June 2009 Archives

The ECHL announced today that teams donated more than $3.4 million to charitable and non-profit organizations during the 2008-09 season, including over $1.7 in monetary contributions. The Reign contributed more than $323,740 to that figure.

The financial contributions are in addition to the thousands of appearances by players, coaches, team personnel and mascots at schools, hospitals, libraries and charity functions throughout the year.

The total includes over $450,000 for cancer awareness and prevention, raising the total raised through "Pink" events the last three seasons to more than $1.2 million. The Reign held their "Pink at the Rink" night on February 7.

Victorville's Mike Alessi, the current AMA Motocross series points leader, is expected to miss the next six weeks after breaking his left kneecap in a practice session in Mount Morris, Pennsylvania.

Alessi had successful surgery this morning, according to a release by Rockstar Makita Suzuki.

"There was no other damage to the knee beyond the broken kneecap," team manager Roger DeCoster said in a statement. "The outlook is better than expected, as we thought he was out for the year. It appears now that there's a good chance he will be able to get back out there racing before the end of this season."

Alessi had not lost a moto since the season-opening event at Glen Helen Raceway in San Bernardino. After a pair of first-place finishes Saturday in Texas, he was leading Chad Reed by a 142-111 margin in the season points standings.

Left knee surgeries have now befallen the only two riders to win an event this year; Glen Helen winner Ryan Villopoto had knee surgery on June 3 and will miss the remainder of the motocross season.

Joe Soto left no doubt who was the king of Bellator's featherweight division, pummeling Yahir Reyes into submission for most of their 9-minute, 11-second title match.

Reyes, a Central Valley native (Porterville) who now trains in the Bay Area, needed about a minute to pin the Tijuana fighter to the canvas in both the first and second rounds. Once pinned, Reyes looked utterly helpless to survive a double-fisted barrage from the crowd favorite Soto. His face swollen and his mind slow to respond to the referee's promptings, Reyes was finally obligated to tap out late in the second round.

Soto earned $175,000 for the victory.

Neither fighter was expected to make Bellator's featherweight final, a dream come true for CEO Bjorn Rebney, who hoped that his March-Madness style tournament format would produce at least one Cinderella. Friday's main event featured two: Reyes, who upset Esteban Payan with a spinning backfist knockout and Soto, who upset previously-undefeated Brazilian Wilson Reis.

From Joann Young at Auto Club Speedway:

The NBA Finals start tonight. Los Angeles Lakers vs. Orlando Magic. East Coast vs. West Coast. SoCal vs. Florida. Disney World vs. Disneyland. And Auto Club Speedway vs. Daytona International Speedway - a bet between the track presidents. What should they wager?