Happy Holidays

Hope everyone had a nice Christmas and has a safe new year, posting the picture above of myself and Rayne at our house, Haven Manor, which will be celebrating its 1 year birthday since we moved in . We have a nice plot of land there and just added the woodland you can see over to the right, will post a pictorial on just the house and property soon .

Other things in news.... is Les Whites holiday Time trials we did on december 21st, a large group of racers traveled across SL track to track , trying different vehicles in 3 laps to see who got the fastest times, it was a great tour of SLs race tracks, including , Mooz, Racer's island, Kokopelli raceway, Silver Mountain (SMC), Otway raceway, Amber raceway , Misp..all in all it lasted 6 hours and was lots of fun for all, in the end Jafo Tendaze won the event by just 1 point over Ram Pharoah.

This last sunday the 28th , was test race #4 for the Rfactor league, a good showing of 6 drivers this time. Was a few technical problems , but all in all a good race, especialy the last 3 laps where i chased Ratta Raymaker very close, shown in pic below, Rattra prevailed. So far tenatively setting opening day for the season for wednesday January 14th .

I wont be making the next MotoSL race, which is round #9 at Mooz, will be out of town celebrating christmas wiht my family who lives all over the place and hard to get together somethimes, i wish all riders luck, go Archer =)

Group1 GP Racing league holds another test....

Wednesday we held another test race , this time at the Nuerburg sprint layout. The test was a little bumpy, and had to be restarted one time, but otherwise was alot of fun . This was our first test using what will more than likely be the official class cars of the league , LMP 675 prototype Sportscars.

These speedy cars require discipline on the twisty road tracks , a slight mistep and you will be involved in a costly spin out. In the test race , Jafo and myself seemed to have the steadiest hand and drove a close race for almost the first half . But alas my fellow test racers made a few costly pit stop miscalculations ( or no calculations as it were) and i won with Jafo only 10 seconds behind despite his error.

The Group1 GP league will be for any SL based racing enthusiasts willing to come out and particpate. We will be racing a 10 race season over hopefully 10 to 12 weeks time . With cash prizes for each race and end of season . We will be racing on full sized real world simmed tracks. Most tracks are 3 to 4 and half miles in length. With lap times around 1:30 to 2 minutes each .

Official races and tests are held at 5pm SLT on wednesdays , and maybe bumped up to 5:30 pm to accomodate some drivers RL schedules. We have also been racing on other days if we feel like it , infact in this pre-season mode anyone participating can request a test for anytime and we will see what we can do about getting some drivers on the track .

Race format includes a open practice, a open qualify, then the race itself, which.. although we are racing Le Mans style cars, will be short, 30 to 35 minutes , which is approx 15 to 25 laps on these full size courses.

Races will include pit stops , spin outs and crashes , full computer regulated rules and penalties, including yellow flags , blue flags and black flags for naughty drivers . Computer doals out penalties automaticly for such infractions as.... jumping the start , cutting the track , speeding in pits , disobeying blue flags . Penalties include... drive thru, stop and go and of course the black flag, which means disqualified.

Only 4 drivers this test , but we expect to grow after the hollidays from 5 current drivers testing to 7 or 8, and hope to have 10 to 15 when we begin the official Season. We will continue to run our test races to get new drivers used to how the show runs and the nuances involved, so hopefully no one is beffuddled about any aspect when the green drops on opening day of the season . If this interests you , contact me in game about details , and hurry up and join our tests before Jafo T. gets much more practice out there =)

MotoSL Season #4- Snowpeach GP 2

Annie Gufler takes her 5th top step of season

This round of the MotoSL season takes us back to classic Snowpeach for the 2nd time, which is fine with me cause i like this track alot =) . This synergy seemed to pay off , when i managed to qualify 3rd despite a very laggy qualify round for me , and my seeming inability get off the proverbial "Schnide" as far as qualifying .

Annie was hot , grabbing her 2nd straight pole with a lap nearly a half second faster than Yuriko in 2nd, Jafo landed on 4 and TFox Tammas 5th , for a all Archer/ AM Pro top 5 .

This showdown would have to wait though , as Just Catteneo made a bid to join the Group A party. Just qualified 16th , which means he was on pole for the opening D race, which he won decisively .This race also saw some good racing from Nella Boccara 2nd, Hakuna Albatross 3rd and track owner Count Bayliss 4th...these 3 put on some good racing as Just ran away with it.

With the group D win Just advances to 6th on grid for Group C, which had league favorite chimpanzee... Ford Roffo on pole. But to be honest im not even sure what happened to poor Ford, slingshot-fast-starting-pro Ram Pharoah got a great start from the 3rd spot and sped away into lead after the 1st turn , with Just Catteneo close behind all the way from the back .

Just got by Ram on lap 2 , Holden fell back by lap 4 , the remainder of the race was Just in the lead and Ram in hot pursuit but unable to overtake . Just , Ram , Suzy Cuddihy, Holden , Rattra Raymaker and Ford was the finish order.

Just stayed on his bike and on the track as he waited for the field of the group B race to roll out onto the race track . Josephina Gears was on the pole though and would not be denied, despite a valiant effort by Just who ran 2nd the whole time untill a late race fall let Stang Voom by, Stang finished 2nd , Just 3rd.

Hoping my bad luck of last several rounds might finally be behind me ...i started out well as the green fell on the group A race. I got past alot of trouble at the first turn hairpin and was in hot pursuit of Jafo who came thru the start cleanest and jumped to early lead. Annie accidentaly shut the door on a faster accelerating Yuriko and sent her crashing into the grass even before turn 1 , and Annie got the worst of the trouble at the pin , and fell back to 4th .

Lap 2 is about where my luck ran out , i was hit by some bad lag , not sure if just on my end , but hard to say as i fell from 2nd , all the way back to 5th . Annie jumped to 2nd lap 3 , and then got passed Jafo who crashed on lap 8. Yuriko had made her way up to 3rd and Joesephina Gears was running 4th .

I chased far behind untill i passed a fallen Joesephina lap 13 and was soon hot on Yurikos heels . I rather see Yuriko win the race , then be fighting over 3rd with her , but a race is a race, so all i could do was wish her luck and do my best ....unfortunately Yuriko fell lap 14 and i was by into 3rd where i finished, with Yuriko 4th , Josephina 5th, Fox Tammas 6th .

My 8th career podium at Snowpeach was bitter sweet, as AM Pro Rider Annie Gufler , after 8 races, stretched her lead to 29 points over Yuriko in 2nd, and 36 over Jafo in 3rd. Its the holliday break for MotoSL now , but will return on January 3rd for round 9 at Mooz.

Below is a screenshot introduction to a new pet project of mine, been putting together a group of SL based racers to compete online in the Rfactor racing game. So far we have a small group and it is growing, if you race rfactor or just want info , contact me in SL and i will see what i can do =)

MotoSL round #7

Annie Gufler of AM Pro takes 3rd win straight
MotoSL Season4 , Round #7 PSU2 Long track @Snowpeach sim

Finally after what seemed like the longest 2 weeks in SL ever , we reach round #7 . This round was punctuated with close hard fought racing and hard disapointment for the author, will try to focus on more of the former than the latter. Lets just say i suffered technical issues on race day , qualifying 7th and finishing 11th overall .

Annie Gufler grabbed her first pole of season , with Jafo 2nd, Yuriko Nishi 3rd, Holden Saunders 4th and Suzy Cuddihy 5th for the Group A qualifiers.

Each race today had some exciting highlights , Group D's story was first time racer Caz Freschi leading wire to wire for the win , with vets Nella Boccara and Bikey Bekkers chasing him the whole race, Nella fell and Bikey got by for 2nd .

Group C was all Bikersites.com rider Josephina Gears making a return appearance this round, but White's Bike's rider Molly Fitzgerald made the viewing box start to stir and murmur with a great 5 lap comeback, where she steadily gained each lap , from -4.4 seconds lap 5 to -1.2 seconds at the finish lap 10 , alot of riders had a steady race, Brave Ashbourne finished 3rd.

