FSL Round 4 ---PSU Raceway backwards

GimmeSL.com Grand Prix at PSU Raceway

Crippy Oh with the win , IDK takes 2nd and 3rd

Round 4 of FormulaSL season 2 brings us back to PSU Raceway for a reverse layout run at this speedway. 27 drivers put there names in the virtual hat for what promised to be a strongly contested round . With Epic studios film crew filming away and our beloved VJ Shojo prattling as he does best , drivers climbed aboard for a sometimes laggy round of qualifying.

Holden Saunders made the best of the rookie que sitting on top before Jafo came up with a 21.5 to sit himself on the pole , but qualify has still just begun , 15 more riders had to take their turn . The 8th round proved one of more exciting ones featuring Kandy Tommorow and Gros Decuir , 2 heavy favorites to capture Pole position for the day.

Kandy pulled out a great 20.2 to gasps from the crowd and sitting her up top with room to spare. Round 10 , was my turn , with Vinnie Niangao qualifying with me . the first laps werent so great , i think i got a 20.8 maybe in there, but with alot of luck , i hit many turns on my 5th and final qualify lap just right and got a 20.0 and Pole position for first time this season.

Next up in usual order was the Group 4 race lasting 10 laps , winner moving on , Caz Freschi a up and coming new driver impressed all with a nice win , moving on to the Group 3 race which he also won , beating out Yuriko Nishi who led solidly for the first 8 laps of 15 . Yuriko got 2nd and new KC Motorsports racer JoThor Theas grabbed 3rd or 13th overall , in the points his first race.

Caz now moves on to the Group 2 race, 20 laps , with YumYum on pole , Jafo 2nd , Just Catteneo 3rd, Suzy Cuddihy 4th on grid , Yamaha Harley 5th and Caz 6th position..yes thats a Group 2 grid , reads like group 1 class drivers , which is how tight the competition is this season , even the best drivers better not blink wrong or can be looking at Group 2 or Group 3 starts .

Just Catteneo ran a great race, leading entire time, except the lap he pitted, this race was much closer than that though, for the lower positions . Jafo , Yum , Yamaha , and even Caz battled it out for a good while . Jafo was able to hold 2nd place for most of race, passing Yum lap 5 , but lost it to a hard charging Yum last lap , Yum 2nd place, Jafo 3rd, Caz 4th , Yamaha 5th, Suzy 6th.

Just moves on to the Group 1 race, myself for MAS/Archer racing on pole position, Kandy of KC Motorsports 2nd, Grosmanteau DeCuir of IDK racing 3rd , Rammesses Pharoah of the Pure team 4th , Neko Carter for MoR racing 5th and Just Catteneo of IDK racing 6th .

To be honest , you will prolly get better account of this race from our video by Epic Studios or Les White's account on http://racesl.com/ hehe , but i will tell what i remember .

To start with i was using a long distance strategy and setup , medium tires lots of wing and downforce, i didnt know who on the grid behind me was using the faster soft tires , maybe no one , maybe everyone , i knew i had to get away quick at the start or be ran over by drivers with faster setups.

Off we went and all i could hear was engines whining loud right on my butt into first turn , some pushing and shoving , key was not to touch the grass or it would slow me down, turn 2 i took as clean as i could , turn after turn the engines got fainter , i relaxed some and tried to race as smooth as could , although i knew even a small mistake would be all Kandy or Gros or any of them needed to catch up .

Behind me the reports are there was quite some hard position fighting and contact , Kandy took it bad , having to pit for damage or risk losing her car . i pitted lap 15, allowing Gros to pass me into 1st after he took a earlier pit . Gros led around with me in 2nd for 5 laps , before the soft tire strategy forced him to take a 2nd pit .

I didnt hit alot of traffic in the race, Neko Carter was a gentleman and let me by, when i came up on him to lap him. At one point i was close behind Ramses and Kandy who were battling it out , i kept my distance, finaly around the sharp left to the pit straight they collided , one bounced right into the fence , the other left towards the pits , i had enough momentum to drive inbetween and move into clear, this was closest incident for me.

In the end , Grosmanteau got 2nd , Just was 3rd after just barely edging out Kandy who charged all the way from 6th to take 4th place , just missing 3rd by .200 of a second , Ram got 5th place continuing his overall solid performance this season, Neko came in 6th.

Once again the points race tightens up , the Pole and Win gives me a 1 point lead over Kandy Tommorow , Grosmanteau moves up impressively to 3rd, Jafo Tendaze 4th and Rammses Pharoah in 5th . http://www.bikersites.com/SL/raceSL/standings.fsl.cfm

Next race will be in 2 weeks with location and layout To Be Announced. Will post info for link to this race's video , done by Jessicaan Wrigglesworth and Epic Studios.

