NSSCRA 11- Everything Thread (IC)

[Filindostan]

It was the second round of the NSSCRA and for the drivers in the Multiversal Series, it was time for them to take to a road course in Xanneria, which returned to the schedule of the Multiversal Series after a season's absence from the calendar. Unlike in ovals where two attempts of setting a lap time are made by the drivers, only one attempt is done in road courses, which meant that it is paramount for the drivers to set a lap time devoid of any mistakes.

This befell Rockii Ezis on his qualifying run, as a few corners where he was well wide, as well as a near-spin in one of the corners, made his lap a bad one, which was actually the slowest of all the drivers who made their attempts to qualify. He would have certainly missed the race, however, as the team has the charter from Fiona Sunarya's team last season, he was able to make the field, although he would start in the outside of the 23rd row and he would have to carve his way among the other cars if he wants a decent result from Road Marietta. It is obvious he was still adjusting to the Badai Angin car, which was different from either the Darts or the Rockets he drove for the past seasons, but the organization and the fans may start to lose their patience and question the decision made by the team last season if Rockii keeps providing disappointing results for the #60 team.

The same cannot be said for Hana Bhe though. In the ninth season, she was only able to bring the #0 car in 26th place in qualifying, although a strong race pace enabled her to finish just a place outside the top 15 that time. This year though, without a charter, Hana had to qualify on speed to make every race this season. And she did not disappoint. Setting a quick lap time that eventually clocked 11th fastest, with only Wilma von Caerinthen from UrGa being the quicker non-charter entry. It was a risk the organization understood very well, and if Hana keeps delivering the goods pre-race, a win away could net this team their own charter in the near future.

Her best buddy though pulled the surprise result for the organization, as Fiona drove the #99 to a top 5 starting position, arguably her best qualifying performance of her NSSCRA career. She isn't a newbie in this track despite NSSCRA not visiting the track in her rookie campaign, as she drove the then-#83 car to a 36th qualifying position in season 9, finishing 39th of 46 drivers. At last, Fiona has started being one of the drivers to watch for this season, as her 15th place finish in Tundra Falls last week shows, and she would like to keep the car contending for wins this season to show the fans that they would have a Filindo driver to cheer for in the multiverse's most prominent stock car racing competition.

After the qualifying session, the two buds watched the Everlong race in television where the three Rusty Motorsports were running very well and were chasing Rustam Yudin's #39 car for victory. Despite eventually not taking the win, the Rusty cars finished 2-3-4 and seems to be in contention for the title this early. Fiona gave Shania Soraya a call hours after the race, as the latter along with the Rusty crew will travel to Marietta to watch the race in person, and she promised another session of unwinding after the Multiversal race.

[Aji No Moto]

Eiji had stopped racing in ovals for the past seasons he was away from NSSCRA, but with road courses on the menu for some of the rounds in the Multiversal Series, his experience in GT racing would really help him acclimate more in stock car racing for road courses. With only one attempt to set a time for qualifying and several chartered entries clocking slower than expected, he would set the 37th fastest time of the session. With no entries not qualified having been faster than him, it would also be his starting position for tomorrow's race. He was cheered on by the crew, who would give him moral support as his colleagues in the Everlong Series would be in Galliburton at the time and would travel to Road Marietta in time for the race.

In the Everlong race, Geru would be the best Katana driver in the race, finishing 11th after a difficult qualifying with his teammate, Dash. Both drivers clocked the 28th and 23rd fastest time in qualifying respectively, and although Geru would recover to finish just outside the top 10, the driver of the #0 Everlong car would struggle after in the middle of the race being involved in a caution that eliminated some drivers from the race. His car was repairable though but the damage was severe enough to destroy Dash's chances of finishing a higher position than he would have hoped for. They were both still in the playoff spots though despite Dash's misfortunes, with Geru proving his doubters wrong after sources leaked that it was due to the sponsor that he kept a spot in the Everlong project and forced former NSSCRA driver Chiemi Hino to driver instead in AOCAR.

The two started a weekly bet that the driver with the lower finish will treat the winner their post-race beef and beer, and with the result, Dash treated Geru a sumptuous meal at a Xannerian restaurant prior to their trip to Road Marietta.

[Abanhfleft]

Tundra Falls 500
Lap 1 of 143

"Stand by for green," Terry Freedlander, spotter for the #98 car of Wilma von Cärinthen, said to their driver just before the start of the Tundra Falls 500. "Remember, give Wang the draft but stay with the lead pack for as long as possible."

"I know that," Wilma replied to her spotter. "I just hope that Wang knows that too."

"Green flag, green flag!" Terry said. "It's time to race! You got Logan in front and Li below you. Stay high."

“Copy,” Wilma acknowledged.

Dinggu Wang had now spent enough time in Abanhfleft to have picked up some English. Probably enough to have basic conversations, but for everything driving related, he still reverted to his original Chinese. This was why UrGa had recruited people who were fluent in both languages to serve in his crew, and so far things were working out for them. "Green flag," spotter Johnson Lam reported to Wang in Chinese. "Remember the plan, Dinggu: stay behind Cärinthen and get her draft, and then bump draft her up the pack."

"Understood," Wang replied.

"Watch out below you," Lam added. "Li is trying to get a move on Suzgar."

"I will watch out for her, all right," Wang said.

"It's not the place where we really would want to start, Gil," spotter Ricky Tomas told his driver Guillermo Archer. "We're nowhere near Wang and Wilma, and we can't expect any favors from Oxton, Qiang, or Aye."

"Come on, Ricky, don't be so pessimistic," Gil said cheerily. "This is Tundra Falls. Staying with the pack is more important here than any grudges. We're all gonna have to work together whether we like it or not. And who is Oxton again?"

"Maybe, man. Also, Oxton is Gwen Tracer Allison. And… green flag is out!"

Lap 24 of 143

“You’re almost out of gas, Wilma,” Deckard Sullivan told Cärinthen. “You’ve gotta come in now or else you’re gonna run out on the next lap.”

Wilma, who was at that moment right behind the yellow #79 of Dinggu Wang giving him a bump draft, was shaken out of her concentration by the message from her crew chief. “Really, Dec? I can’t extend one more lap?”

“Pit now if you still want to remain with the pack,” Sullivan said. “Or you can extend one more lap and find yourself sputtering in free air.”

“Goddamn it,” Wilma muttered to herself. Wang was already abreast of the #3 of Sage Caldwell, fighting for 7th place, and thanks to the tow she would have had a chance to get ahead of Caldwell as well coming into Turn 3. But it wasn’t to be. “All right, I’m coming in,” she informed Sullivan. “Tell Wang so he’s not surprised.”

“Wilma is coming into the pits this lap, Dinggu,” Johnson Lam said, relaying the message over to Wang. “You’re about to lose her bump.”

“Why is she coming in? Tires or fuel?” Wang asked even as Caldwell started gaining on him on the outside.

“She’s at the end of her fuel run,” Lam reported. “But Brendan says you still have two laps left so keep pushing.”

“Watch your inside, Gil,” Ricky Tomas said as Guillermo Archer approached the pit exit. “Wilma’s coming out of the pits right now.”

“Yeah, I’m already three wide with Gwen, Fiona, and Walters over here,” Archer said. “If Wilma wants to make it four wide then that’s on her.”

Lap 119 of 143

“Heads up, Gil, Wilma’s coming up behind you,” Ricky Tomas said.

“About bloody time,” Gil said angrily. Then he switched frequencies and tuned his radio to Wilma’s. He turned his mike back on and said, “Get up on my ass ASAP, Wilhelmina!”

“Eww, that’s not my thing. Go tell your wife to do that for you if you really want it!” Wilma retorted. Then in a more serious tone, she replied, “Hang on, I’m being side-drafted by Sunarya here!” Once Sunarya was able to get away from Wilma, she took the lower lane and settled in behind Gil’s rear bumper. “Hey, have you seen Wang?” Gil asked her. “How are we supposed to make him oldest champion if he’s nowhere near us?”

“I think I saw him coming down pit lane,” Wilma replied. “Dec says he chewed up his left rear a little too much this run.”

“Well, shit,” Gil said. “Top 10’s right in front of us, and I ain’t coming down to 25th or whatever to pick him up.”

“Scheiße,” Wilma muttered.

Lap 143 of 143

“White flag, Gil,” Ricky Tomas said. “Thea below you and Rinzi above.”

“Shit,” Gil said. “That’s not good.” Because he was the meat in a Multiversal-Mayhem sandwich, Gil was not able to enter Turn 1 the way he would have wanted to enter it, so both Thea Alvarez and Rinzi Aogar Zakhilwal were able to nose ahead of him once they arrived at the back straight. And then, just as Gil was preparing to use the side draft from the IRACT charter holder to give him a boost, Ricky called out to him again with the three words that weren’t really the ones that Gil wanted to hear:

“Henderson behind you.”

“Crap,” Gil muttered. Taylor Henderson of Hapilopper’s Team Blue had developed a reputation in NSSCRA of being a “take no prisoners” kind of driver. And given how Gil had talked shit about her racing team back in Season 9, he was not expecting anything good to come out of this, contrary to what he had said earlier about draft partners being more important than grudges on superspeedways. “Fingers crossed I make it across the line in one piece,” Gil joked.

“Fingers crossed you make it across the line at all,” Ricky immediately said back.

At the moment though, it seemed as if Gil’s words from earlier were holding true at the moment. Henderson gave Gil’s rear bumper a tap, light enough to not cause any aero-affecting damage but strong enough to catch the Fleftic’s attention. “Oh boy, here we go,” Gil said to nobody in particular as Henderson started bump drafting him. This push was enough to put Gil a hair in front of Rinzi and a hair behind Alvarez as their quartet arrived at Turn 3. Once again, Gil didn’t get the entry that he wanted because he was sandwiched between a Yeezie and a Sherpalander, and he also had a Hapiloppian on his rear. Rinzi on the high line started pulling away from Gil in the middle, but as soon as they rounded Turn 4, only one thing was on Gil’s mind: the checkered flag.

“That’s the checkered flag, Gil!” Ricky called out. “That’s good enough for P12.”

“Phew,” Gil sighed in exhausted relief. “That was scarier and harder than it really should have been, man.”

Meanwhile, at the back of the same pack where Gil was running, Wilma von Cärinthen and Dinggu Wang were still pushing each other for 24th place. The two of them had been able to hold formation across the final lap, but once they came into Turn 3, Wilma suddenly found herself sliding up the track. “Guys, I’m sliding!” she cried out. “I can’t come back down. I’m too tight!”

“Where is she going?” Wang asked his spotter once he saw Wilma sliding up the track.

“Wilma reports she’s too tight,” Johnson Lam said. “But don’t go after her! Caldwell and Qiang are right in the middle lane.”

Wilma was finally able to wrestle her car back down from its inexplicable slide, but she was now too late to come back either in front or behind Wang since there was now a Sage Caldwell-sized obstacle between them. Sage also appeared to be benefitting from her side draft, so all Wilma could hope for now was that she would be able to literally get to the finish line before the Yeezie did. It was pedal to the metal time, even if her engine was already screaming from all the RPMs it had to produce.

“And that’s it! Race done, Wilma!” Terry Freedlander said. “P24. Not bad for a must-qualify driver.”

“Where’s Wang? Did he make it?” Wilma asked.

“26th place,” Terry replied. “Caldwell got in between you and him and got his bumper ahead of Wang.”

“Oh, well,” Wilma shrugged, even though nobody could see her. “That could have been worse.”

[Hapilopper]

The Team Blue Center, Road Marietta Racing Facility, North of Marietta, Galliburton, Xanneria
The morning of the XANAir 300
The Team Blue three were at a dining table, enjoying breakfast the morning of the second race of the season. Drake Stevenson was reading the Sunday Hapilopper City Herald and going through some of the headlines of the day – the Hapiloppian government was apparently looking into overtures from the Wreckerian government about possible unification. A Hapilopper City man had been arrested for stealing an ice cream truck, then crashing it through the front windows of an antiques store. And Chet Byrd, the ex-NSSCRA and HASCAR driver, was in the news, starting his own business importing goods from other nations into Hapilopper. According to an interview, he was interested in importing Valentian beds into Hapilopper and Wreckeria.

And all things considered, it was a quiet morning. That’s when a courier from Team Blue came in with some packages. One was for Drake Stevenson, which confused him more than it probably should have.

“I haven’t ordered anything in a few weeks, and when I do order stuff, I don’t have it delivered to race tracks,” Drake said, visibly confused. “I have them delivered home.”

Either way, Drake opened the package, which, curiously, did not have a return address. To his disgust, he found a plush dead bird in the box. He put the plush bird on the table and stewed for a second, staring at Chris and Taylor.

“Either of you two responsible for this?” Drake asked.

“No,” Chris said.

“Not me,” Taylor replied.

“Alright, someone is, though, and I want to find out. This shit isn’t funny,” Drake snapped. “Whatever. I’ll be back in a bit.”

