Welcome to part 2 of our ROOZ League races from Grand Valley East Reverse. In part 2, we will hear from our division 3 and 4 reporters. So without any further ado, here's division 3, brought to you by DoogleDave: Round two saw drivers tackle the awesome Grand Valley Reverse circuit. With some drivers posting amazing practice results throughout the lead-up week the race promised to be a cracker. Impressive times were posted very quickly during qualifying but it was Groover who took out pole position with a time of 1.08.636. As the lights went out Blindman noticed he was in 4th gear and as he took off slowly from the line the field drove around him. Floodsim also had an issue and immediately pulled off-track. He eventually got going again but after crashing and being almost half a lap behind he decided to park his car and leave it there for the duration of the race. Meanwhile, the close racing the MX-5 produces meant that the field stayed together for the first lap or two, all jostling for better positions as they raced around the circuit. Pinoy and Turbo began swapping positions back and forth whilst Groover, Moozer, Doogle and S54ved pushed hard at the front where they immediately begun creating a gap from the rest of the field. Pinoy ran wide through the exit of turn 2 on Lap 3 to spin out and drop from 6th to 11th place. The new guy (Raptor) was all over Gary and as he ran out onto the grass through the final turn Raptor drove past to move up into 5th place and with the slow exit speed Gary had, Stumbles caught him and made his way past to begin what would be a battle between team mates. S54 was all over the back of Doogle throughout Lap 4 and kept the pressure on, trying his best to find a gap to make a pass, but Doogle had other plans as he managed to hold his lines around the track to defend his position ahead of S54. The two Pagnian Racing team mates (Stumbles and Gary) battled as they drove their cars to their limits in an attempt to gain advantage over the other. But it was Gary who took an early victory over his team mate as he out-braked him coming through the final turn. Lap 5 saw S54 run wide through turn 1, finding the sand and losing contact with Doogle, dropping him right back to the rear of the field. Both Raptor and Gary take the opportunity to pass by and move up a position and Stumbles manages to sneak by before S54 could get back on track to resume his race. Blindman, Turbo and Hatfield soon catch up to S54 and before long they make their way up to the Pagnian Racing team where the 6 drivers enjoy the close, fast racing that ROOZ members love so much. Gary, Stumbles, S54 and Turbo pick up the pace and Blindman and Hatfield start to fall behind as the group of 4 power on ahead of them, slowly forming a gap. Meanwhile Groover and Moozer fight it out at the front of the race where they also enjoy the same close, hard racing, with Doogle not far behind trying his best to close down the pair. Lap 7 sees Gary, Stumbles and co. continue their battles and as Stumbles jumps into Gary's slipstream coming into turn 1, he runs slightly wide, touching the sand and spinning around, falling back from 6th to 11th place - a costly mistake. Gary and S54 soon close in on Raptor and with Turbo just hanging on at the rear of the group they push hard to try and make ground on the new guy in an attempt to show him why racing with the ROOZ crew isn't easy sailing. Unfortunately, Raptor cannot see everyone on-track and on Lap 10 S54 makes a bold move down the outside of Raptor as he attempts to overtake on the outside. With Raptor not being able to see S54 he slowly runs him off to the edge of the grass, resulting in a costly spin for S54 at near 200 km/h. Soon after Gary makes a great overtaking move through turn 1 to move past Raptor and Turbo closes in quickly from behind to make it a 3-way tussle. The pitstops followed over the next few laps (laps 13 to 16) and it was on Lap 16 when the race leader (Groover) decided to pit late. His strategy almost worked but upon exiting the pits Moozer came flying down the main straight to move just ahead of Groover as he was getting back up to race speed. Hatfield temporarily held the lead position until he took his pitstop late on lap 17, where Moozer and Groover regained the top two positions. Lap 21 sees a double-duel form as Hatfield & S54 start their 2-man battle with Turbo & Stumbles not far behind who start their own battle. Lap 26 to 29 sees the field jump into the pits again for more fuel and fresh rubber. This time upon pit exit, Moozer leaves pit lane just as Groover