R.I.R Sprint Cup Nascar Series @ Speed Park

R.I.R website
Speed Park (SLURL)

Personally, I love the races with required pitstops. It's way more unpredictable than the ones without this. Racers choose different strategies of pitstopping, and then retaking their positions, it's absolutely possible to drop out due to the broken car... well, some make it smart, some make it intuitive.

Some qualifying trivia: 

Dexter Frederix was 1st in the queue, just like a week ago.

None of the winners have had one of the lead positions at the start. Kypton Darkfury (finished 3rd) was on the last position.

What to say about the today's race? Of course, pits were crucial, but speed still rules. 

At the very start, when there were no pit stops, Badguy, Eagle and Saphyre successfully took the lead with Badguy constantly 1st and Eagle and Saphyre fighting for the 2nd place and taking it over from each other.

But then pit stops time has come...

Dexter and ZZ have chose to hang on and were the last ones who made the first pit stops, also both made the quickest ones along with Eagle. But, ZZ's average time was not good enough from the very start.

Badguy used the different strategy: he preferred 2 fast pit stops over 1 long - and even though he was holding the leading position through the first part of the race and taking it back very quick after pit stops, the necessarity of making one more came up closer to the end of the race (lap 93) letting Dexter and Kypton pass, what dropped him down to the 4th position he has finished at.

Kypton and Dexter therefore achieved +1 position and moved from 4th and 3rd to the 3rd and 2nd.

Dexter's the fastest pit stop of the race apparently has helped him to get to the 2nd place - unfortunately, he wasn't as fast as Kenn to catch up with him.

Eagle was one of the first who made the first and the second pit stops - possibly this didn't let him win; all in all, retaking the position requires to dodge the traffic you haven't had ahead of you when you were one of the race leaders, and obviously after Eagle's pit stops his average lap time got worse than before ones. 

Saphyre made the second pit stop too late, and eventually faced the same problem.

Kenn was doing better with the traffic - his average time wasn't so injured what succesfully brought him to the 1st position.

As you can see, every little thing might become the key factor - and it does! That's what makes it interesting to watch and analyse. 

Very well done racers, and congratulations winners - Kenn Smithson, Dexter Frederix and Kypton Darkfury!

And, as always, some numbers and pictures - R.I.R amazing race director, Doobeedoo, voted for more pictures, how could I refuse? Later, she complained about me flooding her chat with notifications that I took a picture :D All for the sake of racing, Doobee!

Race director: doobeedoo Littlething 

Starting positions:

Pole Position. badguy Boozehound - #11 (11.224)

P 2. Tomm Fanbridge - #02 (11.316)

P 3. 'ZZ Bottom' (foneco Zuzu) - #67 (11.401)

P 4. Eagle Clawtooth - #22 (11.403)

P 5. Dexter Frederix - #6 (11.422)

P 6. Kenn Smithson - #28 (11.466)

P 7. Saphyre Cyberstar - #111 (11.542)

P 8. Mongo Horberg - #07 (11.557)

P 9. Kypton Darkfury - #84 (11.600)

Race has began at: 5:18 PM SLT

Quick overview through the race:

Lap 1: 1. badguy Boozehound * 2. Eagle Clawtooth, TBL -0.665 * 3. 'ZZ Bottom', TBL -1.119

Lap 15: 1. badguy Boozehound * 2. Saphyre Cyberstar, TBL -4.687 * 3. Eagle Clawtooth, TBL -7.042

 - badguy Boozehound - 1st pitstop

Lap 25: 1. Saphyre Cyberstar * 2. Kenn Smithson, TBL -2.779 * 3. Dexter Frederix, TBL -5.230

 - most of racers have made their first pitstop, except  Dexter Frederix  and 'ZZ Bottom'

Lap 35: 1. Dexter Frederix * 2. badguy Boozehound, TBL -6.643 * 3.  'ZZ Bottom', TBL -16.178

Lap 45: 1. badguy Boozehound * 2. Saphyre Cyberstar, TBL -8.463 * 3. Kenn Smithson, TBL -10.594

Lap 55: 1. Saphyre Cyberstar * 2. Kenn Smithson, TBL -0.827 * 3. Dexter Frederix, TBL -5.145

 - most of racers have made their second pit stops, excluding  Kenn Smithson,  Dexter Frederix  and 'ZZ Bottom'

Lap 65: 1. Kenn Smithson * 2. Dexter Frederix, TBL -6.253 * 3. Saphyre Cyberstar -2 laps

Lap 75: 1. Kenn Smithson * 2. Dexter Frederix, TBL -1.921 * 3. badguy Boozehound, TBL -4.830

Lap 90: 1. Kenn Smithson * 2. badguy Boozehound, TBL -6.526 * 3. Dexter Frederix, TBL -8.286 

 - 3 laps after, badguy made his 3rd pit stop

Lap 99: 1. Kenn Smithson * 2. Dexter Frederix, -1 laps * 3. Kypton Darkfury, -1 laps

Final Results:

[17:39] Oval Island Gate shouts: 1st. Kenn Smithson, 100 laps. Total Time : 1236.874

[17:39] Oval Island Gate shouts: 2nd. Dexter Frederix, -1 laps.

[17:39] Oval Island Gate shouts: 3rd. Kypton Darkfury, -1 laps.

[17:39] Oval Island Gate shouts: 4th. badguy Boozehound, -2 laps.

[17:39] Oval Island Gate shouts: 5th. Saphyre Cyberstar, -3 laps.

[17:39] Oval Island Gate shouts: 6th. Eagle Clawtooth, -3 laps.

[17:39] Oval Island Gate shouts: 7th. Tomm Fanbridge, -4 laps.

[17:39] Oval Island Gate shouts: 8th. foneco Zuzu, -5 laps.

[17:39] Oval Island Gate shouts: 9th. Mongo Horberg, -12 laps.

Fastest race lap: Saphyre Cyberstar, 10.959

Race has ended at: 5:39 PM SLT

Before the race + practice:

After all, it's Sunday!

Racers:

Lined up: 

The race:

The winner - just about to cross the finish line!

[17:39] Oval Island Gate shouts: Saphyre Cyberstar P 5 Lap 97,  12.399   -2 laps.

[17:39] Oval Island Gate shouts: Kenn Smithson P 1 Lap 100,  11.622

[17:39] Oval Island Gate shouts: Kenn Smithson has won the race with a total time of 1236.874

And the winners: Kenn Smithson - 1st place, Dexter Frederix - 2nd, Kypton Darkfury - 3rd.

Bonus: after the race