Drake stepped out of the Team Blue Center and lit up a cigarette. He walked through the garage area to find numerous crews working on their cars for the race, which was set to start in a few hours, and thought a bit about who would mail him a plush bird. He had a few ideas of culprits. Topping the list, in his mind, was Derrick Carlisle, that shit-stirring social media manager from TJUN-ia, but then he decided that probably wasn’t the case. After all, he remembered how nervous Carlisle appeared to be the last time he came to the Team Blue Center to face the music from Frank Bronson. Then he figured it was probably Guillermo Archer, that shit-stirring driver from Abanhfleft, probably looking to start something between two drivers. But Drake figured that wasn’t the case – after all, he didn’t think Archer was the kind of guy to hide behind anything. He’d be very up-front about it, Drake thought. By the time his cigarette was finished up, Drake figured it was a fan that had mailed him the plush bird and didn’t think another thing of it.

When he got back to the Team Blue Center, he spotted Chris and Taylor examining the plush bird, wondering who it came from.

“I bet anything it came from one of the drivers,” Chris said. “There’s probably a few out there that don’t like us.”

“Yeah,” Taylor replied. “I imagine Kai Qiang still hates your guts.”

“Doubt it’s him,” Chris replied. “I don’t think Qiang has a deal with Stevenson. He’s got one with me, but not with Stevenson.”

“Maybe one of those jokers from the Jaguar camp?” Taylor asked. “I mean, they were the only ones making a big deal about you hitting that bird, almost like they were gloating about it.”

“Nah,” Drake replied. “That was just their jackass social media guy, and I don’t think he’d want our smoke. Remember when Bronson put the fear of god into him?”
Taylor chuckled. “Yeah, I do remember that!” she said.

“Yeah, I don’t think he’d want to do that again,” Drake said, with a smile. “I guess I’ll just put the bird in the car and see what comes of it.”

So Drake put the plush bird in the box and walked over to the garage, where a couple of HTN technicians were calibrating the in-car camera that was situated right next to the driver’s seat. The technicians were discussing the proper placement of the camera with those in the HTN production truck outside the track, when Drake came towards the car.

“Is there a way this can be shown on the on-board camera? I want this to be seen.”

So the HTN technicians moved the bird so it could be prominently seen on the shot. Drake taped a note on the bird, seen plain as day on the onboard camera.

“NOTE: To whoever sent this to us today, come to the Team Blue Center after the race so we can discuss this, numbnuts. – Stevenson”

[Newmanistan]

Race: XANAir 300 at Road Marietta, Road Marietta Racing Facility, North of Marietta, Galliburton, Xanneria (Road Course)
Lap Record: 1:09.420 sec.
Minimum Time to Avoid DNF: 1:14.700 sec.

Segment 1:

NSSCRA Multiversal Series
 1 #46- Thea Alvarez (Saint Kanye)                                1:10.069
 2 #18- Jeremiah Brooke (Saint Kanye)                             1:10.094
 3 #73- Taylor Henderson (Hapilopper)                             1:10.099
 4 #31- Gwen Tracer Allison Oxton (Valentine Z)                   1:10.131
 5 #15- Anastasia Freya Yadana Aye (Valentine Z)                  1:10.175
 6 #41- Yraaga Gilli'i (Vilita & Turori)                          1:10.314
 7 #43- Tsering Chu (The Sherpa Empire)                           1:10.416
 8 #79- Dinggu Wang (Abanhfleft)                                  1:10.416
 9 #06- Rinzi Aogar Zakhilwal (The Sherpa Empire)                 1:10.449
10 #14- River 'Shark' Suzgar II (Vilita & Turori)                 1:10.482
11 #70- Gongming Gao (The Northern Chinese Republic)              1:10.485
12 #07- Michael Stefan (TJUN-ia)                                  1:10.568
13 #8- Chris Holmes (Hapilopper)                                  1:10.576
14 #44- Kai Qiang (The Sherpa Empire)                             1:10.615
15 #0- Hana Bhe (Filindostan) *Q*                                 1:10.616
16 #81- Drake Stevenson (Hapilopper)                              1:10.634
17 #2- Centur Tiones (Vilita & Turori)                            1:10.658
18 #28- Cocoabo #28 (Tropicorp)                                   1:10.674
19 #7- Clarissa Alanis Star Samantha (Valentine Z)                1:10.742
20 #60- Rockii Ezis (Filindostan)                                 1:10.791
21 #27- Maddie Alexander (Tropicorp)                              1:10.852
22 #55- Holly Aurora Lapia Starlight (G6MR)                       1:10.860
23 #05- Chris Gordon (Sword Island)                               1:10.868
24 #12- Ricky Lee (The Northern Chinese Republic) *Q*             1:11.039
25 #99- Fiona Sunarya (Filindostan)                               1:11.190
26 #98- Wilma von Cärinthen (Abanhfleft) *Q*                      1:11.200
27 #76- Jolyn Maxine Caulfield Ceeta (G6MR) *Q*                   1:11.246
28 #5- Liangmei Li (Newmanistan)                                  1:11.361
29 #30- Lexi Patterson (Jebslund) *Q*                             1:11.372
30 #40- Shigeru Ishikawa (Squidroidia)                            1:11.504
31 #13- Brigadegeneral Eva "Schnellezeichnung" Kerman (Jebslund)  1:11.512
32 #90- Lexie Shelby (Sword Island) *Q*                           1:11.561
33 #35- Kassie Collins (Sword Island) *Q*                         1:11.607
34 #48- Ashley Matthews (Newmanistan) *Q*                         1:11.716
35 #26- Jenna Logan (Tropicorp)                                   1:11.749
36 #16- Eddie Walters Jr. (Xanneria)                              1:11.752
37 #3- Sage Caldwell (Saint Kanye)                                1:11.921
38 #56- Kelly Monroe (Xanneria) *Q*                               1:12.162
39 #96- Guillermo Archer (Abanhfleft)                             1:12.554
40 #08- Bart Wheeler (Northwinds)                                 1:12.662
41 #97- Celeste (Yesopalitha)                                     1:12.793
42 #03- Maddison Riley-Jones (TJUN-ia) *Q*                        1:12.916
43 #64- Alfonso Mercado (TJUN-ia)                                 1:13.076
44 #00- Eiji Ibi (Aji No Moto)                                    1:13.511
45 #25- Jessica Franssen (Vangaziland)                            1:13.531
46 #17- Gavon Mitchell (Roromania)                                1:14.281

Segment 2:

NSSCRA Multiversal Series
 1 #46- Thea Alvarez (Saint Kanye)                                1:09.986
 2 #14- River 'Shark' Suzgar II (Vilita & Turori)                 1:09.990
 3 #81- Drake Stevenson (Hapilopper)                              1:10.161
 4 #18- Jeremiah Brooke (Saint Kanye)                             1:10.171
 5 #26- Jenna Logan (Tropicorp)                                   1:10.172
 6 #06- Rinzi Aogar Zakhilwal (The Sherpa Empire)                 1:10.217
 7 #8- Chris Holmes (Hapilopper)                                  1:10.240
 8 #15- Anastasia Freya Yadana Aye (Valentine Z)                  1:10.324
 9 #43- Tsering Chu (The Sherpa Empire)                           1:10.346
10 #2- Centur Tiones (Vilita & Turori)                            1:10.355
11 #96- Guillermo Archer (Abanhfleft)                             1:10.356
12 #07- Michael Stefan (TJUN-ia)                                  1:10.387
13 #64- Alfonso Mercado (TJUN-ia)                                 1:10.405
14 #73- Taylor Henderson (Hapilopper)                             1:10.570
15 #7- Clarissa Alanis Star Samantha (Valentine Z)                1:10.711
16 #28- Cocoabo #28 (Tropicorp)                                   1:11.041
17 #13- Brigadegeneral Eva "Schnellezeichnung" Kerman (Jebslund)  1:11.075
18 #98- Wilma von Cärinthen (Abanhfleft) *Q*                      1:11.095
19 #55- Holly Aurora Lapia Starlight (G6MR)                       1:11.157
20 #16- Eddie Walters Jr. (Xanneria)                              1:11.173
21 #0- Hana Bhe (Filindostan) *Q*                                 1:11.191
22 #90- Lexie Shelby (Sword Island) *Q*                           1:11.315
23 #3- Sage Caldwell (Saint Kanye)                                1:11.331
24 #5- Liangmei Li (Newmanistan)                                  1:11.420
25 #27- Maddie Alexander (Tropicorp)                              1:11.476
26 #70- Gongming Gao (The Northern Chinese Republic)              1:11.480
27 #79- Dinggu Wang (Abanhfleft)                                  1:11.527
28 #76- Jolyn Maxine Caulfield Ceeta (G6MR) *Q*                   1:11.644
29 #12- Ricky Lee (The Northern Chinese Republic) *Q*             1:11.769
30 #30- Lexi Patterson (Jebslund) *Q*                             1:11.864
31 #99- Fiona Sunarya (Filindostan)                               1:11.961
32 #44- Kai Qiang (The Sherpa Empire)                             1:12.022
33 #40- Shigeru Ishikawa (Squidroidia)                            1:12.154
34 #56- Kelly Monroe (Xanneria) *Q*                               1:12.183
35 #60- Rockii Ezis (Filindostan)                                 1:12.260
36 #35- Kassie Collins (Sword Island) *Q*                         1:12.384
37 #41- Yraaga Gilli'i (Vilita & Turori)                          1:12.574
38 #03- Maddison Riley-Jones (TJUN-ia) *Q*                        1:12.581
39 #97- Celeste (Yesopalitha)                                     1:12.590
40 #08- Bart Wheeler (Northwinds)                                 1:12.629
41 #48- Ashley Matthews (Newmanistan) *Q*                         1:12.660
42 #31- Gwen Tracer Allison Oxton (Valentine Z)                   1:13.006
43 #00- Eiji Ibi (Aji No Moto)                                    1:13.658
44 #17- Gavon Mitchell (Roromania)                                1:13.792
45 #05- Chris Gordon (Sword Island)                               1:13.793
46 #25- Jessica Franssen (Vangaziland)                            1:13.835

Segment 3:

NSSCRA Multiversal Series
 1 #81- Drake Stevenson (Hapilopper)                              1:09.991
 2 #18- Jeremiah Brooke (Saint Kanye)                             1:10.016
 3 #15- Anastasia Freya Yadana Aye (Valentine Z)                  1:10.043
 4 #73- Taylor Henderson (Hapilopper)                             1:10.156
 5 #79- Dinggu Wang (Abanhfleft)                                  1:10.189
 6 #44- Kai Qiang (The Sherpa Empire)                             1:10.236
 7 #07- Michael Stefan (TJUN-ia)                                  1:10.257
 8 #8- Chris Holmes (Hapilopper)                                  1:10.267
 9 #7- Clarissa Alanis Star Samantha (Valentine Z)                1:10.345
10 #06- Rinzi Aogar Zakhilwal (The Sherpa Empire)                 1:10.346
11 #2- Centur Tiones (Vilita & Turori)                            1:10.406
12 #41- Yraaga Gilli'i (Vilita & Turori)                          1:10.421
13 #46- Thea Alvarez (Saint Kanye)                                1:10.432
14 #27- Maddie Alexander (Tropicorp)                              1:10.465
15 #05- Chris Gordon (Sword Island)                               1:10.484
16 #28- Cocoabo #28 (Tropicorp)                                   1:10.528
17 #3- Sage Caldwell (Saint Kanye)                                1:10.631
18 #60- Rockii Ezis (Filindostan)                                 1:10.693
19 #0- Hana Bhe (Filindostan) *Q*                                 1:10.782
20 #96- Guillermo Archer (Abanhfleft)                             1:10.838
21 #16- Eddie Walters Jr. (Xanneria)                              1:10.853
22 #35- Kassie Collins (Sword Island) *Q*                         1:10.905
23 #70- Gongming Gao (The Northern Chinese Republic)              1:10.909
24 #43- Tsering Chu (The Sherpa Empire)                           1:11.041
25 #98- Wilma von Cärinthen (Abanhfleft) *Q*                      1:11.105
26 #26- Jenna Logan (Tropicorp)                                   1:11.123
27 #5- Liangmei Li (Newmanistan)                                  1:11.236
28 #40- Shigeru Ishikawa (Squidroidia)                            1:11.268
29 #03- Maddison Riley-Jones (TJUN-ia) *Q*                        1:11.318
30 #30- Lexi Patterson (Jebslund) *Q*                             1:11.360
31 #90- Lexie Shelby (Sword Island) *Q*                           1:11.514
32 #55- Holly Aurora Lapia Starlight (G6MR)                       1:11.564
33 #76- Jolyn Maxine Caulfield Ceeta (G6MR) *Q*                   1:11.599
34 #13- Brigadegeneral Eva "Schnellezeichnung" Kerman (Jebslund)  1:11.627
35 #14- River 'Shark' Suzgar II (Vilita & Turori)                 1:11.648
36 #31- Gwen Tracer Allison Oxton (Valentine Z)                   1:12.193
37 #64- Alfonso Mercado (TJUN-ia)                                 1:12.211
38 #08- Bart Wheeler (Northwinds)                                 1:12.397
39 #99- Fiona Sunarya (Filindostan)                               1:12.745
40 #00- Eiji Ibi (Aji No Moto)                                    1:12.976
41 #48- Ashley Matthews (Newmanistan) *Q*                         1:13.264
42 #56- Kelly Monroe (Xanneria) *Q*                               1:13.310
43 #25- Jessica Franssen (Vangaziland)                            1:13.640
44 #97- Celeste (Yesopalitha)                                     1:13.725
45 #17- Gavon Mitchell (Roromania)                                1:13.789
46 #12- Ricky Lee (The Northern Chinese Republic) *Q*             1:15.614 DNF