Group had Ram Pharoah on the pole.... zT Racing's Stang Voom gave him a chase the whole race, but Ram never faltered and got the win and the advance to Group A . With Sulla Looming passing TFox Tammas last lap for 3rd.

Group A started off with a nice chase , Annie Gufler in front and Yuriko Nishi close behind for the first 3 laps , then Yuriko went down . Annie motored ahead and led the race to the finish . For the rest of the field , the remaining race was a a 12 lap back and forth battle for positioning .

Jafo moved to 2nd after Yuriko fell, and stayed there 1 lap till he crashed himself... Yuriko moved back into 2nd lap 5 untill she took a big spill . From there Suzy Cuddihy took over the 2nd place position and ran a steady race. Yuriko fell to 5th , then down to 6th at lap 7, while Ram and Jafo battled over 3rd .

Lap 8 onwards Yuriko began made her move in attempt to make a comeback, passed Holden into 5th when he fell, then by Ram into 4th at lap 11. Soon she was chasing Jafo around in the closing laps of the race. The last lap of the race started with Suzy in 2nd place by a decent margin over Jafo in 3rd and Yuriko in 4th .

It didnt take long for that to change, 1st turn , Jafo goes down and Yuriko is in 3rd. Annie crosses for the win , Suzy can almost see the finish line as she comes around the last turn of the race.... 9 and almost 10 steady laps in 2nd place and Suzy has mechanical failure and she goes down mere dozen or so yards from the finish, Yuriko is past finishing 2nd, Jafo beats Suzy to line in 3rd, Suzy 4th, Ram 5th , Holden 6th .

Only a week break before the next big race at Snowpeach, Annie Gufler now has a 16 point lead over 2nd place Yuriko Nishi . Another big finish next week could be all Annie needs to coast to the championship, it is yet to be seen .

MotoSL Season 4 ...Round 6

Annie Gufler wins second straight at Backwards Canyon GP at RD Motorsports

Congrats to Annie Gufler for a convincing Round 6 win , with this she moves 10 points ahead of Archer Racing's Yuriko Nishi and 20 points ahead of 3rd place Jafo Tendaze.

25 turned out saturday to qualify, showing the dedication of the participants in a season now 2 months old and at its half way point. The qualifying rounds took its casualties, some drivers not getting the times they hoped for , and Sulla Looming suprising everyone , most of all herself by grabbing the pole position. Annie Gufler 2nd, Jafo 3rd, Yuriko 4th and Crippy Oh 5th .

Holden Saunders got pole for Group B , being a top rider this was a extra challenge for other riders in the group to overcome and advance up to A , this included Brave Ashbourne who finaly got off his duff and scored a nice win in the Group C race, Ram Pharoah, Suzy Cuddihy, Stang Voom and TFFox Tammas, a very solid field all around .

The Races started off with a bang in the 7 bike Group D race, with atleast a 4 bike spill at turn 1 , BBB rider Hakuna Albatross survived and led the field around for 5 laps before Hakuna took a spill allowing Racers Island rider John Alturas to close the gap quickly.

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Alturas passed Hakuna on lap 6 when he took another spill. Silk Bamboo like a ninja sprung on a ooportunity when Alturas wrecked and Hajuna blinked, Silk up from 3rd for the win, Hakuna just off her by .183 seconds , John Alturas 3rd just barely edging out Molly Fitzgerald, Mille Sands 5th , Nella Boccara 6th, Ford Roffo 7th .

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Group C race, Raver Bellow on pole. Just Catteneo surged from the 2nd spot on the grid and was able to get the hole shot after a little bit cleaner start this race, but only held it for 3 laps untill Brave Ashbourne jumped ahead and led around rest of race for the win . Just Catteneo was in position to make the most of any slips Brave had, but he didnt slip, Raver came in 3rd with MoR rider Rattra Raymaker 4th , Silk Bamboo 5th after nearly rallying to 3rd place, and BBB-GP rider Johnnie Gears 6th.

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Group B race saw pole sitter Holden Saunders of ZT racing , runaway with the race lapping the whole field i nthe course of a single lap on lap 10 . Meanwhile while Holden ran away with it , a tight group of riders consisting of Suzy Cuddihy, Brave Ashbourne and Ram Pharoah fought tooth and nail for every inch of track the whole race, trading off positions thru all 12 laps of the contest . Brave led most of the ways , but fell back for a couple laps to Ram ... in the end , Brave got 2nd place, Ram 3rd, Suzy 4th, Stang 5th and Fox Tammas 6th.

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Last but not least was the 15 lap Group A race, this was Annie's from the start , except for a spill in the tunnel where she lost the lead for very short time to Sulla Looming .

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For myself , sitting on 5th spot in grid , I wanted to see the race develope first before commiting to going all out . Into the 1st turn gently and and I see both of my team mates wipe out , im commited , I gun it thru into 4th place close behind Holden . I get by Holden lap 2 , and am chasing the lead group for one of few times this season for me , Sulla and Annie not far ahead.

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I chased Sulla into the tunnel lap 5 and there was Annie after her spill, Sulla got by , but i was even with Annie coming down the straight to the start/finish line , into turn 1 and I was too shallow crashing hard on the dirt, my bike slid up onto a small hill where I had difficulty moving off of it , i slowly backed my bike off while riders passed by, resuming the race I had fallen back to 5th .

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I chased Holden in 4th and Sulla in 3rd for 4 laps untill they both spilled , i was then able to move back into 3rd. Jafo had managed to run a steady race and was in 2nd after my spill on lap 6. Then it came.... the dreaded sim freeze, lap 12 all riders controls freezed up , most crashed cause of this , stuck in a hard right turn i went head first into the fence.

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Unfortunately so did season points leader Yuriko Nishi, who had just gotten up to 4th place , Yuriko's bike became tangled in the fencing , unable to get going quickly , Yuriko fell to 6th where she finished. Sulla 5th, Holden 4th, Crippy 3rd, Jafo 2nd .

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Next race will be held in 2 weeks on the PSU 2 track , Annie is looking to expand her lead, while winless Jafo, and Yuriko Nishi, who has fallen to 2nd in season points after the hard break of getting tangled up in the fence......have only victory and revenge on their minds for round 7 .

Friday was a big deal atleast for me personally , I scored my 4th win in the Legends class this 2008 SLASCAR season , giving me the season championship, unfortunately I came up short in the Late Model class and Super Stock class, congrats to everyone on their championship wins for the season as the multi-class SLASCAR season winds down to its completion. Big Grats to Greg Drayman who grabbed a season high of 4 titles.

Grid for SLASCAR 2008 season Legends class finale at Otway raceway

MotoSL4 - Round 5

Annie Gufler Wins Parking Lot GP at Snowpeach

Round 5 of Second Lifes premiere racing league.... and attendance hasnt slacked off, 24 riders showed up after a 2 week break to run for the first time on Les Whites new track.

Dubbed the "Parking Lot"... from the sky it appears like a oblong oval , besides the 1 tight hairpin the rest of the track is one fast sweeping turn after the other , making it the fastest track so far of the series, with riders clocking laps in the 14 second range . Due to this, Les expanded the usual number of laps per race to accomodate. Group D was to be 10 laps, Group C 12 laps, Group B 18 laps and Group A 20 laps .

Whatever confidence had built over the last 2 weeks of practice seemed to poof into the ethers for me personaly as my poor qualify performance landed me 11th , but more notably was the great qualify performance by up and comer Molly Fitzgerald who got 10th , old time vet and one of few riders from season 2 , Yamaha Harley got 9th , Bikersites.com rider Suzy Cuddihy 8th.

AM Pro rider TFFox Tammas 7th and points leader Yuriko Nishi having a nervous qualify landed in 6th . The top 5 included on Pole Jafo Tendaze, 2nd IDK boss Just Catteneo , 3rd AM Pro franchise rider Annie Gufler , 4th for his highest qualify position since entering RaceSL , Racers Island one and only Brave Ashbourne with ZT rider Holden Saunders filling in 5th and final set A Group position.

Each Group, except D , has 1 open spot , available for whoever is able to win the previous race, and this ritual began in earnest with the Group D race.