FormulaSL Race #3- at Snowpeach

Lovely Snowpeach raceway , modeled after Brands Hatch in the UK . 25 racers gathered today to contest round 3 of the FormulaSL series. I had some hopes thru the week , always being fast here. But in the end my fortune wasnt good , i qualified 6th for a 2nd unlucky time this season sticking me on the pole for the group B race.

Group D and Group C races but went ok depsite the high amount of contact considering this is the smallest venue we race at . Fox Tammas won a convincing Group D race , but had troubles in the C race. The story of C group was Motorato and rookie Caz Freschi, Moto dominated most of the race but in the end Caz was able to nose ahead for the win and berth in group B.

Group B started well enough , Jafo qualified 7th , so he was beside me on the grid , he was quicker out of the blocks and beat me to turn 1 , somewhere in there i was able to get by and cross 1st lap 1 , but my luck was short lived , coming around to cross for lap 2 i struck a car under caution , and fell to 4th place, pretty much putting the win out of my reach, Ram led for a bit , but Jafo was able to overtake him for the Group B win , ending my 7 race podium streak with a 8th place overall finish.

Jafo advanced to Group A and this race promised to be a good one and they didnt disappoint, the early stage of the race was a neck and neck battle between Jafo, Kandy Tommorow and Yamaha Harley. All 3 of them swapping the lead in a back and forth battle.

Lap 9 and Yamaha fell out of the picture , Kandy gained some ground on Jafo and led comfortably for 3 laps untill a few slip ups allowed Jafo and and speedy YumYum Divisadero to come racing back, Yum jumped into the lead lap 13 and battled with Jafo as Kandy fell back a bit and pitted lap 14.

Jafo and Yum held on a little longer pitting lap 16 , a tense moment there and they were both off at same time , but Yum was able to grab the lead again lap 18 after the pit times had been sorted. Jafo fell back and Yum and Kandy battled closely for the lead for 6 laps , Yum crossing in front each lap , but Yum ran into trouble lap 25 , letting Jafo by into 2nd and Kandy leading by 5 seconds.

Jafo ate this lead lap after lap untill they were both battling it out the final 5 laps , Jafo got ahead lap 29 and crossed the line for his first win of the season , the close racing of this Group A race was some of the best ive seen in RaceSL .

In the end , Mas/Archer are able to extend our team points lead, while Kandy moves ahead solo in drivers points, with me a distant 2nd and Jafo close behind me in 3rd. KC Motorsports is in 2nd , with IDK close behind , close behind them is a surging MoR team and the Pure Team in 5th -
Next week will be Race #4 at PSU with a backwards layout , it promises to be another great meeting of this highly competitive field of drivers. Race #4 will also be the first filmed by Epic Studios who will edit together a reel of the race including the live commentation of our own VJ Shojo.

FSL Season 2 Team Profile - KC Motorsports

Next up on my series of team profiles for this Formula season is KC Motorsports. KC entered RaceSL a bit after the start of MotoSL season 3 , and immediately got themselves known as top competitors with a handfull of podiums and a exciting last lap win for Kandy at Snowpeach .

KC Motorsports consists of Caine Beresford , Kandy Tommorow and occaisionaly Len Imako.
KC begun their SL racing careers at the now gone MyControl Speedway. A fun little road track that had hills and tunnels and a suprisingly fast layout.
Coming into season 2 of FormulaSL , alot of eyes are on KC to be at the top , both Caine and Kandy can register some extremely fast times at practices.

Unfortunately hailing from Australia can cause alot of problems for Caine , who sometimes is unable to live up to his potential on race day due to the technical constraints. Meanwhile Kandy, who lives in the US is a notable threat to get on the podium at every race.




So far this season Kandy has gotten a win and a 3rd place and is currently tied for 1st place overall . Caine is currently in 16th place, but not for long if he can get a clear conduit on race day . KC is 2nd amongst teams in points.





KC drive the KCM-08, a car designed and built by Kandy . Kandy has competed in SLASCAR and Teller Motorpark series. Caine is a member of Zoe Connoly's Caledon airforce and flies a cool custom painted tri-plane. I know i will have my eye on KC this season as they show alot of promise and skill.

FSL season 2 Team profile - MAS/Archer Racing

Formed in May of 2007 , by Jafo Tendaze and Crippy Oh, to compete in Season 1 of FormulaSL, Archer racing is one of the older teams of this season's field. Coming in as the under dogs we managed to do well and capture the season 1 team title, and Jafo won the driver title.

Since forming Archer also began racing as a team in the SLASCAR series capturing many division titles in the last year. We have merged with our new sponsor MAS Racing , to form the MAS/Archer team, along with Holden Saunders racing the stocks with us , we hope to continue our winning streak in the upcoming summer season .