Segment 4:

NSSCRA Multiversal Series
 1 #15- Anastasia Freya Yadana Aye (Valentine Z)                  1:10.002
 2 #06- Rinzi Aogar Zakhilwal (The Sherpa Empire)                 1:10.085
 3 #41- Yraaga Gilli'i (Vilita & Turori)                          1:10.149
 4 #81- Drake Stevenson (Hapilopper)                              1:10.161
 5 #79- Dinggu Wang (Abanhfleft)                                  1:10.167
 6 #14- River 'Shark' Suzgar II (Vilita & Turori)                 1:10.248
 7 #31- Gwen Tracer Allison Oxton (Valentine Z)                   1:10.251
 8 #2- Centur Tiones (Vilita & Turori)                            1:10.253
 9 #3- Sage Caldwell (Saint Kanye)                                1:10.298
10 #73- Taylor Henderson (Hapilopper)                             1:10.421
11 #64- Alfonso Mercado (TJUN-ia)                                 1:10.481
12 #26- Jenna Logan (Tropicorp)                                   1:10.512
13 #96- Guillermo Archer (Abanhfleft)                             1:10.541
14 #07- Michael Stefan (TJUN-ia)                                  1:10.612
15 #7- Clarissa Alanis Star Samantha (Valentine Z)                1:10.633
16 #0- Hana Bhe (Filindostan) *Q*                                 1:10.702
17 #05- Chris Gordon (Sword Island)                               1:10.723
18 #60- Rockii Ezis (Filindostan)                                 1:10.767
19 #28- Cocoabo #28 (Tropicorp)                                   1:10.816
20 #35- Kassie Collins (Sword Island) *Q*                         1:10.830
21 #27- Maddie Alexander (Tropicorp)                              1:10.979
22 #98- Wilma von Cärinthen (Abanhfleft) *Q*                      1:11.024
23 #76- Jolyn Maxine Caulfield Ceeta (G6MR) *Q*                   1:11.026
24 #43- Tsering Chu (The Sherpa Empire)                           1:11.139
25 #18- Jeremiah Brooke (Saint Kanye)                             1:11.317
26 #16- Eddie Walters Jr. (Xanneria)                              1:11.338
27 #8- Chris Holmes (Hapilopper)                                  1:11.378
28 #40- Shigeru Ishikawa (Squidroidia)                            1:11.391
29 #30- Lexi Patterson (Jebslund) *Q*                             1:11.541
30 #46- Thea Alvarez (Saint Kanye)                                1:11.693
31 #90- Lexie Shelby (Sword Island) *Q*                           1:11.697
32 #13- Brigadegeneral Eva "Schnellezeichnung" Kerman (Jebslund)  1:11.762
33 #44- Kai Qiang (The Sherpa Empire)                             1:11.826
34 #99- Fiona Sunarya (Filindostan)                               1:11.870
35 #5- Liangmei Li (Newmanistan)                                  1:11.954
36 #55- Holly Aurora Lapia Starlight (G6MR)                       1:12.324
37 #48- Ashley Matthews (Newmanistan) *Q*                         1:12.433
38 #56- Kelly Monroe (Xanneria) *Q*                               1:12.716
39 #97- Celeste (Yesopalitha)                                     1:12.903
40 #70- Gongming Gao (The Northern Chinese Republic)              1:12.922
41 #00- Eiji Ibi (Aji No Moto)                                    1:13.182
42 #08- Bart Wheeler (Northwinds)                                 1:13.373
43 #03- Maddison Riley-Jones (TJUN-ia) *Q*                        1:13.431
44 #17- Gavon Mitchell (Roromania)                                1:13.762
45 #25- Jessica Franssen (Vangaziland)                            1:14.487

Segment 5:

NSSCRA Multiversal Series
 1 #06- Rinzi Aogar Zakhilwal (The Sherpa Empire)                 1:10.096
 2 #41- Yraaga Gilli'i (Vilita & Turori)                          1:10.171
 3 #3- Sage Caldwell (Saint Kanye)                                1:10.260
 4 #14- River 'Shark' Suzgar II (Vilita & Turori)                 1:10.301
 5 #18- Jeremiah Brooke (Saint Kanye)                             1:10.343
 6 #73- Taylor Henderson (Hapilopper)                             1:10.430
 7 #15- Anastasia Freya Yadana Aye (Valentine Z)                  1:10.489
 8 #28- Cocoabo #28 (Tropicorp)                                   1:10.570
 9 #99- Fiona Sunarya (Filindostan)                               1:10.581
10 #2- Centur Tiones (Vilita & Turori)                            1:10.850
11 #60- Rockii Ezis (Filindostan)                                 1:10.902
12 #46- Thea Alvarez (Saint Kanye)                                1:10.986
13 #03- Maddison Riley-Jones (TJUN-ia) *Q*                        1:11.028
14 #31- Gwen Tracer Allison Oxton (Valentine Z)                   1:11.067
15 #55- Holly Aurora Lapia Starlight (G6MR)                       1:11.076
16 #7- Clarissa Alanis Star Samantha (Valentine Z)                1:11.139
17 #13- Brigadegeneral Eva "Schnellezeichnung" Kerman (Jebslund)  1:11.248
18 #0- Hana Bhe (Filindostan) *Q*                                 1:11.252
19 #35- Kassie Collins (Sword Island) *Q*                         1:11.256
20 #70- Gongming Gao (The Northern Chinese Republic)              1:11.279
21 #64- Alfonso Mercado (TJUN-ia)                                 1:11.315
22 #90- Lexie Shelby (Sword Island) *Q*                           1:11.395
23 #81- Drake Stevenson (Hapilopper)                              1:11.488
24 #30- Lexi Patterson (Jebslund) *Q*                             1:11.529
25 #96- Guillermo Archer (Abanhfleft)                             1:11.628
26 #40- Shigeru Ishikawa (Squidroidia)                            1:11.645
27 #79- Dinggu Wang (Abanhfleft)                                  1:11.667
28 #27- Maddie Alexander (Tropicorp)                              1:11.769
29 #76- Jolyn Maxine Caulfield Ceeta (G6MR) *Q*                   1:11.827
30 #07- Michael Stefan (TJUN-ia)                                  1:11.967
31 #43- Tsering Chu (The Sherpa Empire)                           1:12.031
32 #56- Kelly Monroe (Xanneria) *Q*                               1:12.071
33 #44- Kai Qiang (The Sherpa Empire)                             1:12.201
34 #5- Liangmei Li (Newmanistan)                                  1:12.216
35 #98- Wilma von Cärinthen (Abanhfleft) *Q*                      1:12.218
36 #8- Chris Holmes (Hapilopper)                                  1:12.243
37 #48- Ashley Matthews (Newmanistan) *Q*                         1:12.313
38 #00- Eiji Ibi (Aji No Moto)                                    1:12.347
39 #16- Eddie Walters Jr. (Xanneria)                              1:12.436
40 #05- Chris Gordon (Sword Island)                               1:12.531
41 #97- Celeste (Yesopalitha)                                     1:12.897
42 #26- Jenna Logan (Tropicorp)                                   1:13.433
43 #17- Gavon Mitchell (Roromania)                                1:13.698
44 #25- Jessica Franssen (Vangaziland)                            1:13.707
45 #08- Bart Wheeler (Northwinds)                                 1:14.917 DNF

Race Results:

+-----+----------------------------------------------------+--------+
| Pos |                       Driver                       |  Avg.  |
+-----+----------------------------------------------------+--------+
|   1 | #15- Anastasia Freya Yadana Aye (Valentine Z)      | 70.207 | WINNER
|   2 | #06- Rinzi Aogar Zakhilwal (The Sherpa Empire)     | 70.239 |
|   3 | #73- Taylor Henderson (Hapilopper)                 | 70.335 |
|   4 | #18- Jeremiah Brooke (Saint Kanye)                 | 70.388 |
|   5 | #81- Drake Stevenson (Hapilopper)                  | 70.487 |
|   6 | #2- Centur Tiones (Vilita & Turori)                | 70.504 |
|   7 | #14- River 'Shark' Suzgar II (Vilita & Turori)     | 70.534 |
|   8 | #46- Thea Alvarez (Saint Kanye)                    | 70.633 |
|   9 | #7- Clarissa Alanis Star Samantha (Valentine Z)    | 70.714 |
|  10 | #28- Cocoabo #28 (Tropicorp)                       | 70.726 |
|  11 | #41- Yraaga Gilli'i (Vilita & Turori)              | 70.726 |
|  12 | #07- Michael Stefan (TJUN-ia)                      | 70.758 |
|  13 | #79- Dinggu Wang (Abanhfleft)                      | 70.793 |
|  14 | #3- Sage Caldwell (Saint Kanye)                    | 70.888 |
|  15 | #0- Hana Bhe (Filindostan) *Q*                     | 70.909 |
|  16 | #8- Chris Holmes (Hapilopper)                      | 70.941 |
|  17 | #43- Tsering Chu (The Sherpa Empire)               | 70.995 |
|  18 | #60- Rockii Ezis (Filindostan)                     | 71.083 |
|  19 | #27- Maddie Alexander (Tropicorp)                  | 71.108 |
|  20 | #96- Guillermo Archer (Abanhfleft)                 | 71.183 |
|  21 | #98- Wilma von Cärinthen (Abanhfleft) *Q*          | 71.328 |
|  22 | #31- Gwen Tracer Allison Oxton (Valentine Z)       | 71.330 |
|  23 | #44- Kai Qiang (The Sherpa Empire)                 | 71.380 |
|  24 | #55- Holly Aurora Lapia Starlight (G6MR)           | 71.396 |
|  25 | #35- Kassie Collins (Sword Island) *Q*             | 71.396 |
|  26 | #26- Jenna Logan (Tropicorp)                       | 71.398 |
|  27 | #70- Gongming Gao (The Northern Chinese Republic)  | 71.415 |
|  28 | #76- Jolyn Maxine Caulfield Ceeta (G6MR) *Q*       | 71.468 |
|  29 | #90- Lexie Shelby (Sword Island) *Q*               | 71.496 |
|  30 | #64- Alfonso Mercado (TJUN-ia)                     | 71.498 |
|  31 | #16- Eddie Walters Jr. (Xanneria)                  | 71.510 |
|  32 | #30- Lexi Patterson (Jebslund) *Q*                 | 71.533 |
|  33 | #40- Shigeru Ishikawa (Squidroidia)                | 71.592 |
|  34 | #5- Liangmei Li (Newmanistan)                      | 71.637 |
|  35 | #13- Brigadegeneral Eva Kerman (Jebslund)          | 71.645 |
|  36 | #99- Fiona Sunarya (Filindostan)                   | 71.665 |
|  37 | #05- Chris Gordon (Sword Island)                   | 71.680 |
|  38 | #03- Maddison Riley-Jones (TJUN-ia) *Q*            | 72.255 |
|  39 | #48- Ashley Matthews (Newmanistan) *Q*             | 72.477 |
|  40 | #56- Kelly Monroe (Xanneria) *Q*                   | 72.488 |
|  41 | #97- Celeste (Yesopalitha)                         | 72.982 |
|  42 | #00- Eiji Ibi (Aji No Moto)                        | 73.135 |
|  43 | #25- Jessica Franssen (Vangaziland)                | 73.840 |
|  44 | #17- Gavon Mitchell (Roromania)                    | 73.864 |
|  45 | #08- Bart Wheeler (Northwinds)                     | DNF    |
|  46 | #12- Ricky Lee (The Northern Chinese Republic) *Q* | DNF    |
+-----+----------------------------------------------------+--------+

Point Standings (After 2 Races):

