ROOZ NEWS 2nd Edition - S12 R3 - Sep 1st to sep 7th

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Welcome back for the second edition of ROOZ News, apologies for it being a little late as most of our readers and members will appreciate real world commitments can some times get in the way of our online exploits. This brings me to the next topic of order, is anyone in Division 3 up to doing reports in the style that N64 and Ad2mny are producing for us? This will be a great help for me and help free me up to look into getting the ladders in order and sorted out. If you are interested in taking up this role please inbox me, Clevohead.

We will kick things off with Australia's penultimate GT5 Division of racers N64 with the Apex Kings in Div 1:

DIV 1
Warrior bounced back from his Monaco disappointment to take a close round victory after a 1st and 3rd place in the sprint event.

Mustafur took a nail biting pole position at the death to steal the bonus point.

Race 1 report

At the start of Race 1, all got away cleanly with the exception of N64, who dropped to last after a massive false start from 5th place. He was forced to recover from a 5 second deficit and his chances if a podium were gone.

The race turned into a 4 way battle between warrior, rotor, Mustafur and Anon, as they sped away from the pack. Anon dropped off from them but Mustafur struck a kerb and his challenge was over.

The field charges into turn 1​

Meanwhile, the race was very close between the bottom 6. N64 was on a massive charge, overtaking 2 cars in one corner! Putting natman under massive pressure, he struck the cliffside wall, but ricocheted back and forced N64 into a spin, back into 9th!

Rotor and warrior were still going at it hammer and tongs up front, pulling a large gap over the rest of the field. N64 recovered again to resume his overtaking spree, soon latching onto the back of Cyber. The two engaged in a brilliant duel, Cyber's superior line through the final corner prevented a turn 1 dive. But N64 found a way past, and took 5th his starting position away from Cyber, but Anon was way ahead. Warrior took a brilliant victory, less than half a second ahead of rotor. Mustafur took third ahead of Anon, the charging N64, Cyber, Joe, Gary and the return of Tek. Sadly for the quick natman, he suffered pedal problems reminiscent of Damon Hill at the Hungaroring in 1997, dropping him to last.

Race 2 report

Tek threw away his reverse grid pole by running wide and getting a very unfair penalty. N64 and Mustafur were the big movers, moving from 6th to 1st and 8th to 4th respectively. Gary sadly dropped to last by the end, despite tek's troubles, with an error at the final bend.

Natman was putting up a brave fight, with damaged pedals, he gave N64 a hard time with some brutish overtaking. This was highlighted when N64 attempted a cliffside overtake, but was forced onto the kerb. Really ballsy driving.

N64 leads, with a charging Natman​

Meanwhile, Anon was recovering after a poor 2 laps, pulling away from Tek and Gary. Rotor was getting feisty, giving Cyber a body check up the rear.

Fantastically, the top three were all side by side heading into turn 1, it was a game of who dares wins. Mustafur got the jump, leaving a disgruntled N64 in 3rd. He harshly threw natman off to catch Mustafur, but he couldn't keep up.

Rotor now had forced natman out of 3rd, and chased the top 3. He didn't need much help, N64 twitched on the cliffside onto the grass and rotor's clean tyres allowed him to go clean around the outside.

Mustafur by now had the race in the bag, as warrior dispatched natman and Cyber into 4th.

Anon and Cyber hanging it out there​

Natman's pedal problems returned, nearly T-boning N64 and dropped to last. N64, rotor and warrior were battling brilliantly, but N64 could hold on no long. A lag bump put paid to his chances of 2nd, and the gap between the 3 had spread out, enabling warrior past easily after he had spin off.

So, an easy win for Mustafur, while rotor only just held onto 2nd. N64 remained in 4th, ahead of Cyber in 5th, Anon in 6th and then Gary. A horrendous final sector from Joe dropped him to 9th at the death behind Tek, and natman limping with still broken pedals.

We now move on to Ad2mny with his take on the battles in the Corner Carver's:

DIV 2

GRID:

VENDALISM, Stumbles01, S_CLOSE, disturboed, NUGGET-22, Ad2mny, OverDrivve, emmo46, X-3vi1m00n, Dbn26.

S_CLOSE was a bit slow off the line but X-3vi1m00n got a blinder gaining 2 positions by the Turn 1. emmo46 and NUGGET-22 came together and emmo46 lost a little traction but recovered in last position.



Stumbles01 ran too hot into the first Chicane and as he recovered disturboed clipped his rear slowing him down enough for S_CLOSE and NUGGET-22 to pass on either side. While trying to retake S_CLOSE, disturboed ran too tight into the long Right hander and spun out. Ad2mny, trying to avoid contact, ran across the grass and then back across the track to the inside of the Final Straight. Dbn26, X-3vi1m00n and OverDrivve had passed by the time he recovered. Disturboed dropped right back to last.

