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Exclusive Autosport enters Pro Mazda with Red Deer’s Parker Thompson

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SASKATOON, SK (February 2, 2018) – The impressive pairing of Exclusive Autosport and Parker Thompson has delivered much success over the past three years, locking wins in the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda, the F1600 Super Series, the Toyo Tires F1600 Championship in Ontario and the Formula Tour 1600 series in Quebec.Ā  Thompson drove to major home country wins for Exclusive Autosport in both Montreal and Toronto in 2017, and this year, he will aim to extend this streak into the Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires. Exclusive Autosport has signed the 19-year-old Canadian to lead their rookie charge into the series, which is the second rung of the Mazda Road to Indy Presented by Cooper Tires.Ā  Exclusive Autosport debuted in the USF2000 series in 2017 and promptly won three races enroute to third in the Drivers’ Championship.Ā  With teams in F1600 and USF2000, Pro Mazda is the logical progression in their expansion and development and Thompson represents the first of two driver announcements for this level of their program.

ā€œWe are thrilled to welcome Parker back to the Exclusive Autosport program for 2018,ā€ commented Michael Duncalfe, Team Principal. ā€œI couldn’t think of a better driver to make our debut in Pro Mazda Championship with. He is an incredibly well rounded athlete and a fan favourite. I have said it before, Parker’s work ethic on and off the track is second to none.”

Whether it’s training at the gym, working on his marketing campaign or continuing his development as a driver, he invests so much of himself into his racing program/career. Although we feel we have some unfinished business (coming up short in the USF2000 driver championship in 2017), we made huge strides last year and it is such a positive that we get to build on that success and momentum from 2017. With the addition of Tim Lewis (as our lead engineer on the PM program), we have added more depth to the Exclusive Autosport Pro Mazda operation. I am confident that we will see Exclusive Autosport and Parker Thompson back in the winner circle in 2018.”

Exclusive Autosport made their USF2000 debut in 2017 after many successful seasons in both Canadian and American F1600 series, and they notched their first wins last July, sweeping the street race weekend in Toronto. Thompson provided their third win of the season at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course just two weeks later enroute to third in the overall championship standings. He also led the squad to fourth in the USF2000 Team Championship, the highest finishing rookie team.Ā  Thompson also ran with the operation’s Formula 1600 program last year, winning the F1600 Super Series on the strength of seven wins in 11 races, which included victories during the F1 Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal and at the famed Canadian Tire Motorsports Park (aka Mosport) in Bowmanville, Ontario.

Earlier in January, Duncalfe announced his hiring of veteran race engineer Tim Lewis to manage the engineering staff of the Exclusive Autosport Pro Mazda effort.Ā  Testing has gone extremely well with Lewis and Thompson having already developed a very strong working relationship.Ā  The team is planning to run a pair of cars in the Pro Mazda Championship and hopes to be able to announce its second driver by the end of February.

ā€œI am extremely proud to have the opportunity to continue working with Michael Duncalfe and the Exclusive Autosport family,ā€ Thompson enthused.

ā€œWe have all enjoyed some immense success together over the last few years, and I look forward to bringing our momentum from 2017 into the 2018 Pro Mazda Championship. It’s an honor to lead EA’s charge into the Pro Mazda category, and I can’t wait to pick up where we left off last year in USF2000. It’s not often when a driver has the opportunity to work with the same group of guys in back-to-back years, and I want to capitalize on this relationship. Getting to work with a veteran engineer like Tim Lewis and crew chief Jay Green developing this new Pro Mazda is going to be game changer. Anything but a championship this year will not be acceptable. Thank you to all of my partners, and Exclusive Autosport for making this all possible and believing in my abilities. I look forward to proving that they made a good decision in 2018.”

Thompson is pleased to have Badlands Motorsports Resort joining his group of marketing partners for 2018; a list that includes valued associates like Wheelhouse Media, Openhwy, TriQuest NDT, Todayville, Sparco, and Bell Helmets.

