Middle-distance duo are among a number of Brits in the first Continental Tour Gold meeting of the year at the USATF GP in Eugene

Laura Muir starts her countdown to Tokyo in earnest this weekend in Oregon with a 1500m race, while training partner Jemma Reekie tackles the 800m.

They are competing in the first Continental Tour Gold event of 2021 – the USATF Grand Prix – which is held at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, on Saturday (April 24).

It will be the first time professional athletes have competed at the newly-renovated stadium and the fields are red-hot with a number of the world’s top athletes in action.

Muir faces a field that includes former world champion Jenny Simpson of the United States, while Reekie is joined by fellow Brit Adelle Tracey in the two-lap line up. Apart from stretching their legs briefly during the indoor season, this is the first outdoor race of 2021 for Muir and Reekie.

The Continental Tour events have quickly gained a reputation for featuring strong line-ups and this USATF Grand Prix sees Shaunae Miller-Uibo in the women’s 400m.

Noah Lyles, meanwhile, goes in the 100m in a line-up that includes Trayvon Bromell.

Donavan Brazier, the world 800m champion, steps up to 1500m in an early-season test of his endurance.

The men’s 400m features Michael Norman, Rai Benjamin and Britain’s Matt Hudson-Smith among others.

In-form Jasmine Camacho-Quinn takes on a 100m hurdles field that includes 400m hurdles specialist Sydney McLaughlin.

Another athlete in great shape, DeAnna Price, heads the hammer line-up, while Christian Taylor leads the field in the triple jump.

The star-studded fields also include a women’s 100m with Allyson Felix, Tiana Bartoletta, Briana Williams and Britain’s Daryll Neita.

There is also British interest in the women’s 5000m with European indoor 3000m champion Amy-Eloise Markovc and Eilish McColgan featuring.

Guy Learmonth goes in the 800m, Jacob Fincham-Dukes in the long jump and Nathan Douglas is in the triple jump.

The meeting is also part of the USATF Journey to Gold – Tokyo Outdoor Track & Field Series and is held during the weekend-long Oregon Relays.

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Continental Tour Gold calendar for 2021

April 24 USATF Grand Prix, Eugene, Oregon
May 9   Ready Steady Tokyo – Athletics, Tokyo
May 9   USATF Golden Games, Walnut, California
May 19 Ostrava Golden Spike, Ostrava
May 23 adidas Boston Boost Games, Boston
June 6  FBK Games, Hengelo
June 8  Paavo Nurmi Games, Turku
June 30 Irena Szewinska Memorial, Bydgoszcz
July 6   Gyulai Istvan Memorial, Szekesfehervar, Hungary
Sept 5  Kamila Skolimowska Memorial, Chorzow
Sept 14 Memorial Borisa Hanzekovica, Zagreb
Sept 18 Kip Keino Classic, Nairobi
Note, the above does not include Silver and Bronze events

Spanish top seed Rafael Nadal survived a scare before fighting back to beat Belarusian qualifier Ilya Ivashka in the second round of the Barcelona Open.

British number one Dan Evans was unable to continue his excellent form on clay, losing to France's Corentin Moutet in a spiky second-round match.

Evans, seeded 16th, lost 6-4 5-7 6-3.

The pair shook hands at the net before another frank exchange of words, having disagreed earlier in this match and previously during a US Open encounter last year.

Meanwhile, Italian ninth seed Fabio Fognini was defaulted from his second-round match for abusing a line judge.

The 33-year-old, who has a history of on-court disciplinary problems, angrily smashed a racquet as he walked off, having seen Spanish opponent Bernabe Zapata Miralles progress at his expense.

IRVINE, Calif. – MotoAmerica officials announced Wednesday that HONOS has signed on for a second season as the title sponsor of the MotoAmerica HONOS Superbike Series.

“It’s great when a partnership works and our relationship with HONOS thrived in 2020 with them coming on board as our HONOS Superbike title sponsor,” said MotoAmerica President Wayne Rainey. “Our 2020 season was successful on many fronts and having HONOS was a big part of that success.

“We are already looking forward to a great 2021 season and having the title sponsor in place for the HONOS Superbike class is another big step in the right direction.”

