Racers Island - Drift Series - Round 12 @ Oasis Drift

Racers Island Raceway blog

Racers Island Drift Results blog

Racers Island in-world (+TPer to all tracks)

A beautiful green track, surrounded by beautiful palms, with a blue sky above it - this magnificent place has been chosen as a place to have the last event of the Drift Series. And the racers today have revealed the most hidden vibes of competition and brought them up to the track!
After dealing with/causing a couple of problems, I finally managed to get to the track, let it rez and just relax and watch the practice. The track was full, but racers got rooms, what allowed them to set some great lap times, such as Shaft Laval's 20.935, Miku Hatsune's 21.027 or Biggs Braham's 21.067, other racers didn't hang behind too. Then, of course, Brave Ashbourne showed up - and the best lap time of the practice (and actually of the whole event) went to him with his 20.858.
My attention was attracted by a furry racer I haven't seen here before but who was doing very decent laps - his name is Sinedd Landfall. After the race, I got to ask him a few questions, and turned out he's been brought at Racers Island by Laval, who also did his car's paintjob and showed him the basics of the racing. He's going to perform in the next season under another name though. Welcome aboard!
And we're moving to the qualifuing session where, suprisingly, Ashbourne successfully got the pole position, unlike the rest of the season, when usually it has been taken by Yuriko Nishi. That was not a very big, but a first surprise for me. Apparently, his new method of qualifying worked well - he happened to take the 2nd gate, and instead of starting right after the gate has been opened, he politely waited for Landfall (the racer he has been qualifying along with) to pass about half a lap and only then started. Getting himself a room worked out greatly, and Nishi got the 2nd position on the grid.
There were 9 racers - so 2 races in total.

And the grid for the race B has been formed by:

P 5. Biggs Braham,  21.334, -0.357
P 6. Shaft Laval,  21.377, -0.400
P 7. Sinedd Landfall,  21.870, -0.893
P 8. Nella Boccara,  22.624, -1.647
P 9. domilyon,  22.912, -1.935
At the first laps, there was a very spectacular battle for the 1st place between 4 racers - Domilyon slept at the start and lost a few vital seconds and any chance to catch up with the rest.
But the rest seemed to get a fever for the competition - even the new racer got onto the 1st position once (has been passed by Nella Boccara after a few turns. At first, they were continuously trading places: turn after turn, walls at every hairpin (I've counted at least 4 at the track, and there's one more turn that looks suspicious too) were touched by at least one racer of the pile at almost every lap.
That lasted 7 first laps (it's approximately 2,5 minutes), then Laval and Braham pulled ahead after a smart pass, and racers have spreaded out: Braham and Laval were in intensive fight for the 1st place, there seemed to be some action between Boccara and Landfall too - Landfall successfully took the advantage and pulled ahead when Boccara hit the wakk at another hairpin, and kept the leadership (3rd place I mean, the leadership over Boccara) till the end of the race, even catching up once with Braham and Laval who were going ahead of them.
Braham and Laval kept on competing hard, with Braham winning but Laval on his tail permanently. But, after the 18th level, Braham began making less and less mistakes, so Laval got left behind, losing time a bit, but constantly.
And that was the order they've finished in.
Ought to say, that was an amazing start for Landfall - even though he didn't make it to the Race A, 3rd place and a hard competition against Braham, Laval and Boccara is something I'm pointing out at with a great pleasure!
So, Braham got the 5th position on the grid (and also set a very close time to Ashbourne - 20.868 that became the fastest lap time of the racetime), and Laval - 6th. Race A promised to be tough - but it brought up some things I couldn't expect at all!

Let's see the grid first:

Pole Position. Brave Ashbourne  20.977
P 2. Yuriko Nishi,  21.138, -0.161
P 3. Eddie Mathieson,  21.247, -0.270
P 4. Miku Hatsune (Doll Kabuki),  21.334, -0.357
Race B P 1. Biggs Braham
Race B P 2. Shaft Laval
Nishi confessed after the race she started at the first gear - happens to every racer at least once in a lifetime, doesn't it? 