+-----+----------------------------------------------------+--------+
| Pos |                       Driver                       | Points |
+-----+----------------------------------------------------+--------+
|   1 | #15- Anastasia Freya Yadana Aye (Valentine Z)*     |     92 |
|   2 | #18- Jeremiah Brooke (Saint Kanye)                 |     88 |
|   3 | #2- Centur Tiones (Vilita & Turori)                |     85 |
|   4 | #07- Michael Stefan (TJUN-ia)*                     |     85 |
|   5 | #7- Clarissa Alanis Star Samantha (Valentine Z)    |     81 |
|   6 | #14- River 'Shark' Suzgar II (Vilita & Turori)     |     81 |
|   7 | #06- Rinzi Aogar Zakhilwal (The Sherpa Empire)     |     80 |
|   8 | #73- Taylor Henderson (Hapilopper)                 |     77 |
|   9 | #46- Thea Alvarez (Saint Kanye)                    |     75 |
|  10 | #41- Yraaga Gilli'i (Vilita & Turori)              |     73 |
|  11 | #8- Chris Holmes (Hapilopper)                      |     71 |
|  12 | #81- Drake Stevenson (Hapilopper)                  |     69 |
|  13 | #28- Cocoabo #28 (Tropicorp)                       |     68 |
|  14 | #44- Kai Qiang (The Sherpa Empire)                 |     62 |
|  15 | #96- Guillermo Archer (Abanhfleft)                 |     62 |
|  16 | #0- Hana Bhe (Filindostan) *Q*                     |     60 |
|  17 | #31- Gwen Tracer Allison Oxton (Valentine Z)       |     55 |
|  18 | #79- Dinggu Wang (Abanhfleft)                      |     55 |
|  19 | #3- Sage Caldwell (Saint Kanye)                    |     55 |
|  20 | #5- Liangmei Li (Newmanistan)                      |     52 |
|  21 | #43- Tsering Chu (The Sherpa Empire)               |     50 |
|  22 | #98- Wilma von Cärinthen (Abanhfleft) *Q*          |     49 |
|  23 | #76- Jolyn Maxine Caulfield Ceeta (G6MR) *Q*       |     48 |
|  24 | #26- Jenna Logan (Tropicorp)                       |     46 |
|  25 | #64- Alfonso Mercado (TJUN-ia)                     |     43 |
|  26 | #99- Fiona Sunarya (Filindostan)                   |     43 |
|  27 | #27- Maddie Alexander (Tropicorp)                  |     43 |
|  28 | #55- Holly Aurora Lapia Starlight (G6MR)           |     41 |
|  29 | #60- Rockii Ezis (Filindostan)                     |     36 |
|  30 | #16- Eddie Walters Jr. (Xanneria)                  |     35 |
|  31 | #90- Lexie Shelby (Sword Island) *Q*               |     31 |
|  32 | #40- Shigeru Ishikawa (Squidroidia)                |     30 |
|  33 | #05- Chris Gordon (Sword Island)                   |     27 |
|  34 | #35- Kassie Collins (Sword Island) *Q*             |     26 |
|  35 | #12- Ricky Lee (The Northern Chinese Republic) *Q* |     25 |
|  36 | #13- Brigadegeneral Eva Kerman (Jebslund)          |     23 |
|  37 | #03- Maddison Riley-Jones (TJUN-ia) *Q*            |     23 |
|  38 | #70- Gongming Gao (The Northern Chinese Republic)  |     23 |
|  39 | #97- Celeste (Yesopalitha)                         |     18 |
|  40 | #56- Kelly Monroe (Xanneria) *Q*                   |     16 |
|  41 | #30- Lexi Patterson (Jebslund) *Q*                 |     15 |
|  42 | #17- Gavon Mitchell (Roromania)                    |     11 |
|  43 | #00- Eiji Ibi (Aji No Moto)                        |     10 |
|  44 | #25- Jessica Franssen (Vangaziland)                |     10 |
|  45 | #71- Rusty Ibuna (Filindostan                      |     10 |
|  46 | #48- Ashley Matthews (Newmanistan) *Q*             |      8 |
|  47 | #08- Bart Wheeler (Northwinds)                     |      4 |
|  48 | #59- Derek Harwood (Newmanistan)                   |      1 |
+-----+----------------------------------------------------+--------+

Next Races:
Multiversal- (July 20/21)- TMW 500, TMW Ramba Test Track. Ramba, Rinbung County, Tibet Province, The Sherpa Empire (Short Track)
EverLong- (July 20)- TBD, The Typhoon Speedway, Having City, Roromania (Speedway)

[The Sherpa Empire]

RAMBA TEST TRACK VISITOR INFORMATION

---

Getting There

---

Ramba is a small village in rural Tibet. To reach the village and the track, you will need to fly into Shigatse or Lhasa and drive from there. Detailed directions and a guide to nearby attractions are available here. As usual, there will be buses to the track from TMW's headquarters in Shigatse. Fans are recommended to use this bus service as there is limited parking in Ramba, and rural mountain roads are not designed to accommodate heavy traffic.

Due to the high elevation, visitors are recommended to arrive as early as possible so they will have time to acclimate before the race.

TMW 500 Weekend Schedule

---

Friday: TMW 400 Qualifying and Race (IRACT), Evening Concert Featuring Feather Girls
Saturday: TMW 500 Qualifying (NSSCRA), Yak Race, Evening Concert Featuring Phat Karma
Sunday: TMW 500 (NSSCRA)

Food and fan activities will be available throughout the weekend. International NSSCRA sponsors are invited to set up booths at Ramba Test Track. NSSCRA drivers are invited to try their hand at yak racing

TMW's factory in Shigatse will be open for factory tours throughout the weekend.

(OOC: No wikipedia pictures in the visitor info this season because the forum decided it doesn't like them.)

[Vilita and Turori]

Visit Marrietta 300, Corbin Motorsports Park, Corbin, Galliburton, Xanneria :: After a dismal conclusion to the first ever NSSCRA Everlong Series season, the Novorali Enterprises team worked hard over the offseason to improve their equipment as they looked to be more competitive challenging up front and moving into the championship conversation as the Maddi's who dominated the inaugural season of the Everlong Series have graduated up to the NSSCRA Multiversal Series. After a slow pre-season on track there were some doubts that the Novorali Enterprises team had done enough to move the needle and establish themselves as Championship Contenders but that would all change when the regular season kicked off with the Tundra Falls 400 at the Tundra Falls Proving Grounds in Newmanistan.

Teammates Turakki Mayelli and Lotara Novorali teamed up early in the event and locked bumpers being nearly inseparable for the remainder of the event. During the middle section of the race the duo retreated to the back of the back to avoid incident but the feared large incident never came to pass. With forty laps to go the Novorali Enterprises teammates began to work their way back to the front of the pack and with ten laps to go they were challenge for the lead once more, battling with a trio of Tropicorp drivers led by Bryan Harrison and the Aji No Moto duo of Tadashi Mitsubishi and Shigeru Tsuchie in the outside lane.

As the field behind them attempted to form up and make a last push for the race victory they instead only broke apart costing any chance of challenging the Novorali Enterprises duo who remained linked bumper to bumper. It allowed Mayelli and Novorali to finish 1-2 marking the first ever such finish for the team. Lotara Novorali never stuck a bumper out to jeopardize the finish pushing Mayelli the entire way across the line to ensure the greatest ever finish for the team now in its second season of Everlong Competition.

Crucially for the team not only was it an incredibly day at the track securing maximum available points but the race victory would also ensure at least one of the Novorali Enterprises drivers would have a place in the Everlong Series playoffs.

Still riding high the thrill of triumph from the Tundra Falls 400, the team headed to Corbin Motorsports Park in Galliburton, Xanneria for the first short track race of the season and one where Novorali was expected to thrive. Mayelli and Novorali, however, could only manage a mid-pack qualifying effort. Things would improve greatly for Novorali in the race as her short track upbringing shined, swiftly moving up into the top five and staying there for the majority of the race. Ultimately the strength of the contingent from Filindostan was too much for Novorali to overcome and she settled into fifth position holding on for her second consecutive Top Five finish. While it was no victory it was a solid day all around bolstered by the fact that Tundra Falls 400 winner Turakki Mayelli also survived a grueling race in Xanneria by driving the #49 Visit TI Dart to a 9th place finish. With two consecutive top ten finishes for both Mayelli and Novorali the duo found themselves tied atop the Everlong Series point standings two races into the season. The Novorali Enterprises duo find themselves five points ahead of the experienced duo of Filindostan's Barnabas Mate and Newmanistan's Bryan Harrison - a veteran of the NSSCRA Multiversal Series who is expected to mount a serious challenge for the Everlong Series title for Team Tropicorp.

---

Eelandii Motorsports Complex, Eelandii, Turori :: Fans of Auto Racing in the Vilitan Cove Region were given reason for excitement as the Atlantian Oceania Competitive Auto Racing (AOCAR) Stock Car Series announced they would open their season at the Lopinka National Speedway in Lopinka, Vilita. The neglected track outside of Vilita's colonial capital has been in a state of disrepair for many years leading some to question whether it would be a suitable venue for a top level motorsports event. At just over two miles long, the track is considered a superspeedway on paper but is likely to drive more like a temperamental oval with the rough and uneven track surface likely causing problems for drivers who will be unfamiliar with the course.

While fans of modern motorsport have questioned the decision to bring the Lopinka National Speedway out of mothballs for the debut season of AOCAR competition and particularly to insert it as a stand-alone kick off event for the debut season of the Atlantian Oceania Regional Circuit, it is perhaps just the publicity the Stock Car Series needed to draw in new fans and sponsors who may have otherwise been waiting to see how the series evolved over its first few events. Organizers have promised an exciting event at the Lopinka National designed to showcase the new teams and drivers of the AOCAF Series while also providing a rare opportunity for a SuperSpeedway event to focus on handling and strategy instead of drafting prowess with the unpredictable state of the track surface in Lopinka. AOCAR will host a full weekend of activity at the Lopinka National Speedway with a full practice on Friday, Qualifying on Saturday and race on Sunday. The Stock Car Series is reportedly in talks with Toys '4' All to be the title sponsor of the event though with the uncertainty of the quality of the racing action on track sponsors remain hesitant of linking themselves too openly with the race. Depending on whether the racing surface holds up through Practice on Friday, AOCAR officials will determine whether it will be safe to complete a full 150 lap event at the speedway. As a backup plan, organizers are holding the possibility of hosting two consecutive 50 lap events with drivers split across the two events based on their qualifying position (odd / even).

After the opener, the series will head to Aji No Moto for a more modern kickoff and its first combination event with the stars and big names of the NSSCRA's Everlong and Multiversal Series'. The AOCAR Stock Car Series will kick off festivities at the Sankyoku Triangle Tyrone Tabuso in Sankyoku. At the conclusion of the Sakyoku race the AOCAR teams will pack up and head over to the Serizawa Racing Circuit for an Aji-No moto double feature and the series first Road Course event.

AOCAR will link up again with the NSSCRA circuit at the Tropicorp Beach Course in Tropicorp while organizers were in negotiations for a short track event to slide into the schedule between the races in Aji no Moto and the beaches of Tropicoast. However the circuit will instead travel to the Zama Superspeedway in Oontaz, moving that event up from in front of the Hapilopper double feature where it will be backfilled by the short dirt course at the Mavaloiao Speedrome. The AOCAR events at the Serizawa Racing Circuit in Aji No Moto and either the Tropicoast Beach Course or the Zama Superspeedway race in the Sultanate of Oontaz will also be combination events with the Atlantian Oceania Motorsports Championships - a part of the AOlympic games. A tentative AOCAR Schedule is listed below:

As the question was asked on the AO Regional Message Board, the AOCAR Series will begin this upcoming weekend with Rd 1 and 2 with Rd 2 taking place ICly along with the NSSCRA event in Aji No Moto. Rd 3 will be scored with the start of the AOMC Aolympics the following week/end depending on the AOCAF schedule.

Rd. 1 :: [VIL] Lopinka National Speedway
Rd. 2 :: [ANM] Sankyoku Triangle Tyrone Tabuso
Rd. 3 :: [ANM] Serizawa Racing Circuit
Rd. 4 :: [OOZ] Zama Superspeedway
Rd. 5 :: [TRP] Tropicoast Beach Course
Rd. 6 :: [VIL] Mavaloiao Speedrome
Rd. 7 :: [HAP] The HNE Half-Mile
Rd. 8 :: [HAP] Hapilopper City Raceway
Rd. 9 :: TBA
Rd. 10 :: [VIL] Yutzie River Raceway
Rd. 11 :: [SLA] Parque de Carreras de Capital Edición Ovalada
Rd. 12 :: [NNW] Lannisburg Complex
Rd. 13 :: [STK] Jalton Superspeedway

Rd. 14 :: TBA
Rd. 15 :: [CPK] Cocoabo Park Circuit
Rd. 16 :: [NYK] Iskohtrinkyy

Rd. 17 :: [ABL] Fjellutfordring
Rd. 18 :: TBA
Rd. 19 :: [STK] Bishop Valley Raceway

Rd. 20 :: [TUR] Eelandii Stadium Course

Over 30 drivers have already signed up for the first ever AOCAR Stock Car Series season while organizers expect that most tracks on the circuit could potentially handle up to 40 cars leaving some room in the field if new teams and drivers are to be added along the way. Among those expected to compete a full campign in the quest for the AOCAR Stock Car Series Championship include former NSSRA drivers Jama'obo Pegasii of Vilita & Turori, Scott Hawking of Wreckeria and the Team Tropicorp duo of Cocoabo #78 and Anavella Ariiki. While some teams will be familiar to fans of the NSSCRA such as Hapilopper's Team Blue, Team Tropicorp, Glorious Free Republic Motorsports of Saint Kanye and even the return of the Direwolf Auto Team from New Northwesteros, the field will also include a number of new entries including Nasser Nasri Motorsports, Xtreme AOCAR Racing of Diarcesia and the Abovian entry Vankkavalta Suotelsesbillet. Nearly all drivers who have already committed to a full season of AOCAR competition were able to get their preferred car number with the exception of the Valentian driver 2nd Cpt. Annabelle Grace Whitney Zoey Luminisa “Femeia Simțurilor Extraordinare” Claire Estevi Danielle Tricia Kate Carrie Kora Costiniu Frumoasa Emiliana Georgeta Melanie Ioannes Corinna who will have to fall back on their backup #41 after the #3 was assigned to Glen Reid of Glorious Free Republics AOCAR.

