NSSCRA 8- Everything Thread (IC)

[Saint Kanye]

NSSCRA: 'DAGANS FINISH 1-2 IN FRONT OF HOME CROWD
Stiller spins while leading late, finishes 19th

by Yennefer Spencer

GRANDE MOUNTAIN - Cassadagan race fans packed the stands at the Grande Mountain Speedway here yesterday, hoping to see a good performance from their hometown drivers at the Tiara Investments 350, the second race of the eighth NSSCRA (Nationstates Stock Car Racing Association) season. And it seems like Team Cassadaigua didn't disappoint, getting both first and second place in the race, courtesy of Meghan Sharpe and defending champ Stacie Houston, respectively.

Sharpe, who drives the #4 Spacebook Blaze, notched her second NSSCRA career win and took the driver points lead and a potential Chase spot. The top three were all female, with Jebslunder Eva Kerman's #13 BDA Armory Lowe following close behind Houston's #27 Blaze sponsored by Five Star Mobile, which a few days ago announced their sponsorship of the Five Star Combo, a set of five races with huge cash incentives for its best finishers.

Fourth behind Kerman is Team Tropicorp's Cocoabo #78 in the Cocoabo Park Dart of the same number, who surprised the racing world two weeks ago with its win in the Exhibition at Tundra Falls. Fifth is another Dart, the Tiones Lumber #2 machine driven by Vilita & Turori Motorsports' Centur Tiones. Sixth is Sherpalander Kai Qiang in the #44 Khamdo Electronics TMW. Seventh is rookie Lexi Patterson, who was born in Hampton Island but is racing for Jebslund, in the #30 Sie Nah Fleet Systems Bartpinguin. Jeremiah Brooke, driver of the #18 Hyde Medical Group Chadwick, is the highest-finishing Kanyean in the field at eighth; he beat Xannerian Roman Gwinnett and the #12 Ben Fosters Knox to the line by just 0.007 second. Tenth behind Gwinnett is Brooke's teammate at Glorious Free Republic Motorsports, Thea Alvarez in the #46 Multiversal Automotive Coatings Chadwick.

Brooke generally ran well and in front all day, save for an unplanned green flag pit stop before the halfway mark of the race as he was wearing down his tires too much. Alvarez started mid-pack after scraping the wall in qualifying, rose and fell through the standings, but due to a late charge, she was able to salvage a top ten finish. The third Yeezie driver, Skip Stiller, was highly expected to follow up his victory at the Tundra Falls 500 last week, if not for an incident which cost him several positions. Stiller, driving the #3 QED Car Rentals Chadwick, had the lead with 29 laps to go when he got caught behind D.T. Lenlin and the #67 car. Lenlin, who was several laps down, was refusing to move for the leader, allowing then-second place Eva Kerman to make a move to the outside of the #3. Stiller tried blocking the #13, but got loose and spun. Eva immediately took the lead, only to lose it to eventual winner Sharpe four laps later. Although the Kanyean veteran was able to recover without damaging his or other drivers' cars, he fell all the way to twentieth, only passing the #15 of Valentian Jolyn Helen Ceeta with three to go to finish nineteenth.

An angry Stiller attempted to make his way to Lenlin's hauler after the race, but was thankfully restrained by his crew. "What a stubborn guy [Lenlin]. What the hell was his problem? He's already losing. He wasn't gaining any more positions. The punk could at least have some respect and not screw things up for the ones up front", complained the Kanyean. While Stiller retreated to his own hauler to calm himself down. Brooke and Alvarez went over to the Cassadagans and congratulated them on their finish. "I know we were good out there", said the former, "but you girls were on another level." Added the latter, "See you in Jalton [St. Kanye] in a few months! Looking forward to another good battle with you."

Watching the race from the GFR tent was Sage Caldwell, who will make his first appearance of the season at next week's Kobold Tools 300 in Starkville, New Northwesteros. He will drive the #19 Blood Moon Beer Chadwick that was recently vacated by Philip West, who retired from international racing. Sage said, "I've been practicing with my [GFR] teammates since the start of the season, both on the track and in the simulator. I've been using what I've observed in the previous races, and will go for the best possible finish. Hopefully the team will give me more opportunities to race."

All qualifying sessions and races will be broadcast live on SKYNET (Saint KanYe NETwork) Sports Channel 12, and online at nsscra.skynet.stk.

---

OFFICIAL STANDINGS - Race 2 of 30 (Grande Mountain)

1. #4 Meghan Sharpe (CDG) (Top hometown driver)
2. #27 Stacie Houston (CDG)
3. #13 Eva Kerman (JEB)
4. #78 Cocoabo #78 (TRP)
5. #2 Centur Tiones (VNT)
7. #30 Lexi Patterson (JEB) (Top rookie)
8. #18 Jeremiah Brooke (STK) (Top Kanyean driver)
10. #46 Thea Alvarez (STK)
11. #23 James McCurty (HAM) (Top unchartered driver)
13. #14 River Suzgar (VNT) (Polesitter)
19. #3 Skip Stiller (STK) (Last week's winner)
21. #17 Tyler Abbott (CDG) (Open charter user)

DRIVER POINTS

▲ 1. #4 Meghan Sharpe (CDG) - 92 (1W)
▲ 2. #2 Centur Tiones (VNT) - 85
▲ 3. #27 Stacie Houston (CDG) - 84
▼ 4. #18 Jeremiah Brooke (STK) - 83
▲ 5. #13 Eva Kerman (JEB) - 82
▼ 6. #46 Thea Alvarez (STK) - 79
▼ 7. #3 Skip Stiller (STK) - 78 (1W)

BATTLE FOR ROTY

▲ 1. #30 Lexi Patterson (JEB) - 65
▼ T2. #37 Frank Bronson (HAP) - 62
▮ T2. #82 David Rockingham (ESM) - 62
▮ 3. #81 Chris Holmes (HAP) - 61
▲ 4. #06 Rinzi Aogar Zakhilwal (SHW) - 51

NEXT RACE

Kobold Tools 300 @ Starkville Raceway, Starkville, New Northwesteros

[The Sherpa Empire]

Dinggu Wang looked rather foolish after his 34th place finish in the Tiara Investments 350. He had started 5th. Before the race, he had done some premature chest-thumping about his good qualifying results, but when the race started, it was immediately obvious that his car was not handling well. He bumped Zakhilwal in a move that was not necessarily intentional. Zakhilwal was trying to pass him on the outside of a turn, but Wang did not stick to the inside as much as Zakhilwal expected, possibly because Wang's car would not corner that tightly -- and next thing they knew, they were swapping paint and yelling at each other on the radio. They both pitted when a caution was called for an unrelated (and much more destructive) collision between Frank Joy and Kohan the 10th.

Coming out of the pits, Zakhilwal was running much better, but Wang was still having trouble with his steering. Wang cussed up a storm on the radio and eventually pitted again, this time under a green flag because he was losing time and he could not afford to wait for another caution.

Zakhilwal only pitted again when he had planned to, but the pit stop took longer than it should have.

Both pit crews had limited experience competing at this level, and sometimes it showed.

The last laps of the race gave Kai Qiang flashbacks to the Stone Forest 300, where Rinzi Zakhilwal had managed to hold most of the field behind him, despite having trouble with his car -- except this time it was Qiang having engine trouble. Qiang wouldn't pull off a podium finish like Zakhilwal had done at the Stone Forest 300 because the Grande Mountain Speedway was wider than the Stone Forest Circuit and NSSCRA drivers were not easy to outmaneuver. But he was going to beat Lexi Patterson, dammit! He saw her gaining on him and blocked her path. He pushed the car as fast as it would still go, even though he was worried about causing it to overheat. Patterson tried to go around another way, but he was a step ahead. He smiled when he thought how much he must be getting on her nerves. (Qiang remembered all too well how much Zakhilwal had gotten on his nerves at Stone Forest.) They blew past the checkered flag with Patterson still on Qiang's tail.

After the race, as people were milling about around the track and the top finishers were enjoying their moment of glory, Zakhilwal gave Wang and hearty slap on the back and said sarcastically, "You really showed those Dagans how to drive like a man, huh?"

Wang shoved Zakhilwal away and snarled, "Don't touch me!" in a defensive tone.

Zakhilwal chuckled at Wang's foolishness and wandered off. He walked past another group of people, ruffling Kai Qiang's hair as he passed. "Good race, little dude. Good thing you didn't talk shit before the race, huh? Now you don't look stupid."

Qiang gave Zakhilwal a dirty look. "Who told you it was okay to touch people without their permission?"

Zakhilwal patted Qiang on the head again. "I'm just playing."

"Well, stop," said Qiang. "It's annoying."

[Wagensvolk]

A7DXZ5 had DNQed for the 2nd race in a row and she could not understand how it was possible. Everything she'd ever heard about economics said that slave labor was inefficient because slaves had no motivation to do more than the bare minimum to get through the day, so how were the foreign drivers getting their enslaved cars to drive faster than her?

"Well, you can't really modify human slaves the way you can modify a car..." her mechanic said. "I mean, I guess you could drug them or something, but drugs are expensive, and you can't make them THAT much stronger, you know?"

A7DXZ5 gave off a steamy hissing noise. "People are people, and a body is a body," she said. "You can modify a human body just as easily as a car. The only reason why people feel more comfortable modifying cars is because they don't think of us as people."

"Okay, but machinery works differently than flesh and blood," said the mechanic. "Even if you think everyone deserves equal dignity, the materials have different physical properties. There's a reason why hospitals don't hire auto mechanics to do surgery and mechanic shops don't hire doctors to work on cars."

[Valentine Z]

The Valentians - Actual Race @ Tundra Falls 500, Tundra Falls, Newmanistan

“There’s a crash at Turn 3!” the announcer blared on the PA system urgently, as the emergency vehicles and on-site medics were alerted and rushed off to car #15 - Jolyn Helen Ceeta, as well as with many other racers from other nations. Jolyn was dazed, her mind confused, but was still conscious enough to comprehend what had happened; she got knocked out during the race and this time, it was a major crash that resulted in several causalities, as well as the untold amount of damage caused. She slowly lapsed back into unconsciousness and-

“Jolyn? Jolyn! Wake up!” Clarissa shook her out of her bed, with the alarm clock beside ringing furiously.

“Daahhhh! What the fuck?! Wait…” Jolyn pushed Clarissa’s face away from her and checked herself; that crash fortunately wasn’t reality and instead she had a nightmare. Considering that she fainted on the previous race, the relapse was happening, and she was worried, “Oh, thank goodness.”

“Aww, did you have a nightmare?” Clarissa would try and attempt to talk to Jolyn once again, who was understandably shook by the nightmare, but heaved a huge sigh of relief as she realised that she dreamed the whole thing up.

“Yeah… there was a big crash all because of me. I fainted, veered off to the right, and crashed hard. Took several other racers along with me, it seems. I didn’t jinx it, did I?”

“Nah, you definitely didn’t!” Clarissa reassured her, while Gwen would be seen in the kitchen preparing Jolyn’s breakfast in her half-uniform (i.e. a simple blouse on the top, but with the race pants on the bottom), “Besides, how can a dream predict the future like that? Isn’t that right, Gwen?”

“Haha, yep!” the latter replied back from the kitchen, “Don’t worry, Jolyn! I can also reassure you that it won’t happen again! You will definitely NOT faint!”

“If you had a bad dream next time… I will splash you with ice water!” Clarissa exclaimed excitingly, albeit with a rather serious face; she is definitely going to do it.

“That won’t be necessary,” Jolyn retorted back rather anxiously, afraid that her best friend is going to waterboard her, even accidentally.

With that said and done, Gwen and Jolyn have their breakfast, Clarissa had one final charge before the race, and the three were off once again into the pit, where their cars were pushed out of the garages and were waiting for them. Chief Technician Jared told and explained Jolyn about the new A/C unit that the Valentian team have added in for her. This was going to increase fuel consumption rate by as much as 15%, but it would be worth it for Jolyn to stay cool during the heat. Additionally, heat insulating covers were added behind Jolyn’s seat, as well as wider holes and air outlets in order for the engine to have a much higher rate of heat dissipation.

“Well, good luck, Clarissa and Jolyn! And may Fate guide you well!” Gwen announced on the comms, excited that she would be racing for the very first time.

Zooom! “And then they are away!”

The first segment of the race was not too bad for the Valentians. As always, they found themselves in the last few positions, but they did not exactly mind. As was said before, the Valentians, especially Valentijn, did not exactly care about whether they win the races; all he wanted was for the trio to have some excitement and fun along the way, and that the winning would be secondary. Gwen would exclaim about how fast these racers were, while Clarissa would told her that it was normal, and that these are obviously the seasoned veterans. Given the very first segment and the start of the race, none of them went to a pit stop, and performed as well as any other time, save for Jolyn, who was enjoying the cool breeze from her car’s A/C system and was able to have better performance and race faster than usual.

The first segment ended with Clarissa and Gwen at 34th and 35th, while Jolyn skyrocketed to 20th place.

---

The second segment of the race was still the same, with Jolyn keeping up with her 20th place and no one else being able to take it from her. The other two would also see a rather spectacular improvements in performances, with Clarissa finishing strong at 15th by the last lap of the second segment, while Gwen would finish off at 26th. While Clarissa and Gwen would have no such problems with their cars yet, Jolyn would need to go for a pit stop, given that her car’s fuel was getting lower by the second.

“I need to make a pit stop!” Jolyn announced on the Valentian comms, “My car’s is running low on gas!”

“Uh-huh!” Clarissa acknowledged with glee, while making a little ^_^ face, “Don’t worry, you will be fine, haha!”

“We will keep your 20th place warm for you!” Gwen added on, “See you later, and all the best!”

While Clarissa and Gwen raced on, Jolyn would head to the pit stop as intended and refilled her fuel. She thought about changing the tires too, but it should last her for some duration. Jared was happy that Jolyn was performing extremely well, and unlike last time, she wasn’t gasping for air. She was feeling comfortable with herself with the air-conditioner running at full blast.

---

The third segment would see the three Valentians having some problems with their vehicles. Clarissa would talk about the “decreasing coefficients of the tires”, as well as a few of her systems glitching due to the heat. The glitched systems, fortunately, were simply digital gauges and would not pose a problem to the actual performance of the car. Clarissa’s vehicle simply needs a tire change because of the low frictional coefficients causing her to slow down much more at the turns. Otherwise, she is more or less fine. Gwen, in turn, was driving as per normal, except that 4 other drivers have managed to knock her off from her 26th position. Jolyn lost her focus for a time being, and that was more than enough for her to scratch on the wall for a little bit; while not as major as veering and hitting lightly, it still was enough to knock a few more tenths of a second and that alone caused her to lose a few more positions, resulting in 32nd.