Ram Pharoah of the Slodcast team got the hole shot and never looked back, which might have been the best as there were some bad multi-bike crashes at the hairpin. Ram won and got the advance, Racers Island ace John Alturas grabbed 2nd and Indie Monkey rider Ford Roffo in 3rd.

Next was the Group C race, which had me, having qualified 11th on the pole. My confidence was not great in this one , i fell at the hairpin and had to make up alot of ground with 2 long time MotoSL vets Motorato Ware and Raver Bellow on the track . Raver took over 1st and I chased him, his ride was flawless for several laps before he spilled, it was quite a good duel and one point Raver and I trading off positions.

Somehow I was able to hold on for the win and advance, Moto passed Raver in the closing laps for 2nd and Raver got 3rd. Ramsses made a good run at 2 in a row finishing 4th, Rattra Raymaker and Millenium Sands finished out the field, both with very well run races.

Next was the Group B race with me 6th on grid and Yuriko 1st , and alot of good riders in between . I couldnt tell you exactly what happened at start, around the hairpin and cautiously as I could, I saw bikes crash to right and some fly off to left , I just pointed bike into hole and gunned it and was thru to 2nd and after Yuriko.

I stayed in reasonable contact till my first spill , then Yuriko was almost a mere speck ahead after my 2nd crash . As the race winded down Yuriko must have gotten in some trouble cause the gap slimmed again, but again I crashed . Yuriko got caught up in traffic the last couple laps , but there would be no more breaks for me , Yuriko crossed in 1st and got the advance, I finished 2nd a half lap behind Yuriko. Suzy Cuddihy 3rd, TFFox Tammas 4th, Molly Fitzgerald and Yamaha Harley respectable 5th and 6th.

It was off to the spectators box for me to watch the Group A race , Jafo grabbed the hole shot and led the pack around for 5 laps before hitting the pavement allowing Annie Gufler by into the lead and Yuriko, who had quickly worked her way up the field , into 2nd. Just Catteneo chased the lead group in 4th and gave Jafo a good chase before falling back.

By lap 15 Annie had a 6 second gap on Yuriko with Jafo closing in fast lap 18, Yuriko fell lap 19 and Jafo got up for 2nd place , Annie with the big win. Yuriko 3rd. Just finished 4th, Holden 5th and Brave Ashbourne's noble efforts wrapped up the field after a exciting race.

The season nears mid point with only 2 winners so far this season. Annie closes in on Yuriko who holds a 5 point lead . Its starting to develope into a exciting points race for the top , but if the 3rd thru 6th position riders ...Jafo, Crippy, Holden and Brave, want to even pretend to be more than just spectators in it , are gonna have to score some wins in the upcoming races.

Round #6 is slated for 1 week , November 22nd at RD Motorsports on the Canyon track again, this time we will be running the layout backwards. Already word from the paddock is that Jafo, Yuriko and Annie are putting down fast times with Holden Saunders improving towards the top level every day .

MotoSL Season 4 - Round #4

Yuriko Nishi takes her 3rd win... 2008 Mooz Iron GP

Round 4 of the current MotoSL season saw another heavy turnout of 27 riders seeking to test their mettle on the "Iron" Layout at Mooz. Pre-Race benediction at the difficult chicane and we were under way, running the show today was our own Yum Divisdero , who did a wonderfull job.

Yuriko nailed her 2nd straight pole position .500 seconds ahead of the field , Annie Gufler qualified 2nd , Jafo Tendaze 3rd, and the ZT team twins Holden Saunders and Stang Voom landed in 4th and 5th . Leaving me in the lucky #6 , which is basicly pole position for the B race.

With Qualify set , we moved onto the group races, BBB racing team rider Johnnie Gears had pole for the D group race. Johnnie got the hole shot , but after a fall, lost the lead to his team boss Bikey Bekkers. Bikey drove a solid race and never relinquished the lead, although he had some pressure from Am Pro boss Abacus Mimistrobel. Bikey got the checkers and the advance to Group C, 2nd was Abacus followed by Whites Bikes rider Molly Fitzgerald.

Group C race was a steady ride by Bikesites.com rider Zari Gears , AM Pro rider TFox Tammas gave him a good chase but Zari never faultered , Racers Island team leader and vet MotoSL rider Raver Bellow was able to take 3rd. Zari moves on to Group B .

Group B race, with Crippy Oh on pole , Just Catteneo 2nd grid, Ram Pharoah 3rd on grid, Yamaha Harley 4th, Brave Ashbourne 5th and Zari Gears 6th . A strong field which made my little fingers tremble knowing I had to win to advance up to Group A .

Ram and Just were on my tail the whole race, sometimes coming closer sometimes further, I took it as easy as I could , but that meant I had no room for falls since my speed was too slow to gap the field much . I fell once when entering the chicane at the moment of a lag bubble, but was lucky enough to not lose the lead.

After chasing me a few laps , Just fell and Ram slid into 2nd and also gave me a good chase . I managed to keep the lead for the win and the advance, Rammses 2nd , Just 3rd, Zari came close to getting 4th , but had a few bad laps back to back allowing Yamaha to get 4th , Zari 5th and Brave 6th .

Group A race, and believe me at this point im happy just to not be watching this one from the bleachers. Yuriko got the hole shot she needed and ran hot out front with Annie Gufler giving her a close chase the whole race. Lap 9 and Annie got by Yuriko , but failed to capitalize on it and crashed same lap , giving Yuriko the position and the time to bring it home for her 3rd win in 4 races.

Now at the same time, on the other side of the track , far far away , was the rest of us flopping around like fishes trying to stake claim on the finishing positions that were left over . Being last i got to sit back and watch the others surge full bravado into the grinder...err i mean chicane at the race start. Holden im affraid , didnt make it thru to other side, he hit the grass on the right and slid thru grass and hit fence on the left , that was the last time i saw him till race was over.

Lap 2 and Stang slips letting me by him into 4th , right behind teamie and defending champ Jafo . Lap 3 Jafo goes down and im in 3rd . But that didnt last long at all, i failed to make most of it and fell myself , letting both Jafo and Stang by me , im back in 5th again.

The 3 of us fought it out lap after lap , swapping positions now and then , but also falling further and further behind the lead group of Yuriko and Annie . Jafo stumbled 2 laps in a row, laps 5 and 6 , first letting Stang by into 3rd, then allowing me to get thru to 4th .

For 5 laps Stang led us around , me in 4th , Jafo's engine buzzing in my ear in 5th...untill crucial lap 11. I had be holding Jafo off for 5 laps , but he finaly was able to hit the hairpin tighter and faster than me and got by , I watched as he screamed down the finish straight after Stang, who just had problems coming thru hairpin cause he was limping along accelerating still.

Stang and Jafo reached the chicane at the end of the straight around same time , Stang in first followed close by Jafo, i was prolly close to a second behind still coming down the straight , when a huge lag bubble hit the sim. Already commited to their turns into the chicane , Jafo and Stang tangled and flew into the grass and fence ,as i entered the chicane , the sim was still bogged with lag , going thru was like slow motion, but i made it thru .

As ive stated a few times in this post, its all about making most of your chances , this time i made it stick and held onto 3rd, with Stang still close behind untill he fell again. I crossed the line getting 3rd place , Jafo 4th, Stang 5th and Holden 6th.

Another successful round of MotoSL in the books , cheers to Yum for doing great job, much thanks as always to Les for making it all happen .

After 4 rounds Yuriko Nishi sits ready, willing and able to walk away with this one, with 88 points so far . Annie Gufler isnt ready to let that happen just yet , with Yuriko still in her sights at 74 points. Defending champion Jafo Tendaze is still trying to dial in his racing this season, win less with 63 points, Jafo always remains a threat to make winning look all so easy. Crippy 4th with 52, Holden 5th with 44 points.
Yuriko is looking strong , but any of the top 10 who strike it hot in the remaining rounds are a threat to place well this season . Location of next race to be edited in when i find out =p.

Also i would like to note..... if any racers reading this , have anything interesting to comment about your race from your perspective , please feel free to to leave a comment . Alot of stuff happens each race and how it unfolds can often be interesting .