Lap 8

Guess there's no doubt that Ashbourne successfully headstarted. Mathieson promptly shaked off the pile fo competitors and caught up with him - only to give up his place to Braham, who definitely has been in the zone today. Mathieson was left to lead the pile, then - to join the pile, then - to be left behind the pile, where a few mistakes costed him a chance to get even at the 5th place.
Meanwhile, Ashbourne was leading, but Braham kept on troubling him staying right behind him with 1 second and less gap. When it seemed that he's about to be left behind - he fixed the situation within the next lap. Others were more spreaded out with Miku Hatsune leading (3rd place).
Getting on Ashbourne's nerves seemed to work out - at the 16th lap Braham began to catch up, at the 18th lap he got to going side by side with him. One successful manoeuvre - and Braham leads the race! Ashbourne, of course, wasn't going to give up easily, but, according to what Braham said after the race, instead of passing a couple of turns accurately, he t-boned him, and not once, but twice. Ashbourne commented it that his car went left and didn't turn right for 2 seconds. Lags are so usual racers companions...
Back to the race. So, there the toughest battle of the race has been formed, between Braham and Ashbourne, at the 18th lap. They were so busy with that (me either - watching them, that was extremely exciting), that nobody noticed Hatsune, who caught up with them at the 21th lap and joined the battle. Nishi didn't waste her time too - she joined them at the next lap.
However, Ashobourne managed to get out of the battle, so there were 3 competitors involved: Hatsune, Nishi and Braham, in the following order. Braham lost it and dropped down at the 4th place, so Hatsune and Hishi got the opportunity to fight for the 2nd place, what they were doing with a rage I've seen once already - the drift race that took place a month ago, Round 8, also known as Canada's day. That was another time I've seen Nishi and Hatsune competing as hard as it was today!

Lap 29

Starting from the 26th lap, Hatsune began increasing the gap between her and Nishi... And then it happened. The greatest drifter of the Racers Island has lost his lead at the last but one lap - and not only to Hatsune, who was leading, but to Nishi at the 2nd position too! I'm not going to lie - this moment made me totally speechless. I just was looking at the local chat and hardly could believe my eyes.
The remaining lap couldn't change anyhing, so the racers finished in this order.

Like it happened at the last Stock Car race, I can say the last race of the season is a huge success. It seemed to be predictable, but who could guess it would turn out like this? I barely managed to take pictures - was afriad to miss a single moment of it.

Competitions are over!

As always, all stats are available in the Racers Island Drift Series blog - I bet you're interested what the exact  results are! The link is found in the head of this post.

And this is a conclusion of the summer Drift series. I would like to thank all the racers for the courage they perfectly expressed through the season, and of course for your competitive spirit that brought you together and made you best of the best friends off the track and the toughest competititors at the track. And, of course, congratulations to the winners of the series - Brave Ashbourne on the 1st place, Miku Hatsune (Doll Kabuki) on the 2nd and Yuriko Nishi on the 3rd!
Have a good rest before the next season, but, of course, don't let your driving skill get lost. See you at other racers, and... you all have something you can be proud of!

TXT Racing Series Summer 2012 - 7th race!

(race of 7/21/12)

I got back home just in time to fix the fan once and for all and go to the Track 2, where practice was already on the go.
Yesterday night, Tudy Araw, the builder of the track, found out with a hepl of one of racers there was a bug at the track and she literally patched it, what added some difficulcy to the course. Surprises were expected, and not for nothing.
Before the race, there were rumors several other great racers are going to join us - the scoreboard was displaying some really amazing results set by racers we've never seen before at 2RAW (including Miku Hatsune from Racers Island).
They did not show up though, and the other names were unfamiliar for others, too. So it's still a mystery who are those drivers... There were only all kinds of assumptions, from logical to crazy ones. Everyone was suspected to be Annie, the mysterious racer I never happened to meet in person in Second Life, though racers claim she was nearly the best racer in Second Life before she left.
Well, the ones who competed yesterday were not worse at all!
Grosmanteau DeCuir set the practice time record - 30.372. Sharon Densmith, who fully dedicates herself to racing, was second with 30.492, also Brave Ashbourne set a close to hers result - 30.526. 
Pomponia decided to test her other sences and drive with a blindfold, what didn't help her a lot - she finished 5th, like a week ago. Actually all the racers have finished at the same order they did a week ago, at the other track. 
As always, intensive battle took place at the start and there were even victims - well, one victim, Millennium Sands. I've missed the moment (was camming at other racers), but, according to what Ashbourne said after the race, she even has passed him, but - tough luck! - she flew off the track. Only at 2RAW... She recovered pretty quickly, got a new car and joined others 3 laps down (others' dream about Grosmanteau DeCuir, by the way).

