The A-Heat Race:
With Ellie McIllan rapidly shortening her odds on claiming a second title, she was determined to make sure that the punters collected. Although she put the black #74 Holden on the outside of the front row, she very quickly shot to the front like a bullet from a gun. If her intent was to go as quickly as possible and leave everyone behind, then it immediately failed as in scooting to the front, she opened the hole immeidately behind her for third placed Oglivy Hedgehog to follow.
What did follow was 50 opening laps of the lady in black trying to establish fastest laps and the streak in blue, matching her and keeping in touch. Hedgehog already showed that he could make hsi equipment really motor along; it was just that the middle of his season kind of fall apart.
Behind them Garfield Arbuckle was trying to stave off a mutil-pronged Mercedes-Benz attack from Kayleigh McAlpine who was working tactically with Koffing. Viewers were rather confused when for the first time, racecam units were installed in the #109 machine and Koffing controlled the car, with no limbs. It was decided some time ago that the best way to stop telekenesis from escaping into the rest of the environment and hence other cars, was to have a faraday cage installed in the #109 Mercedes-Benz. It is unknown if this achieves anything or not, as it is unknown how Koffing's telekenetic ability to control a race car actually works.
With McIllan and Hedgehog swapping fastest laps up front, most of the field decided to come down onto pit road on lap 49. A few stayed out a lot longer though.
In what was effectively the race for sixth place, no fewer that twenty cars came down onto pit road and then left again. The really interested parties who wanted to cork the field up behind them, were Jean Paul Cassell in the Holden and Garfield Arbuckle in the Chevrolet, who by this stage running screen for their teammates out front.
The twenty car peloton cam down onto oit road and then back out and it was anyones guess as to who was one what strategy. By lap 53 when they were slowly sifting their way out, cars ran four wide at one point. Even what weak alliances may have been formed along manufacturer lines were blurred with the only team who could establish any kind of organisation within the swirling maelstrom being Team UZKA. At one point, the four UZKA cars were running nose-to-tail in number order with Robie up front, followed by Spidalski, Yankovic and Wayne at the rear.
Not even this organastion would prove useful though because this race would be reracked on lap 86, when the two Heeler brothers both tangled with Chloe Ankha and although nobody took the opportunity to take on tyres, the lead up front evaporated and Ankha and the two Heeler brothers took an express elevator to the basement.
Before the second set of pitstops on lap 100, the running order was still Hedgehog and Arbuckle up front; with Bernie, Langer, Miku and Koffing filling up the rest of the points paying positions.
For a 150 mile race, it is not immediately obvious what the best strategy is. Some drivers cam in at about lap 50 and 100 and divided the race into three. Some such as Hatsune Miku who briefly led the race for laps 99 and 100, ran with a single stop in the middle and snapped the race in half. Darth Vader in the #77 Wartburg, took the opinion that he would run a hybrid strategy and run long, then stop twice late. He stopped on lap 75 and then on lap 124. This meant that of all the cars in thei field, he would finish on the freshest tyres.
What we saw in those last 26 laps was nothing short of determination mixed with very controlled anger. To make his way up through the field early and then lose track position as the tyres started to go off, was enough to convince the man in black that his second attempt needed to be better. It wasn't. By the time of his last stop, he was just outside of the cut zone and had 18 cars in front of him.
After carving through Spike Heeler and Chloe Ankha, he bumped Bandit Heeler up the track through Turn 3 and then sped past Spidalski, Edmundson and Raymond. Mifune and Robie gave him grief, while Koffing and the two Chevrolets in front of him offered no resistance.
By lap 140 he was up to sixth and passed two Toyotas, Kurt Langer who was trying to find his own way past Ellie McIllan, and then Vader pulled rank on fellow Wartburg driver Bernie Bernie in the #97 edition, to hold up Kayleigh McAlpine's Mercedes-Benz. To howls of derision and many many boos, Vader passed the number 97 Wartburg for the lead on lap 146 and then proceeded to win the race.
This was an unpopular win and the crowd certainly made sure that Vader knew it. Nevertheless, when he laid some big black 11s on the tri-oval in front of the crowd, they still cheered; which shows you just how fickle crowds are.