ā€œWhen not behind the wheel, Parker is an active member our community, and a strong advocate for responsible road driving habits, crusading across Canada with his teen focused program ā€˜Drive to Stay Alive’,ā€ commented Jay Zelazo, the CEO of Badlands Motorsport Resort. ā€œDriving for the Saskatoon-based Exclusive Autosport team, Parker epitomizes the spirit of Canadian Prairies, and demonstrates many of the values held in high regard by Badlands Motorsports Resort. We are excited to continue our relationship with this up-and-coming Canadian race car driver as the development of our world-class motorsports facility and tourism resort progresses.ā€

With the opening round of the Mazda Road to Indy Presented by Cooper Tires just over six weeks away, at the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, Florida on March 9-11, pre-season testing will continue.Ā  In addition to their pair of Pro Mazda cars, Exclusive Autosport is also planning to run at least three cars in the USF2000 program this year, and will announce their first driver next week.

About Exclusive Autosport:

Exclusive Autosport (EA) is a professional racing team dedicated to the success of its drivers in open wheel formula car competition in North America.Ā  EA operate teams in the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda and Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires in the United States and the Formula Tour 1600 series in Canada.Ā  Exclusive’s drivers have secured numerous race wins, podium finishes and pole positions, as well as Rookie of the Year championships, a Team USA Scholarship and nominations for Team Canada F1600. Exclusive’s drivers are on the podium in over 80% of the races they enter.Ā  Exclusive Management Inc., the team’s parent company, has enjoyed great success in both open wheel and sports car racing and has worked with standout drivers like Thomas McGregor, Jack Mitchell Jr., Shelby Blackstock, Gregory Liefooghe, Jayson Clunie, David Levine and Trenton Estep.Ā  EM Inc. drivers are highly sought after in the motorsports industry.

Todayville is proud to sponsor Parker Thompson Racing.

 

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International

UK Supreme Court rules ā€˜woman’ means biological female

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Susan Smith (L) and Marion Calder, directors of ‘For Women Scotland’ cheer as they leave the Supreme Court on April 16, 2025, in London, England after winning their appeal in defense of biological reality

From LifeSiteNews

By Michael Haynes, Snr. Vatican Correspondent

The U.K. Supreme Court has issued a ruling stating that ā€œwomanā€ in law refers to a biological female, and that transgender ā€œwomenā€ are not female in the eyes of the law.

In a unanimous verdict, the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom ruled today that legally transgender ā€œwomenā€ are not women, since a woman is legally defined by ā€œbiological sex.ā€

PublishedĀ April 16, the Supreme Court’s 88-page verdict was handed down on the case ofĀ Women Scotland Ltd (Appellant) v. The Scottish Ministers (Respondent). The ruling marks the end of a battle of many years between the Scottish government and women’s right campaigners who sought to oppose the government’s promotion of transgender ideology.

In 2018, the Scottish government issued a decision to allow the definition of ā€œwomanā€ to include men who assume their gender to be female, opening the door to allowing so-called ā€œtransgenderā€ individuals to identify as women.

This guidance was challenged by women’s rights campaigners, arguing that a woman should be defined in line with biological sex, and in 2022 the Scottish government was forced to change its definition after the court found that such a move was outside the government’s ā€œlegislative competence.ā€

Given this, the government issued new guidance which sought to cover both aspects: saying that biological women are women, but also that men with a ā€œgender recognition certificateā€ (GRC) are also considered women. A GRC is given to people who identify as the opposite sex and who have had medical or surgical interventions in an attempt to ā€œreassignā€ their gender.

Women Scotland Ltd appealed this new guidance. At first it was rejected by inner courts, but upon their taking the matter to the Supreme Court in March last year, the nation’s highest judicial body took up the case.

Today, with the ruling issued against transgender ideology, women’s campaigners are welcoming the news as a win for women’s safety.

ā€œA thing of beauty,ā€Ā praisedĀ Lois McLatchie Miller from the Alliance Defending Freedom legal group.

ā€œVictory,ā€Ā commented Charlie Bently-Astor, a prominent campaigner for biological reality against the transgender movement, after she nearly underwent surgical transition herself at a younger age.

