MotoSL ....Race 2

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

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

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

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

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

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

Pontiac Raceway Park '07 Finale

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

At first, with a early part of the race fraught with troubles, including me flying out of racetrack twice and the sim crashing, i didnt think i would have much to say good about this race, but it ended up being quite a race.

My early troubles causing red flags , put me at the back of the line on the restarts several times, but then things began to click. After a "proto-type" pit stop around lap 50 , the first thing of this type tried in the league, i was able to pop up into 2nd place, hot on Subwoofer Fuhrs heels.

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

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

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

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

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

MotoSL Season opener

Saturday October 27th , beautiful day at PSU Raceway for the season opener of season #3 of MotoSL. 28 Riders showed, a very impressive turnout for a SL racing event, but even more amazing , with Les Whites low lag track, full descripting of everyone in attendance , and the low script nature of the bikes themselves, this event compared to every other racing event on SL was virtualy lag free.

Yes there was the occaisional blip or 2 of lag for everyone, but even with the crash sensitive bikes.... who will go down with just a little rub on the grass, any lag was manageable and not too detrimental.

I qualified 4th overall and finished 4th overall, not as quite as good as i hoped, but still happy about it . Jafo Tendaze won his first MotoSL race, Motorato Ware 2nd and Silk Bamboo 3rd.
My Team mate Suzy Cuddihy finished 8th overall, crashing and losing the lead in her race to Yuriko Nishi at the very end. Doll Kabuki finished 5th overall in her first Group 1 RaceSL race, congrats Doll =)).

So far OMG magainzine Team has a nice little lead in Team standings, with Jafo and Nacon in 2nd, Suzy and i are in 3rd, with Yum and Doll on the depo team in 4th .
Lots of fun was had by all, next race will be the 2nd saturday in november at Mooz Raceway, looking for to more action .

An Introduction to...Pure Racing Team

Racer Suzy Cuddihy and me , make up the Pure racing team for the MotoSL season #3. Recruited and brought together by Team manager YumYum Divesadero, we are looking forward to a fun season of motorcycle racing.

Pure is a client company of the main sponsor of MotoSL and FormulaSL , Depo. Pure is a UK outfit that works with businesses and private households helping them become more green in their energy management.

Depo is also a RL company that has literaly brought their business to the virtual world of SL. They have set up a cluster of 7 sims into a business park, where several of their RL clients have virtual offices....they use SL as a form of virtual conferencing in which they conduct their companies RL business day to day . Depo works with companies to help them maximize their online developement for the benefit of the company.

Some of the projects Depo is involved in besides sponsoring racing are , a cinema in SL for the BBC, fashion shows and developers fair, they also run a virtual art gallery and lately begun work with World Society for the Protection of Animals.

As far as MotoSL goes, it looks like its gonna be quite a season , this last saturday the 20th of October we had the final test race, 27 riders showed , and this was Les Whites time to shine as the premier Race event manager , providing a nearly lag free competition, ran with utmost proffesionalism even with so many people involved.

Pure as a team didnt quite shine as we did in the previous Test race, Suzy and i only qualified for the Group B race, racing for positions 7th to 12th , we made the most of it though , finishing 1st and 2nd , with our Depo racing team sister Doll Kabuki finishing 3rd.

The season opener is this next Saturday at PSU Raceway , and were practicing hard with hopes of a good showing ..wish us luck =)
More info on Depo can be found on their website at http://www.depoconsulting.com/index.html

FormulaSL wrap-up Awards ceremony

Today was the FormulaSL award ceremony at Hotgates, trophies, money and awards given out for Top 3 teams , and Top 10 drivers. Hosted by Les White, it was a classy ending to a classy SL racing season. With Havok 4 in beta testing , things look bright for a Season 2 . Already the best cars in SL, with acceleration thru RPMs and gears , Pit stops , advance setups, hopefully Havok 4 will take it to the next level.

For those not sure what im talking about (although im not expert) , the Havok system is the physical code in SL, how objects move and interact.. The current system is Havok 1, theyve been developing a new one for a long time, so long its called Havok 4 now.

Jafo and i hoisting our Team Championship trophies during the ceremony

The trophy and plaques i got today , thanks and grats to the other award winners today , it was alot of fun, looking forward to MotoSL motorcycle season #3 .

Just a few screenies

Heres a few screen shots of what ive been up to lately, not alot , but wanted to get these on here somewhere.



Here is a pic of Archer Racing 2007, just after we wrapped up the F1 Team Championship title at Snowpeach. Crippy Oh, Lilyu Jewell (benefactor) and Jafo Tendaze.




This is a nice pic of Snowpeach from the air after FormulaSL season 1 race #12. Owned by Count and Bibi Bayliss, this is always one of my fav tracks to race.

This is a photo of a photoshoot. Depo team captain/manager YumYum Divisadero arranged for SL phototographers Netrosanct Studio's , to come take some nice publicity pics of us . I got to see the final product , it looks very nice, cant wait to get a copy.

Thats all for now, hope to have more soon, Les White was out of town saturday, so no MotoSL test race this week . Next post will be on the FormulaSL awards ceremony which is being held tommorow. Will have more on SLSCRA soon, as the 8 month season at Farigrounds and Dirtfield winds down this month , hoping to wrap up 4 division titles, so far i have 1 wrapped with the Mini-stock division.

FormulaSL -Season Finale - Archer 1st -2nd

Last Week at PSU Raceway Jafo Tendaze wrapped up the FormulaSL Drivers Championship with his 7th win of the season.. The series this week came to Snowpeach for race 12 of 12, with several points races still undecided.

Starting in 6th position on the grid at the start , i watched the field peel away from me towards the suicide turn 1 hairpin. The 5 cars in front of me broke up into small groups scrumming for position, at the top of the hairpin was Yamaha Harley, Suzy Cuddihy and Silk Bamboo tangled up, already clear of the hairpin was Jafo and Motorato dueling it out.

I cut the Hairpin sharp below the group of 3 cars to my left, and to my right i saw Moto and Jafo going wide right , suddenly it was like the red sea parted , as i drove thru unscathed into the lead. But unfortunately this lead was not long lived , lag , nerves , and some bad driving eroded my lead allowing Jafo to catch me after 3 laps up front. Motorato and i dueled it out some for 2nd several times , i was able to shake her off, but she got by me while i was in pits for my first pit stop.

Much of the rest of the race i was in 3rd, but some shaky laps allowed the 4th and 5th placed drivers to get right on my butt . i could hear Silk Bamboo's engine roar in my ear for several laps , she finally hit a wall and i was clear. Hoping to retain 3rd place and get a podium spot a swept around the pit turn on lap 28 of 30 and saw Motorato , who had been leading the race for several laps , had spun out and i was by her into 2nd place, where i finished .

Archer Racing started the season race 1 , 2 and 4 , finising 1st and 2nd and we ended the last race 1st and 2nd , it was a very happy moment , securing Archer the Team Championship of FormulaSL season 1 . Also i was able to hold onto 4th place overall from Silk Bamboo who had a late season surge and was threatening to send me into 5th.

Season 1 is over! =) and with great Success for Archer Racing , in the off season we will be hunting for a sponsor to bring us up to the next level as a SL racing team . We move on now to Season 3 of MotoSL , for now Jafo and i part company, he will race for Vincent Nacon while i will race for Pure Racing .