MotoSL 4 , Race #3 at the Canyon

Yuriko Nishi wins her 2nd MotoSL GP of the season

A fine day for racing on SL and a fine turnout of 25 racers to compete in Round 3 of the current season . The MotoSL calendar runs with 2 races then a week off , so there is a 2 week break before next race, meaning 2 weeks of practice leading up to race day , being round 3 , it was one of those races . Having 2 weeks to prepare, a good amount of drivers show up race day razor sharp and the anticipation for a tight race is tangable .

Qualify was fast with Holden Saunders setting a quick early pace that only landed him 5th on grid after all 25 racers finished qualification, Yuriko Nishi grabbed her first career pole position, with Annie Guffler 2nd, Jafo T. 3rd , Crippy O. 4th , Holden 5th , and Suzy Cuddihy 6th after she advanced from a Group B victory.

This was a day of good races from beggining to end, low lag... allowing the riders to put all the hard practice to work, Group D started the day with some close racing between IDK Racing's Yamaha Harley and AM Pro rider Spdx Exonar , with Yamaha prevailing in the end.

Group C was another good race, with a twist of heart break, RaceSL contributor and Racers Island team captain Raver Bellow was running away with the race by half way , with most of the action for 2nd place between Just Catteneo and ZT captain Stang Voom . On the last lap Raver came on too strong approaching traffic near the tunnel and he went down after a collision, Just made most of his chances and brought home the win .

Group B race was nothing short of exciting , especialy since it was BikerSites.com rider Motorato Ware taking to the grid for first time this season . A little messy at the start , a different person crossed the line in 1st the first 3 laps , Ram Pharoah and Suzy Cuddihy dueling in the front , but Ram crashed Lap 4 , allowing Suzy into 1st and Just Catteneo to move up to 2nd and in close pursuit of Suzy.

Generaly a pack of riders fighting it out is a blessing for riders trying to make up time and Moto made most of this with steady riding the first 8 laps allowing her to eventualy catch the lead group of 3 riders. Laps 9 and 10 the top 4 are extremely tight with lead group all within 3 seconds of leader , Just fell back , with Moto getting by into 3rd, then Ram Pharoah slips on the grass and Moto slips into 2nd, while Suzy Cuddihy starts to make a gap in the lead and run with it .

Last 2 laps were close and exciting, with 2 skilled riders... Moto Ware and Just Catteneo fighting it out for 2nd, came down to the last turn of the last lap , they were literaly exchanging paint side by side, slowing each other with contact, but Just was able to slip passed and grabbed 2nd , Moto 3rd, AM Pro rider TFOX Tommas grabbed 4th from Ram who finished 5th and Brave Ashbourne, who had even a rougher day than me =p finished 6th .

Group A , im sitting 4th on the grid remembering earlier in the day we were casualy joking about how dangerous it is to start in the middle of the pack, at front or back being preferable. staring at Annie Guflers back knowing Suzy was behind me staring at mine .

The lights go out and Yuriko jumps fast from pole and gets the hole shot into 1st. I also get a good jump at the start , while Annie doesnt get such a good one , the result is we come together at the tunnel entrance and im in 6th coming out the tunnel . Yuriko leads, with Jafo 2nd , Holden 3rd. Jafo holds 2nd place till a 3rd lap slip sends him down to the cellar with Suzy and me .

I trailed both of them as they swapped positions and paint for a few laps , untill Jafo rubbed out on the outside tunnel wall . Although I got to see most of this race from last place, opportunities did come my way, i stayed steady enough to pass the people i was chasing when they made mistakes, but i failed to capitilize.... crashing out after getting 2 big breaks , up to 4th , but back to last before much more than a lap passed.

Meanwhile a big slip by Annie in 3rd, and mistakes by Suzy and myself let Jafo work his way from last place lap back to 3rd by lap 12. At the front Yuriko ran a strong crash free race, with Holden Saunders stalking her within 4 seconds the whole race, a great performance by both riders, kudos to Holden for doing what he needed to do to win this race, but thats not a easy prospect if the person you are chasing for the win makes no mistakes.

Grats to Yuriko on her 2nd victory in 3 races, she leads the season currently, with Annie in 2nd , Jafo 3rd, Crippy 4th , Holden 5th , and unfortunately Josephina Gears of BikerSites.com team did not make the race, she fell to 6th but still also with striking distance of the top with some steady performances in upcoming races.

Next race is Saturday November 1st at Mooz on the "Iron" layout , a tough chicane that will make or break many racers day . Returning this week we have Silk Bamboo's wonderfull stat presentations hosted on Bikersites.com at http://www.bikersites.com/sl/racesl/. Also we have the SLodcast video of this race from perspective of race winner Yuriko Nishi and the other races so far this season at the Slodcast site http://www.motosl.slodcast.com/.

MotoSL4 Race #2 at Snowpeach

Annie Gufler wins Snowpeach MotoSL GP

Second Lifes most prestigious race series attracted 26 riders to compete for the top step today.
After some bumping and grinding with both Yuriko Nishi and Jafo Tendaze, Annie Gufler scored her 1st MotoSL win and the 1st MotoSL win for Am Pro Racing.

Josephina Gears held steady for a impressive 2nd place finish after Qualifying 13th on the grid and in Group 3 , proceding to win the Group 3 race and the Group 2 race. Josephina drew a hot hand today and finaly got a well deserved rest after racing 3 full races... standing up on the 2nd step .

Yours truly had a shaky qualify , just barely landing the 5th and final spot in Group A . My main problems started... oh about 300 feet into the race when I and Stang Voom came together trying to share the same line , the result was a hard crash into the wall taking us right out of the lead group at the start.

Stang got the worst of it having flipped over the barrier wall , it took him awhile with help of race stewards to right his bike and get under way . I on other hand was able to procede fairly quickly after righting my bike .

For awhile after that it was a lonely race for me , all alone on track as far as i could see, Stang far behind and i couldnt see anyone ahead, lap after lap , thinking i might be seeing riders thru the chicane (S turn) as i round the turn before it .

Finally around lap 8 i caught up to Yuriko who had taken a turn wide and come to a near stop on the grass to avoid going down . I chased Yuriko for several laps , but it was so-so driving vs good driving and i fell behind again .

Lap 11 and i came around the big sweeping turn before the chicane , and as in races past, suddenly i came up on 3 bikes , Jafo, Yuriko and Stang trying to get going after a bad incident near the entrance to the chicane , i was able get thru cleanly but Jafo was fast behind me being able to recover fastest from the accident area, from 5th just a moment earlier, i crossed the line lap 11 in 3rd.

Jafo was close behind for the next several laps , but i was able to make some space in the last laps and crossed lap 15 in 3rd. Jafo fast behind in 4th, Yuriko Nishi, who won Archer Racing's first ever MotoSL GP last week, came in 5th and Stang an unfortunate 6th after a nice qualify where he was 4th .

The Group 2 race was all Josephina Gears after some early race excitement with Raver Below and Just Catteneo dueling it out in the early laps , but both came upon misfortunes and steady Josephina was able to take the lead and gap the field. Brave Ashbourne of the Racers Island team, held on strong for 2nd place with Just Catteneo getting 3rd.

Group 3 was a great duel between BikerSites.com team mates Suzy Cuddihy and Josephina Gears. Trading off the lead several times, the race looked like it could go either way. The pair put alot of distance behind them to rest of field as they raced each other . Josephina finaly was able to get a little gap , winning the race, with Suzy 2nd and Holden Saunders after having the roughest qualify round of the day finished 3rd.

The Group 4 race might have had some of the loudest cheering of the day , with Snowpeach Raceway and MoR racing team owner , Count Bayliss surging out to the front of the pack early on and holding onto the lead for several laps , but the entire time , White's Bikes team rider Molly Fitzgerald, was hot on his heels.

Molly has been quite dedicated to improving her skills at MotoSL , practicing long sessions at the tracks before each race, and it paid off today. Several times Molly almost got by Count , but was held off. Possessing the more trained hand in this one despite Counts valiant efforts, Molly was just waiting for her moment to get by and get into the clean air where she knew she could pull away .

