Today’s sports news: What you need to know – RNZ

Latest – Seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton became the first Formula One driver to take 100 pole positions after lapping fastest for Mercedes in Spanish Grand Prix qualifying.

The 36-year-old was already way ahead of the rest in the record books, with retired Ferrari great and fellow seven-times champion Michael Schumacher second on the all-time list of polesitters with 68.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen joined the championship-leading Briton, who has an eight-point lead after three races, on the front row with a time 0.036 seconds slower and another wheel-to-wheel duel looming tonight.

Valtteri Bottas qualified third for Mercedes, a week after the Finn took pole in Portugal.

Hamilton’s pole continued a remarkable run of Mercedes domination, with the champions taking the top slot in every race at the Spanish circuit since now-retired Nico Rosberg began the sequence in 2013.

Only five constructors in the 71-year history of the sport have racked up 100 poles or more, and Hamilton’s milestone puts him far ahead even of Red Bull, who as a team have so far managed 64.

Hamilton took his first pole with McLaren in 2007.

-Reuters

Breakthrough win for Heimgartner

New Zealand driver Andre Heimgartner has won his first Australian Supercars race, taking out the first race at The Bend in South Australia.

His breakthrough came four years after the Kelly Grove Racing driver was mere days away from giving his career away.

Heimgartner’s win came in the Kiwi’s 161st career start, but in 2017, a career in finance broking seemed his only option.

Saturday belonged to Heimgartner; he converted pole into victory, his Ford Mustang crossing the line ahead of Chaz Mostert.

Championship leader, fellow New Zealander Shane van Gisbergen was seventh.

There are another two races today.

-Supercars

Reds clinch Super Rugby title

Skipper James O’Connor scored the winning try five minutes after the final hooter as the Queensland Reds beat the ACT Brumbies 19-16 to win the Super Rugby AU final in front of more than 40,000 fans at Lang Park in Brisbane.

The biggest crowd for a rugby match in the world this year gathered anticipating the coronation of Brad Thorn’s young side but the Brumbies almost spoiled the party with a mature display of percentage rugby.

Leading 16-12 but reduced to 13 men with two players in the sin bin, the reigning champions resisted surge after surge at their line in the final 10 minutes before the Reds finally moved the ball wide for flyhalf O’Connor to score.

An 11th successive home victory gave the Reds a second Super Rugby title a decade after their first, when they beat Thorn’s Canterbury Crusaders at the same stadium.

-Reuters

Evans runs out of energy

New Zealand driver Mitch Evans has suffered a disappointing finish in the latest Formula E race in Monaco.

The Jaguar driver was leading heading into the final lap, but was overtaken by reigning champion Antonio Felix Da Costa as they exited the tunnel and then dropped to third after Robin Frijns went past him at the finish.

Evans was unable to defend the lead due to his car’s reduced energy levels.

“I’m hurting pretty bad right now. I found myself in the lead but I had burnt quite a lot of energy to get there,” he said. “I was just trying to hang on for as long as possible.”

It was portugal’s Da Costa’s first win of the season, while Frenchman Frijns takes over the championship lead.

After seven races Frijns has 62 points to Mercedes driver Nyck de Vries’s 57 and Evans’ 54, with the top six drivers separated by just 14 points after seven rounds.

The championship now heads into a six-week break before the next round in Puebla, Mexico, on June 19.

Sharks beaten again

The Southland Sharks have suffered their second straight loss in the men’s National Basketball League going down 85-73 to Hawke’s Bay in Napier.

The perennial contenders had suffered a big loss to Wellington Saints the night before and struggled to keep pace with the Hawks who were led by Derone Raukawa with 28 points.

The Nelson Giants secured their first win of the competition beating the Franklin Bulls 107-94 in Pukekohe.

The Otago Nuggets improved to a 2-1 record after downing the winless Manawatu Jets 108-96 in Dunedin.

Unbeaten Saints top the table with 6 points, Hawke’s Bay, Auckland Huskies, Otago Nuggets, Franklin Bulls and Southland Sharks have 4.

Meanwhile at the Basketball New Zealand Awards evening, Tall Fern Penina Davidson was named MVP for the year, as well as Female Player of the Year. Tall Black Corey Webster was named Male Player of the Year.

The night culminated with Basketball New Zealand bestowing its highest honour upon former Tall Blacks coach Keith Mair. Mair joins Pero Cameron, Anita Hannen, Zena Gay, Sir Lance Cross, Stan Hill, and Carolyn Grey as a Basketball New Zealand Legend.

Italian wins opening Grio stage

The Italian Filippo Ganna has won the opening time trial stage of the Giro d’Italia.

It is the second straight year that Gana has taken the opening stage, this time beating compatriot Edoardo Affini by ten seconds on the flat 8.6km course in Turin.

The world champion, who rides for Ineos Grenadiers, reached an average speed of 58.748km/h.

He’ll wear the Maglia Rosa on Stage 2, a 179km ride held entirely on his home soil in the Piedmont region.

New Zealand’s George Bennett was 52nd, 41 seconds behind Ganna, while Patrick Bevin was another three seconds back.

Another title for Bayern

Bayern Munich celebrated their record-extending ninth consecutive Bundesliga title with a 6-0 demolition of Borussia Moenchengladbach and a hat-trick from Robert Lewandowski, who edged closer to a 49-year-old scoring record.

The champions had sealed the title before kickoff following RB Leipzig’s 3-2 defeat at Borussia Dortmund earlier today.

Lewandowski, who now has 39 goals, one shy of Gerd Mueller’s imposing record of 40 league goals in one Bundesliga season dating back to 1971/72, needed only two minutes to open his account with a shot from a tight angle.

Thomas Mueller, who along with David Alaba becomes the first player in Bundesliga history to win 10 league titles, stabbed in their second in the 23rd before a sensational flying Lewandowski volley 11 minutes later.

Lewandowski sent keeper Yann Sommer the wrong way to convert a 66th minute penalty for his hat-trick and a clear shot at Mueller’s record with two games left.

Bayern, who have now won 30 Bundesliga titles since the introduction of the top division in 1963, and 31 German league crowns in total, are on 74 points, with Leipzig in second on 64 following their 3-2 loss at Dortmund, who move up to fourth.

-Reuters

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