NSSCRA 10- Everything Thread (IC)

[Saint Kanye]

Change, Part 2

We promised we'd be back for more updates on this season's NSSCRA field, so here we are. These are the rest of the drivers who stayed in the series, but changed rides.

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Matthew Conrad

This season: #22 for Hampton Island Racing (full-time)
Last season: #34 for Hampton Island Racing (part-time)

Some people forget that Skip Stiller and Meghan Sharpe weren't the only drivers to retire at the conclusion of last season. Kevin Cosgrove refused to consider a move to a team not based in his native Hampton Island, and instead call it quits; HIR likewise went for one of their prospects in Conrad rather than a foreigner. Cosgrove didn't exactly light the world on fire during his time in the double deuce; will Conrad be the one to do it?

---

Shigeru Tsuchie

This season: #29 for Itzal Lasterketa (full-time)
Last season: #83 for Dahon Motorsports (part-time)

During the previous season (the ninth), Dahon floated the idea that they would run their factory team full-time in the tenth season, but unfortunately, budget cuts forced the Ajian automaker to withdraw. Hispanish team Itzal bought the cars they were supposed to use, as well as the contract of Tsuchie, who was intended to be Dahon's primary driver.

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Jama'obo Pegasii

This season: #37 for Vilita & Turori Motorsports (part-time)
Last season: #87 for Vilita & Turori Motorsports (part-time); WGP2

A little bit of reshuffling in VTM's extensive R&D program: Pegasii becomes the fourth rather than fifth driver for the team; he also takes back his signature #37 after being forced to change by Frank Bronson (now #8) and then Pyotr Lavrentiev (now #19).

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Chris Holmes

This season: #56 for Hawking-Byrd Motorsports (full-time)
Last season: #81 for Team Blue (full-time, later terminated)

After being fired by the Hapiloppian team due to both performance and behavioral issues, Holmes is back with a vengeance. He jumps ship to neighboring Wreckeria, in a team co-owned by fellow former Team Blue member Chet Byrd. Are we gonna see more "Chris Holmes moments", or will he thrive in his new environment?

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Jolyn Caulfield

This season: #76 for Team G6 (full-time)
Last season: #51 for Valkyrie Racing Team (non-points only); WGP2

When we last saw Caulfield in the NSSCRA two seasons ago, she staged a fake funeral for herself, an incident that received a lot of backlash both from fellow drivers as well as race fans. She then switched disciplines to open-wheel racing, but didn't do much of note. Now Caulfield is back with a new team (like Holmes) and eager to prove that she's changed her ways (also like Holmes).

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Dinggu Wang

This season: #79 for UrGa (full-time)
Last season: #79 for IRACT (part-time)

With the departure of all three of the drivers who have driven for UrGa last season, they had to rebuild their roster. Sherpalander Wang was an intriguing choice for the chartered ride, already being fifty-five years old, but the Fleftics believe he's still got it. Wang was allowed to retain his number and sponsors in his new home.

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Ganglie Zhe

This season: #80 for UrGa (full-time)
Last season: #96 for UrGa (one race replacement for the suspended Gil Archer); spotter for Leo Baxter

The free agency wasn't the only place UrGa searched for replacements. Zhe goes from guiding the #80 car where to go on the track, to actually driving it himself.

---

Next time, we'll be looking at all those who are unfortunately out of the series. Of course Stiller, Sharpe, and Cosgrove will be there, but there are still some others that need recognition. Stay tuned.

(end blog)

LENA EICHEL

@LenaH8sU

If you show up at the Kardashia Marathon wearing this shirt, do you fail to qualify?


#GetGood : #NSSCRA

(Good shirt made by Hapilopper.)

[Garden at 6th Mile Road]

The Garden at 6th Mile Road – Exhibition at the Proving Grounds Presented by Rocket Automotive.

"People are still onto that," Jolyn thought, herself also kicking at the idea of a fake funeral turned party. They were told that it was going to be a light-hearted one, but there was a difference between bringing some fun to a funeral, and faking one.

"Well, I suppose I am not doing that again," guilty of what she has done as a whole. She got into a quick conference call with the rest of the Valentians regarding the situation. She also shared a lounge with the main Valentian team, so that much the better with explaining her feelings.

"Well, we have to admit, it was not just because of you. I think we should have known that it was a bad idea in the first place," Valentijn commented, after briefly celebrating her 3rd finish.

"Yeah, don't feel too bad about it," Gwen remarked, "All of us plays a part in this. Unfortunately, we have grown too complacent with the idea of death. We need to start dying less."

Adjusting her new body and getting the feel of it, Valentijn further commented, "Public eyes and public image can be very difficult to mend. Mind you, Jolyn, you're still respected by us and most of the racers around you. Though of course, you need to do a bit of actions to ensure that this is forgotten sooner or later."

"Like going back in time and stopping myself from doing that funeral? Or preventing that crash?"

"Not exactly... Too much of a paradox. I'm thinking media blackout, but I thought of Streisand Effect. I would rather not. I would rather let my actions speak for itself. That was a very stupid move, and I'm ready to not repeat it again."

"That's the spirit, hm hm!" Clarissa commented, giving her friend a pat on the shoulder, "I know you can do it! You're still a part of us, you know? On that note, I have been thinking: Where's Holly?"

"Oh right, her... I need to tend to that," Jolyn replied hurriedly, followed by pacing down to the garage and checking on her teammate. Why was she DNF, she thought to herself. Did someone found out about her nature? Did she land in a nasty accident?

Turns out, she was driving a little too cautiously and too slow to get knocked out of the race. "Well, first time for everything," Jolyn thought to herself, consoling her light-based teammate that was sitting in the garage, slumped and playing with her hands. She clearly looks sad, but not as sad as one would get from a defeat on the track.

"DNF, so... I did not finish?" Holly asked, looking up to her consoling teammate and a mentor, "I guess I was too slow at the end there."

"Ahh, don't worry about it," Jolyn patted her on her shoulder, "It happens to the best of us. I also used to have a lot of blunders back when I started racing. You will get the hang of it. On the bright side though, I'm glad that you were knocked out over something mundane."

"Hm, indeed! I could have crashed into someone, and that won't be good!"

"Yup, and hey, this does not count into your points. You have other races to go for, a lot more ahead of you. Don't worry about it, I will show you a lot more!"

[The Sherpa Empire]

The big Valentian bed in Kai Qiang's bedroom was big enough to have a threesome, but he didn't normally use it that way. Threesomes led to awkward breakfasts the next morning, with Tsering and Mendok angrily pouting and gesturing across the table while Qiang sat there eating his fried rice in uncomfortable silence. Tsering would scold Mendok for being too rough, and Mendok would complain that Tsering was no fun. After going through this a couple of times, Qiang told his wives that they were not going to have any more threesomes. "Spending the night with one of you is enough, and I'm tired of watching you argue," he signed.

They got along better when the women took turns in Qiang's bed. Mendok seemed a little disappointed -- Qiang sometimes caught her staring longingly at Tsering -- but Tsering was happier and the breakfast table was much calmer. The only one still having temper tantrums was their 2 year old daughter Kami, and well, she was 2.

Qiang and Tsering knew they would have lots of time together while they were traveling together during the NSSCRA season, but Mendok was staying home in Guilin. So Qiang spent the night with Mendok before he departed for Tundra Falls. They were wrestling each other across the big Valentian bed, smacking each other with the pillows and giggling like unruly children, when Mendok accidentally rammed her elbow into Qiang's face hard enough to gash his lip open.

He had a feeling the tabloids and gossip magazines would make a fuss about it when he showed up in Tundra Falls with a busted lip. That was the worst thing about being famous, all the gossip. The tabloids always made Qiang and his wives -- especially Mendok -- sound ten times more degenerate than they actually were. If you believed the tabloids, Qiang was scared for his life, they were on the brink of divorce, and Child Protective Services was going to take their daughters away. In reality, none of that was true. Things sometimes got a little chaotic with 2 small children, 2 NSSCRA drivers, and a wannabe dominatrix all living under the same roof -- but nobody was getting murdered or divorced.

Tsering and Qiang got swarmed by the press when they arrived at the track. Qiang wasn't the defending champion anymore, but he was still a big name. Tsering had been away for a couple of years, but she still had some loyal fans who were eager to see her racing again. People were still drawn to the story of how she had overcome her deafness to race professionally. She was especially popular in North China, even rivalling their own drivers' popularity, so she got interviewed by a couple of North Chinese news outlets.

Having the #43 and #44 haulers right next to each other was wonderful. It made it easy to stop for a quick cuddle if they had a spare moment during their preparations for the exhibition race. Both Tsering and Qiang spent a decent amount of time in the garage with their crews, making sure everyone was on the same page. Both of them had crewmembers that were new to NSSCRA, so they wanted to make sure the new people were learning the ropes. Qiang and Tsering's crews weren't as chummy as the two drivers. The college students on Tsering's crew were intimidated by the grizzled men of the #44 team, and some of the men on Qiang's crew thought the #43 team were a bunch of pampered brats. When they didn't have work to do, Qiang's crew would lounge around drinking beer, oggling women, and talking loudly. Tsering's crew would politely converse in sign language, and the tire changers would work on their homework.

The rainbow awning that Kai Qiang had bought last year to support LGBT rights was starting to fade, but he had still brought it to the Proving Grounds for the #44 team to lounge under. Tsering remarked that it looked like the ruins of last season's camp on one of the big mountains in the Himalayas. "There aren't any prayer flags," Qiang retorted. "You can't have a camp in the mountains without prayer flags."

Tsering went to her own hauler and returned with a string of prayer flags, and soon they had a proper camp. It was littered with tires and tools instead of climbing gear or holy relics, but they were okay with that.

None of the Sherpa teams were too worked up about the outcome of the exhibition race, but it was a good chance to test themselves and make sure everything was running smoothly. Qiang finished 5th, which he was happy with. "I think we're in good shape," he said. "The car ran well and it seems like everyone on our team knows their job, so that's good."

Tsering finished 19th just behind Rinzi Aogar Zakhilwal -- which she found amusing. She let out a cute little snort of laughter and signed, "I've obviously got some work to do if I'm losing to the Carpet Khan." She still remembered the old days before Rinzi got signed by AutoModi. In those days, he drove a dumpy Hongxing that suffered frequent mechanical failures, and it was normal find him standing on the side of the track cussing at his smoldering wreck of a car. Tsering still thought it was a little strange to see him racing in NSSCRA and having a real career.

As for Rinzi, he didn't have much to say about the outcome of the race. "Haha, I'm just happy to be back on the race track," he said. "I can't wait to start racing for real!"

On his way back to his hauler, he took the opportunity to ruffle Kai Qiang's hair, which he'd been doing regularly for the past two seasons, and it drove Qiang up the wall. "Looking good, little dude! Already getting those top 5s!"

Qiang swatted his hand away. "Rinzi, what is your obsession with my hair?"

"Just checking to see if you use Mayhem," Rinzi said with a goofy grin.

"What makes you think I shampoo?"

Rinzi furrowed his brow in consternation and quickly wiped his hand on his firesuit. Qiang laughed at the look on Rinzi's face and walked away. He actually had washed his hair the night before, but Rinzi didn't need to know that.

[Saint Kanye]

Glorious Free Republic Motorsports garage area, Tundra Falls Proving Grounds, Tundra Falls, Newmanistan
Shortly after the Exhibition at the Proving Grounds

"YEAH! It's good to be back, baby!" exclaimed Jeremiah Brooke just before high fiving his two teammates Sage Caldwell and Thea Alvarez.

"You said it," agreed Alvarez. "I missed everything about this series. Can't wait to climb back into the car and drive in circles a few hundred times. That's all I ever thought about in the offseason.... kinda the opposite of how I used to feel when summer vacation ended and I have to go back to school."

"You hated school that much?" asked Caldwell.

"I was always the awkward kid no one talks to. Only when I started racing that people really paid attention to me. But that's all in the past now anyway, let's not let that ruin this good day." Brooke and Caldwell both agreed, saying "Totally" and "Word" respectively. Alvarez turned on the TV, which immediately played an ad for Good Motor Oil.

"Yo, what the hell!" shouted Daryl Calhoun, hearing the Hapiloppian lubricant's "Get Good" slogan. He and his fellow GFR second tier driver Pyotr Lavrentiev were playing chess on a table behind the main trio. "That 'Get Good' thing was funny the first couple of times, but it got annoying rather quickly," Lavrentiev told his opponent, who then said "Tell me whoever came up with that, and all those ads, and I'll be willing to reward him with a wedgie."

