ROOZ NEWS - S12 ROUND 6

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Hey there race fans and welcome to another edition of ROOZ news. Round 6 seen the guys take on the "Burger Ring" for what were some pretty intense battles, so we will jump right into it and let N64 tell us all about Div 1:

After many racers had taken a break from their crazy antics at San Andreas, focused turned to a tough touge at the heavily neutered Nürburgring. Warrior all but wrapped up the Division 1 title after another dominant display from Mustafur and Rotor.

The starting Grid.​

After a shaky start, Mustafur jumped ahead of Warrior, while N64 rocketed from 7th to 3rd,
just behind natman. A determined N64 applied the pressure, settled on lap 2 after natman spun into last place and way out of contention. Warrior recovered from his poor start by diving up the inside of the chicane on N64. Rotor also punished N64 on the next lap. By this stage, Mustafur led from warrior, rotor, N64, Anon, Cyber and Stu.

Turn 1, Lap 1, all sorts of wrong going on here.​

All of these drivers benefitted from N64's penalty, leaving a frustrated N64 down in 7th. Warrior had really reeled in Mustafur, however both were struggling with lag problems. Rotor rolled the dice with an early pit stop, hoping to use fresher tyres to gain on the top two. Cyber received a tank slapper at Kumho, allowing a faster N64 ahead and on the hunt for Stu.

Anon, Stu and N64 were within a few seconds with each other, with Anon slightly edging away. On worn tyres, Stu became a victim of N64's undercut, and fell to 6th. Anon was too far ahead. Natman showed tremendous pace, shaking away his last place. Warrior stayed out and extra lap, and took the lead.

Natman coming un-stuck.​

The race turned into a procession after the pit stops, apart from Cyber and gary having a titanic battle. Natman decided to pit for a 2nd time in order to steal a surprise fastest lap. This however confined him to last position. Stu would eventually gain the upper hand in terms of pace, but made too many mistakes for N64 to be put under any sort of pressure. Warrior won by ten seconds ahead of Mustafur, a trying Rotor, Anon, N64 and Stu. Cyber just resisted gary and natman rounded out the field.

Warrior and Musta in their finishing Positions.​

Onto the final round at Spa Francorchamps, where the weather will almost certainly throw a spanner in the works. Someone will surely want to end warrior's tradition of winning every race he has finished. That responsibility will surely fall to Mustafur and rotor, but Anon and N64 could very much spring a surprise. The most exciting battle will be the first non podium spot, where Anon holds the advantage over N64 and Cyber.

Top work as usual N64 and we appreciate you taking time from study for exams to submit and contribute, without guys like you it would be hard to keep things like this running.
And we have Dek stepping in for Ad2mny this week, and we welcome him aboard, and look forward to his report:

Starting Grid: 1-S_Close 2-Disturboed 3-Vendalism 4-Nugget-22 5-Stumbles_01 6-Ad2mny 7-Dbn26 8-Evilmoon 9-Overdrive 10-emmo46
Qualifying saw S_Close with pole position,which he put to good use,only being troubled briefly by Vendalism. For the rest of the field it was quite a battle,including a lot of weaving on the pit straight which may have been debatable as to legality,but no-one took it to extremes,so there was no real protestable action.
The start was very clean,all gave each other room at turn 1,with all holding position except Disturboed who lost 3 spots off the line and on the run to turn 1. Through Mercedes and Castrol S,there were lot's of different lines looking for ways past,but to no avail. Vendalism was playing a nice tune on S-Close chrome horn,but got loose onto the pit straight at the end of lap 2,giving S_Close room to breathe & Stumbles a run,but Vendal closed the door just in time.Nugget,Disturboed,Dbn & Evilmoon were close in tow,with a few secs back to Ad2mny;Overdrive & emmo46,who was thinking he had started on sports hards & having a shocker,pitted on lap 3 to make sure,putting him out of it.

