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r Huntelaar came into sharp focus.
Topic Started: Oct 17 2012, 08:06 AM (90 Views)
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DOVER, Del. Pat Angerer Jersey . -- Brad Keselowski had fuel to spare for a couple of victory burnouts. Those few splashes of gas left down the stretch were just enough for a checkered flag -- and a sign Keselowski is a championship favourite. With other contenders battling fuel woes and limping toward pit road, Keselowski had enough gas in the No. 2 Dodge to win Sunday at Dover International Speedway for his second victory in three weeks. Keselowksis stout start to the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship allowed him to swipe the points lead from Jimmie Johnson. Keselowski holds a five-point lead over Johnson as the Chase shifts to Talladega Superspeedway. Keselowski, who won the Chase opener at Chicagoland, has deftly avoided the famed Big Ones that strike the Alabama track to win twice there in seven career starts. He held off a late push from runner-up Jeff Gordon to match Denny Hamlin for the season victory lead with five. "I cant state loudly enough how much longer this battle is," Keselowski said. Keselowski, Johnson and Hamlin have staked their claim through the first three of 10 Chase races as the drivers to beat. Johnson and Hamlin each led a chunk of laps on the mile concrete oval, but failed to stretch their fuel to the end. Johnson, who has seven career wins at Dover, was ordered to back off the gas and salvaged a fourth-place finish. Hamlin pitted with 10 laps left, opening the door for Keselowski, and denying him his first win at the Monster Mile. Hamlin faded to eighth after starting from the pole. "Theyre not going to beat us on the track, thats just plain and simple," Hamlin said. "Were just too fast right now and I feel like everything is going well. These strategy games, and the way these cautions are falling, its ill-timed." There was a caution at the end of a cycle of green-flag pit stops only 69 laps into the race that quickly dropped drivers a lap back. Amazingly, most of the field couldnt ever get that lap back, and only six drivers finished on the lead lap. Non-Chase drivers Mark Martin finished third and Carl Edwards was fifth. Kyle Busch led a race-high 302 laps until his own battles with the pump cost him what would have been a nice victory in a season where he failed to make the Chase. He finished seventh. There were some rough finishes for the rest of the Chase field. Martin Truex Jr. was sixth, Clint Bowyer was ninth, Dale Earnhardt Jr. 11th, Kevin Harvick 13th, Kasey Kahne 15th, Greg Biffle 16th, Tony Stewart 20th, and Matt Kenseth was knocked out of the race and was 35th. There are seven races left in the Chase. "By no means, do I feel like were the favourite," Keselowski said. "Certainly, were not the underdog." Nope, not with a complete team effort turning the No. 2 Dodge into a regular contender to win. Keselowski joked he had about another "100 miles" of racing left in his tank. While crew chief Paul Wolfe didnt want to reveal too much of his fuel-saving strategy, he conceded the car was "within a lap or two" or running on fumes. Keselowski raced the last 89 laps without a stop. "Theres always some risk in calls like that," Wolfe said. "We know where we stand. We know what we need to do. We know the guys are racing right now for the championship. I felt like we were as good as anybody on mileage." Johnson had his record eighth win at Dover in sight until he was forced to start saving fuel with about 15 laps left. Crew chief Chad Knaus told Johnson to yield the lead so the No. 48 could at least salvage a top-five. "I wish we could have raced for it," said Johnson, a five-time Cup champion. "We finally got control of the race late. But it just didnt unfold like a normal race here." Hamlin had talked this week about embracing Dover after calling the mile concrete oval his least favourite one on the circuit. He won the pole and seemed in position to pull off a breakthrough win until fuel issues forced him down pit road behind Busch, his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate. That left it to Gordon and Keselowski with 10 laps left to duel for the lead over the closing laps. Gordon hoped Keselowskis No. 2 Dodge would run out of gas. Instead, Keselowski ran off with the victory. Gordon followed his third place last week at New Hampshire with another strong run at Dover. He needed it after a 35th-place finish in the opener at Chicagoland buried him in the standings. Gordon is 10th in points. "Were not going to continue in this championship against those guys up front if they keep running the way theyre running," he said. "The only way were going to get a chance at them is if they have a problem like we had (in the opener). If we keep running like this, well get the wins." Keselowski had four career wins coming into the season. He had his career breakthrough at Talladega in 2009 when he raced to his first career victory. He won there again this season in May and knows a season sweep will give him a nice cushion in the standings. "He didnt make a mistake. We didnt lose any time on the track," team owner Roger Penske said. "Hes doing a terrific job and I love the position were in." Robert Mathis Jersey . -- The Washington Capitals have signed free agent defenceman Jack Hillen to a one-year contract worth $650,000. Reggie Wayne Jersey . Steve Mason stopped 32 shots for his first shutout of the season, defencemen Fedor Tyutin and Nikita Nikitin both scored, and the Blue Jackets beat the Avalanche 2-0 on Thursday night to end an 0-9-1 skid against Colorado that dated to the 2009-10 season. http://www.nikeindianapoliscoltsproshop.com/andrew-luck-jersey . The purchase price is believed to be around US$800 million. OMalley is the son of Walter OMalley, who bought the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1950 and moved them to Los Angeles before the 1958 season. Andrew Luck Womens Jersey . With the 20-25, 25-22, 25-21, 25-23 victory Sunday, the U.S. team went undefeated in the competition. It is their third gold medal in the sport. Brazil, the top-ranked team in the world and two-time gold medallists, settled for the silver. Dwight Freeney Jersey . 