SJ.

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These four gladiators were succeeded on the two showcourts by the 60+ protagonists. All were English. The victors, Allen Barwise from Wigan and Mark Cowley, also a Middlesex team-mate, both launched seemingly blitzkrieg attacks on Phil Wakefield and Dermot Hurford respectively.

Wakefield adapted quickly after losing the first and went 2-1 up, but could not get across the line as Barwise upped the pace in the fifth. The referee laid down the law at the very start of the Cowley/ Hurford match; four of the first five rallies invited decisions which surely in many other competitions would have been adjudged lets, but each one here was either ‘stroke’ or ‘no let’.

FWIW I approved; the outcome seemed fair to both players and it certainly made them try and play every ball that was not an obvious stroke. Further, if the decision rules are applied in this fashion at pro level then why not with elite amateurs?

In the women’s 60+ (how ungallant do I feel defying my upbringing to cite the ages of these fine ladies), Karen Hume managed to beat Malmo 2015 winner Jill Campion. In the +55 event Mandy Akin, yet another very fit, talented and ageless female athlete, reached another final.

Granted, the standard in these and other ladies’ events is very high but what a shame that there are so few entries that most ladies’ events are in round robin rather than knockout format. But the trade-off is that in round robin a player can survive a defeat, and so I moved to the back courts to watch other matches.

Theresa Krassnigg from Graz in Austria and Germany’s Stefanie Leiber, both tall, strong athletes, fought a tremendous battle despite neither having much chance of the +40 title. Your humble correspondent had the honour of marking this match which would surely make great TV should SKY Sports Germany ever tire of showing endless reruns of football and tennis.

Both ladies sprinted and stretched into all four corners, giving no quarter. I learned a new German adjective to describe their competitive attitudes, ‘verbissen’. (No English translation does this term justice). Krassnigg prevailed.

Geographically and geopolitically, Hungary has of course been historically very close to event host nation Austria. The Dual Monarchy, under the House of Habsburg, ruled the bulk of central and south eastern Europe from 1867 until 1918 when it lost the Great War which it had started by declaring war on Serbia.

Now, some 30 odd years after the dismantling of the Berlin Wall, it is gratifying to see high class squash growing both in Hungary and in much of the former Austro-Hungarian sphere of control.

Impressive squash was played yesterday by Hungarian natives Edina Szombali and Reka Gay. In the men’s 55+ event James Hyatt, a former Middlesex and Surrey champion, who has moved to Budapest where he coaches and inspires the development of squash, put up a magnificent challenge to perhaps the stand-out star of the entire event, Sweden’s Fredrik Johnson.

Again I wondered why no TV cameras were present. Not only was the standard of skill, professionalism and fitness simply ridiculously high, but both players’ personalities bring something extra to the event.

Hyatt’s facial expressions, particularly after making an error, justify a photo montage of its own. Johnson’s quirks are extreme.

At the start of the match he does not enter the court, he runs at it three times. Twice he stops and recoils, on the third occasion he leaps into the arena as if to declare his ownership thereof. It is akin to the New Zealand rugby team’s traditional Maori war dance or Haka, which I think is intended to put his opponent off his stride; it is truly a little dance peculiar to Fredrik Johnson (FJ) the interruption of which would be considered impolite. Maybe Fredy should have his own Abba theme tune as his walk-on music.

Later today FJ will face for the umpteenth time his countrymate Jonas Ulvsback, and many will stake their house on another FJ win. Dare I risk his and their ire by closing with an appeal?

Mr Johnson you are a brilliant squash player but please, when the referee calls ‘play’ at the start of each game, serve promptly. Bouncing the ball for 20 odd seconds before serving blurs the line between owning the proceedings and failing to pay your opponent the respect he deserves.

Such is the cornucopia of great squash that I regret missing too much. More Middlesex Squash League’s rich talent shone through. Mike Gregory made today’s final of the +45 event having beaten Ireland’s Nick Staunton.

In the late afternoon I managed to catch Mick Biggs in the +40s. Mick had ousted Croatia’s Domagog Spoljar in a marathon on Thursday. He could not overcome France’s national number 15 Jerome Serusier, but the match was another treat to behold.  

Here’s to a wonderful finals day.

Pictures courtesy of Gordon Kerr

MADISON, Ill. – Team Penske driver Josef Newgarden has been the center of attention this week.

He threw out the first pitch in Thursday night’s Major League Baseball game between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Colorado Rockies. It was a perfect strike.

He saved his best speed for Friday evening’s qualifying session for Saturday’s NTT IndyCar Series Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at World Wide Technology Raceway.

