Sunday, November 25, 2007

MotoSL - race #3...Oh no...Oh so close

Race #3 of the MotoSL season at Snowpeach , was another packed house, 28 riders qualifying on the day, this being one of my favorite tracks on the circuit i was hopefull it would be a good day .

Luck struck first kinda during qualifying , where i ended up qualifying in the very last group of the day , a long wait , but the advantage was that only Doll Kabuki and i lined up on the grid to run our qualifying laps , while the rest of the field ran in groups of 4 .
I tried to overdue it a bit knowing the lucky break we had, i got a good enough lap to qualify me 4th on the day on my first timed lap, but i went for more, which resulted in 2 wrecks and 2 not as fat laps hehe, oh well not complaining about 4th on the grid. Just Catteneo took pole position away from Jafo Tendaze, who had been holding onto it since the first Qual group of the day ran .
My Pure and depo team mates Suzy Cuddihy and YumYum Divesadero both ran great races in the Group 2 race to take 1st and 2nd , 3rd Pure Driver RamsesIII Pharoah took the checkered in the group 3 race, all looked very impressive .

Next was the main event for places 1st to 6th , usualy my strategy is to take it easy on the start , alot of problems happen in the 1st couple turns that can really set you back , and with a field consisting of Just Catteneo, Jafo T, Motorato Ware, and Silk Bamboo, such a mistake can be unsurmountable to make up.

But this time was different, i dont know why , i just went for it. 3-2-1 go, and all 6 racers jammed thru 6 gears to hurtle towards the suicide hairpin.. i was pretty clear on all sides with Jafo and Just in front of me , im sure Moto close beside, i hit the sweet spot and jammed on the brakes while flipping my gear down to 3rd, around the tight right hand hairpin , i dont know who , Jafo and Just im sure, close around me , a quick left turn after the hairpin...4th gear , 5th gear , 6th gear , then one of toughest turns a hard fast left , down to 5th gear , back up to 6th gear , by now i was in the lead.

In the lead , thats where i would stay for the next 14 laps , dodging fallen riders and bikes, surviving lag pauses , short ones when someone wrecked bad, long ones when bikes collide together, doing whatever i could just to stay on my bike. Reading gate spam i could see Silk was in 3rd as i passed behind rez lane after the hairpin, this told me one thing ...whoever was in 2nd place was between finish/start line and me , which is not a big gap.....lap 13 , relaxing trying to just play it safe , lap 14 goes by , if someone was very close behind me , i would see their gate spam before i reach the hairpin turn 1, but nothing...no spam , turn 1 , turn 2 ...final lap, turn 3 ............

turn 4

i go too far inside , the side of my bike scraping against the concrete wall, i go down in a crash ....hurrying to my bike... i have troubles getting it pointed right way , but i soon get going , rounding turn 5 , i find disaster, at least 3 riders crashed..i get stuck in the melee of riders trying to get going again .... finaly i get around the final turn and across the finish line....3rd place, what i would describe as 3rd place the hard way lol.

Just Catteneo took his 1st MotoSL and RaceSL victory , with Silk Bamboo in 2nd , Moto Ware in 4th, Blackjack 5th and Jafo 6th .. Very happy to say even with 3rd i still manage to capture my first MotoSL podium spot and first podium for depo Motorsports, our generous and very gracious hosts and sponsors.. next race is slated for next week on December 1st , maybe at new circuit track Teller speedway , but atm this is still tenative .

Thursday, November 22, 2007

Pontiac Raceway Park season comes to end

After a blistering 8 month season the Pontiac Raceway Park season has come to a end . It was here at the Motor sim i came so long ago it seems and met Mr. Tiger Noh in the infield painting his cars , seeing those and hearing that there was organized races held at the beautifully done track , i knew i had to get involved. I bought my first cars , #84 B-mod and #77 Nova Street stock and i was ready .

My first race on the track was just a few days away on a friday i believe, it was the street stocks . I think i suprised myself as much as everyone else, by leading most of the race untill i T-boned Sabrina Lachman who had spun out , i finished 2nd behind YumYum Divesadero , and i was hooked.

127 races later (according to the records i kept all through the season), the Monster season comes to a close. I managed 26 wins in that time , which i feel is decent vs such talented drivers as Jafo Tendaze, Subwoofer Fuhr, Doll Kabuki, YumYum, Dekul Runo, Greg Drayman , Tiger Noh, even track owners Suku Ming and Toby Rainbow sometimes, and many others who always showed up ready to race for first place.

In the end i managed to wrap up championships in the Super/Street Stock, Late Model stocks, Mini-stocks and tied for championship with Subwoofer Fuhr in the Grand American Modified division.

Subwoofer took home the championship in B-mods , Legends, Pro-Trucks, Racing Karts and a tie with me in Grand Ams.

Jafo Tendaze brought home championships in Dirt Midgets , Dirt late Models and Pontiac Solstices.

