R.I.R. Nationwide @ Martinsville Speedway

R.I.R. website
Martinsville Speedway in-world

(race of 8/4/12)

It's always a pleasant surprise to see racers who race at one association coming over to race at another. Especially if it's one of the best racers - at least who proved that already there.
To be true, I don't know if Miku Hatsune (Doll Kabuki) raced at R.I.R. before or was that her first time here. Nevertheless, I coundn't wait for the race to begin - was dying with curiosity how good she will be here, with such opponents like Eagle Clawtooth or Saphyre Cyberstar.
Martinsville Speedway is an oval track, and as some of you know, at Racers Island they have 10 laps of qualifying at such tracks - and Hatsune admitted after her qualifying that 3 laps is pretty hard to do, because of the necessity to keep in mind that you have only 3 attempts instead of usual 10. But her performance was very good too - 12.934 against 12.846 (already set by JP Paneer at the moment). Qualifying times, all in all, differred in less than a second with the pole position and less than 0.1 second with each other almost for everyone. Obviously, racers had approximately the equal level or the driving skill - but that was at the track without any traffic.
The race has been started and stopped - not once, but twice. Too much spirit of competition, too big accidents... Third was a charm, and the competition began!
Hatsune promptly took the lead, behind her was a battle for the 2nd place between Cyberstar, Broly Blackheart Sr. (Broly Yakubu) and ZZ. Surprisingly, Clawtooth dropped down to the 9th place - but I suspected that's just a matter of time. Soon, he joined the battle for the 5th place - and won it, but while he was struggling for saving it, Paneer passed the battle by, so when Clawtooth managed to shake his opponents off, the battle between him and Clawtooth began.
At the lap 8, there was a HUGE accident with about 6 drivers involved. Therefore, Killian Sandalwood, who neatly avoided it, caught up with Clawtooth and Paneer, when Blackheart dropped behind, and that battle was for the 4th place now. Traffic began to form at the 10th lap already, so it was pretty hard for the current Top 3 - Hatsune, ZZ and Cyberstar - to trade places in any way. Paneer happened to take the 4th place from Clawtooth once and for all at the right time and the right place - before the traffic appeared - and he saved it. The gaps began to grow.
Pitstops time began early for some racers (due to damage and such, like it always happens), but most of leaders made a pitstop along with others - at 30th-33rd laps. Clawtooth made his pitstop 1st, but his loss even then wasn't big - 2 laps down from the 1st place. So, when others made theirs, including leading Hatsune, Clawtooth was only 10 seconds down from her - 2nd. But he was not alone, ZZ managed to come back to the track right behind him and, of course, started the close battle for the 2nd position (that lasted till the 50th lap, then Clawtooth sharply extended the lead). At the same time, another battle, for the 4th place, was up between Paneer and Cyberstar.
Clawtooth's strategy turned out to be clear after the 2nd pitstop - it basically was the same one he used at the trucks, to make a pitstop early and do remaining laps without being bothered he might run out of fuel. And it worked perfectly! He dropped to the 5th position, but only 2 laps down. So, when all the racers in front of him began doing their pitstops, he was getting upper and upper. Basically, it all depended will Hatsune drive back at the track before him or won't... And she did. Side by side with him.
The battle between them was very intensive - two the best racers of the race weren't going to give the leading position up to each other. But, at the 70th lap, Hatsune lost a few seconds... and Eagle's win became obvious.

All the racers have done a great job, the race was extremely thrilling, especially with different pitstop strategies and one of the best racers of the grid trying herself at another racing association... what else to say,  thank you very much competitors, I had a lot of fun watching you racing, even with a mouse that broke in the middle of qualifying :D Bring more such races to the grid!

The grid:

Pole Position. JP Paneer  12.846
P 2. Broly Blackheart Sr. (Broly Yakubu),  12.911, -0.065
P 3. Miku Hatsune (Doll Kabuki),  12.934, -0.088
P 4. Saphyre Cyberstar,  12.963, -0.117
P 5. 'ZZ Bottom' (foneco Zuzu),  13.001, -0.155

1st lap

P 6. Eagle Clawtooth,  13.002, -0.156
P 7. FFred Koolhoven,  13.046, -0.200
P 8. Vickster Freiin von Kühn (Vickster Kuhn),  13.335, -0.489
P 9. Killian Sandalwood,  13.400, -0.554
P 10. Snuffy Smith (Snufman),  13.624, -0.778
P 11. MidnightRambler Frostbite,  13.673, -0.827
P 12. мιςнαєℓ ςσгз (Michael01 Core),  14.810, -1.964

Eagle Clawtooth finishes

Final Results
1st. Eagle Clawtooth, 80 laps. Total Time : 1136.374
2nd. Miku Hatsune (Doll Kabuki), -3.094 seconds.
3rd. JP Paneer, -1 laps.
4th. 'ZZ Bottom' (foneco Zuzu), -1 laps.
5th. Saphyre Cyberstar, -1 laps.
6th. Broly Blackheart Sr. (Broly Yakubu), -4 laps.
7th. FFred Koolhoven, -5 laps.
8th. Vickster Freiin von Kühn (Vickster Kuhn), -5 laps.
9th. Killian Sandalwood, -6 laps.
10th. Snuffy Smith (Snufman), -7 laps.
11th. мιςнαєℓ ςσгз (Michael01 Core), -13 laps.
12th. MidnightRambler Frostbite, -51 laps. (retired)

Fastest race lap: 'ZZ Bottom' (foneco Zuzu), 12.469