LOUDON, N.H. – American-Canadian Tour and Pro All Star Series officials have announced the Northeast Classic at New Hampshire Motor Speedway has been canceled.

The inaugural edition of the event will now take place on April 16-17, 2021.

Despite the hopes of series officials, and a previous postponement to May 8-9, it became clear in recent days that holding the Northeast Classic in 2020 was no longer practical. The state of New Hampshire recently extended its State of Emergency declaration, and indications are that New Hampshire’s Stay at Home order will also be extended beyond the current May 4 expiration date.

Furthermore, the U.S.-Canada border remains closed to non-essential business, which would prevent the large amount of Quebec-based teams and fans who planned to attend the Northeast Classic from doing so. With the current health and safety concerns, and other postponements and uncertainty throughout the Northeast racing world making rescheduling even more difficult, the decision was made to wait until 2021 for the debut of the event.

“Unfortunately, a lot of things racing-wise are beyond our control right now,” ACT managing partner Cris Michaud said. “We want to race as much as our teams and fans do. However, the current circumstances won’t allow for us to do so in a healthy and safe manner. Rather than continue to shuffle such a big event around and try to hit a moving target on the calendar, we’ve decided it’s best to hold off until April 2021 and make sure the Northeast Classic has the big stage it deserves.”

“Both ACT and PASS still are optimistic about eventually getting the 2020 racing season in,” Michaud added. “When each of us has a better picture about when racing can start, we’ll sit down and put together the best schedules that we can for everybody.”

SAN DIEGO – Marty Smith, a member of the AMA Hall of Fame, and his wife Nancy have died following a dune buggy crash in the California desert.

Smith, who was enshrined in the AMA Motorcycle Museum Hall of Fame in 2000, was 63 years old.

Smith rose to prominence in the 1970s by initially claiming a pair of AMA 125cc National Motocross championships in 1974 and ’75. Two years he followed those titles up by winning the AMA 500cc National Motocross championship.

He retired from competition in 1983.

CONCORD, N.C. – NASCAR Cup Series champion Joey Logano will be behind the wheel of a virtual dirt late model sporting a Joey Logano Foundation paint scheme tonight at 8 p.m. (ET) on CBS Sports Network.

Logano will join the World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model iRacing Invitational field of elite drivers – such as DIRTcar Summer Nationals Champ Bobby Pierce, and Hall-of-Fame legend Scott Bloomquist – at the virtual Eldora Speedway when the popular Late Model and Sprint Car iRacing Invitationals make their debut on CBS Sports.

“Obviously our sport is unique when it comes to the importance of having great partners associated with your team,” Logano said. “If we don’t have sponsors, we don’t race. Right now everyone is experiencing different challenges, but with having virtual races we can keep our partners front and center with race fans and we can continue to generate storylines with racing and hopefully attract some new fans so that when we do get back on the track, motorsports will be as strong as it’s ever been.”

While Logano has been a regular in NASCAR’s weekly Pro Invitational iRacing Series, the veteran driver said he’s a rookie when it comes to iRacing. His virtual racing experience mostly comes from using the Ford simulator for the last eight years. And that’s a “totally different ball game,” he said.

Assisting Logano with getting up to speed is 2018 iRacing World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model World Championship Series champion Zach Leonhardi. The 18-year-old, of Cartersville, GA, is not only an ace on the sim, but he is also a real-world Late Model driver with four years of experience. So, when the Team Penske driver was in need of some help, Leonhardi got the call.

“The Outlaws have been having me help a few different racers get ready with the TV deal,” Leonhardi said. “They had me up at Bloomquist’s shop a couple of weeks ago to help him get up to speed, and I worked with Austin Dillon some. I got a text asking if I could help another guy out and I said sure. I got a text a few minutes later and Joey Logano popped up on my phone.

“He has been really good to work with. We ran for about an hour late on Friday night. He’d never driven a Late Model on iRacing, and for having never driven one he was doing really good. Mostly trying to get him up to speed, but I’ve also been helping him with some setup stuff. I think after I work with him a few more times he’ll be pretty good on Tuesday.”

The young shoe’s speed has made an impression on the NASCAR Cup champion, who has had his work cut out for him to keep pace.

“Zach helped some with the setup, but more so teaching me how to drive,” Logano said. “He’s done a good job with that, he’s extremely fast and I can’t keep up with him. Dirt racing is much different than what we do on asphalt. It’s a totally different set of skills and it takes a long time to perfect.”

When asked about the differences in real life driving and operating a sim, Logano said, “With iRacing you’re 100 percent reliant on visual reference points and you don’t have the feelings in the seat, at least in my rig, that you’d have in the actual race car so learning how to overcome that and also not create bad habits for myself when we do get back on the track has been a focal point.”