Finally her patience and skill paid off and she was by the Count , she was never challenged again and brought home a solid win . Count Bayliss held on for impressive 2nd place finish , with BBB
team rider Hakuna Albatross coming in 3rd.

Grats to everyone for some great racing , the schedule now has a week off with Race #3 taking place at Mooz on the Canyon track on October 25th .

After 2 races , Annie Gufler currently leads the points race, with Yuriko Nishi close behind in 2nd, Jafo Tendaze looking to repeat his championship last season in 3rd, BikerSites.com rider Josephina Gears 4th and Archer racing Crippy Oh 5th


Next post, during the MotoSL break week will be --- Past Champions: MotoSL season 2

MotoSL 4- Season opener Race #1

Yuriko Nishi wins Mooz Classic GP

39 people crammed into Mooz raceway to see and participate in the season opener of Season #4 of MotoSL . 29 riders entered the que and ran in the qualifying round , which was one of my few bright spots on the day . Accidentaly stopped 1 lap short (hard to count gloved fingers =p ), but still managed to get 2nd spot .

Holden Saunders landed the opening pole position with Yuriko Nishi 3rd, Annie Gufler 4th and Jafo Tendaze 5th to round out qualifiers for the group 1 race, the final grid was 7 bikes since the top 2 of each previous race advance to next race.

Suzy Cuddihy has been looking steady early this season and managed to win the Group 2 race with a strong performance. Josephina Gears grabbed the 7th grid spot after also advancing from the Group 3 race .


Unfortunately today was a bit laggier than normal and everyone experienced problems at some point . Despite this, the early races on the schedule managed to be close and exciting with BBB team captian Bikey Bekkers tenaciously hanging on for the Group 4 win , new comer John Alturas made a mark in his rookie opener by getting 2nd and advancing to Group 3 with Bikey .

Group 3 race was another exciting one with Sulla Looming and Josephina Gears gapping the pack , but not each other . They fought back and forth for a good part of the race, Sulla prevailed and took the checkers, Josephina advanced with a 2nd place. Yamaha Harley came in 3rd, Bikey Bekkers 4th, Hakuna Albatross 5th and Abacus Mimistrobel 6th and John Alturas 7th

Group 2 race was all Suzy Cuddihy, winning by 6 seconds, with Josephina Gears holding strong onto 2nd . 3rd was Stang Voom , 4th Brave Ashbourne, 5th Sulla Looming , 6th Just Catteneo and 7th Ford Roffo.

Group 1 race, a bit laggier than we are used to in RaceSL , but still managed to be a good race up at the front , with Yuriko Nishi leading mostly wire to wire with Jafo and Annie hot on her tail most of the 2nd half of the race.

My highlight and low light of the day was all on same lap . I moved from 5th and almost caught 2nd place rider on same lap , several bikes came together at the gate and i was forced wide and missed the lap counting , i finished the raced in 7th at -1 laps .

In a bold move Yuriko prevailed past Jafo and Annie to take the checkers, Jafo 2nd , Annie 3rd,
Suzy 4th , Josephina 5th and Holden Saunders 6th. Another big start for Archer racing , also nice one for BikerSites.com team represented by Suzy and Josephina.

Race #2 is at Snowpeach in just 1 week , practice time for the race will be short, but races at the ultra tight and claustrophic Snowpeach are always exciting . Ram Pharoah and Slodcast filmed the race using 4 cameras and VJ Shojo commentaed the race, the video can be found here.....

http://www.motosl.slodcast.com/

MotoSL season 4 track preview

One of the hallmarks of MotoSL and RaceSL is the wide variety of tracks we race on, and this season promises to have the most tracks so far of any season . With Les Whites new track rezzer system , he can build tracks, pack them up and then rez them in the sky of one of the leagues sims when its needed. This is a much more efficient system than having to acquire a whole sim for each track .


The crown jewel of the RaceSL circuit is the home track of Mooz , one of the oldest tracks and one of the leagues original raceways. Mooz' unique setup , allows for different layouts for each race at this location , walls are rezzed to change it to 1 of 4 or more unique layouts. One of the most dangerous being the speedway , a 4 corner partial oval that crosses a narrow suspension bridge , races on this layout are known for alot of crashing .

The other remaining original league track is Snowpeach. Built and owned by Count Bayliss , Snowpeach is modeled after the Brands Hatch road course in the United Kingdom . But while Brands Hatch is a winding, wide open, long road course, Snowpeach is often narrow and clausterphobic , more resembling a narrow city course , a fast track when mastered, Snowpeach can prove to be hard to master . Most people love or hate Snowpeach , but theres no doubt Grand Prix held here are often quite exciting .

Rising from the ashes of the other original RaceSL race track Misp , is PSU CS199, which filled the void when Misp was retired before FormulaSL season 1, cause it is only a Class 4 sim . Les replaced the hard and tight Misp track with another hard track known as PSU 1. The new track proved technical and difficult and was source of much consternation for this racer.

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During MotoSL season 3, Les introduced the PSU 2 track, pictured above. . PSU 2 isnt as technical as PSU 1 , but it is more wide open and faster , but still with some difficult spots on it that could make or break a big race.

The most exotic of the RaceSL grand prix tracks is the newer canyon track , which is basicly PSU 3 as thats the sim it resides in. The track looks like it sits in a desert canyon with part of it flowing thru a dangerous tunnel that has already seen its fair share of pile ups since the track came into use during FormulaSL season 2. The canyon track is one of the more technicaly difficult tracks we use , making it difficult for most racers to stay grounded on the track during the full course of a race.

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Recently Les unveiled a new track in the sky of Misp , this track has not been raced upon yet , but already has proven to be one of the fastest tracks yet , with few really sharp turns , the tracks overall shape is much like a oblong oval or peanut shaped , with long fast turns .

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With this new track , the league now posseses 6 tracks already , including all of Mooz' variations the schedule may contain up to 9 unique layouts during its 12 race course , an impressive variety , and a challenge to the comptetitors to stay sharp for the next race on the schedule .

Archer Racing MotoSL season 4 and other news

Archer Racing Team for the 2008 MotoSL racing campaign

The time has arrived, the pre-season came to a close on saturday September 20th at the PSU2 track . The season has been officialy scheduled to open on Octover 4th at Mooz Raceway using the classic layout. This was the 4th pre-season race, and although its location was a late announcement on last wednesday, riders were able to get in enough practice for a very competitive day .

There were some exciting moments in the lower group races , with Xia Mirabeau stirring up some cheers by leading for a bit in the Group 4 race, but at the finish it was Abacus Mimistrobell and Molly Fitzgerald moving on using the new top 2 placers in lower group races ,advance to next higher group, should see some exciting runs by riders qualifying in lower groups during the season .


In the end , Yuriko Nishi scored the win after taking the pole , both firsts for Yuriko congrats =)
Jafo 2nd and Just Catteneo 3rd. 21 riders competed today and there were some missing , so its looking like 25 plus will be competing once the show gets rolling .

This is my usual beginning of season post introducing the new team gear , all new stuff since this is Archer Racing's first entry into MotoSL. Les and Jafo came up with the design of our new bikes , sporting the team colors of black, gold and white.

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We enlisted the skills of VJ Shojo to create our new uniforms for this season , we are quite happy with the job hes done, VJ is also one of SL's top DJs so keep a eye out for him around the grid .

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Having won the last MotoSL season championship, Jafo Tendaze has decided to ride using the venerable #1 that is custom for the championship defending rider to use. Already in the Pre-season Jafo has proved he hasnt lost a step , winning 3 of 4 races. Last season Jafo finished with

234 points , 5 wins , 8 podiums and 6 poles for the NSG team . Jafo is the rider to beat for anyone looking to make their mark in MotoSL .

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Yuriko Nishi has re-signed with Archer Racing for this MotoSL season after a great performance in FormulaSL season 2 with the team . Last MotoSL season Yuriko rode with Motorato ware and Silk Bamboo on the OMG team .

