R.I.R. Build Your Own @ Watkins Glen

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Watkins Glen in-world

(Race of 8/17/12)


Even when the gate says that the racers positions are stable - don't let it fool you. There might be a mess at the track itself due to the traffic that comes and goes spontaneously, making it harder for racers to maintain their positions. Such races are hard to write about, but always very spectacular - you barely watch the positions because you can cam on anybody - and just watch them battling, even without wondering is this a battle for position or for not getting lapped.

Like you probably have noticed, Watkins Glen is actually a road course. And this explains the vast difference between qualifying times - this is not an oval, you have to be skilled enough to be able to pass different types of turns with a minimal loss of time. The six first positions (ref. to the grid) managed to do that, while the rest had problems. Nevertheless, the grid was formed and the competition... didn't begin: badguy Boozehould had to restart the race, and then again, due to the total mess after the start. Before the 3rd start, though, he warned all the racers that this one is the last one, so it had to be successful.

Leaders of the beginning of the race were revealed immediately - Grosmanteau DeCuir maintained the lead doing very accurate laps (thanks to the clear road ahead), behind him Saphyre Cyberstar was protecting 2nd position from Clifford Market and Eagle Clawtooth - but lapped Unknown Kanya crashed her, so Market, Clawtooth and JP Paneer, who caught up with them, began the fight for the 2nd place - DeCuir had a gap big enough not to let them get closer.
Soon enough (lap 5) DeCuir got crashed by one of the almost-lapped opponents and Clawtooth took advantage of the situation to catch up with him and challenge him for the 1st position. Luck was on his side - at the 8th lap, three challengers for the 8th place crashed DeCuir to overpass him, so Clawtooth expanded the lead. But the battle for the 8th position was so intensive that DeCuir overpassed them in return a few laps after. The 1 second gap between him and Clawtooth remained, but he began to catch up making his way through the clear track.
At the 19th lap, DeCuir finally got into a battle with Clawtooth; they were trading places at almost each turn - it was totally uncertain who was winning the battle. So, traffic was the one to arbitrate them - and, at the 29th lap, DeCuir had been crashed again with a 2 seconds loss. Clawtooth got the halfway lead bonus points.
But then, traffic began to slow them both down - not all at once, like it happened to DeCuir first time, but taking a few tenths of a second constantly, letting Clawtooth save his position though. DeCuir was pushed farther and farther away with each lap, at the lap 38 the gap between him and Clawtooth was 4 seconds already.
If that happened at an oval track, it would be possible to say DeCuir hardly stands a chance to regain the lead. But at the road course, everything is less predictable - especially with such a wild traffic...Clawtooth got into a huge accident at the 41st lap, and DeCuir got closer to him - the gap has decreased to 1 second, even with traffic between them.
At the 47th lap, DeCuir caught up with Clawtooth and, after a very short battle, took the lead. Clawtooth, of course, was intented to take it back, and at a certain moment, when DeCuir got crashed by the traffic, he passed him by... only to get crashed too, by another car. So their positions remained, and due to the fact that Clawtooth was losing time while dealing with the traffic until the very end of the race, that was the order they've finished in.

DeCuir and Clawtooth were on top, that's for sure, but without traffic appearing here and there, this would be obvious who wins - this time, both had an equal chance to win. What I want to say is traffic was more crusial than I've ever seen.
This is always a question - to let leaders pass yourself or not let them? Different associations set different rules (or no rules at all), but whatever they are, that never kills the competitive spirit. See you around, racers!




The grid:

Pole Position. Grosmanteau DeCuir  16.275
P 2. Saphyre Cyberstar,  16.473, -0.198
P 3. MidnightRambler Frostbite,  16.584, -0.309
P 4. JP Paneer,  16.635, -0.360
P 5. Eagle Clawtooth,  16.700, -0.425
P 6. 'ZZ Bottom' (foneco Zuzu),  16.823, -0.548
P 7. Garth Moonites,  17.403, -1.128
P 8. Aangel Cortes,  17.472, -1.197
P 9. Clifford Market,  17.781, -1.506
P 10. ⓢ ⓦ ⓔ ⓔ ⓣ (SweetTooth Firehawk),  18.144, -1.868
P 11. unknown Kanya,  19.092, -2.816


Final Results:
1st. Grosmanteau DeCuir, 60 laps. Total Time : 1016.476
2nd. Eagle Clawtooth, -4.156 seconds.
3rd. JP Paneer, -1 laps.
4th. 'ZZ Bottom' (foneco Zuzu), -1 laps.
5th. Saphyre Cyberstar, -2 laps.
6th. MidnightRambler Frostbite, -2 laps.
7th. Clifford Market, -3 laps.
8th. Aangel Cortes, -4 laps.
9th. Garth Moonites, -4 laps.
10th. ⓢ ⓦ ⓔ ⓔ ⓣ (SweetTooth Firehawk), -5 laps.
11th. unknown Kanya, -42 laps.

Fastest race lap: Grosmanteau DeCuir, 16.099