Being an iRacing competitor since 2011, Leonhardi agreed.

“With it being laser scanned, all of the dimensions are the same so that brings some familiarity,” the young racer said. “There are some differences, you can’t feel the car obviously. I think that iRacing has done a really good job of making them as realistic as they can. They’ve done the best job.”

While this is Logano’s first time in a World of Outlaws race, not to mention a virtual one, Logano has run a real dirt late model before. In the 2009 Prelude to the Dream at Eldora Speedway, Logano piloted Chris Wall’s Black Diamond Chassis Late Model.

“Chris is really helpful and had great equipment,” Logano said. “I was able to have pretty good speed until I ripped the spoiler off it and crashed the next corner. His upbeat attitude and ability to communicate what I needed to do in the car to be faster was really helpful.”

Finishing 20th in the feature was not the finish Logano had hoped for, but he said, “To be honest, it was sort of like iRacing. I did it for fun. I wasn’t that great at it, but it was something unique and it helped some of the drivers in NASCAR connect with dirt racing fans in a new way.”

While always competitive, the Team Penske driver says that this outing is all about having a good time and branching out.

“Honestly it’s about having fun for me,” Logano said. “It’s an opportunity to jump in a car that I otherwise couldn’t and go out and try a new discipline racing against some of the best dirt Late Model racers in the world. I don’t have any expectations or finishing goals specifically. Just go out and have fun.”

RALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper believes NASCAR will be able to hold the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway as planned on May 24.

His comments came Tuesday during a press conference where he updated members of the media on the state’s battle against the COVID-19 virus.

The Coca-Cola 600 would be run without fans in the stands, but would be broadcast live on television. However, the governor indicated that the plans to race at Charlotte Motor Speedway depend heavily on the health situation in the state.

“We believe that unless health conditions go down, we believe we can hold the Coca-Cola 600,” Cooper said.

NASCAR officials have been working extensively to determine the best way to resume the season after postponing eight NASCAR Cup Series races since mid-March.

Multiple media outlets are reporting that NASCAR has distributed a potential schedule to race teams that includes a return to competition on May 17 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway, a second Darlington race on May 20, the Coca-Cola 600 on May 24 and a second race at the 1.5-mile Charlotte oval on May 27.

The season would then continue with events at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway on May 31, Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway on June 3, Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Ga., on June 7 and Florida’s Homestead-Miami Speedway on June 14.

North Carolina is under a stay-at-home order through at least May 8, but Cooper declared team employees essential workers last week.

NASCAR has not publicly announced plans to return to racing.

Whenever the PGA Tour resumes its schedule the only thing that’s certain is that the game will look vastly different.

Playing without fans at the first four events will be the obvious difference.

“It will be weird. I imagine the first person to win a tournament it’s going to be the strangest win of their lives,” said Max Homa, who would have been the defending champion this week at the Wells Fargo Championship had the event not been canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic. “[But] it sounds selfish us not wanting to play in front of fans because it’s not going to be electric. I’d play in front of nobody and carry my bag if I needed to.”

Carrying his bag might actually be an option. Although the Tour is still developing protocols for the resumption of play, which is currently scheduled for June 11-14 at the Charles Schwab Challenge, one consideration is to play events without caddies to maximize social distancing.

“It would stink [playing without his caddie] but we’d finally have to blame ourselves for being unprepared,” Homa joked. “It would be weird without a caddie but I also play golf without [caddie Joe Greiner] when I’m at home. I’m hoping they don’t make us carry the staff bag. Maybe I’ll put a little earpiece in my ear and have Joe follow along on shot tracker.”

Like most players, Homa also said he’s confident the Tour’s plan to return to play will be safe for the players and everyone else involved.

“I liken this question to me asking what your favorite thing to watch will be in two months. Things can change. I know the Tour is going to do their best,” he said. “I’m trusting in the PGA Tour to do the right thing because I know they will.”

FIFA's medical committee chairman, Michel D'Hooghe, believes football should not resume until September at the earliest due to the coronavirus pandemic.

D'Hooghe, speaking to Sky Sports, described the pandemic as the "most dramatic situation we have lived in since the Second World War."

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Asked if he would recommend football not returning before September, he said: "That is my personal opinion. The world is not ready for competitive football. I hope this can change very quickly and I sincerely hope it but it's not the case today. Today, you need more patience."

"Football remains always a contact sport and one of the first things that everybody says is that you should avoid contact for the moment," D'Hooghe added. "So football can only be possible if contacts can be possible again."

UEFA has given European domestic leagues a May 25 deadline to provide details on if and how they can complete their seasons.

France became the latest country to announce that the 2019-20 season is over on Tuesday, with no sporting events allowed until at least September. The Netherlands, Belgium and Argentina have also done so.