22, 2012. Richey, a fifth-year student from Roberts Creek, B.C., averaged five kills per set last weekend in Vancouver to lead the top-ranked Thunderbirds to a two-game sweep of the No. 5 Manitoba Bisons. The 6-foot-1 outside hitter recorded 15 kills in a straight-set win on Friday night and bettered that performance in a 3-1 victory on Saturday with 20 kills and 27. KHARKIV, Ukraine -- The Netherlands had the chances, the Danes scored the goal. Denmark secured the first surprise of the European Championship with a 1-0 victory Saturday in Group B. And it was Michael Krohn-Dehli that provided the lethal finishing that the Dutch inexplicably lacked. Krohn-Dehli scored against the run of play when he picked up a loose ball close to the penalty area in the 24th minute, left two defenders standing and shot through the legs of Maarten Stekelenburg from a tight angle. It was something Premier League top scorer Robin van Persie never got close to as he came to symbolize Dutch futility with a couple of bad mistakes. Denmark goalkeeper Stephan Andersen made several clutch saves to secure the most important Danish victory over the Netherlands since the Euro 1992 semifinals. "It was the only dangerous action of Denmark," Netherlands captain Mark van Bommel said. "Im speechless, because these three points are very important." The Dutch came closest to scoring when Andersen gave away the ball to Arjen Robben just outside the area in the 36th minute, but the Bayern Munich winger curled his left-footer onto the far post and out of danger. Late in the match, a penalty appeal for handball was denied when the Dutch were running out of time as Lars Jacobsen appeared to touch the ball with his upper arm in the box in a duel with substitute Klaas-Jan Huntelaar. "It is such a clear penalty, and then you likely get a draw," Netherlands coach Bert van Marwijk said. "There were maybe 4, 5, 6 players who had a lot of chances, and the referee also had a chance," Van Marwijk said of the penalty ruling of referee Damir Skomina. The frustration came to symbolize the sticky night in eastern Ukraine when the game temperature stood at 27C and leaves the World Cup runners-up with two clutch games against top-10 ranked teams, Germany and Portugal. "I refuse to throw in the towel," Van Marwijk said. "We must beat Germany. We have done that before." Denmark, seen as outsider in the toughest group of the championship, can already take a huge step to the quarterfinals by beating Portugal in ttheir second game.dddddddddddd "We know the Dutch, they can be very dominating," Denmark coach Morten Olsen said. "If you get scared of them, they play really good football. I think we played them in the right way." From the start, the tactics of the match were laid out for all 35,932 fans at the Metalist Stadium. The Dutch started with furious attacking and the Danes counted on a solid attack and a dose of luck to keep out of danger. The creative skills of Robben, Van Persie and Ibrahim Afellay created plenty of chances, but finishing was off and Andersen would not budge. With one lethal counter, Krohn-Dehli showed some of Europes best players how it should be done with his well-taken strike. The Netherlands came into the tournament without key defender Joris Mathijsen and a questionable left defensive flank. Ron Vlaar and Jetro Willems confirmed the assumptions as the back line did not look at ease when the Danes came pushing forward around the half-hour mark. Netherlands coach Bert van Marwijk even had to come to the sideline to shout and wave his players forward. And on a difficult day, luck was not with the Dutch either, when Robbens shot bounced free. Van Marwijks decision to pick Van Persie over Bundesliga top scorer Huntelaar came into sharp focus. Two minutes from halftime, Wesley Sneijder set up the Arsenal striker in the centre with only the goalkeeper to beat. Uncharacteristically, Van Persie had a bad first touch and was forced too wide and shot at the goalkeeper instead of scoring an easy goal. Early in the second half, too, he inexplicably mis-stepped on another great chance for goal as the Dutch pushed forward from the second half whistle. They forced Andersen into two fine saves on a half dozen occasions. The thousands of orange-clad fans filled the air with shouts of "Holland, Holland," but to no avail. The Danes didnt fully lock themselves up but showed poise by patiently pushing forward again. Still, the Dutch kept piling up the misses and Van Marwijk brought in both Huntelaar and attacking midfielder Rafael van der Vaart for defensive midfielder Nigel de Jong with 20 minutes to go. ' ' '
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