DF’s Race 4 Eight Fun Facts and Trends

Through five years and 30 events on the Race 4 Eight tour, the Race 4 Eight has produced sensational tournaments, memorable matches, dominant champions and inspiring stories, all broadcast live on race4eight.com and the WatchESPN App. Read below for fun facts and trends from the first five years on the most exciting indoor pro handball tour in the sport.

1. The last six Men’s Pro Race 4 Eight events have been won by R48 #1 Paul Brady and R48 #2 Sean Lenning

• Brady: San Francisco, New York, Simple Green U.S. Open, New Orleans
• Lenning: WPH Player’s Championship, Tucson Memorial

2. In the past six R48 events, R48 #2 Lenning has accumulated 42 R48 ranking points, R48 #1 Brady has accumulated 40.5 R48 ranking points: The R48 Power Rankings are based on a player’s best five of seven results

3. Catriona Casey became the last player to start a Race 4 Eight event and not lose. Casey’s seven-tournament WR48 undefeated streak was ended by two-time defending world champion Aisling Reilly in an 11-9 tiebreaker at the 2015 Simple Green U.S. Open

4. Mando Ortiz is 2-1 the semifinals between the R48Pro Season IV and Season V

• R48 IV WPH Player’s Championship (lost to Lenning)
• R48 V Tucson Memorial (lost to Lenning)
• R48 V New Orleans (lost to Carroll)
• Ortiz has yet to win a R48 final (0-3)

5. After winning nine of the first 18 R48 events, Moreno has not won a Race title since Houston in January of 2014 (0 for 12)

6. Of the 31 players currently ranked on the Men’s Pro R48 V tour, five countries are represented

• United States: 20
• Ireland: 8
• Mexico: 2
• Canada: 1
• Costa Rica: 1
• Northern Ireland: 1

7. Of the 20 United States based R48 pros currently ranked, seven states are represented

• California (8): Peixoto, Ortiz, M. Chavez, Alvarado, Perez, Torres, Ruiz, C. Chavez
• Arizona (4): Lenning, Moreno, Fink, Montijo
• New York (4): Cooney Iglesias, Schneider, O’Donnell
• Minnesota (1): Nett
• Texas (2): Bernhard, Pallares
• Colorado (1): Hingey
• Wisconsin (1): Selestow

*Although several U.S. based R48 Pros were born in other countries, the R48Pros listed above represent these U.S. states

8. 22 years separates the youngest player on the R48 tour and the oldest

• Youngest ranked R48 pro: Colin Crehan (20)
• Oldest ranked R48 pro: Naty Alvarado, Jr. (42)

9. Colin Crehan was the youngest qualifier in R48 history at the 2015 R48 NYAC (19)

10. The largest age gap in a Race 4 Eight final: Luis Moreno vs. Naty Alvarado (14 years) and Paul Brady vs. Killian Carroll (14 years) *The Moreno/Alvarado final kicked off the 1st R48 final at the 2011 Plummer Bash and the Brady/Carroll final was the 30^th and most recent final at the R48 V New Orleans

11. The smallest age gap in a Race 4 Eight final: Sean Lenning vs. Allan Garner (4 days)

12. The first R48 final to enter overtime was the second game of the R48 II Houston final between Charly Shanks and Naty Alvarado (Shanks won 20-18)

13. The largest age gap between any R48 players in a main draw match was Tom Sheridan vs. Luis Moreno (20 years)

14. Counting only round of 16 and Playoff matches, Shorty Ruiz owns the worst record in R48 history (0-10). Tommy Little retired from the R48 with no wins (0-9). Abraham Montijo currently owns an eight-match losing streak (January 2015-present)

15. John Bike, Jr. was the oldest qualifier in R48 history at the 2013 R48 II Houston (47 years, 11 months)

16. In 30 Men’s R48Pro events from 2011-present, six different players have won a Race title

• Brady: 11
• Moreno: 9
• Lenning: 5
• McCarthy: 2
• Shanks: 2
• Al. Garner: 1

17. Top five R48 ranking points earned through the first two R48 events: Simple Green U.S. Open and Tucson Memorial:

• Lenning: 22
• Brady: 20
• Carroll: 18
• Ortiz: 17
• Moreno: 13.5

18. The current top two ranked Senior Race 4 Eight pros are the only SR48 pros to have won a SR48 Player’s Championship:

• M. Chavez: (2014, 2015)
• Schad: (2013)