This season we added a 3rd driver for the first time , Yuriko Nishi for her driving skills and technical expertise. Yuriko owns YUNI bikes , and builds detailed choppers that drive very nicely also.
We feel Yuriko has been a great addition to the team, having cut her RaceSL teeth with a superb performance with OMG racing during MotoSL season 3. A bike person , she has already excelled behind the wheel of Les Whites Formula cars.

Our cars this season are the 2008 Longbow, built buy Jafo Tendaze and painted by VJ Shojo. Our main sponsor is MAS racing representing MetroLexus, Lexus of Las Vegas , and Lexus of Akron. Returning as a sponsor this season is Shiryu Musashi and Musashi-Do, also onboard are the gentlemans and music club ; Club Genesis and E.Watkins Equestrian.

As defending champions going into this season and the strong field of drivers out there , we know we have a target on us and hope we can come thru the season having fun and doing our best . At the time of this post we are leading the team championship point after 2 races.

This is the first in a series of posts , each featuring one of the many teams participating this season. More info can be found at http://www.racesl.com/.

Also in the news, Epic Studios will be filming race 4 at PSU , this will be edited to include voice over commentary by our own resident DJ/ Builder / painting expert , VJ Shojo. Advertising slots during the race are also available .

FormulaSL - Race 2 at PSU

This was one of the tougher races for Archer and myself personaly in a little bit , i managed to claw my way up onto the podium finishing in 3rd, but just by my fingernails.

I landed 5th on the grid after a nervous qualify where i didnt quite get the time i had been looking for , Yuriko qualed 3rd and Jafo an unprecedented Group C qualify . All the Jafo-heads out there are wondering, when will robot Jafo make a return and make a bid for a 3rd straight RaceSL season of domination.

Group D race was won by Caine Beresford, Group C with Jafo was taken convincingly by Just Catteneo , Jafo finished at record low for him...14th.

Yum Divisdero ran a great Group B race for a nice win and free passsge into the Group A race. Yum lead from lap 5 to lap 20 , putting the field further behind her every lap.

Last but not least , the group A race, with Ram Pharoah on Pole , Kandy Tommorow 2nd , Yuriko Nishi 3rd, Gros Manteau in 4th slot , myself 5th , and YumYum 6th on the grid .

Not alot of memories from the early part of the race, it wasnt my best , some tussling with other drivers, some contact ( which damages and slows the cars now on the newest car versions). I made a bid to move up in field , but after some bad breaks i was still in 5th , some more sliding on lap 4 and i politely let YumYum by and fell to 6th.

Running in 6th for 2 laps , i was back by Yum... after that i was just running as hard as i could to catch the field, Gros and Kandy were far up front racing a close 1 -2 race untill Kandy began to pull away lap 7.

Lap 14 Ramses musta had some problems, cause he fell way to the back of the pack, from 3rd to 6th , putting me into 4th , Yuriko had a slow 2nd pit and i was on her and by on lap 21. I was in 3rd and continuing to try to make ground on the front .

Fortunes had changed for Kandy and Gros , with Gros getting by on lap 18 and pulling away , at one time having a 7 second lead over Kandy , closest i got was 9 seconds at very end . Lap 24 on Kandy slowly made progress on Gros.

Gros musta had a bad slip on the grass lap 28 cause Kandy closed the gap to 1 second going into the last 2 laps , with Kandy passing Gros on last lap and winning it by .6 seconds , i held onto 3rd even though Yuriko caught me and came close to passing me a couple times.

Grats to Kandy and Gros , and Yuriko for her highest RaceSL finish , thanks to everyone that came out to support us , Jerry and Rayne , and we know Dolli Dreamscape and Vinnie Niangao are really closet Archer/Jafo fans hehe.

This race puts me into tie with Kandy for 1st place , with Ram in 3rd, Gros in 4th and Yuriko in 5th . Mas/Archer leads the teams , with KC Motorsports 2nd and IDK 3rd,

First Race of FormulaSL season #2

Finally after many long weeks and trials and testing , RaceSL founder Les White gave the go ahead for the season to begin and Round 1 be held at Mooz on April 19th . In classic RaceSL form , the track was a buzz with drivers practicing for the big race all week long .

It was a great turnout , 26 drivers joined the que to run in the qualify round for the day . Qualify as usual is a tense situation im telling you , lots of nerves waiting to see what group you will be racing in. I got some lag during my round , but managed 1 ok lap , enough to put me into 3rd at the moment , but there was still a ton of good drivers left to qualify.

Just Catteneo sent me down to 4th , with Jafo and Kandy Tommorow left over to run their round, only the top 5 qualify for group A , so im on the bubble . Kandy knocked me down to 5th , then Jafo grabbed the pole and sent me to Group B .

