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MONTREAL -- Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg still have the fastest car on the track, but the competition may not be quite so far behind at the Canadian Grand Prix. Practice day on Friday saw Fernando Alonso bring his Ferrari around Circuit Gilles Villeneuve with the fastest time in the morning practice, only to see the Hamilton and Rosberg dominate the afternoon session in their Mercedes AMGs. "The Ferraris looked quite close today and the rest of the field seemed closer in general, but hopefully not too close," said Hamilton. "Its very hard to overtake here, so pole position is important. "Nico looked very quick as well, so I have my work cut out for sure. Well find out everyones pace in qualifying (Saturday) afternoon, so lets wait and see what happens." Hamilton thrives on the tightly-cornered 4,361-kilometre circuit, and the superior power of this years Mercedes engine makes the Briton and his German-Finnish teammate Rosberg heavy favourites to stretch their winning run to start the Formula One season to seven races. Hamilton is a three-time winner in Montreal, and will be gunning for his fourth pole position in qualifying. Rosberg is looking for a second pole and a second win in a row after a victory at Monaco two weeks ago. "It felt pretty good out there, but weve still got improvements to make and there is more to come from the set-up and balance," said Hamilton. "Were not quite where we want to be yet." Hamilton posted a quickest lap of one minute 16.118 seconds, just ahead of Rosberg at 1:16.293. Defending champion Sebastian Vettels Red Bull car was third at 1:16.573 followed by the two Ferraris, Kimi Raikkonen in 1:16.573 and Alonso in 1:16.701. "Im still a tenth off the quickest time so Ill work hard with our engineers to find that extra pace," said Rosberg. "Its a unique track here, and its very difficult to hit the curbs just right." The Mercedes team has been all-but unbeatable since the switch to more fuel-efficient 1.6-litre turbo engines this season. They have won every race, with Hamilton taking four and Rosberg two, and have finished one-two in the last five. There has been more competition between the teammates than with the rest of the grid so far, but perhaps the tracks peculiarities, and its lurking dangers, will make a race of it on Sunday. The circuit features long straightaways leading into sharp turns. There are chicanes, including one near the home stretch that has sent many top drivers into the concrete barrier known as the Wall of Champions. "It is a short lap here, which closes up the field anyway, but it feels like Ferrari might be pushing us harder this weekend," said Mercedes executive director Toto Wolff. "We will need to get every detail right to deliver our potential in the race, so theres plenty of work still ahead of us." Alonso caused a mild surprise by beating the Mercedes in the morning practice session, but Rosberg topped the Spaniards time of 1:17.238 early in the afternoon runs. When the Mercedes drivers switched to supersoft tires 30 minutes into the afternoon, they were too quick for the field. The two-time world champion Spaniard, a winner in Canada in 2006, is a distant third in drivers standings behind the two Mercedes but it is still early in the 19-race season. He said this week his car is improving, even if the gap with Mercedes will be very difficult to close. "Its going to be tough," said Alonso. "There are updates coming to the car that weve been working on for some weeks. "All these hopes, we need to see it on the track. Its one of the shorter circuits, so we expect the times to be really close. So we need to find perfection. One or two tenths can be six or seven positions. We need to be in the front of those cars." The large crowd that turned out on a cool, overcast day got its first earful of the new F1 engines, which no longer have the high-pitched whine that was the sports signature sound for years. Instead, its a much quieter rumble. Jacques Villeneuve, the 1997 F1 champion and a native of Iberville, Que., has no problem with the sound. "The problem with the engine isnt the volume," said Villeneuve. "Its good. "You can bring your kids and you know that you wont blow their eardums. Thats a good thing. You can have a phone conversation. The problem you can feel that theres no power. Theres no grunt. If you look at the turbos in the 1980s, the volume wasnt really louder, but you could tell the drivers were fighting with a wild animal. Thats not the case now." A dicey moment came 27 minutes in when Adrian Sutil had to take a short cut over a