drives past to hold onto the lead position. Groover and Moozer battle a close hard-fought battle and on Lap 33 Moozer makes a pass into turn 1 which holds Groover out, allowing Moozer to move ahead into the lead. The very next lap Groover pulls the exact same move out over Moozer through turn 1 where he reclaims the lead. On lap 38 Moozer decides to try the same manouvre again and makes it stick to hold out Groover and take back the lead. With only two laps to go the pair fight hard to hold the lead and with Groover keeping the pressure on, Moozer is forced to drive to his limits to keep him at bay. On the final lap Groover continued to pressure Moozer into making a mistake and upon exit of turn 2, Moozer touches the grass which results in a brief loss of traction, allowing Groover to squeeze past to claim the lead just before the tunnel. With Groover pushing hard to now stay in front he decides to brake a touch too early and with Moozer taking the inside line is able to out-brake Groover to make his way through the turn and regain the lead back from Groover. From here, Moozer holds the lead position to take out the round two race victory. Groover wasn't far behind, crossing the line in 2nd place 2.1 seconds behind Moozer with Doogle taking 3rd place 4.3 seconds behind the winner. With Moozer also taking fastest lap of the race with a 1.08.167, he claims some great points for himself and the team, with team HTO again claiming two podium positions to help their team with a handful of points. Next round will see the drivers at Trial Mountain where the MX-5's will again be pushed to their limits in attempt to secure maximum championship points for themselves and their teams. Race Quotes: Moozer81 (1st): What a night hey! Was struggling in qual and was sitting about 5th/6th but decided to pit for new tyres for one last shot which paid off to get second on the grid. Start was terrible, thought I jumped so lifted off, but Groover did jump and got penalised, and Skywalker had issues so we all got away bad together. Spent the whole race with Groover, not being able to break each others slip stream. I pushed longer on pit strategy (14/27) and the fresher tyres at the end made the difference. Was watching Doogle in the mirrors the whole time also who couldn't quite get the slipstream but I knew any mistake and he would have me. Well deserved podium dave. Great lap times from all, we have a quick division and don't discount the benefit of running in clean air at the front to help your race pace which is helping Groover, Dave and myself at the moment. Congrats to TF22RAPTOR on a great first race, and groover for his fair and professional driving. groover33 (2nd): Yeah last night was a bit of a bugger with connections it was pretty hard sitting around waiting for so long after qualifying I had lost all my motivation when we started the race and struggled for a while trying to find pace. But I knew it would have been a tough race with moozer and doogle being so quick again and bad luck for skywalker I know he had pace as well and it would have been worse if things didn't happen to him at the start he would have been up with there with us top 3. Toughest race I have had so far but so much fun I have the biggest respect for the top runners who are keeping it super clean with side by side racing and no rubbing and leaving enough racing room and that's why we are all here thanks guys. Me and moozer were so close the whole race keeping in each others slip stream with doogle just behind but we couldn't shake each other so we all went into the pits at different times and I was hoping that would give us all space but that didn't work so my 2nd pit stop I thought I would change my plans and pit earlier than I wanted to get out of dirty air seeing as me and moozer were fighting the whole time and doogle was catching quick and we would lose more time. But I got held in pits for a sec or 2 which when I come back on track the gap ended up the same anyway and I knew I had made a mistake pitting when I did because it was early and my tyres were shot at the end and didn't have front grip when moozer got past me but last lap moozer made a mistake on 2nd corner which let me back past until the tunnel but having to change my line from missing mooz I didn't have a good line and he got me back so I only had 1 more chance of getting a good run out of the tunnel and in his slip stream down to the last corner but I stuffed it and touched the grass on exit of the tunnel which made me drift and I knew then I lost 1st place.But what a race it was a tough one