Sports
Misano MotoGP: Miller beats Bagnaia to pole, Quartararo eighth
Having gone without a pole since the 2018 Argentine GP when he took top honours on his Pramac Ducati in similarly changeable conditions, the Australian beat teammate Francesco Bagnaia – who is carrying a three-place penalty – by 0.015 seconds at Misano.
Spots of rain began to fall around the back of the Misano circuit in the preceding FP4 session, but conditions on track were still good enough for slicks when Q1 got underway.
But across the Q1 session, more rain began to fall, forcing the riders to abort their hopes for a place in Q2 in the closing moments.
Such was the change in conditions that wet tyres were called for when the 15-minute pole shootout session got underway by all except KTM’s Miguel Oliveira and Gresini’s Enea Bastianini.
Oliveira’s first lap of 1m38.743s put him to the top of the order 2.9 seconds clear of Francesco Bagnaia on wet tyres.
Though rain kept falling, the track wasn’t wet enough to stop the slicks from being the viable option, and therefore pitlane became a hive of bike swaps.
Oliveira extended his advantage with a 1m37.332s lap, but pole would change hands between seven riders across the 15 minutes.
It would be a 1m31.899s from Miller on his penultimate lap that would seal him his first pole for the factory Ducati squad.
Teammate Bagnaia shadowed him but will drop to fifth for irresponsible riding in FP1.
However, the damage this will deal his hopes of slashing his 44-point disadvantage in the standings will be minimal as standings leader Quartararo failed to capitalise.
Quartararo was one of the first out on track in Q2 and elected for wets, but on his switch to slicks he couldn’t trouble the top spots in conditions the Yamaha has typically struggled in.
The Frenchman could only muster a 1m32.246s to qualify eighth.
Bastianini – who took his first MotoGP podium at Misano last year – qualified his year-old Ducati third, but will be promoted to second by Bagnaia’s penalty as VR46 Ducati rookie Marco Bezzecchi in fourth will now complete the front row.
Maverick Vinales was the top Aprilia rider in fifth on the timesheets, but will start fourth ahead of Bagnaia and Pramac’s Johann Zarco.
Luca Marini followed his VR46 teammate Bezzecchi through Q1 after timing his final flying lap perfectly to coincide with the worseining conditions.
He will start seventh ahead of Quartararo, with title contender Aleix Espargaro – who is Quartararo’s nearest title rival at 32 points adrift – ninth on the second of the Aprilias.
Oliveira faded to 10th in the end ahead of Yamaha’s Franco Morbidelli and the Suzuki of Alex Rins.
Jorge Martin was the biggest loser in the iffy conditions after he was knocked out of Q1 by 0.011s by Marini’s well-timed lap.
The Pramac rider will line up 13th from KTM’s Brad Binder and Alex Marquez after the LCR rider crashed early on in Q1.
Andrea Dovizioso will begin his final MotoGP outing from 18th on his RNF Yamaha ahead of the leading works team Honda of Pol Espargaro, while Joan Mir’s Suzuki stand-in Kazuki Watanabe will start his maiden MotoGP race from 23rd after beating both Tech 3 KTM riders.
The 2022 MotoGP San Marino GP will get underway at 2pm CEST.
Q2 results:
Q1 results:
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A jury in U.S. District Court ordered the NFL to pay nearly $4.8 billion in damages Thursday after ruling that the league violated antitrust laws in distributing out-of-market Sunday afternoon games on a premium subscription service.
The jury awarded $4.7 billion in damages to the residential class and $96 million in damages to the commercial class. Since damages can be tripled under federal antitrust laws, the NFL could end up being liable for $14.39 billion.
The lawsuit covered 2.4 million residential subscribers and 48,000 businesses in the United States who paid for the package of out-of-market games from the 2011 through 2022 seasons on DirecTV. The lawsuit claimed the league broke antitrust laws by selling its package of Sunday games at an inflated price. The subscribers also say the league restricted competition by offering “Sunday Ticket” only on a satellite provider.
The NFL said it would appeal the verdict. That appeal would go to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and then possibly the Supreme Court.
Should the NFL end up paying damages, it could cost each of the 32 teams approximately $449.6 million.
“We are disappointed with the jury’s verdict today in the NFL Sunday Ticket class action lawsuit,” the league said in a statement. “We continue to believe that our media distribution strategy, which features all NFL games broadcast on free over-the-air television in the markets of the participating teams and national distribution of our most popular games, supplemented by many additional choices including RedZone, Sunday Ticket and NFL+, is by far the most fan friendly distribution model in all of sports and entertainment.
“We will certainly contest this decision as we believe that the class action claims in this case are baseless and without merit.”