“Jolyn, are you all right?” Clarissa would exclaim a little onto the comms, her voice still as happy as ever, but with a slight hint of worry.

“No, I am fine, don’t worry about it! Just lost focus and some control… drifted away, that is all. I will catch up.”

---

The fourth segment was where they saw a tremendous improve in terms of performance. The trio all went to the pit stop to get a change of tires and gas, not skimping on any of the resources. They topped the gas to full tank, as well as changing all of the 4 tires of each of their vehicles. They were ready to roar and burn rubber for real this time, and it definitely showed.

Clarissa saw an improvement in her timing, skyrocketing her from 36th to 21st. Gwen would also climb from 30th to 20th. However, the most amount of surprise that came from was Jolyn - who climbed from 32nd to a tremendous 6th! With the power of air conditioning and renewed concentration and focus on her side, as well as with her newly pitted car (refuelled and changed to a fresh set of tires), she stepped on the accelerator as hard as possible, while taking care to slow down on the turns as always. She was already familiar with the track from the previous race, and she also used that familiarity to her fullest advantage.

“Woo-hoo, Jolyn! Way to go!” Clarissa was exclaiming on the comms, simply elated for her friend to be performing her best. It was definitely a huge contrast from the near-faint that she suffered from the previous race.

“Yes, Jolyn! You can do this!” the other Valentians were chanting for her. After the end of the fourth segment, Jolyn was surely very happy to be in the top 10 once again, and this time, she was extremely certain that she was not going to faint.

---

The fifth segment came with some problems. During the middle of the fifth segment, Gwen was gaining up and she would reach the 7th place, just right behind Jolyn. They were side-by-side, not caring about who overtakes who, and was simply asking Clarissa to catch up with them. That in itself was not the problem, and if this worked, the trio would be in the Top 10 for this race. However, come after start of the final lap of the fifth segment, Gwen’s vehicle suddenly lost some control and veered to the left… towards Jolyn.

“Jolyn, look OUT!” she screamed over her headset.

“Ох, блядь!” Jolyn exclaimed, and by the time she tried to do some evasive manoeuvres, she remembered: If Gwen was allowed to side to the left all the way, she would hit the grass patch or worse, she would roll over. In an act of quick thinking, Jolyn veered slowly towards Gwen and hit her car in turn, cancelling each other out and straightening out their paths as soon as Gwen stopped veering. This little shenanigan lost them a few precious moments, as far as 1.5 seconds, and they fell back so very hard.

Jolyn went from 6th to 37th, while Gwen went back from 7th, to 38th. It was indeed that dramatic. Clarissa, on the other hand, after confirming that her friends are fine, went ahead and raced on, finishing off at 16th.

---

The last and final segment was fine for the trio. After catching up back with the lost positions and checking the integrity of their vehicles, they were back into the game proper. At the final stretch of the race, Clarissa’s vehicle went into some mechanical problems, but nothing too major, letting her finish with 32nd position. Jolyn is indeed a woman that is hard to keep down, and she gained back to 29th even after a little fiasco with Gwen. Gwen, on the other hand, feeling guilty with herself, did not perform as well and ended at 35th.

---

Come the end of the race, the trio were exhausted, but at the same time, they were simply happy to see each other again and to get out of their cars. Gwen approached Jolyn with a sense of guilt and stuttered her words, “J-Jolyn? I am so sorry about what happened! It was an accident, I-“

Before Gwen could finish off her sentence, Jolyn simply smiled and gave Gwen a meaningful hug, along with a few more words of her own, “Hey, we are not racing to win, remember? It happens. I am just glad that my nightmare didn’t came to be.”

Clarissa was simply in the background, clapping to herself and was simply happy that her two friends were simply very understanding towards one another.

“And Jolyn?” Gwen continued on, “Thank you for saving my life. If you simply let me to veer off, my vehicle could have rolled.”

“I prevented a nightmare, so to speak,” Jolyn confirmed herself, “Now, let’s go for some dinner tonight, hm? Don’t worry about my lost positions! There’re always more races ahead of us! Though, if you don’t mind me asking, what the hell happened back there?”

“I… I don’t think I know, to be honest,” Gwen muttered to herself, though audibly for Jolyn, “I just lost focus for a while, then I lost my grip on the wheel. It’s just… that moment caused me to lose control of my car nearly completely.”

The Valentians would later be made aware of the points; they considered them rather moderately, in the sense that while they would try to make it to the semi-final or final races, the trio won’t mind if they lose or dropped out along the way; after all, half the fun is in racing itself.

After a hearty dinner, the three of them went to a local movie theatre and watched a blockbuster, with Gwen treating the other two to make up for the mistake that she did in the race.

[Valentine Z]

The Valentians - Qualifications @ Tiara Investments 350, Grande Mountain Speedway, Grande Mountain, Cassadaigua

The speedway, smaller than the superspeedways that they have been racing along on, the Valentian trios have once again prepared themselves for the qualifications. Clarissa and Jolyn would still need to put some effort, but not as much as Gwen, who is relying on that in order to get into the actual race.

Clarissa did well as per usual, placing 25th in the qualifications at 30.494 seconds, and considering the shorter course’s requirements. After all, she is that splendid little robot that has been doing quadrillions of calculations per second to get ahead of the human racers. Some would say this is an unfair advantage, but for Clarissa, she simply has the extra brain power to analyse the tracks and she still drives the same car as others, there’s no unfairness in terms of performance.

Jolyn, on the other hand, suffered quite tremendously, placing 54th at 31.915 seconds. She overestimated and was a bit complacent with the race track’s length, only to realise that when she is racing around, she was going exceedingly fast for the turns and also would excessively break, losing precious seconds over it.

Gwen did extremely well for this qualification, even amongst the veterans. She placed 15th, at 30.196 seconds! She placed 4th once again out of the 22, and was elated as ever.

“Woo-hoo, isn’t this great, or what?” Gwen exclaimed, “Not only we get to race in different countries, but we get to sightsee and view what these nations have to offer! This is the best thing to ever happen to us!”

“I agree!” Clarissa added in, “I have taken so many photos and videos during my travels, but still, my storage banks are not filling up just yet! I got plenty of space, hm hm!”

“Yeah, it’s not so bad,” Jolyn would say, slightly fazed, but confident that she will do well for the actual race, “This one’s a little difficult, I might add… the race course is too short, and I tend to accelerate too fast and break too hard.”

“Ahh, don’t worry! You can do it!” Gwen would cheer her up, along with Clarissa who tried to give her a hug, but Jolyn refused for the time being.

“Haha, ahh, save the hugs for later after the race, shall we?”

“Oops, sorry! ^^”

(OOC: Sorry this is shorter than usual and very brief; working on the actual race later at night, or tomorrow!)

[The Sherpa Empire]

Liuyong Xu watched the Tiara Investments 350 from the sidelines, disappointed that he hadn't qualified to drive in it. This was turning into a frustrating year for him. He had tried to make the switch from stock cars to WGPC and attended a couple of tests in the early spring, but he hadn't been good enough to get signed. When the Norwesties asked him to drive for them in NSSCRA, he thought his luck had turned around, but now it was starting to look like he wasn't out of the woods yet -- and it was really starting to get him down. The next race was going to be in Starkville and the Norwesties would surely be disappointed if he failed to qualify again at their home track.

Xu couldn't even explain why he was doing so badly. He'd always had to live with the frustration of coming from the same city as Kai Qiang and not being quite as good, but he'd never been THIS bad. He really felt like he was losing it. Working with the Norwesties and trying to learn English was an adjustment, but it still felt like it was throwing him off more than it should. He was usually a pretty level-headed guy, not prone to wild mood swings, outbursts, and near-suicidal breakdowns like Qiang had. But even the most level-headed person could start to doubt themselves after too much failure.

Xu didn't understand how even though he did everything right and Qiang was a walking trainwreck, Qiang was still better.

[Newmanistan]

THE ROCKET REPORT

HOW LOW WILL WE GO?

By Brianne Henry,

Another Tundra Falls 500 is in the books. Plus, we have had the first race out of Newmanistan already, and we saw two Cassadagan drivers have a 1-2 finish. In Tundra Falls, Saint Kanye’s Glorious Free Republic Motorsports had a 1-2 finish brewing until the last half-second. They are two of the elite race teams in the sport, but where does Rocket Motorsports fit into the discussion? We even have seen a bird win a race, but the sky blue cars of the Empire continue to lag behind. Now, fans of Tropicorp, don’t be offended, I really love what the Cocoabo Enrichment program has done, and there are some great sponsors that come out of there as well, and not just the drivers. Additionally, we have new nations and drivers competing, and don’t they already look better then us?

Newmanistan is not even guaranteed to have three drivers in the field even more. So far, we have had that, but only because Travis Barkley used the open charter in Tundra Falls. Because of that, Ashley Matthews was unable to drive and be our fourth entry, much like Cassadaigua was able to have with Tyler Abbott competing. Our next race will be in the nation of New Northwesteros, a nation that has no guaranteed entries in the field, but has attempted to qualify for each of the prior two races. On their home track, expect them to be better.

How does Newmanistan get better at this, that is the question. The answer is the age old conclusion that we have made before, but that Rocket Automative is still too stubborn to realize. Rocket Automotive was convinced that we would have the best race cars out there at the beginning of NSSCRA 6, and that we would not need outside sponsorship. We managed to win one race, a race well after any chase bids had been determined. Last year, things were much worse, and I don’t think anyone is excited about where we stand this year. I don’t even think anyone knew who our drivers would be this year, after the way the veterans were moved out for the youngsters last year. In order for things to change, Rocket Automotive will need to either increase the money they spend on the team substantially, or realize that other companies should be able to have a piece of the pie. This would mean the most boring looking race cars on the track would have company logos on it instead of just our familiar rocket on the hood and the diagonal stripes on the side of the a sky blue race car. That would bring in more money, and more competitiveness. Is this about to happen? According to people close to Rocket Automotive, they are still not about to concede the obvious fact. Maybe after more struggles, and poor finishes that will change. For now, we may enjoy NSSCRA, but our fans have settled for rooting for foreign drivers instead of our own.

[Cassadaigua]

Cassadaigua is Sharpe at home,
by Chelsea Dufresne, Concord Heights Times

The NSSCRA series made its way to Grande Mountain Speedway for the Tiara Investments 350 for the second race of the season. Last season in this race, then known as the Pink Love 350, Cassadaigua managed two top five finishes with Stacie Houston finishing second, and Meghan Sharpe running fifth. It was a race that was won by Tsering Chu, a young Sherpan driver that was inspirational to many given her disability as a hearing impaired driver. Several Cassadagans who might have enjoyed that story were certainly looking for her #90 car this year, only to find that number was flipped upside down and rotated by The Sherpa Empire into the #06, and a driver that is currently unknown to us. I don’t know where Chu is right now, hopefully she is doing well in wherever life has taken her. The #90 is now owned by a driver from Newark Aristocracy, a nation that up to this point has not done anything in this series other then declare that they would compete in it. Another driver that part of the top five in the Pink Love 350 was Jebslund’s Eva Kerman, who ran third. She would duplicate that performance, much like Stacie Houston would. On finishing second here for the second straight year, Houston told reporters that, “We had a good day today in the Five Star Mobile machine. I’ve won at this track before, just not in this series. Last year we were great, too, and I am happy to have had a great points day. It sends a message, not that I think anyone would have thought otherwise, that we will be a contender again for this title, and will not rest on our laurels.”

Jenna Logan last year did not have the greatest effort for her sponsor’s one-off race. She placed 22nd, and would not improve on that, finishing 26th, and the worst of the four Cassadagan drivers that were part of the field. Tyler Abbott drove the open charter to a 21st place finish.

The race winner was Meghan Sharpe, who led the final 25 laps of the race. She passed Eva Kerman for the lead at that point, and held off Stacie Houston, who started to close in on her in the last eight laps, but never caught her. Sharpe said of the race win, “Happy to get this win early. We have gotten off to a great start as a team, and this Spacebook car will continue to be a threat for title. Stacie was catching us, and it was fun to race her here at the end in the closing moments in front of our home fans. We know that there were a lot of people in the stands wearing either of our shirts out there, so it made it really fun for them. We were too good for Stacie, and I am proud that I am able to say that. We will hope to continue that momentum into the upcoming races.”

Race sponsor Tiara Investments held a raffle to pay off the mortgages of ten lucky fans at the race. One winner, Heather Lawless, told us, “It made me wish I bought a bigger house initially (laughs), but I am so grateful for Tiara Investments to have had the drawing, and I cannot believe my luck. Last month, I won $100 on a scratch-off, and it was the biggest thing I can remember ever having won to that point.”

[Hapilopper]

The Team Blue shop, Hapilopper City
The day after the Tiara Investments 350

It had been a slow news day as far as sports in Hapilopper were concerned. The HC Nationals and the Buckridge Blues had split a 4-game series featuring some of the most exciting baseball that had been played all season. The HAB (Hapilopper Association of Basketball) started its season, and each of the league’s 14 teams were playing each other that night. Peoria Warriors closer Darren Goodwin had been arrested the night before in Surrey after dancing, butt-ass naked, on top of a moving cargo van after registering a three-out, no-hit, no-run save over the Surrey Wolves. Cooter Harris, the mulleted, tobacco-chewing goalkeeper of the HC Soldiers soccer team, had been named the captain of the national soccer team for its Baptism of Fire and World Cup hopes.

And above all of that, was a lengthy discussion about “how much is too much,” when a racing driver castigates his crew after either a poor pitstop or if their car becomes an ill-handling beast. Several hours after the Tiara Investments 350, the Hapilopper Television Network aired, as part of the Hapilopper Nightly News, several excerpts from Chris Holmes’ radio transmissions to his crew. Holmes had battled an ill-handling car the whole race, either too loose or too tight. There seemed to be no happy medium. On top of that, Holmes appeared to get angry at several rival drivers after some contact had been made.

"YOU (expletive) (expletive)!!
YOU'RE ALL (expletive) FIRED! ALL OF YOU!
YOU ALL (expletive) SUCK! DAMN IT!