End of lap 2, after clawing his way to the back of the field, emmo46 made contact with the pit entry wall and spun losing touch again. By lap 3, VENDALISM had a nearly 3 sec lead, followed by Stumbles01, NUGGET-22 and S_CLOSE. Dbn26 was running alone, then X-3vi1m00n, OverDrivve, and Ad2mny. disturboed was a further 3 secs back, with emmo46 struggling in last 8 secs behind.

Final Turn on lap 4, OverDrivve brushed past X-3vi1m00n causing him to slide and Ad2mny with nowhere to go collided into his side. Ad2mny slowed to avoid performing a pit manouver and disturboed slipped past. Up ahead, Stumbles01 had managed to pull a gap on a battling S_CLOSE and NUGGET-22. X-3vi1m00n touched that dreaded inside rumble strip on the long Right hander and Ad2mny, once again trying to avoid a spinning car, had a sliding deep entry into the Final corner.




Lap 6, NUGGET-22 received a short-cut penalty at the first Chicane, allowing S_CLOSE some breathing room and dropping him back within slipstream distance of Dbn26. disturboed moved up past OverDrivve after the first Chicane. Lap 7, Stumbles01 seemed to be having concentration problems, outbraking himself and some strange lines, ending in a spin leading up tho the Final Corner. By the time he had recovered, he had lost 5 positions, and Ad2mny drafted past at the end of the Straight.

OverDrivve made a mistake leading up to the Final Corner on lap 8, spun in the same place as Stumbles01 had the lap before. He rejoined behind X_3vi1m00n in 2nd last. Unfortunately for emmo46, even though a long way back in last, he disconnected (DSC'd) near the end of lap 9.

Ad2mny ran too deep into Turn 1 lap 10, running onto the grass but remaining in control. Stumbles01 managed to take advantage. X-3vi1moon had a bad entry into the Final Corner, running on the inside grass and only just stopping in time to make the turn, and with his dirty tyres was unable to keep OverDrivve behind entering the Straight and he was past by Turn 1. X-3vi1moon kept the power on around the outside and held the inside line and retook his 8th position. Another swap of positions at the Final Corner, and a further 2 swaps on lap 12 until OverDrivve pulled enough of a gap to keep him at bay.

Lap 14, OverDrivve got very sideways into Turn 1 allowing X-3vi1m00n to retake the position, and a mistake by Dbn26 allowed disturboed to close up on him. Finally, a penalty and then a spin by OverDrivve at the last 2 Hairpins sealed his position behind X-3vi1m00n. Dbn26 nearly lost his 4th place to disturboed but just managed to hold him off.

Race 2

GRID:

emmo46, OverDrivve, X-3vi1m00n, Ad2mny, Stumbles01, disturboed, Dbn26, NUGGET-22, S_CLOSE, VENDALISM.

emmo46 got swamped at the start, but Dbn26 had it worse with a jumpstart penalty dropping him a long way back. Stumbles01 and disturboed where running side by side through the first few corners until they contacted pushing disturboed onto the grass leading up the hill to the first Chicane. As he rejoined the track he span out on dirty tyres.



Stumbles01 waited for disturboed to recover which put them both 7 secs off the tail of the field. NUGGET-22 passed emmo46 at Turn 1 on lap 2, and VENDALISM passed S_CLOSE at the hairpin, after running side by side most of the lap. Dbn26 got past S_CLOSE at Turn 1 lap 3 after an aborted attempt by S_CLOSE to pass VENDALISM.



At the end of the lap, Stumbles01 did an exact replica of his spin at the Final Corner. VENDALISM came alongside emmo46 at Turn 1 lap 4 and stayed there all the way until the first Chicane where he finally got passed, but a few light touches by Dbn26 behind upset emmo46's car on exit and caused a fishtail dropping him 2 spots back to 8th. Dbn26 redressed his error but later emmo46 claimed he had felt no contact and did not blame him.

Lap 5, OverDrivve, who had been leading the race to this point, ran too hot into Turn 1 and onto the grass causing a spin. He recovered in between emmo46 and Dbn26 for 7th.



NUGGET-22 had been all over Ad2mny for the last 4 laps, and when he passed both a spinning OverDrivve and Ad2mny as well at Turn 1 he gained 2nd position. VENDALISM took Ad2mny's 3rd position next lap at Turn 1, and all of lap 7, X-3vi1m00n, had NUGGET-22 and VENDALISM all over him. VENDALISM tried a divebomb from 3rd at the first Chicane, but dropped back after hitting X-3vi1m00n's bumper. disturboed gave OverDrivve a couple of taps at the Hairpin, slowing down so he wouldn't turn him around, and Dbn26 took advantage of their battle slipping past both of them on the long Right hander. VENDALISM tried another divebomb from 3rd place at the Final Corner on X-3vi1m00n, but dropped back again entering the main Straight. Dbn26 outbraked himself a little at the final turn, but got a good run onto the Straight, and disturboed used his draft to pass X-3vi1m00n. Dbn26 overcooked it again into Turn 1 on lap 9 allowing disturboed up the inside.