La Liga president Javier Tebas questioned the decision made by neighbours France to end their competition early.

"I don't understand why there would more danger in playing football behind closed doors, following La Liga's precautionary measures [protocol], than working in a factory or in an assembly line," he said. "If important economic sectors cannot restart, in a safe and controlled manner, they could end up disappearing. That could happen to professional football. In other countries teams are already training, that's the example to follow.''

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Germany's Bundesliga teams were among the first to resume training in Europe and have plans to restart competition within weeks. The English Premier League is hopeful of resuming in June.

La Liga received a boost late Tuesday afternoon with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez announcing that professional teams can begin individual training May 4. However, La Liga's protocol, which was presented last week to the government, has yet to be approved by the health authorities.

Italy, the first league to halt competition due to the coronavirus pandemic on March 9, has yet to give the green light for the competition to resume despite Serie A clubs recently voting unanimously to complete the campaign.

Major League Baseball is allowing teams to offer refunds to fans for games currently not being played due to the coronavirus pandemic. Previously, games were considered postponed, instead of canceled, allowing teams to hold on to revenue generated from ticket sales.

But with little chance of MLB playing 162 games this season, the league has decided to allow for refunds. MLB is not requiring refunds, and each team will set its own policy, with many likely offering a credit for 2021 as an option. Teams can announce their new policies beginning Wednesday.

The decision comes a week after two fans filed a complaint in California, seeking class-action certification on behalf of fans seeking refunds. Additionally, several state attorney general offices around the country had received complaints about the no-refund policy.

MLB has no start date for the 2020 season.

Though baseball could still return this summer, it's likely to be without fans in attendance for at least a portion of the season -- which would kick in another set of refunds.

Chief medical officers from major sports leagues participated in a call Tuesday with Seema Verma, who is a member of the White House coronavirus task force and administrator for the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services.

The call, according to a White House official, was to go over how sports play a role in President Donald Trump's plan for opening up America amid the coronavirus pandemic. Verma also updated league medical officials on the latest testing available and encouraged them to follow guidelines established by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Among those representing the various sports leagues were officials from Major League Baseball, the NFL, the NBA, the WNBA, the NHL, the PGA Tour, the LPGA Tour, the NCAA, the College Football Playoff, the National Women's Soccer League, NASCAR, PGA of America, the Masters Tournament, the United States Tennis Association, as well as a few other organizations.

The PGA Tour was among the first professional sports leagues to announce an intention to return to play, with plans to open the revised schedule on June 8 with the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas.

The first four tournaments of the new schedule will be played without fans in attendance, and the PGA Tour has acknowledged the need for safety precautions that will have to be implemented at the events.

Verma emphasized to the league officials the importance of finding innovative ways to allow sports while keeping the athletes, coaches, staff and fans safe. She also emphasized the president's commitment to supporting the efforts to reopen in a way that is consistent with public health data.

Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby represented the CFP on the call, which he said lasted over an hour, and he said that Dr. Brian Hainline was on for the NCAA.

"They just told us what they knew, and told us they were anxious to help in any way they could," Bowlsby said. "We learned that there were likely going to be a lot more tests available, both the antibody tests and point of contact tests, which was a good thing for all of the pro guys and colleges.

"They said the number of tests was going to go up dramatically in the coming months," Bowlsby added when asked if he was told that schools would be able to test every player and coach. "They thought we were going to have the necessary tests to do what we needed to do."

Bowlsby said there are still "too many unknowns" to determine when the fall season might start.

"Getting the best information from the most authoritative source is always a good thing," he said.

ESPN's Heather Dinich contributed to this report.

International duo Nick Frisby and Siua Halanukonuka are to leave Glasgow Warriors at the end of this season.

Australian scrum-half Frisby, 27, has made 21 appearances after joining from Bordeaux in summer 2018.

And 33-year-old Tonga tight-head Halanukonuka has played 33 games since arriving a year earlier, although a calf injury has kept him out this term.

"Nick and Siua are great men and have both given a lot to the club," Glasgow head coach Dave Rennie said.

With the Pro14 season currently suspended due to coronavrius, Scottish Rugby is to be part of talks on 5 May with sports minister Joe Fitzpatrick over a phased return to action.

Rennie is to depart at the end of the campaign, having agreed to replace Michael Cheika as Australia head coach, while coach Jason O'Halloran and lock Exeter Chiefs-bound Jonny Gray are also moving on.

CONCORD, N.C. — World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series officials have postponed four upcoming races due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The upcoming events in Georgia at Lavonia Speedway (May 8) and Cochran Motor Speedway (May 9), as well as events in Ohio at Moler Raceway Park (May 15) and Wayne County Speedway (May 16) have been postponed.

Fans with tickets to these events should hold onto them for the rescheduled event date.