Points Awarded A-Heat Race:
9 - Darth Vader
6 - Kayleigh McAlpine
4 - Bernie Bernie
3 - Ellie McIllan
2 - Kurt Langer
1 - Jean-Luc Pikachu
With Ellie McIllan rapidly shortening her odds on claiming a second title, she was determined to make sure that the punters collected. Although she put the black #74 Holden on the outside of the front row, she very quickly shot to the front like a bullet from a gun. If her intent was to go as quickly as possible and leave everyone behind, then it immediately failed as in scooting to the front, she opened the hole immeidately behind her for third placed Oglivy Hedgehog to follow.
What did follow was 50 opening laps of the lady in black trying to establish fastest laps and the streak in blue, matching her and keeping in touch. Hedgehog already showed that he could make hsi equipment really motor along; it was just that the middle of his season kind of fall apart.
Behind them Garfield Arbuckle was trying to stave off a mutil-pronged Mercedes-Benz attack from Kayleigh McAlpine who was working tactically with Koffing. Viewers were rather confused when for the first time, racecam units were installed in the #109 machine and Koffing controlled the car, with no limbs. It was decided some time ago that the best way to stop telekenesis from escaping into the rest of the environment and hence other cars, was to have a faraday cage installed in the #109 Mercedes-Benz. It is unknown if this achieves anything or not, as it is unknown how Koffing's telekenetic ability to control a race car actually works.
With McIllan and Hedgehog swapping fastest laps up front, most of the field decided to come down onto pit road on lap 49. A few stayed out a lot longer though.
In what was effectively the race for sixth place, no fewer that twenty cars came down onto pit road and then left again. The really interested parties who wanted to cork the field up behind them, were Jean Paul Cassell in the Holden and Garfield Arbuckle in the Chevrolet, who by this stage running screen for their teammates out front.
The twenty car peloton cam down onto oit road and then back out and it was anyones guess as to who was one what strategy. By lap 53 when they were slowly sifting their way out, cars ran four wide at one point. Even what weak alliances may have been formed along manufacturer lines were blurred with the only team who could establish any kind of organisation within the swirling maelstrom being Team UZKA. At one point, the four UZKA cars were running nose-to-tail in number order with Robie up front, followed by Spidalski, Yankovic and Wayne at the rear.
Not even this organastion would prove useful though because this race would be reracked on lap 86, when the two Heeler brothers both tangled with Chloe Ankha and although nobody took the opportunity to take on tyres, the lead up front evaporated and Ankha and the two Heeler brothers took an express elevator to the basement.
Before the second set of pitstops on lap 100, the running order was still Hedgehog and Arbuckle up front; with Bernie, Langer, Miku and Koffing filling up the rest of the points paying positions.
For a 150 mile race, it is not immediately obvious what the best strategy is. Some drivers cam in at about lap 50 and 100 and divided the race into three. Some such as Hatsune Miku who briefly led the race for laps 99 and 100, ran with a single stop in the middle and snapped the race in half. Darth Vader in the #77 Wartburg, took the opinion that he would run a hybrid strategy and run long, then stop twice late. He stopped on lap 75 and then on lap 124. This meant that of all the cars in thei field, he would finish on the freshest tyres.
What we saw in those last 26 laps was nothing short of determination mixed with very controlled anger. To make his way up through the field early and then lose track position as the tyres started to go off, was enough to convince the man in black that his second attempt needed to be better. It wasn't. By the time of his last stop, he was just outside of the cut zone and had 18 cars in front of him.
After carving through Spike Heeler and Chloe Ankha, he bumped Bandit Heeler up the track through Turn 3 and then sped past Spidalski, Edmundson and Raymond. Mifune and Robie gave him grief, while Koffing and the two Chevrolets in front of him offered no resistance.
By lap 140 he was up to sixth and passed two Toyotas, Kurt Langer who was trying to find his own way past Ellie McIllan, and then Vader pulled rank on fellow Wartburg driver Bernie Bernie in the #97 edition, to hold up Kayleigh McAlpine's Mercedes-Benz. To howls of derision and many many boos, Vader passed the number 97 Wartburg for the lead on lap 146 and then proceeded to win the race.
This was an unpopular win and the crowd certainly made sure that Vader knew it. Nevertheless, when he laid some big black 11s on the tri-oval in front of the crowd, they still cheered; which shows you just how fickle crowds are.
Points Awarded A-Heat Race:
9 - Darth Vader
6 - Kayleigh McAlpine
4 - Bernie Bernie
3 - Ellie McIllan
2 - Kurt Langer
1 - Jean-Luc Pikachu