Welcome to Round 1 of what will be the final League Races in GT5. Grand Valley Speedway is the first stop and was an evenful race for both rooms hosting the races. Division 1 room had a massive 14 car grid at the start. Lets hear how it went A new dawn of racing began last Sunday night. 14 keen drivers all took up the challenge of Citroën and GT's fantasy machine. The first track that required conquering, was the fearsome Grand Valley Speedway. Warrior picked up from where he left off and set a blistering time to take pole. Trailing behind were Rotor and Mustafur. N64 qualified a disappointing 10th in a car not at it's full potential, giving him a disadvantage on the straights. It became last after he accidentally exited the pits into the lobby screen. Off the line, warrior and a few other drivers adopted a unique 2nd gear launch, which proved the most effective. Warrior led away from rotor who jumped Mustafur off the line. gary unfortunately retired with connection issues after half a lap. N64 overtook half the field on lap one, benefiting from a huge spin from Mustafur, which dropped him from 3rd to 8th. Zampli was showing well after his break, and began to hunt down rotor. VENDALISM was also impressing in his Div 1 debut, moving up to 5th after Cyber's lap 3 spin. However, he also spun a lap later, demoting him to 8th. Drivers really struggled with the lack of downforce when following someone, making overtaking particularly treacherous. The worst lap of the race award went to N64, whose 6th lap will surely go down in ROOZ history as the worst lap ever seen. He ran wide at the sector 1 chicane, resulting in a spin and a short cut penalty, losing 2 places to VENDALISM and S_CLOSE. Worse still, he stepped on the power too early in the tunnel, gifting Cyber and Joe freebies. N64 recovered with a brilliant move up the inside of the next corner. But on the final corner, he made a grave error in which his attempts to recover would condemn him to last place. He spun sideways into the pitlane, and was not allowed to receive any work to the car. Anon, Rotor and Close were the first to roll the dice with a pitstop on lap 8. Close made a meal of the out lap and spun at the beginning of sector 2. A large portion of the field pitted on lap 9, with the exception of warrior, who pitted a lap later. N64 once again spun on the last bend into the pitlane, but was allowed to receive service. By the time he exited, he was over half a minute behind Corzza, and it was now futile to continue. He grudgingly parked up after many more errors on lap 12. rotor lost 2nd to Zampli and Anon after the pitstops with an error leaving him in the gravel. He retook Anon, but Zampli was too far ahead. He now however had to resist a hard charging Mustafur. A mistake on the last bend on lap 15 allowed Mustafur to run alongside, and made the move stick. Rotor spun into the barrier, and he was out! Corzza, Joe and Close were having a terrific battle for 9th, which lost Corzza after a spin on the 16th lap. VENDALISM worked his way up to an excellent 5th after Stu spun on lap 17. By this stage, warrior had built up an unassailable lead. Zampli made his 2nd stop on lap 18, and soon the rest of the field followed suit within a few laps. Only Corzza, warrior and stu stayed out for a short 3rd stint. Mustafur lost out to Anon in the pits, and had to overtake him again. They engaged in a terrific battle, with no quarter given. Mustafur got ahead with a very tricky move into turn 1 on lap 22. He then set off after Zampli. Another terrific battle was the one for the final point, between Corzza and Joe. The latter would slowly reel Corzza in, raging all the way. By the last lap, tek was now on the back of Cyber, Joe was on the back of Corzza and Mustafur was now on the back of Zampli! First of all, Joe's charge ended with a mistake on the first corner, Tek failed to overtake Cyber, but Mustafur chucked it down the inside of turn 5 to take an astonishing 2nd place. warrior won by a staggering 34 seconds, a gap not seen since Anon and N64's victories at The Ring and Rome in Season 11 respectively. This feat earned him N64's inaugural paint prize, a terrific Matte Yellow. Zampli had to be content with 3rd, ahead of Anon in his traditional 4th. VENDALISM made is mark with a great 5th place. Stu capped a relatively quiet race with 6th, ahead of a frustrated Cyber. Tek, who strangely was sporting the #1, finished 8th, 12 seconds ahead of Close. Corzza marked his ROOZ return with 10th, and Joe finished just outside the points. N64 stayed in the race to finish many laps down, to bring you this report from 12th. After the race, Division 1 was to be without rotor for