Sunday, February 22, 2009

G1-GP at Monaco

This weeks race for the G1-GP series was one of the more anticipated of the season taking us to the almost mythicly tight streets of Monte Carlo. In preparation for the difficulty of this race, we had a 2 week break and a test race last week for this one .

I think the preparation paid off as many were in good form when it came down to qualify . Sulla
Looming got her 4th straight pole , myself 2nd and Caz Freschi 3rd , lining up a anticipated 20 lap dog fight , with all others more than willing to join .

But fate had it this wasnt to be... Both Sulla and Caz crashed on lap 1 , leaving me out front with Katier Reitveld in 2nd . Caz started off the incidents by solidly hitting the barrier tires on the left while exiting the tunnel chicane, unfortunately for Suku Ming she was also right there, hitting Caz and spinning around pointing the wrong way, like me at Mills , Suku was helpless to do more than watch the whole field pass her by while she got going again, falling from 4th to 10th .

Not long later up ahead Sulla entered a fast S turn too wide striking the outside wall and bouncing off to the perimeter guard railing , a spectacular crash .. where she even got some air this time. Both Caz and Sulla were forced to pit because of the damage .

Meanwhile up ahead, the field continued to race on . Jafo took over 2nd and Yuriko into 3rd after Katier spun out . They both hung on for a good portion of the race, in the mean time , both Sulla and Suku had been working their ways back up . Lap 16 , Sulla had caught back up to Yuriko and Jafo, Jafo pitted out of 2nd , and Yuriko wobbled coming out of turn 1 just a bit, but it was enough for Sulla to power her way by .
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Sulla hung on to get 2nd after falling to 10th place on lap 1 , Jafo had a solid race coming in 3rd, Suku also made a great come back after getting involved with the lap 1 incident , Katier also had a solid race getting 5th .
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We had a so far season high of 10 cars in this race, thanks to Suzy Cuddihy returning from a unplanned hiatus , wb Suzy... and thanks to our newest member YumYum Divesadero. Next week is Round #6 at Nuerburg , this next one will be the longest race of the season , and using game time speed up , will transition from daytime to nighttime during the course of the race.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

MotoSL season 4 Awards

This last saturday the RaceSL comunity met at the RaceSL hall of fame facility at Misp for the official conclusion of MotoSL season4 . Everyone present came up and collected their hardware for individual and team placings .

Annie Gufler became the 4th person in 4 seasons to collect top rider award , while Archer racing collected our 3rd straight Team championship. Im sure most people are tired of seeing us up there collecting another one , but im savoring it, with the rise of competition , and the putting together of some top partnerships , each one maybe the last for us .

Big thanks to Les for this season , and everyone that has supported the league . Count Bayliss and Raver Bellow. Seems like the whole of the community is buzzing about the upcoming FormulaSL season , everyone still working out details , signing with sponsors , building vehicles , forming teams . Its looking like its gonna be a good one , with Annie Gufler looking to match Jafo Tendaze's record of 1 MotoSL and 1 FSL championship, only person to win one of each so far.

Friday, February 6, 2009

G1-GP Update

2 races have passed now in our Rfactor league season, so Im doing a little race report for these.. cause both were outstanding races , and it certainly can be seen each race that everyone is improving and the competition level is rising .

2 weeks ago was was race #3 at Silverstone . This one kept me on the edge of my seat for the whole 30 minute race. The first half of the race was Sulla , Caz and myself running away from the field , trading off leads . Sulla led at first for a good while , Caz who had made a very nice pass on myself taking over 2nd, passed Sulla after she spun out . I also got by Sulla and chased Caz untill the lap where we pitted, Caz spun and i was thru . After my pit Sulla was right on me , but i was able to pull away and hang on for my 3rd win. Caz got 2nd , and Sulla 3rd.


This week the race was at another fictional track... Mills Metropark built by the Rfactor team , they put alot of detail in their tracks , and made them challenging and fun. We will be racing a 3 of the fictional tracks this season , Toban, Mills and Orchard Lake .

Sulla landed her 3rd straight pole , Caz 2nd on grid , myself 3rd. This race was the debut of new driver Katier Reitveld , driving the Blue/White Thetford Lola Ex257 . Katier had a great 1st qualify round landing on 4th beside me .