Just then, Skip Stiller walked in. The Kanyean veteran is no longer competing in the NSSCRA, but he still made the trip to Newmanistan to see how things are going with his former teammates, as well as catch up with the drivers from other countries.

"Well, if it isn't the Skipper," commented Brooke. "Good to see you, dude." Alvarez rose from her seat and gave Stiller a warm hug; Calhoun and Lavrentiev paused their game to look up at the newcomer.

"Great start to the series for this team, huh?" said Stiller as Alvarez finally let go of him after nearly ten seconds. "Top tens across the board, both tiers." Alvarez, Brooke and Caldwell finished fourth, sixth and ninth, respectively, in the Exhibition; Lavrentiev and Calhoun were fifth and eighth in the second tier's Prospect Showcase the previous day. "No points for any of you, but still, you sure showed our old competitors that GFR wasn't slacking in the offseason, and the newcomers that you're a force to be reckoned with. Hope this continues throughout the season. I'll be watching you." He pointed to his eyes with his index and middle fingers, then pointed to the drivers with those fingers. "Yes, sir," replied Calhoun and Lavrentiev at the same time, having resumed their game.

"Well, moving on. Tell me about that all-star series you got invited to, J? That 'Icon' or 'Iron' thing, whatever it is?" Stiller asked, to which Brooke replied "iROS. iBen's Race Of Stars, like, you know, the stars of WGPC and this series. Stacie'll be there, Qiang, Goita. I myself want to meet the open-wheelers like Terho Talvela and Alex Dimitrianov."

"Any relation with Layla of the #87?" asked Calhoun.

"That's Diamantriov, doofus. And she's Twicetagrian. Alex is Mattijanan," corrected Caldwell.

"If only I hadn't come from a down season, I could've gotten an invite," said Alvarez. "But whatever. I guess I'll just support you in this one, Jeremiah." She gave Brooke a fist bump, which he accepted.

The group talked for a bit more; Lavrentiev won against Calhoun. Brooke brought out the potato salad that he's gotten good at making (Caldwell dubbed it "Champion's Potato Salad", and said he should bring it if there will ever be a Big Ass Bash III). After eating, Stiller told the others, "Well, nice catching up with you guys, but I want to see how the others are doing. Don't worry, you haven't seen the last of me - I'll go back to St. Kanye the day after the [Tundra Falls] 500."

"Who's running your racing school back home while you're here?" asked Lavrentiev.

"Philip West."

"So where are you heading to now?" asked Brooke.

"The Dagans' garage. Heard Meg is back too," referring to fellow retiree Meghan Sharpe.

"Well, in that case, I'm coming with you. You know, for Stacie."

[Northwest Kalactin]

Thomas Delgado’s Hotel Room, Tundra Falls, Newmanistan
“What do you mean by ‘I should change my twii.tur handle’?, there is nothing wrong with it”

Thomas Delgado was in the room, speaking to his “public relations” manager, who was asking him to change his secondary twii.tur to something a bit more “family friendly”.

“Thomas, are you kidding? Your twii is literally saying “FuckU” to another member of NKSCRA, and I am sure many think it is saying Fuck You to the Happiloperi driver Frank Bronson. If anything, maybe, remove the profane language and say something a bit nicer, there is nothing wrong with a little friendly trash talk after all.”

“Well, what’s so bad about it? Like you just said there is nothing wrong with a bit of trash talk. Also who in the world is Frank Bronson, I’ve never heard of him for one, and I think that most people that even care about my races will know it is Hector Bronson that I hate.”

“Have you not heard of Frank Bronson?!?”

“No, is he good?”

“Yes, he literally finished in the 3rd in last weeks exhibition.”

“Well, how am I supposed to know about that? I was at the back of the qualifying segment for the entire time, and I wasn’t watching the race, I was in my stall texting some guy that promised me a bunch of money.”

“So you need to tell me, that you didn’t watch the race, and were on your phone playing getting scammed for the entire time?”

“No, I wasn’t getting scammed, some dude on Twii.tur is going to send 1.1 million dollars of Bank of Kalactin shares to me if I aide him with his proceedings.”

“Couldn’t you have waited until after the race to aide him?”

“No, he said if I aided him now he would extract 4.2 Million Dollars from the Bank of Kalactin stock, and give me 1.1 of it if I helped him.”

“And how exactly did you decide to ‘aide him’ with his ‘proceedings’?”

“All that I have to do is send him 9,000 dollars cash, and then, the 1.1 million dollars of stock will be put into my bank account!”

“How will he put it in your bank account.”

“All he needed was my credit card number, and the expiration date, along with some personal info that I’m sure can’t do much harm.”

“Ok, well I think he is bluffing, although you’re free to do you.”

“He isn’t bluffing, just wait until I have 1.1 million dollars of stock and you don’t.”

“Never change, Thomas.”


Exhibition at the Proving Grounds, Team Kalactin Racing
Well, it isn’t a great start, but the new Kalactanian Racing Team did end up with 2 drivers in the race, as Anthony Barnes was able to qualify into a qualification spot. This next race, once again at the Proving Grounds will be a large race for the Kalactanian team. If Barnes and Delgado are both able to qualify into spots for the race, it would be a huge victory for the team, as they need publicity to help grow the team.

Stock Car racing isn’t really a major sport in Northwest Kalactin, although it is starting to climb very fast in terms of popularity, as racers like Anthony Barnes and Darnell Curry have helped the sport explode as of late. Delgado always has been, and likely will be, not much more than a extra social media popularity for the team, he isn’t much of a racer, but he does help out the popularity.

This race will be large, first race of the season, we are excited, you are excited, Go Kalactin Racing!

[Vilita and Turori]

VTM Duo in Spectacular Crash Exit from Tier 2 Debut

Tundra Falls Superspeedway, Proving Grounds, Tundra Falls, Newmanistan :: What seemed to be an outstanding start to the 10th NSSCRA Campaign quickly turned sour for the five-car Vilita & Turori Motorsports contingent participating between the NSSCRA's Tier 1 and Tier 2 classes at the Tundra Falls Proving Grounds.

Things got off to an outstanding start as Yraaga Gilli'i earned the pole position for the Tundra Falls Exhibition presented by Rocket Motors with teammate Centur Tiones qualifying alongside Gilli'i's #41 Dart in second place. It was a bit of validation for both drivers who were at various points during the offseason rumored to being out of a ride at Vilita & Turori Motorsports. For Gilli'i, the rumors were that the winningest driver from NSSCRA Season 8 would be moved over to Team Tropicorp to try to raise the profile of the team run by Gilli'i's primary sponsor, Tropicorp Racing Supply. There was a thought that Gilli'i's move to Team Tropicorp would afford the Tropicoast based team a second guaranteed charter due to Gilli'i's status as a playoff driver the season before. In the end, however, Tropicorp decided to maintain the status quo and give Gilli'i one more season in top quality Vilita and Turori Motorsports equipment to chase the elusive Championship title. For Tiones it had been rumored that the long time driver of the VTM #2 would be stepping aside into a management role with Vilita & Turori Motorsports development driver Lotara Novorali promoted to a full-time drive with backing from the Arcticala Electrical corporation.

Instead, however, Novorali and the #49 team would go full time in the NSSCRA's newly formed second tier competition leaving Tiones and the #2 ride safe for another season trying to convert consistency into a spot in the Championship 4. While the Top Tier drivers were still celebrating their strong qualifying efforts for the Exhibition, the newly formed Tier 2 was getting a shakedown in the Prospect Showcase event where Vilita and Turori Motorsports drivers #41 Turakki Mayelli and #49 Lotara Novorali started from 31st and 28th position respectively. Unfortunately all the excitement was sucked out of the Vilita & Turori Motorsports garage area when Mayelli and Novorali were caught up in an early accident during the Prospect Showcase that eliminated both Vilita & Turori Motorsports cars and destroyed their machines, limiting the amount of data that the duo could take with them into the opening round of the NSSCRA Tier 2 season and putting the teams brand new Tier 2 effort behind the eight ball from the start.

From the lows of a crash taking out both of VTM's Tier 2 drivers at the same time in the Prospect Showcase, the team was hoping that having put all three of their cars in the first two rows of the starting grid for the Tundra Falls Exhibition presented by Rocket Motors would translate into strong finishes with their drivers able to latch up stick together and defend their position at the front of the field.

While things did not fully work out that way, it was still a relatively solid day for the VTM Trio despite the fact that they were broken up late in the final run and shuffled back outside the Top 5 and contention for the win in the end. While Pole Sitter #41 Yraaga Gilli'i fell back to 41st place at the Checkers in the Tropicorp Dart, both River 'Shark' Suzgar II and Centur Tiones were able to keep close together and finish inside the Top 10. While no points are awarded at the Tundra Falls Exhibition, The fact that all three Vilita & Turori Motorsports cars ran competitively in the Exhibition and did not get torn up the way the VTM Duo the day prior in the Tier 2 Prospect Showcase was certainly a positive change in momentum for the team across the board.

While three of Vilita and Turori Motorsports drivers would get a couple of days off before the on-track action for the Tundra Falls 500 and support event would kick off, there would be an additional event for two of VTM's drivers to take place in before getting back on the track with their NSSCRA Primary Cars. Both River 'Shark' Suzgar II and Centur Tiones were qualified for the iROS series, a cross-discipline Race of Champions and other qualified SuperStars to be contested starting with iROS Round 1: Newmanistan. 16 drivers including seven active, full-time NSSCRA drivers would compete in the series including the reigning NSSCRA Championship 4 Drivers; Jeremiah Brooke, River 'Shark' SUzgar II, Stacie Houston and Liangmei Li. Also making their way into the iROS from the NSSCRA full time circuit would be NSSCRA Season 8 Champion Kai Qiang, the reigning Vilaye Energy Drink Clash race winner Frank Bronson of Hapilopper and Centur Tiones who qualified by virtue of being the highest placed driver in the NSSCRA 9 Regular Season point standings not otherwise qualified..

The iROS unveiled the car colors that each driver had been assigned starting with Round 1 in Tundra Falls as well as releasing a guide providing an association between each iROS driver and their assigned Car Color.

In addition to the full-time drivers competing within iROS there are three cars that are purposely rotational with the possibility of a different driver in the car for each of the iROS's five Rounds. The new NSSCRA Tier 2 car will carry the #02 throughout the season regardless of who is driving it. The white colored car will also carry the "Tier 2" moniker on the side instead of the driver's name as each of the up-to-five drivers who pilot the White #02 Dart during the iROS Season will have their point combined into a single collaborative entry into the series point standings. As there have not as of yet been any NSSCRA Races in its 10th season, the iROS team decided to permit the winner of the NSSCRA Tier 2 Prospect Showcase to start the season off in the #02 allowing Kohnhead's Tim Lateman the opportunity of a lifetime to race against some of the best drivers in the multiverse.

Another rotational ride is the Host Nation slot which is allocated to the Host Nation of the current iROS round to enable one of their own drivers a guaranteed spot in the race. While there is no strict regulation on how such a driver should be chosen but it is expected that they would be a driver who is a citizen of the host country and has qualified on some sporting merit either through victory in a singular race or as a series champion or top driver in upper tier motorsports. For the opening round of iBen's Race of Stars in Newmanistan, local NSSCRA driver Ashley Matthews will take the helm of the Silver #00 team and look to use their familiarity with the Tundra Falls course to their advantage as they look to earn valuable points for the combined host nation entry as well as a chance to make a name for themselves on the big stage.

The big excitement just prior to the Qualifying Draw, however, was the official announcement of the driver of the third and final rotational car. It was determined that a 'Tier 3' car would be available to be filled by drivers of the WGP3 level or individual domestic circuits who may get the chance to start alongside the very champions they would hope to one day follow in the footsteps of. Each iROS Round would have a separate fan vote where the winner of the previous fan vote would not be eligible for meaning that for the first four iROS rounds, no driver would be able to drive the Lime Green Tier #03 car more than one time in a row. The Tier 3 driver who pilots the #03 to its best finish during the four race initial iROS Calendar would be afforded the opportunity to serve as the teams driver for the conclusion of the first iROS Season at the Vilitan Mountain Challenge Course.

---

iBEN's RACE OF STARS ✓

@raceofstars

Final Round 1 Driver Announcement Time! Congratulations to @SUNARYAfin for winning the first #IROS Tier 3 fan vote!

