Through five years, 34 events and five full seasons 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.
- The last 10 Men’s Pro Race 4 Eight events have been won by R48 #1 Paul Brady, R48 #2 Sean Lenning, R48 #3 Mando Ortiz and R48 #4 Killian Carroll:
Brady: R48 IV Stop #3 San Francisco, R48 IV Stop #4 New York, R48 V Stop #1 Simple Green U.S. Open, R48 V Stop #3 New Orleans, R48 V Stop #5 NYAC, R48 V Stop #6 Salt Lake City
Lenning: R48 IV Stop #6 WPH Player’s Championship, R48 V Stop #2 Tucson Memorial
Ortiz: R48 V Stop #4 Houston
Carroll: R48 V Player’s Championship Portland
- 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
- After winning nine of the first 18 R48 events, Moreno has not won a Race title since Houston in January of 2014 (0 for 16)
- 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
Of the 22 United States based R48 pros currently ranked, nine states are represented
California (8): Peixoto, Ortiz, M. Chavez,, Perez, Ruiz, C. Chavez
Arizona (4): Lenning, Moreno, Fink, Montijo
New York (4): Cooney Iglesias, Schneider, O’Donnell
Texas (4): Bernhard, Pallares, Al Garner, Hamel
Wisconsin (1): Selestow
Ohio (1): Stevens
IL (1): Munson
Oregon (1): Beall
*Although several U.S. based R48 Pros were born in other countries, the R48Pros listed above live in these U.S. states
- 22 years separates the youngest player on the R48 tour and the oldest:
Youngest ranked R48 pro: Colin Crehan (20)
Oldest ranked R48 pro: Marcos Chavez/Gavin Buggy (42)
- Colin Crehan was the youngest qualifier in R48 history at the 2015 R48 NYAC (19)
- 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 30th and final at the R48 V New Orleans
- The smallest age gap in a Race 4 Eight final: Sean Lenning vs. Allan Garner (4 days)
- The largest age gap between any R48 players in a main draw match was Tom Sheridan vs. Luis Moreno (20 years)
- John Bike, Jr. was the oldest qualifier in R48 history at the 2013 R48 II Houston (47 years, 11 months)
- R48 Men’s Pro Champions have ranged in age from (22) Luis Moreno at the Plummer R48 I Stop #1 and Killian Carroll at the R48 V Player’s Championship to (36) Paul Brady at the R48 V Stop #6 Salt Lake City
- Sean Lenning is the only R48 pro to have played in every R48 event (34), followed by Luis Moreno (32), David Fink (32), and Emmett Peixoto (31)
- Catriona Casey is the only WR48 pro to have started every WR48 event (10)
- The last 12 Race 4 Eight events have appeared on ESPN3, starting with the 2014 Simple Green U.S. Open
- The Race 4 Eight averages 14 hours of coverage per weekend on ESPN3, not including ESPN3 replays
- Gavin Buggy is the only player to have appeared on ESPN and never lost
- 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)
- Counting only Round of 16 and Playoff matches, Shorty Ruiz owns the worst record in R48 history (0-12). Tommy Little retired from the R48 with no wins (0-9). Abraham Montijo currently owns a 10-match losing streak (January 2015-present)
- In 34 Men’s R48Pro events from 2011-present, eight different players have won a Race title:
Brady: 13
Moreno: 9
Lenning: 5
McCarthy: 2
Shanks: 2
Al. Garner: 1
Ortiz: 1
Carroll: 1
- Top five winning percentages on the Men’s Pro Race 4 Eight Tour:
Paul Brady has won 13 of 17 R48 events he has entered: 76%
Robbie McCarthy has won 2 of 5 R48 events he has entered: 40%
Luis Moreno has won 9 of 32 R48 events he has entered: 28%
Sean Lenning has won 5 of 34 R48 events he has entered: 15%
Charly Shanks has won 2 of 16 R48 events he has entered: 13%
Killian Carroll has won 1 of 8 R48 events he has entered: 13%
- In 34 official Men’s Pro R48 events, 924 players have entered, included the invited pros, qualifiers, and U.S. Open (open draw)
- Of the 924 combined players that have entered the 34 Men’s Pro R48 events since 2011, 465 earned prize money. 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 here>
- In the 25 events that have featured qualifier brackets, 538 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
- In the 25 official R48 events that featured a qualifier bracket, five qualifiers out of 538 advanced to a final (0.93%), with none of the five winning the title:
Ortiz: R48 III Plummer 2013
Nash: R48 III Houston 2014
McCarthy: R48 IIINYAC 2014
Nett: NYAC R48 IV 2015
Carroll: New Orleans R48 V 2016
- R48 Men’s R48 Pro Finals Records:
Brady: 13-0
Moreno: 9-6
Lenning: 5-7
Shanks: 2-4
McCarthy: 2-1
Al. Garner: 1-2
Ortiz: 1-4
Alvarado: 0-5
Peixoto: 0-2
Carroll: 1-1
- The only players to have been ranked inside the Men’s Pro R48 Elite 8 since the inception of the R48 tour in 2011 (34 events) are Luis Moreno and David Fink
- The youngest Race 4 Eight Champion in history was Catriona Casey at the WR48 I Stop #1 Simple Green U.S. Open (20)
