Author Archives: PressBox

  • Hamilton brothers score same-day podiums, spotlight inclusivity

    Hamilton brothers score same-day podiums, spotlight inclusivity

    The Hamilton family produced a rare double podium on the same day, pairing Lewis Hamilton’s second place at the Canadian Grand Prix with Nicolas Hamilton’s Jack Sears Trophy victory at Snetterton, a coincidence that organizers and family members framed as a moment for visibility and inclusivity in motorsport. Nicolas, who lives with cerebral palsy and became the first disabled driver to compete in the BTCC when he debuted in 2015, stood on a touring-car podium for the first time in his eighth BTCC season, and commentators described the result as both a personal breakthrough and a symbolic advance for drivers with disabilities. Lewis used his post-race platform to praise his brother and to call out barriers in racing, saying the sport is “not built to be inclusive,” posting an emotional Instagram tribute in which he said, “I could not be more proud of my brother Nicolas Hamilton,” and noting he called Nicolas as soon as his own race ended; Nicolas publicly replied, “Love you bro.”

    Lewis finished second at the Canadian Grand Prix at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, a Ferrari-best runner-up result and his second podium of the 2026 season for Ferrari after Shanghai in March. He credited his mother Carmen’s presence at the race as a “lucky omen,” saying she would have to come to every race, and praised the SF-26’s balance and driveability, calling the weekend his “best experience” in a race car in some time. Lewis had battled Max Verstappen for second during the race and will move on to the Monaco Grand Prix for round seven of the 2026 season.

    Nicolas’s Jack Sears Trophy win was the first silverware of his touring-car career. Reports differ on his entry details, with some accounts saying he drove the #28 Team VERTU Hyundai i30 Fastback N and others saying he raced for EXCELR8 Motorsport. At Snetterton he finished 17th in the opener and recorded back-to-back 16th-place finishes before claiming the Jack Sears Trophy, and he said, “I honestly cannot believe what has happened this weekend.” Nicolas is targeting the next BTCC event at Oulton Park.

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  • WSL revamps CT format, right-point waves reshape early standings

    WSL revamps CT format, right-point waves reshape early standings

    The World Surf League (WSL) Championship Tour (CT) opened the season after a seven-month offseason with a slate of format changes that reshaped early standings. The league removed the Final 5, reinstated cumulative points, eliminated the mid-season cut and non‑elimination rounds, added a new New Zealand venue and introduced bonus points for the Pipeline finale. Four early events across Australia and New Zealand followed, and those rule changes produced a start weighted toward right-point waves that affected the initial rankings and heat outcomes.

    On the men’s tour, Brazilian goofy‑footers Italo Ferreira, Miguel Pupo, Gabriel Medina and Yago Dora led the standings after the Oceania events. George Pittar won at Margaret River, while several regular‑footed contenders — including Kanoa Igarashi, Jack Robinson and Jordy Smith — underperformed early in the season.

    On the women’s side, Lakey Peterson, Stephanie Gilmore and Carissa Moore won the three most recent events, and 20‑year‑old Sawyer Lindblad moved into the top five following a final and a semifinal. The tour is scheduled next to the Punta Roca stop in El Salvador, then Brazil.

    Equipment and shaper trends tracked closely with results. Surfboard Empire’s CT Shaper Rankings presented by Veia showed Lost retook the lead from DHD after the Oceania swing, holding a 9,140‑point advantage; Marcio Zouvi’s Sharp Eye moved into third, leapfrogging Channel Islands.

    Individual surfer‑board links also stood out. Carissa Moore recorded her first CT win of the season at Raglan riding a Lost board, and both women’s Raglan finalists rode boards sporting Mayhem decals. Italo Ferreira won on an IF15 model shaped by Simon Jones, a PU build made at the request of his coach Leandro Dora; that same IF15 assisted Timmy Patterson to a win. Matt Biolos remained prominent after three consecutive CT Shaper of the Year titles and a Stab in the Dark All‑Stars win. Lost’s large points cushion positioned the brand as the early favorite for upcoming South American events, with surfers Griffin, Yago, Carissa, Gabriela and Caroline noted as typically strong in those conditions.

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  • Ex-Last Chance U lineman Blake Sharp wins 4th PBR award, proposes

    Ex-Last Chance U lineman Blake Sharp wins 4th PBR award, proposes

    Blake Sharp closed the PBR World Finals at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth by winning his fourth straight PBR Stock Contractor of the Year award and immediately proposing onstage to his longtime girlfriend, Dr. Caitlin Wenzel. After accepting the award, Sharp proposed and Wenzel answered “hell yes,” drawing cheers from Sharp’s partners and the World Finals audience.

