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Fabio Quartararo has laid bare the scale of Yamaha’s deficit with its new V4 MotoGP project, admitting the turnaround could take anything from a few months to the entirety of the 2026 season.

Yamaha undertook a daunting task over the winter to effectively build a brand-new bike after abandoning its long-running inline-four engine in favour of a V4 powerplant.

The Japanese manufacturer largely struggled for performance and reliability during pre-season testing, with Quartararo even seen showing the middle finger to his bike on Saturday amid growing frustration with the way the project is progressing.

At the end of the two-day Buriram test, all four Yamaha riders finished a second off the pace, with Pramac’s Jack Miller leading the quartet in 16th ahead of factory rider Quartararo.

While the gap to the front was quite significant, Quartararo was more concerned by the fact that his new V4-powered M1 was slower than its predecessor over long runs: “We can see we are still seven, eight tenths slower than last year’s race simulation in the test. I think that is a long process and we need a few more months to be ready.”

Yamaha had to pause its testing programme at Sepang earlier this month to investigate a safety issue with its V4 powerplant.

Although the root cause was identified within 24 hours, the Iwata-based manufacturer continued to restrict engine mileage at Buriram, sticking to the limits it had set before the start of pre-season testing.

“Today, the mileage of the engines was over, so we had only one bike,” Quartararo explained. “For what we needed to do today it was enough, because today was more about the setting and everything. Still, we didn’t really find a direction. For maybe the first half of the year, we need to figure out how it is going, and try to improve our bike.”

Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha Factory Racing

Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha Factory Racing

Asked how difficult it would be to spend the first quarter of the year focusing on bike development, rather than chasing results, Quartararo warned that Yamaha may need as much as the entire 2026 season to make its new bike competitive.

“I think it will be all year, to be honest, because I think that we cannot find all that we need super quickly,” he said.

“It will be challenging because as a rider you want to fight for the victory or at least try to make pole positions or front rows like last year. But we see that we are still very far from that and we will work as much as we can.”

While the new V4 engine lacks outright power, Quartararo feels there are other areas where the 2026-spec M1 is struggling.

“I think the engine is a big step [where] improvement [is required] but not only that,” he said. “The turning of the bike right now and the grip are the weakest point.

“Of course, the power is not there but the weakest point for me is that I am not able to turn, I am not able to really make lap times go smoothly. 

“If we check our race simulation, I am in the high 1m30s, low 30s, low 31s, but I am struggling because the tyre already is so much [worn]. We saw Jack [Miller] trying to make a long run up while he was lapping in high 32s. The bike is spinning straight, so there are many things to improve.”

Read Also:

Fabio Quartararo’s gesture shows his growing frustration with Yamaha

Pedro Acosta found Ducati and Aprilia’s pace “scary” in MotoGP testing

To read more Motorsport.com articles visit our website.

​https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/fabio-quartararo-warns-yamaha-motogp-144744483.html 

Dimarco one assist away from Serie A record after 2-0 Lecce victory

Inter and Italy full-back Federico Dimarco is now just one assist away from matching the Serie A record for the most assists in a single season after laying on two goals for his teammates during Saturday’s 2-0 win away against Lecce.

Dimarco is in the form of his life, and there have been recent suggestions that he will be one of the contenders for the league’s MVP award at the end of the 2025-26 campaign, which sees Inter 10 points clear at the top of the table as things stand.

What Dimarco needs to break Serie A assists record

Dimarco is currently on 15 assists from 24 appearances so far in Serie A. He added two assists to his season tally during Saturday’s 2-0 win over Lecce: Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Manuel Akanji’s goals came directly from his corners.

Only Papu Gomez (16), during the 2019-20 season, has registered more assists in a single Serie A season than the Nerazzurri wing-back has in 2025-26 (15).

LECCE, ITALY – FEBRUARY 21: Lassana Coulibaly of US Lecce competes for the ball with Federico Dimarco of FC Internazionale during the Serie A match between US Lecce and FC Internazionale at Stadio Via del Mare on February 21, 2026 in Lecce, Italy. (Photo by Maurizio Lagana/Getty Images)

Dimarco now needs just one more assist from the remaining 12 matches of the 2025-26 season to match Papu Gomez’s tally, and two more to break it. So far this season, the 28-year-old has been averaging an assist every 1.2 matches.