#NSSCRA : #WGPC : #iROS

---

Filindostani driver Fiona Sunyara who is looking to compete for rookie of the year honors in the NSSCRA's top flight qualified for the fan vote by virtue of being the FISCAR Season 1 domestic racing series champion in Filindostan. While iROS did not reveal final vote totals, it was also known that behind Sunyara, the top vote-getters in the fan vote were; in alphabetical order, WGP3 Diarcesian champion Aldauren Ginintella, WGP3 Filindo Champion Rod Gozum, WGPi Champion Olivia Stone and Formula Hodori Champion Tegiza Zaotani. Due to support already received in the initial vote, those four drivers will instantly be favored to prevail in the fan vote held prior to iROS Round 2 at the Talbott Autodrome in Liventia Because Sunyara was already at the Tundra Falls Proving Grounds to compete in an attempt to qualify for the Tundra Falls 500 it was less difficult for iROS to keep a close hold of the initial fan vote results prior to the Qualifying Draw. The Draw, which will determine the starting positions for iROS Round 1: Tundra Falls, will be conducted live on twii.tur and presented by Tropicorp Racing Supply. Each driver's car number will be placed on a ball in a bingo-style randomized selection and be chosen by a non-biased Robo-thing host provided on loan from the Arcticala Robotics company. While starting position is not expected to be a critical factor in the 16-car Tundra Falls iROS field it will still be the first live action on twii.tur surrounding the newly formed iROS racing series.

For a collection of information that has been either confirmed or rumored regarding iBen's Race of Stars, fans and prospective competitors can visit the Race of Stars website.

[Tropicorp]

Pressure Already On for Ariiki before Season Starts

Tundra Falls Superspeedway, Proving Grounds, Tundra Falls, Newmanistan :: The NSSCRA's 10th Season hasn't even gotten underway yet but already Team Tropicorp driver Anavella Ariiki is the subject of rumors about the drivers future at the multiverse's top level of Stock Car Auto Racing. Ariiki is considered by many to be lucky to still have her seat for Team Tropicorp after struggling during NSSCRA Season 9 with just a single Top 5 finish and no Pole Positions. While Ariiki nearly stole a victory on pit strategy at the Cocoabo Preservation 300K in the Cocoabo Forest, there was otherwise not much to be proud of for the 88 Team that failed to post another finish better than 13th during the entire NSSCRA Season 9 regular season. Ariiki finished the Regular Season in 28th place nearly 200 points behind a shot at the NSSCRA playoffs. While she did show some signs of improvement with two Top 10 finishes in the playoffs, she could only improve to 25th in the final NSSCRA Point Standings which ultimately was not enough to secure a guaranteed charter in the starting lineup for NSSCRA Season 10.

As a result, Ariiki heads into Season 10 needing to compete among 26 drivers for just 6 remaining starting positions on the grid, a prospect that nearly saw Team Tropicorp give up on Ariiki altogether and instead bring Yraaga Gilli'i over from Vilita & Turori Motorsports along with a guaranteed starting spot in each race. While the competition for the six qualifying spots will be difficult, Ariiki has already proven she can handle the pressure in Qualifying having placed third behind teammate Cocoabo #78 and URGA Motorsports driver Hossem Nasri among non-chartered qualifiers for the Exhibition at Tundra Falls event. The competition was fierce with other notable drivers trying to qualify through the non-chartered session including Hapiloppers Frank Bronson, winner of last seasons Vilaye Energy Drink Clash, TJUN-ia's Alfonso Mercado and former Vilita and Turori Motorsports development driver Rockii Ezis driving the #48 for Rocket Motorsports.

While Ariiki passed the first test during Exhibition Qualifying, any optimism for the upcoming campaign was quickly washed away during the Exhibition itself when Ariiki money shifted the #88 Tropicorp Dart on the first restart of the race and limped back to the pit area with a bellow of smoke behind her Hybrid Dart. It would mean extra work for the team who were planning to use the same car for the Tundra Falls 500, losing the opportunity to collect valuable data on their cars performance prior to the qualifying session for the big race. While Ariiki sat back in the hauler with head in hands, her two Cocoabo teammates finished a solid race with Cocoabo #28 showing the competitive drive once more in 11th place while Cocoabo #78 was shuffled back to 24th at the finish.

At the conclusion of the Tundra Falls Exhibition and the NSSCRA Prospect showcase which saw Team Tropicorp's newest Cocoabo addition in Cocoabo #37 place 18th in their Secondary Series debut, the focus for Team Tropicorp shifted to getting their cars set for qualifying trim. With just one car locked into the Tundra Falls 500 the preparations for the team were far different than they had been in any prior NSSCRA Season when the team had at least two guaranteed charters into the seasons biggest event.

While Team Tropicorp crew members worked hard to prepare their cars for the Tundra Falls 500 they also had to deal with the arrival of Tropicorp Executives in their paddock area. While it was not uncommon for some of the top names in Tropicorp to show up at the race track it was far more common for them to do so on race day itself when the crew was less involved with directly preparing the car and more focused on reactions and strategy. This time some of the top brass at Tropicorp had arrived early to take in the first round of the Race of Stars for which Tropicorp Racing Supply was providing tyres for, as well as serving as the sponsor of the Qualifying Draw.

DRAW FOR STARTING POSITIONS

With the background of white wall with alternating iROS and Tropicorp Racing Supply logos, one of the representatives spun a bingo-ball container that had 16 balls inside - naturally numbered from 1 through 16. The draw took place immediately prior to the start of the race and each of the 16 competing drivers came up one at a time to choose their ball and in turn, their starting position for the race. First up was the reigning World Grand Prix Champion Terho Talvela from Aboveland. Making their first appearance at the Tundra Falls Proving Grounds, no one was entirely sure what to expect from the Abovian Grand Prix Champion and there was not much to be learned from Talvela's draw as the #56 midnight blue machine would start right in the middle of the field in the 7th position.

After Talvela it was the reigning NSSCRA Champion Jeremiah Brooke who stepped up and the Saint Kanye driver would do one row better than Talvela drawing the 5th position in the starting lineup. One by one the drivers continued to draw their spots and filled out the majority of the mid-pack starting positions until Sherpalander Liangmei Li broke through as the eigth driver to draw for a starting position but the first to find a spot on the front row drawing ball #2. Just after Li was the return of former World Grand Prix Champion Jessica Franssen but luck was not on the side of the Vannish driver who picked up starting spot #11 for the race. By the time the draw got down to the Receucn driver and reigning World Grand Prix 2 Champion Abdoulaye Goita there were just four starting positions left. Pole position was still available but so were both spots in the very last row. Goita joked about spotting Ball #1 as it flipped around in the bingo spinner but then cheered when the #1 ball slid out of the contraption putting the red #7 on pole position for the race.

Goita's good fortune of course would leave the remaining drivers less fortunate knowing they would be starting from the back of the grid. The underdog NSSCRA Tier 2 driver Tim Lateman from Kohnhead drew the penultimate starting spot leaving the last driver to draw for a spot nothing to wonder about as only the 16th and final starting position on the grid was available for the Host Nation local driver Ashley Matthews.

[Kohnhead]

Tyler Butler places well at the exhibition

Info
Driver: Tyler Butler
Number: 91
Qualification Finish: 46th
Start: 38th
Row: 19
High: 20th
Low: 41st
Finish: 31st (+7)
Lap counter: 2 laps down


Now to most drivers a 31st place finish in the Exhibition race at the Proving Grounds isn't too much to write home about however for some especially
the new drivers it's higher than expected. After an okay piece of qualifying that saw him start 38th in a 46 car field, Butler set his goal for the race at a 35th place finish. Again expectations are low this was his first ever NSSCRA race and the first ever top tier race for a Kohnheadian driver.

Butler had a fantastic start to the race driving his way up to the mid 20s and getting his technical high due to the pit window and staying out a couple of laps longer than some ahead of him. The car was good and when he emerged from that pitting series in 26th some were saying he could content for a top 20 spot.

However the car started to wear down after this and the speeds that he had reached earlier began to be unattainable at this point. Not to say he completely collapsed or anything he only went down five spots compared to this it's just he wasn't able to fully utilize his extremely good start. Despite this a 31st place finish is stille extremely good and saw him beat a lot of decent competition.

Butler now has a much better feel for the track and one can probably anticipate another around 30th place finish when the field heads back to the Proving Grounds for the Tundra Falls 500 which will be the first real race of the season. The biggest thing Butler can do to improve his position is to qualify better and maybe change his lines midway through if he sees that the car is fading like it did last weekend. No matter what still a very successful start to Butler's NSSCRA season and career and we hope he can carry this momentum moving forward.

For Dexter Warner the hope is he can come somewhat closer to actually qualifying although it will probably take him a while to reach a good enough position for one of the qualification spots. However 59th just isn't going to cut it moving forward and with Tim Lateman doing so well in tier 2 there's definitely pressure on Warner.

Speaking of Tim Lateman he will have two more races at the Tundra Falls Proving Grounds as considering he won the Propsect Showdown he received an invatation to compete in the first race of the iROS series as the tier 2 driver which he accepted. He has never even competed in an NSSCRA points race and now he will be facing off against the best WGPC and NSSCRA drivers starting from down in 14th after the qualification draw. One cannot expect too much of him but if he does well in later secondary tier events he might race his way back into another iROS race.

Coming shortly Lateman will have his first secondary series competition as he once again goes back to the Proving Grounds this time for the Tundra Falls 400. Hopefully he can defend his win in the Prospect Showdown with another good performance here.

[Wrecker]

The Team Blue Center, Tundra Falls Proving Grounds, Tundra Falls, Newmanistan
After the exhibition race
Scott Hawking was suspicious as to why Taylor Henderson had been texting him asking him to come over to talk. He had never really gone into an area belonging to another team, and he wondered if something had happened that they needed to talk to him about. Fortunately for him, he learned just what Taylor had texted him for.

“Glad you could make it, Hawking,” Taylor said. “So, we’ve been talking about what we did in the exhibition. It’s called ‘Tandem Drafting.’ You familiar with it?”

“No,” Scott said. “Is that where you guys locked on each other? That scared the crap out of me seeing you guys do that. And it scared me when I saw Holmes and Stevenson do it. You can’t bump-draft in a turn!”

“You can if the bumpers line up and the car is stable,” Taylor responded. “I was looking at the specs for the Super Skychief, and it turns out the front and rear bumpers line up. I can’t say the same thing for other cars because I didn’t look, but the Super Skychief sure can.”

Scott grabbed a plate of food and sat down at the table across from Taylor. Taylor had been demonstrating tandem drafting using sugar packets for the rest of Team Blue and was more than happy to show it off for Scott. The team had discovered that two cars locking bumpers could go much faster than a snarling, rabid 40-car pack of cars, and as long as both cars could keep their water temperature in gear, they would do more than alright out there in a draft.

“How long do you think a pusher can push at a time?” Scott asked.

“Two or three laps constant,” Taylor responded. “I had some real bad water temp issues late in the race because I kept pushing. What I’m going to try to do for you is see if you want in our radio comms for the race. Reason being, we need to be able to communicate if we’re going to swap positions. Say I’m locked on to your rear, my water temp goes up and I need to swap with you. So I get a hold of you, I shout ‘SWAP!’ and we change positions – you pushing me.”

Scott was still a little bit suspicious, but he figured this was his best chance to get a real good finish in one of the signature NSSCRA races of the season. If it meant working with Team Blue, he was more than happy to do it.

“What about Holmes?” Scott asked. “Should we bring him in on this?”

“NO,” Drake Stevenson, sitting next to Taylor, said emphatically.

“If he can work with us – shut up, Stevenson – then I don’t see why not,” Taylor interrupted.

“I ain’t fuckin’ working with him, Hendo!” Drake grumbled, throwing his arms up in the air and looking at his teammate. “I ain’t got nothin’ against you, Scott, and I’m more than looking forward to working with you, but Holmes? I need to make sure he can take responsibility for his own actions before he blames it on everyone else.”

“That’s between you guys,” Scott said, clearly uncomfortable with Drake’s ranting. “I know he works for me and all, but I’m not getting between the two of you. You got to sort that one out yourself.”

Drake nodded, understanding that Scott didn’t want to hear whatever was up between he and Chris Holmes, and that relationship was still, to say the least, strained. Matter of fact, Chris’s relations with all of Team Blue was strained. He was considered persona non grata in the Team Blue Center, a place where Chris had spent most of his waking hours on race weekend over the last two seasons. But Chris had demolished the Team Blue Center in one race weekend in a fit of extreme anger, and the team spent upwards of $8 million in design and construction of a new Team Blue Center for NSSCRA 10.