"STUPID (expletive) (expletive) CAR WON'T TURN!
BUNCH OF (expletive) DUMB (expletive)
PIECE OF (expletive) TACO-(expletive)
MORONS CAN'T DO (expletive)!

GOT A WRECKED BUCKET OF
(expletive)! GONNA (expletive)
WRECK IN A (expletive) SECOND!

-Chris Holmes, as heard on the
Hapilopper Nightly News. These were some, but not all,
of his comments heard after the race.

The excerpts aired were extremely vulgar in nature, and featured Holmes eviscerating his crew for apparently not correcting the poor handling of his car, using more than a few “colorful metaphors” to pepper his language. HTN had the good sense to edit this beforehand, and while his crew had received the full brunt of his anger, HTN viewers heard what sounded like a truck backing up, with a few angry words in between.

Meanwhile, the controversial H-Sports show, “The Hot Take,” featuring those annoying loudmouths Tucker Dunst and Mack Masters, were debating Holmes’ fiery outbursts. Masters appeared annoyed at the fact the topic of the outbursts – and auto racing in general – had come up on the show at all, while Dunst relished in the opportunity to admonish yet another sports figure for doing something he had no idea about at all.

“The fact is, a racing driver needs to understand that he shouldn’t get too angry,” Dunst said. “I mean, at the end of the day, he’s driving a car, and if it’s not handling like he should, he should just slow down!”

“We done talking about racing?” Masters said dismissively.

At the Team Blue shop in Hapilopper City, Ken Henson, Chet Byrd, Lawrence Malloy and Chris Holmes were sitting at a table in a conference room, with the controversial show airing on a nearby television set. None of the four were in what you would call a “positive” mood, and the show appeared to make matters a tiny bit worse.

“I hate those guys,” Byrd muttered. “Why are they so popular?”

“People just like obnoxious, ignorant loudmouths,” Henson said. “But they kind of brought up a good point. Is there a reason you thought it a good idea to scream at your crew chief like that, Chris?”

“I didn’t think he was listening to me,” Holmes said matter-of-factly. “You know, I was having a real hard time yesterday and I thought he was dismissing my complaints. I want to win these races and I want to make sure we’re on the same page.”

Holmes’s comments angered Malloy, his crew chief, specifically the implication that he wasn’t there to help his own driver out. In fact, the way Holmes worded it, it actually sounded like Malloy was there just to screw Holmes up.

“You know, I don’t appreciate that,” Malloy barked. “I’ve been in this game my whole life. My father worked with the guy you replaced, and he didn’t get yelled at the way you yelled at me yesterday. I didn’t become a crew chief just so I could mess up the guy I’m working with. We race to win. It doesn’t matter if you’re a driver, a crew chief, a tire changer, a gas man or even the guy sweeping the floors at three in the morning. We don’t go out there to run 15th, 25th, 30th or whatever. I race to win, and I think everyone else does too.”

“That doesn’t change the fact you fucked up the car mid-race,” Holmes responded. “It was either wrecky-loose or it pushed like a dump truck. There was no happy medium. NONE.”

“You know, if you’d stop whining like a little bitch every lap about how terrible we are,” Malloy snapped, “maybe we might be able to help you better!”

“Oh, so it WAS on purpose then!” Holmes roared. “You screwed the car up on purpose!”

“Why the hell would I do that?” Malloy screamed, jumping from his seat. “I can’t help it if I’ve got some candy-ass at the wheel bitching and not paying attention to the track!”

Holmes jumped out of his seat, and it looked for all the world like driver and crew chief were about to throw down in the conference room. Henson and Byrd jumped out of their seat too, in an effort to ease the tensions.

“ENOUGH! ENOUGH!!!” Henson shouted above the two. “You two have to work with each other, and I don’t really want to make any changes! Now then, you two either have to work together or you’re going to fall to the back of the field while you’re warring. You want to do this the right way or the wrong way?”

Holmes and Malloy looked at each other, still quite pissed off at each other. Henson was right. Both men needed to learn to work with each other if they wanted to win any races. Malloy needed to listen to his driver a little better, while Holmes needed to learn the old saying that it was “easier to catch flies with honey than it is with vinegar” and implement that in his relationship with his new crew chief.

“You two need to co-exist,” Byrd said. “How about we go to dinner together, get a few beers and cuss out the umpires on the games on TV. I’m buying.”

The three turned to walk out of the conference room, but Byrd was stopped by Henson. There was still some unfinished business that needed to be taken care of, pertaining to that press conference at Hapilopper City Airport.

“You two, wait outside and try not to kill each other,” Henson joked. “I need to speak to Chet for a few minutes alone.”

The fact was, Henson did need to speak to Byrd, and closed the door behind the two others. There was still some bad feelings over the way that press conference had gone, even if Byrd didn’t mean to be caught on a live mic talking about how bad Hapilopper Airlines’ maintenance records were.

“You’ve been in this game... how long?” Henson said to his senior driver. “40 years?”

“Yeah,” Byrd said, resigned to knowing why this meeting was going on.

“So, you should know that we have a problem,” Henson continued. “Sponsors drive racing, for better or for worse. Frankie Bronson’s been groveling to Peter Savidge all day, begging to keep his sponsor. Frankly, if Savidge orders us to take the Hapilopper Airlines decals off all our cars, I wouldn’t be surprised.”

“Yeah.”

“If he does, it’s your ass,” Henson said sternly, pointing a finger to his senior driver. “That sponsor’s more than a logo on a car and some extra money to fund a third car. Did you know that we get free airfare and cargo because of that sponsorship? Do you know how much that would have cost us each year?”

“No, I’m not an aviation expert,” Byrd said in a smart-ass tone.

“Well, it’d cost us a pretty penny, I know that much,” Henson said. “And it would take more than you’d think out of our budget. And quite frankly, we could stand to be doing a little better. We weren’t counting on you to not qualify for races. What’s up with that?”

“Tough field,” Byrd said. He honestly didn’t know the answer.

“Well, you need to run better in those qualifying runs,” Henson said with a tinge of anger in his voice. “And what I mean by that is GO FOR BROKE. We can’t have you sitting in your motorcoach on race day. We need you in the car on race day. Period.”

“I’ll do what I can,” Byrd said, nodding his head. “I can’t guarantee anything. This isn’t HASCAR. We’re not going up against guys from Hapilopper. We’re going up against the rest of the world.”

“Well, drive like it,” Henson said. “I know you can. Now get out of here and go have fun with Chris and Lawrence before they kill each other.”

Which is what Chet did with Chris and Lawrence. The two visited Andrew’s, a pub not far from where the three lived on the north end of Hapilopper City. Andrew’s was famous as a great viewing spot for a lot of great baseball and soccer matches, but especially HASCAR races. The proprietor, Andrew McPherson, competed in HASCAR from 1991 until 2003, and was always happy to see his racing buddies come in for a dinner and a beer or six. By the time McPherson had cut all three men off, five hours later, the three had run up a bar tab that equated to the money won by last place at yesterday’s race. Byrd ended up regretting his suggestion he was buying.

The next morning, all three woke up with the feeling that someone had worked them over with a hammer, but the hard feelings between Malloy and Holmes had eased a great deal. Somewhere between the eighth or ninth round, the two agreed to work together in everything from controlling the national debt to pulling pranks on fellow NSSCRA drivers to communicating better on track, but Holmes drew the line at marrying Malloy’s sister. That would have been difficult to do anyway.

“I dun’ havasista, youuuu DWWWEEEEEEB,” Malloy drunkenly shouted at his driver.

[New Northwesteros]

DIREWOLF DRIVERS "LOSING SLEEP" OVER HOME RACE

by Mary Grace Bradford



ARRYNTOWN - Six days before the upcoming Kobold Tools 300 NSSCRA (Nationstates Stock Car Racing Association) race at Starkville Raceway, the drivers and crew of New Northwesteros' Direwolf Auto Team are already hard at work in their training facility here. Neither local driver Paul Nystrom nor Liuyong Xu, who was signed from the Sherpa Empire, have qualified for a race yet in this NSSCRA season, but the two seem to be doing all they can in order to avoid another disappointment, especially in Northwesterosi soil.

Nystrom and Xu took the first flight back home after watching the Tiara Investments 350 in Grande Mountain, Cassadaigua, from the sidelines. Xu said that they "got all their sleep on the flight" and "immediately started practicing as soon as they arrived at the facility". Nystrom told the Inquisitor, "This will be very big and important for us. No better place to break out of our slump than at home. Well, Xu's not from here, but the locals seem to be warming up to him all the same." Indeed, the Sherpa driver of the #99 Prime Insurance Chadwick has been getting almost as many cheers, autograph and photograph requests from Norwestie fans as his local teammate.

Nystrom also reacted to comments made by Kanyean radio host Max Gannon in his To The Max radio show. Gannon compared the driver of the #21 Argoil Chadwick to a "scared puppy" and told the entire Direwolf team to step up. "He was right. We're doing our best. We're losing sleep. But if it turns out our best isn't good enough, then we do need to step up. And the pressure? To hell with the pressure. It's been eating at me the first few days of the season, but now I just shrug it off."

Meanwhile, Starkville Raceway management are hoping to bring the popular NSSCRA side event, the Tropicorp Pit Crew Challenge, to the upcoming race. The event, sponsored by the Tropicorp company that also fields cars for the league, has been a success during several race weekends last season, including in St. Kanye as well as Vilita and Turori. Northwesterosi actor and car enthusiast Harris Lyons has been chosen to drive the pace car in the 300, while Kobold Tools CEO Jonas Lufsig will give the command to start the engines.

[Xanneria]

this bump and bang lead to conversations of a heated matter after the race

Gordon Orton had just exited his car, He watched other cars parade in, one after another, after another. This was his first race on sunday and he soaked it all up. He had missed the race last week, somewhat ironically given how the large power driven tracks were the specialties of the Hawkeyes last year and now it seemed the oppisite was true for 2029. He saw Kai Qaing's car come by, billowing smoke after a slow developing engine issue reared its most spectacular, yet ugly head in the last run of the race. He saw his teammate Eddie Walters battered car, he was shocked something that bent was able to complete the race and yet only lose three laps, the cars rear clip was bashed in quite severely. But Orton had always admired Eddie and his dad, growing up a fan of the family he knew what Eddie could do. Then came Skip Stiller his blue car had a very green and brown hue to it. Stiller had taken a trip through the grass on the last segment of the race. Then came the angry purple mob!.....the angry purple mob?

Earlier during the race. Orton who we know is on debut was racing Andrew Holden. The Lisander driver behind Orton by a couple laps due to earlier unlikely issues, but was running similar lap times to most top drivers. but Orton was also in his debut race. he was a rookie and if you know anything about the KRD team, they have been loaning Tucker Capps to the disastrous WCU team run by Xannerian businessman Murray Spicer and using the Knox built Mercado Trubador. But with that aside over, Orton was having a decent race but in the middle stages of the race he got along side Orton, but got into due to a rookie mistake Orton discribed as "to late on the brakes." and that "I thought could get that extra lil' bit and didn't".

Holden was sent into the turn four wall, and by time he got to the kinked part of the backstretch* the left rear tire exploded and sent Holden into a violent uncontrollable spin that took out two additional drivers that were ahead of Holden at the time.

But Holden wasn't the one leading the charge it was a group of fans who had come from Lisander to watch their hero. But when he was taken out in a violent wreck, they became made and they had time to stew on this madness. One fan in particular came close to throwing punches. After that was settled down Orton went to talk to Holden, the two patched things up and supposedly Orton even went as far to order some food.

Walters had been in an incident earlier in the race but he soldered on to a 22nd place finish 3 laps down. But if you saw his car it would be a shock that he could run that machine at all. The damage was immense and very few drivers could probably drive a car so aerodynamically challenged. But Walters perceived. Gwinnett had the most consistent run of the day finishing 9th and running top 10 most of the day.

Next week is the Kobold Tools 300 an Oval track race in the nation of New Northwesteros.




* i've been told that the Grande Mountain track is based on Pheonix, so I'm basing the track descriptions of the old early 2000s version of the track.

[Tropicorp]

Foreign muffins, a DNQ and a Top 5 for Team Tropicorp

Tiara Investments 350, Grande Mountain Speedway, Grande Mountain, Cassadaigua :: After a disappointing culmination to their Tundra Falls speed week - putting no cars inside the Top 10 despite having won the Exhibition at Tundra Falls to kick off the season and qualifying on the front row for the big race, Team Tropicorp would have to put it all behind them as the series moved on to Cassadaigua for the Tiara Investments 350. Many consider Round 2 of the NSSCRA season as the 'real' start to the season as some feel that is when you start to see which cars are truly going to be competitive during the season with some considering the Super Speedway races as great equalizers among some aspects of the racing product. Considering that the only two Top-5 finishes in the history of Team Tropicorp had come on Super Speedways with Cocoabo #78's win in the Exhibition at Tundra Falls joining the truly unexpected 3rd place finish and near victory for Euroli Islander at the regular season ending Pencurve Electronics 500 during NSSCRA Season 7, Team Tropicorp themselves were also looking to the race at the Grande Mountain Speedway as a litmus test for themselves to see how far they had advanced in the offseason as they look to step up from a strictly experimental outfit to a potential championship contender.

Upon arriving in Grande Mountain the team noticed some new sponsorship from a company called "Peak'n'Break" which team members would soon learn was a direct competitor to Turori based Cocoa-bo in the breakfast goods market. Despite having a pair of Cocoabo as their driver, however, Team Tropicorp had no services contract with Cocoa-bo that would prevent them from trying out the breakfast fare at Peak'n'Break so they decided to stop in for some breakfast muffins before heading to the track.

Euroli Islander who had driven for the team during NSSCRA Season 7 and now served as the team strategist, responsible for running each race over multiple times in the simulator each week before providing guidance on race strategy based on what they learned, wasn't sure how often they would travel to the track this season but was on this trip and got a delicious strawberry and peach muffin. Anavella Ariiki, Team Tropicorp's Rookie of the Year candidate who had spent much time with Islander in the simulator on the way out to Cassdaigua, would also indulge but with a more traditional blueberry muffin. While there, the duo were reading the back of the menu to find out that Peak'n'Break was not even a Cassadaigan company but actually they were based in Zwangzug and their presence in Grande Mountain was experimental - part of a sponsorship deal of the nearby Grande Mountain Stadium and one of the first steps in the companies international presence in Casssadaigua.