The Italy international also has five goals to his name from his 24 Serie A appearances so far this season, which comes to an impressive tally of 20 goal contributions from 24 matches at left wing-back.

​https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/dimarco-one-assist-away-serie-144500083.html 

(Image): Data shows Rosenior and his striker are letting Fofana off the hook too easily

Joao Pedro has joined his manager in claiming that the red card for Chelsea yesterday didn’t change things much – we beg to differ.

Wesley Fofana’s red card was a turning point in Chelsea’s draw with Burnley, but both manager Liam Rosenior and goalscorer Joao Pedro have tried to diminish it by pointing out that the team should have scored a second before then.

That’s true – but you also can’t overstate how the red changed the game.

Joao Pedro claims red card wasn’t the major factor in Chelsea draw

The momentum graph showing the swing after the red card.

“I think the red card made things difficult but we still had enough about us to get the win. Before the red card, we should have put the game to bed,” the striker said to the club’s official website.

“When you go to a man less, of course things get more difficult. I didn’t really see the incident too clearly, but we need to learn how to manage the game in those situations because, regardless of having a man less, we are Chelsea and these type of games at home we have to win.”

Well Joao Pedro may not have seen it but we did, and we’ll tell you now it was a silly tackle to make in a situation where it didn’t need to be made. Of course as Rosenior has said the lack of a second goal when we were on top cost us just as much – but there’s no denying it changed the game. Just look at the momentum meter above.

In other news…

JP was also frustrated by the way that his team hadn’t scored the goals they needed to seal three points – but we think he’s wrong about that.

Wesley Fofana was went off after 72 minutes yesterday, and the game changed in that moment. But Rosenior insisted that the draw wasn’t down to him. He had something else to blame.

Check out the latest edition of Simon Phillips’ SPTC podcast here:

​https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/image-data-shows-rosenior-striker-144500332.html 

2. Bundesliga: Five-star Paderborn maintain promotion hopes with big win over Hertha

SC Padeborn repeated Schalke’s feat by providing a five-star performance in their win over Hertha BSC. Ralf Kettemann’s side are back in fourth place and only three points off the league leaders.

Sebastian Klaas opened the scoring before an injury forced him to be substituted off ten minutes before half-time. His replacement, Nick Bätzner, put the hosts two goals ahead at the break after Tjark Scheller and Luca Schuler scored at either end.

Mika Baur’s penalty-kick and Raphael Obermair’s first home goal of the season added more damage to the capital city club in the second-half. Half-time substitute Josip Brekalo scored his first goal for Hertha, but he couldn’t prevent a third successive defeat in all competitions.

Paderborn won all three games at Home Deluxe Arena since the turn of the year. Their next assignment would be achieving a first win on the road in 2026 when they travel to Kaiserslautern. Hertha, who are now ten points off third-placed Elversberg, will host Nürnberg on matchday 24.

​https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/2-bundesliga-five-star-paderborn-144400792.html 

Jet Set Rodeo on AEW Collision – AEW/Ricky Havlik

As Hangman Page gets himself ready for potentially his last shot at MJF and the AEW Men’s World Championship at Revolution on March 15, he had some other business to attend to on the February 21 episode of “AEW Collision.” Alongside JetSpeed as part of Jet Set Rodeo, Page had to defend the AEW World Trios Championships for the first time since dethroning The Opps back at the Maximum Carnage edition of “Collision” in January, and while The Demand gave them a run for their money, Jet Set Rodeo emerged with the titles in tact.

“Speedball” Mike Bailey and Kevin Knight have crossed paths with Ricochet, Bishop Kaun, and Toa Liona many times over the past year, with The Demand even beating JetSpeed on the January 10 episode of “Collision” when they teamed up with Anthony Bowens. The match was The Demand’s first-ever shot at the World Trios Championships and used their chemistry to try and stay on top of the champions, with Liona and Kaun using their strength and force to ground Bailey and Knight as Ricochet used his own aerial offense to take out Page. 

