Racers Island - Drift Series - Round 1 @ Nitro Track

You probably remember how I was pointing at one hairpin at the Nitro Track in one of the last season races article - and now, I want to apologize. I was all the way wrong. I underrated the hairpin that follows the first one - they both do a great job in changing the progress of the race, cause battles and do other very nice things.

All begins with the qualifying round, and yesterday it was even quite surprising.
Pole position was taken by Yuriko Nishi. Brave Ashbourne and Miku Hatsune (Doll Kabuki) didn't make it to the A race with their qualifying times. Read it again, please. Promising, isn't it? (Turned out Ashbourne had problems with his viewer during the qualifying round - tough luck, what else to say.)
Even though they, obviously, weren't at last positions on the grid, that doesn't guarantee the moving up to the main race, no matter how good you are.


So, before we move to the B race itself, let's take a look at the grid:
P 5. Miku Hatsune (Doll Kabuki),  22.536, -0.184
P 6. ZeuStorm,  22.753, -0.401
P 7. Brave Ashbourne,  22.836, -0.484
P 8. Nella Boccara,  23.317, -0.965
P 9. ZeuCat (domilyon),  23.649, -1.297
P 10. Shermie Eames,  24.495, -2.143
Leader of the race was revealed at the very first lap - and it was ZeuStorm! Ashbourne, who, at first, was battling him, dropped behind in a few laps, getting closer to Hatsune (who was 3rd) with each lap - and, certainly, there the battle began. ZeuStorm was successfully expanding the lead while Ashbourne and Hatsune were slowing each other down, and the wild traffic wasn't any help for any of the Top 3.
Hatsune won the battle, not without a little help of the hairpins, so Asnbourne became 3rd.

Everything was pointing at a win for ZeuStorm. But, I gotta admit, I so love those hairpins! On the 20th lap ZeuStorm hit one... then another... and recovering on both of them cost him a few seconds which Hatsune used to catch up with him and get him into the battle for the lead of the race (Hatsune was winning). They barely slowed each other down, and I was already ready to watch the main race without Ashbourne.

However, the last laps can change it all... ZeuStorm kept on dropping down, getting dangerously close to Ashbourne - and at the last lap, Ashbourne overpassed him in the battle right before the finish!
Indeed, ZeuStorm did a great job through almost the whole race for saving his position, but what a main race without Ashbourne and Hatsune?

They've moved up, but were starting at the end of the pack anyway. How did the grid for the A race look like?
Pole Position. Yuriko Nishi  22.352
P 2. Shaft Laval,  22.384, -0.032
P 3. Zev Titanium,  22.417, -0.065
P 4. Eddie Mathieson,  22.485, -0.133
Race B P 1. Miku Hatsune (Doll Kabuki)
Race B P 2. Brave Ashbourne
Have you ever seen a very, very close pack that remains through a few laps? Okay, 1 lap. Zev Titanium, Shaft Laval and Eddie Mathieson were the apparent leaders of it, but others didn't make their life any easier. Let me put it this way. The average time the average good racer can finish one lap with is 22-23 seconds (watch stats at the RI Drift blog). How do you like these times?

[18:59:44] Racers Island Nitro Track shouts: Shaft Laval P 1 Lap 1,  24.885
[18:59:44] Racers Island Nitro Track shouts: Zev Titanium P 2 Lap 1,  25.020,  TBL -0.135
[18:59:44] Racers Island Nitro Track shouts: Eddie Mathieson P 3 Lap 1,  25.265,  TBL -0.379
[18:59:45] Racers Island Nitro Track shouts: Doll Kabuki P 4 Lap 1,  25.622,  TBL -0.737
[18:59:45] Racers Island Nitro Track shouts: Brave Ashbourne P 5 Lap 1,  25.644,  TBL -0.758
[18:59:45] Racers Island Nitro Track shouts: Yuriko Nishi P 6 Lap 1,  25.752,  TBL -0.867

Bit by bit, however, the pack began to spread out, the hairpins were doing their job very well, and Laval dropped behind in no time. Mathieson and Titanium were battling intensively for the lead, right behind them was an intensive battle as well - all 4 racers were laying claim to be 3rd. After a few laps, the leader had been revealed - it was Laval.
A few laps after, there was an accident (guess where!) that cost Mathieson a whole second. Then another one on the next lap. Then one more on the lap after. And the whole thing took about 3-4 seconds, that, for sure, dropped him down to the last place, with a very pale chance to ever recover.

Halfway through the race, Titanium was still leading, Laval was still catching up with him, a bit aside Ashbourne was holding the 3rd position, and 4th was taken by Hatsune (who had a 1.5 seconds gap with Ashbourne). Mathieson and Nishi were just doing laps behind then. But the gaps between the first 4 racers were tiny, so every second was highly valued.
That's why an accident on the 22th lap, that cost Laval 1 whole second, dropped him 1 position down as well. Hatsune began to persistently decrease the gap with him and, in 4 laps, took the 3rd position from him. Ashbourne, who was quite close to them, was bound to defend his 2nd position from Hatsune - but unsuccessfully; although he was a tough opponent for her, Hatsune, once she obtained the lead over him, kept it until the last lap where Ashbourne made a final push to regain second place. Titanium managed to remain in front of Ashbourne to claim the first win of the Drift series.


Battles. Isn't that the reason we watch race events and - let's be honest - participate in them? Isn't that the one special thing that is expected during the whole race event and always watched with a lot of excitement?
The more battles occur, the longer they are, the more spectacular the race is.
And let's never forget how stressful it is for racers themselves - well, how else would it be when during a few laps, or maybe even half the race, if not the whole one, your position is totally uncertain because of someone who keeps on tailing you in expectation for that one moment when you make maybe a small, but extremely critical mistake?..
Love the battle you're involved, respected readers. Compete hard, and see you at the grid!