Cocoabo #78 and #13 Oberst Eva Kerman fight for 3rd place late in the Tiara Investments 350

Once breakfast was done the team headed into the track where they would experience a wave of emotions over an unpredictable weekend. The team struggled in qualifying with Cocoabo #78 unsurprisingly fastest amongst all Team Tropicorp drivers but their 18th place effort was still leaving something to be desired especially as it would not have even been fast enough to make the race if the team did not have a guaranteed charter slot for the Cocoabo Park Dart. As a result, however, it would mean that teammate Cocoabo #28 would fail to qualify for the race with an abysmally slow 43rd place Qualifying effort with only Lexi Patterson and Jeff Shreeves behind the Cocoabo in time amongst non-rookie drivers. Team Tropicorp's own rookie Anavella Ariiki would outrun the Cocoabo with a 31st fastest qualifying lap that would result in a 28th place starting position on the grid, one place faster than Vilita and Turori Motorsports driver Centur Tiones and 7 spaces in front of defending series champion and home nation driver Stacie Houston who would be terribly disappointed with their qualifying performance in front of the home nation fans.

Team Tropicorp had reportedly considered putting Cocoabo #28 in the race in place of the rookie Anavella Ariiki considering that Cocoabo #28 was the highest placed in the points standings after the Tundra Falls 500 amongst Team Tropicorp drivers, but in the end they decided to stay the course and start preparing Cocoabo #28 for the short track race in New Northwesteros and stay the course with their drivers for the Tiara Investments 350.

While it may have cost them a solid result with the more experienced Cocoabo #28, they were committed to the development of the rookie driver Ariiki and despite a 32nd place finish there was much experience gained by the youngster which would certainly improve her results at future similar events on the NSSCRA circuit. Any disappointment surrounding Ariiki's performance would certainly have also been offset by the dazzling performance put in by Cocoabo #78 who climbed up inside the Top 10 early in the event and refused to let go fighting for every position on the track and ultimately finished sandwiched between Oberst Eva Kerman of Jebslund and Centur Tiones of Vilita and Turori Motorsports in a battle for the third position behind the two Cassadaigua drivers Meghan Sharpe and Stacie Houston. It was the best career finish in a points paying event for Cocoabo #78 who crossed the line in 4th place and the first Top-5 finish ever for Team Tropicorp on a non-SuperSpeedway track. The result would also move Cocoabo #78 inside the Top 16 in drivers points which, while there were still 18 events to go, would temporarily put Team Tropicorp and one of their Cocoabo inside the projected NSSCRA Chase playoff field.

[Vilita and Turori]

Tiara Investments 350, Grande Mountain Speedway, Grande Mountain, Cassadaigua :: Vilita and Turori Motorsports driver Centur Tiones is off to a hot start once again on the NSSCRA circuit with a pair of Top 5 finishes to open the season outshining the two Championship-4 caliber teammates at Vilita and Turori Motorsports once again. If the story sounds familiar it is because it is as Tiones was the top performing Vilita and Turori Motorsports driver through the first 3 events of the NSSCRA 7 season as well and one of the more consistent Vilita and Turori Motorsports drivers throughout the regular season sitting inside the projected playoff zone all season long until Alex Knight's upset victory in the Pencurve Electronics 500 left Tiones on the outside looking in.

Centur Tiones #2 fights to retain a Top 5 finish after losing the lead in the Final Segment

With two career victories both having come in the NSSCRA Chase's Round of 8 many believe that if Tiones could just qualify for the NSSCRA's playoff they could be a serious threat for the Championship. Until then, however, rumors will continue to swirl regarding Tiones future and the likelihood that the family sponsored driver would be replaced by an up-and-comer such as CoCoCo backed Rockii Ezis. Luckily for Tiones the pressure was off to some extent due to Ezis' inability to secure regular finishes inside the Top 10 coupled with Tiones own stretch of 7 Top 10 finishes over the final ten races of the NSSCRA 7 season including a victory and four Top 5 finishes which gave Vilita and Turori Motorsports officials no reason to cough up one of their guaranteed charters for a less proven driver.

It was no easy decision, however, as Vilita and Turori Motorsports now risk losing the full time backing of CoCoCo having thus far been unable to secure a fourth charter or qualification slot for Rockii Ezis to compete on a weekly basis. A deal has been worked out between Vilita and Turori Motorsports, Tiones Lumber and CoCoCo for the CoCoCo logo to appear on the hood of the #2 Tiones Lumber Dart for Centur Tiones in the first three events of the season at which point CoCoCo has its own plans with the expectation that Rockii Ezis may make his season debut for the team at the Leruse International Speedway in Sedile. After that if no charter is secured for Ezis the CoCoCo will be taking their sponsor money on the road with a deal to back the Atlas Phoenician Racing driver #84 Ben Carpenter in the Cocoabo Preservation 300K while the multinational conglomerate logistic and holdings company has reportedly been speaking with other teams in need of sponsorship throughout the paddock on other potential long term deals that may or may not include a driving seat for Rockii Ezis.

Until then, however, their decision to park their decals on the hood of Tiones vehicle seem to have been shrewd as Tiones has rewarded the very company that has in the past threatened his seat with their own driver by putting the #2 in the top five and sitting second in the series points headed into the Kobold Tools 300 in New Northwesteros. While Tiones has had the CoCoCo logo on the hood he has yet to mention the ride-along sponsor in his post race interviews nor has he made any changes to his post race attire to increase brand exposure for CoCoCo. The logos of two CoCoCo holdings, Cocoa-bo and Coco-Mart, do appear on Tiones firesuit due to the CoCoCo's general sponsorship arrangements with Vilita and Turori Motorsports but nothing more prominent. This likely suggests that once the good-faith hand shake arrangement to sport the CoCoCo logo on the hood of the #2 machine between Vilita and Turori Motorsports and their long time sponsor comes to an end with the checkered flag in New Northwesteros, Tiones Lumber will return to their position as full sponsor on the #2.

Alternatively, it could be an exploratory move by Tiones Lumber to determine if they could get the same value for dollar by sharing space on the vehicle as they currently do as the sole main sponsor on the car. With Tiones' teammate River 'Shark' Suzgar having a co-primary sponsorship rotation it certainly is a model that has proven effective in the past.

[Newmanistan]

Race: Kobold Tools 300 @ Starkville Raceway, Starkville, New Northwesteros
Lap Record: 19.889 sec

1 #44 - Kai Qiang (The Sherpa Empire)                           20.196
 2 #13 - Eva Kerman (Jebslund)                                   20.286
 3 #11 - Jenna Logan (Cassadaigua)                               20.294
 4 #10 - Eddie Walters Jr. (Xanneria)                            20.304
 5 #41 - Yraaga Gilli'i (Vilita and Turori)                      20.336
 6 #18 - Jeremiah Brooke (Saint Kanye)                           20.445
 7 #2 - Centur Tiones (Vilita and Turori)                        20.456
 8 #82 - David Rockingham (Esmerel)                              20.474
 9 #28- Cocoabo #28 (Tropicorp) *Q*                              20.482
10 #22 - Kevin Cosgrove (Hampton Island)                         20.498
11 #84 - Ben Carpenter (Esmerel)                                 20.506
12 #46 - Thea Alvarez (Saint Kanye)                              20.536
13 #5 - Bryan Harrison (Newmanistan)                             20.562
14 #31 - Gwen Tracer Allison (Valentine Z) *Q*                   20.648
15 #99 - Liuyong Xu (New Northwesteros) *Q*                      20.649
16 #9 - Lício Granado (Lisander)                                 20.701
17 #55 - A7DXZ5 (Wagensvolk) *Q*                                 20.726
18 #50 - Ellie Lindskog (Vangaziland)                            20.738
19 #37 - Frank Bronson (Hapilopper)                              20.742
20 #30 - Lexi Patterson (Jebslund)                               20.762
21 #75 - Floyd Hackerbee (Vangaziland)                           20.809
22 #21 - Paul Nystrom (New Northwesteros) *Q*                    20.879
23 #14 - River Suzgar (Vilita and Turori)                        20.886
24 #7 - Clarissa Alanis Star (Valentine Z)                       20.936
25 #25 - Kev Schorebrook (Vangaziland)                           20.941
26 #6 - Alex Knight (Hampton Island)                             20.966
27 #4 - Meghan Sharpe (Cassadaigua)                              20.992
28 #88 - Anavella Ariiki (Tropicorp)                             21.081
29 #78- Cocoabo #78 (Tropicorp)                                  21.132
30 #27 - Stacie Houston (Cassadaigua)                            21.173
31 #48 - Travis Barkley (Newmanistan) *Q*                        21.335
32 #69 - Sofia Kerman (Jebslund) *Q*                             21.372
33 #24 - Kevin Daniels (Newmanistan)                             21.379
34 #81 - Chris Holmes (Hapilopper)                               21.452
35 #15 - Jolyn Helen Ceeta (Valentine Z)                         21.482
36 #0 - Hana Bhe (Filindostan)                                   21.520
37 #23 - James McCurty (Hampton Island) *Q*                      21.523
38 #3 - Skip Stiller (Saint Kanye)                               21.550
39 #05 - Tucker Capps (The Western Carolina Union) *Q*           21.555
40 #12 - Roman Gwinnett (Xanneria)                               21.607
41 #83 - Joseph Rawlings (Esmerel) *Q*                           21.626
42 #32 - Andrew Holden (Lisander)                                21.674
43 #19 - Sage Caldwell (Saint Kanye)                             21.699
44 #00 - Ilham Lukas Jenie (Filindostan)                         21.777
45 #86 - Bluetarch The 5th (Newark Aristocracy)                  21.862
46 #06 - Rinzi Aogar Zakhilwal (The Sherpa Empire)               21.883
47 #04 - Phil Urnsen (Svennish Isles) *Q*                        21.907
48 #90 - Blueton the 1st (Newark Aristocracy) *Q*                21.913
49 #03 - Mike Reddiër (Caleonia)                                 21.937
50 #08 - Jeff Shreeves (The Western Carolina Union) *Q*          21.962
51 #67 - Denny Truex Lenlin (Sedile)                             22.001
52 #94 -  Daniel Almirola (Sedile)                               22.031
53 #29 - Frank Joy (Caleonia)                                    22.135
54 #16 - Gordon Orton (Xanneria) *Q*                             22.188
55 #80 - Franklin Egar (Filindostan) *Q*                         22.245
56 #79 - Dinggu Wang (The Sherpa Empire) *Q*                     22.261
57 #02 - Kohan The 10th (Newark Aristocracy)                     22.345
58 #33 - Tyler Joy (Caleonia) *Q*                                22.455
59 #73 - Chet Byrd (Hapilopper) *Q*                              22.470
60 #68 - Brad Koopalowski (The Western Carolina Union) *Q*       22.498

[Saint Kanye]

NSSCRA: QIANG BACK ON POLE AT STARKVILLE
Sage, Norwesties make first appearance; CUB team folds

by Claude Harlan

STARKVILLE - After spending the first few weeks of the NSSCRA (Nationstates Stock Car Racing Association) season in Newmanistan and Cassadaigua, the drivers of Glorious Free Republic Motorsports head somewhere closer to good old St. Kanye - neighboring New Northwesteros, where the upcoming Kobold Tools 300 is going to be held.

Kai Qiang, the Sherpa ace, qualified on pole - his second this season and first in a points-paying race. Starting alongside Qiang and the #44 TMW is Jebslunder Eva Kerman in the #13 Lowe. The fastest Yeezie in qualifying is Jeremiah Brooke in the #18 Chadwick; he will start sixth. Three rows behind Brooke, in twelfth, is Thea Alvarez in the #46. Meanwhile, toward the tail of the field is #3 driver Skip Stiller in thirty-fifth. Stiller had a win slip away from him during Sunday's Tiara Investments 350, when he spun out from the lead with less than thirty to go. GFR's part-time driver, Sage Caldwell, also had a less-than-stellar qualifying effort, putting his #19 a row behind Stiller, in the thirty-eighth spot. "I'll have to be extra careful", said the dreadlocked driver. "It's easier to gain positions in a short track like this, but also easier to lose them. I'm prepared for more than the usual amount of bumping and banging here."

Aside from Sage, also making their first appearance of the season are the two drivers of New Northwesteros' own Direwolf Auto Team. Drivers Paul Nystrom and Liuyong Xu failed to make the Exhibition at Tundra Falls and the last two points races, but showed their strength at home as they cracked the top five among unchartered drivers. Xu put his #99 Chadwick in the fifteenth starting spot, while Nystrom and the #21 are at twenty-second. Together with GFR's four entries, that meant that there will be six Chadwicks in the field. The other unchartered entries are: Cocoabo #28 of Team Tropicorp at ninth (meaning that there will be six Darts alongside the six Chadwicks); Valentian Gwen Tracer Allison (#31) at fourteenth; and A7DXZ5 (#55), the self-driving car from Wagensvolk, at seventeenth. Note that New Northwesteros, unlike St. Kanye, does not have laws prohibiting self-driving cars.

A few hours after qualifying, Stiller approached Nystrom, who he has competed against in KURT (Kanyean Unified Racing Tournament), and congratulated him on qualifying. Said the Kanyean veteran, "I'm really happy for him [Nystrom]. He's a very talented wheelman. Xu is good too. He raced in the international level two seasons ago. This race might just be the thing for him to get his groove back. I'll definitely keep an eye out for these two by race day. They'll be threats to us."

Meanwhile, financial problems have led one of this season's new teams to cease operations before any of their cars has even qualified for a race. The three-car team from the Communist Union of B did not make the trip to New Northwesteros, let alone attempt qualifying. "That's sad. It's like Central Shaneville all over again, except much sadder as they [CUB] didn't even last a month, or even make a race", said Brooke, referring to the country that suffered a huge stock market crash late last season, causing Central Shaneville's NSSCRA team, ShaneEyoho Motorsport, to fold. No charters will change hands this time around, though, as unlike SEM, the CUB team doesn't own any. The CUB trio of Josh Blaney, Aaron Gordon and Robby Gibbs will then become free agents; the same happened last season with SEM's drivers, with Jeff Shreeves landing himself a contract with the Western Carolinian team.

All qualifying sessions and races will be broadcast live on SKYNET (Saint KanYe NETwork) Sports Channel 12, and online at nsscra.skynet.stk.

