ARAB TIMES, MONDAY, JUNE 7, 2021 SPORTS 14 Pérez wins Azerbaijan GP after Verstappen crashes from lead Vettel gives Aston Martin its first ever F1 podium

BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 6, (AP): Sergio Pérez won the Verstappen was four laps away from a second consecutive victory Azerbaijan Grand Prix in a two-lap shootout after cham- Sunday when his Red Bull suddenly slammed hard into the wall with a puncture to his left rear tire. The Dutchman climbed from his car, inspect- pionship leader Max Verstappen crashed while leading ed the tire and kicked it in anger before stomping off in disgust over the with a tire failure and Lewis Hamilton went off course race-changing failure. trying to seize the win on the standing restart. “Is he OK?” radioed rival and seven-time champion Hamilton. Verstappen was fine but Red Bull was furious over a second Pirelli fail- ure asked for a race stoppage to allow tire changes for safety reasons. had crashed earlier after his own unexpected tire failure. Red Bull driver Sergio Perez of Mexico holds his trophy on the podium Formula One red-flagged the race after winning the Formula One Grand Prix at the Baku Formula One city and brought the field to pit lane, then circuit in Baku, Azerbaijan, on June 6. (AP) decided to resume with a standing start for a two-lap sprint to the finish. Pérez was the leader but Hamilton Gibbs finishes third shot past him in his attempt to win the race and reclaim the points lead from Verstappen. But he failed to brake in Allmendinger leads 1-2 finish the first corner and his Mercedes slid off track. Hamilton dropped to 15th, snapping a streak of 54 consecutive for Kaulig Racing at Mid-Ohio races of earning a points position fin- ish. LEXINGTON, Ohio, June 6, (AP): A.J. Allmendinger rallied from a pen- alty, benefitted from a late caution and Florida St rallies to MOTOR RACING used a sweeping three-wide pass for the lead to win the Xfinity Series race ‘eliminate’ Arizona at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. OKLAHOMA CITY, June 6, (AP): Four-time champion Sebastian Victory was Allmendinger’s second Florida State rallied to beat Arizona Vettel took second to give Aston Martin of the season and came on what Kaulig 4-3 in a Women’s College World its first ever F1 podium in an an impres- Racing considers its home track. Team Series elimination game. sive drive after qualifying 11th. It was owner Matt Kaulig is from Akron, The Seminoles advanced to play Vettel’s highest finish since 2019. roughly 90 minutes away, and he No. 5 seed Oklahoma State in an elim- Pierre Gasly was third for AlphaTauri jumped off the pit wall to hug ination game. as all three drivers made their first trip Allmendinger after the win. With the score tied at three heading to the podium this season. into the bottom of the seventh, Florida The red-flag Sunday was the second State’s Kaley Mudge led off with a sin- Essential Quality (2), with jockey Luis Saez (up), crosses the finish line ahead of Hot Rod Charlie (4), with jockey of the season following a crash CAR RACING gle. She advanced to second on a field- Flavien Prat (up), to win the 153rd running of the Belmont Stakes horse race, on June 5, at Belmont Park in between Valtteri Bottas and George Elmont, N.Y. Inset: Jockey Luis Saez, (right), holds up the August Belmont Trophy with Brad Cox. (AP) er’s choice and third on a throwing error Russell at Imola in April, and the lon- by Arizona second baseman Reyna gest suspension since Romain Kaulig then sought out Justin Haley Carranco. Mudge scored the winner on a Grosjean’s fiery crash in Bahrain last and kissed him on the cheek in appre- sacrifice fly by Cassidy Davis. Hot Rod Charlie finishes 2nd, Rombauer 3rd November caused a stoppage of more ciation of the 1-2 finish for the race than an hour. team. It was the second career win for “This is Matt Kaulig’s Super Bowl,” SOFTBALL Pérez, who is in his first season with a breathless Allmendinger said. Essential Quality wins Belmont Stakes Red Bull. It somewhat salvaged the Kaulig was joined on the pit stand race for the team that had been headed Saturday by -winning Arizona’s Malia Martinez opened NEW YORK, June 6, (AP): Favorite toward a 1-2 finish before Verstappen’s team owner , another Essential Quality won the Belmont the scoring with a solo homer in the tire failed. Verstappen retained a four- Ohio native who has a long relation- third inning. Dejah Mulipola scored on Stakes to give trainer Brad Cox his first Oliveira captures 1st MotoGP point lead over Hamilton in the stand- ship with Allmendinger. Shank has victory in a Triple Crown race – maybe. a sacrifice fly by Carlie Scupin in the ings; Pérez climbed to third. used Allmendinger as his endurance fourth to push the Wildcats’ lead to 2-0. Cox could get another from The 2016 Spanish Grand Prix was driver in for 15 years, Mandaloun in the Kentucky Derby if Arizona starter Alyssa Denham victory of season in Catalonia the last time the top two drivers in the and Allmendinger anchored Shank’s