Sprint-car tour Friday at Boyd’s
The annual “Sprint Car Mania” night at Boyd’s Speedway is set for this Friday, and again it will feature the USCS Outlaw Thunder Tour presented by K&N Filters. This will be the 45th event on the 2018 schedule for the 700-horsepower, 1,300-pound, winged open-wheel cars that can exceed 120 mph during races, and points will be awarded for the USCS Mid-South and Southern Thunder regional series as well as the national standings. Drivers from at least seven states are expected to compete in the evening that will include test-and-tune “hot laps,” the six-car Hoosier Speed Dash, qualifying heat dashes and the 30-lap Sprint Car Mania VIII finale. Also on the packed schedule are winged mini sprints in the USCS 600 series and the regular Boyd’s Limited Late Model, Sportsman, Hobby and Street Stock and Hot Shot divisions. USCS veteran Aubrey Black of Lookout Mountain and Aubrey Black II of Chattanooga will be among the sprint-car drivers. Racing will start at 7, and gates will open at 4 at the track on Scruggs Road.
TENNIS
› Chattanoogans Sue Bartlett and Wesley Cash again Tuesday helped their native countries advance in the 60-over age groups of the ITF Senior World Team Championships in Ulm, Germany. In the Alice Marble Cup for women, Bartlett completed a 3-0 run at No. 1 singles as Great Britain finished off a Group C sweep with a 3-0 defeat of Netherlands. The Girls Preparatory School coach who came from England to play for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in the 1970s won 7-6 (6), 6-2. Great Britain faces Australia today in the top-four playoff group that also includes the United States and France. Cash, a Manker Patten teaching pro, is on the USA men’s team that beat Switzerland 3-0 in Von Cramm Cup group play and faces Italy today in the quarterfinals with a semifinal berth against third seed France at stake. The USA is seeded second behind Australia. Cash and Mark Vines of Naples, Florida, won 6-2, 7-6 in doubles and Vines won 6-3, 6-3 in singles with Houston resident Ross Persons winning 6-0, 6-2. Cash has an ITF doubles record of 90-10.
GOLF
› The Georgia Northwestern Technical College men’s golf team will open its season Friday by hosting the Cleveland State and Northeast Alabama community college squads in an 18-hole match at LaFayette Golf Course. GNTC’s Bobcats will play Northeast Alabama at the Dogwood Hills course at Flat Rock on Aug. 24 and then visit Cleveland State at Chatata Valley a week later. Coach Eddie Jackson’s Bobcats also will play in September tournaments at Cullman, Alabama, and Valdosta, Georgia, before returning to Penn State’s campus course for the USCAA national tournament Oct. 6-10. They will conclude their fall season Oct. 21-23 in the Truett McConnell Invitational at Barnsley Gardens in Adairsville.
› Covenant College released its men’s golf fall schedule Tuesday, and that consists of four events in October. Tom Schreiner’s Scots will play Oct. 1-2 at the Piedmont Fall Invitational at Clarkesville, Georgia, Oct. 22-23 at Berry’s Chick-fil-A in Rome and Oct. 29-30 in the Maryville Fall Invitational at Egwani Farms and will host their annual Reeder Cup on Oct. 15-16 at Lookout Mountain.
SOCCER
› Tennessee Wesleyan was ranked 15th in the NAIA women’s soccer preseason poll released Tuesday, and Dalton State and Bryan College were the fourth and fifth “others receiving votes” in the men’s poll. With 38 and 34 voting points, the Roadrunners and the Lions would be 29th and 30th in the Top 25 balloting. Defending national champion Wayland Baptist of Texas got 15 of 16 first-place votes. William Carey and Mobile from Dalton State’s conference were ranked fifth and sixth, and Reinhardt at No. 24 headed the Appalachian Athletic Conference that includes Bryan. Bryan’s Lady Lions also were among the vote receivers, with 10 points, in the women’s poll where reigning champion Spring Arbor of Michigan was chosen No. 1 unanimously.