Back ahead,Stumbles tried to get up the inside of Vendal at the hairpin,but hit him,pushing him wide,so he redressed.Right behind Disturboed did the same to Nugget,giving Dbn26 a look up the inside at Turn6,but Disturboed held strong around the outside & lucky for both Dbn lifted,or they would've both ended up in the grass at turn7. Stumbles then ran wide on exit of T7,letting Nugget through,& putting Disturboed & Dbn on his tail,& while trying to fend him off,ran wide exiting the final chicane,letting through Disturboed,Dbn & Evilmoon,luckily he had a good gap to Ad2mny to clean his tyres up.

On lap 4 Nugget ran wide exiting the castrol S& Disturbo & Dbn got past,& to rub salt into the wound,ran wide at turn7 giving Evilmoon a run on the back straight,had him covered but moved over under brakes,clipping Evilmoon & ending up against the chicane wall,luckily with no penalty or damage,but putting him back to 9th,and majorly reorganising the cushions.(Amazing they lasted this long,considered running a book on it! Unfortunately Ad2mny got DSC'd at Mercedes,lap 5(Funny what the ps3 made up instead of him just disappearing) By nowVendal had caught S_Close& was playing a new tune on his Chrome horn,but overcooked it into the final chicane & putting 2nd to 4th nose to tail. All went along as was for the next few laps,with 1st through 6th were running at same pace,with mistakes being the deciding factor in position changes.
Lap 8 saw Dbn run wide at turn 7,letting Stumbles & Evil through & bringing Nugget onto his tail. Dbn got a good run at Evil through the Castrol S,but clipped the inside Vallelunga,pushing him into Evil & while redressing Nugget got involved trying to fit his NSX where a fiat 500 wouldn't fit,but all got through unscathed.

So at lap9 it was S_Close+4 secs on Vendalism & Disturboed,+3secs on Stumbles,Evilmoon,Nugget & Dbn26+8secs on Overdrive, then emmo wishing he didn't stand out so much in Pink,and the final chicane cushions wishing they were on holiday!!
Lap 10 and Nugget got Evil into turn 3 & lap 11 Dbn had a go into Turn 1 but lockedup at last second and slid wide,Evil held his position,but the midfield pace was hotting up with 4th to 7th catching 2nd & 3rd,helped by Disturboed diving up the inside of Vendalism,& controlling it to hold Vendal out of position,forcing him to back off,A TEXT BOOK chicane pass.

Lap 12 saw a lot change! Stumbles got a penalty shortcutting turn 1,letting past Nugget & putting Dbn & Evil on his tail.Dbn overcooked it into the final chicane letting Evil past,meanwhile up ahead,Vendal & Disturbo were having a ding dong battle,with Disturbo passing into turn 1,bringing Nugget to their tail. Disturbo was doing his best to make his NSX 10ft wider,but it all nearly ended up in tears for all 3 of them when Nugget tapped Vendal on the back straight.Vendal then battled Disturbo side by side through final chicane,giving them both slow exits,putting Nugget alongside. Disturbo made a late call to pit,Vendal even later(TOO LATE????). Nugget,Stumbles & Evil stayed out,Dbn followed Disturbo & Vendals call. S_Close,Stumbles,Nugget,Evil & Overdrive pitted next lap,Overdrive had a bad entry hitting the wall. Vendal had a bad outlap,running wide between T6 & 7,getting penalty,which he never really recovered from,fighting Evil for 6th place,despite having 2nd fastest race lap.

So after the pit stops it shook out like this-- 1-S_Close+10secs-->Disturbo+2secs-->Nugget+2secs-->Stumbles+1.5secs--> Dbn+3secs-->Evil+5secs-->Vendal+8secs-->Overdrive-->emmo somewhere wayback.

