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 .