While Scott was enjoying dinner with Team Blue and discussing tandem drafting, Chris was relaxing in his motorcoach watching a television show and having his own dinner. He felt hurt, actually. Hurt at the fact that his teammate – and boss – had gone to the Team Blue Center, a place he was very clearly not allowed to visit. He still felt as if he had been forced out of his dream job with the team he had grown up cheering for his whole life. He had done some stupid things in his first few years sure, but he felt like he hadn’t been that far off from other people his age. He just needed to take some time to mature.

He changed the channel to H-Sports, a Hapiloppian sports network, which was airing a lengthy preview of the coming NSSCRA season. Michael Bowers, the longtime voice of motorsport in Hapilopper, was speaking to driver expert David Daly about the coming season and what to expect. The two were in front of the Team Blue Center, and just looking at it upset Chris to no end.

“I think a lot of people are wondering just how Chris Holmes is going to do this season with the new Hawking-Byrd team,” Bowers said to Daly. “How do you think he’ll do?”

“Well, to put it bluntly, Chris Holmes is in deep trouble,” Daly said. “He’s the odd man out among the Preston drivers due to his actions last season. Behind us, Scott Hawking is meeting with the three drivers from Team Blue, and it is our understanding that Chris was not afforded that courtesy, which shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone, as the last time he was here, it was right after he stripped naked at Jungle Fever.”

Chris grabbed the remote, turned off the TV, and then hurled the remote towards the screen. The impact of remote hitting television was enough to make a satisfying ping, but not enough to smash the screen. Chris then got off the sofa, pushed his TV tray back and stormed to the tub in his motorcoach to get away from everyone.
As he sat in the tub, Chris fired off some angry twiis towards Stevenson and Team Blue, something that was certainly not going to help his relationship with those two.

CHRIS HOLMES ✓

@CHolmes56

I know what that is. @HapiDrake81 and @TeamBlue don't want me to work with them. Assholes.


#NSSCRA : #Drafting

CHRIS HOLMES ✓

@CHolmes56

It pisses me off to no end. I was there for Drake when he needed me, and how does he repay me? He kicks me to the curb! No wonder that girl left him.


#NSSCRA

CHRIS HOLMES ✓

@CHolmes56

Just rest assured, @HapiDrake81, if I'm behind you and we're going for the win, your ass is going in the wall. Period.


#NSSCRA

Chris was very clearly in an angry mood, and he hoped Drake would see those twiis and try to set up a conversation between the two. He hoped Drake would call him that night and would agree to discuss the matter over a beer or twelve, and maybe over a bottle of whiskey.

That call never came. Drake never saw the twiis.

He had blocked Chris on the site during the offseason.

[South Newlandia]

Click. Click. Click. Robin Dragonovic was flicking through the channels in a hotel room in Newmanistan, more or less only looking for a distraction. It was getting late, and he wanted to get his mind off of all the things that were going on in his mind. Realizing that he’d continued clicking the button to change the channel, he looked up at the TV to see that this channel was airing baseball, Newmanistan against Hampton Island in the Classic. He didn’t really care all that much about baseball; although he might have considered watching the game if it had featured the Elephants. Click. Robin was happy with how the exhibition race went; a seventh-place finish was actually about the best thing to get in his opinion. Of course, he’d always want to finish as high as he could, but the winner of that race, a Kohnheadian named Lateman, probably has to deal with some big expectations now. Nobody cares about who finished seventh in tier two. Lateman, he wondered, was certainly not coming late in that race. This channel was airing some kind of soap opera that Robin had never heard of. Click. A football game between two nations he’d never heard of. Or are those teams? It didn’t really matter. Click. Robin was looking forward to competing with his fellow drivers again; some of them were extremely interesting. When he’d arrived at the exhibition race, he was staring in awe at the Valentian lady specifically. Sure, he’d read about her, but seeing her live felt special. Robin, already not a tall man, had rarely felt so small. Other drivers were also interesting, like the Cocoabo that was going to start. That wasn’t a surprise to Robin either, but he’d never actually seen one before. Watching it get to the race was quite an interesting sight. Robin was looking at an infomercial, as he realized only about two minutes too late. Click. A nature documentary about some kind of bird. Click. On top of that, Robin was proud to represent South Newlandia in a competition with all those big and well-known other nations. Hapilopper, Valentine Z, Saint Kanye, Cassadaigua, Hampton Island and Filindostan, Banija, Lisander, Newmanistan of course, Xanneria, Vilita & Turori, just to name a few; they were all here, and so was Robin. He thought about actually watching the action movie he was looking at, but it looked like it was almost over anyway. Click. There had been a small article written about him in the Elephant Valley Sports Mail, nothing big, but it meant a lot to Robin regardless. Of course, they were among those sponsoring him, and they were as pessimistic as Robin was about his chances, but still. It was there. He was looking at a talk show now. Click. Honestly, all of this felt almost like a dream to him until he actually started racing. From the moment he first put his foot on the gas, he knew this was real. He couldn’t quite describe the feeling, but it was clear that this was what he wanted to do with his life, as much as possible. Everything around him was just spectacular, and Robin was able to just focus on himself and the car, forgetting everything not on the racetrack. Robin was now looking at something on the TV that he didn’t quite recognize. He knew it was some kind of sport, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. Click. The thing he liked the most was how he improved steadily during the race. He’d been getting faster and faster, almost not enough to even notice, but he was improving. In the end, he wasn’t actually too far away from the top. He had no real chances to ever win this race, but he was still very satisfied with his result. Of course, how could he be disappointed with seventh place? Seven was one of his lucky numbers. Robin was looking at an action movie he’d already seen. Click. Another infomercial. Click. He was slowly falling asleep at this point. One thing he’d certainly noticed at this point though was that he was missing someone to really talk to, face to face. He didn’t know any of the other drivers. He hoped to get to know them at some point. Click. Robin turned the TV off. It was time to sleep, tomorrow was going to be an important day.

---

Robin woke up to his five alarm clocks. After disabling them, he sat on his bed for another few minutes. He was the opposite of a morning person, and always enjoyed to sleep in as much as possible. Today, that wouldn’t be an option. After a shower and getting dressed, he went to get breakfast. He’d been eating the same breakfast for most of his live; toast with some strawberry jam, and apple juice. That’s all he’d ever need for breakfast, and all he’d ever want. The apple juice wasn’t particularly interesting, but this was some extremely good strawberry jam. Robin was amazed, and decided to count this as a good omen.

[Sword Island]

UnionRacing Racing Shop

It was safe to say that no one was in a good mood. Rush, the only driver who qualifed for the race, wrecked out in a typical crash at the Proving Grounds and the faster driver of the two Kassie Collins couldn't get into the field despite posting a respectable 57.606 qualifying time, a second faster than Micheal. The only driver who seemed to have a good weekend was Chris Gordon and even that was up for question. After qualifying 9th in the Tier 2 race and looking like a safe bet for a Top 5 finish he somehow through the race got cycled back 6 spots to 14 during the race. Over the radio Gordon frenquntly had meltdowns on pit road as the team keep had terrible stops all race. One such meltdown was this:

You guys are really f**ing killing me with this goddam stops. What's the point of having a f***ing pit crew if we're just going to f*** around all day and not do our f***ing jobs! F***!!!

The mood in the shop was a mixture of anger and detrimation as everyone found a second gear on Tuesday practice, and even though Rush and Collins had very fast sessions, no one was smiling. It was clear that something had to be done to liven up the mood just a bit, so Adam Reece, Rush's crew chief deciced to have a a bit of fun and host a TrackDay 5 tourament with the team. Laughs were to be had as the tourament featured bone stock Zera NDX's, hot hatches that could barely make 110 miles per hour and had a mind-numblinly slow 12.8 0 to 60 time. Within 3 laps Gordon had already wrecked out his crew chief by just plain pushing him into the wall and Rush was busy fighting with Adam and Kassie for the lead. It was chaotic fun and just what the whole organzation needed to loosen up. The next day everyone felt more loose. Both #05 teams were ready to rebound and the #35 team was itching to get back on track. At the Wendesday meeting the crews discovered that the Team Blue cars were tandem drafting throughout the race. Reece asked one of the R&D guys if the cars could tandem draft. They replied no but they could change the nose of the car to be a bit more flat and have the cars ready by the next race. They were also working on optimizing the motor based on feedback from the teams. With this new information in mine, Rush and Collins were off to the simulator for some practice laps. Within 5 attempts they were consintely hitting 204 in the draft and were able to keep it steady for a few laps while locked up. It appeared that UnionRacing had found the speed it despartley needed.

[Abanhfleft]

Proving Grounds 500
Tundra Falls Proving Grounds, Newmanistan
Final day of NSSCRA 9

"Great job, Leo," the crew chief said to his driver Leonidas Baxter, the Fleftic basketball player turned racecar driver. "That's a very, very great job. P12. That's a great way to end the season!"

"Whoo!" Leo shouted, breathing a sigh of relief at the same time. "Great job, guys! This is a team effort, man. It's not just me. I'm here because of all of you guys as well. You, Andrew, Lee, everybody. Thank you all for letting me have this incredible season of NSSCRA. This is something I'm not going to forget, ever. Oh, man, who would have thought this boy from Riuwiee was going to get to live both of his dreams?"

"Congratulations, Leo," his crew chief continued. "You truly are an inspiration to us all. We've really had fun out there this season, haven't we? Makes me wonder though, man, makes me wonder..."

"Wonder about what?" Leo asked his crew chief.

"Makes me wonder if you haven't changed your mind about walking away after this season, man."

"Oh, come on, man," Leo replied. "I already told you, I'm only in this for the one season. I'm one and done. I got to race in NSSCRA, and that's more than enough for me. Besides, I've been in the spotlight for more than half my life already. It's time for somebody else to get the spotlight."

Leo brought his #80 Pixylight back to the pit lane, the smoke from Jeremiah Brooke's donuts lingering in the air even as the Kanyean driver made more. It was most definitely a deserved championship for the GFR man, and Leo was most definitely going to give him his congratulations, but there was something that he needed to do first.

"Hey, baby," Leo called out to Alexandra Rousseau, a retired football player who had represented Abanhfleft in the World Cup and Leo's girlfriend for almost twenty years. They had been together for so long that almost everyone thought that they were already married, and anyone who asked would inevitably get surprised when they found out that Leo and Alex were not. It was doubly surprising when you add in the fact that they had already had two children, both of which Alex had brought along to Newmanistan for the NSSCRA curtaincloser. Alex herself waved back to Leo as he slid himself out of his Luxur Emperor and walked over to them. Leo kissed Alex, and then he affectionately rubbed the head of his son, who was cradled in Alex's arms. "Is he actually asleep?" Leo asked her teasingly.

Alex nodded and replied, "Looks like he really is Leo Junior. You know, I was afraid all that noise was going to make him cry, but when the guy said 'Start your engines!', he was out, just like that."

"Falling asleep to the sound of engines, huh, little man?" Leo said. Then he turned to the girl who was covering her ears beside Alex. "Things getting loud for you, Miranda?" he asked her. Miranda, Leo and Alex's eldest, nodded her head in response.

"Well, don't worry about it anymore," Leo said to her, rubbing her head affectionately as well. "Daddy's not going to go to so many races next year," he added with a smile. "Although I can't promise Daddy won't make as much noise when he's working on his cars."

"Okay, Daddy," Miranda nodded, but she still kept her hands clapped to her ears. Leo laughed, and then he turned to Alex and asked her, "Who would have thought that after all these years, it would still end up being the two of us?"

"I know," Alex said softly. "God, Leo, twenty years. Who would've thought?"

"Yeah, who would've?" Leo repeated.

"You know, Leo, I've been thinking," Alex muttered.

"Hmm? Thinking about what?" Leo asked her.

"Thinking about us," Alex replied. "Not just the two of us though; I'm talking about Miranda and Leo Junior as well. I know that I talked about this before, back when we were both still playing, about how I wanted to take some time and wait until after we're both done playing before making a family. Well, we're both not playing anymore, me football and you basketball, and I was just thinking, you know, that maybe it's finally time that we did become a family. So, Leo, what do you say?"

"You know, Alex, it's funny that you should ask me that," Leo replied, "because before we went down here to Newmanistan I was thinking about the same thing." But then, before Leo could go any further, he noticed out the corner of his eye a news crew approaching him. He didn't immediately recognize the network that they were working for, but he turned to face them nonetheless.

"Good evening, Leo," the reporter said. "Congratulations on getting 12th place tonight. That's a really respectable place to be in, especially since your teammates weren't able to get any higher than the twenties in this race."

"Yeah, it's great to be honest," Leo replied to the reporter, "to be the best in your team, especially here in NSSCRA where there are some things you just can't predict. But it's not just me. I had a great crew behind me 100 percent of the way, and without them I probably wouldn't be where I am right now."

