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WATERBURY, Vt. – The American-Canadian Tour events at both Maine’s Oxford Plains Speedway and Thunder Road Speedbowl have been postponed due to poor ground conditions and leftover snow from the past winter.
The Oxford 150 has been rescheduled for Sunday, April 28 at 1:30 p.m. while the Community Bank N.A. 150 has been moved to Sunday, May 5 at 1:30 p.m.
With less than a week remaining before the originally-scheduled opening date, Oxford Plains Speedway reports that they still have three inches of snow on the ground. More snow and rain are in the forecast for later in the week, which are expected to exacerbate the already-wet conditions.
This led to the decision to postpone the event – which will also feature the Pro All Stars Series (PASS) Super Late Models, PASS Modifieds, Honey Badger Street Stock Series, and North East Mini Stock Tour – to Sunday, April 28. The open practice day has also been rescheduled for Saturday, April 27. The full schedule of events for both days will be announced at a later date.
The combination of ground conditions and scheduling has also resulted in the postponement of the Community Bank N.A. 150 at Thunder Road, which has been facing problems with snow in its own right. It has been moved back one week to Sunday, May 5. The event was originally scheduled for April 28, the same date the Oxford 150 will now be held.
“It’s been a long winter in northern New England – long enough that we’ll have to wait a little to start racing here,” ACT managing partner Cris Mchaud said. “Simply put, neither facility is in condition for racing right now because of all the snow we’ve gotten. Given the conditions we’re facing, we agreed it was in everyone’s best interests to pull the plug early on both events so everyone has time to make new plans.”
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USADA suspends Dillashaw 2 years for EPO use
Published in
Breaking News
Tuesday, 09 April 2019 13:03
The United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) has suspended former UFC champion TJ Dillashaw for two years, for testing positive for recombinant human erythropoietin (EPO) prior to a flyweight title fight against Henry Cejudo on Jan. 19 in New York.
USADA officials announced the suspension, which Dillashaw did not contest, on Tuesday. The news comes less than one month after Dillashaw willingly relinquished his bantamweight championship, which the UFC would have almost certainly stripped him of based on Tuesday's announcement.
"We all know the pressures to win at all levels of all sport are real and intense," said USADA CEO Travis T. Tygart in a released statement. "It is exactly why strong anti-doping efforts are necessary to protect clean athletes' rights, health and safety and to ensure that those who do succumb to these pressures and decide to break the rules will be held accountable in a real and meaningful way, as in this case."
The two-year suspension is the maximum sanction for a non-specified substance under the UFC's anti-doping program. It is dated retroactively to Jan. 18, 2019, the day the test was submitted. EPO is a peptide hormone used to stimulate red blood cell production. It is typically administered via intravenous injection.
Dillashaw is the second UFC fighter to test positive for EPO since the UFC and USADA partnered in 2015. Lightweight Gleison Tibau was also suspended for two years for EPO.
"I'm quite familiar with EPO from my days investigating professional cycling teams," UFC vice president of athlete health and performance Jeff Novitzky told ESPN. "It's a very effective substance. It's not a substance you find in contaminated supplements, it's injectable only. You have to know what you're doing when it enters your system.
"On a scale of seriousness in anti-doping, it's up near the top."
Dillashaw suffered a first-round knockout loss to Cejudo in the flyweight title fight, which was historic in that Dillashaw was attempting to become the first active champion to drop down in weight to capture a second belt.
His team did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The New York State Athletic Commission (NYSAC) issued Dillashaw its own one-year suspension for the failed drug test. Dillashaw will serve the suspensions concurrently, meaning he will be re-eligible to compete in January 2021.
Dillashaw, 33, is ranked the No. 10 pound-for-pound fighter in the world by ESPN. He is a two-time UFC bantamweight champion.
In 2017, Cody Garbrandt, one of Dillashaw's former teammates in Sacramento, accused Dillashaw of using performance-enhancing drugs in the buildup to a bantamweight title fight in New York. Dillashaw refuted Garbrandt's claims and went to knock him out twice in November 2017 and August 2018.