HONOS, a performance gear and apparel company that promotes talent within the motorsports world and other adrenaline sports, saw Richie Escalante winning the MotoAmerica Supersport championship on the HONOS Kawasaki and 2017 MotoAmerica Superbike champion Toni Elias finish fourth in the HONOS Superbike point standings.

This season they will sponsor a two-rider team, with Escalante defending his Supersport title and Corey Alexander going after the Stock 1000 crown on HONOS-backed Kawasakis.

“We really enjoyed our first season as the title sponsor for the HONOS Superbike class,” said HONOS Brand Manager, Alonso Benavidez. “It was our first endeavor with a title sponsorship and the partnership with MotoAmerica couldn’t have been better. There was no hesitation in us coming back to do it again in 2021, which promises to be an even better season of racing in the MotoAmerica Series.”

The MotoAmerica Series will consist of nine rounds beginning at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, April 30 through May 2.

INDIANAPOLIS – One of the constants over the past several years has been Chase Stockon’s presence in the starting lineup for USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car Series features.

But a common refrain is that all good things must come to an end at one point or another, in life, in competition, or otherwise.

That’s what made the posted feature lineup on April 16 at Indiana’s Bloomington Speedway a bit startling. For the first time in nearly a decade, Stockon’s name was nowhere to be found.

In that moment, one of the finest achievements of longevity, perseverance and pure grit in the history of the series – an all-time record of 324 consecutive feature starts since the beginning of the 2012 season – was over.

As it turned out, Stockon’s Cal Ripken Jr.-like streak concluded in a somewhat similar manner as the Baltimore Orioles infielder’s consecutive Major League Baseball start streak.

Ripken’s run ended when he opted out of the lineup on his own terms.

For Stockon, it was and it wasn’t, in terms of opting out on his own terms.

A rugged start to the season had seen no finishes inside the top 10, nor a competitive run in his first four outings.

A starting spot in the feature at Lawrenceburg on April 3 was salvaged by the use of a provisional, which afforded Stockon a position at the tail of the lineup preceding the fateful Bloomington round on April 16, where a 10th place finish in the semi-feature resulted in another missed transfer spot.

All expectations were that Stockon and the KO Motorsports team would utilize one of the provisionals they had left at their disposal.

Then word came from the pit area that the team had rejected the use of a provisional, thus ending the ultimate Iron Man run.

“We knew it was inevitable that one of these days, this streak was going to come to an end, whether it was because I was ready to quit racing full-time or it was because of circumstances, kind of like what happened at Bloomington,” Stockon said.

Shockwaves were sent throughout the pit area, the crowd and the press box when the closure of one of the most iconic runs in the history of USAC became a reality, but the team had an ulterior plan.

Over the offseason, the reigning Indiana Sprint Week champions built a new car and intended to try out a few new ideas on it.

Stockon admitted he didn’t really want to change too much because, after all, they were pretty good down the stretch last year, winning twice and being in contention for the series title entering the season finale after pairing up full time in early July.

However, things simply haven’t worked out with the new car to start the season. With a best finish of 11th through four events, the results weren’t trending in the right direction.

When push came to shove at Bloomington, the bold decision was made to forgo the use of a provisional.

Instead, the team all agreed, on the spot, that they’d much rather right the ship now rather than wait any longer, sacrificing their goals in the short-term for what they want to accomplish in the long run with the season still young, but still with a tad bit of reservation.

“There’s always a little bit of doubt and that we should keep that streak alive,” Stockon admitted. “We’re obviously still having fun doing what we’re doing, but it was somewhat miserable at the same time not running how we expected to be running. It isn’t very good on the guys or the driver in that situation, and we thought it would be best to go to work and get competitive again.”

That pivotal moment came at the beginning of a stretch of seven scheduled races in 10 days for the team.

Even though they knew they had an all-nighter awaiting them at the team’s Owensville, Ind., shop, they had a feeling they needed to make changes right away, or risk enduring a long and taxing week-and-a-half on the road.