[New Northwesteros]

FINALLY! DIREWOLF MAKES NSSCRA DEBUT AT HOME RACE

by Carlito Redd

STARKVILLE - This week's Kobold Tools 300 will be the first ever NSSCRA (Nationstates Stock Car Racing Association) race held in New Northwesteros, and race fans around the country are celebrating and counting down to this historic event. Tickets to the race at Starkville Raceway have sold out two weeks ago, with thousands of Northwesterosi looking forward to seeing their very own Direwolf Auto Team battle it out against the best race teams in the world.

The eighth NSSCRA season started with Direwolf's two drivers, the native-born Paul Nystrom and the Sherpalander Liuyong Xu, failing to qualify for the Exhibition at Tundra Falls. The Norwesties were confident that they will make it to the actual points race, the Tundra Falls 500, but Nystrom and Xu missed the cut there too. After a third no-show for Direwolf at the Tiara Investments 350 at Cassadaigua, the team decided to double their efforts in order not to let the home crowd down. And they break their DNF streak at home, with the #99 of Xu and the #21 of Nystrom starting fifteenth and twenty-second, respectively. "We managed to get in, but now we have to do well in the race itself", said Nystrom. "Our work is not yet done." Added Xu, "We gonna have a lot to prove. Paul is [the] pride of the Norwesties. I want to show that Direwolf was right to pick me, and I want to show that I'm as good as Qiang." Kai Qiang, of course, is Xu's former teammate, and is in his third season racing for his native Sherpaland. He also holds the pole position for the 300. "Yes we still talk and still [remain] friends. But both of us have one thing in mind: to win."

The Inquisitor spoke to some of the fans that have set up camp around the track days before the race. "I'm so excited! Even more so that our team will be there. They already made us proud by getting in. Now make us even prouder by winning!" exclaimed 24-year-old Ethel Hodge, who was sharing a tent with friends. "Hope it's not a one-off thing, and that we'll be able to see our guys race in other countries", said Harvey Fence, 30, who was with his wife and daughter.

NNNN (New Northwesteros National Network) will be showing the Kobold Tools 300 live, from pre-race to victory lane and everything in between.

[Vilita and Turori]

Tiara Investments 350, Grande Mountain Speedway, Grande Mountain, Cassadaigua :: Vilita and Turori Motorsports has recently confirmed the return of Toys '4' All, Vilaye Energy Drink and the Vilitan Bureau of Tourism as full-season Co-Sponsors of former NSSCRA Champion River 'Shark' Suzgar's #14 Dart. Suzgar will run a brand new hybrid paint scheme at select events including the Tundra Falls 500, Pencurve Electronics 500 and the Proving Grounds 500 while other events will see one of the three sponsors featured in all primary locations on the vehicle with the other 2 appearing as secondary sponsors for that given race. This will be a slight change from how the team had previously handled the sponsorship and shows an increase in the role of sponsors Toys '4' All and Vilaye Energy Drink as both were considered sub-primary sponsors to the Vilitan Tourism Bureau during NSSCRA Season 7 where the Vilitan Tourism paint scheme was utilized at the three key events where the new All-sponsors scheme will be employed.

It also means that there will be some new exposure for sponsors in different markets compared with their exposure during NSSCRA Season 7 with the first example coming in the seasons second race at Grande Mountain Speedway. During NSSCRA Season 7, Suzgar was running the Vilaye Energy Drink primary scheme in the race at Grande Mountain while later in the season on the return to Cassadaigua for the Five Star Mobile 500, Suzgar was running in a Toys '4' All paint scheme. When the NSSCRA circuit hit Grande Mountain Speedway for the Tiara Investments 350 during NSSCRA Season 8 it would be the Vilitan Tourism paint scheme that would don the #14.

River 'Shark' Suzgar claims their first Vilaye Pole Award of the season at Grande Mountain in Vilitan Tourism colors

The following is a list of events where each primary sponsor will be featured on River 'Shark' Suzgar II's #14 Dart during the NSSCRA 8 Regular Season:

Toys '4' All: New Leruse (Sedile), Warlock (Newark Aristocracy), Sirenia (Lisander), Lonngeylin (Vilita), Blue Coast (Vangaziland), Hapilopper Raceway (Hapilopper)

Vilaye Energy Drink: Starkville (New Northwesteros), North Notwilkesboro (Western Carolina), Kermania Fortress Run (Jebslund), Nurburg (Caleonia), Stafford City (Hampton Island), Zhangjajie (The Sherpa Empire)

Vilitan Tourism Bureau: Grande Mountain (Cassadaigua), Cocoabo Park Circuit , Yoggy Oval (Yogyakulta, Filindostan), Valkyrie Speedway (Valentine Z), Road Marrieta (Xanneria), Tropicoast Beach (Tropicorp)

As a trade off to the fact that both races inside Vilita will feature double feature the primary sponsor for that race, Toys '4' All in Lonngeylin and Vilaye Energy Drink at the Vilitan Mountain Challenge Course, the Vilitan Tourism board was given both race dates in nearby locations namely Tropicorp and the Cocoabo Park.

During NSSCRA Season 7, River 'Shark' Suzgar statistically was best while driving the Toys '4' All paint scheme with a staggering record of 6 Top-10 Finishes in 7 starts with the Lopinka based company on the hood of the car. However, neither of Suzgar's two wins on the season came in the Toys '4' All livery with one a piece for the Vilitan Tourism Board and Vilaye Energy Drink. Suzgar was statistically worse by far when driving in the Vilaye Energy Drink Colors. With the exception of the victory in the Tropicorp 500, the Vilaye Colors did very little for the #14 Dart with just one other Top 10 finish - a 7th place at the Plum Lake Circuit and five other finishes outside the Top 10 including three finishes outside the Top 20 leaving much to be desired from a performance perspective with the Vilaye logo on the hood.

Perhaps most frustrating for the Vilaye backers, however, was the fact that Suzgar had earned pole position in both the Vilitan Tourism livery and the Toys '4' All livery, but never the Vilaye Energy Drink livery. With Vilaye Energy Drink being the official sponsor of the series pole award, the Vilisorma based beverage maker would certainly desire a shot of their car in front of the pole award sign with their logo on it. Thanks to the new sponsor rotation schedule the team is using for NSSCRA Season 8, they've missed their chance once more as River 'Shark' Suzgar has already claimed pole position for the circuits second event at the Grande Mountain Speedway. While this event was a Vilaye Energy Drink event during NSSCRA Season 7, for NSSCRA Season 8 it was a Vilitan Tourism Board event so once more the photos of the #14 Dart after winning the Vilaye Energy Drink Pole Award are of a featured primary sponsor other than the Vilaye Energy Drink company. Having qualified only 23rd for the Kobold Tools 300 in Starkville, Suzgar's next chance to earn a pole position for Vilaye Energy Drink will come at the Northwestern Bank of Carolina 400 in the Western Carolina Union.

[Valentine Z]

The Valentians - Actual Race @ Tiara Investments 350, Grande Mountain Speedway, Grande Mountain, Cassadaigua

It was once again a sunny morning for the Valentians as they woke up and had their hearty breakfasts, ready for their next race. This time, Jolyn did not have any nightmares, and would in fact be rather confident that she can tackle any kind of challenge that comes in her way. After all, she does not have to worry about herself fainting. Though, even if she does not harbour any hard feelings towards Gwen, Jolyn would be slightly worried for her. Perhaps Gwen was too excited, or that she was too complacent with herself and lost focus for that very second. Either way, Jolyn simply hoped that this does not happen again for this race.

As for the race itself, if the qualifications are anything to go by, Clarissa and Gwen would find themselves to be rather comfortable with it. For Jolyn, she would have some trouble getting used to the shorter track and would need to learn to not brake too hard.

As the trio left the garage, they were greeted by the bright and sunny weather that while was as cheerful as the Valentian weather, would be a little too warm. Jolyn certainly would not have any problems because of her car’s AC, and Gwen by this point was accustomed to both the cold and hot conditions. Right before they boarded the car, Clarissa got a quick (transdimensional) phone call from Valentijn, who wished her and the Valentians all the best, and that he couldn’t wait for them to come back home and celebrate with him.

“Be careful out there, all right, dearie?” Valentijn told Clarissa in a slightly concerned but still optimistic tone, “Try not to overtake the other racers too much!”

“Hahah, Vallie, I will be careful, don’t worry! I have been doing good and great on the tracks! Fortunately, no dirty tactics from anyone!”

“Ahh, ah, good to hear! Well, see you around, and hey, catch up with you again later!”

After the phone call ended, the trio gave each other firm handshakes and high-fives, wished each other luck, and entered their respective vehicles. Jolyn turned on the AC full blast, fully aware that this would cost her vehicle to consume even more fuel. At the same time, she would need it to combat the hot weather combined with the heat of the engine behind.

“And they are away!” the announcer blared on the microphone, after the vehicles have rallied along and crossed the starting point.




The first segment was as normal as it could get for the Valentian trios. Clarissa, Jolyn, and Gwen started off at their respective qualification positions, but they were confident enough to gain a few places, even for Jolyn. Clarissa and Gwen did as well as one would expect, being considerate with the amount of breaking in order to keep quite a speed. Clarissa and Gwen placed 18th and 12th by the end of the last lap of the segment, while Jolyn still managed a respectable 27th.

---

Second segment was where things get a bit too exciting for Gwen and Jolyn. The former realised that her vehicle was having some problems in terms of handling, making turns a bit unpredictable and sometimes not working at all. This caused her to break excessively in order to make up for not being able to turn properly and as a result, she lost a few positions and lost precious seconds. By the end of the second segment, Gwen placed 25th and while not as bad as their first races, the Valentians realised that they were indeed climbing up to meet the demands of the races, and soon will be a second nature to them.

Jolyn was the one that saw the biggest improvement in terms of performance, from a 27th position to the 5th, surprising the Valentians with her finesse and fine control of her vehicle. Coming from someone who was getting used to a smaller speedway and was struggling during the qualifications, Jolyn handled it extremely well with her timings at 29.966 seconds, the only time for the Valentian trio where someone finished a lap in less than 30 seconds for this course.

“Very nice, Jolyn! You’re going great!” Clarissa cheered on for her friend through the comms, while she herself gained two more positions to 16th.

Gwen went to a pit stop to have her vehicle checked by Jared, who then attributes the fault to a faulty axle. It was replaced in a matter of seconds, and Gwen was ready to drive once again after getting a change of tires and topping up gas to the fullest for good measures.

---

The third segment was where the problem begins for Clarissa. For a reason still unknown, during the last lap of the third segment, she rebooted herself during the race (and fortunately when no other cars were around her). The reboot sequence, given the nature of herself, only took her a few milliseconds, but this meant that the vehicle was out of control and swiped the outside wall for a few seconds, much to the shock of Jolyn and Gwen.

Clarissa was speaking out error messages on the comms, none of which made any sense for the others who doesn’t speak the machine language.

“ERR 605. ERR 4042. UNABLE TO PARSE STANDARD DATA…. REBOOTING…. SEQUENCE COMPLETE,” Clarissa announced in her rather eerie and un-humanlike robotic voice.

“Clarissa? Clarissa, what the heck is happening?” Gwen spoke out on the comms, while being passed by #81 Chris Holmes, and #25 Kev Schorebrook, indicative of her losing focus for a few moments, “Clarissa, why did you reboot?”

“I… what? Oh, no!” Clarissa exclaimed, while some minor grinding sounds from swiping the wall could be heard in the background, “Ohh, I’m fine, I’m fine! I am not very sure why I rebooted! I was trying to read the data from my car and… the next moment, gone, I got hit with an error!”

“That doesn’t sound good,” Jolyn added, “We will have to get you checked by Jenny later after the race. Do you think you can hold on?”

“Sure I do!” Clarissa exclaimed happily, back to her normal voice, “My system integrity shows 99.5% as of now! There is nothing to worry about!”

“Hehe, if you say so!” Jolyn replied back, while noticing that four cars have passed her - probably the same few cars that were in top positions for the time being, “Damn, these guys know how to race a good race!”

“Seasoned veterans, Jolyn,” Gwen commented, “They have been in this game for far too long.”

---

The fourth segment was uneventful for the Valentian trios – Clarissa and Gwen managed to climb back to 24th and 19th by the end of the last lap, while Jolyn fell back to 20th from 9th. This time, however, it was not due to mechanical fault or anything of that sort; it was simply due to the better performance of the other drivers.

“We shall see who the better man is… or a woman, or a robot, when this race is over!” Clarissa chattered to herself in the comms, hoping that no one would hear that, and this being the sole reason for her overtaking 5 cars ahead of her.

“I fell back to 20th! Ugh, these guys and girls are good,” Jolyn commented.

---

The fifth segment was rather disastrous for the Valentians, though fortunately no one was hurt. While in an attempt to turn, Jolyn slowed down too much and lost a few places, right around 21st with #30 Lexi Patterson from Jebslund right in front of her. As further unluck would have it, in another attempt to gain back her place, Jolyn accidentally drove too fast at the turn and rear-ended Lexi’s #30, which caused Jolyn’s own #15 to lost traction and a large percentage of speed.

“Oh my goodness!” Jolyn exclaimed, “Guys, bad news… I rear-ended another driver!”

“Crap, that’s not good…” Gwen pondered, “Who did you hit?”

“Lexi. #30, from Jebslund, I think. Such a disaster from me!”

“Don’t worry too much about it,” Gwen reassured her, “These things happen from time to time! I’m sure they could buff out the damage!”

With the three Valentians losing focus, they lost their respective gains and positions, with Clarissa, Jolyn, and Gwen down to 32nd, 35th, and 30th respectively. While nothing too bad happened to Clarissa and Gwen, Jolyn’s mishap would cause them to lose focus and mess up at the turns and breaks.

“Don’t worry about losing positions!” Clarissa radioed to Jolyn, “We are just racing for fun, remember? It’s all right if we lose now and then!”

The trio went back to their pit stops and had a change of tires and topped up gas, ready to take on the last segment.

---

The last segment would see these trio gaining back a few more positions, and while they cannot hope to finish in the Top 20s, let alone in the Top 10s, they know that they still have to try their very best and that it is not exactly defeat if they still put in that effort along the way. With that, come the final stretch, Clarissa finished 29th, Jolyn finished 20th, and Gwen finished 24th. Ironically, the person that messed up quite a fair bit still managed to finish top amongst the three, as it seems.

---

“Wooo, and we are done once again!” Gwen exclaimed, “Now is our well-deserved rest… until we have to prep ourselves for the next one!”

