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!