The next few laps were Status Quo,except for Nugget & Disturbo having a great battle,Nugget having 3 attempts into turn 1, finally getting past on lap 20.That then brought Stumbles into the podium equation. Disturbo fought hard,but Stumbles got him on lap 22 into T1,a perfect pass.He tried to fight back,but pit straight weaving by Stumbles stopped any run into turn 1,and Stumbles was quicker everywhere else & in trying to make up the ground,outbraked himself into the final chicane,not getting a penalty,but giving Stumbles breathing room,& Dbn a chance at getting him. Dbn got close on lap 26,but lit up the rears out of turn1,almost spinning,but it wasn't over.Struggling with his rears(or adrenalin)leaving blackmarks everywhere,Disturbo then touched the grass at the turn 1 braking point,skewing him sideways & despite a sterling effort to drift around the corner,ended up in the sand,giving Dbn 4th place,& putting Vendal on his tail. On the last lap Vendal tried to get up the inside into turn 1,but completely overcooked it,losing 6th to Evil,& while fighting back,got loose exiting the castrol S,losing any chance of getting back past.

Welldone S_Close on a dominant performance,Kudo's to Nugget & Stumbles on great recoveries. Bad Luck to emmo,who probably regrets his choice of Pink over his usual Emerson Fittipaldi inspired colour scheme's.

What a great first write up Dek, we will be sure to keep you in the wings as a back up reporter.
And now we move on to Div 3 Drift Dawgs, and t_b as usual has a cracker of a report:

Drift Dawgs​

Round 6 - Nurburging GP/D​

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Another round and another famous circuit. This time the sliding canines were off to Germany's most famous stretch of tarmac, well at least the short Grand Prix version anyway.

Only seven Dawgs faced this race, but all the top contenders were there, but would have been better with a full grid as it didn't take long for the field to spread out.

T_B_Williams, Sparklehead, BJH, Darko, Hazeone, Darkeace, Clevohead. ​

While Darkeace was slow off the line slipping to last place, Sparklehead backed up his start from Suzuka and was away quickly and putting pressure on T_B_Williams straight away with BJH sniffing at their heels.

T_B_ and Sparkle run down to turn 1 followed closely by BJ.​

With Sparkle down the inside through turn 1, T_B_ had no choice but to hang it wide round the outside, but this gave him the inside line through 3+4. But Sparkle stayed glued to his rear wing. Darkace got his place back thought turn 1 while Clevohead was trying a move on Hazeone. He almost had another gain but Haze had enough to hold the ace out into turn 2. But Darkace wouldn't hace to wait long as Haze fell victim to the time penalty that is running wide at turn 4. By the end of the lap the top 4 had put a gap on the rest of the field. Clevo got a good run out of the last corner and took Darkace before turn 1 and with three position changes between them already, this would shape up to be the battle of the race, even if it was for minor placings.

The top 4 run away while Clevo and Darkace continue a great battle.​

Lap 2 would also unfortunately see Haze disconnected having been fighting his connection in pre-practice and qually, only just making it back on track in time to lay down one qualifying lap before an immediate start.

The top 4 stayed together over the coming laps with BJ making a panel rubbing dive down into 1 which continued into 2, but payed the price for the contact coming out of it second best and barely holding onto 3rd with Darko desperate to move forward. The pressure got to BJ at turn 5 when the hard running Darko caused him to outbrake himself and run wide,




but one position isn't all Darko gained as Sparkle got too greedy on the inside of the same corner and received a time penalty as a result. This spread the front of the field for only a while.

Start of lap 4 and the battle at the back continued. Ace had a VERY LATE brake into turn 1, narrowly missing a tail wagging Clevo.

Lap 5 and Sparkle now had hold of Darko's rear wing. Runnig side by side through the sweeper, Darko hung on with the inside line into the chicane. Ace rounded Clevo out of the same chicane to run door to door towards the final corner. But Clevo held tight on the inside and held on, JUST!!!!

Lap 6 and Sparkle ran as wide as possible out of 4 missing a penalty by what would have been millimeters, and was infront of Darko into turn 5, but on the outside. With tires that still had grip this early on he hung on and gained the inside line into 6 and was though. But this fight for second only let T_B_ get a handy lead of over 7.5 sec allowing him to settle into a rhythm, the only one who had the luxury as everyone else was fighting for position all the way through the field, and didn't let up with Darko managing to get through at turn 1 on Sparkle taking back 2nd. Sparkle wasn't done and they ran through 3 side by side, and when he tried his luck doing around turn 4, he ran out of road, ran wide, and recieved the penalty.