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Yuriko finished 9th in MotoSL season 3 with 79 points overall. Yuriko is looking fast for this season having won Pre-season race #4 with a pole position too , Yuriko is all ready to give Jafo a run for the money .

Crippy Oh , spent MotoSL season 3 on the Pure racing team , finished season 3rd overall , with 171 points, 2 wins , 6 podiums and 2 pole positions . Looking forward to see how the team looks as a motorcycle team, there are a few very good teams out there ready and willing to knock us (hopefully mostly Jafo =p) off our high horses this season , its gonna be a exciting season as RaceSL always promises and delivers.

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This season the team is back to its independant roots , sporting no sponsors except for Yuriko's own motorcycle company --- YUNI Motorcycles.

MotoSL season 4-- Preview #1

Saturday 9/14 , we ran our 3rd official pre-season race for the upcoming MotoSL season , top 3 finishers were Jafo T. , Annie Gufler and Ram Pharoah . At the race were several of the new team bikes for the season , heres a sneak preview of some of the teams whose bikes are all ready to go for opening day .

AMPro led by Abacus Mimistrobel are looking strong with Annie Gufler also on the team and looking like a top contender .











This is the new bike for the Racers Island race Team , led by Raver Bellow, they have a full team so far with Brave Ashbourne and Spd360 Exonar.










Xia Mirabeau and Molly Fitzergerald are both looking in good form this pre-season, representing the home team for White's Bikes , both are looking to be in the points many times this season .



























Top MotoSL rider Silk Bamboo returns this season as captain of her own team, the BikerSites.com team.
Silk has signed on racing veteran Suzy Cuddihy and as 3rd rider , Motorato Ware, who hopefully will be able to make a bunch of races this season .


Stang Voom returns to RaceSL with his Zero Tolerance team , which includes veteran SL racer Holden Saunders , both of these riders have been running very fast on the pre-season tracks and could be quite a threat this season once they get some races and experience under their belts.

Lavoxy Uriza

Blood spatter on my wall

Our very first conversation, blood spatter on my wall. Something normally a person would dismiss as vile or disturbing to look at. With the right eyes, beauty can be seen. On the outside, you were hard an abrasive to some, cold to others. I saw a tremendously funny, charming and loving person. A person whom could make me laugh, cry, feel joy, and challenge my thoughts. You gave me new ways of looking at the world. New points of view that made me think.
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I am sorry I was not there to hold your hand in the dark. I wish i could have shown you the light you gave me and others. Rest in peace, my fallen angel.

May the road rise up to meet you.

May the wind be always at your back.

May the sun shine warm upon your face;

the rains fall soft upon your fields and until we meet again,

may God hold you in the palm of His hand.

Motorbikes and mini-cars

Season 4 of MotoSL gearing up for action .......

Its the time of season for the next round of MotoSL . Les White's brand new superbikes are just about ready . Rider and team registrations will begin September 1st. Currently we are running a Pre-season to test the bikes and tracks, and to let new riders join and get acclamated.

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Info for the new season is being posted at http://racesl.com/, already a few new comers have shown promise and everyone is looking forward to another exciting 12 race season .

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Anyone interested in what is often a exhilirating experience... yes you heard right ... forget the bad experiences youve had driving most vehicles in SL , these ones are actualy alot of fun, and complicated and innovative enough for the die hards..... come by Mooz or PSU CS199 and try out the new bikes.

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This coming saturday August 31st is the 2nd Test/Pre-season race. Jafo T. Ram Pharoah and Yuriko Nishi finishing in the top 3 last weekend at the first test race.

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Small scale racing at Aybabtu

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Also catching my fancy lately is the fun and innovative racing at the Aybabtu sim. Instead of trying to introduce a new full sized car racing league. Aybabtu Aabye has decided to scale down the vehicles 1/2, allowing for a larger track .

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So far this has been quite fun , and first time this blogger has really had interest perked by a SL racing league since the first time I TPed into Mooz

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Here is overhead comparison of my FormulaSL car and to the right a Proto-type body built at Ayb's scale by Sulla Looming. Yes racers actualy ride in these small cars, the pose folds up your body and a invisibility prim hides you . The ride is very smooth and is one of the easier forms of racing in SL to pick up quickly.

FormulaSL awards ceremony

Today was the awards ceremony for end of FormulaSL season 2. A nice event hosted by Motorato at her Hot Spot sim. Plaques, trophies and money were handed out to the top 10 drivers and top 3 teams . http://www.bikersites.com/SL/raceSL/ for the full stats of the season .

Thanks to Les, Moto, Rayne , Jerry and MAS racing , VJ Shojo, Shiryu Musashi, Isolone Torok and and all of Archer's supporters this season .

Grats to all drivers and teams, this season was alot of fun and looking forward to MotoSL season 4, which has officialy entered the testing phase with alot of interest. This season of bikes will have a new model, Les White's Wrath 10R , replacing the venerable Hawk 10R . A new track layout , with most likely more to come also .

I also will be blogging soon about Aybabtu Aabye's new racing league . Besides RaceSL this is the most creative builder and league ive seen in SL so far , its been alot of fun , im gonna miss the season opener on Sunday 8/17 , but hope to not miss any after that .

FormulaSL season 2 Finale at Snowpeach

MAS/Archer captures 2nd straight Team and Driver titles

Crippy Oh hangs on by slim margin to win Driver championship

FormulaSL season 2 , completes its course after many dramatic and exciting moments over the course of the 12 race season . Controversy , heartbreak and close competition all found in the 11 races preceding the finale.

If it had been a rocky road to this point , the final race promised to not disapoint . After the smoke of 11 races cleared, Jafo Tendaze sat on the verge of a amazing comeback in a attempt to defend his FormulaSL title and win his 3rd straight RaceSL Driver/Rider title.

Crippy Oh was in 1st place by just 7 points , the score at 208 to 201. Week 3 Crippy fell to 2nd after Kandy Tommorow took a big win , but had retained 1st place since. Jafo sat willing, able and determined to spoil that streak in the final race.

Only 1 week seperated races 11 and 12, so Snowpeach saw a flurry of practicing and preparing all week long . Setups were fined tuned, tire and pitstop strategies tweaked , tested and reworked .

Drivers braved often pitifull SL lag to try to hone their driving lines , to commit the track to memory and repetition , knowing mistakes are made in a split second, drivers must practice for many hours to be prepared for as much of the unexpectated as possible.

The first drivers slide into their cockpits in preparation for their qualify laps , officialy starting the final event of the season . Annie Gufler captured her 5th straight pole position , I managed to turn the 2nd fastest lap , Jafo did not qualify as strongly as some might have thought , taking the 3rd spot by just .001 over Yuriko Nishi in 4th , with Dolli Dreamscape being 5th qualifier for the Group 1 race.

The 20 lap group 3 race was dominated by Racers Island driver Brave Ashbourne , Rattra Raymaker 2nd , upcoming new driver Molly Fitzgerald 3rd, and the Kells Dragon team finishing out the field and grabbing up the last points spots , grats to Xia and Ravena .

Group 2 is 25 laps long and determines who gets 6th spot for group 1. This time around Yum Divisadero didnt wait around to tangle with Neko Carter , dominating the race even after falling to 4th after pitstops , she cruised to the win . Neko 2nd and Suzy Cuddihy 3rd. Yum moves up to Group 1.

Group 1 race, 30 laps . I was able to jump in front of Annie and lead field to the first hairpin, but after about half the lap , Annie jumped ahead and i fell to 2nd . I was there for 3 laps till a incident sent me back to 5th place in one fell swoop . Danger Will Robinson , there was many outcomes that would give Jafo the points he needed . Jafo 2nd and me 5th was deffinately one of them .

Combos that Jafo needed to win were, 1st and me 3rd.... 2nd and me 4th ect... a very slim margin with the leagues point system . Lap 7 and I was able to get by a surging Dolli Dreamscape and Yuriko Nishi, back into 3rd. Lap 9 Jafo took the lead from Annie , i passed into 2nd place again , untill Annie sent me back to 3rd.