Doll Kabuki wears the crown this season for Pure Stocks and Sprint cars.

Throughout the long season there was many exciting races , at one point after 2 consecutive wins in Street stocks , i had beaten Subwoofer Fuhr in both races by a combined time of less than 1 second difference.

The limited winter season has already begun and theres been already several exciting races, looking forward to the 2008 season which begins in march 2008, and hopefully the positive changes that will come with the release of Havok 4 =)

Sunday, November 11, 2007

MotoSL ....Race 2

This saturday was race #2 at Mooz Raceway ....32 drivers competed, with a sim load of 38 people . Those numbers alone are enough to send most people familiar with SL screaming bloody murder into the night in fear of painfull lag . Most events in SL you attend with 30 , 40 or more people , your lucky to get 1 frame a second and usualy have to hope the friend that tped you into that mess was in a good location , cause even just moving around is a chore.

But luckily RaceSL races are no script events , so most people were able to enjoy it with minimal lag , although a few with higher pings still suffered unfortunately.

As with each event , the qualifying round gets things started , more stressfull than the actual race, qualifying determines which group race your in or even if your gonna be racing at all, top 23 move onto 1 of 4 group races on the day . Luckily i was able to get in one of my better qualifying rounds since i have been racing in RaceSL and ended up 4th in a very competitive and tight field, only 1 second seperated 1st place qualifier from the 12th place qualifier.

Group 2 race was notable with Depo team mate Doll Kabuki running a excellent race, leading nearly wire to wire, with bike pro Silk Bamboo giving her a serious race after a first lap crash started her out early in back of the field . Lap by lap Silk crept up on Doll, the excitement was building in the observation room , Doll held her own very well, but it was obvious on the last lap Silk was gonna be in position to try a pass. Doll held her off for half of the lap , and looked in controll, but it seemed Doll was hit with a lag pause narrowing the gap between them to nothing , into the next turn they went side by side and collided, neither went down , but Silk got the worst of it allowing Doll to pull away to a impressive win .

Next was Group 1 race, with me sitting 4th on the grid , and high hopes. 3-2-1 , and were off, i fall to 6th in the first turn , which isnt bad when 1st is still within sight. But turn 2 resulted in a collision with Yamaha Harley, and i got the worst of it going down . Getting back on my bike i never really recovered , chasing Yamaha for more than half the race, he ran very well, with no mistakes to allow me to catch up.

Bike Racer went down , putting me up to 5th still chasing Yamaha , although i was making a few mistakes here and there, allowing him to pull away more and more. Even after another wreck , i was still in a good position , Pole sitter Just Catteneo went down and fell back to last , putting me up to 4th place. But again just sloppy riding put me down on the ground on the 2nd to last lap , Bike Racer (thats his name) passed me , and i ended up 5th . Jafo Tendaze led wire to wire for his 2nd straight win , Yamaha Harley ran a excellnet steady race and ended up 2nd , after Motorato Ware had just 1 costly wreck putting her in 3rd.....looking for redemption in 2 weeks when the series moves to Snowpeach .

Friday, November 9, 2007

Pontiac Raceway Park '07 Finale


Fresh from the race tonite , a 250 lap throw down , featuring one of the banner classes of the league, the Late Models. Late Models are basicly NASCARs .

At first, with a early part of the race fraught with troubles, including me flying out of racetrack twice and the sim crashing, i didnt think i would have much to say good about this race, but it ended up being quite a race.
My early troubles causing red flags , put me at the back of the line on the restarts several times, but then things began to click. After a "proto-type" pit stop around lap 50 , the first thing of this type tried in the league, i was able to pop up into 2nd place, hot on Subwoofer Fuhrs heels.

It was quite a duel , lasting about 30 laps before i was able to pull ahead of Subwoofer. i led for about another 30 laps before another red flag brought the race to a halt again, a good opportunity for racers to rest there sore hands. The Late Models can be quite challenging to drive and can wear out your hand after just 30 laps, and we were up to 120 by now .

I was sitting in the front of the line for the restart hoping to keep my groove going , but disaster struck after just three quarters a lap, i hit the wall and flipped on my roof, another red, Crippy back to end of line ( the rule for causing a red) .

Race restarts again , lap after lap i claw my way up again finaly its Greg Drayman and me dueling it out for 1st place, for atleast 20-30 laps we traded the lead back and forth , very close racing , but Greg and i became stuck for a moment , causing yet another red flag . Back to end of the line for Crippy.

By now we were on i think around lap 200 to 210 , my hand aching , there would be no more come backs, Jafo started out restart in front and stayed there till end for the win, i was in 4th most of rest of race, battling up to 3rd a little . But falling back again, a couple brutal final laps and rough dueling between me and Subwoofer , i some how managed to cross the line in 3rd...sorry Subby, race over , thank god .

This wraps up the 8 month 2007 at Fairgrounds and Dirtfield, a upcoming blog will detail the final results and standings of the 13 car divisions .