In the end, it was actually someone who wasn’t even part of the match that ended up being the difference maker. Just as Ricochet looked to have Page beaten, Jack Perry’s music hit and the former AEW TNT Champion came out to make the distraction. He hadn’t been seen since Ricochet defended his AEW National Championship against him on the February 4 episode of “AEW Dynamite,” but it seems that Ricochet still has a sense of hatred for Perry as he was distracted long enough for Page to hit the Buckshot Lariat on Ricochet to get the victory for his team.

Jungle Jack Perry keeps @KingRicochet distracted to allow Jet Set Rodeo to get the win!

Watch #AEWCollision LIVE on TNT & HBO Max pic.twitter.com/KQRBGUFuZI

— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) February 22, 2026

Page will now move on to the February 25 episode of “Dynamite” where the stipulation for his match with MJF at Revolution will be agreed upon, while Ricochet will certainly have to deal with Perry before he can move his focus back to winning trios gold with Liona and Kaun.

Read more: AEW Stars: Meet Their Spouses & Partners

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Read the original article on Wrestling Inc.

​https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/hangman-page-jetspeed-aew-trios-144248139.html 

Feb 18, 2026; College Station, Texas, USA; Texas A&M Aggies forward Rashaun Agee (12) reacts after the game against the Ole Miss Rebels at Reed Arena. Mandatory Credit: Maria Lysaker-Imagn Images | Maria Lysaker-Imagn Images

In yet another pivotal game for their NCAA Tournament resume, Bucky McMillan and his Texas A&M squad went on the road and notched another Quad 1 win, defeating the Oklahoma Sooners 75-71 on Saturday night in Norman.

A&M survived an uncharacteristically poor night at the free throw line (shooting just 11 of 20), mostly by (also uncharacteristically) dominating the paint for the second straight game, outscoring the Sooners in the lane 32-12. While it certainly got tight late, with Oklahoma getting multiple possessions where they could have tied the game in the closing minutes, the Aggies led for 95% of this game, and two clutch free throws by Rashaun Agee in the closing seconds sealed the deal.

Speaking of Agee, he once again paced A&M in scoring, pouring in 18 points to go along with seven rebounds, an assist and a steal. He was aided by Rylan Griffen’s 14 points, five rebounds, three steals, two blocks and an assist.

With the win, the Ags improve to 9-5 in SEC, sitting alone in 5th place in the SEC standings, with four games to play. They’ll face a still midweek next, traveling to Fayetteville to take on No. 20 Arkansas at 8 p.m. on Wednesday (which will air on ESPN 2). They’ll then wrap up their regular season slate with home games against Texas and Kentucky before a road game versus LSU. Winning one of those four (LSU being the most winnable game, at face value) will ensure the Aggies a winning conference record, and all but assure them a spot in the the NCAA Tournament in McMillan’s first season in Aggieland.

​https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/aggies-hoops-survives-norman-75-144241496.html 

Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC

Michel Pereira looked like he was fighting for his future in the UFC on Saturday night.

The 32-year-old Brazilian, known for his wild style, was up against Zachary Reese at UFC Houston.

Pereira came into the bout desperate to end a three-fight losing skid that had kept him out of the win column since May 2024.

Michel Pereira earns debated split decision over Zachary Reese

Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC

Pereira returned to the win column with a split decision over Reese at UFC Houston.

Pereira landed an early knockdown but chose not to follow his opponent to the ground.

The opening round was otherwise spoiled by two accidental groin strikes from Reese.

In the second round, Pereira landed some powerful knees in the clinch before another foul from Reese – this time an eye poke – temporarily stopped the action.

Despite that interruption, both fighters exchanged strikes for much of the round, with Reese taking visible damage by the end of it.

The third round saw both men continue trading until the final bell.

Judges scored it 29–28, 28–29, and 29–28 in favour of Pereira. However, boos rang out around the Toyota Center after the official decision was announced.

Many fans on social media branded it a ‘robbery’, while others called for Pereira’s release from the promotion.

Looking back at Michel Pereira’s losing run

Pereira had built an eight-fight win streak across four years before things started to unravel.

That stretch came to an end against Anthony Hernandez in October 2024, when the two headlined UFC Vegas 99.

‘Fluffy’ took control of that bout, eventually finishing Pereira with a fifth-round TKO that moved him into the middleweight conversation.

Pereira then dropped his second straight fight in April 2025, losing a decision to Abus Magomedov.