A collision lap 19 sent Jafo all the way back to 3rd, I was in 2nd again , untill Jafo got by me lap 26. For 11 laps during the race , if it had been the final lap , Jafo would have made a truly great comeback run , but for 19 laps , including the final lap , I was able to be in position to stave that off.

In the end Annie won her 3rd straight race, Jafo 2nd , myself 3rd, only losing 4 points to Jafo I finished the season with 224 points , Jafo 221. A very close finish between 2 good competitors who , I certainly can say for myself , truly admire the other as being a top racer across SL .

Neko Carter got 3rd place overall, being from Switzerland i think all can agree was quite a feat, including a win at PSU during the season, Ram Pharoah another European driver came in 4th and had a couple podiums, Annie Gufler 5th , Yuriko Nishi , who has been a great addition to the Archer family 6th . YumYum D. a very respectable 7th , considering her very limited time to prepare for each race , she did great including a podium finish at Mooz.

Started April 19th , 2008 at Mooz , lasting nearly 4 full months , FormulaSL season 2 has concluded, the league now turns towards the return of the venerated Superbike series with MotoSL season 4. Testing has begun, sign ups will be announced when ready http://racesl.com/

Round 11 at PSU Canyon

Sunday August 3rd, Round #11 of 12 FormulaSL season #2. This week we headed back to the newest track on the circuit , the canyon track at PSU .18 drivers qued up after a hour delay due to unforseen circumstances, attendance had slimmed some since the start of the season where we had 25 strong each race, but even 18 is a impressive number for a a SL racing event.

Annie Gufler grabbed her 4th straight pole position , with Archer's own Yuriko Nishi 2nd, Silk Bamboo putting in a great qualify for 3rd, Jafo 4th , and Caz Freschi 5th for the Group 1 race.
I ran cold in the round and only managed to get 7th in qualify , landing me in Group 2 for 3rd time this season . Group 4 proved practice pays as rookie driver Molly Fitzgerald ran a strong race winning wire to wire and advancing on to the Group 3 race.

Molly again ran strong early in race before her car was lost in a bad wreck, Yum Divesadero ran this one wire to wire for a deserved win, strong performances from Brave Ashbourne who got 2nd and Dolli Dreamscape who got 3rd.

On to the Group 2 race, basicly my championship bid this season is riding on this race, and i was able to find a zone and run as strong as i could , leading the 25 lap race wire to wire , giving me the 6th spot in the Group 1 race i needed badly.

Neko Carter beat YumYum at the finish line by .01 seconds to grab 2nd , Yum 3rd, Sulla Looming, who was able to make her first FSL race, after so much promise in the pre-season had been ended by new RL work schedule, finished 4th ( or 9th overall) in her FSL debut, FOX Tammas 5th and Suzy Cudihy 6th .

Group 1 race , sitting in the back of the pack, 2 Archer cars in front of me , Jafo directly and Yuriko 2 rows up . The first major turn on this track is a hard left thru a enclosed tunnel , so as the lights went out i held back some letting the pack thru , but searching for a hole , lap 2 i found a little one , jumping ahead of Caz into 5th , but a slip and he was by me and again i was trailing the field in 6th .

5 laps passed i chased 5th place Caz and 4th place Silk as close as i could , but there was no mistakes to exploit , by lap 6 Annie led the field , with Yuriko in 2nd , and Jafo 3rd.
Finaly lap 7 Caz blinked and slipped a bit on the dirt and i was by him into 5th . Lap 12 Silk finaly had a bad moment giving me the chance to jump into 4th , the rest of the field had remained the same before the 1st pit stop, Annie , Yuriko then Jafo.

Laps 14 and 15 the field makes their pits , Yuriko's pit crew make both crucial tire and fueling mistakes costing her a deserved spot on the podium, but it was a mistake that allowed me to get by before she recovered, and sneak into 3rd place. Jafo led for 1 lap as Annie pitted , but his car stalled hard, although i dont remember passing him , next thing i know , lap 17 of 30 and im in 2nd place.

Lap after lap im suprised everytime i see it say my name in 2nd place, i never saw Annie's gate spam , but next thing i know , after a couple mediocre laps , lap 23 and i see Jafo's gate spam in 3rd just 2 seconds behind me . Twice Jafo surged within passing distance on laps 24 and lap 28, but twice he fell back .

Annie took her 2nd straight win , Crippy 2nd, Jafo 3rd, Yuriko 4th, just off podium for 3rd time . Caz got 5th in his first Group 1 appearance and Silk Bamboo 6th .

2nd place in this race to Jafo's 3rd gives me +4 points , bringing the duel for the League championship down to the last race of the season with the points score at Crippy 208 , Jafo 201. Anything can happen in FSL so no one will be counting any chickens till the cork pops on the final race of this season.

FSL Race #10 Mooz Super-Speedway

This post is a little late considering the race was ran a week ago on July 19th , but i figured better late than never.

This round we were back at Mooz, but this time for the dreaded Speedway layout . The fast outside ring track at Mooz. Basicly this amounts to 6 cars going 300 kph around a quarter mile semi oval. With a small bridge span thats tight quarters on exit with a hard left towards the finish line. All the ingredients for a disaster ...and round 10 did not disappoint.

I broke a small streak of not so good qualifies with 2nd on grid this day, with Annie Gufler grabbing her 3rd straight pole . Jafo 3rd, Silk Bamboo grabbing a impressive 4th and Dolli Dreamscape with her 3rd Group A appearance in 5th.

The cleanest races of the day were the Group D and C races with Just Catteneo taking the Group D and challenging a hard charging Neko Carter in Group C , but Neko held on for the win. Group B was the kinda race you watch with your hands over your eyes, with a dramatic finish of Ram Pharoah leading the race and crashing on the final lap, Yum Divisadero got by for the win and transfer to Group A.

Group A ...uhh what can i say , lots of traffic for me in this one , the first couple laps were tight with me right on Annie , but at some point i encountered heavy traffic and struggled to keep my car on the course. Meanwhile Annie raced a superb race to capture her first victory, with Jafo in 2nd and Yum Divisadero taking her and her teams first podium of the season in 3rd, i managed 4th as my podium drought continues. Dolli 5th and Silk 6th .

The season is coming down to the wire with just 2 races remaining , I still lead as i have all season, with Jafo just 3 points behind me . The next round takes us back to PSU canyon track , stay tuned , the finish of this season is promising to be drama (exciting drama im refering to.. not the waste of time drama ) =)

Race #9 SLBloggers Grand Prix at Canyon track

The race weekend started out at Fairgrounds on friday , for my 2nd race of season this time in Late Models on the big oval . This time I actualy did ok , qualifying at back of pack , but getting up front after some laps to battle for 2nd with Jafo , with Greg Drayman running away with race.

Some iffy driving and i shuffled back to 3rd where i finished , with Greg in 1st and Jafo in 2nd. The 40 lap race had no red flags and was a great one overall .

Next up was Race #9 at the new Canyon track at PSU , sponsored by SLBloggers. This one promised to be tough from the get go , as practice times from many drivers all week had been very close .

Qualify was the usual nail biter, some people got lag , that hampered their efforts . I got 5 clean laps , but failed to score a superb lap . In the end Annie Gufler took her 2nd straight pole position . Ram Pharoah 2nd, Neko Carter 3rd , Jafo 4th , Silk Bamboo 5th, and myself in unlucky 6th for 3rd time , putting me on pole position for Group 2 race.

Caz Freschi ran away with the Group 4 race , but nothing prepared the drivers and spectators for the carnage to come in Group 3 race. From the get go the field drove in tight formation, banging and rubbing paint around several laps .

Rattra Raymaker was forced into his backup car after his starter was destroyed in a wreck. Early leader Suzy Cuddihy also lost a car on lap 8 . Caz led for 7 straight laps before being passed by Abacus Mimistrobel , only to pass him again on last lap for the win . Caz advanced again to Group 2 race.

Group 2 race, i just knew i had to win this to get into the Group 1 , so i lowered my head and just tried to drive right, i had fewer slips overall in the 25 lap race than i did in the 5 lap qualify round . I got the win , Yuriko Nishi had been right on my tail for the first 13 laps , fell back some , but finished 2nd , YumYum 3rd, Caz nabbed 4th , Brave Ashbourne 5th and TFFox Thomas 6th .