The Team Penske driver who won this race in 2017 scored the eighth pole of his career Friday with a two-lap average of 186.508 mph in the No. 2 PPG Chevrolet.

So far, it seems that Newgarden can do no wrong as he attempts to add to his 35-point lead over Alexander Rossi in the NTT IndyCar Series standings.

“Give it time,” Newgarden warned. “Just give it time. We all can mess up, as everyone has seen from me.

“So far, so good. It’s the same drill every weekend. Sometimes you start off hot and you stay hot, sometimes you start off hot and you get cold. We’re going to try and stay in the good side of the temperature for this weekend. But we’ll just see. I don’t know. Like I said, I don’t know anything about the car in traffic. That’s the biggest unknown for me. I was good by myself. Are we going to be good in race conditions; that’s kind of the next thing on our list.”

For much of Friday evening’s qualification session, Sebastien Bourdais had the fastest speed with two laps at 185.927 mph. Newgarden, however, was the last driver to make an attempt and was the only driver to go faster than Bourdais.

“My teammate (Santino Ferrucci) jinxed it,” Bourdais said afterwards. “He just told me before the last one, ‘That pole will be yours,’ and I told him, ‘Man, you just jinxed it.’

“Massive commitment by the team. Obviously, we came, tested here last year and felt like we had a really good car. Unfortunately, we couldn’t put it to use at all because we got wiped out qualifying, and I didn’t make it past Turn 2 in the race, so that was a very short weekend for us, very disappointing.

“But we unloaded quick, as we were hoping, and yeah, really worked out very well for us in qualifying for both cars. Santino did a great job and gave me good feedback that we definitely were in the window as far as balance was concerned, and yeah, just kind of went for it, and really happy with the result.”

Team Penske driver Will Power, who won last Sunday’s ABC Supply 500 at Pocono Raceway after the race was called after 128 laps because of rain, qualified third at 185.896 mph. Another Team Penske driver, Simon Pagenaud, was fourth at 185.143 mph, with Takuma Sato rounding out the top-five at 185.050 mph in a Honda. The top four drivers were in Chevrolet-powered cars.

Alexander Rossi, who sits second in the NTT IndyCar Series standings, qualified 11th after two laps at 184.070 mph in his Andretti Autosport Honda. Pagenaud is third, 40 points out and five-time IndyCar Series champion Scott Dixon is fourth, 52 points out.

Dixon will start eighth after qualifying with a two-lap average of 184.293 mph.

So far, Newgarden has played it cool despite being in the spotlight. He believes looks are deceiving.

“I’m just dying slowly,” Newgarden said. “Years are just coming off me. You can’t see that, but…

“I did actually feel a little bit better today because Sebastien knows this, when you roll off with a car that is just fast and it feels comfortable, you don’t have to do too much to make it more comfy, it gives you a lot of confidence. I can’t remember the last time — probably Iowa, we had a really good car like that, too. And you don’t know, because in ’17 we had a really good car here, ’18 we dropped off with the new aero kit; we just ran out of time and didn’t hit it right.

“And then we looked at everything, and we came with a completely different philosophy, and right off the truck it was just perfect. I mean, it was like right on. It’s hard to do that. It’s really, really hard to do that.

“You try every weekend to make that happen, and it’s like maybe once or twice out of the year you go, okay, we don’t have to do much there. The only problem is I don’t know how that’s going to translate to the race. By myself it was fine, qualifying was fine, but in traffic I kind of hope it’s the same thing.

“I think we’ve only gone through half the journey this weekend. We need to go through the race simulation and then see where we really end up. But I feel pretty confident that the PPG car is going to be strong, and Chevy has obviously done their homework and given us a great package.”

ELKHART LAKE, Wis. – The cream rose to the top in Trans-Am presented by Pirelli qualifying for the Ryan Companies Road America Classic on Friday, with the top two contenders for the TA championship locking down the front row for Saturday’s Ryan Companies 100.

Chris Dyson earned his second pole of the season in the No. 20 Plaid Ford Mustang, touring the 4.024-mile circuit in 2:04.550 seconds. He enters rounds seven of the campaign with a five-point lead in the TA standings over second-fastest qualifier Ernie Francis Jr., who ran a quick time of 2:04.790 seconds in the No. 98 Frameless Shower Doors Ford Mustang.

“The car has been smoking fast ever since we got here,” Dyson said. “We’ve just been tweaking on it, and I feel we’ve got a great car for the race tomorrow. Ernie and I have had a tremendous battle all year. He’s helped me raise my game, and I think I’ve done the same for him.”

