9/30/12 Racers Island - Stock Car Series - Round 6

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


I have to say that: GOOD TO BE BACK =)
With RL issues I'm going through now, I barely can find time to write. So, sadly, I can't guarantee you to post articles as frequently as I used to.
But the race we had on Sunday, the last race before the mid-season break, was something I could not skip. It was spectacular. It was intensive. It was full of moments. It definitely is worth to write about.
Enough babbling, though! Oval tracks are something you, as a racer or a spectator or a reader, must be very familiar with. In attempts of making narrow turns, racers make piling up inevitable. The cause and the result of them always differ, though - some end up being small accidents that just distract drivers a bit, but some change the whole competition.

Wetherby attempts to pass DeCuir

We had both and, I dare myself to say, even more. As it usually happens, all began with the qualifying round - let's take a sneak peek how it went!
Times of the first drivers were close, and that was like this until Grosmanteau DeCuir got a huge lead over others - his time seemed to be unbeatable. However, most of the best racers of Racers Island were qualifying after him and were getting closer times, but none were faster than DeCuir's one. The last one to qualify was Miku Hatsune (Doll Kabuki), and that was the last hope for all of us to have something changed... and yes, she's got the closest time to DeCuir's one, just 0.038 second behind. So, positions were determined, and it's time to move to the event itself, especially with the fact that both races had something to impress us spectators!

And first one to go is the Race B. Here's the starting grid:
P 6. Mystic Upshaw (Audion), 7.219, -0.118
P 7. TechBadger (01010100), 7.231, -0.130
P 8. Eddie Mathieson, 7.232, -0.131
P 9. wildrose Bijoux, 7.276, -0.175
P 10. Nella Boccara, 7.393, -0.292
P 11. miller Tomcat, 7.417, -0.316
Number of laps: 75
Huge mess right after the start (when it's a tradition that someone cracks up at the first turn and takes a bunch of drivers with him/herself), in fact, was the one that helped with setting the positions straight. Mystic Upshaw, though, had a nice headstart, and that helped her to avoid it; Eddie Mathieson, who got injured the most, had dropped to the last position. On the next lap, the same story happened with Wildrose Bijoux who, as a consequence, found herself side by side with Mathieson. The rest got busy with battling each other, where Nella Boccara showed a great performance by leading the pack (therefore, being 2nd).
Lap after lap, racers kept on spreading out. However, the gaps weren't big enough to be totally sure in their positions - one mistake could cost one to any driver. That's why Boccara, after a few not the best laps, got Miller Tomcat tailing her and, after a couple more laps, overpassing her. Right behind them, the action took place as well - a certain accident had put TechBadger at the last position, where he and Mathieson began battling each other, letting Bijoux make her way up - she became 4th.
On the 15th lap, Boccara made a little mistake, which turned into an opportunity for Bijoux - and she took it.  Next one to advance was Mathieson, thanks to another mistake Boccara made on the next lap. Here, I'd like to do a stop here for a very quick remark - before the race, I've watched Bijoux practicing a bit, and have to say, the counter of her laps was showing over 1000 laps of practice. And there, it was perfectly paying off!
Up to lap 24, the positions remained - but on this one, wild traffic appeared on Upshaw's way, causing her 2 bad laps, and that allowed Tomcat to get closer to her. Nevertheless, after a few laps, once Upshaw overpassed the traffic, she could enjoy driving with a clear road ahead of her again.
Lap 40 was pretty much the one that changed it all. How? Oh, that was a huge accident (and this time I mean it!) that Mystic Upshaw managed to break out of - and the only another driver who got lucky was Eddie Mathieson! What happened? Lapped drivers (being TechBadger and Nella Boccara), battling hard, got stuck at the inner side at the end of the turn, and Tomcat simply slammed into them. That great piling up cost all the involved drivers about from 1 to 3 seconds - and I'm not the one to tell you what a loss of time at the oval track it is. From that moment on, Mathieson kept on going 2nd - and, even though he was very close to Upshaw and could, in theory, battle for the lead, he didn't do that. The race was close to its end, and indeed it was best not to risk the position your luck brought to you so generously.
However, that was not the end yet - and certainly, we couldn't get along without wild traffic. This time, represented by lapped TechBadger, who began battling Eddie for nothing and was slowing him down. Despite that, Mathieson remained driving firmly, due to the fact that Tomcat was 2 second down from him. But at the lap 61, it happened. It just happened. No one was injured, but Mathieson. Being flipped over, he lost no less than 5 (!!!) seconds to get back to the track. That is obvious that he lost his 2nd position and a chance to compete in the main race along with that.
Miller Tomcat moved up to the 2nd position, and so did Wildrose Bijoux (3rd). The gap between them was not big enough to guarantee the 2nd place to Tomcat - and Bijoux was eager to take that chance. Her efforts kept on taking place till the very end, but... apparently, there was not enough time. Tomcat finished 2nd, and so he and Mystic Upshaw were the ones who have moved up to compete at the main race!