Sparkle about to run out of road on the outside.​

This put BJ on his tail and Sparkle outbraked himself into turn 5, but BJ, with his eyes on the prize that was third, followed him into the fence, giving Darko some breathing room.

The action still raged at the back with Darkace (the pass of the night??) running around the outside of Clevo into the chicane. (you cant pass there!!!) and he made it stick, but wait, there's more. Clevo then hit the middle pedal late and got down the inside and past at turn 1. These two could not be seperated. (was it love?)

The end of lap 9 saw Darko come into the pits which indicated a 2 stopper, the only one in the field to do so with everyone else pushing through the pain of wearing tires to a one stop race. But alsa, it wasn't a pit stop, with reasons only known to Darko, he quit the race. This gave the Dawgs a measly field of just 5, with T_B_ out in front, Sparkle and BJ fighting over second, and Clevo and Darkace not wanting that wooden spoon. But with BJ pushing just a little too hard, small errors crept into his race which saw Sparkle start to slip away.

So with the Podium positions spreading out, all the action (and cameras) were pointed at the back with Ace past Clevo as the captain ran wide at 1, lap 12, but gained the spot back when Darkace got loose and cut the corner at 5 gaining a penalty. But Darkace was up the the chase and was back on Clevo's heels by lap 14, but threw away what he had gained by having a self induced slide coming out of turn 4. (Very easy to do)

Sparkles stop and BJ pushing on​

The end of lap 14 and the real stops started when Sparkle stopped to split his race neatly in half with BJ to push on to lap 15 looking for fresher tires to fight for second, with Clevo and Ace following Sparkle's lead coming in on lap 14. But T_B_, with a 22 second lead, pushed on long, not stopping until lap 17, giving himself some really fresh rubber for the run to the flag. But fresh rubber doesn't automaticly equal grop, as T_B_ spun out of turn 2 on cold boots. T_B_'s late stop and spin had seen his lead drop to just 8 seconds, but he managed to grow that back to 22 sec before another half spin at turn 4 on lap 27 when it dropped back down to 20 seconds when T_B_ crossed the line to start the last lap.

t_b's attempt at a drift trial​

So with an action packed first half, the field had a race with themselves to the checkered flag with T_B_ clinching the championship with a win, Sparkle in second, a well deserved 1st podium for BJH in third, and Clevo won the battle at the back finishing comfortably ahead of Darkace.

Three famous circuits down and one to go, as we head to Spa next week. Will the rain throw up a surprise result???? Only time will tell.

Till next week Dawgs,

WOOF!!!!!!

What a great write up t_b. Now as most of you guys are aware we have some pretty good sponsors, and without them we wouldn't be able to carry out prize races, and not to mention "The Gamesmen" coming on board with Divisional prizes for the first time this season. And with the release of several racing titles just around the corner, and especially GT6, Chris ("The Gamesman") has come to the party and is offering ROOZ drivers a special deal on the release of GT6 with a bulk order, if you are interested please let Stu know here: http://raceonoz.com/threads/bulk-order-names-for-gt6.710/

And be sure to check out the Gamesmen site, they have some very good deals, as well as sim racing hardware, controls, and console repairs, by getting your games here you are supporting Aussie Business (ozgameshop is UK owned for example) so show your patriotism, and get behind our sponsor, and support the guys who support us.

https://www.gamesmen.com.au
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So until next week race fans, keep it shiny side up!

ROOZ NEWS CREW:
N64TheStig007 - Div 1 Correspondent
Warrior - Div1 Photo credit
DekGTmad - Div 2 Correspondent
t-b_williams - Div 3 Correspondent/Photographer
Clevohead - Editor in Chief​

Good work lads, have a feeling this week will be a looooooong write up!!