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Murray & Peers lose in first match together since 2015
Published in
Tennis
Tuesday, 09 April 2019 11:48
Top seeds Jamie Murray and John Peers - playing together for the first time in more than three years - were knocked out of the Grand Prix Hassan II in Marrakech in the first round.
Britain's Murray and Australian Peers were beaten 7-6 (7-3) 6-7 (7-9) 10-6 by Denmark's Frederik Nielsen and the Netherlands' Matwe Middelkoop.
Murray and Peers split after reaching the ATP World Tour Finals in 2015.
Elsewhere, Germany's Alexander Zverev reached the singles second round.
The top seed beat Uzbekistan's Denis Istomin 6-4 6-4 and will play Spain's Jaume Munar next.
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NAPLES, Maine – With three inches of snow on the ground and with more snow and rain in the forecast, officials with the Pro All Stars Series and Oxford Plains Speedway felt it best to postpone this weekend’s PASS/ACT doubleheader to April 27-28.
There will be practice for all divisions on Saturday, April 27, along with the Oxford Plains Speedway regular season opener set to begin at 4 p.m.
On Sunday, April 28, racing will begin at 1:30 p.m. featuring the Honey Badger Bar & Grill 150 for the PASS Super Late Models.
The ACT Late Models will also be racing for 150 laps, along with the PASS Modifieds, North East Mini Stock Tour, and Street Stocks.
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JT tries different approach to Masters prep ... Bahamas with family
Published in
Golf
Tuesday, 09 April 2019 07:05
AUGUSTA, Ga. – Justin Thomas has already collected a major championship, but he knows that he’s otherwise underperformed in the big events. Here at the Masters, the major he wants to win as much as any, the results just haven’t been what he’s expected.
In three attempts at Augusta National, Thomas’ best finish was a tie for 17th last year. But that was with a final-round 73, when others near the top of the leaderboard were making birdies in droves.
“I’ve had a hard time at this event every year because I love this golf course so much and I feel like it fits my game so well,” Thomas said Tuesday at the Masters. “I really feel like I should have a great chance to win and I think that gets in my own way sometimes, or at least it has the past couple years.”
Rather than preparing the same way as the past three years, Thomas took a different approach this time around. No more grinding back home on the practice range. No more six-hour days burning in the hot sun. Instead of working hard on his game and trying to maintain that form all the way through the end of the Masters, Thomas decided to get away and chill.
“I just went on a little vacation with my parents down in the Bahamas to get my mind in a good place, and my dad and I would just go play golf like we did when I was eight, nine years old,” Thomas said. “Just having fun, going fishing, hang by the pool, do whatever just to try to get relaxed.”
Thomas, ranked No. 5 in the Official World Golf Ranking, won the 2017 PGA Championship at Quail Hollow; but in 13 majors as a professional, he has only three top-10 finishes to go along with missed two cuts. His three finishes at the Masters are T-39, T-22 and T-17.
Thomas and his father, Mike, have dissected his major performances and narrowed in on the Masters, in particular. The two feel like Thomas has played too conservatively at Augusta National. When Thomas has, say, an 8-iron in his hand, he’s trying to figure out where he can miss instead of trying to knock the ball stiff, just as he does at every other tournament during the year.
“You obviously have to pick your spots and understand when it’s smart and when you have to play conservative, or when you can play aggressive vs. conservative,” Thomas said. “But as a whole, I think that we’ve figured out that I may be over-respecting the golf course, at least with the last couple of years.”
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Tiger recalls two times he 'needed' to win at Augusta
Published in
Golf
Tuesday, 09 April 2019 07:33
AUGUSTA, Ga. – Tiger Woods really wants to win again, but he doesn’t need to win. He doesn’t need to win here at the Masters, or anywhere else for that matter. Woods’ 14 majors and 80 PGA Tour victories could be etched in history books forever and his place in the game would be solidified.
