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Auto Racing
CONCORD, N.C. – Kevin Harvick won the pole Thursday night for the opening race of the second round of NASCAR’s playoffs.
Harvick turned a lap at 196.029 mph to earn the top starting spot Saturday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway. He edged Alex Bowman, the replacement driver for Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Chase Elliott qualified third and was followed by Kyle Busch, Tony Stewart and AJ Allmendinger.
Martin Truex Jr., winner of two of the first three Chase races, qualified seventh.
Cycling
Australian BMX cyclist Sam Willoughby, who won the silver medal at the 2012 London Olympics, is in rehab after a training accident left him with two fractured vertebrae and no movement below his chest.
Willoughby got hurt last month following the crash at his home track at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, California, the rider’s family has said in a statement through Cycling Australia.
Willoughby was airlifted to a hospital, and doctors performed an operation that involved replacing one vertebra with a titanium cage, and the fusion of two others.
His fiancé, U.S. BMX rider Alise Post, and his family said Willoughby has slowly regained the use of his arms, and that he is slowly regaining sensations in his legs, but still had no movement from his chest down.
MLB
BOSTON – Gov. Charlie Baker signed into law a bill Thursday that includes the provision designating the span over the Massachusetts Turnpike the David Ortiz “Big Papi” Bridge.
Skiing
Lindsey Vonn to snowboarders: Steer clear on my mountain.
Julia Mancuso to Vonn: Speak for yourself.
A social-media tiff flared up Thursday between two of the world’s best-known skiers, even if the topic they’re arguing over may be a bit stale.
The back-and-forth between Vonn and Mancuso started after Vonn was prodded on “The Dan Patrick Show” to share her feelings about skiers sharing the mountain with snowboarders — a debate that barely registers now, more than a decade since the vast majority of American resorts began allowing snowboarding.
Said Vonn: “I’m trying to be politically correct here. I do like snowboarders but I think it’d be super-great if we could have a little separation.”
The debate then picked up on Twitter . Mancuso’s initial reply: “Lindsey does not represent all skiers. ... love my snowboard buddies!”
Weather
MIAMI – Fear of the damage that powerful Hurricane Matthew may cause prompted two college football postponements Thursday, and had the NFL plotting just-in-case scenarios for games scheduled in Tampa and Miami this weekend.
A pair of college games set to be played Saturday – LSU at No. 18 Florida, as well as Charlotte at Florida Atlantic – were postponed. The Tigers-Gators game that was scheduled for Gainesville is off indefinitely, and the Charlotte-FAU game scheduled for Boca Raton is now tentatively planned to be played Sunday.
Saturday night’s game that has No. 23 Florida State visiting No. 10 Miami remains on as scheduled, though officials remain somewhat cautious. Also, the Georgia at South Carolina game has been pushed from Saturday night to Sunday afternoon, Gamecocks coach Will Muschamp said on his radio show.
Associated Press