“It came to that point at Bloomington where we were struggling with a lot of issues, and we decided to throw all our eggs in one basket and regroup, and that’s what we did,” Stockon explained. (Crew member) D.J. Ott, (team manager) Kent Schmidt and I, we all decided that we needed to do something different. We couldn’t just continue to do the same thing and expect different results. We came back down to the shop that same night, stripped the car down, and put last year’s car together.

“I guess you could say that we put the old car together and expected the old results, and that’s we got.”

Stockon and KO’s subsequent evening at Tri-State Speedway in Haubstadt, Ind. on April 17 was much more to their liking, resulting in a season-best third-place finish in the feature, bringing about a boost of confidence and a newfound outlook.

“After running the way we did at Haubstadt, there’s a lot of guys who’d say that that’s to be expected because that’s our home track,” Stockon said. “But on the same token, if you’re off down there, you’re a second off the pace or more. Running that well and being in contention late in the race, and just being in the conversation, that boosted everyone’s confidence and put us in a good spot going forward.”

Stockon, a 14-time USAC National Sprint Car Series winner, had a little more pep in his step after Haubstadt now that he officially has a feature starting streak of one at this point.

However, the Fort Branch, Ind., driver doesn’t mind at this juncture. It’s more of a weight off his shoulder without having the record in the back of his thoughts, a record he had long since claimed with his 285th straight series start at Terre Haute (Ind.) Action Track in 2019, surpassing five-time series champion Levi Jones in that regard.

“We had a few people mad at us for making that decision,” Stockon recalled. “But it’s a relief not having to worry about it or hearing about it, and just being able to go to the race track and be Chase Stockon again, not the Iron Man or record holder. But we’ve also had people comment and say, ‘Well, I guess it’s time to start the streak over again.’

“The last 10 years have been a lot of fun, but it’s also been a grind. If it ever gets to the point where somebody beats that record, kudos to them. All of us – the guys who’ve been with me throughout the years and the guys here at KO Motorsports – knows what it takes to achieve that.”

With the streak in the rearview mirror, Stockon looks to get back into top form as a consistent race winning contender and championship contender, but he’s not afraid to take one last look over his shoulder to see what the streak has meant to him and those around him who’ve helped him along the way.

“I never thought we’d be able to do something quite that drastic,” Stockon admitted. “I’ve been fortunate to have a car prepared for the racetrack with funding, and it’s one of the things I had while running my own car most of the last 10 years with a lot of help from Tom Burkey and Superior Tank & Trailer. My wife was there for the whole deal, and so was D.J.

“It’s really a testament to their dedication and what we’ve all been able to accomplish together. That’s the cool part about it. Reflecting back on it, that’s the thing that’s most humbling.”

INDIANAPOLIS — Katie and Morgan Lucas, along with Lucas Oil Products, will be hosting the 13^th Annual Lucas Oil Eric Medlen Memorial Golf Tournament on Sept. 2 at Eagle Creek Golf Course.

The annual golf tournament honors the late NHRA Funny Car driver Eric Medlen, and all money raised from the charity event will go towards helping the children of Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital at Ascension St. Vincent.

Medlen was a talented, charismatic and aspiring young Funny Car driver when his life was tragically cut short at 33 due to fatal injuries suffered from a crash during testing. More than just a race car driver, Medlen possessed various talents. He was a champion calf roper with the goal of going pro when he was in high school. Medlen was also an accomplished designer and painter and had a passion for building custom motorcycles when he wasn’t racing. But, above all, Medlen was a genuinely kind human being. The type of person to take time out of their day just to make someone smile, whether it’s at the office or the race track.

Before his driving career, Medlen was a race mechanic for John Force Racing for eight years until getting the call to replace his former teammate. Medlen captured his first win during his rookie season and collected six wins throughout his career. Entering the 2007 race season, Medlen had never finished outside the top-five in the championship points and had just matched a career-best fourth-place finish in POWERade standings. Unfortunately, he suffered severe head injuries during a test session at Gainesville Raceway in 2007 that left him on life support.

