Enea Bastianini cruised to his second Saturday success of the MotoGP season as he saw off feuding title rivals Jorge Martin and Francesco Bagnaia to win the Thailand Grand Prix Sprint race at Buriram.

The factory Ducati rider capitalised on a scuffle between Pramac’s Martin and team-mate Bagnaia at the first corner to grab the lead of a race he would control right to the chequered flag.

He led home Martin in second place, the Spaniard getting the better of title rival Bagnaia to eke his overall advantage out to 22 points with Sunday’s full-length encounter still to come.

The race outcome would be largely assured moments after the start when Martin’s deep inside line into turn one sent him wide on the exit, taking Bagnaia out to the run-off with him and allowing Bastianini to slice past both on the long run to the hairpin.

Once in front Bastianini would assert his control to open up an early half-second advantage that he would extend out to a winning margin of 1.5s.

If Bastianini had it relatively easy out front, then Martin by contrast was made to work hard for second after slipping down to fifth place behind Bagnaia in the wake of their turn one skirmish.

Nevertheless, after disposing of Pedro Acosta and Marc Marquez, Martin set to work on relieving Bagnaia of second and duly succeeded with a well-judged overtake coming through the flip-flop at turns 10 and 11.

From here Martin would have the measure of his rival to hold position to the flag and nudge his advantage up with five races of the season remaining, including two sprints.

Enea Bastianini, Ducati Team

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

In fourth, Marquez faded from the podium battle after a bright start, the Gresini rider having plenty in hand over brother and team-mate Alex Marquez in fifth after Acosta low-sided out of the position on lap four.

His exit allowed Ducati to lock out the entire top eight with Franco Morbidelli (Pramac), Marco Bezzecchi and Fabio di Giannantonio (both VR46) taking sixth, seventh and eighth respectively, with KTM’s Brad Binder the only point-scorer on alternative machinery in ninth.

MotoGP Thailand GP – Sprint results

TYSON FURY could fight on until he is 50-YEARS-OLD as he looks to make as much from boxing as possible.

Fury returns on December 21 in a rematch against Oleksandr Usyk following his defeat in May.

3

He lost his WBC belt and undefeated record after 12 thrilling rounds.

But Fury – who has won every title in heavyweight boxing – admitted he is not fighting for gold anymore.

Instead, he wants to maximise his boxing paydays after responding to a question about ex-champion Andy Lee saying it is hard to accept defeat.

Fury responded: “Andy Lee never had £200million in his bank to make him happy, did he? So what is my goal, and what is my target?

“It’s not a belt. It’s not a legacy. It’s not a boxing fight. It’s to make as much money as possible.

“To do that, I’ve got to have as many fights as I can until the wheels fall off and I’m 50 years old, crippled with a stick, walking down the street. That’s how I’ll be.”

Fury, 36, previously said he would wait to fight Anthony Joshua, 35, even if he was in his 50s.

The outspoken Gypsy King is believed to have earned close to £85m alone in his loss to Usyk, 37, earlier in the year.

3

Advertisement

CASINO SPECIAL – BEST CASINO WELCOME OFFERS

And Fury believes he is the only boxer candid enough to admit his fights purely for fortune.

He said: “I’ve had 40 professional fights, and I was in every single one of them for the money.

“If I wasn’t getting paid, I wouldn’t have done any of them. I do it for the dough, but I’m the only one that will tell the truth.

“I don’t come to these places, thinking, ‘Oh my God, I’m on TV. I’m Famous.’

“I’m thinking, ‘How much dough can I get at any given moment in my career?’

“If you want to fight, the only question I say is, ‘How much?’ I have gloves, I have a body, and I will travel if the money is right. I’m truthful.”

3

Advertisement

LOS ANGELES — It was a sprained ankle, not a banged-up knee or hamstring. It was 10 innings of gritting through pain, not an improbable pinch-hit appearance off the bench. It was a lift of the bat toward the sky and a roar on his trot around the bases, not a pump of the fist. 

