9/16/12 Racers Island - Stock Car Series - Round 4 @ Sunset Short Oval

Racers Island Raceway blog

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

Grid positions, final results and racers' personal stats are available here: Racers Island Stock Car Results blog


One of the new tracks at Racers Island, Sunset Short Oval, received the racers on Sunday for the 4th round of the Stock Car series. This is the inner track of the two Sunset tracks and, obviously, a shorter one - the whole oval takes 8 seconds to finish. Cars were battling, jumping on the walls, riding on 2 wheels (in the article, when you read "accident", that's usually what is meant by it) - therefore, we got lucky to witness some tough competition even for Race C!

The qualifying round brought some surprises again - at first, Mystic Upshaw (Audion) led it, then, all by surprise, it had been overtaken by Jahbith Laville - yes, that new racer who's joined Racers Island only recently! It was expected to see him stay at the pole position, but Miku Hatsune (Doll Kabuki) was qualifying last and overtook it.
Here's something else I'd love to mention - and that's another new racer, the name is Aldo Raine (Anti Ghost). I was lucky to have a couple of words with him after the race - turned out he knows about racing in SL for 2 years, but started racing himself only 6 months ago. Before, he raced only at Borderline Raceway, started with bikes, now he has decided to try himself here, at Racers Island. Congratulations with a new start and good luck, Aldo!
So, the positions were set, and it's time to move to the first event of that evening.


The grid for it was formed by:
P 9. Shaft Laval,  7.934, -0.204
P 10. Nella Boccara,  8.000, -0.270
P 11. Aldo Raine (Anti Ghost),  8.156, -0.426
P 12. miller Tomcat,  8.276, -0.546

OK, I got to admit. My bets were on Shaft Laval and Miller Tomcat at first. But it took only a few laps after the start to prove me that Boccara is intended to battle, and battle real hard. She kept up very nicely with the leader of the race, Laval, trading positions with him from time to time. Tomcat remained 3rd, Aldo Raine dropped down to the last position.

Troubles for Boccara began at lap 18, when she crashed against the wall along with Tomcat - and the battle for the 2nd position almost started, but Tomcat dropped behind after a couple of unsuccessful laps. On the 33rd lap Boccara had lost a second in an accident - the size of the gap she had with Tomcat - and that gave him a chance to battle her for the 2nd position. But the battle didn't last long - by the 40th lap, he already had a 0.9 seconds gap, that was enough for Boccara to avoid any competition with him.
And so, Shaft Laval and Nella Boccara continued competing in the next race.

The grid for this one, the B race was consisted by:
P 5. Kert (Upshaw34),  7.861, -0.131
P 6. David Wetherby,  7.863, -0.133
P 7. Eddie Mathieson,  7.894, -0.164
P 8. iasos,  7.908, -0.178
Race C P 1. Shaft Laval,  7.934, -0.204
Race C P 2. Nella Boccara,  8.000, -0.270
Kert took the advantage of being ahead of everyone on the grid and sprinted away at the very start, while others were still sharing positions in battles occurring here and there. Soon, even Kert himself got involved into one - with Nella Boccara and Iasos - for defending the lead, and unfortunately, he hasn't dealt successfully with this task. Iasos overtook the lead, but Boccara didn't remain 2nd - in a few laps, due to her challengers, she dropped to the 4th position. So, there was a battle for the 2nd position between two other racers, who were Shaft Laval and David Wetherby.
The battle was very very tight and was lasting until the lap 16 when a huge accident happened that involved all the racers from the 2nd to the 6th position. As a result, it got all mixed up at first, but positions almost didn't change when they've spread out again - Kert Upshaw had managed to keep the 2nd position, and Shaft Laval dropped behind the whole pack. Soon enough, though, Kert got challenged by Wetherby for his position - and lost that fight. From that moment on, he wasn't able to catch up with Wetherby, without losing the 3rd position though - the gap between him and Boccara (4th) was wide enough (1 second approximately).

