R.I.R. Nationwide @ Watkins Glen

R.I.R. website
Watkins Glen in-world


(race of 8/18/12)

Wow, such a delay! I'm terribly sorry, racers and readers, but looks like they're going to be pretty frequent. New semester in University is just about to begin, also I'm setting both my lives in accordance with the current circumstances - so, this might occur from time to time.
OK, you're warned - back to the story!

Hard to say if the qualifying round actually influenced the beginning of the race much, because the race was restarted 2 times: first time - someone overslept the start, and next time - a huge accident at the start involved almost the whole pack. And the 3rd, the last attempt to start the race was only a little more successful - at the 1st turn, several racers, who got very good positions on the grid, piled up when they crashed against the outer wall all together. However, there were no restart attempt left, so the competition began.
JP Paneer, despite his grid position, made it to the top thanks to the accident mentioned above - where he started the battle with Eagle Clawtooth for the total lead. Behind them, the pack had spread out, where MidnightRambler Frostbite successfully occupied 3rd position - and lost it to Miku Hatsune (Doll Kabuki) at the 3rd lap. 2 laps after, Paneer got into an accident and dropped behind Clawtooth (but still was ahead of Hatsune).

This order remained till the 1st pitstop where Hatsune got her first in this season black flag and had to make a stop-and-go, which cost her 3rd position - the Top 3 had their pitstops at the same time. Her place was taken by Garth Moonites.
A few laps after, thanks to the accurate driving among accidents happening here and there, Hatsune caught up with Moonites - and there the battle began. Moonites perfectly held his position, but Hatsune kept on - also, the traffic emerged between them, which certainly didn't make it an easy battle, especially for Hatsune.
Even the 2nd pitstop didn't change the situation - Moonites made it earlier than Hatsune, so it moved Hatsune to the 3rd position, but after her pitstop, she got back at the track right behind Moonites. This time, the battle was more productive for her – Hatsune managed to pass Moonites and build a gap in front of him, not without the little help from Paneer, who was still in second place being two laps in front of her - who ended up being the traffic on this occasion. Thus, Hatsune was guaranteed to finish 3rd, due to the fact there wasn't much time to catch up - the 3rd pitstop might have changed that, but it went off without a single black flag for the Top 3, so it didn't change a thing.

With the excessive competitive spirit some racers got, I'm not sure whether this race would be messy or not. Despite that, I must say that it became obvious early on who was going to win (Eagle), especially following Hatsune's black flag. Her battle with Moonites, I have to admit, made me forget the other racers for a while – it's always exciting to watch close battles for the top 3. One last note: Second Life is sometimes not easy on the racers and this race proved to be the case: Many racers complained about lag which gave an additional challenge to the racers. Eagle, during the race, claimed on numerous occasions that he could hardly see the other cars on the track. Despite that, he managed to do quite well to avoid others and run away with the victory. That's all folks! Compete fair, but hard, racers, and see you at the grid!

(erm... Second Life Grid, though, certainly, I mean the starting grid as well)



The grid:

Pole Position. Eagle Clawtooth  16.049
P 2. Miku Hatsune (Doll Kabuki),  16.254, -0.205
P 3. 'ZZ Bottom' (foneco Zuzu),  16.314, -0.264
P 4. Saphyre Cyberstar,  16.329, -0.280
P 5. MidnightRambler Frostbite,  16.409, -0.360
P 6. FFred Koolhoven,  16.505, -0.455
P 7. JP Paneer,  16.633, -0.584
P 8. Snuffy Smith (Snufman),  17.050, -1.000
P 9. Garth Moonites,  17.164, -1.115
P 10. ⓢ ⓦ ⓔ ⓔ ⓣ (SweetTooth Firehawk),  17.314, -1.264
P 11. Broly Blackheart Sr. (Broly Yakubu),  18.030, -1.981
P 12. Яoɑđz (ROADBUSTER),  31.630, -15.581

Final Results:
1st. Eagle Clawtooth, 80 laps. Total Time : 1408.788
2nd. JP Paneer, -1 laps.
3rd. Miku Hatsune (Doll Kabuki), -3 laps.
4th. Garth Moonites, -4 laps.
5th. 'ZZ Bottom' (foneco Zuzu), -5 laps.
6th. FFred Koolhoven, -5 laps.
7th. Saphyre Cyberstar, -6 laps.
8th. Snuffy Smith (Snufman), -10 laps.
9th. ⓢ ⓦ ⓔ ⓔ ⓣ (SweetTooth Firehawk), -11 laps.
10th. Яoɑđz (ROADBUSTER), -32 laps.
11th. Broly Blackheart Sr. (Broly Yakubu), -49 laps. (retired)
12th. MidnightRambler Frostbite, -59 laps. (retired)

Fastest race lap: Miku Hatsune (Doll Kabuki), 15.688