Some pics during qualify , Archer team , Kells Dragons , depo and Pure teams .

I still have a hope to get into Group A though , new rule this season is winner of each Group race advances to next race. YumYum won the Group D race and battled hard with her own teamie Dolli Dreamscape in the Group C race, but Yum hit heavy traffic and Dolli got away for the win.

Next was my race , Group B, lots of good drivers chasing me , Yamaha Harley beside me , Gros Decuir, Yuriko Nishi , Silk Bamboo and Dolli close behind . I was able to hold on barely and win a close one with Yamaha coming close to catching me after i ran into some traffic on last couple laps.

That puts me 6th on grid group A , with Just, Neko Carter, Kandy Tommorow , Ram Pharoah and Jafo on pole ahead of me . The next 30 laps was quite a ride , starting with big pile up at one of the first turns , the crush of cars veered to the outside to my right letting me thru on the left , next thing i know i see clear sky on straight to clubhouse with Jafo just in front of me.

There was many bouts with weird spikes and lag , but without that it was pretty smooth , i chased Jafo for a bit , untill some heavy lag took him wide out of the hairpin, letting me slip by into 1st . I led around untill i pitted , i htink i was first pitter im not sure, in and out , i was in 4th , one by one the cars leading me pit and im back in the lead.

This is the same exchange the next pit , around lap 26 i sail pass pits seeing Jafo in for fuel and tires, and im back in lead with 4 to go . But the traffic was heavy the last couple laps , next thing i know Ram Pharoah is right behind me and closing , i cant wait to see Silk Bamboos graphs on this one , cause the last several laps were a sprint , couldnt breath wrong, i could hear him right behind me which means close . But i was able to hold him off and take win , Ram grabbed 2nd, with Kandy 3rd, Jafo in 4th, Neko 5th and Just 6th .

On the podium for my 3rd win at Mooz ever , After the race , Jafo, Yuriko, me and our top sponsor Madsen Dreamscape of MAS Racing .
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Next week is Race #2 of the series at PSU Raceway, the quality of teams this season is very high , KC team of Kandy and Caine, IDK with Just and Gros, depo with Yum and Dolli, Count Bayliss' MoR Team is looking very strong , with Yamaha , Silk and Neko ,VJ Shojo's Macmost Team of Mango and Bigfoot.

Redline racing with Yetrates and Peldon. Abacus Ministrobell's Mach2 Team with Vinnie Niango and TFox Thomas, 2 englishmen both easily capable of making it to Group A on any given race, Kells Dragons with Xia , Revena , and Gordan Merriman . Not to Mention MAS/ Archer team Jafo, Yuriko and Crippy. Gonna make round 2 and onwards very interesting for sure .
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Archer would like to thank Les White, Avaya , MAS Racing , VJ Shojo for our great cars, Shiryu Musashi for the great uniforms, it was a very nice start to the new season .

Archer merges MAS Racing and some catching up..

Lately ive been busy busy in RL and SL , lots of stuff going on and not much free time , havent been posting as much as i would like to.

Ive been working as PR and Communications director for RaceSL , lots of talking and not enough deals landed, but always hopefull to find new people interested in RaceSL on any level .

Have been talking to SLCN some about broadcasting RaceSL , but for various reasons this has not quite worked out, always a chance in the future though .

Hoping to have Slodcast film our upcoming FormulaSL season 2 , one possibility is streaming it live to several places holding events for the broadcast, more news on this soon, gonna have raffles and races will be commentated, adding color and making it easier to follow, hehe its always nice to know whats going on . =p

Spring 2008 season of SLASCAR has come to a close , and i managed to defend my Super Stock title with another championship in that class. Jafo won the Baby Grand and Dirt Modified divisions , Quick Gazov took home Midnight Madness championship and Holden Sanders won Pure Stock division title . Grats to all racing , it was alot of fun and looking up with Havok 4 live now .

Next up for SLASCAR will be the big Summer season , and it is promising to be very competitive and close , Archer Racing (Jafo and me ) have signed on to race as part of the MAS racing team as the MAS/ Archer team in SLASCAR .

But even bigger news is tonite we finalized deal with MAS Racing as a major sponsor this season of FormulaSL for us. The team will also be called MAS/ Archer Racing , and we will be including 3 RL Lexus dealerships as part of our sponsor family, which already includes, Musashi-Do, Club Genesis and E.Watkins Equestrian.

Also been sailing my Beach Cat catamaran some when i find time , lots of fun . Went to the Dive Dive sim i read about in Dinee's blog, very pretty and cool. Penguins up 2 games vs Ottawa hehe . go Pens .