22 Aug 2022

In today's sports news: What you need to know

5:25 am on 22 August 2022

Latest - New Zealand driver Shane van Gisbergen has won his 16th race of the Australian Supercars season after taking both wins on Sunday at Sandown.

Shane van Gisbergen, Albert Park Circuit, Melbourne 2022.

Shane van Gisbergen Photo: PHOTOSPORT

He has now equalled Craig Lowndes tally for wins in a season with just fellow New Zealander Scott McLaughlin's record ahead of him.

Lowndes set his record of 16 wins in 1996 befre McLaughlin improved the record to 18 in 2019.

Van Gisbergen now has 70 career wins.

Van Gisbergen has eight more races across four events to surpass McLaughlin's tally.

Fittingly, van Gisbergen could equal and break countryman McLaughlin's record on home soil.

The next three races of the season are at Pukekohe Park Raceway in Auckland next month.

Van Gisbergen will carry an extended 500-point series lead to New Zealand next month.

Three in a row for Bagnaia

Ducati's Francesco Bagnaia made it three MotoGP wins in a row at the Austrian Grand Prix, while world championship leader Fabio Quartararo stormed to second on his Yamaha with a late surge in Spielberg.

Ducati Lenovo Team rider Francesco Bagnaia.

Francesco Bagnaia Photo: PHOTOSPORT

Bagnaia, who also won the British GP and the Dutch GP, finished 0.492 seconds ahead of Quartararo, while Jack Miller completed the podium.

He became only the second Italian rider in the modern MotoGP era to win three consecutive races after Valentino Rossi, who retired last year after winning nine world titles.

Starting second on the grid, Bagnaia made a lightning start at the Red Bull Ring as he overtook pole sitter Enea Bastianini of Gresini Racing on the opening lap.

Bastianini dropped further down to fourth on the sixth lap when Bagnaia's team mate Miller and Pramac Ducati's Jorge Martin moved up before he was forced to end his race due to a deflating front tyre after running his bike into the gravel.

Martin had looked set for a podium finish but he ran wide at the chicane on the 17th lap, surrendering third spot to Yamaha rider Quartararo, who started fifth on the grid.

Quartararo then piled pressure on Miller for second and succeeded with less than three laps to go after pulling off a stunning move in the middle of the chicane at turn two.

The Frenchman now has a 32-point lead over Aprilia's Aleix Espargaro in the riders championship, while Bagnaia is third, 44 points behind the leader.

-Reuters

Usman upset

Britain's Leon Edwards sensationally knocked out Kamaru Usman to win the welterweight title at UFC 278 in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Behind on points in the fifth, Edwards, 30, landed a left high-kick to stun Nigeria's pound-for-pound number one fighter.

Edwards becomes the first British champion since Michael Bisping in 2016 and only the second in history.

"You all doubted me, saying I couldn't do it - look at me now," said Edwards.

"I'm from the trenches. I'm built like this. I've been doubted my whole life but look at me now."

In beating Usman, Birmingham's Edwards avenges his defeat in 2015 and ends the 35-year-old's 15-fight unbeaten streak in the UFC.

Jamaican-born Edwards, who was a big underdog with bookmakers going into the bout, extends his winning streak to 10 since the defeat by Usman seven years ago.

Usman won the first fight by using his wrestling to control the majority of the contest - a tactic Edwards says opened his eyes to weaknesses in his own grappling game.

-BBC

Bennett wins again

Sam Bennett of Bora Hansgrohe clinched his second stage victory in a row by winning stage three of the Vuelta a Espana, a 193km flat route starting and finishing in Breda.

Bennett, who also won the second stage in Utrecht, was fastest in the bunch sprint finish in the last stage on Dutch soil.

The Irishman finished ahead of Trek-Segafredo's Mads Pedersen, as was the case in the second stage, and Dan McLay of Arkea-Samsic completed the podium.

Bennett became the second Irish rider to win at least 10 stages in Grand Tours after Sean Kelly.

Jumbo-Visma's Edoardo Affini will take over the red leader's jersey, called "La Roja", for stage four.

The peloton moves to Spain on Monday. The following six stages before the next rest day will be raced in medium or high mountains of northern Spain, in the Basque Country and Asturias.

-Reuters

Tom Weiskopf dies

Tom Weiskopf, who won The Open in 1973 and was a noted golf commentator and course architect, died at the age of 79.

He had been dealing with pancreatic cancer since late 2020.

Weiskopf won 16 times on the PGA Tour between 1968 and 1982. His major triumph came in 1973 at Royal Troon, where he recorded a three-stroke victory over Johnny Miller and Neil Coles.

He captured four more titles on the PGA Tour Champions, including the 1995 U.S. Senior Open.

Weiskopf was a U.S. Ryder Cup Team member in 1973 and 1975. He made the team in 1977, however he elected to go hunting instead of participating in the event.

Known for his fiery temper on the golf course, Weiskopf received the nickname of "The Towering Inferno."

Weiskopf shifted to television as a golf analyst at both CBS and ABC Sports/ESPN.

He also had a hand in golf course design, with more than 40 to his credit. Included on that list are TPC Scottsdale, which is home of the PGA Tour's WM Phoenix Open, Troon North GC in Scottdale and Loch Lomond GC in Scotland.

-Reuters

Tanak continues WRC run

Hyundai driver Ott Tanak clinched his second World Rally Championship victory in a row as he held his nerve to edge out Toyota's Elfyn Evans at Ypres Rally Belgium.

Tanak, who took the top spot yesterday after team mate Thierry Neuville crashed out of his home event, won Sunday's final leg with a five-second margin over Evans.

The Estonian, winner in Finland earlier this month, trails Toyota's world championship leader Kalle Rovanpera by 72 points.

Rovanpera, 21, was out of contention after crashing on the first day but salvaged five points in the Power stage, remaining on track to become the youngest WRC champion in history.

-Reuters