the rest of the season, who sadly decided to withdraw. Rome will surely spring a few surprises, especially as a few drivers will want to make their way up positions and topple the unstoppable warrior. Who will it be? Cheers, Jono. Brilliant and informative as always Jono. Now to move on to Division 2/3, where there was action aplenty! DNS's and DSC's plagued the first round for Division 2/3, with DekGT5, Disturboed, HSVbutters and Dperry AWOL. Clevohead had all sorts of dramas trying to join the room, ending with a network problem after he reset. t_b_williams actually made it to the grid before he was DSC'd. GRID: OverDrivve, emmo46, Ad2mny, bjh1012, X-3vi1m00n, HazeOne68 and Darkace_123 The lights went green just after t_b_williams DSC'd, and Ad2mny got the holeshot into Turn 1, passing first emmo46 with a jumpstart penalty and then OverDrivve with a slow start. emmo46 also managed to pass OverDrivve into Turn 1. X-3vi1m00n and bjh1012 both wanted the same piece of track Turn 1, which psn decided was allowed this time, while HazeOne68 and Darkace_123 watched on. bjh1012 made a mistake out of Turn 3 and ended up running to the outside of Turn 4 then down the grass all the way to Turn 5. Darkace_123 passed HazeOne68 as he had a slight off track moment at the same place, and they both passed bjh1012 as he rejoined the track. Ad2mny leading, emmo46 in pursuit, OverDrivve and X-3vi1m00n in the distance. Lap 2, emmo46 overcooked it into Turn 1 having a half spin and letting OverDrivve and X-3vi1m00n past. Turn 4 claimed another victim as Darkace_123 ran off the outside then back across the track into the other side barrier, costing him 2 positions to be in last place. By Lap 3, there were 3 distinct battles, Ad2mny and OverDrivve, X-3vi1m00n and emmo46, Darkace_123 and bjh1012 with HazeOne68 a few secs further back. Turn 4 was to claim yet another victim, as Ad2mny approached just a fraction wide touching the grass on the outside and fishtailing all the way down to Turn 5, losing touch with OverDrivve. emmo46 and X-3vi1m00n tussled at Turn 5, and they diced brutally until emmo46 had another spin at Turn 10, dropping 2 spots into 6th behind HazeOne68 and bjh1012. HazeOne68 leading bjh1012 and emmo46. Lap 4 and the front 3 were getting pretty spread out, 3 secs between each of the drivers, then 8 secs back to the furious battle for 4th led by HazeOne68, then bjh1012 and emmo46. Darkace_123 was a further 10 secs back. emmo46 got a good run on bjh1012 out of Turn 10, and was alongside into the tunnel at Turn 11. They were both making contact until bjh1012 managed to get back in front. As they entered Turn 13, emmo46 was tryng for an outbrake but bjh1012 came back across to take the corner and they collided heavily, both ending up skidding into the outside wall. bjh1012 came back up the inside of emmo46 as they both recovered but he mounted the tall inside gutter and broke traction, spinning and losing the position. Contact with the wall caused him damage to his front right, then he lost control coming out of Turn 15, ending on the outside grass at Turn16. Lap 5, OverDrivve was slowly stretching the gap to Ad2mny in 2nd, while X-3vi1m00n was slowly closing in, until on lap 7, when he touched the grass on the inside of the kink leading to Turn 1, and fishtailed into the gravel trap. bjh1012 made his first stop at the start of this lap. emmo46 had slowly closed the gap to HazeOne68 but had no idea he was even on the track. He ghosted through him at Turn 3 and quickly pulled away. Lap 8, HazeOne68 had a spin entering the tunnel at Turn 11, managing to recover just as Darkace_123 came into view around the corner. Darkace_123 ran a little wide exiting Turn 16 and fishtailed toward the pit entry sign. He recovered without spinning but HazeOne68 had pulled away again. By Lap 9 tyres were starting to get fairly worn, and the lap times were showing signs of the struggle for grip, except bjh1012, who was improving his personal best with fresher tyres. X-3vi1m00n broke traction exiting Turn 15, allowing emmo46 to pass into 3rd. OverDrivve and emmo46 both pitted end of lap 9, as did Darkace_123. OverDrivve rejoined 3rd behind X-3vi1m00n and slowly closed the gap on fresher tyres. Ad2mny pitted start of lap 11. OverDrivve had caught right up to X-3vi1m00n by Turn 5, and hounded him till he pitted end of the lap. So the race order at just over half race distance (lap 14) OverDrivve had a very dominant 22.5 second lead over Ad2mny and emmo46, X-3vi1m00n was a further 10 seconds back and slowly pulling away from bjh1012 in 5th. Darkace_123 was a further 20 seconds back in 6th, with last placed HazeOne68 5 seconds behind, just over 1 