threw 3 2/3 shutout innings before Bob Baffert-trained Medina Spirit is championship standings failed to score breakthrough disqualified. But Cox was able to Mariah Lopez replaced her. MONTMELÓ, Spain, June 6, (AP): points. victory in 2012. enjoy this one with Essential Quality Lopez struggled with control, and it Miguel Oliveira won the Catalonia GP Charles Leclerc started on the pole “We’re at Matt Kaulig’s home race, being Hot Rod Charlie by 1 1/4 for his first MotoGP victory of the finally caught up with her in the sixth, for but couldn’t replicate his we’ve got three Ohio sponsors on the lengths. season on Sunday in front of nearly when she walked a batter and hit a bat- qualifying pace and was quickly car, we got Mike Shank here - ter. Dani Morgan then took one of her 20,000 fans, the biggest crowd for any Indianapolis 500-winning team - and event in Spain since the start of the passed by Hamilton and both Red Bull pitches just over the left field fence to he came here to see me,” Allmendinger HORSE RACING coronavirus pandemic. cars. A slow for Hamilton - give Florida State a 3-2 lead. It was The crowd of 19,352 at the held up by the team because Gasly was said. “It’s just such a big deal. I always Seminoles’ only hit of the inning. Barcelona-Catalunya Circuit sur- passing his pit box - allowed want to win, but here I put a lot more Verstappen and Pérez to both come pressure on myself.” Essential Quality, who went off as passed the nearly 15,000 that attended near the end of the second stage. He the 6-5 favorite, passed early leader Spain’s friendly soccer match against out ahead of Hamilton. Allmendinger had to rally after a pit-road penalty dropped him to 19th had worked his way up to third but still Hot Rod Charlie around the final turn Portugal on Friday at the Wanda trailed reigning Xfinity Series cham- and held on to win the 1 1/2-mile $1 Metropolitano Stadium in Madrid. pion Austin Cindric by 13.2 seconds million race. Only smaller crowds had been allowed when he got a lucky break with seven “That was a long way around there a at events across Spain, which was one laps remaining. mile a half but it was exciting,” Cox of the European countries hardest-hit Jeb Burton spun and got his car said. “It looked like the horse on the by the pandemic. stuck in gravel to bring out a caution inside, he still had run left. I knew it Fans were divided among eight dif- and bunch the field back up. Cindric was going to be a battle down the line.” ferent sectors around the track near chose to restart on the outside with Ty Preakness winner Rombauer was Portugal’s Miguel Oliveira of KTM Barcelona, with a maximum of 3,000 holds the trophy from the podium Gibbs on his inside, and Allmendinger third and Known Agenda fourth. after winning the Catalunya people in each. lined up in third one row back. The striking gray finished fourth as a Motorcycle Grand Prix at the “Amazing to have the fans here,” Allmendinger dove inside on the beaten favorite in the Kentucky Derby Barcelona Catalunya racetrack in said Oliveira, the Portuguese rider for restart with four laps remaining and because of a rough trip. Essential Montmelo, near Barcelona, Spain, Red Bull KTM who finished ahead of easily cleared both Cindric and Gibbs Quality showed in the Belmont why he on June 6. (AP) Johann Zarco and Jack Miller. in a three-wide pass. has long been considered one of the top Miller earned the final podium spot Cindric was bounced around like a 3-year-olds in the country. Belmont. after pole-sitter Fabio Quartararo was pinball, knocked off course and fell to Backdooring his way to becoming Essential Quality had plenty of handed a three-second penalty for cut- 26th. One more caution set up a two- the first Louisville-born trainer to win stamina to beat a tough field of seven ting corners, dropping him to fourth lap overtime shootout and Cindric ral- the Kentucky Derby didn’t allow Cox other horses. place. lied to a 14th-place finish. the same joy of victory as the Belmont, Quartararo, who started from pole Jockey Luis Saez won a Triple “K.” he tweeted after the race. which the up-and-coming star will for the fifth straight time this season, Gibbs finished third and also wasn’t likely remember as his first true Triple Crown race for the first time. He was exchanged the lead with Oliveira a pleased, tweeting: “I want a redo.” Crown triumph. aboard Maximum Security when they few times before the Frenchman start- They both fared better than Noah And Cox saw this coming. He pre- crossed the finish line first in the 2019 ed to struggle as his racing suit began A.J. Allmendinger celebrates in Victory Lane after winning the B&L Gragson, who wrecked out of the race dicted last summer that Essential Derby, but was disqualified for imped- to open and he lost his chest protec- Transport 170 NASCAR Xfinity Series auto race at Mid-Ohio Sports Car entering the very first turn seconds Quality would be his horse for the ing other horses. tor. Course on June 5, in Lexington, Ohio. (AP) after the green flag flew.