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Meadows restarts

Harness racing resumes at The Meadows Racetrack & Casino today with a 10-race program. Entries for the races were not provided to the Observer-Reporter.

The Meadows will offer four live cards each week – Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday – each beginning at the new post time of 12:45 p.m.

Independent league to start season July 3

While Major League Baseball and the affiliated minor leagues are shut down, an independent circuit is set to open July 3 with some fans in the seats.

The American Association said its six of its 12 teams will play in three hubs due to the new coronavirus, at least at the start of the season.

The St. Paul Saints will play home games at Sioux Falls Stadium along with the Sioux Falls Canaries. The Winnipeg Goldeyes will be based at Newman Outdoor Field along with the Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks. The Chicago Dogs will play home games at the Ballpark Commons along with the Milwaukee Milkmen.

All three home teams are in position to sell about 25% to 33% of their ballpark’s capacities.

A 60-game regular season is envisioned through Sept. 10, and the top two teams will meet in a best-of-five championship series. Teams will allow limited capacities of spectators, if allowed.

Each team will play 42 games in its hub, including 30 home games. A displaced team would return to its regular home ballpark if government restrictions in place during the pandemic are relaxed.

Six teams will not operate this season: Cleburne Railroaders, Gary SouthShore RailCats in Indiana, Kansas City T-Bones, Lincoln Saltdogs, Sioux City Explorers and Texas AirHogs.

Speedway protest draws small crowd

Stock car racing has turned into the leading battleground over COVID-19 crowd restrictions in North Carolina, as track owners have taken their fight to reopen to the streets and to court.

But on Saturday, a protest at one race track attracted so few people that the demonstration was perfectly legal under the state’s restrictions.

The Raleigh News & Observer reported that at 311 Speedway in Stokes County, fewer than 25 people showed up to protest, despite a live band and a free cheeseburger and fries with a ticket purchase.

Gov. Roy Cooper’s coronavirus restrictions limit outdoor gatherings to 25 people.

Even as the race began around 7 p.m., the stands sat largely empty. By sundown, the stands had nearly filled – hundreds more fans than the 25 allowed. But the protest had fizzled.

Briscoe finds a way

Chase Briscoe lost much of his team and got a win for them.

Briscoe survived two late cautions and a frantic overtime finish to prevail in an Xfinity Series race at Homestead-Miami Speedway – while adding to a nightmarish weekend for Noah Gragson, who saw a huge lead slip away in the final laps for the second consecutive day.

Briscoe was without crew chief Richard Boswell, car chief Nick Hutchins and engineer DJ Vanderley, all of whom began serving four-race suspensions for a safety violation that happened Saturday. So Briscoe – a big Tony Stewart fan growing up – got Stewart-Haas Racing competition director Greg Zipadelli to fill in as his crew chief and prevailed.

“It’s just a testament to our team,” Briscoe said.

Brandon Jones was second, Ross Chastain was third and A.J. Allmendinger was fourth. Gragson placed fifth, losing not only a race that was in his hands for the second straight day but also the $100,000 “Dash For Cash” bonus that wound up going to Allmendinger instead.

With 15 laps to go, it was basically down to a two-car race: Gragson was leading, about 2 1/2 seconds ahead of Briscoe. Nobody else was within 10 seconds of the lead.

Austin Cindric spun out and brought a late caution, derailing Gragson’s momentum and setting up the first of two overtime finishes. Gragson never had control of the race again, and Briscoe wound up in victory lane.

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