min behind the leader. Bjh1012 had a moment at Turn 1, allowing X-3vi1moon to pull away out of sight. Darkace_123 spun at Turn 4, allowing HazeOne68 to catch and pass him, and they both passed bjh1012 as he pitted end of lap 14. emmo46, who had been harassing Ad2mny for the last 3 laps, had a little slide exiting turn 10, allowing Ad2mny a little breathing space. Darkace had a massive spin out of Turn 16, causing major damage to his front right on the inside wall just before the pit entry. He ricocheted off the wall , coasting back across to the other side. bjh1012 passed by just as he was trying to limp back onto the track. Lap 16 saw X-3vi1m00n pushing hard to close back up on the final podium position, but a mistake entering turn 11 increased the gap to over 12 seconds. emmo46 made his final stop start of lap 19. bjh1012 ran very wide out of turn 16 and had a massive spin onto the main straight, turning a full 360 and heavily damaging both fronts and right rear. Darkace_123 also pitted start of lap 19, with OverDrivve, close to lapping him, pulling in behind at the end of his 19th lap. Ad2mny and X-3vi1m00n also pitted, with Ad2mny rejoining just ahead of emmo46, and X-3vi1m00n just behind HazeOne68 in 4th position. X-3vi1m00n managed a pass as HazeOne68 ran wide at Turn 4. OverDrivve lapped Darkace_123 at turn 16 end of lap 21, and poor Darkace_123, while he slowed to let OverDrivve cleanly past, caused himself a spin trying to get back up to speed quickly. Just to add salt to the wound, he spun again at Turn 3. bjh1012 made his final stop end of lap 21. Darkace_123, after having yet another spin at Turn 15, pitted end of lap 22. Race order at Lap 24(*gap to leader*): OverDrivve, Ad2mny (27 secs), emmo46 (29 secs), X-3vi1m00n (44 secs), HazeOne68 (1.37), bjh1012 (1.38) with Darkace_123 a lap down. OverDrivve had a spin at Turn 4 but recovered with plenty of time up his sleeve, which was just as well as it took till nearly Turn 10 to get back up to pace. bjh1012 snuck up the inside of a wide running HazeOne68 at Turn 11, but then fishtailed out of Turn 12. They ran side by side along the bridge but bjh1012 managed to outbrake into Turn 13 and started to pull away. Thats how the race ended With OverDrivve winning comfortably. Congratulations to him, as well as Ad2mny in 2nd and emmo46 in 3rd, for whom podium finishes have been fairly scarce lately. See you all next round, at Rome Round 1 is done and dusted with round 2 just around the corner. We will bring you all the action again next week. Please support our sponsor: Also check out some of our other side races being held in between League races. Come join in!! Halloween Fright night http://raceonoz.com/threads/halloween-fright-night.742/ Iron Van 4 http://raceonoz.com/threads/iron-van-4-do-you-want-rice-with-that.747/ Last Day GT5 V8 Suprecars http://raceonoz.com/threads/gt5-last-day-v8-supercars-gt5-style.732/ Jono (N64TheStig007) Div 1 reporter Warrior Div 1 Photography Jamie (Ad2mny) Editor, Back up div2/3 reporter/photographer
great race coverage guys, appreciate the long hours taken to put it together. With all the spins and crashes and fishtails,,,,,,God help us all in Rome!
Very difficult race that was, missed pole by a tiny margin and really felt I could of got it as I set the fastest time in practise that would of got pole, then I got a jump start penatly then a spin at the end of the lap as I underestimated the understeer from the draft effect. Still second was a good recovery, even though I was almost half a lap behind Warrior. Thanks for the report it was a good read.
Well done mate!! Wish i hadn't missed it! Look out Wogland,we're coming to rape your streets with some Big French Ball tearing cars!!!
Good report guys, was a good race but didn't perform as I was hoping. Rome will be a difficult one, a whole lot of walls and not as much grip as you would expect from a car that is basically a tractor with wings. Another 14 cat grid is going to make it a challenge!!!
Always get a good response from these reports makes it all worthwhile with the positive support. Cheers to all!
It's amazing to see that I was racing a ghost, I wonder if Haze could see me?. Great work again Ad2, I really look forward to your reports.
Thanks for the feedback guys, I'm personally interested in a career in journalism/reporting (amongst many other things) and it helps that our work is apprecieated. It's getting a little bit hard to find the time to do it as Yr 12 is starting to get busy fast, but I try to find a way to write up a good, detailed report.
Great write up guys, sux that I missed this one. The next report will have plenty of broken cars to get photos of... lol