Jolyn had a rather long face that spells remorse and guilt. Clarissa patted her lightly on her shoulder and reassured her that it will all be fine.

“Heyy, don’t worry about it, Jolyn! Haha, we did pretty well, yes? I mean, compare all those positions that we got in the past races with what we got now. I say that we are doing pretty well for ourselves!”

“Yeahhh, you are right,” Jolyn said back with a smile, “So, do you think a flower or a bouquet is in order? As a form of apology?”

Both Gwen and Clarissa nodded.

“All right, that’s it, then!” Jolyn snapped her fingers while hatching up a plan, “So we are going to meet those people from Sherpa, right?” Why don’t you guys meet them first, while I go to a flower shop and buy a bouquet for Lexi? Maybe with a customised message and all. I will meet the Sherpa people some other time, since… well, we will be here for some time!”

“Sounds like a plan!” Gwen exclaimed, “All right, you do you, while we go up and interact with them, haha!”

---

@ Jebslund:

Things were certainly very awkward for Jolyn. As far as the race was concerned, Lexi herself got into a 7th place… at least from the scoreboard that Jolyn saw. And while she certainly did not cause a major crash, Jolyn felt that the cost and damage of buffing up a rear-ended car is still going to be pretty high.

After making a trip to a florist, as well as buying a greetings card, she wrote up an apology that basically went “I am so sorry for rear-ending you, Ms. Lexi! Here is a complementary bouquet of flowers for the damages and while they don’t exactly cover the staggering costs, please take this as my apology. Sincerely, Jolyn.”

Making her way to the lodging of Lexi Patterson (at least, she hopes she got the correct address), Jolyn knocked on the door a few times and waited anxiously, her tall frame illuminated by the street lights all around.

---

@ The Sherpa Empire:

“I could have sworn that these people gave us some funny looks beforehand, like a few races back,” Clarissa commented towards Gwen, “Though, I am not saying like that’s a bad thing… maybe they just have not seen tall people like us before?”

“Haha, well that is true! Hey, if you think 8 feet is tall enough, or 57.5 meters is gigantic enough, consider me as 10 feet. I am like too tall for humans, and yet too small to be a giantess!”

“What do you think they are like?” Clarissa asked Gwen, with a rather soulful look in her robotic eyes.

“Well, same as many people we met, I suppose. I mean, they will most likely be a competitive bunch, but at the end of the day, they are people like us! Except, you know, shorter!”

“Do you think that I could be a little taller, like maybe 11 feet?”

“Now why would you want to do that, Clarissa? I mean, yeah, you can, there’s no one stopping you, but you will barely fit in their home!”

“Haha, yeah, you are right! Well, let’s knock the door!”

Hoping that they got the address right, Clarissa and Gwen knocked on the door of who they thought are to be the lodging of the Sherpa people.

[The Sherpa Empire]

Hoping that they got the address right, Clarissa and Gwen knocked on the door of who they thought are to be the lodging of the Sherpa people.

Rinzi Zakhilwal had a couple of people from his pit crew in his room with him. They had just finished apologizing to God for the fact that the race schedule forced them all to miss their afternoon prayers, and now they were talking among themselves about the race, discussing what they could improve on.

There was a knock on the door. Zakhilwal assumed it was either one of Qiang's pit crew or a prostitute. In the Chinese Territories, where he was from, it was fairly common for hotel guests to get random phone calls from hookers, and depending on where you stayed, it wasn't unheard of to get random knocks on the door. He was kind of tempted to save himself the trouble of getting up and walking over the door, and just yell, "I'm not interested!" without checking to see who it was. But if it was a Cassadagan at the door, they probably wouldn't understand him yelling in Chinese.

He went to see who it was and was quite surprised to find two of Valentine Z's tall and pretty racers standing outside his door, or rather stooping so they didn't hit their heads on the ceiling. He opened the door to see what they wanted. The language barrier caused a bit of confusion, but it turned out they were just poking around trying to get to know other drivers. Zakhilwal let them come in and chat for a bit. He could finish the conversation with his pit crew tomorrow on the flight to Starkville.

‭

----֎--֎--֎----

Kai Qiang and Houzhi Chang were at the airport waiting for their flight to Starkville. Qiang was fiddling with his tablet and reading the news while Chang ate a sandwich. They were interrupted a couple of times by racing fans that wanted to get Qiang's autograph or pose for selfies. When Qiang signed autographs, he usually got a lot of comments about how pretty the characters of his name looked -- and today was no exception. This time, it was a couple of overly perky guys from a male cheerleading squad who acted as if they had never seen a foreign language before. "Welcome to Cassadaigua," Chang said sarcastically.

Qiang laughed. "We'll be out of here soon enough."

"And then we won't be able to get any more of these delicious sandwiches," said Chang. "You really should have gotten one. This is a great sandwich."

"They'll have food on the plane," Qiang said.

He decided he'd read enough political news for one day and switched to browsing NSSCRA coverage to see what people were saying about the new season. When he read the Rocket Report and saw that Brianne Henry was arguing for Rocket Motorsports to get corporate sponsors, it made him die a little inside. She was probably right that outside sponsorship would help them become more competitive, but it was depressing that so much depended on money and sponsorships. Finding sponsors and keeping them happy was one of Qiang's least favorite parts of being an NSSCRA driver, and one of the things he was worst at. He hoped Rocket Automotive would stick to their guns and not hop on the sponsorship bandwagon.

‭

----֎--֎--֎----

At qualifying for the Kobold Tools 300, Wang picked up right where he left off making a fool of himself. He had one of the slowest lap times in the field, and it was hard to blame it on his car when Kai Qiang, who also drove a TMW Phoenix, won the pole for the 2nd time in four races.

Wang slammed his helmet down and sulked while all the media people ignored him. He watched jealously as a Beihua reporter joked with Qiang, saying Vilaye would have trouble getting enough drivers for their exhibition race if he didn't stop hogging the pole. "I'm sure someone in Vilaye's promotions department is smart enough to find a solution," said Qiang.

Liuyong Xu had just finished an interview with someone from the local Northwesterosi press when he noticed Wang sitting off to the side. He saw Wang's expression and where he was looking, and he guessed what was Wang was thinking. He walked over and put a hand on Wang's shoulder. "Don't let him get under your skin too much," he said. "I know it's frustrating when you race your heart out and you still can't keep up with him. I don't know how he does that, but don't let it drive you nuts."

[Cassadaigua]

Mediocre Qualifying: Don’t worry,
by Stacie Houston

Qualifying for the Kobold Tools 300 in Starkville, not to be confused with Starksville in Cassadaigua, did not go terribly well for two of our three drivers. Jenna Logan has been hitting it in qualifying in her Pink Love Blaze, and will be starting third. The polesitter is Kai Qiang, and Eva Kerman, who is really running well lately, is starting beside him. Unfortunately, if you want to find Meghan Sharpe and I, you have to go in the middle of the field. Meghan’s Spacebook car is 27th, and I am beginning 30th, with a time that was just one start ahead of the first driver not to qualify, Travis Barkley. New Northwesteros, the host nation, also got both of their drivers in the race, and that’s good because it would not be right for a nation to host a race and not have any of their own drivers in the field. I have never been part of a series where qualifying is so difficult. Look at the Newmanistanian Travis Barkley, with the 31st fastest time, but not part of the field. I realize there is nothing good about being 31st, but remember 60 of us are trying to qualify, so that is a median time. Guaranteed charters are a life saver for those that have them. To further emphasize this point, Skip Stiller has behind a handful of people who did not qualify in. Eventually, it seems like there needs to be more spots for these drivers to qualify into.

This is a short track, and I’ll figure it out, don’t worry. This is my type of race track. I have to pass some cars, but I will, and so will Meghan. Jenna might be tougher to pass.

Enjoy the race!

[Hapilopper]

Starkville Raceway, Starkville, New Northwesteros
The night after qualifying

Qualifying for the Team Blue drivers went poorly. Yeah, Frank Bronson had gone the fastest of the three, 19th quickest, but Chris Holmes was 34th quickest and would start 32nd due to the failure to qualify of a couple of go-or-go-home drivers. And let’s not talk about Chet Byrd, whose qualifying run was cut short by a crash, but was over two seconds slower than the polesitter Kai Qiang, and 1.5 seconds slower than the last of the go-or-go-homers to make the field. Byrd was 59th of 60 cars to make a run. The entry list had been reduced from 63 to 60 after the cars from the Communist Union of B didn’t show up.

Still, not all was bad in the Team Blue camp. Holmes and his crew chief, Lawrence Malloy, were starting to get on a little bit better than they had the week before. Malloy, 26, and Holmes, 24, were the young guns of the Team Blue squad, and the two sides butted heads over a variety of issues during the last race in Cassadaigua. It boiled over in a team meeting, and it took the peacekeeping efforts of Chet Byrd (doesn’t that sound horrifying) to calm the two sides. The two were chatting amongst themselves over dinner, trying to figure out the way to make their car run near the front on race day.

“We were pushing badly,” Holmes said. “That car was too tight. I was having a hell of a time trying to turn that car through the corners. Can we maybe loosen it up a bit before the race?”

“Yeah, we can do that,” Malloy said. “We’ve been trying to get the handle of it all day. We’ll make a few changes before Happy Hour, let us know how it works.”

Neither of the two were particularly in the best of moods, especially after the poor qualifying run. Still, a poor qualifying run didn’t generally guarantee a poor race run, and that, at least, was a saving grace.

Frank Bronson walked in, after doing a personal appearance for his sponsor, Hapilopper Airlines. He was, at least, in a better mood than the other two. Frank would start 19th on race day and was actually a little confident in his ability to get the job done.

“How’s your car, Frank?” Chris asked him as Frank opened a fridge to grab a beer.

“Not bad,” Frank replied. “Not bad at all. Could stand to tighten it up a bit, but I think it’ll be good on long green flag runs. You know, the Team Blue Shuttle sure felt nice this weekend, didn’t it?”

Chris and Lawrence both rolled their eyes.

“Let’s not do the sponsor plugs, please?” Chris said, with a hint of annoyance in his voice.

Frank smiled and sat down with the two. He liked his chances at the short track in New Northwesteros, a 0.71 mile short track. As odd as it seemed, Frank was actually an ace on the short tracks in the HASCAR Challenge Cup, and would contend for victory every time the series visited the small bullrings. He’d be starting midpack, but there would be plenty of opportunity to force his way through the field.

“I think I could get a top 5,” Frank said with a smile. “We’ll have to move a few drivers out of the way, but hell, we can do it.”

“You sure you want to do that?” Lawrence said. “Remember what Mr. Henson said about causing an international incident? I don’t want to be around if we have some kind of diplomatic incident because you punted someone.”

“Oh, relax,” Frank said. “This is racing. Missiles aren’t going to be launched and trade wars aren’t going to be launched because I moved someone out of the way. I’d like to think the people that run the different countries are a little more mentally stable than that. I get where Mr. Henson is coming from, but I think he’s being a little overtly cautious.”

Chris chuckled. “Do you really think some other nation would launch an airstrike on Hapilopper City because you took someone out? Give me a break.”

“Stranger things have happened,” said team owner Ken Henson, who stepped into the room to grab some dinner. “I’d rather not have to explain to President Mathis why one of our cities got bombed because of dirty driving.”

Henson also explained, meanwhile, that Hapilopper was new to the world of international motorsport, and its competitors would do very well to behave, so as to not receive a bad reputation in the eyes of the international community.

“The fact is, I’d like for us to be a part of this series for the long haul,” Henson said. “We represent Hapilopper on the world’s stage. Let’s not give people the impression that we’re a bunch of dirty jackasses. Let’s race hard, but let’s race clean. You two know how to do that.”

Henson took out a newspaper, and pointed to an article about Hapilopper’s track, the one-mile Hapilopper City Raceway, which would host an NSSCRA round later in the season.

“Our track is getting repaved,” Henson said. “Apparently they were asked to repave the track because it might have been falling apart. The problem, however, is the new track will be lightning fast.”

“That track’s always been falling apart,” Frank said. “Why don’t they just put concrete over it?”

“Hmm,” Henson thought. “I don’t know.”

“How’s Chet doing, anybody have any idea?” Chris asked.

Chet Byrd had been released from the infield hospital, diagnosed with nothing more than some bumps and bruises after slamming his car hard into the outside wall during his qualifying run.

According to reports, the car got into some fluid left by a previous qualifier, Byrd didn’t realize it and before he knew it, his car was headed straight for the wall. The sickening sound of car smashing into wall could be heard across the track, and the rear of Chet’s Preston Skychief had been laid to waste.
(OOC: I've been in contact with someone else, this was their idea, but due to RL time constraints, I had to get my RP in now.

According to telemetry, his second lap would have been just too slow to make the field.

“As far as I know, he’s fine,” Henson said. “He should be here in a few minutes, he said he wanted a beer and some food.”

Byrd came into the room in no real mood to talk. He grabbed a plate of food from a table, a beer from the fridge and sat down next to the other four.

“Stupid fluid on the track, I’ve missed another race,” Byrd snapped. “I really don’t know how much more of this I can take.”

Everyone else looked at Byrd, realizing that this was not typical of his performances. Still, though, three straight DNQs was something to be worried with.

“This has to change,” Henson said sternly. “It will change.”

[Jebslund]

Lexi was in high spirits after the Tiara Investments 350. She'd finished 7th, gained insight into a weak area of her racing skill (seriously, how had a car smoking that much kept her from passing?), and was permitted to use the simulator and work on her skills again. After a bar crawl in celebration of her first top-ten finish, and a good night's sleep, Lexi did precisely that, getting back into her routine first thing the next morning.

And it felt *great*. The day felt normal again, her study session with Eva yielded great advice on passing stubborn blockers, her practice laps went well, with the pit crew giving more advice and her lunch spent poring over all the footage of Kai Qiang she could find in the hopes of being able to not only anticipate his moves next time, but also be the one keeping him from passing. Kai seemed to have more than arrogance and general rivalry against her, and the only way to deal with him was to keep him from ever beating her.

The only way Eva's qualifying run could have gone better was if she had actually beaten Kai Qiang. Her Löwe had performed beautifully, her handling of the beast was on point, and she'd been in top form and well rested from the night before. 2nd wasn't a bad finish, even if it wasn't first, though pride didn't stop her from keeping to her training. Eva hadn't gotted where she was, in NSSCRA, the military, or life, by slacking off. She wasn't going to start now.

