X

DF’s Race 4 Eight Fun Facts and Trends

Through five years and 29 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 fund facts and trends from the first five years on the most exciting indoor pro handball tour in the sport.

 

  1. The last five Men’s Pro Race 4 Eight events have been won by Paul Brady and Sean Lenning
  • Brady: San Francisco, New York, Simple Green U.S. Open
  • Lenning: WPH Player’s Championship, Tucson Memorial

 

  1. In the past five R48 events, Lenning has accumulated 36 R48 ranking points, Brady has accumulated 30.5 R48 ranking points: The R48 Power Rankings are based on a player’s best five of seven results and can be found by following the tabs at the top of wphlive.tv

 

  1. 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

 

  1. Mando Ortiz is 2-0 in semifinals between R48Pro Season IV and Season V (our current season)
  • R48 IV WPH Player’s Championship (lost to Lenning)
  • R48 V Tucson Memorial (lost to Lenning)
  • Ortiz has yet to win a R48 final (0-3)

 

  1. After winning nine of the first 18 R48 events, Moreno has not won a Race title since Houston in January of 2014 (0 for 11)

 

  1. Of the 29 players currently ranked on the Men’s Pro R48 V tour, four countries are represented
  • United States: 18
  • Ireland: 8
  • Mexico: 3
  • Canada: 1

 

  1. Of the 18 U.S. 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 (2): Iglesias, Schneider
  • Minnesota (1): Nett
  • Texas (1): Bernhard
  • Colorado (1): Hingey
  • Wisconsin (1): Selestow

 

  1. 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)

 

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

 

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

 

  1. In two events thus far on the 2015-2016 Race 4 Eight V tour:
  • Tucson Memorial: Sean Lenning outscored his opponents 120-58 (four matches, all games to 15): Scoring ratio: 2.07:1
  • Simple Green U.S. Open: Paul Brady outscored his five opponents by a combined score of 214-96 (five matches, all matches 21-21-11): Scoring ratio: 2.23:1

 

  1. In 29 Men’s R48Pro events from 2011-present, six different players have won a Race title
  • Brady: 10
  • Moreno: 9
  • Lenning: 5
  • McCarthy: 2
  • Shanks: 2
  • Garner: 1

 

  1. Top five R48 ranking points earned through the first two R48 events: Simple Green U.S. Open and Tucson Memorial:
  • Lenning: 16
  • Moreno: 12
  • Ortiz: 11
  • Brady: 10
  • Carroll: 10

 

  1. The 2015 R48 V Tucson Memorial marked the first Race event in history (29) in which no 35+ year-old pro appeared in the quarterfinals

 

  1. The current top two ranked Senior Race 4 Eight pros are the only SR48 pros to have won a SR48 Player’s Championship:
  • Chavez: (2014, 2015)
  • Schad: (2013)

 

  1. Top five winning percentages on the Men’s Pro Race 4 Eight Tour:
  • Paul Brady has won 10 of 12 R48 events he has entered: 83%
  • Robbie McCarthy has won 2 of 5 R48 events he has entered: 40%
  • Luis Moreno has won 9 of 28 R48 events he has entered: 32%
  • Sean Lenning has won 5 of 29 R48 events he has entered: 17%
  • Charly Shanks has won 2 of 16 R48 events he has entered: 13%

 

  1. In 29 official Men’s Pro R48 events, 733 players have entered, included the invited pros, qualifiers, and U.S. Open (open draw)

 

  1. Of the 733 combined players that have entered the 29 Men’s Pro R48 events since 2011, 384 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>

 

  1. In the 21 events that have featured qualifier brackets, 425 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
  2. In the 21 official R48 events that featured a qualifier bracket, four qualifiers out of 425 advanced to a final (0.9%), with none of the four winning the title:
  • Ortiz: R48 III Plummer 2013
  • Nash: R48 III Houston 2014
  • McCarthy: R48 IIINYAC 2014
  • Nett: NYAC R48 IV 2015

 

  1. R48 Men’s R48 Pro Finals Records:
  • Brady: 10-0
  • Moreno: 9-6
  • Lenning: 5-5
  • Shanks: 2-4
  • McCarthy: 2-1
  • Garner: 1-2
  • Alvarado: 0-5
  • Peixoto: 0-2

 

  1. 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 #1 Simple Green U.S. Open

 

  1. The only players to have been ranked inside the Men’s Pro R48 Elite 8 since the inception of the R48 tour in 2011 (29 events) are Luis Moreno and David Fink

 

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

 

  1. In 12 R48 Men’s Pro starts, Paul Brady has a match record of 41-2 (95%)

 

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

 

  1. Allan “The Blonde Bombshell” Garner is the only R48 Champion to have only one R48 title. The other five R48 champions have won between two-10 titles

 

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

 

  1. Luis and Daniel Cordova are the only brothers to have played one another in R48 play: Tucson Memorial R48 V Stop #2 5th Place Playoff

 

 

David Fink

WPH Senior Statistician

DV: David Vincent formed the World Players of Handball in 2005 and ushered live handball viewing into our living rooms for the first time. Since its inception, the World Players of Handball has broadcast over 1,500 matches live. Dave Vincent serves as the lead play-by-play announcer for virtually all matches, combining his unique perspective and personality with a lifetime of handball experience. DV brings 25 years of broadcast radio experience (in Oregon and California) to World Players of Handball & ESPN broadcasts and provides professionalism and wit to the amazing game of handball. DV also serves as the Executive Director of the World Player of Handball at the WPH headquarters in Tucson, AZ, working daily to grow the game of handball through innovation.
Related Post