and am looking forward to the next race. Congrats to moozer on the win and to me and doogledave for the podium and some more good HTO team points let's keep it up cheers. DoogleDave (3rd): I'm very happy to take 3rd place behind some very quick drivers in Groover and Moozer. After the initial issues getting everyone into one room I was keen to get the racing underway and when the lights went out I think it was S54 who was very slow getting off the line (obviously due to his display issues), and I was able to move around the outside and claim a quick position before turn 1. Running in close formation for the first few laps was a challenge, particularly through turns 1/2 where you were playing with fire if you tried to stand too close to the sun. S54 was keeping good pressure on me until he went off, which let Groover, Moozer and I break away and create a gap back to 4th which remained for the rest of the race. Up ahead I watched Groover and Moozer continue their race-long battle and at times I would close the gap right down but then their slightly faster pace each lap allowed them to slowly increase that gap until I made some time up, for it to dwindle away again. My pit stategy seemed to work just fine and it must have been very similar to the leaders (particularly Moozer) and we were pretty much back into the same formation after both pit stops. All in all my consistency was very good for the whole race, with the large majority of my laps being within 1 second or so of each other. I kept a watchful eye out on our newest Div 3 competitor (Raptor) who drove really well for his first race and secured 4th place in his debut run - well done Raptor! Very happy with team HTO's performance again (claiming P2 and P3 points for the team) and I look forward to next week's sprint round at Trial Mountain (probably my favourite track)! Hopefully PD plays nice next week so we can have a full grid.... TF22RAPTOR (4th): Sorry skywalker (S54VED) for whatever reason when Gary left and started the new room I was only seeing 5 other cars in the game. By the end of the race there was only 3 other cars on my screen, I thought I was in 2nd place the entire race I could see Doogle 4seconds ahead and the next closest car to me 10-15 seconds back, the entire race I was by myself apart from the 1st or 2nd lap. garyw61 (5th): Something weird happened with my cable. Foxtel was out, and I had no internet access, yet I was happily hosting the room? Weird! I was just about to give up and call it a night, when the wife yelled out 'Foxtel's back on!'. So I gave it one last go and made it into Stumbles' room just in time. I assume Serge and Sparkie couldn't get in? Not a great night all round. Sure made up for the perfect night we had last week. Well done Moozer and podium. Way too quick. DRZ-Hatfield (7th): Horrible night for me too. Wife wanted to watch X-factor but knew I had a race on. Once I got her off the TV I was getting room incompatibility error despite never having an issue joining a room before. Was able to get into stumbles room and had no practice time on the night or qualifying (too bad for me). Started 9th (could only see 9 cars) and found it hard to pass others. Went long on the first stint and somewhere on the second I think I spun in the tunnel. Managed 5th on my screen but then once result countdown ended I jumped down to 7th. Sorry to anyone if I couldn't see them but they could see me. S54VED (8TH): I qualified alright I guess. Did a mid 1.08 which was fairly happy with. But when the race started it bugged for me, I couldn't see the speedo or any information. So hit the pause button, which fortunately brought it back, but that allowed doogle to go past. Was running okay with groover/moozer/doogle, being careful not to touch others, was some nice little duels going on.But ran wide on turn 2. This saw me fall back to the mid pack. Got a good run up the main straight on raptor, but got ran off onto the grass. In an effort to turn to stay on the track I spun. This put me right at the back. I put my head down and saw time to the leaders dropping. However, after 1st pit (which seemed to take longer than others?!?) I came out and was having a duel with Hatfield. Unfortunately, I wasn't fast enough to shake him from my draft, and kept getting caught into turn 1 / 2. With a bit too much contact through turn 2. Although, in hindsight I should have just enjoyed the high speed chess, but was still spewing about the earlier spin. Shocking race, had some decent pace, but just got stuck out of track position. Looking forward to the future