ā€œAfter 15 years of insanity, the U.K. Supreme Court has ruled that men who say they are ā€˜trans women’ are not women,ā€ wrote leader of the Christian political movement David Kurten.

Leader of the Conservative Party – the opposition to the current Labour government – Kemi BadenochĀ welcomedĀ the court’s ruling, writing that ā€œsaying ā€˜trans women are women’ was never true in fact and now isn’t true in law, either.ā€

 

Others lamented the fact that the debate even was taking place, let alone having gone to the Supreme Court.

ā€œWhat a parody we live in,ā€Ā commentedĀ Reform Party candidate Joseph Robertson.

Rupert Lowe MP – who has risen to new prominence in recent weeks for his outspoken condemnation of the immigration and rape gang crisis – wrote, ā€œAbsolute madness that we’re even debating what a woman is – it’s a biological fact. No amount of woke howling will ever change that.ā€

However, the Supreme Court did not wish to get pulled into siding with certain arguments, with Lord Hodge of the tribunal stating that ā€œwe counsel against reading this judgment as a triumph of one or more groups in our society at the expense of another. It is not.ā€

The debate has taken center stage in the U.K. in recent years, not least for the role played by the current Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Starmer himself has become notorious throughout the nation for his contradictions and inability to answer the question of what a woman is, having flip-flopped on saying that a woman can have a penis, due to his support for the transgender movement.

At the time of going to press, neither Starmer nor his deputy Angela Rayner issued a statement about the Supreme Court ruling. There has been no statement issued from the Scottish government either, nor from the office of the first minister.

Transgender activists have expectedly condemned the ruling as ā€œa disgusting attack onĀ transĀ rights.ā€ One leading transgender campaigner individualĀ toldĀ Sky News, ā€œI am gutted to see the judgement from the Supreme Court which ends 20 years of understanding that transgender people with a GRC are able to be, for all intents and purposes, legally recognized as our true genders.ā€

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International

Tulsi Gabbard tells Trump she has ā€˜evidence’ voting machines are ā€˜vulnerable to hackers’

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From LifeSiteNews

By Stephen Kokx

Last month, Trump signed anĀ executive orderĀ directing federal election-related funds to be conditioned on states ā€œcomplying with the integrity measures set forth by Federal law, including the requirement that states use the national mail voter registration form that will now require proof of citizenship.ā€

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard announced during a Cabinet meeting last week at the White House that voting machines across the U.S. are not secure.

ā€œWe have evidence of how these electronic voting systems have been vulnerable to hackers for a very long time, and vulnerable to exploitation to manipulate the results of the votes being cast,ā€ she said about a half hour into the meeting.

 

Gabbard’s remarks confirm what millions of Americans have long suspected about elections across the U.S.

President Donald Trump himself has maintained skepticism of current voting methods and has called for paper ballots to prevent cheating.

MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell was one of only a few voices to publicly argue that voting machines, like those run by Dominion and Smartmatic which were used during the 2020 presidential election, were compromised. GOP Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor-Greene took to X to praise the businessman after Gabbard made her remarks.

ā€œMike Lindell along with MANY others vindicated!!ā€ she exclaimed on X. ā€œAnother conspiracy theory being proven right! Guess what Democrats already knew this and publicly talked about it in 2019! And then lied and lied and lied!!!ā€

 

Last month, Trump signed anĀ executive orderĀ directing federal election-related funds to be conditioned on states ā€œcomplying with the integrity measures set forth by Federal law, including the requirement that states use the national mail voter registration form that will now require proof of citizenship.ā€

Congress has also taken steps to ensure election integrity by voting on the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act (also known as the SAVE Act) last week. Dubbed ā€œcontroversialā€ by the media and left-wing groups, the common sense bill would require persons to show proof of citizenship before voting. The House approved the measure 220-208 withĀ four Democrats in support. The bill now heads to the Senate where it will face an uphill battle for the required 60 votes. Republicans currently have a 53 seat majority.

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