But 36 years after a hobbled Kirk Gibson made the impossible happen in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series, Freddie Freeman authored the latest iconic World Series-opening blast for the Dodgers, delivering the first walk-off grand slam in the history of the Fall Classic and sending 52,394 fans into a frenzy. 

“I love the history of this game,” Freeman said. “To be a part of it, it’s special. I’ve been playing this game a long time, and to come up in those moments, you dream about those moments, even when you’re 35 and have been in the league for 15 years. You want to be a part of those.”

[RELATED: Full coverage of the World Series]

Freeman joined Gibson and Joe Carter (1993) as the only players to ever hit a walk-off homer in the World Series with their team trailing. 

As he strolled around the bases, having delivered the Dodgers a 6-3 Game 1 comeback victory against the Yankees, Freeman said he felt like he was floating. Teammate Max Muncy, who hit a walk-off homer in Game 3 of the 2018 World Series, is one of the few who understands the feeling. 

“You black out in the moment,” Muncy said. “From a personal feeling, you don’t remember a lot of it. I’m going to remember this one a lot more than I remember mine.”

With the Dodgers trailing by a run, down to their final out in the bottom of the 10th, the Yankees intentionally walked Mookie Betts to load the bases and set up the lefty-lefty matchup. 

On the mound was Nestor Cortes, who was added to the playoff roster after missing each of the Yankees’ first two playoff series with an elbow injury. At the plate was Freeman, whose right ankle sprain and bone bruise had produced a hindered version of the eight-time All-Star.

“You walk a first-ballot Hall of Famer,” Dodgers infielder Gavin Lux said, “to get to another first-ballot Hall of Famer.” 

Freeman was unable to play in two of the Dodgers’ last three games of the National League Championship Series and held without an extra-base hit through his team’s first two postseason series. But the break before the World Series offered Freeman a needed reprieve. 

Throughout the playoffs, each day produced uncertainty regarding Freeman’s availability. Occasionally, like at team breakfast before Game 4 of the NLDS and the off day before Game 6 of the NLCS, the Dodgers would make the call ahead of time to sit Freeman in his best interest. Often, though, manager Dave Roberts would not know until shortly before first pitch whether he could keep Freeman’s name in the lineup.

He began the playoffs 6-for-17 — all singles — before a 1-for-15 stretch. Over those eight games, he had scored just one run. In Game 1 of the NLCS, he crossed the plate and needed Betts to hold him up to stop his momentum. The more Freeman played, and the longer a series went, the more limiting his ankle became. The issue was starting to leak into his swing. 

“Back then, a week or so ago, I could get through four, five innings before I was having trouble walking,” Freeman said. “In Game 5, it started happening pretty much right after my first at-bat. It was just progressing to making it really hard for me to get through the game.”

The Dodgers made the call to sit him for Game 6 of the NLCS with this scenario in mind. The week off meant six days that Freeman didn’t have to run, which is usually what causes his ankle to flare up. He still got treatment for 3-4 hours a day at the field. The time off helped. Three days ago, Freeman knew he was “100 percent” go. There was no question, in his mind, he would be in the starting lineup. 

“They don’t make them like that guy anymore,” Lux said. “He’s gritty, he’s old school, he wants to be out there. If there’s kids out there that want an idol, that’s the guy you want to try to be like right there.” 

Around that time, watching his swings, his teammates saw a different version of their All-Star first baseman. 

“I mean, you know,” Kiké Hernández said. “You know your teammates. You know their swings. You know their mannerisms. He took BP a couple days ago and it didn’t look the way it looked a couple days prior.” 

Hernández was not alone. Reliever Daniel Hudson was shagging balls in left field during batting practice with Chris Taylor when he noticed Freeman peppering line drives over shortstop and third base. Freeman was starting to look like himself again. 