rounds. Stumbles01 (9th): Started the race and got past a slow-starting Blindman (4th gear.. not a good one to start in..lol, but I've done it before too, always check my gear stick is in neutral before a race now). Made my way up to 6th and was following Gary for a few laps but I didn't wash of enough speed into turn 1 and ended facing the wrong way and had to wait for a line of cars to go past before resuming the race in last place. And that's where I stayed for most of the race. Had some good racing with Turbo (flashbacks to season 8 in GT5 ) near the end which made my race a bit more enjoyable. disturboed (10th): You wouldn't believe how close I was to following you (Stumbles01) into the sand on Turn 1! It was a matter of millimetres, I was all over that concrete apron! Luckily the Mazda decided to turn in at the very last minute or else we would have been having a beach party! And the short battle we had was awesome as usual, I think I got a good switchback move on you out of the tunnel and up the hill! Race wise it wasn't great. Only managed 8th in qualy, got a good start, and made up a spot, but got muscled back to 10th or so by halfway through the first lap. Made up spots with a few good passes including the switchback on Stumbles and an inside move into turn 1 & 2 on S54ved I think. Also a few people spun here and there gifting me a position. I think I made it as far as 6th by the end of the first stint. I pitted end of lap 12 which was a lap earlier than everyone else, but I think I went in too fast and got reset. After the pitstops, I was further behind and down a spot. Mid second stint I was in a good battle for 7th-6th-5th with Stumbles & Gary when I muffed up the tunnel and spun, putting me back into 9th. I went long on the second stint and was happy when i saw the majority of people in the pits end of lap 25. So lap 26 I ducked into an empty pit land, making sure I braked so I didn't get reset.. Coming out of the pits I was surprised to have lost yet another huge chunk of time to the guys ahead. For the last stint it was a matter of not trying to come last, which I still managed to do! LOL. Couldn't work out that last stint, was very weird. Even though I did my fastest lap in it. Oh well, onwards and upwards. From here I think I will just be happy NOT to finish last! BLINDMANRACING (11th/DSC): Yes it was a shocker alright. Qualified 4th. Starting a race in 4th gear is not recommended dropped back to last started to make up some positions and spun a couple of times then picked up again pitted twice having a good battle with about nine to go then disconnected ! FloodSim (12th/DSC): What a total disaster.. On the initial room reset for quali I was stuck on the loading screen. Tried to quit game and the PS3 reset and then it had to do the hard disk check. Once I got back, couldn't join the room. Not sure if was just me that had problems, but thanks guys for trying to get things working again. Once we got going in Stumbles room I could only see 6 cars on track, but could see chat messages from other people, so clearly there must have been more cars there somewhere. By this time the countdown had begun so instead of risk it I pulled off the grid as quick as I could and tried to park up somewhere safe. Connection dropped out soon after. Worst GT experience I've ever had. Nice work DoogleDave. Congratulations to Moozer33 for the race win and fastest lap. Well done also to groover33 and DoogleDave for their podium finishes. Now on to Division 4, brought to you by CPTNPEACH: Race 2 of Division 4's Mazda Series saw us take to Grand Valley Speedway. Qualifying saw AOCleaner Take top spot with another strong performance in qualifying followed by SPL in 2nd and Pykey finishing of the top 3 positions. Lights went green and we were away. Dbn seems to have had a electrical fault at the start line and is slow to get off causing Jim and k1w1 to overtake before the first sweeper. First corner was scary for the drivers at the rear as vision was blocked by the blur of colour racing to get around the first corner cleanly. Everyone gets into the tunnel and are now starting to find their position on the racing line. Lap 2 sees SPL get into pykeys draft and does a nice clean pass down the inside of the straight before the sweeping bend. OTS sees an opening also and goes for a dive down the inside of pykey before the sweeper, paint was exchanged back and forth through the first corner with OTS coming out on top and pykey dropping two spots in a matter of seconds. A close battle at the back between Nemo, X3vil, ranok3n and peach