DeCuir photobombs

What was happening in front of her? At the very first laps, DeCuir pulled ahead, and Ashbourne, Densmith and Eagle Clawtooth started the battle for the 2nd place. Densmith even was ahead at the first, then they were going side by side during few laps - but the turns have no mercy, one bump, and you're left behind. That's what happened to Densmith. Well, to other too, but that wasn't so fatal.
Basically, racers have established themselves closer to the middle of the race, though Clawtooth kept on making efforts to catch up with Densmith. But one bump rule worked for him either.

Ichtyo is that mesh huge something
with the headphones

After the race was the usual ceremony, but there was a little surprise to all of us - we've got a special guest. Ichtyo Broome is a vehicle scripter, and his scripts are unique. I mean what I say - it's not a simple copy-paste with a few changes, he wrote the script by himself. Cars bodies are not his though - he collaborates with other creators for them. But all the scripting is his merit. Also, he's a very pleasant person!
His cars are not cheap, but they're worth every linden - just like Haru Motors. Feel free to give it a try in the mall at 2RAW and see for yourself! And thanks for coming, mr. Broome... and everyone! See you next week at the race, and come practice anytime!
Next race - at the 6th track.

The grid:

Pole Position. Grosmanteau DeCuir  30.377
P 2. Brave Ashbourne,  30.905, -0.528
P 3. Sharon Densmith,  31.305, -0.928
P 4. Eagle Clawtooth,  31.983, -1.605
P 5. Millennium Sands,  33.162, -2.784
P 6. Excess Lemmon,  35.113, -4.735




Final Results:
1st. Grosmanteau DeCuir, 25 laps. Total Time : 778.179
2nd. Brave Ashbourne, -12.761 seconds.
3rd. Sharon Densmith, -27.394 seconds.
4th. Eagle Clawtooth, -1 laps.
5th. Excess Lemmon, -3 laps.
6th. Millennium Sands, -5 laps.
Fastest race lap: Grosmanteau DeCuir, 30.375

TXT Racing Series Summer 2012 - 7th race - the points

7th race of the series - 7/21/12:
Grosmanteau DeCuir - 50
Brave Ashbourne - 45
Sharon Densmith - 40
Eagle Clawtooth - 36
Ρσмρσηία ﾚεΜσгţ (Excess Lemmon) - 32
Millennium Sands - 28



Total series points (up to the present day,  7/21/12):
Millennium Sands - 296
Ρσмρσηία ﾚεΜσгţ (Excess Lemmon) - 180
Grosmanteau DeCuir - 150  
Brave Ashbourne - 135
Sharon Densmith - 112Cameron Geordie - 102
PhiloSophical Vervain - 81
flea Fang - 81
Eagle Clawtooth - 72Dalton Aiten - 45
Durron Sockington - 40
Rosie Varnish - 40
Stoney Maloney (Hagbard Hyx) - 32

TXT Racing Series Summer 2012 - 6th race!

(race of 7/14/12)

Oh jeez, what a day it was yesterday! First, I forgot to save the chat log before logging off. Second, when I started looking for pictures - turned out the unfinished process (some media player I've decided to try out) messed up the file system and all the pictures were lost! Switching back to VLC - it never screwed up my precious pictures. (Don't ask how the hell it's connected, I don't have a clue.)

Eagle Clawtooth

But what could I do without the amazing estate manager and simply a good person, known by all of you as M? She passed me the chat log and send some pictures she took. So, without her there wouldn't be any article here - I can't thank you enough, M!

Millennium Sands

OK, enough sentimentality - let's move to the biggest race of the series so far, and I would even dare myself to call it the most competitive one. I've dropped by 2 hours before the race, and rejoiced the vision of some racers practicing. Have to say, Sharon Densmith has put a lot of work into that track - most of the time, when I was at the sim (other days) I've seen her at the radar. At the Track 10. Practicing.
One of the noticeable faces was Eagle Clawtooth - yes, that legendary competitor of R.I.R.! Told by Sharon, he came over yesterday, too, to add some heat into the race.

Sharon Densmith

Also, there was another newcomer, but she got unknown for us problems at the qualifying round and quitted.  However, there were 7 competitors: 4 of them are legends of the grid and other 3 are 2RAW patrons you can remember since the very first races.