[The Sherpa Empire]

TMW 400
Ramba Test Track (Short Layout)
Qualifying Results

---

1 #588 Koshiro Kawai (Abanhfleft)        15.333
 2 #84 Jamie Eirian (Valentine Z)         15.377
 3 #96 Shao Mengxia (Guilin)              15.394
 4 #40 Ongmu Yeti (Chengdu)               15.492
 5 #33 Tyler Linde (Nanchang)             15.548
 6 #9 Asmira Doleeb (Lhakpa-TMW)          15.604
 7 #21 Chai Dong (Nanning)                15.687
 8 #18 Huang Cheng (Guilin)               15.714
 9 #0 Chiemi Hino (Aji No Moto)           15.769
10 #32 Kalden Tso (Kowloon)               15.863
11 #86 Che Zechi (Kowloon)                15.958
12 #3  Xiu Guanying (Jiujiang)            15.960
13 #19 Chen Hui (Chengdu)                 16.081
14 #71 Rusty Ibuna (Filindostan)          16.190
15 #99 Guang Zun (Chongqing)              16.370
16 #66 Xiao Shibao (Macau)                16.412
17 #10 Gavin Ogden (Saint Kanye)          16.705
18 #108 Tsewang Bai (Nanning)             16.709
19 #69 Max Gannon (Saint Kanye)           16.829
20 #80 Cao Qian (Guangzhou)               16.963
21 #08 Kang Jibo (Macau)                  17.299
22 #58 Zhang Yelei (Hangzhou)             17.332
23 #26 Jiang Anyi (Guangzhou)             17.620
24 #12 Wang Lizhai (Changsha)             17.797
25 #1 Jill Singletary (Saint Kanye)       17.841
26 #38 Hang Qing (Xiamen)                 17.908
27 #15 Qin Di (Nanchang)                  17.959
28 #64 Phinjo Sun (Chengdu)               17.988
29 #25 Jiang Hong (Wuchang)               18.145
30 #110 Phat Karma (Lhakpa-TMW)           18.329
31 #23 David Clarke (Abanhfleft)          18.427
32 #36 Glen Reid (Saint Kanye)            18.462
33 #29 Hei Mi (Kunming)                   18.602
34 #22 Wangdi Yao (Chongqing)             18.840
35 #92 Wu Yong (Shenzhen)                 19.047
36 #077 Kemal Shalhoub (Chengdu)          19.446
37 #28 Lu Ming (Changsha)                 19.821
38 #001 Daku Doli Rai (Chengdu)           19.991
39 #82 Chou Min (Xiamen)                  20.033

Race Results

---

1 #23 David Clarke (Abanhfleft)          15.446
 2 #19 Chen Hui (Chengdu)                 15.471
 3 #71 Rusty Ibuna (Filindostan)          15.630
 4 #22 Wangdi Yao (Chongqing)             15.681
 5 #32 Kalden Tso (Kowloon)               15.743
 6 #80 Cao Qian (Guangzhou)               15.847
 7 #3  Xiu Guanying (Jiujiang)            15.901
 8 #588 Koshiro Kawai (Abanhfleft)        15.935
 9 #08 Kang Jibo (Macau)                  15.957
10 #92 Wu Yong (Shenzhen)                 16.011
11 #18 Huang Cheng (Guilin)               16.140
12 #69 Max Gannon (Saint Kanye)           16.331
13 #12 Wang Lizhai (Changsha)             16.459
14 #33 Tyler Linde (Nanchang)             16.501
15 #86 Che Zechi (Kowloon)                16.654
16 #36 Glen Reid (Saint Kanye)            16.804
17 #108 Tsewang Bai (Nanning)             16.879
18 #64 Phinjo Sun (Chengdu)               16.990
19 #28 Lu Ming (Changsha)                 17.012
20 #66 Xiao Shibao (Macau)                17.329
21 #99 Guang Zun (Chongqing)              17.404
22 #26 Jiang Anyi (Guangzhou)             17.405
23 #40 Ongmu Yeti (Chengdu)               17.532
24 #1 Jill Singletary (Saint Kanye)       17.571
25 #82 Chou Min (Xiamen)                  17.619
26 #21 Chai Dong (Nanning)                17.630
27 #0 Chiemi Hino (Aji No Moto)           17.669
28 #58 Zhang Yelei (Hangzhou)             18.039
29 #110 Phat Karma (Lhakpa-TMW)           18.168
30 #10 Gavin Ogden (Saint Kanye)          18.378
31 #38 Hang Qing (Xiamen)                 18.576
32 #077 Kemal Shalhoub (Chengdu)          18.641
33 #25 Jiang Hong (Wuchang)               18.752
34 #001 Daku Doli Rai (Chengdu)           DNF
35 #29 Hei Mi (Kunming)                   DNF
36 #15 Qin Di (Nanchang)                  DNF
37 #96 Shao Mengxia (Guilin)              DNF
38 #84 Jamie Eirian (Valentine Z)         DNF
39 #9 Asmira Doleeb (Lhakpa-TMW)          DNF

1 #80 Cao Qian (Guangzhou)               15.377
 2 #32 Kalden Tso (Kowloon)               15.637
 3 #66 Xiao Shibao (Macau)                15.662
 4 #71 Rusty Ibuna (Filindostan)          15.684
 5 #22 Wangdi Yao (Chongqing)             15.711
 6 #3  Xiu Guanying (Jiujiang)            15.752
 7 #0 Chiemi Hino (Aji No Moto)           15.784
 8 #588 Koshiro Kawai (Abanhfleft)        15.909
 9 #86 Che Zechi (Kowloon)                15.950
10 #33 Tyler Linde (Nanchang)             16.117
11 #26 Jiang Anyi (Guangzhou)             16.366
12 #69 Max Gannon (Saint Kanye)           16.397
13 #108 Tsewang Bai (Nanning)             16.520
14 #18 Huang Cheng (Guilin)               16.582
15 #19 Chen Hui (Chengdu)                 16.809
16 #110 Phat Karma (Lhakpa-TMW)           16.860
17 #21 Chai Dong (Nanning)                17.481
18 #12 Wang Lizhai (Changsha)             17.488
19 #38 Hang Qing (Xiamen)                 17.527
20 #10 Gavin Ogden (Saint Kanye)          17.729
21 #25 Jiang Hong (Wuchang)               17.913
22 #92 Wu Yong (Shenzhen)                 18.001
23 #36 Glen Reid (Saint Kanye)            18.133
24 #82 Chou Min (Xiamen)                  18.148
25 #58 Zhang Yelei (Hangzhou)             18.197
26 #28 Lu Ming (Changsha)                 18.314
27 #08 Kang Jibo (Macau)                  18.367
28 #64 Phinjo Sun (Chengdu)               18.537
29 #99 Guang Zun (Chongqing)              18.550
30 #1 Jill Singletary (Saint Kanye)       18.761
31 #40 Ongmu Yeti (Chengdu)               18.798
32 #077 Kemal Shalhoub (Chengdu)          DNF
33 #23 David Clarke (Abanhfleft)          DNF

1 #10 Gavin Ogden (Saint Kanye)          15.490
 2 #71 Rusty Ibuna (Filindostan)          15.539
 3 #66 Xiao Shibao (Macau)                15.686
 4 #86 Che Zechi (Kowloon)                15.694
 5 #80 Cao Qian (Guangzhou)               15.699
 6 #36 Glen Reid (Saint Kanye)            15.712
 7 #69 Max Gannon (Saint Kanye)           15.715
 8 #588 Koshiro Kawai (Abanhfleft)        15.763
 9 #19 Chen Hui (Chengdu)                 15.921
10 #21 Chai Dong (Nanning)                15.939
11 #32 Kalden Tso (Kowloon)               15.977
12 #33 Tyler Linde (Nanchang)             16.378
13 #58 Zhang Yelei (Hangzhou)             16.392
14 #108 Tsewang Bai (Nanning)             16.434
15 #82 Chou Min (Xiamen)                  16.631
16 #0 Chiemi Hino (Aji No Moto)           16.677
17 #22 Wangdi Yao (Chongqing)             16.770
18 #92 Wu Yong (Shenzhen)                 17.027
19 #64 Phinjo Sun (Chengdu)               17.044
20 #26 Jiang Anyi (Guangzhou)             17.122
21 #08 Kang Jibo (Macau)                  17.130
22 #40 Ongmu Yeti (Chengdu)               17.136
23 #1 Jill Singletary (Saint Kanye)       17.189
24 #25 Jiang Hong (Wuchang)               17.464
25 #3  Xiu Guanying (Jiujiang)            17.716
26 #38 Hang Qing (Xiamen)                 17.745
27 #18 Huang Cheng (Guilin)               18.053
28 #28 Lu Ming (Changsha)                 18.766
29 #110 Phat Karma (Lhakpa-TMW)           18.986
30 #99 Guang Zun (Chongqing)              DNF
31 #12 Wang Lizhai (Changsha)             DNF

1 #33 Tyler Linde (Nanchang)             15.329
 2 #40 Ongmu Yeti (Chengdu)               15.399
 3 #19 Chen Hui (Chengdu)                 15.496
 4 #71 Rusty Ibuna (Filindostan)          15.512
 5 #08 Kang Jibo (Macau)                  15.539
 6 #32 Kalden Tso (Kowloon)               15.992
 7 #66 Xiao Shibao (Macau)                15.993
 8 #22 Wangdi Yao (Chongqing)             16.016
 9 #10 Gavin Ogden (Saint Kanye)          16.076
10 #21 Chai Dong (Nanning)                16.193
11 #28 Lu Ming (Changsha)                 16.310
12 #108 Tsewang Bai (Nanning)             16.405
13 #82 Chou Min (Xiamen)                  16.407
14 #36 Glen Reid (Saint Kanye)            16.464
15 #18 Huang Cheng (Guilin)               16.874
16 #64 Phinjo Sun (Chengdu)               16.905
17 #86 Che Zechi (Kowloon)                16.997
18 #58 Zhang Yelei (Hangzhou)             17.180
19 #69 Max Gannon (Saint Kanye)           17.310
20 #3  Xiu Guanying (Jiujiang)            17.441
21 #80 Cao Qian (Guangzhou)               17.533
22 #1 Jill Singletary (Saint Kanye)       17.693
23 #588 Koshiro Kawai (Abanhfleft)        17.716
24 #92 Wu Yong (Shenzhen)                 17.848
25 #25 Jiang Hong (Wuchang)               17.921
26 #110 Phat Karma (Lhakpa-TMW)           17.943
27 #0 Chiemi Hino (Aji No Moto)           18.057
28 #38 Hang Qing (Xiamen)                 18.589
29 #26 Jiang Anyi (Guangzhou)             18.685

1 #71 Rusty Ibuna (Filindostan)          15.511
 2 #28 Lu Ming (Changsha)                 15.657
 3 #66 Xiao Shibao (Macau)                16.084
 4 #32 Kalden Tso (Kowloon)               16.116
 5 #08 Kang Jibo (Macau)                  16.354
 6 #80 Cao Qian (Guangzhou)               16.426
 7 #26 Jiang Anyi (Guangzhou)             16.433
 8 #0 Chiemi Hino (Aji No Moto)           16.516
 9 #588 Koshiro Kawai (Abanhfleft)        16.577
10 #86 Che Zechi (Kowloon)                16.719
11 #18 Huang Cheng (Guilin)               16.914
12 #22 Wangdi Yao (Chongqing)             17.246
13 #36 Glen Reid (Saint Kanye)            17.365
14 #25 Jiang Hong (Wuchang)               17.386
15 #110 Phat Karma (Lhakpa-TMW)           17.460
16 #1 Jill Singletary (Saint Kanye)       17.503
17 #58 Zhang Yelei (Hangzhou)             17.580
18 #40 Ongmu Yeti (Chengdu)               17.666
19 #10 Gavin Ogden (Saint Kanye)          17.672
20 #69 Max Gannon (Saint Kanye)           17.681
21 #3  Xiu Guanying (Jiujiang)            17.780
22 #19 Chen Hui (Chengdu)                 17.852
23 #64 Phinjo Sun (Chengdu)               18.140
24 #21 Chai Dong (Nanning)                18.217
25 #82 Chou Min (Xiamen)                  18.346
26 #108 Tsewang Bai (Nanning)             18.496
27 #38 Hang Qing (Xiamen)                 18.912
28 #33 Tyler Linde (Nanchang)             DNF
29 #92 Wu Yong (Shenzhen)                 DNF

1 #71 Rusty Ibuna (Filindostan)          15.572
 2 #32 Kalden Tso (Kowloon)               15.893
 3 #66 Xiao Shibao (Macau)                16.151
 4 #80 Cao Qian (Guangzhou)               16.176
 5 #22 Wangdi Yao (Chongqing)             16.285
 6 #19 Chen Hui (Chengdu)                 16.310
 7 #588 Koshiro Kawai (Abanhfleft)        16.380
 8 #86 Che Zechi (Kowloon)                16.403
 9 #08 Kang Jibo (Macau)                  16.669
10 #69 Max Gannon (Saint Kanye)           16.687
11 #36 Glen Reid (Saint Kanye)            16.896
12 #18 Huang Cheng (Guilin)               16.913
13 #3  Xiu Guanying (Jiujiang)            16.918
14 #0 Chiemi Hino (Aji No Moto)           16.941
15 #108 Tsewang Bai (Nanning)             16.947
16 #10 Gavin Ogden (Saint Kanye)          17.069
17 #21 Chai Dong (Nanning)                17.092
18 #26 Jiang Anyi (Guangzhou)             17.202
19 #28 Lu Ming (Changsha)                 17.212
20 #40 Ongmu Yeti (Chengdu)               17.306
21 #82 Chou Min (Xiamen)                  17.430
22 #58 Zhang Yelei (Hangzhou)             17.478
23 #64 Phinjo Sun (Chengdu)               17.523
24 #1 Jill Singletary (Saint Kanye)       17.743
25 #110 Phat Karma (Lhakpa-TMW)           17.847
26 #25 Jiang Hong (Wuchang)               17.887
27 #38 Hang Qing (Xiamen)                 18.270
28 #33 Tyler Linde (Nanchang)             DNF
29 #92 Wu Yong (Shenzhen)                 DNF
30 #99 Guang Zun (Chongqing)              DNF
31 #12 Wang Lizhai (Changsha)             DNF
32 #077 Kemal Shalhoub (Chengdu)          DNF
33 #23 David Clarke (Abanhfleft)          DNF
34 #001 Daku Doli Rai (Chengdu)           DNF
35 #29 Hei Mi (Kunming)                   DNF
36 #15 Qin Di (Nanchang)                  DNF
37 #96 Shao Mengxia (Guilin)              DNF
38 #84 Jamie Eirian (Valentine Z)         DNF
39 #9 Asmira Doleeb (Lhakpa-TMW)          DNF

IRACT requests open charters for #71 Rusty Ibuna (Filindostan) and #32 Kalden Tso (The Sherpa Empire).