is taking place with numerous overtaking back and forth. OTS is chasing down SPL on lap 3 when pykey returns serve from the last laps overtaking with a slight rear panel nudge to OTS which puts him on the grass, and a graceful spin to put him back to 14th position. Peach has moved up to 9th after starting 13th but by lap 4, disaster strikes and he spins coming out the tunnel and k1w1 takes his rightful spot in position 9. By lap 5 Neemo had found his way to the Emmo, ad2mny and pykey battle pack with only hundredths of a second separating each car! By lap 6 AOcleaner is out to an impressive 3.5 second gap to SPL, with WTF trailing the leader by 5.8 seconds. First pit stops have arrived at lap 10 with pykey going for a early pit strategy while everyone else stays out, let's see if it pays off for him! Lap 12 sees SPL, X3vil, Ad2mny and Ranok3n head to the pits for some fresh tread and a squirt of fuel. Peachey is all on his own when he enters the pit on lap 13 trying to make up lost ground due to the early spin. During this lap the race leader Aocleaner has no luck and has retired out of the race after having a impressive 7.3 second lead on WTF. This sees WTF take the lead with SPL and OTS currently in third with his first pit-stop still to do along with WTF. Dbn and WTF enter the pits lap 14 and when exiting pit lane disaster nearly struck with Jim flying down the straight and DBN exiting the pit-lane. Not wanting to drop another spot Dbn narrowly tucks in just in time before the first sweeper causing Jim to back slightly off the throttle and attempt to take the inside line, and he successfully picks up a spot on Dbn. WTF enters the pits and his pit crew are too slow. SPL comes flying down the straight and with warmer tyres gets right behind WTF exiting the pits. SPL stays on WTF's tail for a whole lap until he then finds an opening and takes WTF on the start/finish line straight with a little help with some draft. OTS finally pits for the first time on lap 17 and watches hopelessly as 11 cars speed past him down the straight. Lap 26 saw the start of the 2nd pit-stop's, with x3vil and peachey first to grab the last lot of tyres and fuel to come home with. Lap 28 saw the race leader SPL fly into the pits, grab some much needed fuel, chucked some fresh rubber on and he was on his way to bringing the race home. From lap 29 to 39 no changes in the order of the positions besides pykey moving from 4th up to 3rd and pressuring Emmo heart breakingly off of the podium when he collected a little to much grass and spun, doing horrendous damage to the right side of his car with both front struts and rear axle bent beyond repair. Ad2mny tries 3 dives on pykey in the last sector of the track but just misses out on all attempts, missing out on the podium. SPL wins comfortably followed by WTF and pykey holding off Ad2mny. Emmo spins for the 2nd time on the last lap this time on the last corner of the race to hand peachey and k1w1 another spot up the finishing list. Fastest lap goes to pykey with a impressive 1:08:632! Congrats to the podium and everyone who finished the race with no lapped cars this round! Race Quotes: SPL_Racing (1st): I am so happy with my first win even if it was a gift from AO. I was happy to put it on the front row of the grid with the pace that WTF and AO had over a single lap during practice. Got off to a good jump and tucked in behind AO but Pykey was all over me, I ran wide at turn 1 to give him some space but found a gap to tuck in behind him before we entered the tunnel. I got a good run out of the final turn and passed him down the straight and set about catching AO but he was already well clear. I saw the battle of about 6 cars behind me and I wanted no part in that so I pinned my ears back and went for it. WTF emerged from the group behind me and he started reeling me in slightly each lap. I kept my strategy of pit stop on lap 12. I lost a fraction of a second as Ad2mny pulled in to his pit bay in front of me WTF jumped me for position. At this point I noticed that AO had DSC'd and WTF and I were battling for the race lead. WTF was on cold tyres and I had to pounce while I had an advantage. My plan was to never try an overtake on the inside of the last turn as it washed off too much speed and hindered top end speed down the straight. I was right on WTF's bumped and when he blocked on the inside of the final turn I took the outside and I slingshot past him down the straight. He sat on my bumper for about 6 laps, I was running 1:08.8's every lap but still couldn't shake him. He tried to pass on the inside