Reporter:N64TheStig007 Tb's inaugural Race Of Champions saw the best 12 (ok, 11 without yours truly) racers of Season 13 battle it out in a 15 lap sprint at Grand Valley. The race featured an interesting concept, where the lower divisions would receive a time handicap. As a result, bjh and hr31 would lead the way. 19 seconds later, Ad2mny, emmo, tb, turbo and OverDrivve would leave the grid, before Stu and Close at 31 seconds. Finally, after 37 painful seconds, N64, Anon and Warrior would leave to reel everyone in. There was little change on Lap 1, but on Lap 2 bjh would lose the lead to hr31 after going wide at turn 1, a mistake emmo would replicate and fall to 7th. Close was now right on him, and went up the inside at the hairpin. bjh was having a torrid time, spinning at the chicane and losing 2nd to Ad2mny. The 2nd group were evenly spaced at this point. N64 was doing very well much to his own surprise, pulling away from Anon and warrior. He was on the back of Stu, who had also gone off at turn 1. Turbo made a complete mess of the penultimate tunnel, and fell to 8th behind emmo. bjh made another mistake at the hairpin, going from 1st to last in less than 3 laps. By lap 5, 5th to 10th were separated by just 2 seconds. Ahead of them, Close was driving brilliantly and had reeled in tb, and made his move around the outside of the turn 5 hairpin. In the battle pack, turbo ran out of road fighting with emmo, and lost places to Stu and N64, the latter making an ultra ballsy move at turn 2. However, he copped a bump from the side of warrior at the hairpin which appeared to be lag induced. Turbo fell to 11th as a result. At the front, hr31 was miles in front, and appeared to be unstoppable. In the battle pack, there was simply nowhere to pass. emmo to stu to N64 to warrior to Anon, all were nose to tail. It made for some truly high pressure and adrenaline pumping racing. Then all hell broke loose. On lap 7, stu made an inside move on emmo, who had slightly out braked himself into turn 1. Stu gave emmo a little too much room at the next corner, and as a result of trying to get the racing line back, spun both of them out! The 3 class A Div 1 boys were now in the clear. It was now up to N64 to keep his golden #96 ahead of the blue #1 car and the dark gold #66 of warrior and Anon. Ad2mny on lap 8 put a wheel on the grass at turn 1 and spun behind OverDrivve, Close and tb. It was a grave shame too, as he was starting to make a charge and chew into hr31's lead. The next few laps saw hr31's lead wiped out by an awesomely quick OverDrivve and Close. It set the stage for a thrilling fight for victory... Elsewhere, the race long battle of the Class A Div 1 boys was taking centre stage. Try as he may, warrior just could not find a way past N64, despite being over 2 seconds faster in practice. The group had reeled in Ad2mny by lap 11. N64 realised his opportunity would be to overtake at an unconventional area, in order to open up a gap and possible get tb by the end. It was a very high octane spectacle. In the final tunnel, N64 was sucked in by Ad2mny, and briefly lost 6th to warrior. But an unbelievable overtake at turn 1 a kilometre up the road on lap 12 nearly saw him take not one, but two positions! He still had Ad2mny to take though, and at the twist my section halfway through the lap, he swung clean around the outside. Two amazing overtakes in half a lap! N64 couldn't get the breakthrough needed however, as warrior dispatched Ad2mny in the next tunnel. In what was a breathtaking 12th lap, Anon went wide at the final corner and slid into the pit wall, losing positions to stu and turbo, down into 10th place! He quickly got back ahead of turbo, but his race was ruined. The two battles of the race were still raging. hr31 now had OverDrivve and Close right on his tail on the penultimate lap. He was 1.5 seconds of their pace, so he needed to pull out all the stops to remain ahead. OverDrivve only needed one sniff to take victory, and gobbled at it like a rascally lion when hr31 copped some snap oversteer entering the second to last corner. He never looked back. Close now had a chance to take 2nd, but he simply could not find a way past, as hr31 made no more mistakes. OverDrivve eventually took a comfortable victory ahead of the pair, and tb. The main battle pack had by this stage had just two participants, probably because they could not handle the epicness that was taking place. N64 and warrior engaged in a duel that was so exciting, it can give you goosebumps watching the two stunning blue and gold machines go hammer and tongs. Laps 13-15 made yours truly sweat buckets. warrior was clearly faster, but N64 performed a masterclass of defence to keep the blue car at bay. The skills shown in how to race without taking each other of was insurmountable. With just 1 sector to go, N64's car decided to ghost, and at exactly the wrong moment it solidified, pinning warrior against the wall at the bridge. This tipped N64 into a fishtail, which was controlled, but ultimately sealed the fight for 5th in his favour. It still had no souring effect on the supreme fight that took place for around 85% of the duration. They finished 15 seconds behind OverDrivve, while Ad2mny and Stu rounded out the top 8. Anon was a bitterly disappointing 9th, while turbo felt hard done by with 10th. The bottom two cars of emmo and bjh had a torrid time. So tb's concept was a resounding success, and will have to return after the completion of Season 1 of GT6. A new dawn of battles begins soon, but it must be said that GT5 was blessed with one last hurrah, which was thoroughly enjoyed. A big thanks must go to my fellow compatriots, especially Anon and Warrior, who made it a tough one. Finishing ahead of them is no mean feat, as you would have just read. Biggest of all must go to tb, who granted me a lifeline after my horrendous luck throughout Season 13. With no points, I should not have been on the grid, but he kept the faith, and I hope I lived up to it. And finally, massive congratulations goes to OverDrivve, the inaugural champion. See you all on GT6! Cheers and many thanks, Jono (N64TheStig007) #96 Merry Christmas from all of the ROOZ News crew. Please support our sponsors: www.pagnianimports.com www.turtlebeach.com www.codemasters.com
Well done Jono grate report as ones a gean thanks for all your reports through out the season Cheers BJ