I made it to Group 1 race, only 5 good drivers in front of me....it wasnt promising for me , but I was happy to make it that far. Off we went , first majot turn on track is the hard left thru the tunnel , I let everyone else charge thru first and it paid off somewhat , I was in 4th after lap 1 , where I would remain most of race. The early part of race was Neko in 1st , Annie chasing him close in 2nd , Ram in 3rd.

Lap 6 I passed Ram, but Jafo passed me , then finally passed Annie lap 11. Neko led wire to wire for a great win . Jafo 2nd , Annie got her 2nd straight podium in 3rd, Crippy 4th, Ram 5th, Silk 6th .

I still lead Jafo in drivers championship by 10 points with 3 races to go , next one being in 1 week at Snowpeach. Grats to Neko for a great win today.

EMH Grand Prix at Mooz

Jafo Tendaze takes 3rd straight FormulaSL win

Saturday was race #8 of the FormulaSL season , taking place at Mooz on the classic layout, sponsored by Frageurs Hock and LUCA of EMH motors. This go around we had the smallest turn out so far of season with 20 drivers signing on to compete in the race.

Qualify round for me was even more nerve wracking than usual , with a thunderstorm starting to brew in my area, i could hear the thunder getting louder as i waited for my turn. I qualified in the last group of the day , and didnt run such a good round , i slipped on the grass my best lap , only good enough to get me 4th on the grid, with rookie sensation Annie Gufler grabbing the pole , Jafo 2nd , Ramesses 3rd, me 4th and Yuriko got 5th for 3rd straight 3 Archer cars in Group 1 race.

There were several good lower group races, with Just Catteneo shining above the rest , winning the Group 3 and Group 2 races to get into the A race. Brad Lytton won the Group 4 race decisively, but only managed 5th in the Group 3 race.

Group 1 race promised to be a good one , i just didnt know not for me. The light went green and the field was off, that is where my problems began , another car went wide heading into turn 1 sending me into wall and my hopes of a win with it .

I recovered and chased the field in 5th place, where i settled for a bit, closely chasing Just C. for 6 laps , with Yuriko in 3rd, Annie in 2nd and Jafo leading the field . Lap 7, Annie and Yuriko came together in the turn after pits , allowing me and Just to slip by , suddenly i was in 3rd, chasing Just who was in 2nd .

For 12 more laps i chased Just , who was intent on a huge day at the track . But the strain of racing 3 races was showing on him and his car and i was able to get by him into 2nd on lap 21.
Just's car completely stalled lap 25 and he could only manage 4th place.

For the rest of the race i ran mostly on clean track, 9 laps trying to gain ground on Jafo, i got up to minus 10.8 seconds distance but was too much , eventualy i dropped back more and Jafo won wire to wire for 3rd straight, i got my 3rd straight 2nd place, Annie got 3rd for her 1st podium in her 2nd FSL race. Just 4th , Ram 5th and Yuriko 6th after having a hard time during 2nd half of race.

Jafo narrows the gap on my lead, leaving me with 17 points ahead in the drivers championship, with 4 races remaining . Ram Pharoah is in 3rd, Neko Carter in 4th and Just Catteneo in 5th . Race #9 is in 2 weeks at the brand new canyon track . A new track that Les has built and set on the PSU sim , its a fast track and alot of drivers have been posting very fast times in early practice, its starting to look like this next race might have the closest qualify session of the season .

SLASCAR, FSL race #7 and The Misfits

Had a full weekend of SL , starting with the opening races of the 2008 summer SLASCAR season on friday night . Although im only running a few classes this season , one of them ...Super Stocks was the first race of the season . Frustration and quarter panel kicking were the highlights of my night as i failed to qualify for the main event . Suzy Cuddihy took the checkers in Super Stocks and Suku Ming grabbed the win for the season opener Super Modified division race.

Next up was saturday afternoon and race #7 of FormulaSL season 2 at old PSU raceway. Jafo grabbed pole position in what is prolly his best and favorite track, i qualified 2nd , Just Catteneo 3rd, Neko Carter 4th, Archer's own Yuriko Nishi landed on 5th spot on grid , for 2nd straight race with 3 Archer cars in the Group A race. Ram Pharoah continued to be hot hot and moved up to 6th spot after winning the Group B race.

What can i say about this one , it was Jafo's from the get go , using a 2 stop strategy , he out speedstered my 1 pitstop strategy to win . I got 2nd after some bad driving late in the race, Neko Carter grabbed his first Podium for the MoR team coming in 3rd, Yuriko got 4th , and still has her eyes on that elusive podium, Ram Pharoah 5th and Just came in 6th .

As i mentioned , Ram won Group B with Yamaha Harley 2nd , Silk Bamboo 3rd. Group B also featured Moto Ware...SL race fans can never get enough of the hard charging and skilled driving of the MotoSL and FSL veteran Motorato.

Yamaha took the win in a good Group C race , with 2 skilled newcomers Ish Jaxxon and Annie Gufler . Yamaha running on nubs for tires and almost out of fuel , barely edged out Dolli Dreamscape in the last turns of the race for a exciting win. Dolli 2nd and Toast Racing Caz Freschi 3rd.

Group D featured even more rookie debuts , including Ish Jaxxon , who won the race to advance to group C , also racing were FSL rookies Brave Ashbourne and Rattra Raymaker. Nice to see some new faces for the 2nd half of the season , attendance is still very high , with 26 drivers throwing their hats in the FSL ring for this race. Race #8 is saturday June 28th at Mooz .

Sunday it was time to take off my stinky driving gear and put on torn jeans and t-shirt to attend a Misfits concert at club Primal Chaos, performed by the tribute group Bad Ampitude. These concerts are always alot of fun , one favorite song after the other for over a hour , while the group performed the stage show. Michael Graves, Jerry Only, Doyle and Chud , great fun . Cant wait for next show . You can find info and scheduling for Bad Ampitude at http://badampitude.ning.com/

FSL season 2 ...Race #6 at Snowpeach

Took a bit to get the post-race report off on this one , raced on june 7th at Snowpeach , our 2nd time stopping at Count and Bibi Bayliss' this season . Was hoping to do a little better this time , getting 8th place last time out .

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This one was a bit marred by several incidences that in end caused several drivers to depart the league , this was unfortunate and im affraid product of people losing perspective, this is racing in SL people , SL wasnt built for racing .....Les White built this racing for us ( interested racers), the money it costs to provide this comes right out of his pocket , most times with thanks , but this time , a few peoples conduct was uncalled for .

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Anyways , the race, again it was the usual tension filled qualify session , i managed to get 1 good lap out of 5 and landed my 3rd straight pole position , Jafo got 2nd, and Yuriko got 4th spot , to put all 3 Archer cars into Group A for first time . Neko Carter in 3rd .Dolli Dreamscape of Depo got 5th and Ram Pharoah 6th after he won the Group B race.

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I was able to jump to the front at the start , with Jafo falling to 3rd for several laps , i felt i was running pretty good , but traffic slowed me some , and before i knew it Jafo was able to blow by me after i had been leading the first 20 laps. We had a few close laps as i chased him, but in end he was able to pull away and get the win , i got 2nd, Ram got his first podium of season with 3rd,

Neko 4th , Yuriko got 5th to help the team get 3 of th races top 5 , Dolli came in 6th .

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Ramsesses won Group B race after a nice duel with team mate Suzy Cuddihy who hasnt shifted into 6th gear this season, Pure are deffinately a threat to sit 2 cars in Group A . Ram also won group C race , finishing just ahead of Toast racer Caz Freschi. With newcomer rookie Hecter Janick winning Group D , his 1st FSL race. Grats to all , some great racing all around in this one .

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After the driver shakeup, Im still in 1st , with Jafo in 2nd now, Ram Pharoah sits in 3rd, Gros Decuir in 4th and Neko Carter 5th . Next race is on June 21st at PSU , on the old track .