of the final turn a few times but I stuck to my outside line and outran him down the straight every time. Whoever made the first mistake was gone and luckily for me WTF ran wide at turn 1 and gave me the buffer I needed, but that was as hard as I have ever been pushed in a race before. I pulled enough of a gap to pit again and get back out in the lead and all I had to do is keep it on the road and victory was mine. I would have loved to chase down AO for the win but that's racing and I will take the win. X-WTF_MAN-X (2nd): Yea I pushed very hard that's why I was loosing a lot of time in the final stint because I overdrove either way it was a brilliant race except for the disconnections. pykeybraa145 (3rd): Coming into the race I had no confidence and no pace but when I had a run with @@MINT_GTR he pointed out my errors now I was very happy and had pace. Qualifying was tough I binned my first 3 laps and was sitting in 8th. But I managed to pull a 1.09.1xx and come a solid 3rd. The start of the race I got off to a flyer was sitting right with SPL but I had a different technique at the first corner which led to people getting on my bumper. I dropped back a little bit but at that stage I was getting pushed, bumped, nudged left right center, I got pushed wide by someone and they got the spot and eventually took off leaving me behind which didn't matter. I was up the front but I was getting bumped left right center then OTS and I had a little tangle, I was tucked in the inside and he was squeezing me off the road bit by bit and I had no where to go but that racing. After the drama that went on for those first few laps I found myself with Ad2mny and emmo and eventually 3vilmoon and neemo to battle for 3rd 4th 5th 6th and 7th. It was a fierce battle pack very quick and tight. I tried to get round knowing I had some good pace and I was running 1.08.9's and 1.09 flats in that pack I had to get round, I managed to get round Ad but emmo was holding me off very well. I had the last pit box which cost me 5 seconds per stop because I pulled in and I was parked and the pit crew wasnt around my car nothing was set up I had to wait for them to get the tyres and run round to the otherside of my car to begin my service. So I lost around 10 seconds throughout the race which proved very costly. Rejoined found myself behind emmo and Ad after both stops I began my Assault. I attacked and attacked them both knowing they were in the same team and I badly wanted a podium stop for TLR. The middle stint was hard the tyres were very worn because I did a really long stint for fresh air and it worked ok. I got out with 12 laps left behind Ad and emmo. I had a lot of ground to make so I executed my assault and got right behind Ad. I was attacking him for around 9 laps before I executed a move at the last corner around the inside. In the process of battling with Ad we caught emmo and I was right on his bumper. I had a lunge up the inside at the final corner trying to go up the inside and do what I did to Ad but he held me off so I sat behind him pushing trying to make a move. Last lap comes and I was in the zone I was so close to him I could have touched his rear wing with my hand. Emmo ran wide at the second corner and I was like wooooooooooooo (but felt sorry for him because he raced well..) I cruised home with Ad behind me. Was a great race.... That was the toughest battle I have ever had I think @@Ad2mny and@@emmo46 Ad2mny (4th): EPIC!!! AWESOME!! I've watched the replay about 4 times now. What an awesome battle in the final stint for 3rd. Bad luck AOCleaner and OTS_SPEED for your DSC's. And emmo too . Was 3rd qualifier until the last minute and a half, when I got dropped back to 6th. Got an ok start, moving up on OTS at turn 2, but dropping back again into the tunnel. Was right in the action for the 2nd place battle lap 2, with AOCleaner already pulling a gap. Somehow got around the outside of X-WTF at the final turn, but he pushed back past into turn 2. A little grass while braking for the tunnel to avoid contact caused a massive slide and I thought I was a goner. I squeezed emmo towards the inside wall of the tunnel but we somehow avoided catastrophy, though we had lost a bit of time to the guys ahead. Pykey and OTS had massive contact on the downhill run to the final turn, with OTS spinning and Pykey slowing, slotting in behind emmo and I. emmo snuck past me out of the draft, leaving pykey all over my tail. I tried to sneak up the inside out of the tunnel, giving him a little tap on the rear wheel and slowing too much, allowing pykey alongside