Ρσмρσηία ﾚεΜσгţ (Excess Lemmon)

Also, I can't skip the practice, when Grosmanteau DeCuir set 56.501 seconds, Brave Ashbourne got under 57 too (he was driving the pink car today - maybe it's faster indeed?), Densmith got very close - obviously lots of practice helped.
Clawtooth got 59.275 during the qualifying round - not so bad for the first time.
So, after a few inconveniences, we made it to the race.
DeCuir expectedly pulled ahead, but Ashbourne, despite his 2nd position on the grid, messed up a little and let Densmith pass him by. Meanwhile, behind them was a great battle for the 4th place, and Cameron Geordie was left behind by the pack - was hitting walls too much at the turns...

Brave Ashbourne

Clawtooth won the 4th place at the 2nd lap, but LeMort promptly caught up with him and didn't let go. Millennium Sands, current leader of the series, was a bit aside them, at the 6th.

Cameron Geordie

Ashbourne kept on catching up with Densmith and got her at the 6th lap. Clawtooth settled down at the 4th place, LeMort dropped far behind getting into the competition with Sands and - guess! - winning it. They were staying close to each other at first, then Sands got stuck very bad in the wall and lost plenty of seconds. They have spreaded out at the 10th lap.

Grosmanteau DeCuir

At the 15th lap happened something I was pretty surprised to witness - Clawtooth got lapped by DeCuir. So, the final positions became totally obvious - they should have been a miracle to change anything. But the drivers were going pretty much the same, and none fatal accidents have happened during the last 8 laps. Brave stood a chance I believe... but DeCuir was too good at this. He, along with Densmith, have spent plenty of time here at the Track 10, and it was showing pretty well. The lap time record also goes to him - 56.485 at the Lap 14, how do you like to repeat that?

That concludes yet another race here at 2RAW. Another competition, another driving skills comparing. Sharon Densmith got her first 2RAW trophy yesterday - congratulations, Sharon, it's well-deserved! Congratulations winners, and thanks everyone for coming!
Points for the race and the total scores are available in this post.
Hope to see everyone next week! Don't forget: it's Track 2 next time, it's already set up, car vendors are there.

I bet you want to see the stats now. Here you go!

The grid:

Pole Position. Grosmanteau DeCuir  56.731
P 2. Brave Ashbourne,  57.348, -0.617
P 3. Sharon Densmith,  57.801, -1.070
P 4. Eagle Clawtooth,  59.275, -2.544
P 5. Millennium Sands,  61.334, -4.603
P 6. cameron Geordie,  61.857, -5.125
P 7. Ρσмρσηία ﾚεΜσгţ (Excess Lemmon),  63.527, -6.796



Final Results
1st. Grosmanteau DeCuir, 25 laps. Total Time : 1443.378
2nd. Brave Ashbourne, -11.910 seconds.
3rd. Sharon Densmith, -38.596 seconds.
4th. Eagle Clawtooth, -1 laps.
5th. Ρσмρσηία ﾚεΜσгţ, -2 laps.
6th. Millennium Sands, -2 laps.
7th. cameron Geordie, -3 laps.

Fastest race lap: Grosmanteau DeCuir, 56.485

TXT Racing Series Summer 2012 - 6th race - the points

Yes, I've decided to count them before writing the article about the race today, guess it will be so from now on - writing articles takes a lot of time, just don't want to keep you waiting. Here you go!


6th race of the series - 7/14/12:
Grosmanteau DeCuir - 50
Brave Ashbourne - 45
Sharon Densmith - 40
Eagle Clawtooth - 36
Ρσмρσηία ﾚεΜσгţ (Excess Lemmon) - 32
Millennium Sands - 28
Cameron Geordie - 25



Total series points (up to the present day,  7/14/12):
Millennium Sands - 268
Ρσмρσηία ﾚεΜσгţ (Excess Lemmon) - 148
Cameron Geordie - 102
Grosmanteau DeCuir - 100 
Brave Ashbourne - 90
PhiloSophical Vervain - 81
flea Fang - 81
Sharon Densmith - 72
Dalton Aiten - 45
Durron Sockington - 40
Rosie Varnish - 40
Eagle Clawtooth - 36
Stoney Maloney (Hagbard Hyx) - 32

Racers Island - Drift Series - Round 9 @ Nitro Drift Track

Racers Island Raceway blog

Racers Island Drift Results blog

Racers Island in-world (+TPer to all tracks)

(Race of 7/12/12 - sorry for the huge delay again guys, got sick yesterday, heh, tell me about getting under the pouring rain when you're hafl an hour away from home)

Who gets into the battle today? That's the question you ask before the race, if you're a patron of races at Racing Island (doesn't matter - a participant or a spectator). It's obvious the battle will be, and a hot one, and apparently not the only one, and between different racers...