Francis and Dyson swapped the top spot several times before the New York driver locked down the top position. The two drivers have each won two of the last four races.

“Our car has been quick for the last string of events,” Francis said. “I think tomorrow’s race will be great. Dyson and I are always pretty close. This track is more of a power track, and that suits his car a little better than ours, but I think we can make it up during the race tomorrow.”

Popular veteran Boris Said qualified third in a substitute role, running 2:05.353-seconds in the No. 3 GoShare.Elavon/Axalta Chevrolet Camaro. Regular driver Tomy Drissi is recovering from a calf injury but is expected to return for the next event at Watkins Glen on Sept. 7.

Rafa Matos captured his third pole of the season in qualifying for the Ryan Companies Muscle Car Challenge featuring the TA2 powered by AEM class.

Matos turned a lap of 2:12.459 seconds in the No. 88 3Dimensional Services Group Chevrolet Camaro to beat out Marc Miller and Misha Goikhberg, who both have two pole positions in TA2 qualifying this year.

“It’s definitely a good feeling to get our second pole position in a row,” Matos said. “We’re definitely looking forward to keeping the first spot here. I was close last year, but we didn’t get it done. I feel I have a much stronger car this year. The pole is very important here. Road America is a very fast, horsepower track. Our goal was to win the pole position, and then stay up there tomorrow.”

Miller’s best lap was 2:13.410 seconds in the No. 40 Prefix/Stevens-Miller Racing Dodge Challenger, while Goikhberg ran a fast lap time of 2:13.717 seconds in the No. 10 BC Race Cars Chevrolet Camaro. Miller is riding a streak of two consecutive victories and holds the TA2 points lead.

“We’ve been creeping up to it and had a good qualifying effort,” Miller said. “Overall, I’m happy to have another front-row starting position. Rafa is hooked up. He has speed on the straights and he’s a little bit better in the corners, and that makes a big difference at this type of track. I’m happy to be the best of everyone else.”

Justin Haley, who stunned the racing world with an upset victory in July at Daytona in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series competition, qualified fifth in the No. 99 Mike Cope Racing Ford Mustang. He will see double duty this weekend, also running in Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series feature.

Tim Kezman captured the SGT pole driving the No. 64 Fall-Line Motorsports Audi R8 LMS for the first time, turning a lap of 2:13.027 seconds. The Franksville, Wis., driver captured the class pole at Indianapolis driving a Porsche.

“I’d never driven the car before,” Kezman said. “This weekend is my first time in it, and it’s a neat machine. I’m happy with the pole. Hopefully, we can check out and go clean all the way. The pole is one thing, but we’ve got to win the race. I thought we’d try the Audi when we saw the other Audi performing well. But without Fall-Line working on it, there’s no way we could make it go.”

Ken Thwaits qualified second in the No. 5 Wilwood Brakes/Franklin RD Apparel Audi R8 LS, followed by Jason Daskolos in the No. 27 Vintage 423 Dodge Viper. Class contender Cindi Lux was prevented from participating in qualifying after experiencing engine problems in practice with the No. 45 Lux Performance Group Dodge Viper.

Jeff Courtney, the lone entrant in the GT class, turned a lap of 2:19.389 seconds in the No. 99 Matrix/RecStuff.com/Kendra Maserati GT4.

BOWMANVILLE, Ontario – NASCAR has suspended NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series competitor Tyler Dippel indefinitely.

NASCAR has not given an exact reason for the suspension, but an official statement from NASCAR indicated he was suspended for a behavioral violation. According to the statement, Dippel violated Section 12.1 of the NASCAR Rule Book and the penalty was for actions detrimental to stock car racing.

The 19-year-old from Wallkill, N.Y., is in his rookie season in the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series. Driving the No. 02 Chevrolet for Young’s Motorsports, he has earned one top-five and three top-10 finishes.

Young’s Motorsports has not announced a substitute driver for Sunday’s race at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

MALTA, N.Y. – When Brett Hearn lined up in row three, most of the fans at Albany-Saratoga Speedway Friday night figured he’d win in a cakewalk.

He did win, his 136th score at the four-tenths-mile oval, but it was anything but easy as Mike Mahaney, from 11th, and arch rival Kenny Tremont Jr., from 24th, were right on him in the late stages of the 35-lap DIRTcar modified feature.

