Fernandez wins Beltarra Casino Indy 300 at Kentucky Speedway

Josh Barnett - Sports Editor

Adrian Fernandez took the checkered flag in the Belterra Casino Indy 300 at Kentucky Speedway on Sunday, August 15. The win was Fernandez's first Indy Racing League victory. He was able to hold off Buddy Rice by .0581 of a second at the finish line to get the win.

Fernandez and his No. 5 Quaker State Telmex Tecate Panoz took the lead for the third and final time on lap 152. After surviving a caution restart on lap 157 he held off consistent challenges from Rice and championship leader Tony Kanaan through the final 49 laps to take the checkered flag.

After his victory Fernandez stated, "I thought I had a car that was able to fight for the win. It was a matter of whether we wanted to be aggressive with downforce or not. We were very aggressive because I didn't want to settle for second or third place."

Fernandez started in fourth place and came out strong. He trailed race leader Kanaan through the opening 89 laps before taking his first lead on lap 90.

Rice finished the race in second place followed by Dan Wheldon in third (No. 26), Kosuke Matsuura (No. 55) finished fourth and Kanaan (No. 11) finished fifth.

The finish set a new series track record for closest margin of victory and was played out in front of a series track record crowd of 61,885.

Action continues at Kentucky Speedway on Saturday, September 18 with the V-TAPS Tripleheader Fall Classic. The event features stock car races with the American Speed Association, NASCAR AutoZone Elite Division Southeast Series and I-Power DASH Series.

Ripley Co. Soccer Club holds annual Jamboree to kick off Fall season

Josh Barnett - Sports Editor

The Ripley County Soccer Club kicked off their new season with their annual Jamboree held on Saturday, August 14 at the new Ohio Rod Recreational Complex.

Around 230 kids from ages 4 to 12 showed up to make 19 teams competing in this year's season. Kids from the Jac-Cen-Del and South Ripley school districts make up the teams.

The jamboree was a chance for the teams to play with each other for the first time against another team in their division. This year's season opens on Saturday, August 21 at the new complex, with games being played every Saturday through October 23.

Although the games will be played at the new complex, the teams will still be using the fields behind South Ripley Elementary and Jac-Cen-Del Elementary for practices. Also each child was given raffle tickets to sell for a fund-raiser. The money made off the raffle tickets will go towards the club, to purchase new equipment, tournament trophy's and to pay the referee's.

A couple of weeks prior to the jamboree the Ripley County Soccer Club had two British soccer coaches put on a clinic for the kids interested in joining the club. The coaches are with a group called Challenger based out of England with an office in Cincinnati. The clinic worked on basic soccer skills such as dribbling and passing. On the last day of the clinic the kids participated in a scrimmage. The soccer club signed a three-year contract with Challenger, which will put on a clinic for the next two years.

Members of Ohio Rod and Bob Evans make their way down the field towards the ball in a game against each other during the Jamboree.

Two of the teams battle it out during the annual jamboree held on Saturday, August 15 at the new Ohio Rod Recreational Complex.