The practice session

There's a place at the track I haven't seen a racer who haven't had problems with - the first hairpin, to be exact. Without exaggerating, this was the most crusial part of the road - if there were any position changes, most of the time it was caused by how racers passed it.

That hairpin and how Ashbourne
took advantage of it over Mathieson

Only 3 of the racers got under 22 seconds during the practice: Miku Hatsune (Doll Kabuki), Brave Ashbourne and Yuriko Nishi who set the record of the practice - 21.784. Eddie Mathieson got very close with his best time of 22.012, too, but the qualifying round wasn't successful for him -  5th position on the grid, however it was an advantage for him - he got the pole position in the Race B.

Brave was making predictions about the race: that Nishi will take the pole position since Zev Titanium didn't show up, that Laval and Mathieson will make it to the Race A.

How could it be otherwise though? With their position on the grid:
P 5. Eddie Mathieson,  22.318, -0.351
P 6. Shaft Laval,  22.428, -0.461
P 7. Andrea Von Brokenhymen,  22.471, -0.504
P 8. Nella Boccara,  23.073, -1.106
P 9. 2cul4scul,  24.870, -2.903
that wasn't a problem at all for them to do a headstart. Then there was a racelong battle for the 1st place with Laval pressing Mathieson through the whole race. Also, what happened behind them kept on taking my attention too - the competition for the 3rd place, that basically didn't mean anything for the race itself, but was so exciting! Andrea Von Brokenhymen and Nella Boccara were going side by side most of the time, with the 2 seconds gap between them and Mathieson with Laval.
In the middle of the race, Shaft lost a few seconds at the turn failed to drift through, and Mathieson expanded the lead. But it has changed on the 21th lap, when Laval caught up with Mathieson - thanks to the hairpin mentioned above (though Mathieson has showed the amazing skill of quick recovering again, he still was losing seconds there), and Laval gained the lead. Von Brokenhymen started closing on Mathieson... but that was the last lap, and there was a 1,5 seconds gap, so Mathieson finished 2nd and, along with Laval, moved to the next race, Race A, which I find the most competitive one among all I've seen before.


First, the grid:

Pole Position. Yuriko Nishi  21.967
P 2. Brave Ashbourne,  22.077, -0.110
P 3. Miku Hatsune (Doll Kabuki),  22.168, -0.201
P 4. Biggs Braham,  22.300, -0.333
Race B P 1. Shaft Laval
Race B P 2. Eddie Mathieson

Mathieson pulled ahead at the start and got into a battle with Ashbourne for the 1st place - Nishi, despite her pole position, wasn't as good in cutting off as others, and dropped behind, but the pack in the tail was competing hard for the 4th place, so she caught up with Mathieson and Ashbourne on the 3rd lap. The hairpin slowed Mathieson down again - Ashbourne took the lead almost in no time. 


Meanwhile, Hatsune sneak out of the battle behind and took the 3rd place from Yuriko, expanding the gap between them lap after lap. Same was happening with Mathieson, until he reached Hatsune.

And they started the thrilling battle for the 2nd place. Never could assume anyone would be able to compete with Miku Hatsune, keeping her down during 15 laps - 5,5 minutes! Of course, sometimes she was taking his position, but was losing it as fast as she took it. Impressive one, Eddie!


A little remark is needed to be done: Nishi caught up with them on the 15th lap and there was a battle of 3 for the second place won by Nishi on the 18th lap. So the following fight between Mathieson and Hatsune was for the 3rd place. Won by Hatsune.


Braham and Laval were remaining in the end of the pack - the hairpin had no mercy. However, Laval got a chance closer to the end of the race and used it to get ahead of Mathieson. There was a battle, not a long one though - race has finished.


All the final positions, best times and the rest is available at the Racers Island Drift blog, as always. I myself would like to mark again the great perfomance of Nishi and Mathieson (especialy due to the fact Mathieson had started from the Race B), along with Ashbourne and Hatsune - just not sure if it will surprise anyone... great race it was, thanks to all the competitors, and I mean not only the leaders but also those who was competing hard behind them. Thank you very much! 