The trial lasted three weeks and featured testimony from NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.
“Justice was done. The verdict upholds protection for the consumers in our class. It was a great day for consumers,” plaintiffs attorney Bill Carmody said.
During his closing remarks, Carmody showed an April, 2017, NFL memo that showed the league was exploring a world without “Sunday Ticket” in 2017, where cable channels would air Sunday afternoon out-of-market games not shown on Fox or CBS.
The jury of five men and three women deliberated for nearly five hours before reaching its decision.
Judge Philip S. Gutierrez is scheduled to hear post-trial motions on July 31, including the NFL’s request to have him rule in favor of the league because the judge determined the plaintiffs did not prove their case.
Payment of damages, any changes to the “Sunday Ticket” package and/or the ways the NFL carries its Sunday afternoon games would be stayed until all appeals have been concluded.
The league maintained it had the right to sell “Sunday Ticket” under its antitrust exemption for broadcasting. The plaintiffs said that only covers over-the-air broadcasts and not pay TV.
Other professional sports leagues were also keeping an eye on this case since they also offer out-of-market packages. A major difference though is that MLB, the NBA and the NHL market their packages on multiple distributors and share in the revenue per subscriber instead of receiving an outright rights fee.
DirecTV had “Sunday Ticket” from its inception in 1994 through 2022. The league signed a seven-year deal with Google’s YouTube TV that began with the 2023 season.
The lawsuit was originally filed in 2015 by the Mucky Duck sports bar in San Francisco but was dismissed in 2017. Two years later, the 9th Circuit, which has jurisdiction over California and eight other states, reinstated the case. Gutierrez ruled last year the case could proceed as a class action.
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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — The U.S. Olympic team is one of a handful that will supply air conditioners for their athletes at the Paris Games in a move that undercuts organizers’ plans to cut carbon emissions.
U.S. Olympic and Paralympic CEO Sarah Hirshland said Friday that while the U.S. team appreciates efforts aimed at sustainability, the federation would be supplying AC units for what is typically the largest contingent of athletes at the Summer Games.
“As you can imagine, this is a period of time in which consistency and predictability is critical for Team USA’s performance,” Hirshland said. “In our conversations with athletes, this was a very high priority and something that the athletes felt was a critical component in their performance capability.”
The Washington Post reported earlier this month that Germany, Australia, Italy, Canada and Britain were among the other countries with plans to bring air conditioners to France.
Olympic organizers have touted plans to cool rooms in the Athletes Village, which will house more than 15,000 Olympians and sports officials over the course of the games, using a system of cooling pipes underneath the floors.
The average high in Paris on Aug. 1 is 26 degrees Celsius (79 degrees Fahrenheit). The objective is to keep the rooms between 23-26 degrees (73-79 degrees Fahrenheit). The rooms will also be equipped with fans.
“I want the Paris Games to be exemplary from an environmental point of view,” Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo has said about the plans for the Olympics.
According to the International Energy Agency, fewer than 1 in 10 households in Europe has air conditioning, and the numbers in Paris are lower than that. The study said that of the 1.6 billion AC units in use across the globe in 2016, more than half were in China (570 million) and the United States (375 million). The entire European Union had around 100 million.
The Olympics mark the most important stop on the athletic careers of the 10,500-plus athletes who will descend on Paris, which has led some high-profile countries to undercut environmental efforts for the sake of comfort.
“It’s a high-performance environment,” Australian Olympic Committee spokesman Strath Gordon explained to The Post.
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AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The Carolina Hurricanes and Florida Panthers seemed determined to keep playing. And playing. And playing.
The teams opened their Eastern Conference final playoff series with Florida’s 3-2 victory in four overtimes early Friday, with the game ranking as the sixth-longest game in NHL history.
Matthew Tkachuk’s goal came at the 19:47 mark of the fourth OT to end this one, which marked the 15th four-overtime game in NHL history and the longest game in franchise history for each team.
The longest game in NHL history came on March 24, 1936, when the Detroit Red Wings beat the Montreal Maroons 1-0 in the sixth overtime on Mud Bruneteau’s goal at 116 minutes, 30 seconds of extra play.
Florida’s previous record for longest game was 104:31 in Game 4 of the 1996 Stanley Cup final against Colorado. Carolina’s previous record was 114:47 for Game 3 of the 2002 Stanley Cup final.
The only good news for the teams is they had an extended break before this series began. Carolina closed out New Jersey exactly a week earlier, while Florida eliminated Toronto a day later.
But this game ended roughly six hours after Thursday night’s puck drop, and the teams have a Game 2 in less than 48 hours.
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AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