- In 17 R48 Men’s Pro starts, Paul Brady has a match record of 56-4 (95%)
- In nine Women’s R48 starts, Catriona Casey owns a 27-1 match record (93%)
- Allan “The Blonde Bombshell” Garner, Mando Ortiz and Killian Carroll are the only R48 Champions to have only one R48 title. The other five R48 champions have won between 2-11 titles
- Allan Garner/Aaron Garner and Luis Cordova/Daniel Cordova are the only brothers to have held R48 rankings
- 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, R48 V Stop #3 New Orleans, Houston R48 V Stop #4 (Luis leads 2-1)
- Robbie McCarthy is the only player in R48 history to have started an event and never finished outside the top 5
- Diarmaid Nash and Robbie McCarthy are the only players to have ever started a R48 event and not lost in the round of 16
- Of the 68 R48 finalists in 34 R48 events, five have been qualifiers, zero qualifiers have won a title
- David Fink has appeared in the most R48 semifinals (7) without advancing to a R48 final
- The R48 V Player’s Championship Portland was the 25th 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 Player’s Championship Portland, the only R48 pros to have never entered a qualifier are Brady, Moreno, Lenning, Fink
- Luis Cordova Jr. has qualified the most times of any player on the R48 tour (16), Jonathan Iglesias share second (15), Vic Perez and Anthony Selestow fourth (14) Abraham Montijo fifth (10)
- The only players to face a match point and win a main draw Men’s Pro R48 match are:
Alvarado vs. Shanks Plummer 2011 (Alvarado 12-21, 21-17, 11-10
Alvarado vs. Al. Garner Plummer 2011 (Alvarado 16-21, 21-20, 11-7)
Fink vs. Iglesias Tucson 2013 (Fink 27-25)
Fink vs. Cooney Simple Green U.S. Open (2013) 17-21, 21-19, 11-10
Shanks vs. Peixoto Denver 2013 (Shanks 28-26)
Perez vs. Ortiz Tucson 2014 (Perez 10-15, 16-14, 15-8)
Crehan vs. Fink NYAC 2015 (Crehan, 1-15, 17-15, 15-13)
Ortiz vs. L. Cordova (Ortiz 11-14, 16-14, 15-2)
- Anthony Selestow has attempted to qualify more than any player on the R48 tour (20) (per source.)
- Qualifier Statistics:
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)
168 players attempted to qualify during the R48 V season thus far (40 qualified, thus far) (per Luis Cordova, Sr.)
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 source)
- In the eight WR48 events Catriona Casey has won, Casey won 49 out of 51 games played (96%) and outscored her opponents by a combined 916-247 (3.7:1)
- Catriona Casey has won 30 of 31 matches she has played in the WR48 (97%)
- Two-time defending world champion Aisling Reilly (2012, 2015) is 1-5 in WR48 finals, with her lone victory coming in her last start (2015 Simple Green U.S. Open)
- Catriona Casey leads Aisling Reilly 5-1 head-to-head in WR48 play with nine WR48 titles to one for Reilly
- Dave Vincent (6’5″), Charles Shanks (6’4″), Andy Nett (6’4″), Gavin Buggy (6’2″), and Sean Lenning are the tallest R48 pros to ever be ranked
- The largest height disparity in a R48 match is 11 inches (Shanks vs. Ortiz, Shanks vs. Iglesias, Nett vs. Ortiz, Nett vs. Iglesias)
- Andy Nett and Charly Shanks combined to create the tallest R48 match in history (152 inches)
- Tyler Hamel is the only player to have played in a R48 qualifier and never lost one point
- After reaching #2 in March of 2014, Emmett Peixoto dropped out of the R48 “Fab 4” for the first time in 22 months following the R48 V Houston (currently #6)
- Mando Ortiz reached a career-high R48 ranking of #3 following the R48 V Houston (2016)
- David Fink has lost the most tiebreakers in R48 history (8)
- Mando Ortiz became the first R48 pro to defeat four former or current WPH #1 pros in his maiden R48 title in Houston 2016: Emmett Peixoto (2008), Allan Garner (2009), Paul Brady (2016), Sean Lenning (2012)
- Mando Ortiz and Marcos Chavez became the first duo from the same club (LAAC) to win Race 4 Eight singles titles at the same event
- Of the current R48 Men’s Elite 8, seven players wear unpadded gloves, one player wears padded gloves, four players wear liners, seven players wear open-lensed eye protection, one player wears lensed eye protection
- Paul Brady (3), Charly Shanks, Andy Nett, and Jonathan Iglesias are the only players to defeat Luis Moreno and Sean Lenning in the same R48 event
- Luis Moreno and Killian Carroll are the only players to have lost in every round in the main draw during the R48 V season:
Moreno: Simple Green U.S. Open (final: Brady), Tucson Memorial (quarterfinal: Carroll), New Orleans (round of 16: L. Cordova), Houston (semifinal: Lenning)