ShowMe Creations CCM G-3 and Monster Truck - review

ShowMe Creations main store inworld
and on Marketplace
Cars were tested at 2RAW Extreme - main route and dirt track

I've got very special feelings to everything that ends with "me" :D
I'm just kidding, you know, I love fast cars that also handle good. Especially if YOU can make them handle good

I must say, there are occasions when less is better than more. It's when you don't need it to simply show off - besides, many of us would agree showoffs usually can't drive. For those, who's interested on comfortable driving, not in "kewl thingies", ShowMe Creations is a great choice.

Well, I'm not upright about "kewl thingies" - cars look very nicу and presentable, not least because they're mesh (yes, you'll have to watch where you rezz them - but better get used to it, mesh conquers the market), but without any extravagance - just solid grace.


All the cars of ShowMe Creations use the same custom script, of course with different setting for different cars. The script doesn't include too much features - on the other hand, this releases you from lots of headache. Turn power (well, how left-right arrows-sensitive the car is) is adjustable, access can be set not only to the owner or everyone, but also group only. Basically, that's all you need, because CCM G-3 settings are adjusted very good to suit every road of Second Life, and Monster Truck is well-prepared for any off road. Turn power will be useful for racing, when you use the high speed and must turn sharply to save time.

Honestly, once the downforce is not adjustable, I would add some for the CCM G-3 to a default one - this car bounces too much what, of course, slowes it down. Yes, some more downforce wouldn't hurt. Would be perfect to make it adjustable.


Another part that is pretty sensitive is the breaks/reverse. As you know, it's either at the reverse gear or at the down arrow - we're dealing with the second case, the one I like (extra gear might be realistic, but you lose a lot of time swtching to it). So, when you hold the down arrow key while the car's on the go, it slowes down, but you got to let it off a bit before it stops - otherwise you'll move a few meters back in addition. Not to hard to get used to, just a warning.


There's an interesting feature: you can open the hood, the trunk and both doors manually to take a look inside. Might be good for taking pictures, but there's a little inconvenience - if you want to change settings while on the go, you have to aim your mouse on the car roof, because if you try to click on the trunk you'll have it open instead of the dialog box. How many of you do change settings on the go though?

However, you won't face this problem driving the truck, because it doesn't have this feature - only the light ones have. Switch anything while driving!.. if needs

If I've started talking about the monster truck, let's move to the offroad track. That's the vehicle where the bounce is not a bad thing (still would be nice to decrease it a little, but only a little), it helps a lot at the dirt track. You might want to switch the turning power to 2, because it's more advantageous on this car to climb the hills to turn, apparently due to the low downforce. When you buy this car, give it a try - you'll see what I mean.

I've decided not to judge the cars too hard - after all, L$ 1000 for a user-friendly vehicle is a very decent price. I'd recommend it for those who just has started their racing career in Second Life - it's perfect to get a clue about handling the speed at different tracks. Pro racers also will like them for amazing handling. Also, sounds like Durron Sockington, the creator of ShowMe, is not going to leave it like this and upgrades are on their way, along with car races. I can hardly wait!
Plus, he makes custom paintings, if you'd like one - simply hit his IM. I've seen the quality and can say you won't regret.

Kay T. Burnett

Racers Island - Stock Car Series - Round 9 @ D-Oval Track

Racers Island Raceway blog

Racers Island Pro-Stock Car Series Results

Racers Island in-world (+TPer to all tracks)

Valo Emsbury seems to fail every 3rd race, according to the stats. This one wasn't an exception.

Well, it's just a little remark. Guys, I'm extremely sorry for such a huge delay, I've had a very rough weekend, and yesterday I've finally passed the last exam, wahoo!

Now - back to the race, to the qualifying round, to be exact.

This time, it was Miku Hatsune who took the pole position - even despite the fact she was qualifying first and other racers knew what they're going to deal with. No one could reach this time though.

But some of qualified times were very, VERY close to each other. Or even totally the same:

[18:41] Racers Island  Doval Oval Gate shouts: P 5. Mystic Audion,  8.892, -0.133
[18:41] Racers Island  Doval Oval Gate shouts: P 6. Andrea Von Brokenhymen,  8.892, -0.133

(Mystic Upshaw was qualifying 3rd, Andrea Von Brokenhymen - 7th)

Or with 0.001 second difference:

[18:41] Racers Island  Doval Oval Gate shouts: P 7. Eddie Mathieson,  8.937, -0.178
[18:41] Racers Island  Doval Oval Gate shouts: P 8. Upshaw34 Resident,  8.938, -0.179 

(Mathieson was qualifying 4th and Kert (Upshaw34) - first, along with Hatsune)

But everyone got under 1 second difference with the pole - well done, though not very surprising at the oval track, but shows the level of all the racers, and I find it pretty high. High enough to get the close competition on the track even through the Race C.