19. Top five winning percentages on the Men’s Pro Race 4 Eight Tour:

• Paul Brady has won 11 of 13 R48 events he has entered: 85%
• Robbie McCarthy has won 2 of 5 R48 events he has entered: 40%
• Luis Moreno has won 9 of 29 R48 events he has entered: 31%
• Sean Lenning has won 5 of 30 R48 events he has entered: 17%
• Charly Shanks has won 2 of 16 R48 events he has entered: 13%

20. In 30 official Men’s Pro R48 events, 771 players have entered, included the invited pros, qualifiers, and U.S. Open (open draw)

21. Of the 771 combined players that have entered the 30 Men’s Pro R48 events since 2011, 400 earned prize money (52%)

In comparison, 9,882 players entered the 2015 Men’s U.S. Open (golf) qualifying with 49 exempt into the actual U.S. Open for a total of 9,932 players, 75 of whom were paid (0.7%) Information retrieved from here

22. In the 22 events that have featured qualifier brackets, 447 qualifiers entered: *The five R48 Simple Green U.S. Opens are open tournaments and the first three WPH Player’s Championships included only the top eight

23. In the 22 official R48 events that featured a qualifier bracket, five qualifiers out of 447 advanced to a final (1.1%), with none of the five winning the title:
24. Ortiz: R48 III Plummer 2013
25. Nash: R48 III Houston 2014
26. McCarthy: R48 IIINYAC 2014
27. Nett: NYAC R48 IV 2015
28. Carroll: New Orleans R48 V 2016
29. R48 Men’s R48 Pro Finals Records:

• Brady: 11-0
• Moreno: 9-6
• Lenning: 5-5
• Shanks: 2-4
• McCarthy: 2-1
• Al. Garner: 1-2
• Alvarado: 0-5
• Peixoto: 0-2
• Carroll: 0-1

30.  R48 Men’s Pro Champions have ranged in age from (22) Luis Moreno at the Plummer R48 I Stop #1 to (36) Paul Brady at the R48 V Stop #3 New Orleans

31.  The only players to have been ranked inside the Men’s Pro R48 Elite 8 since the inception of the R48 tour in 2011 (30 events) are Luis Moreno and David Fink

32.  The youngest Race 4 Eight Champion in history was Catriona Casey at the WR48 I Stop #1 Simple Green U.S. Open (20)

33.  In 13 R48 Men’s Pro starts, Paul Brady has a match record of 45-2 (96%)

34.  In eight Women’s R48 starts, Catriona Casey owns a 24-1 match record (96%)

35.  Allan “The Blonde Bombshell” Garner is the only R48 Champion to have only one R48 title. The other five R48 champions have won between 2-11 titles

36.  Allan Garner/Aaron Garner and Luis Cordova/Daniel Cordova are the only brothers to have held R48 rankings

37.  Luis and Daniel Cordova are the only brothers to have played one another in R48 play: Tucson Memorial R48 V Stop #2 5^th Place Playoff, R48 V Stop #3 New Orleans (record tied 1-1)

38.  Killian Carroll and Robbie McCarthy are the only players in R48 history to have started an event and never finished outside the top 5

39.  Carroll, Nash and McCarthy are the only players to have ever started a R48 event and not lost in the round of 16

40.  Of the 60 R48 finalists in 30 R48 events, five have been qualifiers, zero qualifiers have won a title

41.  David Fink has appeared in the most R48 semifinals (7) without advancing to a R48 final

42.  Killian Carroll is the one of only two players (Brady) to have an undefeated R48 record against Luis Moreno (1-0)

43.  The R48 V Stop #4 Houston will be the 22^nd official R48 qualifier (the five Simple Green U.S. Opens and the first three R48 Player’s Championship events did not have qualifiers). Including the R48 V Houston, the only R48 pros to have never entered a qualifier are Brady, Moreno, Lenning, Fink

44.  Luis Cordova Jr. has qualified the most times of any player on the R48 tour (13), Anthony Selestow and Vic Perez tied for second (12 each) (per Luis Cordova, Sr.)

45.  Anthony Selestow has attempted to qualify more than any player on the R48 tour (17) (per Luis Cordova, Sr.)

46.  103 players attempted to qualify during the R48 I season (21 qualified), 86 players attempted to qualify during the R48 II season (30 qualified), 91 players attempted to qualify during the R48 III season (25 qualified), 152 players attempted to qualify during the R48 IV season (26 qualified), 83 players attempted to qualify during the R48 V season thus far (22 qualified, thus far) (per Luis Cordova, Sr.)

47.  34.88% of the players entering the qualifier qualified during the R48 I season, 17.1% of the players entering the qualifier qualified during the R48 IV season (per Luis Cordova, Sr.)