    It was his fourth straight win, a streak that began in 2023. The award recognizes Sharp’s consistent excellence and the respect he has earned within the sport. He runs a stock-contracting business that hauls, conditions and cares for top bucking bulls nationwide.

    Sharp is a former East Mississippi Community College lineman who appeared on the first season of Last Chance U, and his football-honed toughness has helped shape his approach to stock contracting.

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  • Ransom prevails over Pegasus by 0.01 to win World Champion Bull

    Ransom prevails over Pegasus by 0.01 to win World Champion Bull

    Ransom edged Pegasus by 0.01 points to claim the YETI PBR World Champion Bull, a razor-thin victory that capped one of the closest title races in PBR history. Ransom finished the calculated season average at 45.96 points to Pegasus’s 45.95, overturning a 0.05-point deficit held by Pegasus before the final short round to secure the crown.

    Ransom was crowned at the PBR World Finals: Unleash The Beast at Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas. He was also named the YETI “Built for the Wild” Bull of the Finals for the top combined score across his three World Finals outs.

    The bull is owned by D&H Cattle Co. and Flinn. Ransom collected a $100,000 World Champion bonus plus a $25,000 Bull of the Finals award.

    The World Champion Bull ranking used each animal’s eight highest-scored outs from the combined 2025 PBR Teams season and this season’s Unleash The Beast regular season, plus two World Finals outs — a formula that produced the 45.96-to-45.95 margin that decided the title.

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  • Kofoid Pulls Away From Reutzel at Huset's, Wins by Nearly 4 Seconds

    Kofoid Pulls Away From Reutzel at Huset’s, Wins by Nearly 4 Seconds

    Michael “Buddy” Kofoid continued his dominance at Huset’s Speedway, winning the World of Outlaws Stars and Stripes Salute finale in Brandon, South Dakota. Kofoid drove the No. 83 Roth Motorsports sprint car to victory in the 35-lap, $20,000-to-win feature, crossing the line nearly four seconds ahead of the field. The result was Kofoid’s sixth win at Huset’s Speedway, his fifth win in his last seven visits, and extended his streak at Huset’s to eight consecutive finishes of fourth or better, underscoring Roth Motorsports’ continued strength at the Brandon oval.

    Kofoid timed 23rd in qualifying, advanced to second in his heat race and drew the eight in the redraw to start seventh in the main. He climbed onto the podium by Lap 7 and took the lead from Aaron Reutzel on Lap 13 after Reutzel led the opening 12 laps. Sheldon Haudenschild finished second, Aaron Reutzel third, David Gravel fourth and Donny Schatz fifth. The victory was Kofoid’s sixth of the 2026 season and the 28th World of Outlaws triumph of his career, tying him with Kerry Madsen for 25th on the series’ all-time win list, and it ended Reutzel’s recent domination of the event.

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  • After early charge, Alonso stops on lap 23 with cockpit pain

    After early charge, Alonso stops on lap 23 with cockpit pain

    Fernando Alonso retired from the Canadian Grand Prix at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve because an ongoing seat and cockpit-positioning problem made the car unbearably painful to drive, forcing him to stop on lap 23 (some reports said lap 24). Alonso said he needed to “stop the pain,” and the same issue had already knocked him out of the Saturday sprint. Aston Martin’s overnight attempts to fix the seat failed and, with points effectively out of reach and no rain forecast, the team chose to park the car.

    Alonso had made an aggressive start on soft tyres and briefly rose into the top 10 on lap three, marking his first appearance in the points this season before his pace faded, and he was reported as running 12th when he retired. The exit was Alonso’s third retirement of the year. He described the teams package as “sub-par machinery,” said he had “more hope” for Monaco because the street circuit relies less on raw engine power, and acknowledged gearbox improvements since Miami. Alonso estimated Aston Martin still faced roughly a three-second deficit that will need engine and aerodynamic upgrades expected in the second half of the year.

    Aston Martin trackside chief Mike Krack said both drivers had made ground early in the race but the squad lacked overall pace. Krack described the seat problem as a worsening pressure point and suggested the team may have pushed drivers’ cockpit positioning “a step too far” as they sit increasingly low in the chassis. The team said it will revisit cockpit set-up and attempt to build a new seat ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix. The weekend underlined broader setup and performance deficits for the team, with teammate Lance Stroll struggling for tyre temperature, grip and straight-line pace and finishing 15th after starting from the pit lane, leaving Aston Martin with limited points at their home race.

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  • Antonelli wins fourth straight at Canadian GP, leads by 43

    Antonelli wins fourth straight at Canadian GP, leads by 43

    Kimi Antonelli extended his championship lead with a fourth consecutive victory at the Canadian Grand Prix. The win — his fourth straight from the start of his F1 career — left him 43 points clear after five races, making him the first driver to win his opening four Grands Prix in succession.