[Hapilopper]

Road Marietta Racing Facility, North of Marietta, Galliburton, Xanneria
The XANAir 300
Drake Stevenson came out of the final turn and onto the front straight to start another lap. The race was going quite well for him – matter of fact, it was going quite well for all of Team Blue – with all three drivers running near the front of the field. But Drake kept looking at that plush bird and kept getting madder and madder. Maybe it was the messaging behind it – whoever sent it to Drake was probably gloating over the fact that his Tundra Falls 500 had been ruined by a bird.

As he crossed the line, he got a message from crew chief John Malloy. This was a standard message, a callout of lap times and who was in front and behind.

“10.253, 4th, 46 leads by 2.3, you lead 07 by 0.5. Temps, please.”

Translation: Drake Stevenson had just run a lap of 1:10.253. He was 4th and trailed Thea Alvarez by 2.3 seconds but led Michael Stefan by half a second. Drake also needed to give out readings of his water and oil temperature.

“190, 240.”

Translation: Water at 190 Fahrenheit, oil at 240 Fahrenheit. Those were good readings. It meant the engine was nice and healthy.

And all was well, as Drake shifted down to head into the first corner. He didn’t think of anything but wanting to catch Thea Alvarez for 3rd. Through the roller coaster uphill-downhill esses. Uphill a bit, then downhill and uphill again before staring at a crowd of fans watching from arguably the best seats in the house, then a left-hand corner for a small straight. And as Drake looked at the fans on the hill ahead of the esses, he thought about it a bit.

“Wait a second, Malloy, who did you say was behind me?”

“07,” John responded. “Mike Stefan.”

“Where’s he from again?” Drake asked.

“TJUN-ia,” John replied. “Why?”

It’s important to point out that, at this point, there was no way to prove who had given Drake this plush bird. Nobody had come forward at that point, and in fact, nobody had even known about the plush bird. Drake didn’t say anything on the TV or radio broadcasts, nor did he say anything to the other drivers in the drivers meeting.

“That SON OF A BITCH!” Drake roared over the radio.

And so Drake reached over towards the plush bird before accidentally grabbing the large in-car camera that had been installed in his car. When the camera was jostled a bit, HTN technicians, able to rotate and zoom the camera from the production truck behind the track, turned the camera so it was facing Drake. Fans watching the NSSCRA broadcast on HTN suddenly saw Drake Stevenson staring the in-car camera down. Being one of the few, if not the only driver, to still wear an open-face helmet, fans could see him swearing for a bit as he turned back to looking out the windshield before he slowed for the two right-hand corners on the back half of the circuit. The incident took a matter of a few seconds, but Drake put two and two together.

He didn’t need to throw something out the window and have it be seen on live TV for millions to see. So he’d stew on it a little more. And he could be heard muttering to himself as he went down the long straight. And his mic was keyed, so his whole crew could hear this little tirade as he roared down the backstraight.

A few days later, on H-Sports’ show “NSSCRA Radioactive,” the extent of Drake’s tirade became known, becoming yet another meme when Drake kind of didn’t want to become another meme. But at least this time, Drake got a good finish out of the day, finishing 5th, while Taylor Henderson came home 3rd, and Chris Holmes, who by his own admission was a bit “rusty” on the road circuits, finished 16th.

But after the race, Drake Stevenson was still stewing over the bird. He grabbed the plush bird from his car, and after being interviewed by the world’s media on pit road for his 5th place finish, he stormed to the garage and sought out the TJUN-ians. When he found them, he showed off the bird and started asking questions.

“You wouldn’t happen to know the dipshit that was responsible for this, would you?” Drake asked.

[The Northern Chinese Republic]

Ricky Lee was trying to pass Jolyn Maxine Caulfield Ceeta, but he didn't have a lot of room. It was hard to say if Jolyn was crowding him or if he just misjudged how much room they had. He snagged a wheel on the rough ground at the edge of the track, lost control of the car, and spun across the track. Other drivers swerved to avoid his car. Gavon Mitchell bumped him -- just a glancing blow as he tried to dodge around the stopped car -- but between that and the wild skidding, Lee had enough damage to take him out of the race.

The Beiyang crew told Gao, "Lee just crashed out, it's all you now."

It was Gao's chance to make up for his disappointment at Tundra Falls, where he was unable to finish due to a mechanical failure. He tried his best, pushing as hard as he could, but his best was only good enough for 27th place.

He was sure he had the potential to do better, but he just hadn't pulled it off. Something was missing.

After the race, he tried to put his finger on it. What did people like Rinzi Zakhilwal or Jeremiah Brooke have that he didn't? What was the secret?

He was missing something. Or maybe someone. He'd been lonely for a while, not fully satisfied with the single life, but for some reason it was hitting him harder now than it had in Tundra Falls. He didn't have any frustrating experiences with Xannerian women to make him depressed, but something just felt different... The track wasn't as busy without the Everlong series or the events going on at the various stadia in the Proving Grounds' infield, but he didn't see how that had anything to do with his love life.

[TJUN-ia]

This blog was written by Derrick Carlisle, Jaguar Racing's Social Media Manager

I don't know what to say to you all. It's pretty rare that I have to say that to you all as the dedicated mouthpiece of everything Jaguar Racing, but events of the last 48 hours (heck, even the last 6) have certainly changed what I was supposed to give you all tonight. I need to get a few thongs off my chest about what happened today and over the course of the weekend but before I do, I'll give you a quick rundown of the results and news of the week.

The Everlong was in Corbin, Xanneria for the www.visitmarietta.xan 300 and our T2 gang did respectable overall in the 2nd race of the season, with Robin Dragonovic (@RD97SNL) starting 30th but rebounding to 21st while Alice Jepkosgei (@AK96) qualified spectacularly in 3rd before falling down to 24th out of the 25 cars that made the end. Rustam Ilyich Yudin took the win in the end over polesitter Mercy Binayas and Barnabas Mate, the front of a Filindostan 2-3-4 by the way, and our T2 charge is currently down the Championship table at early doors. As for the Cup Series at Road Marietta, it was another case of contrasting fortunes with Michael Stefan (@Stefan07) starting 17th and finishing 12th, Alfonso Mercado (@AM64) starting in 7th miraculously but finishing in 30th and Maddison Riley-Jones (@MRJ03) starting 31st and ending up in 38th. It certainly was a low weekend after the high in Tundra Falls, but we'll take anything we can get this early on. Anastasia Freya Yadana Aye claimed the 2nd Chase spot over Rinzi Aogar Zakhilwal and Taylor Henderson, who obviously got a bit of drag from the guy in 5th.

In other news, TJUN-ia-MRO, in collaboration with the CEA Zone Government, has decided to finally throw TJUN-ia's name in the hat for the Rumble in the Rice Fields, the biggest event on the IRACT calendar. In order to continue the development of TJUN-ian racing talent, the MRO-CEA combo will send two drivers to the event in order to wave the TJUN-ian flag in such a major event, and the two drivers in question are certainly very interesting: #279 (hopefully) will be 18-year-old Batu Tüvshinbayar, of WGP2 fame, who's debut season in the category was certainly quite dramatic to the neutral observer while #111 (again, hopefully) will be operated by 16-year-old Lam Chow-Cheung, a developmental driver that racing fans in the CEA have certainly grown to love very quickly in the junior categories of the region. Both of them will hopefully do good enough to maybe warrant a 2nd visit next time out!

Ok then...now onto what you've all been waiting for. This weekend was already a bit iffy for us but as we prepared to head out for Round 3, which is the TMW 500 in Tibet (The Sherpa Empire) for the MCS and the first-ever race at The Typhoon Speedway in Roromania in the ECS, as a storm that brewed out on track was headed straight towards us and, to be exact, me. And his name was Drake Stevenson.

You see, some jackass out there sent Mr Stevenson, the inaugural entry of MemeWatch, a dead bird plush, clearly mocking his birdstrike from Tundra Falls. As I was the one who added the bird strike to MemeWatch and essentially mocked Mr Hapilopper for inciting Margaret's wrath, I became a prime suspect automatically for the guy - so much so, in fact, that he basically slagged me off mid-race using some of the vilest language I have ever heard on a race track. The reason we know this now is because a fan in the crowd was listening in to Drake on his race radio, as one is to do in this series, and sent out a recording of the entire moment onto twii.tur, which essentially gave me, Harpa Gylfisdóttir (@IstruinJR) and the rest of the JR camp a pre-emptive warning of what could happen in the post-race.

And happen, it did. As if on cue, Stevenson crashed the JR garages demanding to know who was at fault for the plush in the first place. Harpa's first sentence was "What in the fuck in that?!" and from there, things went down. He spotted me and tried to talk to me directly, think that it was I who had done the deed, but I tried my best to defend myself with lines such as "I DIDN'T DO SHIT!" and "WHY WOULD I, OF ALL PEOPLE, DO THAT TO YOU?!". In the end, things got so bad, that Drake and I had to be physically separated before the driver of #81 was slapped in the face by Ísfrúin, ran down verbally with lines such as "WE ARE NOT LIKE THAT, YOU ARROGANT B*****D!" before being "escorted" back to Team Blue HQ promptly with a direct message to MacAllister: "Keep your drivers in check or so help me".

So, the moral of the story today is simple: check the facts first before you try and make false accusations like that, Drake. No one in this entire organisation, from top to bottom, had any idea what that plush even was let alone sent it to you so blatantly. I know I can be quite...OTT at times, but I CERTAINLY WOULDN'T BE AS BRASEN AS TO SEND YOU THAT AFTER THE WHOLE FRANK BRONSON DEBACLE! DON'T YOU REMEMBER THAT, YOU IDIOT?! I THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO DIE!

On this day, Drake Stevenson crossed a line and I don't think I can ever forgive him for that. If he is reading this, then this song is dedicated both to you and to the venue of the next race. Now fuck off, will you?!

---

Current MCS Standings: #07 - 4th (85pts/1 Win)/#64 - 25th (43pts)/#03 - 37th (23pts)
Current ECS Standings: #97 - 23rd (28pts)/#96 - 21st (30pts)
Next MCS Race: TMW 500, TMW Ramba Test Track. Ramba, Rinbung County, Tibet Province, The Sherpa Empire
Next ECS Race: The Typhoon Speedway, Having City, [nation]Roromania[nation]
Music of the Round: Coldplay - Princess of China ft. Rihanna (JPN/LAT)

MemeWatch
1) "Mr Hapilopper" Drake Stevenson (#81) - For inciting war because of a dead bird Margaret gave him...twice!

Updated Every Sunday Night

---

"It couldn't have been more perfect even if i tried."

That is what he thought as he saw the post from his former employee about the events in Galliburton.

The events in Galliburton that HE set up, and he had no qualms with that. Not anymore.

Things were supposed to be different.

He was supposed to be out there, defending the honour of the International Community from outside powers, not sitting in an office in fucking Riverside contemplating what could've been.

He was supposed to be the one Stefan and Mercado looked up to for advice, not some MRO-aligned slob from the NAU.

HE was supposed to be commander-in-chief of TJUN-ia's Racing Team, not down in the history books as a misogynist...and by accident at that!

HE didn't know that dumpling was in that hamper but in the end, "Hendo", that bitch, made sure he was done.

The MRO gave him only a single strike before he, and his mate from Team Blue, was banished into the aether.

It was one simple mistake...but it was enough to see him fall before Mercado could...come out.