But, believe it or not, there were times in Woods’ career where he felt like he absolutely “needed” to win. The two that immediately came to mind were both here at Augusta National.
“One, don’t blow the lead I had in ’97, because of what happened the previous year,” Woods said Tuesday at the Masters regarding his march to a first green jacket. His reference to the year before was to when Greg Norman began the final round with a six-shot lead and lost to Nick Faldo by five.
“I didn’t want to lose a nine-shot lead, so I was able to win that one,” Woods said with a smirk.
The other time Woods felt like he needed to win was here in 2001, when he entered the Masters already in possession of three consecutive majors. Of course, he defeated David Duval by two shots to win his second green jacket and capture the Tiger Slam by winning four straight majors.
“I mean, that’s nine months of just getting asked the same question,” Woods said, “and to pull it off like that one, yeah, I needed to win that one to get all four.”
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Tiger eyes confidence of fast start at Masters
Published in
Breaking News
Tuesday, 09 April 2019 12:33
AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Tiger Woods was surprised to learn Tuesday that he is the last player to win the Masters despite being outside of the top 10 after the first round at Augusta National.
It is telling that every winner of the year's first major has been no worse than 10th since Woods' fourth Masters victory in 2005. And it should have more meaning to Woods, who has been plagued by slow starts over the past two years since returning from spinal fusion surgery.
Woods begins play in his 22nd Masters on Thursday at Augusta National, where he has broken 70 just once in an opening round and been under par just four times after day one since 2005.
"That's a very interesting stat,'' Woods said. "I know that most of the winners have come from the final group, but I didn't know that one after the first day. It's interesting because I think this is one of the courses you can make up a lot of ground. You can get on one of these hot rounds and make up some shots, like I did in '05 against Chris (DiMarco). I got on a nice little run, made seven (birdies) in a row (in the third round) and next thing you know, I'm in the lead. I think that's where this golf course allows you to do that, but you get going the other way pretty quickly, too.
"I just think if you get off to a quick start here, a solid start, it gives us a lot of confidence going forward.''
Woods has not done that here or mostly anywhere of late. In 22 stroke-play tournaments starting in January 2018, Woods has shot in the 60s just four times, and none have been this year. He shot a first-round 65 last September on his way to his 80th PGA Tour victory at the Tour Championship.
That win, and some of the other progress Woods has made, gives him confidence that he can win a major title after 11 years since capturing his 14th at the 2008 U.S. Open.
"I feel like I can win. I've proven that I can do it and I put myself there with a chance to win the last two major championships of the year last year,'' Woods said, referring to a sixth-place tie at The Open and a runner-up finish at the PGA Championship. "I was right there and just needed to have a couple more things to go my way and not throw away a couple shots here and there, which I was able to do at East Lake.
"I just feel like that I've improved a lot over the past 12, 14 months, but I've more than anything just proven to myself that I can play at this level again. I've worked my way back into one of the players that can win events.''
Not hurting matters is the fact that Woods visited Augusta National on April 3 for practice and shot 65 despite a three-putt bogey on the first hole. Although the course typically plays considerably different a week prior to the Masters -- and has been soaked with rain the last two days -- shooting a good score helped confirm a few things.
"It doesn't really matter, but it is something that I feel it's I know that I can play this golf course. I've had some success here,'' Woods said. "I just wanted to do a quick scouting trip and get a feel for how this golf course is going to be playing, especially see No. 5 (the lengthening of the hole), see the changes to the green, well the entire hole, and see what they did to 18, as well, and was able to do that. I played well on top of that.''
This will be Woods' sixth start of 2019, after a tie for 20th at the Farmers Insurance Open, a tie for 15th at the Genesis Open, a tie for 10th at the WGC-Mexico Championship, a tie for 30th at the Players Championship and a tie for fifth at his last event, the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play Championship, where he lost in the quarterfinals.
Woods will be grouped the first two rounds with China's Haotong Li and Spain's Jon Rahm. They begin play at 11:04 a.m. on Thursday.
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