“CT looks at me and goes, ‘I think Freddie’s about to go off,’” Hudson recalled. “I was like, ‘Yeah, those are Freddie swings right there.’”

It was at that point that Freeman thought he unlocked a cue in his swing with hitting coach Robert Van Scoyoc. It wasn’t necessarily any feats of strength or power that demonstrated it. 

“It’s not about lifting or doing any of that,” Freeman said. “If my swing’s in the right spot and you’re hitting line drives and your swing is in a good spot, that’s where you create backspin. I can’t create the spin. If I do, I’m going to topspin and hook everything. When your swing is good and direct to the ball, that’s how you create the backspin.”

“He runs into power,” Van Scoyoc added. “When he’s on time, he catches it.”

On the first pitch from Cortes, he caught a 92.5 mph fastball on the inner half of the plate and made Dodger Stadium shake. 

“Those are the scenarios you dream about, two outs, bases loaded in a World Series game,” Freeman said. “For it to actually happen and get a home run and walk it off to give us a 1-0 lead, that’s as good as it gets right there.”

After a dogpile with his teammates, Freeman ran behind home plate to celebrate the moment with his father, the man who has thrown him batting practice all his life. 

“My swing is because of him,” Freeman said. “My approach is because of him. I am who I am because of him.”

Three months ago, his father was there to throw to him, too, in the midst of one of the most taxing moments of Freeman’s life. A turbulent second half of the season for Freeman began in late July, when his 3-year-old son Max became suddenly ill. The deterioration was rapid. By July 22, Max could no longer walk. The Freeman family eventually learned Max was suffering from Guillain-Barre syndrome, a rare autoimmune condition. Freeman took 10 days away from the team to be with his son, who is now on the road to recovery and back walking again. 

Two days before returning to the Dodgers, the Southern California native went to his former high school, El Modena, and hit on the field with his father. In his first at-bat back at Dodger Stadium on Aug. 5, he received a standing ovation from not only 48,178 fans but also the Phillies dugout. 

“When I was gone the week and a half with my family, that first day I came back, that’s as special as it gets to make my family and I feel the love and the support,” Freeman said. “I tried to reciprocate it that night and thanking them and all this, but I think they appreciate this one a little bit more three months later.”

Tumultuous times off the field were met with hardships on it, when he fractured his finger in August. He decided to play through the pain. He bounced back from a slow start in September with a .316 average over his final 10 games of the regular season, only to sprain his ankle in the Dodgers’ division-clinching game against the Padres on Sept. 26 while trying to avoid a tag from Luis Arráez. It swelled up like a grapefruit, leaving him in a boot as the Dodgers celebrated. He was told it was a 4-6 week injury. 

Ten days later, he was in the lineup for Game 1 of the NLDS, ankles taped up like a football player. 

“He’s doing something that’s basically heroic,” Hernández said.

That night, he not only played but stole a base, as his manager and teammates held their breath. Freeman’s desire to play became a rallying force within the clubhouse of a team that was trying to move beyond the first-round exits of the previous two seasons. 

“A lot of us are banged up,” Lux said, “so you see this guy can barely walk for a couple weeks get out there and still steal bases, run hard down the line, limping all over the place, it makes you want to get out there and play hard, too.” 

For years, the World Series included a Taco Bell “Steal a Base, Steal a Taco” promotion.

Before Game 1, Freeman threatened to his teammates that he’d go for it. 

“And we all told him, if you steal a base, we’re going to walk out on the field and take you off the field ourselves,” Muncy said. “Sure enough, he gets a triple.”

Freeman started the day legging out a three-bagger against Cole. He ended it trotting 90 feet further in a walk-off winner for the ages. 

“Might be the greatest baseball moment I’ve ever witnessed,” Roberts said. 

“For him to have that moment, with everything he’s been through,” Lux said, “you couldn’t be happier for the guy.”

Right as the grand slam left Freeman’s bat, Hudson looked up from the bullpen toward the banner that shows the exit velocity. It flashed 109. He knew the game was over. 