Caz jumped the start , way soon hehe , he held up , but got a bad launch after lights went green, allowing myself and Sulla to get ahead. I think Caz was kicking himself over this as the racers accelerated thru the opening corners. Yuriko also got by Caz in turn 2, but came together with Katier and spun out . Caz moved into 3rd chasing Sulla and myself .

But the cost of a jump start is a drive thru pits penalty... a little break for Caz is that Mills pits is very short, this amounted to just a 10 second penalty , he came out from 3rd to 5th , right behind Rattra and Jafo .

Caz was able to get by them eventualy and back into 3rd. Meanwhile Sulla had spun out of the lead , allowing me to move up into 1st . I led untill after the pits when I ran over a rumble strip , my car is low to ground and i think for just a moment 3-4 of my wheels came off of ground and I had my only spin out of race .



But 1 spin was enough , Jafo and Caz drove by me , then next around corner was Sulla and Suku who passed as i was recovering , 1st to 5th . The last phase of the race was close between Jafo in lead, Caz and then Sulla 3rd . Sulla unfortunately was first out, in one of worst wrecks of season so far, took a hard spin at about 140 mph, and hit the wall front first at 100mph .

Jafo started to pull away a little from Caz in the closing laps , but Caz closed it in the last 2 laps . Turn 4 of the final lap , they both lost their cool a bit , both came in hot and braked hard....Jafo spun , and Caz hit him, but Caz was still pointing in the right direction and was able to slip ahead.

Caz grabbed his first win , Jafo his 2nd podium in 2nd place, Suku Ming who also ran a very good race finished 3rd . Next round of the season moves to the claustorphobic streets and alleys of Monaco , it what promises to be the hardest and possibly most trouble filled race of the season . Next week is just a practice race , leaving 2 weeks for this one so everyone is well prepared.


Caz Freschi on top step after his win at Mills Metropark

Monday, February 2, 2009

MotoSL Season finale at Mooz

Jafo Tendaze wins Round 12, Mooz Long Layout
Annie Gufler wins Rider Championship

19 riders made the finale of what has been a highly competitive season, that has had its share of dominations , hard spills , bad luck, good luck and close well ridden races . Jafo T. finally snapped his own personal run of bad luck and made it to the top step for the first time in the 4 month season, with a pole position making it the best attempt at a long shot upset championship as could be possible.

But Annie Gufler finished a respectable race in 3rd place , securing her as the 4th MotoSL champion in 4 seasons. Grats Annie , Grats Jafo on a very nice win and 2nd place overall season 4 . I somehow managed put 2 wheels on the track and with luck ended up 2nd in the race, my best finish of the season . Yuriko finished 4th in the Group A race, just 1 off a Archer podium sweep .

The rest of the field consisted of the Racer's Island vets Brave Ashbourne and Remon Franizzi , who finished the race 6th and 5th . Racer's island came on strong and are looking to be one of the top teams in the upcoming FormulaSL season 3 .

Other teams also shined this season besides Am Pro , Racers Island and Archer , namely BikeSites.com team , with a win and handfull of well deserved podiums it was great to see vets Moto Ware, Silk Bamboo and Suzy Cuddihy come on strong when given half of a chance.

Another good team this season that never realised their potential was the SLodcast team of Ram Pharoah and Sulla Looming . Another team that if was able to make every race could stake its claim amongst top teams , and these blokes are playing from England too .

Molly Fitzgerald has come a long way since her biddity friend Doll Kabuki got her hooked on Les Whites bad medicine, look for Molly to show up more often in the Group A dance as the seasons continue to progress , one of hardest working riders out there.

Annie Gufler had a outstanding season , with a 6 race sweep mid season that guaranteed her a first RaceSL title . Next up is FormulaSL and im sure Annie is feeling that once you have a collection, might as well add to it , Annie will saddle up this next RaceSL season as the person to beat , and i guess we'll have to see what she has to say about that on the track.

Am Pro had a franchise season , coming in 2nd overall in teams , and winning the driver championship. They have a legitimate chance to put together a team for FormulaSL to take the championship for teams and Driver . If Abacus Mimistrobell would visit from Never never land more often, maybe he could contribute to Annie and TFFOX's hard work .

The 6th complete RaceSL season is now in the books , now we enter pre-season for the 7th . Les is hard at work on a new car and new innovations , the stir for the next FormulaSL started even before MotoSL4 came to a close, and is promising to be another successfull campaign by RaceSL .