"Your friend Jeremiah Brooke has just won the NSSCRA championship. Do you have anything to say to him?"

"Oh, a lot, definitely," Leo nodded. "Jeremiah, if you're listening to this, I just wanna say congratulations on winning that title, baby. It's been a very long season, we've all had our ups and downs, and all the crazy shit that happened on the track and off it. You're a great driver, man, and you are a deserving champion."

"Earlier in the season you said that you were going to be spending this season in NSSCRA, and only this season. Are you going to stick to that, or has your drive tonight and in recent weeks convinced you to give the series another try?"

"You know, when UrGa approached me to fill the third spot in their garage, one of my first demands was that I would drive for them only for one year," Leo replied. "One year, nothing more and nothing less. And as of the end of this race, I've fulfilled my contract with UrGa. And I've already told them that I will not be open to any negotiations or extensions. I've done my one season in NSSCRA, and while it's always been my dream to race here one day, I've fulfilled that dream already. I believe it's time for another dreamer to fulfill theirs."

"Appreciate your time, Leo. Oh, and before we go, is there anything you'd like to tell your wife?"

"She's not my wife," Leo replied automatically, and then he stopped himself. He had been planning on doing this earlier, back before the reporters had interrupted him and Alex, and he had wanted to do it once the reporters had left, but oh well. No time like the present, Leo thought to himself.

"She's not my wife," Leo said. "But soon she will be." And before Alex could react to what he had just said, Leo turned to face her and took out a ring from inside his firesuit. "Alexandra Magdalena Rousseau, will you marry me?"

"What?" Alex asked blankly.

"I said, will you marry me?" Leo repeated, holding out the ring for Alex to see. "I'd get down on one knee, but I've just spent two hours in a car accelerating and braking, and if I get down on my knees for this then I'm not sure if I'm gonna be able to get back up until tomorrow morning."

"Wait, are you serious right now?" Alex asked disbelievingly, still not able to believe or refusing to believe what she was seeing.

"Yeah, I'm serious," Leo nodded. "Listen, Alex, we have been through a lot. You have your lupus, almost died on the field because of it. I've been kidnapped and almost killed by terrorists just because I couldn't keep the country winning in basketball. And of course there have been the near misses I've had here in NSSCRA this season. There have been many times before where we could have been torn apart even before we were really together. And all this time I've been thinking, 'Things don't have to be this way.' So, here I am, asking you if you want to marry me, because I've been thinking about all those moments when you and I would never be together again and I realized that I didn't want to be thinking about those moments anymore. So, once again, Alexandra Margarita Rousseau, will you marry me?"

"Are you crazy!? Of course I will, Lester Leonidas Baxter!" Alex said as she grabbed the ring from Leo's hand. She tried to slide the ring onto her left hand, but because she was holding Leo Junior with it she had some difficulty, so Leo had to help her get the ring on. "Hold him for me, please?" Alex asked Leo as she handed off Leo Junior to him. She then examined the ring on her finger and shook her head. "No diamonds," she muttered. "You're still as cheap as you were twenty years ago."

"Hey, come on now," Leo started, but then Alex shushed him. "I'm kidding," she said with a grin. "Of course I know it's the thought that counts. The diamonds and everything else can come later. Right now, all that matters to me..." Alex grabbed Leo's firesuit and dragged him closer to her. "...is right here in front of me, and with me."

"Amen to that," Leo muttered, and then he leaned in to kiss Alex.

---

"P21, Gil, that's P21. Not bad, man, not bad."

"Ah, but still not good enough," Guillermo Archer replied with some annoyance. "I'm a goddamned NSSCRA Chaser, man. I shouldn't be finishing in P21, not in the last ever round of the season."

"Aw, come on, man, you know shit like this just happens sometimes," James Santiago, Gil's crew chief, replied. Gil shook his head angrily and asked, "Where's Qiang? Who won?"

"Qiang is P16," Santiago said. "Jeremiah Brooke won the race and the championship."

"Ah, good for him," Gil muttered. "Send my congratulations to him when you get the chance." Goddamn it, he thought to himself. Kai Qiang still managed to beat him on the final race of the season. Not that it would have mattered to either man at this stage, but given how much shit Gil had been slinging the way of the Chinese Sherpalander driver, things like these were sure to grind Gil's gears for days to come, if not weeks.

"What about the final points standings, James?" Gil asked. "What's the sitch there?"

"You are P8 in the final standings, Gil," James reported. "Kai Qiang is P6."

"Goddamn it!" Gil shouted, and this time he didn't care if he had just deafened James and anyone else listening in on his mike.

"So, what now, man?" James asked. "I know you only signed up to UrGa for the one season, Gil. And despite what appears to be your best efforts to go one and done, the boss lady is still keen to offer you a one-season extension on your contract. So what? You gonna take it?"

"I don't know yet, man," Gil admitted. And then he sat up straight in his seat and said, "You know what, James? No, I'm not gonna sign the extension. Not for next season, at least. No, I'm gonna take a break for next season. These people don't realize what just hit them, and when Season 10 comes around and there's no shitstirrer in their ranks, they're gonna realize just how much they need one to keep this series spicy."

James snorted. "Never let it be said that you weren't ambitious, Guillermo," he said.

A reporter and her cameraman made her way towards Gil as he squeezed himself out of his Luxur. "Good evening, Gil," she said. "You're P21 in this race, quite literally average. How are you feeling about that result, since this is the last race of the season?"

"Well, it feels crap, to be honest," Gil replied. "There's at least one driver I wanted to beat who finished this race ahead of me, and I gotta admit, it's gonna bug me to no end. But I guess since it's the end of the season, I'm mentally tapped out and not really hungry for the win anymore. I don't know."

"This is the last race of the NSSCRA season, but there's been speculation that this could also be your last race in NSSCRA. What do you have to say to that?"

"What do I have to say to that?" Gil repeated. He stroked his stubbled chin, seemingly deep in thought. "Well, here's what I've got to say," he began. "I've decided that as of this moment, I am going to be taking a sabbatical from NSSCRA. I'm not going to be back for next season, and right now that's all that I'm willing to say on the subject."

"You're not going to be back next season?" the reporter repeated, sounding genuinely surprised. "Does that mean that you'll be going back to your local racing series then?"

"I'd rather not say anything right now," Gil replied. "I'd rather not commit myself to something that I'm not sure if I want to be a part of or not."

"But you are going back to NSSCRA, yes?"

"All I've said is that I won't be back next season," Gil said with a wry smile. "Anything beyond that, I can't guarantee."

---

"P26, Wilma, P26. That was a good drive, I'd say."

"Nice way to wrap up the season, wouldn't you say, Deck?" Wilma von Cärinthen said.

"Take care of the car on the way in," Deckard "Deck" Sullivan, Wilma's crew chief, reminded her. "Don't smash into the back of a Xannerian's car on the way in."

"Don't worry, Deck," Wilma replied. "I'm not like Gil. I won't go that low. Besides, the Xannerians are beneath me now. I've got bigger concerns at the moment."

"Oh, yeah," Sullivan nodded. "Gatutina offered you an extension, yeah? Another season in NSSCRA. Are you gonna go for it?"

"I'm not sure, to be honest," Wilma admitted. "But I am going to have to talk to Olga about this."

"Ooh, getting close to the boss lady, aren't we?" Deck asked.

"Just getting friendly, that's all," Wilma said, but in such a way that hinted that there was more to it than what she had just said.

"Come in," Olga Semyonovna Gatutina said when she heard someone knocking on the door of her office, or more accurately the room at the Tundra Falls Proving Grounds that she had taken over as her office for the duration of the race. Wilma von Cärinthen poked her head inside the office and waved hello. "Ah, Wilma," Gatutina said. "Please, come in and take a seat."

"Thank you," Wilma said as she sat down in front of Gatutina's desk.

"You are here because of your contract, yes?" Gatutina asked as she signed some papers.

"Um, yeah," Wilma nodded hesitantly. "Yeah, about that extension... I don't think I wanna take it right now."

"You what?" The pen literally leaped out of Gatutina's hand when she heard what Wilma had said. "What did you just say?"

"I said I don't think I want to take you up on that offer of a contract extension just yet," Wilma repeated.

"What? Why?" Gatutina asked her.

"A lot of things have happened throughout the season," Wilma said. "And I've been going through a lot as well. Archer's antics, getting arrested in Xanneria, social media, a lot of other things. I just feel like I need a break from all of this stuff right now. My headspace is nowhere near where I want it to be right now if I want to continue racing. I need to clear my head right now, and for me to do that I need to be as far away from racing as I possibly can."

For a whole minute, Gatutina just sat behind her desk, dumbstruck by what she had just heard. Eventually though, she managed to regain her composure and say, "Miss Cärinthen, do you realize what you have just done?"

Uh-oh, Wilma thought to herself. This can't be good.

"Do you realize that with your not extending your contract, you have just left UrGa without a single driver lined up for the next season?"

"What? Really?" Wilma asked, just as incredulous as Gatutina was. "What happened to Archer? I mean, I know about Leo and that he's determined to drive only for the one season, but I was sure that Gil would sign that extension! What's he done now?"

"Mister Archer has just announced on television that he is going to be taking a sabbatical from racing," Gatutina said in reply to Wilma's question, "the duration of which nobody knows, not even him. And now, you have decided to leave this team as well."

Wilma, who had been confidently sure of her plans to sit out the next season to give herself time to mentally recuperate from this season, now found herself doubting those very same plans. She opened her mouth to speak, but before she could say anything Gatutina just shook her head and said, "Get out of here. Now! In case you haven't noticed, I have a very important job to do here right now. Now, if you'll excuse me, I now have to find three drivers for next season instead of just one. Go!" Gatutina shouted when she saw that Wilma had barely budged an inch. "Don't you have some headspace clearing to do!?"

"Go now!" Gatutina shouted at Wilma as the latter finally began to walk away. Great, she thought to herself. Just what she needed to end this season.

End of Part One

[Jebslund]

Lexi had her work cut out for her this season.

Sie Nah had banked on Lexi being able to qualify into races with little trouble in choosing to keep her in the main series, and, thus far, that was looking not to be the case. It was not a problem yet, per se, as this was merely the exhibition, but it was not a situation that could continue if she wanted to see another season, and she would be damned if her career was going to end this season. That meant she needed to be getting into races. Which meant better times. And that meant hard work and minimal distractions.

As for Eva, she had a slightly different problem on her hands. While it was true that she was expected to place better than 25th, her presence wasn't necessarily predicated on it. As one of the best drivers in Jebslund, it was highly unlikely she'd be replaced any time in the foreseeable future. Hers was more of a personal pride. Be it mechanical issues or deployments, Eva had yet to finish a season well, and it was starting to irritate her. That she would be starting off the new season, even an exhibition, in such a poor fashion stuck in her craw. This was going to be a better season, and, for that, proper finishes were required. Top tens, minimum, preferably top fives. She knew she could. She'd done it in the past.

On the other end of the scale was Vanda Rosa. She was unconcerned with her failure to qualify. It was an exhibition. Odds were the car needed fine tuning and her lack of experience was exacerbating that. Nothing for it but to dust herself off and go faster next time. There would be plenty of times during the season to prove herself. There was no need to push herself too hard too soon.

[Squidroidia]

Inklingcraft Singularity Racing

---

Track Guide
Round 1 - Tundra Falls 500

Track: Tundra Falls Proving Grounds, Tundra Falls, Newmanistan
Length: 3.5 miles (Superspeedway)
Record Laptime: 56.342
Last Winner: Gwen Tracer Allison Oxton
Other Races: Exhibition at The Proving Grounds Presented by Rocket Automotive (Round 0), Proving Grounds 500 (Final Round)

With cars covering a city block a second in rush hour traffic, the Tundra Falls 500 is considered by some to be the biggest race on the NSSCRA calendar. Held at the famous 3.5 mile Proving Grounds, the site of Jeremiah Brooke's championship last season, NSSCRA champions for many seasons before, and the World Cup 86 final. The Tundra Falls Proving Grounds first popped up in the third season of NSSCRA competition (The first race at the track being the season finale Empire Motors 500), with Kirsten Woods taking the first win on the track. However the Proving Grounds did not appear back onto the schedule until the sixth season of competition, and that is where the Tundra Falls 500 first popped up into NSSCRA.