Not long after, Hudson thought about Gibson’s blast. 

“I was probably one of two people in here who was alive when it happened,” the 37-year-old reliever joked. “You see it on TV, the side-by-sides on social media as soon as it happens. It was a really special moment for all the fans here, for everybody, especially for Freddie. I know that meant a lot to him.” 

At least for a few hours. 

On Friday, Freeman got to the stadium at 10:30 a.m. to begin treatment. 

On Saturday, he’ll do it again. Game 2 awaits. 

“This trophy is what makes you go through the grind every day,” Freeman said. “When you step into spring training in February, your eyes are on that, to do everything you can. That’s what’s worth it for me.”

Rowan Kavner is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. He previously covered the L.A. Dodgers, LA Clippers and Dallas Cowboys. An LSU grad, Rowan was born in California, grew up in Texas, then moved back to the West Coast in 2014. Follow him on Twitter at @RowanKavner.

[Want great stories delivered right to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports account, follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily.]

Get more from Major League Baseball Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more

Watch as Freddie Freeman hits the home run that earns LA Dodgers the first ‘walk-off Grand Slam’ in MLB World Series history as they beat the New York Yankees 6-3 at Dodger Stadium.

READ MORE: Dodgers walk-off grand slam wins World Series opener

Available to UK users only.

McLaren has said it disagrees with the FIA’s decision to reject its right of review request over Lando Norris’s United States Grand Prix penalty and wants to “understand how teams can constructively challenge decisions”.

The Woking-based team had argued that the stewards made an incorrect call in handing Norris a penalty late in the Austin race, which dropped him behind F1 world title rival Max Verstappen to fourth in the results.

Norris overtook Verstappen on the outside of Turn 12 with four laps to go, but as Verstappen’s driving ensured both cars ended going off-track, Norris was given a five-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage.

The crux of the matter for McLaren came down to it arguing Norris was ahead of Verstappen when they both ran off-track and therefore the Red Bull driver was the one on the attack – with the original decision judging the British driver as the attacking driver.

According to F1’s racing guidelines, Verstappen becoming the attacker would have meant the Dutchman was required to leave Norris space on the exit of the corner, which he didn’t need to do as the defender.

But in order to get its right of review to the next stage, McLaren first needed to produce evidence that was new, significant, relevant and not available at the time of the decision, four criteria judged by the FIA stewards.

Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38, battles with Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20

Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Images

This type of evidence usually involves some sort of camera angle or telemetry data that isn’t available at the time, but in this case McLaren – rather philosophically – offered the stewards’ initial verdict itself, in which it felt they erroneously referred to Norris as the attacker, as the piece of evidence.

The FIA officials dismissed this as “not sustainable”, stating the alleged error itself cannot be accepted as the element to demonstrate said error.

The matter is now closed and cannot be appealed further, but while McLaren disagreed with the FIA’s rejection it said it will work with the governing body to understand how to “constructively” challenge future decisions.

“We acknowledge the Stewards’ decision to reject our petition requesting a Right of Review,” McLaren said in a team statement.

“We disagree with the interpretation that an FIA document, which makes a competitor aware of an objective, measurable and provable error in the decision made by the stewards, cannot be an admissible “element” which meets all four criteria set by the ISC, as specified in Article 14.3.

“We would like to thank the FIA and the stewards for having considered this case in a timely manner.

“We will continue to work closely with the FIA to further understand how teams can constructively challenge decisions that lead to an incorrect classification of the race.”

The FIA stewards did agree with McLaren that currently a right of review procedure must clear an “extremely high bar” to be deemed admissible, with previous efforts by McLaren (Canada 2023), Aston Martin (Saudi Arabia 2023) and Ferrari (Australia 2023) all unsuccessful.

“Whether that should be the case or not, however, is a matter for the regulator (i.e. the FIA) and not the Stewards, whose role is to apply the regulations in a fair and independent manner,” they concluded.