Carroll: New Orleans (final: Brady), Tucson Memorial (semifinals: Ortiz), Houston (quarterfinals: Brady), Salt Lake City (round of 16: Perez)
- Four members of the original Elite 8 from the first Race event at the 2011 Plummer Bash are in the current Elite 8 (Lenning, Moreno, Ortiz, Fink)
- One member of the original Elite 8 (2011) has a wife and family (Alvarado), one member of the current Elite 8 (2016) has a wife and family (Fink)
- Paul Brady held the longest winning streak on the R48 Men’s tour: 20 matches (2014-2015)
- Catriona Casey held the longest winning streak on the WR48 tour: 24 matches (2013-2015)
- Marcos Chavez holds the longest winning streak on the SR48 tour: 12 matches (2015-2016)
- Marcos Chavez became the first player in Race 4 Eight history to defeat doctors in consecutive matches at the 2016 SR48 Houston (Dr. Dan Zimet and Dr. Tyler Hamel)
- Mando Ortiz became the first player to defeat Paul Brady in international singles play and win the tournament since 2004 (Chapman) at the 2016 Houston R48 V Stop #4 (Killian Carroll became the second at the R48 V Player’s Championship)
- Mando Ortiz became the first 1st time R48 Men’s Pro Champion in 16 R48 events (Al. Garner, Plummer R48 III Stop #1) in winning the Houston R48 V Stop #4
- Daniel Cordova has advanced to the fewest number of semifinals of any player in the Elite 8 (one: 2015 R48 Player’s Championship)
- Paul Brady has lost just twice in the semifinals in a R48 event (12-2)
- Mando Ortiz became the first R48 champion to win back-to-back tiebreakers by the minimum margin of two points in the semifinals and finals of a R48 event (Houston 2016: 15-13)
- Mando Ortiz became the first player to win a R48 Men’s Pro event (Houston) in his 20s in 10 R48 events (McCarthy: 2014 R48 Player’s Championship)
- Sean Lenning is the current 1-Wall Small Ball World Singles Champion, USHA 3-Wall National Champion, 3-Wall WPH Xrossover Champion
- Of the eight R48 champions, four have been ranked #1 on the Race 4 Eight: Moreno, Lenning, Shanks, Brady
- Of the eight R48 Men’s Pro Champions, only Charly Shanks does not have a current WPH R48 ranking
- Five players have been ranked #1 on the R48 Men’s Pro Power Rankings: Chapman, Lenning, Moreno, Shanks, Brady
- Only Catriona Casey has been ranked #1 on the WR48 Power Rankings
- The only match-up between left-handed players on the R48 Men’s Pro was John Bike Jr. vs. David Fink at the first R48 event (Plummer 2011: first Race match ever played)
- John Bike Jr. is the only current USHA Hall of Fame member to have played on the Men’s R48
- Luis Moreno is the only R48 pro to have finished 1st, 3rd, 5th, 9th, and 13th in a Race event
- David Fink and Aaron Garner are the only players to have forfeited a R48 main draw match (Fink: 2013 R48 III Houston, 2013 R48 IV Simple Green U.S. Open, Garner: 2016 R48 V Player’s Championship)
- Since the inception of the R48 Men’s Pro tour in 2011, there have been 467 main draw matches (three forfeits) and 291 R48 Playoff matches. Total R48 Men’s Pro main draw and playoff matches in 32 events: 758
- Jonathan Iglesias and Vic Perez became the second qualifiers to face one another in the quarterfinals of a Race 4 Eight event at the 2016 Salt Lake City Aces Stop #6 (Aaron Garner vs. Anthony Selestow were the first, 2013 Houston R48 II)
- Of the current R48 Elite 8, four have college degrees and two have Master’s degrees
- Paul Brady and Robbie McCarthy are the only players to have started in a Race 4 Eight destination and never lost a match:
Brady: Simple Green U.S. Open (4 titles), NYAC (3 titles), Denver (1 title), Tucson (1 title), Seattle (1 title), San Francisco (1 title)
McCarthy: Salt Lake City (1 title)
- Sean Lenning has the most losses in R48 finals (7)
- Adam “Weekend at Bernie’s” Bernhard, esq is the only attorney to have ever been ranked on the R48 tour
- Ryan Bowler is the highest ranked Canadian R48 pro in history (currently #21)
- The most attempts at qualifying without ever qualifying is seven: Michael Gaulton
- 261 different players have attempted to qualify in 34 R48 events, 45 have qualified and 216 have never qualified (per Luis Cordova, Sr)
- Of the R48 pros currently ranked in the top 14, 2014 WPH Player’s Champion Robbie McCarthy has played the fewest number of events (1)
- The average height and weight of the current R48 Elite 8: Brady, Lenning, Ortiz, Carroll, Moreno, Peixoto, Fink, D. Cordova (May 2016): 5’9 ½, 175 ½
- The two tallest players currently ranked on the R48 tour are Sean Lenning (6’2) and Adam “Weekend at Bernie’s” Bernhard (6’1 ¾)
- The average age of the current R48 Elite 8 is 29.75
- Anthony Sullivan defeated Michael Gaulton 27-25 in the first Junior WPH R48 Showdown (Salt Lake City, 2016)