Lap 10, S_CLOSE collided with X-3vi1m00n into Turn 1, pushing him wide and allowing S_CLOSE and Ad2mny to pass. X_3vi1m00n later said he didn't mind, it was only a matter of time till S_CLOSE got past anyway.

Lap 12, disturboed had closed the gap on emmo46 and successfully passed him at the high speed Chicane moving him up to 6th. Lap 13, Stumbles01 and OverDrivve were running alongside each other out of Turn 1, but a fairly heavy lag impact caused them both damage, and OverDrivve ran off the inside of the corner onto the grass and spun. Ad2mny locked up heavily into the Hairpin after fishtailing out of the first Chicane, and as he recovered got a shortcut penalty allowing X-3vi1m00n to slide back past. Stumbles01 started fishtailing at the high speed Chicane, spinning on the Final Straight section, and OverDrivve ran too hot into the same corner spinning just behind him and ghosted through.

emmo46 span on the Final Corner on lap 14 and got a penalty for cutting the last part of the corner while recovering, allowing Dbn26 past. Lap 15, Ad2mny got sideways on entry into the first Chicane, running onto the grass on exit and allowing Dbn26 to catch right up at the Hairpin. Ad2mny got a bad run into the high speed Chicane, almost cutting the corner. He backed off slightly, but the replay shows one wheel remained on the rumble strip, avoiding the penalty. With his hesitation, and Dbn26 expecting him to ghost with a penalty(as did Ad2mny), there was some evasive action required which caused Dbn26 to spin. He avoided any heavy wall contact and recovered without losing any positions.

A mistake starting the final lap by VENDALISM at Turn 1 had him struggling for grip until the uphill run to the first Chicane, and allowed NUGGET-22 a hassle free run to victory.

See you all again on Sunday, Ad.

And now for a round up of the Drift Dawgs exploits:

DIV 3
We had another good turn out in div 3, with a respectable field of ten in by the second race, Darko took out the round but not without a fight and t_b was the man to give it to him, on all acounts from what guys have said they had a good time, we have a pretty good tme in the drift dawgs, and everyone is finding someone of similar ability and having some pretty epic battles.

We also welcome back Leeboy making his big come back to the league from what we understand was a founding member, welcome back Leeboy we look forward to seeing what you can accomplish.

Grid race 2
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I have taken some of the div 3 guys comments and reports for some further insight into the Drift Dawgs community:

t_b_williams wrote:

"What an event. Hadn't had much practice for this race this week. Only one quick session early on in the week. Was pushing hard during qually but just couldnt match Darko and Leeboys pace, ending up qualifying 3rd for race one. Got a blinder of the line and after turn one was in front. I knew I had to push hard to maintain my position but on lap 3 pushed a little two hard through the fast left-right and had an almighty spins which let Darko and Leeboy breeze past. Luckily had a big enough gap to regather and maintain 3rd. Pushed hard again over the next few laps and was closing on Leeboy and was hopeful of gaining a position but again pushed too hard at the same spot and spun again. From there it was a lonely run home only gaining on Leeboy very slightly.
Race two and I was third last obviously, but importantly in front of Darko and Leeboy. Got another great start and fired it up the inside and managed to run through turn 1 side by side with HSV making slight but clean contact and came out in the lead.(feel free to protest if it wasn't that clean butters). It took a few laps for the quick guys to get to the front I think so I managed to build a slight lead and was hell bent on keeping it, but very careful not to have yet another spin. Had a few heart in mouth momentsbut managed to keep it straight and came away with a win. ( Happy Father's Day to me)
Well done Darko great pace all night mate, with a better start we might have had a good door to door battle.
Well done also to Leeboy. First race in what i read is quite a while and was right on the pace.
Hope everyone had fun regardless of their results. Now onto another concrete jungle only this time in the dark."

bjh1012 writes:

"Hi guys had a good 2 races for me. got a tap first lap in race one & race 2 i think ?? all good gave dan a tap slowed down to let him back past & done the same with clevo. out braked my self going onto main straight (last of the late brakers) me clevo had a great battle for what seem like an eternity finally got up the inside of the widest
nsx i have ever seen pleased to have a bit pace thanks all."

Pack mentality
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Thank you once again for reading and we hope you have enjoyed this issue of ROOZ News.

See you next week.

Reporters:
N64TheStig007 - Div 1 Correspondent/Photographer
Ad2mny - Div 2 Correspondent/Photographer
t-b_williams/bjh1012- Div 3 Correspondents
Clevohead - editor/Div 3 Photographer​