The most recent setback was a quick one. Kyle Daukaus knocked him out in just 43 seconds at UFC Shanghai in August of last year.

Despite returning to the win column, Pereira still needs to prove himself to the fans following the events of UFC Houston.

Read more:

​https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/michel-pereira-prevails-3-fight-144114802.html 

Matt Boldy is becoming an instant legend at the 2026 Winter Olympics, and the NHL star’s mom even had a viral moment of her own during the gold medal game.

USA and Canada have a fierce battle Sunday to determine which team comes away with gold at the Milan Cortina Games. However, Boldy managed to give the Americans an early lead in the first period.

That goal prompted the NHL star’s mom to get an entire Massachusetts bar riled up during the final. Matt Boldy’s mother is a bartender at The Catman Cafe, and the crowd went nuts for the Minnesota Wild star.

MORE: Pat McAfee sends strong message before USA’s gold medal game against Canada

The 24 year old Boldy has been in the NHL since being drafted by the Wild in 2019, however, the young star’s stock continues to rise with big moments like this at the Olympics.

Back in 2021, Boldy and the U.S. won a World Junior Championship gold medal. Meanwhile, the Americans are now hoping that they can bring that same success to a larger stage in Milan Cortina.

The NHL star’s mom clearly will be celebrating for many years after Boldy’s historic Olympic goal. However, that goal will feel even more special if America beats Canada in Sunday’s final.

MORE: USA women’s hockey receives gold medal gift from rapper Megan Thee Stallion

Jack Hughes celebrates scoring with Matt Boldy in a men’s ice hockey game at the 2026 Winter Olympics. Mandatory Credit: David W Cerny/Reuters via Imagn Images

Team USA aims to become the first American men’s hockey squad to win a gold medal in over 46 years. The last time the U.S. captured gold was during the Lake Placid Games in 1980 during their historic upset over the Soviet Union.

The Americans have a stacked squad beyond just Boldy that features many NHL talents like Jack Hughes and Quinn Hughes. The U.S. lost to Canada in the 2025 Four Nations final, but the Americans are out for revenge to close out the 2026 Winter Olympics.

— Enjoy free coverage of the top news & trending stories on The Big Lead —

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NHL: 2026 Winter Olympics men’s hockey, NHL payrolls for final four teams

SPORTS MEDIA: Olympics reporter apologizes for drinking, slurring words during live segment

The post NHL star’s mom celebrates USA goal during Olympic gold medal game appeared first on The Big Lead.

​https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/nhl-star-mom-celebrates-usa-144108691.html 

MADISON, WISCONSIN – FEBRUARY 13: John Blackwell #25 of the Wisconsin Badgers celebrates with Nick Boyd #2 during a scoring run in the first half against the Michigan State Spartans at Kohl Center on February 13, 2026 in Madison, Wisconsin. (Photo by John Fisher/Getty Images) | Getty Images

The Wisconsin Badgers are back in action on Sunday, taking on the Iowa Hawkeyes after losing to the Ohio State Buckeyes on the road earlier this week.

The Badgers had a great week last week, upsetting two top-10 teams and returning to the AP Top 25 for the first time since Week 4, but that momentum was halted with a disappointing loss on Tuesday. Wisconsin came out flat against the Buckeyes and got out to an early 26-12 deficit, which they never could really overcome.

They ultimately lost 86-69, and their Bracketology projections took a hit as a result. The Badgers were projected on the six/seven lines heading into the week and are now closer to the eight line, making Sunday’s game against the Iowa Hawkeyes all that much more important.

Iowa has been good this season, going 19-7 so far, including 9-6 in the Big Ten. They had a pair of recent losses, including one to 11-16 Maryland, but bounced back with an upset at home over the Nebraska Cornhuskers earlier this week. Prior to their losses to Maryland and Purdue, the Hawkeyes had gone on a six-game win streak to make some ground in the Big Ten race.

Now, they’re just a game back from the Badgers, and should be a near lock (if not already a lock) to be in the tournament, barring an ugly finish.

Here’s how you can watch Sunday’s game.

Date: Sunday, February 22nd

Time: 3:00 p.m.

Channel: FS1

Arena: Kohl Center

Spread: Wisconsin -3.5

Over/Under: 147.5 points

​https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/watch-wisconsin-game-against-iowa-144051423.html