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Rodney Childers

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Top 5 sports items this week 24/4/25: Rodney Childers’ shock departure at Spire, Scott Parker’s links with Tottenham after PL promotion with Burnley, Super Rugby Round 11/16, Max Verstappen and Western Bears in NRL

by Sports Benches

Bummer Rodney Childers won’t be back in the No.7 pit box but Spire ain’t backing down nonetheless with all three cars in & out of Top 16 to 20 drivers’ points.

There’s always time with the win and Playoffs still a possibility as long as it’s before September where Spire has the full backing of three talented and experienced drivers in McDowell, Haley and Hocevar.

Parker back to Tottenham?

While Burnley now back to the PL, Scott Parker might not be there because of Tottenham who could get rid of Aussie Ange even if he wins the Europa final.

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Maybe it’s best if Scott helps Burnley win it all and see Leeds bottle it at the same time, then he can go considering he hasn’t been successful so far at this top level.

There’s even talk about Leeds wanting to sack Farke in order to avoid his curse record at PL level – looks like it will be advantage Parker for the title then.

Super Rugby: another golden week from the Aussie sides v NZ?

Super Rugby back for another week going the Australian teams away we hope after a few brilliant games including one that ended in a draw, although not so much for the Waratahs unfortunately v Fijian Drua away in Suva. 

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Yet, things could get even better if Reds, Brumbies and Force all beat their respective NZ teams in Blues, Hurricanes and Chiefs this weekend. 

Perfect timing (mark that down) and as of Week 11 out of 16, still no NZ side win recorded yet at least on Australian soil.

Max Verstappen wants out of Red Bull?

Also, Max frustrated behind the scenes being the cut lone figure at Red Bull when McLaren in a Mercedes customer engine are leading the way via Oscar and Lando.

Would love to see him end up at Aston Martin with Honda engines + Adrian Newey again & Franco C. be the ideal one when RB have no other choice post-Max.

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NRL finally has a Perth team with assistance of the North Sydney Bears

And last but not least, Perth will finally get a NRL team in a long time with credit to the North Sydney Bears. 

That means, the Bears will be expected to play top-level Rugby League once again but looks like half of the games will be played at in Perth with other still going to be at the spiritual North Sydney Oval. 

National footprint is important for all of our Aussie sports including rugby despite losing a team in Melbourne but gotta accept it’s the best fight right now in the bid for championships and series trophies.

The big weekend other than the off-weekend of F1 starts tomorrow on ANZAC day Friday before the second last round’s matches is on a bright Saturday night at 9pm and we round it off with the shuffling decks of Talladega come Monday AM.

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MotorsportNASCAR

NASCAR News Today: Thoughts on Spire Motorsports decided to move on from Corey LaJoie next season in the No.7 Chevy team

by Sports Benches

Earlier today, Spire Motorsports have decided to go its separate ways from Corey LaJoie ahead of the 2025 season.

There will be completely new face in the No.7 Chevy Camaro with Rodney Childers coming over from Stewart-Haas Racing (soon to be shut down & replaced by just Haas as a single car team) as crew chief while Ryan Sparks will be promoted within Spire as competition director.

It’s been a kind of surprise considering LaJoie has helped Spire so much with some occasional success up front since he and Ryan first jumped over from the then GO FAS Racing organization at the start of 2021. I’m sure the job isn’t done just yet with a few more regular season rounds to go after the two-week Olympics break resuming in mid-August but then that’s it once the actual Cup season ends in early November. 

So yes, it’s not going to be the same with LaJoie in the No.7 next year but do understand where Spire wants to go competitively off the back of their recent big investments, and they’d like to have all three Cup teams racing at least Top 10-15 including 1-2 race wins every weekend.

We hope that LaJoie will get another good Cup ride somewhere like Kaulig Racing where they too have struggled with a full-time driver at times in the No.16 Chevy since AJ Allmendinger returned to racing Xfinity this year, and he’d be the perfect fit to get themselves back on track. 

Again, they’re another serious organization, who made a name for themselves at Xfinity level, before Kaulig later expanded into Cup level full-time two years ago thanks to the current Next Gen chassis.

Who’s going to be replacing LaJoie? Easy to say Zane Smith but then he’s largely inconsistent so far this season by surprise other than the rare 2nd placed finish last month at Nashville. Looks like they will use their financial muscle to poach Justin Haley away from Rick Ware Racing, even though he’s committed to them right now.

It would be a huge loss from RWR to lose Haley only after one season but if that happens should Spire pay them money Rick & Lisa can’t refuse, then they can always rely on the experienced Ryan Preece who is also on the lookout for another ride with Stewart-Haas also set to shutdown at season’s end. 

Now his time there also may be inconsistent since SHR is no longer on the same level as Team Penske, but he is someone who always had success in the lower tier series – even if it’s through part-time rides like Xfinity, Trucks and even modified cars as well.

For now, we wish Corey all the best in his next move and whoever takes him onboard will give his 100% best that would hopefully prove doubters wrong.

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