MotoSL Season 4 ...Round 6

Annie Gufler wins second straight at Backwards Canyon GP at RD Motorsports

Congrats to Annie Gufler for a convincing Round 6 win , with this she moves 10 points ahead of Archer Racing's Yuriko Nishi and 20 points ahead of 3rd place Jafo Tendaze.

25 turned out saturday to qualify, showing the dedication of the participants in a season now 2 months old and at its half way point. The qualifying rounds took its casualties, some drivers not getting the times they hoped for , and Sulla Looming suprising everyone , most of all herself by grabbing the pole position. Annie Gufler 2nd, Jafo 3rd, Yuriko 4th and Crippy Oh 5th .

Holden Saunders got pole for Group B , being a top rider this was a extra challenge for other riders in the group to overcome and advance up to A , this included Brave Ashbourne who finaly got off his duff and scored a nice win in the Group C race, Ram Pharoah, Suzy Cuddihy, Stang Voom and TFFox Tammas, a very solid field all around .

The Races started off with a bang in the 7 bike Group D race, with atleast a 4 bike spill at turn 1 , BBB rider Hakuna Albatross survived and led the field around for 5 laps before Hakuna took a spill allowing Racers Island rider John Alturas to close the gap quickly.

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Alturas passed Hakuna on lap 6 when he took another spill. Silk Bamboo like a ninja sprung on a ooportunity when Alturas wrecked and Hajuna blinked, Silk up from 3rd for the win, Hakuna just off her by .183 seconds , John Alturas 3rd just barely edging out Molly Fitzgerald, Mille Sands 5th , Nella Boccara 6th, Ford Roffo 7th .

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Group C race, Raver Bellow on pole. Just Catteneo surged from the 2nd spot on the grid and was able to get the hole shot after a little bit cleaner start this race, but only held it for 3 laps untill Brave Ashbourne jumped ahead and led around rest of race for the win . Just Catteneo was in position to make the most of any slips Brave had, but he didnt slip, Raver came in 3rd with MoR rider Rattra Raymaker 4th , Silk Bamboo 5th after nearly rallying to 3rd place, and BBB-GP rider Johnnie Gears 6th.

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Group B race saw pole sitter Holden Saunders of ZT racing , runaway with the race lapping the whole field i nthe course of a single lap on lap 10 . Meanwhile while Holden ran away with it , a tight group of riders consisting of Suzy Cuddihy, Brave Ashbourne and Ram Pharoah fought tooth and nail for every inch of track the whole race, trading off positions thru all 12 laps of the contest . Brave led most of the ways , but fell back for a couple laps to Ram ... in the end , Brave got 2nd place, Ram 3rd, Suzy 4th, Stang 5th and Fox Tammas 6th.

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Last but not least was the 15 lap Group A race, this was Annie's from the start , except for a spill in the tunnel where she lost the lead for very short time to Sulla Looming .

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For myself , sitting on 5th spot in grid , I wanted to see the race develope first before commiting to going all out . Into the 1st turn gently and and I see both of my team mates wipe out , im commited , I gun it thru into 4th place close behind Holden . I get by Holden lap 2 , and am chasing the lead group for one of few times this season for me , Sulla and Annie not far ahead.

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I chased Sulla into the tunnel lap 5 and there was Annie after her spill, Sulla got by , but i was even with Annie coming down the straight to the start/finish line , into turn 1 and I was too shallow crashing hard on the dirt, my bike slid up onto a small hill where I had difficulty moving off of it , i slowly backed my bike off while riders passed by, resuming the race I had fallen back to 5th .

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I chased Holden in 4th and Sulla in 3rd for 4 laps untill they both spilled , i was then able to move back into 3rd. Jafo had managed to run a steady race and was in 2nd after my spill on lap 6. Then it came.... the dreaded sim freeze, lap 12 all riders controls freezed up , most crashed cause of this , stuck in a hard right turn i went head first into the fence.

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Unfortunately so did season points leader Yuriko Nishi, who had just gotten up to 4th place , Yuriko's bike became tangled in the fencing , unable to get going quickly , Yuriko fell to 6th where she finished. Sulla 5th, Holden 4th, Crippy 3rd, Jafo 2nd .

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Next race will be held in 2 weeks on the PSU 2 track , Annie is looking to expand her lead, while winless Jafo, and Yuriko Nishi, who has fallen to 2nd in season points after the hard break of getting tangled up in the fence......have only victory and revenge on their minds for round 7 .

Friday was a big deal atleast for me personally , I scored my 4th win in the Legends class this 2008 SLASCAR season , giving me the season championship, unfortunately I came up short in the Late Model class and Super Stock class, congrats to everyone on their championship wins for the season as the multi-class SLASCAR season winds down to its completion. Big Grats to Greg Drayman who grabbed a season high of 4 titles.

Grid for SLASCAR 2008 season Legends class finale at Otway raceway

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 .

MotoSL Season 4 - Round #4

Yuriko Nishi takes her 3rd win... 2008 Mooz Iron GP

Round 4 of the current MotoSL season saw another heavy turnout of 27 riders seeking to test their mettle on the "Iron" Layout at Mooz. Pre-Race benediction at the difficult chicane and we were under way, running the show today was our own Yum Divisdero , who did a wonderfull job.