Medlen’s death was the first NHRA fatality since 2004, and served as a catalyst for change that led his team John Force Racing to develop the “Eric Medlen Chassis,” the first significant redesign of the Funny Car in 30 years. Missed by fans and those close to him, Medlen’s legacy lives on today through Sonoma Raceway’s ice cream social, the NHRA’s new safety requirement calling for padded roll bars, John Force Racing’s “Eric Medlen Chassis,” the Lucas Oil charity golf tournament and race fans across the globe.

“Eric left our sport with such a powerful legacy, and now it’s our job to keep his good work going,” stated Katie and Morgan Lucas. “We are honored to be hosting this year’s charity event and truly humbled by the generous support from our incredible golfers, sponsors and corporate partners. With their generosity, we have raised over $700,000 for PMCH and helped fund the St. Vincent House. We’re excited to see some familiar faces and a few new ones at the golf course this year as we celebrate Eric’s life.”

ROSEVILLE, Calif. – McAnally-Hilgemann Racing has announced the throwback paint scheme for Derek Kraus’ No. 19 NAPA Power Premium Plus Toyota Tundra at Darlington Raceway on May 7.

Kraus will carry the 2003 NAPA Auto Parts paint scheme that went to victory lane with Michael Waltrip in the Daytona 500 that year.

This marks the second year for Kraus and the MHR team to participate in the NASCAR Throwback Weekend at the 1.366-mile speedway, known as the Track Too Tough To Tame.

Kraus had a career-best performance at Darlington last year, with a second-place finish as a rookie in the 2020 Truck Series event there.

He returns to the South Carolina track driving a Toyota Tundra that commemorates the NAPA-sponsored Dale Earnhardt Inc. entry that Waltrip won with in the 2003 Daytona 500.

“We’re excited to celebrate this achievement by Michael Waltrip and NAPA,” said MHR co-owner Bill McAnally. “We’ve had a long partnership with NAPA Auto Parts that spans more than 30 years and we’ve had a long-term friendship with Michael Waltrip, as well. It’s great that we can honor them both with this throwback scheme at Darlington.”

NAPA’s relationship with Bill McAnally Racing dates back to 1990, when McAnally won the late model division championship as a driver in the NASCAR Weekly Racing Series at All American Speedway in Roseville, Calif.

The partnership has continued as McAnally’s racing program has expanded over the years.

BMR has gone on to win 10 championships in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West/ARCA Menards Series West – a record for titles in the series and for NASCAR regional touring divisions overall. The team has also accumulated more than 100 overall wins in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series, which evolved last year under the ARCA banner.

McAnally partnered with Bill and Mona Hilgemann in forming McAnally-Hilgemann Racing at the beginning of 2020, to field an entry in the truck series on a full-time basis. The 2021 season marks McAnally’s 31st year with NAPA AUTO PARTS as a sponsor.

Throughout it all, he looks upon the relationship between the team and NAPA as a partnership. It’s been successful on and off the track, as they have worked together to develop various ways to use the racing program to market NAPA and its products.

Waltrip, who competed in nearly 800 NASCAR Cup Series races during his racing career, is a two-time Daytona 500 winner. In addition to his victory in 2003, he also won the prestigious event in 2001.

Following his racing career, Waltrip became a broadcaster with FOX Sports.

“Back when I drove for DEI, any time I went to Daytona or Talladega, I thought about Dale,” Waltrip said. “He inspired me and Dale Jr. more than people could ever imagine. So, getting the victory in the 2003 Daytona 500 was another tribute to Dale. What a great day that was.”

Waltrip’s affiliation with McAnally dates back to a West Series race at The Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 2001, the year Kraus was born. Waltrip later competed for BMR in six series events between 2010 and 2014.

“It’s so cool that BMR is celebrating my 2003 Daytona 500 win,” Waltrip said. “No one knows more about the accomplishments of NAPA Racing better than Bill McAnally. We go way back. I love Bill. His passion for NASCAR is second to none.”

Kraus raced for BMR in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West for three seasons – earning the series championship in 2019, driving the No. 16 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota Camry.

“The throwback weekend at Darlington is a fun event for everyone involved,” Kraus said. “It’s great to recognize past accomplishments in our sport with these vintage paint schemes. We’re glad to have the opportunity to commemorate the Daytona 500 win in 2003 with Michael Waltrip and NAPA.”

