SPORTS digest | Pilares, Radosevich stay on top at MVRC

Pilares, Radosevich stay on top at MVRC

AUSTINTOWN

Jockey Christian Pilares and trainer Jeff Radosevich have won the title for the winningest jockey and trainer at the Hollywood Gaming at Mahoning Valley Race Course of the course of the 65-day racing season.

Pilares won 48 times from 235 mounts and led all riders in purse earnings with $645,000.

Radosevich won 35 wins from 156 starts with his stable earning $415,000.

Curbstone to hear Indians’ DiBiasio

BEAVER TOWNSHIP

Bob DiBiasio, Cleveland Indians vice president of public affairs, will be the guest speaker at Monday’s luncheon meeting of The Curbstone Coaches at the Avion Banquet Center on Western Reserve Road. The event begins at noon and the public is welcome to attend.

Plans are under way for the 50th Curbstone Coaches Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony on May 7 at Mr. Anthony’s in Boardman. The speaker will be Ed Muransky, former Oakland Raiders offensive lineman and local businessman. Tickets are available by contacting Mariel Sallee at 330-519-6819. Tickets cost $50 for any previous inductee in honor of The Curbstone Coaches 50th anniversary.

Erik Jones wins Xfinity race at Bristol

bristol, tenn.

Erik Jones has back-to-back Xfinity Series victories after a win Saturday at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Jones also won at Texas Motor Speedway on April 8. He was the defending race winner at Bristol from last year.

Jones won in a Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing on Saturday, but he’s shown strong speed in his Furniture Row Racing car all weekend in preparation for the Cup race on Sunday.

Ryan Blaney finished second — the same result he’s had in all three Xfinity Series races he’s entered.

“Three seconds this year, so that’s getting old,” Blaney said.

Daniel Suarez was third to give the JGR cars two spots in the top three. Xfinity Series leader Elliott Sadler was fourth.

Daniel Hemric won a $100,000 bonus from Xfinity as part of its Dash-4-Cash program. He finished fifth.

Will Power wins pole at Indy GP of Alabama

birmingham, ala.

Will Power is the front-runner at Barber Motorsports Park once again.

Power claimed the pole for the fourth time at the Indy Grand Prix of Alabama Saturday in a qualifying session dominated by Team Penske. Power’s fast lap of 1:06.9614 gave him 46 career starts up front. Teammates Helio Castroneves and defending champion Simon Pagenaud lined up right behind.

Current Team Penske drivers have won five of the seven IndyCar races at Barber Motorsports Park and claimed the pole seven times in eight years.

They’re followed by Ganassi’s Scott Dixon, Andretti Autosport’s Ryan Hunter-Reay and James Hinchcliffe, who’s coming off a win at Long Beach for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports.

Honda has won the first two races but the top six qualifiers were split evenly with Chevrolet-powered teams thanks to Penske.

Clippers’ Griffin out for rest of the playoffs

salt lake city

Los Angeles Clippers forward Blake Griffin is out for the remainder of the playoffs with a toe injury suffered in Friday night’s win against the Utah Jazz.

The team announced Saturday that the five-time All-Star was diagnosed with an injury to the plantar plate of his right big toe. Griffin left Game 3 in the second quarter with what the team said at the time was a bruised toe. X-rays at the arena were negative, but he was re-evaluated after the game.

Griffin’s injury marks another playoff blow to a franchise that has dealt with a series of bad luck in recent years.

Griffin and point guard Chris Paul were lost to injuries last year, and the Clippers blew a 3-1 series lead against Houston in 2015.

Staff/wire report