"Both JR and TB are not the same teams as when I left,"

"But I don't care."

In the eyes of the one they call Daniel Marx, both organisations are complicit in tarnishing his reputation forever.

In the eyes of Daniel Marx, sacrificing Derrick Carlisle is a small price to pay for getting his own back on both JR and Team Blue.

In the eyes of Daniel Marx, this can only continue until something happens which can allow him to bring down Harpa's regime and destroy TB's identity.

All he has to do is to continue to poke the bear...the one named Drake...

If he falls to pure anger...then JR may fall into his lap...

The question is...what will break the hold he has on himself?

Until that is answered, he will await here and plan for the bear to be unleashed...

"It's only a matter of time until I, and maybe Chet as well, can return to this sport in peace..."

"It's only a matter of time..."

[Hapilopper]

The Team Blue Center, Road Marietta Racing Facility, North of Marietta, Galliburton, Xanneria
After the XANAir 300
The rest of Team Blue were in the midst of packing up after a fine race in Xanneria, for the XANAir 300. Taylor Henderson had finished 3rd, Drake Stevenson had finished 5th, and Chris Holmes had finished 16th. There was no reason to suspect that anything was going on in the garage area amongst the crew, because there hadn’t really been any incidents between Team Blue and other cars, and the deal with the plush bird, everyone figured would be over quickly. Either Jaguar Racing would come clean or they’d say they weren’t responsible, Drake would ask around a bit and that would be that.

So imagine everyone’s surprise when a whole crew from Jaguar Racing arrived at the Team Blue Center, led by their team boss Harpa Gylfisdóttir, physically carrying Drake back to the Center. Amanda, hearing quite the ruckus outside, came out to see what was going on. She had heard about the plush bird, and had read Derrick Carlisle’s social media posts. After all, who didn’t? Either way, she had put two and two together and came to the same conclusion that Drake did – he had to have been the culprit.

Turns out that Drake had asked the Jaguar Racing crew if they knew “the dipshit” that was responsible for the plush bird. The Jaguar crew apparently vehemently denied it. Drake asked Carlisle about it, things got heated and the two had to be separated. Gylfisdóttir then apparently called Drake an “arrogant bastard” and smacked him right across the face – a nice shot, too, since Drake’s face had a huge red mark on it from the shot. Drake then hurled the plush bird at Gylfisdóttir’s face from point-blank range before he was physically removed and delivered to the Team Blue Center.

As Amanda stood outside watching the spectacle, Drake stormed in the Center as Gylfisdóttir called the team boss out.

“Keep your drivers in check or so help me,” Gylfisdóttir warned.

“Excuse me? Keep my drivers in check? Who’s been doing all the instigating around here?” Amanda snapped. By now the rest of Team Blue had heard the ruckus and rushed outside to see what was going on. “Who’s the one that’s been making the big deal out of the bird? It sure in the hell ain’t anyone but you guys. How about you keep your little shithead writer in check, or so help ME, I’ll come after him myself! You tell him a little saying. Talk shit, get hit!”

Amanda looked like she wanted to fight. And the rest of Team Blue looked like they wanted to fight – with the exception of driver coach Frank Bronson and driver Chris Holmes. It’s possible that, were it not for their restraint, Team Blue might have charged after the Jaguar Racing crew and a huge brawl might have broken out right in front of the Team Blue Center.

Frank ran in front of Amanda and held his arm out, trying to calm the situation down.

“STOP! Please!” Frank shouted. “What the hell are we doing? Are we seriously fighting over a plush bird? Jesus Christ! Just, please. Think about for a second. ALL OF YOU. We’re letting this get out of hand!”

Frank then turned to the rest of Team Blue and pointed them back in the Center. He was fuming over what had happened, and really didn’t want his team to become embroiled in something so silly like a blood feud over a plush bird. As he turned back to the Jaguar Racing crew, he thought about it for a second, then went back in the Center.

And on the plane ride home, Amanda and Frank asked Drake about it – what did he expect to accomplish by heading over to the Jaguar Racing garage?

“I was hoping they’d know who sent us the bird,” Drake said. “I didn’t think it’d get out of control like that. If I knew I would have, I would have asked you guys to join me.”

“Well, that’s all they’re all going to be talking about tomorrow. The fight between the Haps and the TJUN-ians,” Amanda said. “It pisses me off. We’re supposed to be friends in this business, not doing dumb shit like this. I’m going to be writing a letter to those guys tomorrow to let them know that, yeah, we don’t have a problem with them, but if Derrick could calm down, that’d be great.”

“All of that shit was because of him,” Drake said.

“Do you even know he sent the bird?” Frank asked.

“No, but put two and two together, Bronson,” Drake replied. “Who’s the only person making a deal out of me hitting that bird? It’s that little shitbird social media guy. All of this is because of him. Period.”

Things were about to get weirder.

Drake Stevenson’s house, Poplar Prairie, Hapilopper City
The next day
Drake had just come home from the Team Blue Shop, where there had been quite a spirited meeting about both the pretty good race the three Team Blue drivers had enjoyed, but also the little post-race skirmish and how all of this could have been avoided if “Numbnuts Carlisle,” as Taylor Henderson called him, had just left alone.

He was in the midst of putting all of his clothes from the Xanneria trip into his washing machine when he heard his doorbell ring. Not many people came to his door, so it had to have been something. When he answered the door, a delivery person was walking back to his truck, and a box was waiting at his front door.

I didn’t order anything, Drake thought. What the hell is this?

He picked up the box, opened it up, and to his surprise, he found another plush bird. He stared at it for a long time before bringing it into the house. He sat down and examined the bird. Immediately, he realized that nobody from Jaguar Racing had to be responsible for the first bird. After all, he highly doubted they had his home address. So he got out his phone and gave Amanda a call.

“Hey, Amanda? Stevenson here. Call off the dogs. I don’t think Carlisle sent the bird.”

“Why not?”

“Because I got one here at my house and I don’t think Derrick has my address.”

“Oh.”

Drake thought about it for a very long time and wondered who had his home address. It wasn’t Chris Holmes or Taylor Henderson, nor was it Frank Bronson. He didn’t give his address out to many NSSCRA drivers, nor did he really want to. But as he sat there, a thought rushed into his mind.

Chet Byrd.

No way, Drake thought.

[Saint Kanye]

Road Marietta Racing Facility, Galliburton, Xanneria
The XanAir 300

Before being part of St. Kanye's NSSCRA delegation, Jeremiah Brooke hated road courses. As a participant in the developmental series, he was able to pick up wins on oval tracks, but when right turns became added to the mix, he found out that he was getting left behind by the big boys. And he didn't want that. So when he got called up five seasons ago to be part of Glorious Free Republic Motorsports' lineup, he decided he didn't want to get embarrassed in front of the whole world, so he enlisted the help of one of the domestic top tier's road course masters, Philip West, who himself would find a seat at GFR as its first R&D entry. Philip was able to show his worth at the Vilaye Energy Drink 314, netting third place. But Jeremiah, his protege, won the race after an intense battle with Stacie Houston, now his wife. Road courses didn't seem so bad after all for him, which was good, since the NSSCRA schedule has more of them per season than there was in the Yeezie series.

With eight laps to go in the XanAir 300, Jeremiah was running in the top ten. Things seem to be going well for him - he was now comfortable with this kind of track, he had hours (if not days) of practice and Stacie's encouragement to help him through, not to mention the momentum from his runner-up finish at last week's Tundra Falls 500. Up ahead of him and his #18 Chadwick were four Dart cars - all three Vilita & Turori Motorsports entries (#2 Centur Tiones, #14 River Suzgar, #41 Yraaga Gilli'i), and Cocoabo #28 in car #28 (duh) for Team Tropicorp.

Jeremiah gave the bird a tap on the rear bumper. He was daring enough to make contact with other drivers' cars, but careful enough not to do it in a way that will wreck them out. Once #28 has slowed down momentarily, that was #18's moment to strike and get past. Six laps to go. Up ahead are the #41 and #2, or as the Kanyean media call them, YG and the Lumberjack. Jeremiah waited for a gap to open up between them, then maneuvered through it. Success. Two more positions gained. River, the "Shark", came up next. This one was tougher, with the two of them having to trade paint and the fifth place spot for a few laps before Jeremiah was able to pull ahead, leaving River to deal with a lapped car that had appeared in front of them.

Two to go. The white and green #18 found itself behind two blue and orange Prestons from Hapilopper, #81 and #73, Drake Stevenson and Taylor Henderson respectively. Once again Jeremiah waited for a gap to open up, but now Centur suddenly came up behind him. No, sir. Going through a turn, the Yeezie gave Drake a nudge to loosen him up, then made the pass. Henderson, or "Hendo", wouldn't budge though. White flag. Jeremiah stayed side by side with Hendo. The #15 of Anastasia Aye and the #06 of Rinzi Aogar Zakhilwal, running 1 and 2, were now visible in front of them. The #18 and #73 traded paint, with the #81, #2, and several other cars in tow. Finally, just a few hundred feet from the start/finish line, Hendo was able to break loose and claim third. Drake was also just about to follow his teammate to the line, but Jeremiah was able to block him off and claim fourth for himself.



Despite once again starting mid-pack, twenty-second to be exact, Thea Alvarez was able to dominate the early stages of the race. The #46 Chad looked untouchable, leading 36 of the first 50 laps. But then a yellow flag, caused by Ricky Lee being bumped by Gavon Mitchell, shook up the field. Thea found herself getting shuffled out of position, even dropping to as low as thirty-third and a lap down. She did get the lap back after another caution though, and clawed her way up to thirteenth with eight to go. An outside pass on TJUN-ian Michael Stefan's #07 Dart put Thea at twelfth. Up ahead were almost all the other Darts, with Jeremiah picking them off one by one. Thea tried to find a way to get to her teammate, and while the Darts put up quite a fight, she was able to overtake some of them. In the end, she would finish eighth, with ninth placer Clarissa Samantha and her #7 Eveline lined up behind her, just as she did in the Exhibition at the Proving Grounds two weeks ago. And behind Clarissa, Cocoabo #28 and Yraaga Gilli'i were side by side, only 0.0001 second separating the two.



Sage Caldwell started deep in the field in thirty-ninth. His rise to the front was a much slower process - he didn't break the top ten until Lap 72 of 120, and didn't lead until Lap 93. While he got shuffled back shortly after that, Sage was able to salvage a much better finish than the twenty-fifth he had at the season opener, narrowly nosing out Hana Bhe at the line. Fourteenth place, decent enough. That also was where he ended up in the points, so if for some freak reason the season ended then and there, he'd be in. Compare that to last season - after two points races, Sage and the #3 team would only be at thirty-eighth, a crash at the 500 putting them at an early hole.



Shortly after the race was over, Sage took pictures with his fans and entertained a few questions from the press, telling them that he believes he's improving, and that he's trying his best to make it happen faster and get better results sooner. Sage then made the trek back to the GFR garage area, can of Blood Moon beer in hand. Upon passing the Jaguar Racing garage though, he heard some shouting going on, and decided to investigate. Taking a peek, he saw Derrick Carlisle, the team's social media manager, in the middle of a quarrel with a man in a blue and orange firesuit. Team Blue crew member? There weren't any incidents between the TJUN-ians and Haps in the race, if Sage remembered correctly. The crew member turned around, allowing Sage to see his face, and see that it didn't belong to a crew member at all.

"Damn, that's Drake Stevenson! The f-ck's he doing here?" the dreadlocked Yeezie driver said to himself. Some more shouting, and then Drake was slapped by JR boss Harpa Gylfisdóttir. "F-ck, I gotta get out of here." And he did, before Drake or any of the TJUN-ians could know that he was there.

"You mean you didn't know what it's all about?" Jeremiah asked Sage back at the GFR garage.

"No, no clue, man, but it has to be very serious, seeing as Harpa herself laid hands on Drake."

"Where were you the last hour?" asked Thea.

"I was with my fans and the media, why do you ask? That was before I witnessed some of the fight before getting here."

"And you didn't know what the fight was about?" Jeremiah asked again.

"Like I said, dude, no!"

"Alright, let me fill you in. Drake came here too, asked about someone giving him a plush bird before the race. Reference to how his 500 was ruined when he ran over a bird."

"Yeah, yeah, that I know. And then what?"

"And then I said 'No, Drake, you know we're tight, and do I even look like the kind of person who would do that to you?' Thea denied it too. So did Stacie, and all the crew members. So he went out, asked the Flefts, got no good answer, asked the North Chinese...."

"No, no, he asked the Vals first before the Flefts," said Thea.

"Whatever. Point is, he wanted answers from all the other guys."

"So you mean the TJUN-ians were responsible then?" asked Thea.

"Nah, Harpa and Derrick were denying it," was Sage's reply. "Wait, hold up, what if it's one of them Haps themselves? Like, you know, an inside job? Y'all know how much they like publicity, right?"

