[theo_luddite]

A busy weekend of sport where we only had the FA Cup Final with points up for grabs, but plenty other sports that conclude later in the year also saw plenty of action.

In motor sport ....

Crash Verstappen won the F1 at Imola in a dress rehearsal for next weekend's procession around the streets and harbour of Monaco.
The result left Piastri in 1st, Norris 2nd and Verstappen in 3rd in the standings, with McLaren well ahead in the Contructors battle.
You have until "Lights Out" on Sunday if you want to change your prediction for Monaco.

The shaleshifters were in Warsaw, Poland in the amazing looking PGE Narodowy stadium that holds ovr 50,000 people.
https://www.fimspeedway.com/rounds/orlen...and-warsaw
Jack Holder grabbed the win in the final from fellow Aussie Brady Kurtz, reversing the heat 19 result, ahead of Polish riders Dudek and Kubera. Zmarzlik had an off-night by his standards, only recording 2 heat wins in his initial 5 rides and finishing 3rd in the qualifier.
Aussie Jason Doyle had a spectacular crash which left him in hospital. Posting on Instagram early on Sunday afternoon, Doyle wrote: “Firstly…..thank you for the kind wishes and support! Last night ended full gas into a fence. “As you may notice my model career has come to an end! And so has my dancing with the stars day! “I dislocated my left hip and just took a good beating! I'll be back very soon!”
https://www.instagram.com/jasondoyle69/p/DJy6F_lsACh/

Current standings look like this.



On the other side of the pond we now know who the East and West Conference Finals will be between in the hoop shooting and pond hockey.

In the NBA, the Eastern Final will be between the Indiana Pacers and the Noo Yark Knicks. The Western Final will feature Oklahoma City Thunder and Minnesota Timberwolves. That leaves just Snoots and myself in with a shout. The Knicks beat Boston Celtics to eliminate themaclad, SCO and SHEP.



In the puck pushing/ice fighting (NHL) the Eastern Final will be between Florida and Carolina whilst the Western Final will be beween Dallas and Edmonton. That leaves themaclad, SCO, jjamez, SHEP and ritchie with a look in still in the barns. Toronto losing to Florida and Washington barely turning up against Carolina eliminated AmChaff and myself.



Conference Finals start Tuesday/Wednesday this week.

[theo_luddite]

Today's F1 snoozefest, Do Not Pass Go, Go Directly to the Pits and Change your Tyres, Twice, was the predictable procession after Saturday's qualifying. I think they need to put the guys in Super Mario Go Karts and give them all a handful of coconuts to fire at the drivers in front of them to make this race interesting. Either that or give the fans by the swimming pool the option to flood the track. Oh, hang on, that was kill-a-driver Barmy Bernie Ecclestone's idea.

Anyhooo, points for Snoots, AmChaff and SHEP, who's having a good weekend all round. Put your feet up tomorrow SHEP, you deserve it.






Current F1 Standings

[theo_luddite]

Another busy weekend of sport with The French Open getting to the half-way point. I thought at least one of our GB Ladies might make it to at least R3, but no, they are all back home or still waiting for a seat on Eurostar at Gare du Nord. I can take or leave tennis but it was a cracking match late into the night between Gaël Monfils and Jack Draper last night, with Draper eventually winning in 4 sets as Monfils visibly tired in the 4th after going 4-2 up and looked good to make it 2 sets all. Due to the luck of the draw we'll only have at most 2 Brits (or at least 1) in the 4th Round as Norrie and Fearley play each other in the 3rd.

For our picks, all the Ladies are still invloved, in the Mens, Ruud (ritchie) bit the clay dust in R2, the rest are through to R3.

Motor sport roars on with F1 boys compleing a tour of The Med countries with The Barcelona Grand Prix. The shale shifters are in Prague on Saturday night. Jason Doyle thought he was on the road to recovery following his crash in Warsaw the other week, so he decided to get back on his bike and unfortunately came straight back off it again and did at least as much damage to his hip as last time. He'll be replaced this weekend by Danish racer Leon Madsen.

The Rugby League Super League is well underway and I'll post a table update after the weekend's games have played out.

Finally it's The UEFA Champions League Final in Munich on Saturday night, but we've all lost interest in a match between PSG and Inter Milan.