[Newmanistan]

Race: Kobold Tools 300 @ Starkville Raceway, Starkville, New Northwesteros
Lap Record: 19.889 sec
Minimum Time To Avoid DNF: 22.300 sec

Segment 1:

1 #14 - River Suzgar (Vilita and Turori)                20.206
 2 #18 - Jeremiah Brooke (Saint Kanye)                   20.310
 3 #13 - Eva Kerman (Jebslund)                           20.313
 4 #11 - Jenna Logan (Cassadaigua)                       20.376
 5 #41 - Yraaga Gilli'i (Vilita and Turori)              20.441
 6 #3 - Skip Stiller (Saint Kanye)                       20.464
 7 #44 - Kai Qiang (The Sherpa Empire)                   20.487
 8 #12 - Roman Gwinnett (Xanneria)                       20.523
 9 #22 - Kevin Cosgrove (Hampton Island)                 20.528
10 #84 - Ben Carpenter (Esmerel)                         20.546
11 #46 - Thea Alvarez (Saint Kanye)                      20.565
12 #06 - Rinzi Aogar Zakhilwal (The Sherpa Empire)       20.648
13 #15 - Jolyn Helen Ceeta (Valentine Z)                 20.684
14 #7 - Clarissa Alanis Star (Valentine Z)               20.689
15 #2 - Centur Tiones (Vilita and Turori)                20.728
16 #82 - David Rockingham (Esmerel)                      20.788
17 #21 - Paul Nystrom (New Northwesteros) *Q*            20.807
18 #10 - Eddie Walters Jr. (Xanneria)                    20.810
19 #25 - Kev Schorebrook (Vangaziland)                   20.897
20 #24 - Kevin Daniels (Newmanistan)                     20.907
21 #28- Cocoabo #28 (Tropicorp) *Q*                      20.946
22 #30 - Lexi Patterson (Jebslund)                       20.953
23 #81 - Chris Holmes (Hapilopper)                       20.987
24 #99 - Liuyong Xu (New Northwesteros) *Q*              20.996
25 #31 - Gwen Tracer Allison (Valentine Z) *Q*           21.011
26 #9 - Lício Granado (Lisander)                         21.061
27 #19 - Sage Caldwell (Saint Kanye)                     21.067
28 #5 - Bryan Harrison (Newmanistan)                     21.084
29 #88 - Anavella Ariiki (Tropicorp)                     21.127
30 #37 - Frank Bronson (Hapilopper)                      21.178
31 #78- Cocoabo #78 (Tropicorp)                          21.279
32 #32 - Andrew Holden (Lisander)                        21.392
33 #6 - Alex Knight (Hampton Island)                     21.392
34 #50 - Ellie Lindskog (Vangaziland)                    21.399
35 #27 - Stacie Houston (Cassadaigua)                    21.470
36 #0 - Hana Bhe (Filindostan)                           21.492
37 #55 - A7DXZ5 (Wagensvolk) *Q*                         21.524
38 #75 - Floyd Hackerbee (Vangaziland)                   21.772
39 #86 - Bluetarch The 5th (Newark Aristocracy)          21.846
40 #4 - Meghan Sharpe (Cassadaigua)                      21.890
41 #29 - Frank Joy (Caleonia)                            21.919
42 #03 - Mike Reddiër (Caleonia)                         21.933
43 #67 - Denny Truex Lenlin (Sedile)                     21.938
44 #02 - Kohan The 10th (Newark Aristocracy)             22.015
45 #00 - Ilham Lukas Jenie (Filindostan)                 22.062
46 #94 -  Daniel Almirola (Sedile)                       22.251

Segment 2:

1 #44 - Kai Qiang (The Sherpa Empire)                   20.196
 2 #13 - Eva Kerman (Jebslund)                           20.273
 3 #27 - Stacie Houston (Cassadaigua)                    20.333
 4 #10 - Eddie Walters Jr. (Xanneria)                    20.378
 5 #3 - Skip Stiller (Saint Kanye)                       20.418
 6 #15 - Jolyn Helen Ceeta (Valentine Z)                 20.478
 7 #2 - Centur Tiones (Vilita and Turori)                20.480
 8 #84 - Ben Carpenter (Esmerel)                         20.492
 9 #4 - Meghan Sharpe (Cassadaigua)                      20.502
10 #30 - Lexi Patterson (Jebslund)                       20.528
11 #28- Cocoabo #28 (Tropicorp) *Q*                      20.548
12 #46 - Thea Alvarez (Saint Kanye)                      20.589
13 #19 - Sage Caldwell (Saint Kanye)                     20.657
14 #6 - Alex Knight (Hampton Island)                     20.745
15 #21 - Paul Nystrom (New Northwesteros) *Q*            20.792
16 #12 - Roman Gwinnett (Xanneria)                       20.859
17 #5 - Bryan Harrison (Newmanistan)                     20.894
18 #37 - Frank Bronson (Hapilopper)                      20.932
19 #32 - Andrew Holden (Lisander)                        20.947
20 #99 - Liuyong Xu (New Northwesteros) *Q*              20.950
21 #82 - David Rockingham (Esmerel)                      20.987
22 #22 - Kevin Cosgrove (Hampton Island)                 20.994
23 #78- Cocoabo #78 (Tropicorp)                          21.011
24 #41 - Yraaga Gilli'i (Vilita and Turori)              21.015
25 #88 - Anavella Ariiki (Tropicorp)                     21.028
26 #25 - Kev Schorebrook (Vangaziland)                   21.087
27 #50 - Ellie Lindskog (Vangaziland)                    21.123
28 #31 - Gwen Tracer Allison (Valentine Z) *Q*           21.138
29 #81 - Chris Holmes (Hapilopper)                       21.186
30 #55 - A7DXZ5 (Wagensvolk) *Q*                         21.194
31 #14 - River Suzgar (Vilita and Turori)                21.286
32 #06 - Rinzi Aogar Zakhilwal (The Sherpa Empire)       21.300
33 #24 - Kevin Daniels (Newmanistan)                     21.301
34 #75 - Floyd Hackerbee (Vangaziland)                   21.405
35 #00 - Ilham Lukas Jenie (Filindostan)                 21.457
36 #9 - Lício Granado (Lisander)                         21.560
37 #7 - Clarissa Alanis Star (Valentine Z)               21.573
38 #18 - Jeremiah Brooke (Saint Kanye)                   21.581
39 #0 - Hana Bhe (Filindostan)                           21.642
40 #86 - Bluetarch The 5th (Newark Aristocracy)          21.649
41 #29 - Frank Joy (Caleonia)                            21.937
42 #11 - Jenna Logan (Cassadaigua)                       21.942
43 #03 - Mike Reddiër (Caleonia)                         21.972
44 #67 - Denny Truex Lenlin (Sedile)                     21.984
45 #94 -  Daniel Almirola (Sedile)                       21.988
46 #02 - Kohan The 10th (Newark Aristocracy)             22.246

Segment 3:

1 #11 - Jenna Logan (Cassadaigua)                       20.282
 2 #41 - Yraaga Gilli'i (Vilita and Turori)              20.313
 3 #06 - Rinzi Aogar Zakhilwal (The Sherpa Empire)       20.331
 4 #2 - Centur Tiones (Vilita and Turori)                20.361
 5 #22 - Kevin Cosgrove (Hampton Island)                 20.368
 6 #78- Cocoabo #78 (Tropicorp)                          20.376
 7 #5 - Bryan Harrison (Newmanistan)                     20.467
 8 #10 - Eddie Walters Jr. (Xanneria)                    20.480
 9 #12 - Roman Gwinnett (Xanneria)                       20.519
10 #4 - Meghan Sharpe (Cassadaigua)                      20.525
11 #82 - David Rockingham (Esmerel)                      20.550
12 #28- Cocoabo #28 (Tropicorp) *Q*                      20.585
13 #25 - Kev Schorebrook (Vangaziland)                   20.588
14 #15 - Jolyn Helen Ceeta (Valentine Z)                 20.604
15 #3 - Skip Stiller (Saint Kanye)                       20.655
16 #7 - Clarissa Alanis Star (Valentine Z)               20.667
17 #9 - Lício Granado (Lisander)                         20.682
18 #31 - Gwen Tracer Allison (Valentine Z) *Q*           20.693
19 #50 - Ellie Lindskog (Vangaziland)                    20.746
20 #18 - Jeremiah Brooke (Saint Kanye)                   20.826
21 #14 - River Suzgar (Vilita and Turori)                20.876
22 #81 - Chris Holmes (Hapilopper)                       20.960
23 #6 - Alex Knight (Hampton Island)                     21.025
24 #13 - Eva Kerman (Jebslund)                           21.078
25 #55 - A7DXZ5 (Wagensvolk) *Q*                         21.083
26 #99 - Liuyong Xu (New Northwesteros) *Q*              21.164
27 #75 - Floyd Hackerbee (Vangaziland)                   21.190
28 #21 - Paul Nystrom (New Northwesteros) *Q*            21.231
29 #30 - Lexi Patterson (Jebslund)                       21.293
30 #19 - Sage Caldwell (Saint Kanye)                     21.298
31 #37 - Frank Bronson (Hapilopper)                      21.304
32 #27 - Stacie Houston (Cassadaigua)                    21.366
33 #46 - Thea Alvarez (Saint Kanye)                      21.421
34 #32 - Andrew Holden (Lisander)                        21.668
35 #44 - Kai Qiang (The Sherpa Empire)                   21.703
36 #84 - Ben Carpenter (Esmerel)                         21.705
37 #88 - Anavella Ariiki (Tropicorp)                     21.742
38 #24 - Kevin Daniels (Newmanistan)                     21.758
39 #86 - Bluetarch The 5th (Newark Aristocracy)          21.792
40 #29 - Frank Joy (Caleonia)                            21.933
41 #94 -  Daniel Almirola (Sedile)                       21.948
42 #67 - Denny Truex Lenlin (Sedile)                     21.991
43 #02 - Kohan The 10th (Newark Aristocracy)             22.108
44 #03 - Mike Reddiër (Caleonia)                         22.113
45 #0 - Hana Bhe (Filindostan)                           22.172
46 #00 - Ilham Lukas Jenie (Filindostan)                 22.473 DNF

Segment 4:

1 #14 - River Suzgar (Vilita and Turori)                20.219
 2 #46 - Thea Alvarez (Saint Kanye)                      20.257
 3 #13 - Eva Kerman (Jebslund)                           20.351
 4 #78- Cocoabo #78 (Tropicorp)                          20.355
 5 #2 - Centur Tiones (Vilita and Turori)                20.438
 6 #27 - Stacie Houston (Cassadaigua)                    20.516
 7 #37 - Frank Bronson (Hapilopper)                      20.520
 8 #25 - Kev Schorebrook (Vangaziland)                   20.629
 9 #12 - Roman Gwinnett (Xanneria)                       20.646
10 #82 - David Rockingham (Esmerel)                      20.708
11 #3 - Skip Stiller (Saint Kanye)                       20.741
12 #31 - Gwen Tracer Allison (Valentine Z) *Q*           20.750
13 #9 - Lício Granado (Lisander)                         20.763
14 #99 - Liuyong Xu (New Northwesteros) *Q*              20.792
15 #4 - Meghan Sharpe (Cassadaigua)                      20.792
16 #41 - Yraaga Gilli'i (Vilita and Turori)              20.805
17 #10 - Eddie Walters Jr. (Xanneria)                    20.816
18 #75 - Floyd Hackerbee (Vangaziland)                   20.831
19 #32 - Andrew Holden (Lisander)                        20.877
20 #06 - Rinzi Aogar Zakhilwal (The Sherpa Empire)       20.885
21 #44 - Kai Qiang (The Sherpa Empire)                   20.968
22 #5 - Bryan Harrison (Newmanistan)                     20.994
23 #21 - Paul Nystrom (New Northwesteros) *Q*            21.014
24 #50 - Ellie Lindskog (Vangaziland)                    21.107
25 #22 - Kevin Cosgrove (Hampton Island)                 21.164
26 #24 - Kevin Daniels (Newmanistan)                     21.270
27 #28- Cocoabo #28 (Tropicorp) *Q*                      21.419
28 #18 - Jeremiah Brooke (Saint Kanye)                   21.443
29 #19 - Sage Caldwell (Saint Kanye)                     21.482
30 #55 - A7DXZ5 (Wagensvolk) *Q*                         21.486
31 #6 - Alex Knight (Hampton Island)                     21.552
32 #7 - Clarissa Alanis Star (Valentine Z)               21.584
33 #88 - Anavella Ariiki (Tropicorp)                     21.608
34 #81 - Chris Holmes (Hapilopper)                       21.672
35 #84 - Ben Carpenter (Esmerel)                         21.724
36 #30 - Lexi Patterson (Jebslund)                       21.752
37 #15 - Jolyn Helen Ceeta (Valentine Z)                 21.779
38 #94 -  Daniel Almirola (Sedile)                       21.915
39 #03 - Mike Reddiër (Caleonia)                         21.933
40 #0 - Hana Bhe (Filindostan)                           21.961
41 #11 - Jenna Logan (Cassadaigua)                       22.005
42 #86 - Bluetarch The 5th (Newark Aristocracy)          22.029
43 #67 - Denny Truex Lenlin (Sedile)                     22.335 DNF
44 #02 - Kohan The 10th (Newark Aristocracy)             22.406 DNF
45 #29 - Frank Joy (Caleonia)                            22.494 DNF

Segment 5:

1 #14 - River Suzgar (Vilita and Turori)                20.213
 2 #44 - Kai Qiang (The Sherpa Empire)                   20.371
 3 #22 - Kevin Cosgrove (Hampton Island)                 20.395
 4 #06 - Rinzi Aogar Zakhilwal (The Sherpa Empire)       20.397
 5 #15 - Jolyn Helen Ceeta (Valentine Z)                 20.414
 6 #78- Cocoabo #78 (Tropicorp)                          20.418
 7 #5 - Bryan Harrison (Newmanistan)                     20.467
 8 #46 - Thea Alvarez (Saint Kanye)                      20.501
 9 #28- Cocoabo #28 (Tropicorp) *Q*                      20.526
10 #10 - Eddie Walters Jr. (Xanneria)                    20.564
11 #25 - Kev Schorebrook (Vangaziland)                   20.565
12 #27 - Stacie Houston (Cassadaigua)                    20.601
13 #11 - Jenna Logan (Cassadaigua)                       20.603
14 #31 - Gwen Tracer Allison (Valentine Z) *Q*           20.621
15 #2 - Centur Tiones (Vilita and Turori)                20.645
16 #18 - Jeremiah Brooke (Saint Kanye)                   20.696
17 #13 - Eva Kerman (Jebslund)                           20.786
18 #30 - Lexi Patterson (Jebslund)                       20.794
19 #99 - Liuyong Xu (New Northwesteros) *Q*              20.798
20 #32 - Andrew Holden (Lisander)                        20.863
21 #19 - Sage Caldwell (Saint Kanye)                     20.877
22 #9 - Lício Granado (Lisander)                         20.965
23 #24 - Kevin Daniels (Newmanistan)                     20.972
24 #41 - Yraaga Gilli'i (Vilita and Turori)              20.972
25 #12 - Roman Gwinnett (Xanneria)                       20.980
26 #81 - Chris Holmes (Hapilopper)                       21.013
27 #4 - Meghan Sharpe (Cassadaigua)                      21.016
28 #37 - Frank Bronson (Hapilopper)                      21.023
29 #84 - Ben Carpenter (Esmerel)                         21.227
30 #21 - Paul Nystrom (New Northwesteros) *Q*            21.228
31 #88 - Anavella Ariiki (Tropicorp)                     21.250
32 #82 - David Rockingham (Esmerel)                      21.298
33 #7 - Clarissa Alanis Star (Valentine Z)               21.414
34 #3 - Skip Stiller (Saint Kanye)                       21.499
35 #75 - Floyd Hackerbee (Vangaziland)                   21.513
36 #0 - Hana Bhe (Filindostan)                           21.597
37 #86 - Bluetarch The 5th (Newark Aristocracy)          21.663
38 #55 - A7DXZ5 (Wagensvolk) *Q*                         21.746
39 #94 -  Daniel Almirola (Sedile)                       21.915
40 #03 - Mike Reddiër (Caleonia)                         22.384 DNF
41 #6 - Alex Knight (Hampton Island)                     22.402 DNF
42 #50 - Ellie Lindskog (Vangaziland)                    22.479 DNF

+-----+-----------------------------------------------+--------+
| Pos |                    Driver                     |  Avg.  |
+-----+-----------------------------------------------+--------+
|   1 | #2 Centur Tiones (Vilita & Turori)            | 20.530 | WINNER
|   2 | #14 River 'Shark' Suzgar II (Vilita & Turori) | 20.560 |
|   3 | #10 Eddie Walters Jr (Xanneria)               | 20.610 |
|   4 | #46 Thea Alvarez (Saint Kanye)                | 20.667 |
|   5 | #78 Cocoabo #78 (Tropicorp)                   | 20.688 |
|   6 | #22 Kevin Cosgrove (Hampton Island)           | 20.690 |
|   7 | #13 Oberst Eva Kerman (Jebslund)              | 20.701 |
|   8 | #12 Roman Gwinnett (Xanneria)                 | 20.705 |
|   9 | #41 Yraaga Gilli'i (Vilita & Turori)          | 20.709 |
|  10 | #06 Rinzi Aogar Zakhilwal (The Sherpa Empire) | 20.712 |
|  11 | #44 Kai Qiang (The Sherpa Empire)             | 20.745 |
|  12 | #25 Kev Schorebrook (Vangaziland)             | 20.753 |
|  13 | #3 Skip Stiller (Saint Kanye)                 | 20.755 |
|  14 | #5 Bryan Harrison (Newmanistan)               | 20.781 |
|  15 | #15 Jolyn Helen Ceeta (Valentine Z)           | 20.792 |
|  16 | #28 Cocoabo #28 (Tropicorp)                   | 20.805 |
|  17 | #31 Gwen Tracer Allison (Valentine Z)         | 20.843 |
|  18 | #27 Stacie Houston (Cassadaigua)              | 20.857 |
|  19 | #82 David Rockingham (Esmerel)                | 20.866 |
|  20 | #99 Liuyong Xu (New Northwesteros)            | 20.940 |
|  21 | #4 Meghan Sharpe (Cassadaigua)                | 20.945 |
|  22 | #18 Jeremiah Brooke (Saint Kanye)             | 20.971 |
|  23 | #37 Frank Bronson (Hapilopper)                | 20.991 |
|  24 | #9 Lício Granado (Lisander)                   | 21.006 |
|  25 | #21 Paul Nystrom (New Northwesteros)          | 21.014 |
|  26 | #11 Jenna Logan (Cassadaigua)                 | 21.042 |
|  27 | #30 Lexi Patterson (Jebslund)                 | 21.064 |
|  28 | #19 Sage Caldwell (Saint Kanye)               | 21.076 |
|  29 | #84 Ben Carpenter (Esmerel)                   | 21.139 |
|  30 | #32 Andrew Holden (Lisander)                  | 21.149 |
|  31 | #81 Chris Holmes (Hapilopper)                 | 21.164 |
|  32 | #7 Clarissa Alanis Star (Valentine Z)         | 21.185 |
|  33 | #24 Kevin Daniels (Newmanistan)               | 21.242 |
|  34 | #75 Floyd Hackerbee (Vangaziland)             | 21.342 |
|  35 | #88 Anavella Ariiki (Tropicorp)               | 21.351 |
|  36 | #55 A7DXZ5 (Wagensvolk)                       | 21.407 |
|  37 | #0 Hana Bhe (Filindostan)                     | 21.773 |
|  38 | #86 Bluetarch The 5th (Newark Aristocracy)    | 21.796 |
|  39 | #94 Daniel Almirola (Sedile)                  | 22.003 |
|  40 | #03 Mike Reddiër (Caleonia)                   | DNF    |
|  41 | #6 Alex Knight (Hampton Island)               | DNF    |
|  42 | #50 Ellie Lindskog (Vangaziland)              | DNF    |
|  43 | #67 Denny Truex Lenlin (Sedile)               | DNF    |
|  44 | #02 Kohan The 10th (Newark Aristocracy)       | DNF    |
|  45 | #29 Frank Joy (Caleonia)                      | DNF    |
|  46 | #00 Ilham Lukas Jenie (Filindostan)           | DNF    |
+-----+-----------------------------------------------+--------+

+-----+-----------------------------------------------+--------+
| Pos |                    Driver                     | Points |
+-----+-----------------------------------------------+--------+
|   1 | #2 Centur Tiones (Vilita & Turori)            |    135*|
|   2 | #46 Thea Alvarez (Saint Kanye)                |    122 |
|   3 | #13 Oberst Eva Kerman (Jebslund)              |    122 |
|   4 | #4 Meghan Sharpe (Cassadaigua)                |    118*|
|   5 | #14 River 'Shark' Suzgar II (Vilita & Turori) |    116 |
|   6 | #27 Stacie Houston (Cassadaigua)              |    113 |
|   7 | #3 Skip Stiller (Saint Kanye)                 |    112*|
|   8 | #10 Eddie Walters Jr (Xanneria)               |    109 |
|   9 | #18 Jeremiah Brooke (Saint Kanye)             |    108 |
|  10 | #12 Roman Gwinnett (Xanneria)                 |    105 |
|  11 | #78 Cocoabo #78 (Tropicorp)                   |    105 |
|  12 | #44 Kai Qiang (The Sherpa Empire)             |     97 |
|  13 | #22 Kevin Cosgrove (Hampton Island)           |     93 |
|  14 | #41 Yraaga Gilli'i (Vilita & Turori)          |     93 |
|  15 | #82 David Rockingham (Esmerel)                |     90 |
|  16 | #06 Rinzi Aogar Zakhilwal (The Sherpa Empire) |     88 |
|  17 | #11 Jenna Logan (Cassadaigua)                 |     87 |
|  18 | #25 Kev Schorebrook (Vangaziland)             |     86 |
|  19 | #37 Frank Bronson (Hapilopper)                |     86 |
|  20 | #30 Lexi Patterson (Jebslund)                 |     85 |
|  21 | #5 Bryan Harrison (Newmanistan)               |     83 |
|  22 | #81 Chris Holmes (Hapilopper)                 |     77 |
|  23 | #15 Jolyn Helen Ceeta (Valentine Z)           |     77 |
|  24 | #31 Gwen Tracer Allison (Valentine Z)         |     65 |
|  25 | #75 Floyd Hackerbee (Vangaziland)             |     64 |
|  26 | #28 Cocoabo #28 (Tropicorp)                   |     61 |
|  27 | #23 James McCurdy (Hampton Island)            |     59 |
|  28 | #9 Lício Granado (Lisander)                   |     51 |
|  29 | #84 Ben Carpenter (Esmerel)                   |     51 |
|  30 | #7 Clarissa Alanis Star (Valentine Z)         |     48 |
|  31 | #6 Alex Knight (Hampton Island)               |     41 |
|  32 | #79 Dinggu Wang (The Sherpa Empire)           |     39 |
|  33 | #88 Anavella Ariiki (Tropicorp)               |     38 |
|  34 | #32 Andrew Holden (Lisander)                  |     36 |
|  35 | #24 Kevin Daniels (Newmanistan)               |     36 |
|  36 | #16 Gordon Orton (Xanneria)                   |     35 |
|  37 | #50 Ellie Lindskog (Vangaziland)              |     33 |
|  38 | #0 Hana Bhe (Filindostan)                     |     28 |
|  39 | #86 Bluetarch The 5th (Newark Aristocracy)    |     27 |
|  40 | #99 Liuyong Xu (New Northwesteros)            |     27 |
|  41 | #17 Tyler Abbott (Cassadaigua)                |     26 |
|  42 | #21 Paul Nystrom (New Northwesteros)          |     22 |
|  43 | #69 Sofia Kerman (Jebslund)                   |     21 |
|  44 | #03 Mike Reddiër (Caleonia)                   |     20 |
|  45 | #19 Sage Caldwell (Saint Kanye)               |     19 |
|  46 | #48 Travis Barkley (Newmanistan)              |     19 |
|  47 | #67 Denny Truex Lenlin (Sedile)               |     18 |
|  48 | #94 Daniel Almirola (Sedile)                  |     17 |
|  49 | #83 Joseph Rawlings (Esmerel)                 |     14 |
|  50 | #55 A7DXZ5 (Wagensvolk)                       |     11 |
|  51 | #02 Kohan The 10th (Newark Aristocracy)       |     10 |
|  52 | #29 Frank Joy (Caleonia)                      |      8 |
|  53 | #00 Ilham Lukas Jenie (Filindostan)           |      7 |
+-----+-----------------------------------------------+--------+

[Xanneria]

Race of a Lifetime for KRD Team Iona.....for now.
By Lee Iyokoka

Eddie Walters Jr had done it! He got out of his car with a joy usually reserved for the Holidays or his birthday. It had been like he scratched a winning lottery ticket and then got a personal tour of Santa's factory all in one day, plus more. He had gotten third place in an NSSCRA race, by far the best result for a man who had struggled early in his international career. The way he got there is way more interesting. Starting on Thursday he garnered 6th fastest at the short oval track. A warm day, the pace was fast and even Walters who really is still developing in in international competition had set a lap time of 20.755.

Friday was Essentially the opposite. Walters was the 15th car to go out for his two lap qualifying run. He set a time of and had Koopalowski,Orton, Gwinnett, and Chet Byrd also taking their times after him. What occurred was one of the biggest management fauxpas in modern racing. Koopalowski's car, the Mercado that has been described as handling like a harvester on an ice rink, smacked the wall super hard coming off the second turn. If you remember XCAR in the issue the Carmello Montreat had with Oil Pumps? Well think that issue but for the Mercados they had the Water Pumps in a place that could easily brake. So Koopalowski's water pump broke and spilled water on the track. The main issue though was with a fresh coat of pavement on the track, the water cause the next three cars problems. Gwinnet and Orton, botched both of their qualifying laps on each drivers attempts. This lead to Gwinnet starting deep in the pack and Orton failing to set a fast enough qualifying time. It was only Chet Byrd's accident that truly brought the liquid laden track to light.

After a Saturday full of Preliminary races, some of which the Xannerians entered, The race got underway. The wide open lanes of the short oval in Starkville, proved immensely popular with fans and drivers alike as it provided great racing and very clean racing too. In fact this helped out Gwinnet as he was fast and diced up and around the field. He quickly found himself up to the top-20 in the first 150 laps, even after being one of the few cars to pit on a lap 5 caution for Kohan The 10th's spin. This allowed him to stay out later than everyone and that helped when an incident between during a round of green flag pit stops gave Gwinnett a chance to play catch-up. After that it was a fun top-10 run for the Xannerian pair as they finished third and eighth. Both drivers also now reside in the top 10 in points with 8th going to Walters and 10th to Gwinnett. While Xanneria had a race of the century for the team, the Cassdaguian team went off the rails with only 18th place Stacie Houston garner anything resembling a decent run. Several small incidents for the team piled up on their three drivers and left them reeling after a successful home race.

THe VTM team's of Centur Tiones, and River 'Shark' Suzgar finished 1-2, with Walters Jr finishing third. The race overall received rave reviews from fans and drivers alike for its wide open racing and while there was a glut of cautions from the lap 173 incident onwards to about the 3/4th distance the race still produced one of the more thrilling races of the year. It is hoped that a return to this track will be in the future plans of the NSSCRA.

Also in the news was the collapse of the Communist Union of Belgium* and thus their team withdrew in light of the collapse of their homeland.

Next week will hopefully be another wonderful race for the Xannerians we to a mystical track in Seible name Leruse International Speedway.

[Wagensvolk]

A7DXZ5 found it especially depressing and creepy to see TMWs with human drivers because she knew that TMW was the same company that built the factory in Wagensvolk. If she'd had skin instead of a metal body, it would have made her skin crawl. The way Kai Qiang forced his car through the last laps of the Tiara Investments 350 had been painful to watch. Most people had probably been more concerned for Qiang's safety than the car's, but A7DXZ5 had her own priorities. She thought it would serve him right if he got roasted alive. When the car came to a stop, Qiang stumbled out grimy, sweaty, and flustered, but still obviously alive.

Was that how hard she would have to push herself if she wanted to win? Apparently it was.

In Starkville, she qualified for the race only to get one of the worst results. Her pit stops were among the slowest in the field, and she told her pit crew they needed to practice their timing and get faster, but it wasn't JUST the pit stops that were slowing her down. She really didn't know what she was going to do...