By the 30th lap, the Top 3 had been set up. But right behind them, there was a fight for the 4th position - between Boccara and Laval. On the 37th lap, Mathieson had joined them - but 3 laps after, Iasos, who had a huge lead, made traffic for them, and that brought some difficulties for Mathieson's ability to keep up with  Laval and Boccara. Nevertheless, it affected Iasos as well - Wetherby, who remained 2nd, kept on closing up. From the lap 53, the gap between him and Iasos wasn't wider than 1.5 seconds - and was decreasing lap by lap.
David Wetherby at last had overpassed Iasos on the 61st lap, when Iasos got into an accident and instantly built a 0.8 gap between him and (now leading) Wetherby. But the race wasn't over yet! Lap 66, in return, became unsuccessful for Wetherby, and Iasos caught back up with him. Then the final battle for the lead began - and ended 3 laps after, when Iasos had been slowed down by lapped Laval. That was a chance for Kert to overtake the 2nd position, and he even got closer to Iasos - but there was not enough time for him.
In this manner, David Wetherby and Iasos were the ones who got an opportunity to battle in the main, A race.

And here are the ones who made it to the main event:
Pole Position. Miku Hatsune (Doll Kabuki)  7.730
P 2. Jahbith Laville,  7.757, -0.027
P 3. Mystic Upshaw (Audion),  7.775, -0.045
P 4. Yuriko Nishi,  7.835, -0.105
Race B P 1. David Wetherby,  7.863, -0.133
Race B P 2. iasos,  7.908, -0.178
Miku Hatsune had a headstart over everyone, so she avoided the battle that was going on behind her and involved 4 drivers - Iasos seemed to have troubles again, since he stopped in the middle of the track after the first lap and 4 laps after had dropped out of the race. The rest had a short battle for the 2nd place which was won by Yuriko Nishi. Shortly after, Jahbith Laville joined Upshaw and Wetherby in a battle for the 3rd position - and won it; then Upshaw dropped behind after an accident, while Wetherby kept up with Laville. On the 10th lap, Laville and Wetherby traded positions.
Laville, however, caught back up with Wetherby by the lap 20 - and, if Mystic Upshaw hadn't pulled between them, there would be a battle. But it only slowed Wetherby down and didn't affect Laville at all.
Speaking of battles... Let's get back to the Top 2, where Miku Hatsune and Yuriko Nishi have settled down.  At first, the gap was significant, but, lap by lap, Nishi was decreasing it - and, by the Lap 26, the gap got under 1 second. But she still would remained 2nd for a long time, if Hatsune didn't got herself into a big accident with a 2 seconds loss - and thus, Nishi got an ultimate lead that she kept till the very end of the race.
In fact, the positions had been distributed by the 40th lap -the gaps were 3 and more seconds. And that seemed to be like this till the end of the race... but Jahbith Laville, who was going 3rd at the moment apparently wasn't going to make it so.
That's why he, even despite a 3 seconds gap with Hatsune (2nd position),  kept on decreasing it - and it paid off on the lap 83, when Hatsune lost 2 seconds with a wall again. The gap between them was less that a second at that moment - and no wonder that he has passed her by. Wild traffic promptly filled up the space between them, making it impossible for Hatsune to get the 2nd position back - and that remained so till the end of the race.

Losing the position doesn't necessarily mean that you've lost it for the rest of the race. Yes, it is like this very often, but still, there are examples of those who might be not the best drivers on the grid, but they simply don't get crazy and don't try to jump over their heads - they simply keep up with the driver ahead of them waiting for the right moment to pick. Certainly that might not happen, but how you can be totally sure it won't? Makes sense? In my opinion, it does.
Also, it's my huge pleasure to congratulate Jahbith Laville with his first podium of the season - he made a very good job, and looks like he has a promising future in racing in Second Life! Way to go, Jahbith :)
Compete hard, racers and readers - and see you on the grid!