curb to avoid crashing into Kevin Magnussens slow-moving McLaren. Stewards investigated the incident and decided it did not warrant a penalty. However, Red Bulls Daniel Riccardo was given a reprimand for passing Pastor Maldonados Lotus in "a manner potentially dangerous to others" in pit lane. It was the Aussies first reprimand of the season. Jules Bianchi of Marussia hit a wall hard and sustained heavy damage in the morning practice but the French driver felt he would be will be OK afternoon. But after three laps his Ferrari-powered car stayed in the garage most of the afternoon. Caterham had 22-year-old American Alexander Rossi in Kamui Kobayashis car for the first practice, although the Japanese driver took over in the afternoon session. Rossi, a GP2 driver being groomed for F1, was last in the 22-car field at 1:21.757, just behind teammate Marcus Ericsson. Rossi will also drive in practice at the United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas in November. Stitched Bears Jerseys . Hoffman, the former star closer, will evaluate and help co-ordinate all pitchers at Double-A, Triple-A and the big league team. Byrnes says Hoffman "will be a key part of finishing the development of our younger pitchers. Cheap Bears Jerseys China . MORITZ, Switzerland -- Latvia won a four-man World Cup bobsled race Sunday, while the U. http://www.cheapbearsjerseyselite.com/. Torres calmly stroked a 51st-minute spot kick down the middle with goalkeeper Romel Quinonez diving right to convert a penalty earned by Javi Martinez. Spain controlled play at the Sanchez Pizjuan but found it hard to convert against a well-organized Bolivian team before Iniesta charged forward to curl around Quinonez in the 84th to seal victory. Bears Jerseys Authentic . -- Cordell Cato scored his first goal of the season and the San Jose Earthquakes survived a full half playing a man down to beat FC Dallas 2-1 Saturday night. Elite Bears Jerseys .com) - The New York Jets have named Mike Maccagnan their new general manager.Things are going great for the NHL from a business perspective. How great will be revealed in the next couple of days at the board of governors meeting in Pebble Beach, Calif. The board is expected to approve the leagues new television deal with Rogers and get briefed on the approximate salary cap for next season. The $5.2-billion, 12-year deal the NHL struck with Rogers for exclusive national TV rights in Canada needs approval from the board of governors before it goes into effect for next season. Given the financial windfall it represents for the league, theres no real danger that it doesnt pass. Revenue from that contract wont factor in until next year, but commissioner Gary Bettman said last month in Toronto that "its fair to say" the NHL is over the US$3.3-billion mark from the last full season. "The preliminary data, and its preliminary, looks strong," Bettman said in mid-November. Chief operating officer John Collins recently made reference to the NHL being a $4-billion business. Even if thats a number the league hits in the near future, the trend for the salary cap is upward - and fast. The board of governors will get the update on the 2014-15 salary cap, which will be a substantial raise from the $64.3 million limit this season. That number is expected to be around $70 million, which meeans the cap gets to its pre-lockout level in the second full season after the work stoppage.dddddddddddd Future international competition, such as the revival of the World Cup of Hockey, could get some discussion, but that is an issue that needs to be negotiated with the Players Association. The NHLs new alignment seems to fit 32 teams better than 30 at some point, but Bettman has said there are no immediate plans for expansion. "I dont envision right now going through a formal expansion process," he said. "We get expressions of interest all the time. Those are informal conversations that we have, but in terms of a formal bid process, Im not focused on doing anything like that right now." Other items expected to be on the agenda were outlined by TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun on ESPN.com on Sunday. They include: A briefing on potential rule changes and disciplinary procedure from Colin Campbell, Brendan Shanahan and Stephen Walkom, an update on legal matters including the recent lawsuit filed by over 200 ex-players, an update on the 2014 Sochi Olympics as well as an update on the Leagues relationship with outside hockey organizations such as USA Hockey, the Canadian Hockey League and the International Ice Hockey Federation. The board is set to meet Monday and Tuesday. ' ' '