    The result underlined Mercedes’ strong pace and points advantage in the constructors’ battle but heightened pressure inside the team over intra‑team battles and mechanical reliability, issues that could decide the title fight.

    The weekend featured tense wheel‑to‑wheel duels between Antonelli and team‑mate George Russell. Russell had sprint pole and won the Sprint, but Antonelli clipped him in that Sprint, forcing Russell onto the grass. In the Grand Prix the pair swapped the lead repeatedly in a roughly 30‑lap scrap.

    Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff intervened over the radio during the weekend and again in the race, ordering the drivers to “tidy up” and warning the team would step in if intra‑team battles threatened results. Antonelli said maintaining “respect” and handling borderline incidents internally was vital for a title fight and cited the 2016 Hamilton–Rosberg feud as an example he did not want repeated. Russell acknowledged Antonelli’s advantage, saying, “Right now, it’s [Antonelli’s] to lose,” and that he had “nothing to lose.”

    The duel ended when Russell stopped on lap 30 with a mechanical failure variously described as a power‑unit, battery or engine problem, removing him as an immediate challenger and clearing the way for Antonelli to run untroubled to the flag. Antonelli finished 10.7 seconds ahead, with Lewis Hamilton second for Ferrari and Max Verstappen third — Verstappen’s first podium of the season.

    With 17 race weekends and 449 championship points still available, Mercedes’ pace gives them the upper hand in the constructors’ battle, but mechanical reliability and tight team management will be decisive as the season continues.

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  • Ross Brawn joins Pramac board as non-executive strategic adviser

    Ross Brawn joins Pramac board as non-executive strategic adviser

    Pramac announced that Ross Brawn has joined its board as a non-executive strategic adviser to team principal Paolo Campinoti (reported in some outlets as Paolo Campinotti).

    Pramac said the role is strategic rather than day-to-day and provided no contract length or operational details. Campinoti said he expects Brawn’s “vision and winning mentality” to be valuable to the team, and Brawn said he was delighted to join and looked forward to supporting Pramac where his experience is useful.

    Brawn brings more than four decades of F1 and motorsport experience and a résumé that includes 22 world championships—11 Constructors’ titles and 11 Drivers’ titles. His career includes technical director roles at Benetton (1991–1996) and Ferrari (1996–2006), leading BrawnGP to the 2009 championship, serving as Mercedes team principal (2010–2013) and holding senior roles at Formula One Management from 2017 to 2022. Some coverage also described him as having held senior positions after Liberty Media’s takeover of Formula 1.

    Pramac framed the appointment as a targeted effort to accelerate on-track performance and strengthen organizational structure as it seeks better results this season. Pramac sits bottom of the MotoGP team standings this season with six points. Observers have suggested the team may have recruited Brawn to leverage his familiarity and contacts at Liberty Media as MotoGP faces proposed regulatory changes, including a contested bike limit, and commentators linked the hire to a broader pattern of crossover activity between F1 and MotoGP.

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  • Tight points and big purses raise stakes for Hoffman, Pierce

    Tight points and big purses raise stakes for Hoffman, Pierce

    High purses and a rescheduled marquee race have drawn top competitors to the World of Outlaws Late Model Series’ four-night Pennsylvania–Ohio swing, anchored by the rain-rescheduled Connor Bobik Memorial at Marion Center Raceway on May 27 and the Blaster 57 at Mansfield Speedway on May 30.

    The Marion Center finale will pay $30,000 to the winner, making it one of the highest-paying midweek races. The rescheduled mid‑May Showdown lets teams reuse setups from the rained-out event; that split-field Showdown produced winners Logan Zarin and Jared Miley.

    The tour will move roughly three hours west to Wayne County Speedway on May 28 as part of the stretch.

    Mansfield Speedway, purchased and reopened by Matt Tifft earlier in May, will host the Blaster 57 on May 30. The Blaster 57 pays $57,000 to the winner and $5,700 to start and is part of a more-than-$240,000 purse for Feature starters. Drivers with Dirt Million experience expected to chase the Mansfield payday include Bobby Pierce, Dennis Erb Jr., Tyler Erb, Nick Hoffman and Tim McCreadie. National stars Hudson O’Neal, Devin Moran and Brandon Sheppard will use the week to prepare for the Dirt Late Model Dream at Eldora; O’Neal enters the stretch with 14 wins this year.

    The championship picture remains tight behind leaders Nick Hoffman and Bobby Pierce, with 35 points separating third-place Tim McCreadie and sixth-place Drake Troutman. The schedule shift and large purses underline an intense stretch of competition that could influence entries and strategy across the three events.

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