EDMONTON, Alberta -- Montreal Canadiens goaltender Carey Price will be out at least a week because of concussion protocols.

Canadiens coach Dominique Ducharme updated his star goaltender's status Tuesday.

Price was injured in the first period of Montreal's 4-1 loss to Edmonton on Monday following a bump by Oilers forward Alex Chiasson. Jake Allen came on to start the second period and played the remainder of the game.

Price, the winner of the Hart and Vezina trophies in 2015 as the Most Valuable Player and top goaltender in the NHL, had just returned to the lineup in Saturday's 4-0 loss at home to the Ottawa Senators after missing six games with a lower-body ailment.

Price has a 12-7-5 record with a 2.64 goals-against average and .901 save percentage this season.

Montreal has lost seven of its past 10 games and is fourth in the North Division, nine points behind Edmonton and six ahead of Calgary entering play Tuesday night.

The Canadiens face the Oilers again Wednesday night in Edmonton.

Second-half strikes from Son Heung-min and Gareth Bale handed Tottenham Hotspur a Premier League comeback win over Southampton on Wednesday night.

The match was the first in charge for Tottenham interim manager Ryan Mason, who took over after Spurs sacked Jose Mourinho on Monday, making him the youngest coach ever to oversee a Premier League match at 29 years, 312 days old.

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Mason, who played for Spurs during his career, picked Bale in his starting XI as Harry Kane was sidelined with an injury he picked up last Friday against Everton.

Tottenham were on the back foot in the early stages of the match, with goalkeeper Hugo Lloris called into action for back-to-back saves from point-blank range inside of five minutes.

The visitors then scored a deserved opener from a corner kick just before the 30-minute mark when Danny Ings glancing header beat Lloris at the far post to give Southampton a 1-0 lead that they took into the half-time break

Spurs drew level on the hour, when Bale picked up a deflected shot at the back post and curled a lovely left-footed strike past Saints keeper Alex McCarthy from a tight angle.

Son looked to have put Tottenham in front as the second half wore on, but his first-time strike from 12 yards out was ruled no goal after a video review showed that Lucas Moura had obstructed McCarty from an offside position on the shot.

With the game looking like it was headed for a draw, VAR awarded the hosts a penalty just before full-time and Son stepped up to calmly dispatch his spot kick and hand Tottenham all three points.

The result was massive for Tottenham in their quest for European football as they moved ahead of Liverpool in the table on goal difference, while having played a game more than Jurgen Klopp's side.

Manchester United co-chairman Joel Glazer has apologised to supporters for the club's involvement in the breakaway European Super League project, saying the hierarchy failed to show respect to the "deep-rooted traditions" of the English game.

United were among the six Premier League clubs who had signed up for the venture before withdrawing on Tuesday amid a storm of protests from fans, players and the British government.

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"You made very clear your opposition to the European Super League, and we have listened. We got it wrong, and we want to show that we can put things right," Glazer said in an open letter to the supporters on Wednesday.

"Although the wounds are raw and I understand that it will take time for the scars to heal, I am personally committed to rebuilding trust with our fans and learning from the message you delivered with such conviction.

"We continue to believe that European football needs to become more sustainable throughout the pyramid for the long-term. However, we fully accept that the Super League was not the right way to go about it.

"In seeking to create a more stable foundation for the game, we failed to show enough respect for its deep-rooted traditions -- promotion, relegation, the pyramid -- and for that we are sorry."

Breakaway Super League founder and Juventus chairman Andrea Agnelli said earlier on Wednesday that the project could no longer go ahead after the English clubs withdrew.

Italy's Inter Milan and Spain's Atletico Madrid have also abandoned the competition, with AC Milan indicating they would too.

Glazer assured supporters that necessary steps will be taken to rebuild relationships with stakeholders across the game as they look for solutions to the "long-term challenges facing the football pyramid."

Amid the backlash aimed at the breakaway league since its announcement on Sunday, Manchester United vice-chairman Ed Woodward announced he was leaving his position at the end of the season.

Liverpool principal owner John W. Henry issued a similar apology to fans earlier in the day on Wednesday.

Information from Reuters was used in this report.