And what a race it was! The grid, first of all:
Pole Position. Grosmanteau DeCuir 7.101
P 2. Miku Hatsune (Doll Kabuki), 7.139, -0.038
P 3. David Wetherby, 7.156, -0.055
P 4. Yuriko Nishi, 7.166, -0.065
P 5. iasos, 7.185, -0.084
P 6. Mystic Upshaw (Audion)
P 7. miller Tomcat
Number of laps: 100
Grosmanteau DeCuir did his best move at the start to save his lead and avoid any chance of being crashed, gaining almost 1 second lead over David Wetherby (who became 2nd). Meanwhile, behind them, an intensive battle for the 3rd position between Mystic Upshaw, Miku Hatsune and Miller Tomcat was taking place; Yuriko Nishi and Iasos were less lucky and dropped far behind.
A few laps after the start, DeCuir's crash up the wall cost him a bit of time, but that still was enough for others to get closer - especially Wetherby, who now was dangerously close. His hope, nevertheless, didn't last too long - DeCuir is not the one who is easy to overpass. The pack had spreaded out (with Upshaw keeping up at the 3rd position, Hatsune at the 4th one, Nishi being 5th and Iasos with Tomcat going side by side at the end) - only Wetherby kept on being the sword of Damocles for DeCuir that was ready to fall any moment now.
That moment had to be postponed, though - since the 26th lap, Wetherby began losing touch with DeCuir. His time came again once the wild traffic appeared on their way, being represented by Iasos and Tomcat. And Iasos kept on tailing DeCuir, allowing Wetherby to get closer again. Wild traffic was left behind after a while, but hasn't left two competitors completely - Wetherby was the next one to be crashed, and that put him 1 second behind DeCuir yet again. Meanwhile, wild traffic kept on fulfilling their task of changing the course of the race - Yuriko Nishi almost wasn't injured by them, but Mystic Upshaw and Miku Hatsune were the ones who got it. What, however, didn't break their competitive spirit - they still had each other to battle for the 4th place!
Experiencing all these adventures, they made it to the halfway. And who could suspect that... no, David Wetherby still wasn't able to overpass Grosmanteau DeCuir. But what kind of race it would be if there wasn't something? That "something" was none other but Iasos. Once DeCuir got close to him and Tomcat again, there was a short series of unfortunate crashes that turned out to be crucial for DeCuir's lead. Meanwhile, Wetherby and Nishi overpassed those three without a single effort. The Top 3 had changed.

Lap 70 - crusial for David Wetherby's
2nd position

But still, the race wasn't over - and now, we had Yuriko Nishi being intended to close up to Wetherby. That goal has been reached pretty soon, not without a little help of external forces (being wild traffic, of course). Let's not forget about DeCuir who kept on closing up to David after that - and, after a great accident for Nishi on the 70th lap, when they were going three-wide for a while, he managed to leave Wetherby behind. They've battled for a while, but then the wild traffic did its job for separating them. Even though Wetherby was closing upon DeCuir from time to time, even with occasional battles - that is never an easy task, to compete with Grosmanteau DeCuir, and doesn't matter at which position he is. And that was the order the Top 3 has finished.

I must say, this race happened to be the brightest example during my very short racing world experience. Probably, this one also can be one of a few most significant ones - at least for the current racing world of Second Life.
If you become traffic, what do you do, racers and readers? Let others pass you or struggle till the end? Just asking, nothing more :)
See you at the grid, guys - drive safe in RL, leave the competition for SL!