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 .

FSL Season 2- Race #5 at Mooz

Race day , Second Life is being its usual charming self and not allowing FSL Race director Les White online . Gathered in the spectator room is the usual group of suspects , and every wanderer by who happens to enter the unlocked sim , by the time Les shows 58 people are gathered , after the smoke clears 42 remain , for largest group in sim during a RaceSL race .

26 drivers register and qualifying starts , the suprise of qualifying is rookie Stang Voom who ends up grabbing 5th spot on grid and is in the Group A race . Gros DeCuir ends up in Group B for the 1st time this season . I somehow managed to grab my 2nd straight pole position , with Jafo next to me in 2nd , Ram Pharoah 3rd , Kandy Tommorow 4th, Stang 5th , and Just Catteneo winning the group B race to advance to the group A race.

Group D started off the day of racing with a nice win by Miss Dolli Dreamscape , moving her up to the C race. Unfortunately Dolli didnt fair as well in the C race , finishing 6th to a talented field , with Yamaha Harley 1st, Toast racing's Caz Freschi 2nd, talented veteran driver Holden Saunders 3rd, Archer Racing's own racing godess Yuriko Nishi 4th and Macmost's Mango Birdbrain .

Yamaha moved up to Group B , but did not fair well either finishing the race 5th , hot as lava IDK driver Gros Decuir suprises the crowd with a 6th place finish , depo racing Matriach YumYum Divisadero came in 4th , Pure Racing speedster Suzy Cuddihy 3rd, Museum of Robot's own Neko Carter , who got the unlucky 6th place in qualifying ( which is pole position B race) , came in 2nd behind Just Catteneo.

Next was the group A race , came into this one with a little confidence , but still realistic knowing 1 bad slip against this field can be difference between podium and last . The layout for the race is know as the "Iron" layout (thats what its shaped like from air) , the significance of that is the starting line is staring point blank at the trickiest portion of the whole track , a tight little chicane (S turn) that guarantees pain should a field of 6 cars attempt to charge thru it .

Sitting on pole here , only hope is to get thru the gears before the 5 cars behind you do.....3-2-1, loud roar of 6 cars flooring the gas and trying to fly thru the gearing , all I know is there was a white flash as Ram Pharoah surged from 3rd on grid with a perfect move , splitting both Jafo and I and flying thru the chicane and into the early lead.

Not quite as good driving bymyself found me slowly falling thru the positions in the field till I finaly settled in 5th place going around lap 1 , i got by Just into 4th before the line for lap 1 , up ahead Jafo was in 3rd , Kandy in 2nd and Ram in 1st .

3 laps Ram led around before he came together with Kandy Tommorow in turn after pits . Jafo got by the tangle into 1st , and i was able to jump from 4th to 2nd . I chased after Jafo for 8 laps , keeping up but not getting any good passing chances. But we were catching up with traffic , unfortunately for Jafo he caught up to Ram and Stang at the hairpin turn , he got caught on the outside of them and was taken wide for a 3 car pile up , i cut the turn tight and slid into the lead , it was lap 12.

18 more laps and i got my 2nd straight win of season , with Jafo in 2nd , for Archer's first double podium of season , Kandy Tommorow , who had another race with alot of contact , raced the fastest , at one point i was stalking lapped traffic and saw Kandy race up on me , i just swerved out of way letting her by back onto lead lap...she was flying , managing to catch and pass Just Catteneo and come in 3rd, Just in 4th , Ram 5th and Stang 6th.

I think i was stunned after race and didnt remember to thank the people who help make this all possible Les White , Rayne Niven , Jerry and MAS Racing , Shiryu Musashi, VJ Shojo the voice of RaceSL , my team mates Jafo and Yuriko.

and a special reminder , tonite is game 6 ...go Pens !!!!!!