How tough it was? First, their positions at the start:

P 9. #427 - Nella Boccara  

P 10. #2 1/2 - Harleybeth28 Amoufhaz  

P 11. #3 - Cole Bishop (loadcoil)  

P 12. #2 - miller Tomcat  

P 13. #7 - Doug (Dougie Bellic)  

P 14. #4 - 2cul4scul  

P 15. #18 - davids25 Resident  

- and only 2 of them were supposed to move up. That was another proof that not everyhing depends on the grid position - it's your driving skill. Never without bumping walls and bumping each other, and Bellic was the unluckiest - devil knows how many times how got pushed into the wall or turned around by other racers.

Let's get a closer look to this race. At first, Boccara and Bishop took advantage of their positions; plus 2cul4scul made it from the 6th position to the 3rd, and when Boccara dropped behind - 2nd, protecting the place from Boccara who kept on going very close and eventually got ahead to begin a competition with Bishop for the 1st place. She achieved it and Bishop started losing his position still going 2nd though - others were too far away to catch up with him (most were lapped by Boccara and Bishop) everything was pointing on the win of them... but Boccara started being hit by others a lot on 43-48th laps and was losing a lot of time to recover. Tomcat, who was 3rd, of course, promptly caught up and gained the 2nd place. That concludes the Race C, and we follow Bishop and Tomcat to the next race.

Race B participants started in the following order:

P 5. #54 - Mystic Upshaw (Audion)

P 6. #75 - Andrea Von Brokenhymen

P 7. #00 - Eddie Mathieson

P 8. #34 - Kert (Upshaw34)

Race C P 1. #3 - Cole Bishop (loadcoil)

Race C P 2. #2 - miller Tomcat

After the start, that wasn't clear who's leading - racers were switching positions constantly. Then Von Brokenhymen took the lead, Mathieson and Mystic Upshaw dropped behind, the rest started the battle for the 2nd place, where Tomcat was leading at first, while Mystic Upshaw was catching up with them, then Kert replaced him. Von Brokenhymen remained 1st, but no one was lapped yet.

Mystic Upshaw was great with her laps time (5th place at qualifying and during this race) even despite the traffic, so she got 2nd place pretty quick, and Kert dropped behind.

Eddie was doing brilliant laps and made it to the 3rd place closer to the middle of the race and got into the fight for it with with Kert, however, the gap between them and the leaders was too big. Eventually Eddie began to lead and Kert got lapped along with the rest. And that's how they've finished this race. Andrea Von Brokenhymen and Mystic Upshaw moved up to the Race A.

And here's their order:

Pole Position. #121 - Miku Hatsune (Doll Kabuki)

P 2. #88 - David Wetherby

P 3. #69 - Yuriko Nishi

P 4. #92 - Valo Emsbury

Race B P 1. #75 - Andrea Von Brokenhymen

Race B P 2. #54 - Mystic Upshaw (Audion)

Hatsune took the lead in no time, others were going close to her for a pretty long time. Then the bumping time for Emsbury and Nishi began, and they dropped down, but there was still an extremely close fight ahead of them, though Hatsune was leading - everything could have changed any moment then. 

Hatsune shot ahead, and it turned into a battle for the 2nd place between Wetherby, Von Brokenhymen and Upshaw, that lasted till the halfway of the race, and Wetherby won it. Meanwhile, Emsbury caught up intended to take the 3rd place from Upshaw, but closer to the end of the race the gap between them grew again.

And Mystic, after catching up successfully with Wetherby, challenged him for the 2nd place and won it. Wetherby finished 3rd.

Thanks a lot to all the participants - it was a big pleasure to watch such a competition. Congratulations winners - well done, especially comparing with previous results (of course I mean Mystic Upshaw and David Wetherby, because Miku Hatsune's win was expected). Hope to see something like this next week!

P.S.: I finally can promise you to write the articles about races up to date (within 12-18 hours) - EXAMS ARE THROUGH!!!

Another good news: I got my ass to create an account on Flickr - still setting up there, but from now on I've decided to post your personal photos there. We'll see how else I can use it :)

For now, find yourself here.

Thank you very much!