New- look Saints to give comp a shake
DANIEL Ricciardo replaced Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen as Formula One’s overtaking king in 2017, but the season saw half the number of passing moves after the introduction of faster and wider cars.
According to figures released by tyre supplier Pirelli, there were a total of 435 overtakes over the 20 races.
In 2016, when there were 21 rounds, the sport racked up 866 moves.
That worked out at an average of 21.8 per race in 2017, compared to 41.2 last year.
And Australian driver Ricciardo made 43 overtakes, including 13 at Silverstone where he went from 19th on the British GP starting grid to finish fifth.
Verstappen, who topped last year’s statistics with 78 passes in a season that also brought him a first victory, managed only 22 this time around and he was also level with Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton as the drivers who were overtaken least. AFTER taking down Jordan Spieth and Jason Day, now rising Australian golf star Cameron Davis is intent on making his mark in America.
The newly crowned Australian Open champion will join compatriots Curtis Luck, Brett Drewitt and Ray Beaufils in the final stage of the Web. com Tour Qualifying Tournament starting on Friday.
In making it this far, all four Australians have already secured partial status for the 2018 season on America’s secondary tour. THE University Saints are ready to put the hard times behind them after recruiting strongly ahead of next year’s Townsville and Districts Rugby League season.
Local league stalwarts including Nathaniel Bowman ( pictured right), Daniel Pickering and BJ Munns will don the blue and yellow next year, as will exciting talents such as Luke Abdul- Rahman and Aidan Jenkins.
A grade premiership winners in 2012, the last two seasons for University were a struggle for results and player availability, but coach Tony Martin is confident those days are now behind them.
Adding to his confidence is University’s new affiliation with inner- city club United Suburbs, which will field a feeder team in the TDRL’s under- 19 competition.
United’s under- 19 team will train alongside University’s reserves and A grade sides at JCU, and will also play on the same game- day programs for most rounds.
“We’re expecting good numbers, and having quality players like that coming over to us gives everyone a bit of confidence,” Martin said.
“The blokes who have been here doing the hard yards during those last couple of years are really excited in particular. What really hurt us was injury, and we also had blokes away on army deployment.
“B u t we’re really encouraged with the number we’re getting, so to have a bit more depth will go a long way.”
The Saints faced the possibility of withdrawing from A grade following their wooden spoon finish this year, scoring one win from 16 games, but the new blood has Martin expecting at least a top five finish.
“Top four or five would be acceptable,” he said.
“But it’s little steps, so we’ll get into our pre- season and then see how we go.
“The affiliation with United Suburbs in particular has been something we’ve needed for a long time.
“It gives us a really good base and they’ll be training with us as well, so hopefully in the not so distant future we’ll see a few of them playing A grade.”
Martin said the players who had served University during the hard yards would also be part of the club’s 2018 season.
“We’ll keep the guys that we have already,” he said. “( Vice- captain) Shane Hackett is still with us and he had a great year in 2017, he scored 18- 19 tries and really stepped up as a vice- captain.
“A lot of those blokes were hurting during the season. It was tough, but I really believe we’re turning the corner.”