racks and Lakeside is a cool

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PORTLAND, Ore. -- The Portland Timbers and Real Salt Lake played to a 0-0 tie Saturday night that left the top of the Western Conference standings unchanged. Portland leads with 54 points and Real Salt Lake is second, one point back. The Timbers clinched a playoff spot earlier in the day when Seattle lost to FC Dallas. It marks the first time Portland has made the playoffs since joining MLS in 2011. Timbers head coach Caleb Porter is proud of the accomplishment, but doesnt want to stop there. "It is a big thing for this club, its a milestone that were happy about," Porter said. "But its not just about being in the playoffs. Theres still a lot of work to be done and we want to be a club thats not just in the playoffs, but making a run to win it." Real Salt Lake will clinch a playoff spot if San Jose loses to Los Angeles on Sunday. Real Salt Lake coach Jason Kreis saw the match as a good preview for the upcoming playoffs. "I look at it as a positive and say if we can perform like that as we go into the playoffs, thinking well have a home-and-away series, this is what you have to do when youre away." The Timbers had the best opportunities in a match that featured plenty of attacking, first when a pass by Jose Adolfo Valencia barely eluded Kalif Alhassan just in front of goal in the 43rd minute. Then in the 65th minute, Alhassan was denied by Real Salt Lake goalkeeper Nick Rimando with a diving save to his right. And in second half stoppage time, Rimando made a fantastic point-blank double save to deny Portland a late winner. "Were going to need a player like Nick to do that if were going to have any chance to win the Cup," Kreis said. Real Salt Lakes best opportunity came when Luis Gils header off Chris Wingerts cross skipped wide of the goal in the 12th minute. "The goals were there to be scored," Kreis said. "It was just one of those nights where they werent taken." 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The former world No. 1 Djokovic, who is the top seed here despite being ranked No. 2, snuck past 35-year-old Czech showman Radek Stepanek in four high- quality sets, 6-4, 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (7-5), on Centre Court. Djokovic appeared relieved when he converted on his first match point by swatting a cross-court forehand winner that just caught the line to end an affair that featured only two service breaks. Ricky Wagner Jersey . LaQuinton Ross scored 17 of his 20 points in the first half, hitting his first four 3-pointers, to send No.Seven-time British champion and Belle Vue Aces captain Scott Nicholls gives us his verdict on the opening weeks of the new season. Nicholls returns to action in Wednesday nights clash with Lakeside, live on Sky Sports 2 HD from 7.30pm, and he offers a behind-the-scenes view into the Aces preparations...Its been a frustrating start to the season not being able to ride at our new home, but there was a problem with the base which was having an effect on the track and it just wasnt settling in. Combine that with the fact theyve had an awful winter and theyve just run out of time getting it done. I guess hindsight is a wonderful thing and if they could turn back time maybe they would have done things differently, but obviously they desperately wanted to get the track and the stadium ready for grand opening. It should have been an amazing event but the track wasnt right. Weather had got the better of them, the material was wet and they desperately tried to get the meeting on but it just wasnt right. Subsequently since then theyve worked on the track continuously. There had been too much damage done in trying to get things ready for the opener and they had to re-group a little bit. Theyve re-laid half the track again and that went down last Wednesday morning and they completed the track and the guys were out practicing on it in the afternoon. I personally have not ridden on it but Ive heard good reports and the track has held up well. There are a couple of ripples but considering the track was only laid that morning thats great. For us it will be awesome to have a home meeting soon because its May and weve had no home meeting yet! Belle Vues new National Stadium It has been important to think about the long term rather than looking for a short-term fix. They had made a couple of attempts to try and patch things together so that we can try and race but Im glad theyve done the right thing and started it fresh. With stadiums its one thing that part of the grandstand is not totally finished but with a track if you start with it wrong its only going to go one way and you cant afford for that to happen. The fact that we have two huge bends there magnifies that but the simple fact is that you want a good race track for the fans and the riders. If you start with it wrong its never going to be right. With that in mind, the right decision was made and personally Id rather wait until our first meeting even though its going to be in May than rush it through and have a track you dont look forward to riding every week.Having a National Stadium is huge for the sport, the economy as a whole has been tough so certain aspects financially are tough but for speedway to have a massive boost like having a National Stadium is a great sign for the sport. It sends out a good picture to the media and the sponsors and potential business interests and things like that. To have a stadium purely dominated to speedway is also phenomenal, they can have a number of practice sessions there, testing and ttraining schools and thats great.ddddddddddddWith the Poultec system happening with Kings Lynn trying to bring a wealth of younger riders through, its what we need so its come at a good time. Nicholls says having a National Stadium is huge for the sport I think its a track that is going to change as the dirt builds up and the material changes. In some respects at first when we had the initial practice on it, it was really slick. It was a similar shape in a way to Peterborough but then it has the banking and the banking changes it. As the dirt builds up and the material binds together I think it will ride a lot differently. Theres no question it will be a fast track when it settles down. At the moment with it being so fresh, when I had the practice on it all they had done was desperately tried to get the track done, so there was barely any proper material on there and it was very slick on the turns but when that develops you will see the racing lines appear.With the sporadic start to the season for everyone, its kind of nice in a weird frustrating way that were only two or three fixtures behind which is bizarre as we are in May now and we have not had a home meeting! We can take a positive out of the fixtures really, as it has fallen in our favour a little bit with it being quite restrained so far for everyone at the start of the season with all of the rain offs, weve not got too much to catch up on. Nicholls has been pleased with his early season form (picture credit Hayley Bromely) Ive been happy with how Ive started but it has been very frustrating being stop-start but its still very early in the season. You just want to race back-to-back and get meetings in just to get comfortable on the bike and to think less about it. At the moment its a couple back-to-back then nothing for ten days and thats a long time off the bike when youve not ridden all winter but I know there will come a point when Im wishing there was a break later in the season, so I wont moan too much!On Wednesday, we visit Lakeside in front of the Sky cameras. I like all the tracks and Lakeside is a cool little technical track which is not necessarily the fastest but you have to use your head. They have a strong side on paper and we know they will be strong at home. In the past, we have struggled there but generally I think a few of our boys have stepped things up this year and I think with more experience in the side we can go there and be more of a threat in front of the Sky cameras. Weve had a good run away from home, Swindon wasnt so good for us but we managed to pull some points back to make it more respectable. Out of three so far on the road to win two is a decent start.You can watch Scott and his Belle Vue side take on Lakeside Hammers, live on Sky Sports 2 on Wednesday from 7.30pm. Youth NFL Jerseys China Wholesale Nike NFL Jerseys Wholesale NFL White Jerseys Wholesale Stitched Jerseys Wholesale NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys NFL Jerseys From China ' ' '