Sherpa driver Jia Huang scored pole at the inaugural Tundra Falls 500, finishing second to Stacie Houston of Cassadaigua, who won the first Tundra Falls 500 in NSSCRA history. She was then joined by Ellie Lindskog of Vangaziland, with Kai Qiang of the Sherpa Empire finishing 2nd, the season Houston won the championship. Skip Stiller won the 3rd running of the race in the #3 car now driven by Sage Caldwell, and Gwen Tracer Allison Oxton is the most recent driver to pen her name into the history books as the 4th winner of the Tundra Falls 500. Will Gwen Tracer make it 2 in a row or will someone like Brooke, Caldwell, Stevenson, Alvarez, Alanis Star Samantha or someone new to NSSCRA entirely etch their name on the trophy when the checkered flag flies?

Once again, the Proving Grounds is a 3.5 mile track, the longest non-road course on the calendar, with a tri-oval configuration and lap times sometimes reaching 1 whole minute. With tandem drafting being involved in this iconic race, expect trains of cars form to catch up to the pack. Races on the track can last a few hours on a good day, but be warned. One small slipup can create an avalanche of wrecked race cars.

[Newmanistan]

Fans of NSSCRA can get used to seeing the above logo, as the NationStates Stock Car Racing Association announced today that they have accepted the bid offered by Hapilopper-based EverLong Convenience Stations for naming rights of the second tier series. From this point, it will no longer be referred to as the "second tier series", and it will be known as the "EverLong Contenders Series", and the drivers will be competing for the EverLong Cup. The brand is the market leader in Hapilopper in the convenience store market, with attached gas stations. Prior to teams arriving in Tundra Falls, NSSCRA announced that it would award naming rights to the second tier series for an international brand. There were not many proposals, but the EverLong one makes sense and is a worthy winner.

With this announcement, cars will be taking to the track in the Tundra Falls 400 a little later this evening, and we will also see the main series cars on the track for qualifying for the bigger race, the Tundra Falls 500. This is not the only excitement, as we were also able to witness the first iBEN's Race of Stars, featuring some of the great stock car and open wheel drivers that world has to offer.

[Hapilopper]

Tundra Falls Proving Grounds, Tundra Falls, Newmanistan
During the iROS Race
The first round of iBen’s Race of Stars, a pinnacle meeting of 16 of the finest drivers in motorsports, was getting started on the Tundra Falls Proving Grounds race track. Frank Bronson, driving a dark green-colored Dart, would take off from the 4th starting spot, starting alongside series founder iBen Toralmintii. Frank looked over at iBen starting next to him, then looked towards the right to see a good number of fans in the stands at the Proving Grounds and smiled. He didn’t know how this one would go, but at least he was going to have fun in the process.

Meanwhile, Drake Stevenson was watching the race from atop a Team Blue hauler, along with Taylor Henderson and team principal Amanda McAllister. The three were joking about what their teammate’s chance of winning would look like when Drake heard someone shout up to him.

“STEVENSON!” a familiar voice shouted. “We gotta talk, man.”

Drake turned to look down at who was shouting at him, thinking it was maybe a fan wanting an autograph or a photographer wanting to snap a shot. Instead, it was Chris Holmes. By now, a number of people had shown Drake those twiis from Chris about how angry he had been. Drake shook his head, looked towards the track and then looked back towards Chris.

“Yeah, man, we gotta talk,” Drake snapped. “You wanna talk? Let’s talk.”

He got onto a ladder and climbed off the top of the transporter as his eyes trained on Chris. It was obvious that Drake was pissed off at Chris for the twiis, and honestly, he wanted to punch his lights out, particularly because of the little cheap shot Chris had put in about Gabriela leaving him.

“So, where we going, Stevenson?” Chris started asking, a tone of aggressiveness in his voice. “You gonna take us to the Team Blue Center where everyone’s gonna stare at me? We going to my place? How about your place, eh? Why don’t we hit a luxury box, or maybe somewhere in the stands where everyone’s gonna see us?”

“We’re gonna go nowhere in a minute if you don’t shut the fuck up, Holmes,” Drake said, turning around to face him. “Calm the fuck down. We’re gonna talk, but not if you’re going at me like that.”

Chris looked at Drake like he couldn’t believe he was being talked to that way.

“We’re going to my motorcoach,” Drake said sternly. “We’re putting the iROS race on in there and you and I can talk about some things. Because I think we need to.”

The field was starting to pull away from pit road as Drake and Chris arrived at the motorcoach. Drake grabbed his remote, turned the TV on and changed the channel to a feed airing the race. He sat at a couch while Chris sat at another, not far away. For a bit of time, the two stared at each other, with neither man saying anything. It was almost as if the two were daring each other to start the conversation.

After what seemed like forever, Drake started the conversation.

“Is there a reason…” Drake said before thinking about what to say next. “…why you had to make that personal?”

“Hm?” Chris asked.

“The twiis. The shot about Gabriela leaving me. Why?”

“Because you probably treated her the same way,” Chris replied. “You and I were best of friends and you treated me like shit. When you needed me, I came to your rescue. I stood up for you when you needed it. You were going through some shit and I was there for you. But when it was me having the problems, did you return the favor? No! You said NOTHING in my defense after that party!”

“Holmes? Excuse me? I did nothing to help you out? I let you move in with me, man!” Drake shot back. “I didn’t have that big of an apartment for two or more people to live in, but I let you stay with me! And then I let Claire move in when you two got together. Don’t you tell me that I didn’t do anything for you.”

“And then you got us kicked out,” Holmes said. “You got us kicked out because of you ripping that place apart for your stupid dipshit Valentian bed of yours. And then you tried pinning the blame on me.”

“Well, if you hadn’t kept throwing firecrackers down my toilet and in my bathtub, maybe we might still be there!” Drake snapped back. “You need to start taking responsibility for your own actions, and that’s part of the reason why you’re in this situation right now. That’s why you’re driving for Scott Hawking and not for Team Blue. You behaved like a twerp at every opportunity, and when you were called for it, oh, it’s someone else’s fault. When you stripped naked, it wasn’t ‘Oh, I’m sorry boss, I won’t do it again, I’ll get help,’ it was ‘Oh, why didn’t Stevenson bail me out?’”

“Fuck you, Stevenson.”

“There you go again,” Drake snapped. “You need to grow up. There was no reason for you to take all your clothes off and dance like an idiot around everyone. I’m not going to bail someone out when they’ve obviously done something indefensible.”

“Some friend you are,” Chris interjected.

“Excuse me, asshole,” Drake continued, his voice raising a bit. “I’ll be a friend to someone, and I’ll give them the shirt of my back. But if they’re doing something they obviously shouldn’t, then I’m not going to pretend that they’re in the right. And you were NOT in the right, Holmes. I don’t give a shit what the circumstance was. I don’t care if you were mocking someone. I’m not going to defend someone if they strip naked and start…”

“Then how the FUCK can you call yourself a friend?” Chris interrupted, now to the point of screaming. “I went through some shit. That was a chance for all of us to let our hair down, and I see fuckin’ Liangmei Li dancing like you know what, so I decided I’d join her and…”

“Oh, so now you’re pinning this on Liangmei Li,” Drake interrupted. “God damn it, Holmes, you don’t fucking get it. Someone does something stupid, it doesn’t mean you do something stupid as well! You don’t get it!”

“Let me finish,” Holmes said. “She did that, so I join her and now I’m the one that gets in trouble. Nothing happened to Liangmei, but I take the heat.”

“Because you made people uncomfortable,” Drake said.

“You weren’t there! How do you know how people reacted?”

“I know enough from what I heard. And since you still won’t get it, I don’t know if there’s anything else I can say. And after what I’ve heard, I don’t think you will. We’re done. Get out of here now.”

“Fuck you.”

“Same to you, bud. Get out.”

Drake spent much of the rest of the day in his motorcoach, declining to head back to the Team Blue Center after Frank Bronson won the iROS race. He was too pissed off about Chris Holmes. No way he’d help him out ever again. And if he ever got the chance, Drake was going to put his ass in the wall too.

All he put out was one twii that didn’t really name names, but people that read between the lines could figure out who it was directed at.

DRAKE STEVENSON ✓

@HapiDrake81

See you all tomorrow. Pissed off right now. Some people have yet to figure out taking responsibility for their own actions.


#NSSCRA

[Filindostan]

How will the Filindo drivers fare in NSSCRA 10?
by TGF Staff

A new season of Nationstates Stock Car Racing Association is set to begin, and Badai Angin Tim Motorsport have made another set of changes. Will these changes pay off at the long run? Will we see a first Filindo winner of an NSSCRA race? And how will other Filindos fare in the EverLong Contenders' series?

Badai Angin Tim Motorsport has strived to be competitive in their two-season stint in the main series, but have struggled mightily in their first season, failing to qualify for nearly half of the races after their charter for the two of the three teams got taken away midseason. They were however given one prior to last season when they decided to downsize to a single full-time entry, the #0 car, and Hana Bhe, who was retained for that season, had a number of top 5 and top 10 finishes to finish 24th in the driver points. Another encouraging sign is when FISCAR champion Fiona Sunarya qualified for all the six races she attempted to in the #83 car.

The team has run with Solymoks in their entire run up to this season, when the Gergarian manufacturer decided not to continue production of their Megfogo and Locssanas STx variant of their tyres, and not choosing to use the less competitive ST brand which are currently using by China's Beiyang team, Badai Angin has decided to sign an unlikely combination of Tropicorp Sifakas and the Badai Angin Kecepatan K8, a new variant of the Kecepatan the team started to use from their home race at the Yoggy Oval. Werner Ragos hopes that with the new partnerships and sponsorships, Badai Angin can continue their road to competitiveness this season.

Hana Bhe (twii.tur: @HanBheZero), will return to the flagship #0 team for her third season despite rumors that she will leave the team at the end of last season. Posting an average finish of 23.92 improved her Season 8 figures of 40.58, and had a best finish of 3rd in Filindostan and in Hampton Island along with 10 finishes in the top 10. However, despite her success in Yoggy Oval while running the new K8s, she struggled driving those during the playoffs, getting her 2 DNFs and finishing in the 30ths in the closing races. Her feedback with the new car and off-season adjustment will hope to bear fruit despite finishing only 26th in the exhibition race last week.

Outside the track, Bhe is a calm an collected person, though is not so much outgoing like her teammate. She has been a subject of harassment from former NSSCRA driver Noriyasu Nagai, and while the latter kept his barrage of bashing her and Sunarya in live television, she still does not mind him about it.

Fiona Sunarya (twii.tur: @SUNARYAfin), will be competing in her first full season in NSSCRA main series and will compete for Rookie of the Year. She had participated in six races in this level last season, having an average finish of 32.83, qualifying for and finishing all the races she had in. She was a very busy person last season, competing in WGP3.FID's second season, alongside her FISCAR appearance which gave her the championship. With the renumbered back #00 car going full-time this season and without a charter, she will look to struggle to qualify for races at the start given the field of non-chartered entries. She had already tasted one DNQ this season, as she did not participate in the exhibition race.

She is the total opposite of Bhe in a manner that she is very cheerful, outgoing, and expressive in her twiis. We'd bet she'll enjoy the Jungle Afterparty here in TJUN-ia despite the qualifying results. Her character in the twii.tur world has also earned her the Tier 3 fan vote for the iBen's Race of Stars here at the Tundra Falls Proving Grounds in Newmanistan.

Mercy Binayas and Tadashi Mitsubishi are the other FISCAR drivers competing in the newly christened Everlong Contenders' Series, sharing the #0 car the whole season. The two drivers finished 2nd and 4th respectively, and the two drivers hope to carry the #0 team towards the Everlong Cup. Binayas had put the #0 on pole last week at the Prospect Showcase, but faltered to finish outside the top ten. Barnabas Mate, former WGP2 driver, has made his switch to stock car racing with DMR-Rusty Motorsport collaboration, but has struggled in the exhibition race, finishing further down the field. Kiki Lambosa, another Filindo driver driving for Itzal Lasterketa, did not finish the exhibition race though the trio would want to bounce back from their mishaps in the first points-paying race of the season.