Yuriko nailed her 2nd straight pole position .500 seconds ahead of the field , Annie Gufler qualified 2nd , Jafo Tendaze 3rd, and the ZT team twins Holden Saunders and Stang Voom landed in 4th and 5th . Leaving me in the lucky #6 , which is basicly pole position for the B race.

With Qualify set , we moved onto the group races, BBB racing team rider Johnnie Gears had pole for the D group race. Johnnie got the hole shot , but after a fall, lost the lead to his team boss Bikey Bekkers. Bikey drove a solid race and never relinquished the lead, although he had some pressure from Am Pro boss Abacus Mimistrobel. Bikey got the checkers and the advance to Group C, 2nd was Abacus followed by Whites Bikes rider Molly Fitzgerald.

Group C race was a steady ride by Bikesites.com rider Zari Gears , AM Pro rider TFox Tammas gave him a good chase but Zari never faultered , Racers Island team leader and vet MotoSL rider Raver Bellow was able to take 3rd. Zari moves on to Group B .

Group B race, with Crippy Oh on pole , Just Catteneo 2nd grid, Ram Pharoah 3rd on grid, Yamaha Harley 4th, Brave Ashbourne 5th and Zari Gears 6th . A strong field which made my little fingers tremble knowing I had to win to advance up to Group A .

Ram and Just were on my tail the whole race, sometimes coming closer sometimes further, I took it as easy as I could , but that meant I had no room for falls since my speed was too slow to gap the field much . I fell once when entering the chicane at the moment of a lag bubble, but was lucky enough to not lose the lead.

After chasing me a few laps , Just fell and Ram slid into 2nd and also gave me a good chase . I managed to keep the lead for the win and the advance, Rammses 2nd , Just 3rd, Zari came close to getting 4th , but had a few bad laps back to back allowing Yamaha to get 4th , Zari 5th and Brave 6th .

Group A race, and believe me at this point im happy just to not be watching this one from the bleachers. Yuriko got the hole shot she needed and ran hot out front with Annie Gufler giving her a close chase the whole race. Lap 9 and Annie got by Yuriko , but failed to capitalize on it and crashed same lap , giving Yuriko the position and the time to bring it home for her 3rd win in 4 races.

Now at the same time, on the other side of the track , far far away , was the rest of us flopping around like fishes trying to stake claim on the finishing positions that were left over . Being last i got to sit back and watch the others surge full bravado into the grinder...err i mean chicane at the race start. Holden im affraid , didnt make it thru to other side, he hit the grass on the right and slid thru grass and hit fence on the left , that was the last time i saw him till race was over.

Lap 2 and Stang slips letting me by him into 4th , right behind teamie and defending champ Jafo . Lap 3 Jafo goes down and im in 3rd . But that didnt last long at all, i failed to make most of it and fell myself , letting both Jafo and Stang by me , im back in 5th again.

The 3 of us fought it out lap after lap , swapping positions now and then , but also falling further and further behind the lead group of Yuriko and Annie . Jafo stumbled 2 laps in a row, laps 5 and 6 , first letting Stang by into 3rd, then allowing me to get thru to 4th .

For 5 laps Stang led us around , me in 4th , Jafo's engine buzzing in my ear in 5th...untill crucial lap 11. I had be holding Jafo off for 5 laps , but he finaly was able to hit the hairpin tighter and faster than me and got by , I watched as he screamed down the finish straight after Stang, who just had problems coming thru hairpin cause he was limping along accelerating still.

Stang and Jafo reached the chicane at the end of the straight around same time , Stang in first followed close by Jafo, i was prolly close to a second behind still coming down the straight , when a huge lag bubble hit the sim. Already commited to their turns into the chicane , Jafo and Stang tangled and flew into the grass and fence ,as i entered the chicane , the sim was still bogged with lag , going thru was like slow motion, but i made it thru .

As ive stated a few times in this post, its all about making most of your chances , this time i made it stick and held onto 3rd, with Stang still close behind untill he fell again. I crossed the line getting 3rd place , Jafo 4th, Stang 5th and Holden 6th.

Another successful round of MotoSL in the books , cheers to Yum for doing great job, much thanks as always to Les for making it all happen .

After 4 rounds Yuriko Nishi sits ready, willing and able to walk away with this one, with 88 points so far . Annie Gufler isnt ready to let that happen just yet , with Yuriko still in her sights at 74 points. Defending champion Jafo Tendaze is still trying to dial in his racing this season, win less with 63 points, Jafo always remains a threat to make winning look all so easy. Crippy 4th with 52, Holden 5th with 44 points.
Yuriko is looking strong , but any of the top 10 who strike it hot in the remaining rounds are a threat to place well this season . Location of next race to be edited in when i find out =p.

Also i would like to note..... if any racers reading this , have anything interesting to comment about your race from your perspective , please feel free to to leave a comment . Alot of stuff happens each race and how it unfolds can often be interesting .