but held him out to retake 5th by the final turn. neemo had the best seat in the house to watch our battle, as pykey tried everywhere to find an advantage. Lap 8 I found a way up the inside of emmo at the turn out of the tunnel, but it gave pykey a look up emmo's inside next turn. He was unable to make a clean pass and dropped back a little. emmo got a good run out the final turn, drafting alongside into the turn 1-2 section. I tried to hold the outside line but ran wide, bouncing in the grass on the exit and losing a spot to pykey. Now evil was on my tail and looking hard to get past. We nearly ran 3 wide over the crest with pykey to the downhill run to the final turn, but I got in pykey's draft and outbraked him into the final turn. He out dragged me with a better line onto the straight, and evil snuck down the inside as I ran a little wide at turn 1-2. I started to run wide and adjusted my speed and turned down on evil, bumping wide again and slowing more, allowing neemo to come pinballing between us. We bumped sides a couple more times into the tunnel, with evil eventually coming out on top. A little too much throttle exiting the turn after the tunnel unsettled the little mazda, and when I switched back for the left it got worse, and I now had Rano and K1W1 looking to snatch 8th from me. I tried to hold Rano out on the outside into turn 1-2, but got two wheels on the grass on exit losing my spot to Rano but just holding off K1W1. Snuck to the outside of Rano over the crest for the run to the final turn, and K1W1 followed me through. Dek had joined the party by this stage and I decided now was a good time to pit for some fresh air, but I ended up pitting with evil and Rano, causing some stutters from the AI driver. I think I also slowed SPL's exit as I entered. Pykey and evil were battling a few seconds ahead, and Rano was right on my tail. neemo come out the pits next lap between evil, pykey and me, but those two were slowing each other up a little. neemo saw a gap inside evil turn1-2 and took his spot, and I took advantage of evil slowing to maintain his wide line, taking 7th. Another side by side run over the crest and evil retook 7th into the final turn. I drafted back alongside but Rano drafted us both and we entered turn 1 3 WIDE!! Thankfully the PD gods looked favourably on this instance and ghosted where necessary for all to fit through. In the end, I got back into 7th with evil then Rano behind. I set my sights on neemo and stopped checking my mirrors, even though I heard evil close on me a couple of times. Lap 18 he got loose on the grass into the tunnel and smashed hard on the wall, falling behind Rano and giving me a nice buffer to not have to worry about who was behind. Lap 19 I drafted past neemo into turn 1-2, but lap 21 saw a bad run by myself into the tunnel, bouncing off the high curb then the wall, dropping 5-10km/h and losing the place again. We ran side by side through the final turn and all along the start straight until I just inched ahead and held 5th through turn 1-2. I had a little breathing space between me and neemo now, not much but enough to stop the dives under brakes every turn. emmo and pykey were just out of range, but I was taking tenths out of the gap by the look of it, but on lap 25, neemo started nibbling on my tail again. A quick look at my driver list showed no-one in the pits so I dived in end of lap 25. No interference for the AI driver this time, with a good fast stop, coming out in 10th. Next lap around I shuffled up to 6th just behind emmo and ahead of neemo, and we all came across and passed Jim_aka as he struggled with his front right on 5, moving me up to 5th. Somehow I had managed to leapfrog Pykey in the pits and moved up to 4th starting lap 28. Now began the most intense 12 laps I have ever run!! emmo had about 3 seconds gap ahead, but with pykey pushing me, we closed the gap by near half a second a lap. By lap 34, we were bumper to bumper and it was on. I launched myself off the rumbles on the outside entering the tunnel and gave myself a scare but held pykey out. He outbraked me into the final turn, and he instantly started chewing on emmo's bumper. emmo held off an attack into the final turn, blocking the inside line over the next few laps. Lap 36 they ran side by side out of the final turn and to turn 1-2, with emmo just managing to hold pykey out. There was no room for me to do anything, but I was looking every chance I got, sticking a bit of nose in here and there, but props to emmo for the best blocking I've seen in ages.. An opportunity opened up into