[Sword Island]

RP

At the UnionRacing shop, the engineers are busy working on a car that can only be described as the farthest thing from stock. But somehow this car with its extremly low 190 millimeters of ground clearance, long sloped hood that suddenly turns flat and a body profile that looks like the cockpit of a fighter jet with the wide wheelbase, not including the about half a meter high wing is stock. The wing is actually around 25 centimeters higher than the stock model, which has a 'modest' 23.2 centimeter wing. Micheal Rush, team owner and driver, walks in and promptly looks like a kid at a candy store, if said kid could buy the whole store with pocket cash. "What the hell are we doing here", he ask one one of the team members putting the car on a dyno. "Honestly, we don't know", they reply as the car revs to 4700 rpm before the engine explodes. "How many engines have we blown today", Rush asks with a smile on his face. "I'm pretty sure this is the 4th engine-", the crew member replies before somebody says that they have actually blown 5 engines not including the last one. "Tell them to be careful to not blow another one", Rush jokes as he walks out. These fine guys and gals are from the Stevens Autoworks skunkworks, a group of engineers hand picked from the puragatory that is working on mid-sized inline four sedans. Freed from the development restrictions of having 'reasonable performance' and a 'easy driving' design philosphy they have produced some bad fast rides for the Stevens Motorsports teams, if not quite a few blown engines in the process. His last SINCS championship car had to go back to the shop more than once every month due to his excessive burnouts overreving the engine, which usually resulted in a happy shop due to having something other than tuning civilaian cars to work on. Rush knows that a few blown engines is just part of the design process.
After about 4 hours the car finally comes out of the garage. By this this time, his main series teamate Kassie Collins has arrived at the shop. They're a odd paring but Rush has seen Collins drive a racecar and knows exactly why the team chose her over Chris Gordon. Gordon has talent, but a bit of temper carriered over from the dirt track that causes him to wreck out if he feels the slightest bit insulted. Kassie on the otherhand doesn't let her moments of anger at other drivers visibly effect her, she just goes out and handles her buisness. Maybe if you really manage to piss her off she'll give you a little tap coming off a turn or just plain ride on your back quater panel like some deranged lunatic on the freeway for a while but that was about as far as she would go. "What took you so long", Rush asks. "Just racing someone at the test track", Collins replies. "Is this the test car?". "It is.", Micheal replies. "Transverse V-10 engine with a 6-speed paddle shift and a angle adjustible back wing.". "Nice", Kassie says. "Mine if I take the first drive?". "Not at all", Rush replies as he he hands her the keys.
Looking at the car, Collins can't help but be impressed and a bit imtimidated. Its a aerodynamical monster that looks nothing like the late models she used to driving. Once she gets in, she notices that the helmet is already waiting for her. She puts it on and starts up the car with Rush in her ear. "Can you here me", he asks through the earbuds. "Loud and clear", she answers. "How does 3 laps around the test track sound?", Rush responds. "Good", she responds. As she wheeled the car over to track, the HUD display lit up on the visor, green numbers flashing. "What the hell did R&D do to the helmet", she exclaimed. " Oh nothing, just a HUD display on the visor", Rush joked. "It should have most of your key information on it. The speed should be in your top left, the fuel and tires should be at the bottom. And the two lines in the middle of you visor are your line relative to the racing line.". "10-4 on that", Collins responded. As the car accelerated to top speed Kassie was thrown back into the seat. "THIS IS AWESOME!!", she yelled as the speedometer on her visor read 200 miles per hour in around 15 seconds of track time. "Alright. How's the handling", Rush asked. "Pretty good from what I can tell so far", Collins said."It feels like when I turn the car just pivots through in a good way". "Ok I'm getting the second test car to see if the cars draft well together", Rush says as he gets in the second test car. It feels nothing like the cookie cutter cars he drove in SINCS and certaintly not like the road going Stevens T240 it is based off of. "Now I know what it feels like to fly a fighter jet", he thought to himself. He wasn't far off in saying that. The fast acceleration, extremly quick turning, and futuristic interior and HUD display would have felt at home in a supersonic jet. As soon as Rush got near Collins she signaled for him to get to her bumper. As Rush got in line and locked bumpers with Collins the speedometer ticked up from 199 to 208. "Ok we are stable", he said. For the next few laps him and Kassie experimented with the optimal way to change the pusher as water temps skyrocketed after 2 to 3 laps of constantly pushing a car." How about we cycle out as we switch", Kassie suggested as the thought of a group of bikers rotating the lead to the back appeared in her mind. " We could try to find another team interested in tandem drafting with us by rotating into two lanes of tandems.". "Who would want to partner with us?", Rush asked. "I don't see Team Blue reaching out to us to run the two lane tandems if we're running in low end equipment". "Fair point", Kassie conceded. "But you never know. Maybe if we show some speed during qualifying we could convince them to try it. Until then we should shop around for draft partners".

[Newmanistan]

Qualifying: Tundra Falls 500, Tundra Falls Proving Grounds, Newmanistan (Superspeedway)
Lap Record: 56.342 sec.

NSSCRA 10
 1 #18- Jeremiah Brooke (Saint Kanye)                                56.745
 2 #2- Centur Tiones (Vilita & Turori)                               56.819
 3 #73- Taylor Henderson (Hapilopper)                                56.857
 4 #46- Thea Alvarez (Saint Kanye)                                   56.874
 5 #8- Frank Bronson (Hapilopper) *Q*                                56.875
 6 #7- Clarissa Alanis Star Samantha (Valentine Z)                   56.899
 7 #81- Drake Stevenson (Hapilopper)                                 56.915
 8 #80- Ganglie Zhe (Abanhfleft) *Q*                                 56.956
 9 #15- Anastasia Freya Yadana Aye (Valentine Z)                     56.972
10 #88- Anavella Ariiki (Tropicorp) *Q*                              56.983
11 #3- Sage Caldwell (Saint Kanye)                                   56.990
12 #06- Rinzi Aogar Zakilwal (The Sherpa Empire)                     57.014
13 #14- River 'Shark' Suzgar II (Vilita & Turori)                    57.037
14 #0- Hana Bhe (Filindostan)                                        57.056
15 #5- Liangmei Li (Newmanistan)                                     57.117
16 #43- Tsering Chu (The Sherpa Empire)                              57.195
17 #6- Alex Knight (Hampton Island)                                  57.274
18 #31- Gwen Tracer Allison Oxton (Valentine Z)                      57.292
19 #13- Brigadegeneral Eva Kerman (Jebslund)                         57.300
20 #4- Bryan Harrison (Cassadaigua)                                  57.320
21 #01- Hossem Nasri (Abanhfleft) *Q*                                57.324
22 #78- Cocoabo #78 (Tropicorp) *Q*                                  57.335
23 #00- Fiona Sunarya (Filindostan) *Q*                              57.367
24 #44- Kai Qiang (The Sherpa Empire)                                57.374
25 #56- Chris Holmes (Wreckeria) *Q*                                 57.450
26 #11- Jenna Logan (Cassadaigua)                                    57.456
27 #41- Yraaga Gilli'i (Vilita & Turori)                             57.477
28 #07- Michael Stefan (TJUN-ia)                                     57.514
29 #91- Tyler Butler (Kohnhead)                                      57.547
30 #79- Dinggu Wang (Abanhfleft)                                     57.674
31 #12- Roman Gwinnett (Xanneria) *Q*                                57.765
32 #21- Tyler Linde (New Northwesteros)                              57.909
33 #10- Eddie Walters Jr (Xanneria)                                  57.951
34 #90- Dexter Warner (Kohnhead) *Q*                                 57.966
35 #59- Ashley Matthews (Newmanistan)                                57.973
36 #40- Shigeru Ishikawa (Squidroidia)                               58.037
37 #97- Darnell Curry (Northwest Kalactin)                           58.092
38 #66- Hengxing Tian (The Northern Chinese Republic)                58.127
39 #1- Vanda Rosa Cordeiro Kerman (Jebslund) *Q*                     58.156
40 #9- Lício Granado (Lisander)                                      58.184
41 #77- Depp Jones (Kriegiersien)                                    58.193
42 #55- Holly Aurora Lapia Starlight (Garden at 6th Mile Road)       58.272
43 #92- Thomas Delgado (Northwest Kalactin) *Q*                      58.330
44 #27- Stacie Houston (Cassadaigua)                                 58.334
45 #30- Lexi Patterson (Jebslund) *Q*                                58.348
46 #23- James McCurty (Hampton Island) *Q*                           58.411
47 #64- Alfonso Mercado (TJUN-ia) *Q*                                58.455
48 #51- Tex Crazy (Kriegiersien) *Q*                                 58.478
49 #87- Layla Diamantriov (Twicetagram and JYPe)                     58.493
50 #76- Jolyn Maxine Helen Ceeta (Garden at 6th Mile Road) *Q*       58.544
51 #84- Claude Dzibaiyev (Twicetagram and JYPe) *Q*                  58.620
52 #96- Mahkas Hynesohne (Vykta) *Q*                                 58.626
53 #52- Lee Shera (Kriegiersien) *Q*                                 58.637
54 #05- Micheal Rush (Sword Island)                                  58.657
55 #22- Matthew Conrad (Hampton Island) *Q*                          58.752
56 #48- Rockii Ezis (Newmanistan) *Q*                                58.759
57 #54- Scott Hawking (Wreckeria)                                    58.763
58 #70- Gongming Gao (The Northern Chinese Republic) *Q*             58.790
59 #47- Anthony Barnes (Northwest Kalactin) *Q*                      58.802
60 #29- Shigeru Tsuchie (Hispinas)                                   58.966
61 #35- Kassie Collins (Sword Island) *Q*                            58.994
62 #60- Ricky Lee (The Northern Chinese Republic) *Q*                59.115
63 #57- Gordon Orton (Appalachian Nation)                            59.123
64 #25- Ahron Ahndreus (Vykta)                                       59.248
65 #20- Dail Bernze-Hahdt (Vykta) *Q*                                59.356
66 #28- Cocoabo #28 (Tropicorp)                                      59.727

Race: Tundra Falls 400, Tundra Falls Proving Grounds, Newmanistan (Superspeedway)
Lap Record: 56.342 sec.

Qualifying:

NSSCRA 10 Second Tier Series
 1 #19- Pyotr Lavrentiev (Saint Kanye)                              57.374
 2 #97- Robin Dragonovic (South Newlandia)                          57.500
 3 #04- Lexie Shelby (Sword Island)                                 57.506
 4 #0- Mercy Binayas (Filindostan)                                  57.608
 5 #47- Edmund Flanders (Hapilopper)                                57.719
 6 #27- Maddie Alexander (Cassadaigua)                              57.798
 7 #39- Rustam Ilyich Yudin (Abanhfleft)                            57.916
 8 #10- Valkyrie Valentijn Samantha Constantine (Valentine Z)       57.956
 9 #22- Jason Carrigan (Hampton Island)                             57.982
10 #03- Maddison Riley-Jones (TJUN-ia)                              58.087
11 #99- Jelan Ozoemena (Banija)                                     58.124
12 #05- Chris Gordon (Sword Island)                                 58.208
13 #37- Cocoabo #37 (Tropicorp)                                     58.256
14 #17- Chelsea Taylor (Cassadaigua)                                58.363
15 #20- Daryl Calhoun (Saint Kanye)                                 58.434
16 #93- Tim Lateman (Kohnhead)                                      58.529
17 #24- Kevin Daniels (Newmanistan)                                 58.600
18 #77- Al Shelton (Hapilopper)                                     58.748
19 #98- Jixaka Motorai (Tropicorp)                                  58.971
20 #4- Jessica Reagan (United Pink States)                          59.140
21 #15- Harrison Cooper (Appalachian Nation)                        59.149
22 #70- Astigar Armendaritze (Hispinas)                             59.155
23 #49- Lotara Novorali (Vilita & Turori)                           59.203
24 #23- David Clarke (Sultanate of Oontaz)                          59.216
25 #75- Kiki Lambosa (Hispinas)                                     59.246
26 #40- Agata Kosaryova (Sultanate of Oontaz)                       59.285
27 #25- Paul Nystrom (New Northwesteros)                            59.296
28 #41- Turakki Mayelli (Vilita & Turori)                           59.313
29 #11- Martin Finney (United Pink States)                          59.317
30 #26- Mor Holstein (Lisander)                                     59.326
31 #71- Barnabas Mate (Filindostan)                                 59.378
32 #16- Tucker Capps (Xanneria)                                     59.389
33 #32- Andrew Holden (Lisander)                                    59.421
34 #5- Travis Barkley (Newmanistan)                                 59.439
35 #1- Jupiter Cosmos (Space)                                       59.545

(Minimum Time to avoid DNF= 59.300 sec)

Race Results:

NSSCRA 10 Second Tier Series
 1 #03- Maddison Riley-Jones (TJUN-ia)                              57.514 WINNER
 2 #05- Chris Gordon (Sword Island)                                 57.541
 3 #97- Robin Dragonovic (South Newlandia)                          57.714
 4 #27- Maddie Alexander (Cassadaigua)                              57.744
 5 #19- Pyotr Lavrentiev (Saint Kanye)                              57.900
 6 #17- Chelsea Taylor (Cassadaigua)                                57.909
 7 #47- Edmund Flanders (Hapilopper)                                57.934
 8 #39- Rustam Ilyich Yudin (Abanhfleft)                            57.939
 9 #37- Cocoabo #37 (Tropicorp)                                     57.952
10 #98- Jixaka Motorai (Tropicorp)                                  58.146
11 #77- Al Shelton (Hapilopper)                                     58.193
12 #20- Daryl Calhoun (Saint Kanye)                                 58.301
13 #93- Tim Lateman (Kohnhead)                                      58.344
14 #22- Jason Carrigan (Hampton Island)                             58.464
15 #99- Jelan Ozoemena (Banija)                                     58.575
16 #0- Mercy Binayas (Filindostan)                                  58.701
17 #24- Kevin Daniels (Newmanistan)                                 58.963
18 #04- Lexie Shelby (Sword Island)                                 58.997
19 #5- Travis Barkley (Newmanistan)                                 59.062
20 #11- Martin Finney (United Pink States)                          59.070
21 #32- Andrew Holden (Lisander)                                    59.117
22 #49- Lotara Novorali (Vilita & Turori)                           59.148
23 #16- Tucker Capps (Xanneria)                                     59.176
24 #10- Valkyrie Valentijn Samantha Constantine (Valentine Z)       59.179
25 #40- Agata Kosaryova (Sultanate of Oontaz)                       59.220
26 #71- Barnabas Mate (Filindostan)                                 59.252
27 #25- Paul Nystrom (New Northwesteros)                            59.276
28 #26- Mor Holstein (Lisander)                                     59.310 DNF
29 #15- Harrison Cooper (Appalachian Nation)                        59.319 DNF
30 #70- Astigar Armendaritze (Hispinas)                             59.471 DNF
31 #41- Turakki Mayelli (Vilita & Turori)                           59.614 DNF
32 #4- Jessica Reagan (United Pink States)                          59.621 DNF
33 #23- David Clarke (Sultanate of Oontaz)                          59.698 DNF
34 #1- Jupiter Cosmos (Space)                                       59.717 DNF
35 #75- Kiki Lambosa (Hispinas)                                     59.846 DNF

Points Posted after the second race.

[Sword Island]

Well we've done it

We got a Top 5 in our first race as a orginazation. Meanwhile Stevens can barely scrape out a top 18. Congrats to them


UnionRacing

[Sword Island]

"So much for speed", Kassie thought as she exited her car. It was a pitiful day for her and UnionRacing as the cars had nothing in terms of speed. She wondered how long it would take for those test cars to get race ready. Hopefully it was by next week as she was becoming annoyed at being the team being the laughingstock of NSSCRA. She watched the practice session and looked at the replay of the Tier 2 race. Seems like Gordon is putting in some pretty good work down there. Their in house 'rival' Stevens Motorsports and Lex Shleby only finished 18th. At least that was something to smile about.

[Sword Island]

Stevens Motorsports in all fairness was not a middle of the pack team. Their equipment was good and their driver wasn't the problem. It was just the the damn golden horseshoe stuck up everybodies ass except theirs. A hard push by the #05 car early on gave them damage to their right rear that they they tried for a couple of pit stops to fix before they deciced to screw it and just tape up the part of the right rear hanging on but they never quite recovered from it. After the race Shelby made sure to give Gordon a piece of her mind. Gordon poilety flipped her off and said that he didn't have time for 18th place, prompting Lex to run after Gordon demanding a apology. This then sparked a twii.tur war between the UnionRacing team and Stevens Motorsports, ending in them being all remined that they'll at the end of the day race for Stevens and that they are allies. But that was bullcrap. If Chris was going to race her like freaking garbage then by god they would return the favor. So much for manufacturer tribialism

[Saint Kanye]

(OOC: Twiis posted in the days after the Exhibition but before the iROS draw. Permission to use Goita granted by Recuecn through TG.)

JEREMIAH BROOKE ✓

@Jeremiah_B

Check it out, Jeremaniacs - my car for @raceofstars! Looking sharp, right?

#YeeziePride : #PurpleAndLimeAllTheTIme : #iROS

JEREMIAH BROOKE ✓

@Jeremiah_B

Can't wait to run with my boy @GTAVII in the @raceofstars! Same with @SUNARYAfin - congrats on getting the fan vote btw!

#NSSCRA : #WGP2 : #WGPC : #iROS

THEA ALVAREZ ✓

@Luna_Althea

WE DID IT ARMY! @SUNARYAfin WINS THE iROS FAN VOTE!!!!

#AlvarezArmy : #NSSCRA : #iROS : #GoFinGo

VYLET ✓

@Vylet

Hey race fans, want a new promo? HERE'S A NEW PROMO! For every POINT that @Jeremiah_B gains in every @raceofstars round, we're giving TEN customers free internet for a month! Visit vylet.stk for details.

↗ Promoted by Vylet

#iROS : #BrookeFTW : #SwitchToVylet

(Five points means fifty customers, ten points means a hundred, and so on.)

SAGE CALDWELL ✓

@SageTheRacer

I think @ItsGilArcher69 should run for the @raceofstars fan vote next round. He's a 2x truck series champ after all.

#JustSaying : #iROS : #ARTS_AFT

ARTS = Abanhfleft Racing Truck Series

---

Tundra Falls Proving Grounds, Tundra Falls, Newmanistan
Day of the qualifying draw for the first round of iROS

Well, nobody ever thought that this would be more than a dream, but here it is. More than a dozen of the best wheelmen and women in the world, all packed together into one small convention room in Newmanistan. Any hardcore race fan would have thought they died and went to heaven if they ever wandered into this room. Unfortunately for them, the only people allowed inside who haven't ran a race in their life were the ones who make a living reporting the exploits of those who have.

Jeremiah Brooke sat at one of the tables with his teammates. Nobody ever thought that the little boy who wrote about Chip Woods in school essays and brought Lien Murakami diecasts to show and tell becoming one of the "Superstars" gathered on that day would be more than a dream, but here it is. It really was something to be proud of. Not "proud" in the sense of rubbing it into others that he can drive in circles quicker than them, but "proud" as in happy that all his hard work paid off. Though if 29-year-old Brooke suddenly went back in time and told his nine-year-old counterpart that "NSSCRA Champion" would eventually be part of his resume, the youngster would probably be proud in the first sense of the word and not shut up for days.

Suddenly Brooke's little moment of reflection was interrupted by someone calling his name. "Huh?" he said, turning his head to the source of the noise. Sage Caldwell said "Abdoulaye Goita, four o'clock," helpfully pointing to a spot behind and to the right of Brooke, where the Recuecian WGP2 champion was standing.

"Jeremiah?" Goita repeated.

"Abdoulaye!" Brooke said back as he rose from his seat and went in for a bro hug. "What's up, dude? How's the top tier treating you?"

Goita, who graduated to the WGPC the season after his championship, replied, "Well, it was a great opportunity, you know, getting into a higher level of competition. However, if you've actually watched me...."

"Yeah, we have. All the time," Caldwell said.

"And not only do we watch, we root for you," added Thea Alvarez.

"Gee, thanks guys," Goita continued. "Again, if you've watched me, I'm not all there results-wise. But ya know, baby steps. Your support definitely helps."

"And what do you think about being invited into iROS?" Brooke asked as he sat back down.

"Oh, of course it's a chance to show the world what I can do, maybe make new fans and friends in the process."

"Damn, that's what I said on my driver bio."

"What can I say, great minds think alike." This time Goita and Brooke shared a fist bump. Then the latter asked the former, "Oh my, is that...?" turning his head to a man talking to a female reporter from SKYNET and a male one from HTN.

"Yup, that's Terho Talvela." The Abovian is the current WGPC points leader, a two-time champion, and holder of the joint record for most victories in the open-wheel competition.

Brooke got flustered. He was a calm and collected individual, though he used to lose his train of thought whenever he witnesses something terrible during a race, like a flip or pileup. That wasn't the reason it happened this time, however.

"Abdoulaye?"

"Yes, buddy?"

"Could.... could you perhaps introduce me?"

[The Sherpa Empire]

When Kai Qiang was invited to compete in iRoS, his first instinct was to decline the invitation. He already had plenty to occupy his time keeping up with NSSCRA and a very young baby. Because IRACT allowed their drivers and crews to operate so independently, keeping up with NSSCRA involved a lot of administrative work, in addition to driving and making public appearances. For example, Qiang did most of the financial book-keeping for the #44 team, which got complicated with all the different jurisdictions where he had to pay taxes. It really should have been done by a professional accountant, or at least someone who finished high school.

Sima started wailing as Qiang was reading the fine print attached to the iRoS invitation, and he just felt like he had too much going on.

Once Sima had a fresh diaper and dozed off, everything felt more manageable, and Qiang gave the iRoS invitation a second look. It took a while for him to make up his mind. He was sort of curious about the cars and the opportunity to race against top talent from WGPC, but he still wasn't sure it was a good idea to make his life any busier than it already was.

In the end, curiosity won out and he agreed to participate. It would keep the fans happy, and he didn't want people to think he was afraid of racing against the open wheel drivers. There were still people in the Sherpa Empire who thought open wheel racing was real racing and NSSCRA was a dumb joke. Qiang didn't want to give those people any more ammo.

At the qualifying draw, Qiang didn't make a point of talking to the other drivers. He mostly just lounged against the wall watching the proceedings until it was his turn to draw a starting position. He recognized Terho Talvela and Ryker Lane from WGPC coverage on SISN2, and it was kind of cool to see them there at the Proving Grounds. He smiled when he noticed them, but he didn't geek out about it. After all, they were competing as equals. It felt good to be competing as an equal with people like that.

And it felt even better to beat them... When the race started, pretty much the first thing Qiang did was bump Lane out of his way to move from P10 to P9. Qiang wasn't always aggressive like that, but against a driver who wasn't used to the amount of bumping and banging in NSSCRA, he thought it would be effective. He gradually worked his way up to 3rd place, though he didn't manage to catch iBen Toralmintii or Frank Bronson.

[Tropicorp]

Team Tropicorp set for Tundra Falls 500

Tundra Falls Superspeedway, Proving Grounds, Tundra Falls, Newmanistan :: While Team Tropicorp officials spent much of the NSSCRA off-season attempting to soften the blow of the loss of two of the teams three NSSCRA charters by explaining to Tropicorp Leadership the extra challenges that they would be able to tackle by competing at a higher level on Qualifying day - while at the same time trying to prepare them for the reality that there might be a big race where one of the Team Tropicorp cars failed to Qualify - the team was also cautiously optimistic about their ability to put their cars into the show.

After all, despite losing their Charters after failing to place inside the Top 20 in the NSSCRA Season 10 standings, Team Tropicorp were not that far off. Cocoabo #78 was 21st in points - just narrowly missing the cut, while Anavella Ariiki was 25. While there was some talk of Ariiki being send down to the Contender Series to ensure weekly racing action to continue her development, ultimately Team Tropicorp took the gamble that she would be able to put the #88 Dart in the field and keep racing each week as normal. While the data is limited this early in the season, thus far, the gamble seems to have paid off as both Ariiki and Cocoabo #78 were able to qualify their way into the Tundra Falls 500 where they will compete on race day.

It was perhaps a bit of luck that saw the results play out the way they did as while Anavella Ariiki posted the 10th fastest time in Qualifying to place third amongst non-chartered drivers and Cocoabo #78 also secured their spot on the grid by just one-tenth of a second in 22nd, Team Tropicorp's only chartered Driver, Cocoabo #28, was the slowest of all qualifiers in 66th position. While the team believe they found the problem in Cocoabo #28's engine that caused the twii.tur / Cocoabo Preservation Society Dart to half a second slower than any other car and over three seconds off the pace of pole sitter and defending series champion Jeremiah Brooke, it was a bit of a bullet dodged as had the same issue occurred on either of the Team's other two entries it would have resulted in their missing the race entirely.

As for the Contenders Series support event it was a solid day for the two Team Tropicorp drivers who worked their way from mid-pack starting positions to finish inside the Top 10. Cocoabo #37 completed their first ever competitive NSSCRA event in 9th positoin while Jixaka Motorai who has previously competed in the Cocoabo Preservation 300K was able to bring the #98 Cocoabo Park Dart home in 10th position. As it was the debut race for the Contenders series which has picked up sponsorship from the Hapilopper based Convenience Station 'Everlong", both Cocoabo #37 and Jixaka Motorai now have a solid footing to start the second-tier season inside the Top 10 in points.