9/9/12 Racers Island - Stock Car Series - Round 3 @ Big Stack Oval track

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


When we're talking about Racers Island, usually that means there are 2 or 3 races to review - and the race A is the one that takes our attention most of all. But if a few racers that are considered as one of the best haven't showed a great performance during the qualifying round - expect a great battle for making it to the main race! 

And yes, that's what we've witnessed this Sunday. 2 extremely spectacular races out of 3. 

That became clear during the qualifying, that didn't go without a few surprises.

First of all, Racers Island had a new racer - the name is Jahbith Laville. His performance was impressively good for someone new - 4th position on the grid (should I remind you how close the times at the oval tracks are?). 5th position on the grid was taken by someone you know damn well, if you're into racing in SL - Grosmanteau DeCuir had decided to give it a shot himself, even though he wasn't able to practice (due to RL) and bought a car literally at the last moment. And, like I've said, the grid for the race B promised a lot... Want to know about it? Read further!

But, race C came first. The grid was formed by:

P 9. iasos,  8.584, -0.134

P 10. miller Tomcat,  8.612, -0.163

P 11. Shaft Laval,  8.631, -0.181

P 12. Nella Boccara,  8.672, -0.223

P 13. Harleybeth28 Amoufhaz,  8.759, -0.310

Number of laps: 50

Miller Tomcat overslept the start, and that promptly put him at the last position; also Harleybeth28 Amoufhaz overpassed Nella Boccara when the latter got into an accident. Therefore, in the beginning of the race we had Iasos, Shaft Laval and Amoufhaz leading. The pack had pretty much spread out, but, just to remind you, the track is on the ground level, so accidents were expected...

On the 5th lap, Boccara caught up with Amoufhaz and won the 3rd position, whilst Amoufhaz herself dropped on the 5th. 

Another battle occurred only on the 20th lap, and that was between Boccara and Tomcat. Boccara managed to retain the 3rd position till the 23rd lap, and even when Tomcat got it from her - she still kept up with him, not making his task of remaining 3rd easy.
While they were busy with the battle, they've caught up with Laval, who found himself at the wrong time at the wrong place and got into an accident with a 2 seconds loss - very crusial for the oval track, so the battle continued for the 2nd place (and, therefore, moving up).
Unfortunately, once a small accident between Boccara and Tomcat took place on lap 38 and they crashed together against the wall, Laval, who wasn't wasting his time and caught up with them meanwhile, took the 2nd position. Boccara and Tomcat just continued battling till the very end of the race - but it was only a battle for the 3rd position. Iasos and Miller Tomcat were the ones who moved up.

Now, let's move to the Race B and have a look at the grid (which, in my human opinion, looks more like a grid for the main race):
P 5. Grosmanteau DeCuir,  8.527, -0.078
P 6. Yuriko Nishi,  8.565, -0.115
P 7. Miku Hatsune (Doll Kabuki),  8.574, -0.125
P 8. Mystic Upshaw (Audion),  8.583, -0.134
Race C P 1. iasos,  8.584, -0.134
Race C P 2. Shaft Laval,  8.631, -0.181
Number of laps: 75
Iasos and Laval certainly weren't able to compete with such a pack, so, once the race has began, the gap between then and first 4 had grown to 3 seconds.
Grosmanteau DeCuir was leading at first, but the rest stayed close to him and each other. Miku Hatsune kept up with DeCuir to overpass him on the 7th lap. That's when DeCuir began having problems with his car and dropping farther and farther behind... until he realized it's because he used the wrong settings. Changing them cost him about half a minute, and that put him on the last place with a very, very pale chance to catch up with the Top 3.
Meanwhile, Hatsune got a good lead over Nishi, who was 2nd (2.5 seconds and counting) and Upshaw - 3rd position (6 seconds and counting). Three other racers had been lapped already, and Iasos kept on defending the 4th position from Laval. 

Nothing was changing until the 33rd lap, when an accident instanly put Nishi behind Hatsune (read: Nishi lost 3 seconds and got lapped). Therefore, Upshaw moved up to the 2nd position.
Another accident took place at the 43rd lap, when Iasos' keyboard battery died (as he stated after the race), and that allowed DeCuir to move to the 5th position, while Laval occupied 4th.
This order remained till the end of the race. Hatsune and Upshaw were the ones who moved up!

And, finally, we're moving to the main event, with following participants:
Pole Position. Kert (Upshaw34),  8.449
P 2. David Wetherby,  8.493, -0.044
P 3. Eddie Mathieson,  8.517, -0.068
P 4. Jahbith Laville,  8.524, -0.075
Race B P 1. Miku Hatsune (Doll Kabuki),  8.574, -0.125
Race B P 2. Mystic Upshaw (Audion),  8.583, -0.134
Number of laps: 100
Surprisingly, Kert hadn't manage to spare his position - and got surrounded by Eddie Mathieson, David Wetherby and Miku Hatsune after the start. Mathieson  was the one who led the race, though his lead wasn't too obvious in the beginning - due to other challengers. However, it changed on the 4th lap, when David Wetherby and Kert slowed each other down and Mathieson got a 2 seconds advantage (and at the same time, the same happened to Mystic Upshaw and Hatsune, who, therefore, happened to get 5th and 6th). Kert continued getting problems and dropped at the 5th position, right next to Mystic Upshaw, and that promptly caused a battle between them.
At the same time, Wetherby was getting closer to Mathieson. Behind them, Jahbith Laville was going 3rd, Hatsune - 4th. Now I'd like to pay attention at those two, due to the fact that on the 20th laps Hatsune began catching up with Laville - but, I must say, Laville was staying pretty firm and accepted the battle. However, he had to concede victory, and that moved Miku Hatsune to the 3rd position.
Let's get back to the leader of the race, Eddie Mathieson and still catching up with him David Wetherby. By the 40th lap, the gap was under 1 second and kept on decreasing. And, I believe, Wetherby would have been able to battle Mathieson for the lead, if lapped Kert Upshaw didn't show up on his way. There was a very long battle, pointless for Kert, but critical for Wetherby. When Wetherby finally managed to shake Kert off, he was 2.5 seconds down already - and that was the 68th lap out of 100. There was not too much time to catch back up - and Wetherby possibly realized that, because his laps weren't as good as they were during the first half of the race.
And what was going on behind them? Jahbith Laville was no longer 3rd - now, there was a battle for this position between Miku Hatsune and Mystic Upshaw. Hatsune was doing very good in keeping her position, even when the battle got pretty close. But it changed on the 92th lap - Hatsune crashed very bad with a 2 seconds loss, and, with such an advantage, Mystic was guaranteed to finish 3rd. 

You're at the grid, among other racers lining up (or, if you were lucky/skilled enough at the qualifying round, with other racers behind you), already have planned your perfect start... Checked your settings? Check them twice. No one is safe from a mistake!
Have fun and compete hard, racers and readers!