the crest lap 37 but it was a bit dodgy so I backed out too late realising pykey was gonna leave room DAMMIT!! We were glued together all of lap38. The final lap started and pykey closed right up turn 1-2. As emmo exited, a 'blade of grass'' got on his outside wheels. It looked like he was gonna get away with it but then it snapped sideways, right in front of pykey! He hesitated slightly and I looked for an opening but there was none. I tried up the inside out the tunnel but luckily I ghosted or I would have hammered him as he turned in. I shadowed him up the hill and he moved over to cover the inside line for the final turn. I slammed the brakes for a move around the outside, and would have given it a good go too, but the tyres cried enough and I had to back off to turn in better. A bit of draft down the straight but wasn't enough to climb onto the podium, crossing in a hard fought and satisfying 4th. Phew!! neemo55 (5th): Well done podium winners. Was caught up in the mid pack battle at the start, finally got clear once I got down past xevil at the tunnel and then jim aka on the final corner were he ran wide and I had it on the kerb, definitely no lag punt there. I had best seat in the house when pykey, add2mny and Emmo were in their fierce battle, managed to latch onto the back of them only to be passed by xevil. Turn 1 and 2 saw xevil try a brave pass on ad2mny which slowed them both up and left a small gap for me to thread with a pinball like effect. Had a great battle with ad2mny running side by side through a few corners. Im guessing xevil trying to bump me off on the straight was return serve from my dive in the tunnel lol. Overall happy with starting in 9th to finish 5th and hold off the fast coming xevil in the later laps. emmo46 (10th): I'm breathless after reading that, my race was very interesting but certainly not as interesting as yours (Ad2mny). Needless to say I'm very disappointed with myself after fighting hard to get to third place only to throw it all away, I had touched the grass there countless times without catastrophe but this time it bit hard. The PD gods just sent me back to 10th where my lap times would suggest I belong. My heart was in my mouth when on lap three you (Ad2mny) skewed sideways in front of me entering the tunnel, I slowed and went left to try to avoid you but we touched, I suspect the touch may have straightened you out. I really enjoyed the battles I had with you, pykey and for a little while with neemo and evil, but the last stint trying to stay ahead of you and pykey had me pushing harder than I wanted. Great race despite the miserable ending for me, the best 38 laps I have had and nearly a podium after so many races without one. ranok3n (11th): Another crap race. Was actually holding my own quite well in the mid pack, which I was quite pleased about, as I was quite sure I would be playing at the back. That was until I was battling with DB and was so focused that I missed my pit queue, and then spun into the first corner on that same lap, completely ruining any chance of a top 10 finish. The missed pit was fine, I could have recovered from that, but the spin recovery was held up as I had to wait for a couple of guys to pass prior to jumping back on track... A consolation note is that I finally managed a 1.08 That mid race/mid pack battle was awesome while it lasted. Double drafting both Evil and you (Ad2mny) was insane, and I thought I could get the inside line on you going through turn 1. Not sure if you saw me there or not, but thankfully PD ghosted us as you starting turning into me. The next couple of corners were a mess as I slowed a little so we weren't driving inside each other, but coming out of the tunnel, Evil was ghosted inside of me as I again tried taking the inside line. Slowed again to avoid all the ghosting issues, and ended up a little off the tail. Jim_aka_TheMan (12th): Well done podium. Had the pace to be mid pack tonight, was never in the hunt for the win. Unfortunately a lag punt(?) on lap 2, sent me wide at the final turn and also to the back of the field, my night went worse from there. Couldn't get near my practice lap times throughout the night, before realising somehow TC had been turned on Looking forward to a better showing next week. Nice write up there CPTNPEACH. Congratulations SPL_Racing on your first win here at ROOZ. Well done also to X-WTF_MAN-X and pykeybraa145 for their podium finishes. Stay tuned for part 3. Division 3 Reporter/Photographer: DoogleDave Division 4 Reporter/Photographer: CPTNPEACH Tables: DRZ-Hatfield Editor: Ad2mny