Jim Nagle took the early lead off the pole but Hearn took advantage of the race’s first restart, precipitated by a four-car melee on lap four, to shoot to second.  It then took him until lap 13 to work under Nagle to take the lead, by which time Mahaney was third and closing. Mahaney grabbed second on lap 15 and was making a run on Hearn for the lead when Keith Flach drew another yellow at halfway in the 35-lapper.

Tremont, who had just gotten to 10th, got a terrific start, blasting to fifth on the green.  He stood fourth when the next caution came, then shot down Peter Britten on the restart to get right on Mahaney’s bumper.

The final restart came with three to go, with Tremont using his trademark low groove to edge Mahaney for second after Hearn, who had restarted on the top all night, chose the bottom. By then Hearn had a small but comfortable lead and Tremont had no time to challenge for the win.

“I felt like I could get into turn one better if I started on the bottom that time,” offered Hearn. “We’ve had this car dialed in for a couple of weeks but had flats and other problems. For sure, we were good tonight.”

Point leader Marc Johnson was fourth, trailed by Britten, Ronnie Johnson, Matt DePew, Matt DeLorenzo, Rocky Warner and Bobby Hackel III.

In supporting class action, Scott Towslee topped Josh Coonradt and Jason Metz after a terrific battle in the Pro Stocks while Pat Jones led Brian Calabrese, Andrew Buff and Jack Speshock  to the checkers in the Sportsman finale.

RAPID CITY, S.D. — Carson Macedo grabbed his third World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series victory of the season Friday night at Black Hills Speedway.

Macedo banked $20,000 aboard the Kyle Larson Racing No. 2.

“It’s pretty cool,” Macedo said. “To win races was my main goal. I thought if I could get out here and win some races and at least show I could maybe have the speed to contend at one point that my team would get happy and we could all stick together for a few years. I think we can really build something great here.”

Macedo charged from sixth-place to second in his Drydene heat race. Then followed that up with another runner-up finish in the DIRTVision Fast Pass Dash.

At the start of the 25-lap feature, Macedo charged after the lead with the aggression of a hungry young cub. Hammering the throttle around the cushion, Macedo stayed side-by-side with polesitter Shane Stewart through the first turn. By the exit of turn two the two left inches between their tires, but Macedo never lifted and launched to the lead down the backstretch.

However, before Macedo could complete the first lap and make the lead change official, the red flag came out for Kevin Ingle flipping on his side in turn two.

When the race went green again, Stewart wasn’t going to let the rookie best him. He shot to the lead in front of Macedo into turn one. Daryn Pittman charged from fourth-place to third down the front stretch and tried a Hail Mary slide job into the first turn to take the lead, but Stewart and Macedo powered by him on the outside.

Stewart then held command of the lead for the next nine laps, putting close to a half of a track distance between he and Macedo. The Oklahoma-native was hungry and determined for a win. His last and only win his year came in June at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway. But his joyride out front was cut short by a caution for Ian Madsen cutting a tire and hitting the wall with 16 laps to go.

The field lined back up two-by-two. When it did, Stewart chose the outside line. A mistake. Macedo got the better jump on the restart running the bottom and drove past Stewart down the front stretch.

“I obviously should have picked the bottom,” a dejected Stewart said. “I felt like my right rear (tire) needed to be in grip. I slid my tires a little bit on the initial start and let Carson get a run on me. I didn’t want to do that again. My motor stumbled just a little bit, but it was enough for him to get a run on me.

“We haven’t been worth a crap in a long time and we finally have a good car and I flat just threw it away on the restart. Just can’t thank my guys enough. They’ve stuck through thick and thin and continue to work hard. Just messed up.”

Macedo pulled away from Stewart after taking the lead, but in the final few laps Stewart was putting together better laps than Macedo. On the final lap through the final corner, Macedo slid up the track, almost hitting the wall. That allowed Stewart to cut the lead in half.

But time ran out for the KI Crossbow No. 5. Macedo throttled his Chevrolet Accessories No. 2 past the waving checkered flag with a close to half a second lead.

“I was really struggling to get off of (turn) two,” Macedo said. “Then I’d get tight in turns three and four and I didn’t really know what to do. I know we started to fade there a little bit. I tried to keep my pace as best I could. My guys did a really good job. I say it all the time, this sport is weighed on mechanics and they do a really good job.”

Behind Macedo and Stewart, 2019 Knoxville Nationals winner David Gravel charged his was from sixth-place to third – his third podium finish in-a-row.

“I cost our team a win in the Dash,” said Gravel, who finished sixth in the Dash.

If he was able to start at least fourth in the Feature, he said he felt like he could have possibly contended for the win. However, his podium finished helped him gain points on the top two in the championship point standings.

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