---

The following Wednesday

Max Gannon here, you're listening to To The Max. So, what's the deal with Team Blue these past few weeks? Another driver meltdown, leading to that driver having the meltdown becoming an international meme. Chris Holmes? No. The guy's not only slimmed down, he's also calmed down. We're talking about Drake Stevenson, of course. First he told all the MF-words to get Good, now he's gone on a rant during Sunday's XanAir 300. Of course memelords got to him quickly and made remixes of his radio chatter, that went viral of course. However, we won't play them here, as it's much, much more.... profane than the last one. Just search up "Drake Stevenson XanAir 300 radio remix" on the interwebs, it's all there.

Listen, Drake, you need to calm down. You started things off with a bang by winning the Exhibition, but is that what people are talking about when they're talking about you? No. Just because Holmes' transformation rid Team Blue of a hothead, doesn't mean you should take his place. Wanna be in the spotlight? Show it through your performance, not things like this. Please. Seeing how quick you get pissed off only makes people want to piss you off more. You lose focus, make mistakes, on and off the track. Do you really want that?

Let's take a break.

The following Saturday

Welcome back to To The Max. Yesterday I, Max Gannon, headed to Sherpaland for the TMW 400 at the Ramba Test Track. Well, was a good run for the #69 To The Max Chadwick Infinite driven by yours truly, getting tenth, but unfortunately, only two open charters per NSSCRA race means only the top two get into the upcoming TMW 500. That would be Rusty Ibuna of Filindostan, our winner, and local Kalden Tso, the runner-up, congrats to them. [recorded applause]

Now, as you may know, I'm not the only Yeezie to attempt to get a spot. GFR's AOCAR branch also sent three drivers. Glen Reid, who finished behind me in eleventh; Gavin Ogden, sixteenth; and Jill Singletary, twenty-fourth. And in this very special edition of our show, they'll be with us at the studio. Let's welcome our GFR AOCAR trio! [recorded applause]

MG: Welcome to To The Max. Glen.
GR: Hello there, Max. And hello to all the listeners out there.
MG: Gavin.
GO: Pleasure to be here.
MG: Jill.
JS: Sup.
MG: What were your thoughts about the recently concluded race, and the upcoming AOCAR season ahead?
GO: The 400? It was fun! I'm glad that GFR sent us there, it was some useful practice and actually our first taste of international competition.
GR: Yeah. It gave us a chance to see how skilled foreign drivers really were. Rusty, the guy who won, I've only seen him on TV but yesterday gave us a chance to race against him. He was good. The TV don't lie, he really was good. Even some of the locals were good. Tso, the second placer, Xiao [Shibao], who came in third. He had a Chad! Last season's model, but still.
GO: If he finished a spot or two higher, I think Chadwick would have hooked him up with an Infinite for NSSCRA though. That would be cool.
JS: Let's not forget the good female drivers in the field. Chiemi Hino, and Jamie Eirian. Shame Jamie's day ended early though, think the dust had some part in it.
GR: Yeah, all that dust made it hard for some of us to see, there were crashes because of it. You were there, Max, you can confirm.
MG: Confirmed.
GO: Yeah, it was brutal. You know [Tyler] Linde, that bloke from N-N-Dubs? Crashed out while leading. Couldn't see a thing, his windshield was all brown. That's how thick the dust was. It added another layer of challenge to the race.
JS: Still, all of us Yeezies survived, that's one good takeaway from that.
GR: Oh, and Max, as for your question about the upcoming AOCAR, I feel like I speak for all of us when I say we're excited.
GO: Looking forward to race Cocoabo 78, [Anavella] Ariiki, all the ex-NSSCRA racers.
JS: They were able to hold their own with the likes of Thea Alvarez or Stacie Houston, so they must be good. But we can't let ourselves got intimidated, I mean, we've got the best crews, cars and equipment St. Kanye has to offer.
MG: You think you could have given the main GFR trio a run for their money if you had made the TMW 500?
GR: I believe so, that is, if we manage to catch them first! But their years of experience in the international stage would allow them to prevail, I'd say.
GO: And hopefully we get to that level too. We can't conquer the Multiversal Cup Series if we don't conquer AOCAR first.
JS: Yeah, then Everlong.
GO: I hope we have your support.

[the interview continues for a few minutes]

MG: And that was Glen Reid, Gavin Ogden and Jill Singletary of GFR-AOCAR. We'll be back.

[Valentine Z]

The Valentians – Race 2 - Main Series: XANAir 300 at Road Marietta, Road Marietta Racing Facility, North of Marietta, Galliburton, Xanneria (Road Course) // Everlong: http://www.visitmarietta.xan 300, Corbin Motorsports Park, Corbin, Galliburton, Xanneria (Short Track)

As the Valentians touched down in the city of Galliburton, Xanneria, the Valentians (both the Main Series and Everlong participants), as well as the Gardeners, started surveying their respective races. The Main Series folks get a road course, while Everlong is getting a short track, to which Valentijn and Marcus expressed a bit of a concern. They have not been exactly fans of short tracks just like Gwen - tight turns, small space, little to no room for error which would see a huge pileup from any single error, that kind of usual thing. With the usual good lucks and shake of hands, Marcus and Valentijn went for their sets of qualifications - 10th for Valentijn, fitting her own car, with 6th for Marcus. This was then followed by 18th for Valentijn and 23rd for Marcus as their finishes. Not exactly the most satisfactory of results were had, but the teamwork between the two have gotten somewhat better for the time being. "We are only 5 positions away from each other, so I would say that throughout the entire race, we did pretty okay on the teamwork aspect. Catching the other drivers, ahh, now that will have to come in again as we go."

In the meantime, the qualifications at the road course saw Anastasia and Gwen getting 3rd and 8th for their qualifications respectively, while Clarissa ended up getting 29th and with a lot of cars to overtake ahead of her. The race, however, would tell a different story, at least for Clarissa and Gwen. Clarissa got herself placed at 9th, and Gwen at 22nd, though the latter had a bit of a compelling story to tell from her perspective given the situation on the roads today. Anastasia would be the very first Valentian - and the second driver, to take her very first win, with her performance on the road as consistent as ever. Jared and his crew for #15 noted that Anastasia never fell beyond 10th position throughout this entire race, at one point falling to 8th at worst because of pit stops. "The qualifications definitely helped, but at the same time, I would say that road courses are something I am quite okay with, I suppose? My weakness is a bit more on short tracks, so time will tell whether or not I will do average, or falter very badly. Rinzi did great today too, I just want to give a positive shoutout. He has been quite persistent and gave me a very good challenge, along with Taylor behind me. Would like to thank them for the challenge, and for doing what they do best as well. My sincere sympathies as to what happened regarding Team Blue as well."

Of course, the Valentians were completely aware of what has happened during today's race. It just might have been something to do with that MemeWatch, but the tipping point was definitely and obvious, especially to someone like Valentijn who has been watching the news closely to protect herself and friends from any of the drama that happens. She sat around on the plane, uneasy as to seeing what has happened on the track. Gwen's #31 and Jolyn's #76 were together for a brief moment, with one Ricky Lee's #12 somewhere around the two. At the same time, Holly's #55 was slowing down much more than usual, perhaps because she herself have been pressured with all the other drivers surrounding and crowding around. Holly falling behind was not that big of a deal, with Gwen and Jolyn joining her. What happened was the overcrowding and bumper-to-bumper encounters that somehow saw Ricky Lee being DNF'ed for the rest of the race. Gwen tried to use her rewind powers to get out of the situation as much as possible, but that was not enough. "Out of all the 694,205,400 futures, this is the only one with least injuries and deaths," Gwen gave a solemn remark to Valentijn, sitting opposite her as the two giants talked to each other and were looking at the replay along with the other Valentians, "As far as I am concerned, I don't think a single person was at fault here. It was just a crowded mess that saw some cars being knocked out a bit harder than others, and I think that was what happened to Ricky!" Gwen could have changed the course of history if she wanted to, but for reasons more than one, she decided to leave it be.

Valentijn fiddled around with the pen in fingers, as she nodded and smiled to Gwen and the other racers. As it turns out, she was not exactly that worried about the Valentians faulting up Ricky. Sure, that was awful as it could get to get someone knocked out unintentionally, but that was not exactly the highlight of the race. No, it was something else, they nodded to themselves and sighed, as they flicked through the news channels. It was regarding Team Blue and Drake Stevenson. The Valentians definitely heard about it and the commotion that was there after their race, though most of them have been a bit too busy with Anastasia's victory for that day. "Apparently, someone gave him a plush bird before the race, a reference to how his previous race was ruined when he ran over a bird. Of course, I do think it is tasteless and looking back at our track record, we have sworn off not to do anything tasteless," Valentijn begun, trying to fill in the driving Valentians on what happened, "So I got asked, and I am sure a few of you are singled out and asked as well. I told them no, I did not do it, and neither did the Valentians. I told them we are much better than this and would never do such a thing, not after what happened in NSSCRA 8."

It was not as if anyone was lying. The Valentians might have a bit of resentment now and then even from them, but they would not make a tasteless joke in someone's expense, at least not as often. Even Anastasia would have spared the person, if said person in question happened to be one Gil Archer. "So I am not confronting any of you guys," Valentijn continued, "Actually, you know, just a heads-up. Sorry, I have to unwind a little, you know? My race was fine, but when there is drama like this, I got a little worried myself. For now, we celebrate! Here's to Anastasia, and for the rest of us. May we win many more races to come ahead of us, and to tackle future challenges big and small - especially big, hehe. Cheers!"

[Garden at 6th Mile Road]

The Gardeners – Race 2 - Main Series: XANAir 300 at Road Marietta, Road Marietta Racing Facility, North of Marietta, Galliburton, Xanneria (Road Course) // Everlong: http://www.visitmarietta.xan 300, Corbin Motorsports Park, Corbin, Galliburton, Xanneria (Short Track)

The vast and endless garden is filled with blue tinted lights, along with cold temperatures bordering 20 to 40 Kelvins. A large, endless world with forests of trees as far as eyes can see, and perhaps with an occasional lake. Other than the blue-tinted trees and the coldness, there seems to be no sign of any sapient life at first glance - an empty and cold world that also has a soothing effect on those who saw it with their own eyes.

"What happened on that day?" Holly and Jolyn asked themselves, "We were doing pretty good, that is for sure. I mean, Holly, you were back where you started at 29th, but for me, ehh... I will say it is pretty well, not to rub it in your face, you understand what I mean." Holly nodded and agreed, with Jolyn continuing on, "Still, it feels weird. What exactly happened back there?" For both of them, they could tell with some details, but Gwen would fill it up.

A normal race, Jolyn and Holly back-to-back and trying to be close to each other as much as they possibly can. Since it is on the road course, there are many more variables to fill in, but for most of the laps, it went relatively well. That is until on the 4th segment of the race - after they have finished more than half the race. Holly was doing better than Jolyn at that moment, maintaining her position at 17th. However, a panic overbraking and overturning caused her to lose a significant amount of speed, and an opening that allowed a lot of drivers to get past her. After those crucial few seconds, she fell back to 25th, a few places just in front of Jolyn, Gwen, and many, many more other drivers. "We are bottlenecking, we have to get out of here as quickly as we can!" Jolyn explained to Holly on the radio, switching over to then talk to Gwen, "I told Holly we need to get out of here. We either go quickly together, or just perform our best and separate. This is way too tedious." With too many vehicles around along with the relatively narrow track, Jolyn felt that something is bound to happen. And then, it did so terribly.

Going Bumper-to-Bumper and Door-to-Door against one another, several cars have joined Jolyn, Holly, and Gwen as they drove in a large crowd. Gwen tried her best to gently bump into others during the turns, not to show aggression but as a warning that people were getting too close to her. Others took it in stride, and perhaps others did not. Either way, Gwen got bumped a little bit more violently, who in turn accidentally hit Holly, then Jolyn, who in turn did a counter-maneuver that cost time, and bumped off Gwen into a skid. Gwen tried to control the skidding with an even more violent turn, which might have hit a few other cars behind and around her. All of them survived the encounter - frustrations were had, and Gwen swore that she could hear a lot of cursing going on, to which some was aimed at her, and the others defending her since they witnessed the whole thing. All of them survived - except for one Ricky Lee.

Not wanting to lost any more face than they need to, given the scrutiny that follows from winning a number of races, the Valentians went back to their dropship and did a post-race study of their own. As Gwen went back in time to investigate what has happened, she narrowed it down to a few significant events that were the cause of it all.

1. Gwen Tracer Allison Oxton (#31), Jolyn Maxine Caulfield Ceeta (#76), and Holly Aurora Lapia Starlight (#55) were in a large crowd with other racers around them. They were finding it increasingly difficult to navigate through.
2. Gwen Tracer Allison Oxton (#31) tried to radio in and nudged the other racers gently, warning them to back off and to either split up or ease up the congestion.
3. Being mistaken for aggressive driving, Gwen Tracer Allison Oxton (#31) got bumped off a bit violently that caused her to swerve.
4. Gwen Tracer Allison Oxton (#31) hit Holly Aurora Lapia Starlight (#55) by accident, who in turn hit Jolyn Maxine Caulfield Ceeta (#76).
5. The series of bumps in turn caused a cascading effect that saw Gwen Tracer Allison Oxton (#31) losing significant speed and losing out. Ricky Lee (#12) seemingly did not recover from his damage and loss of speed and subsequently DNF'ed.

(Footnote and Addendum from Gwen Tracer Allison Oxton: This has been written to the best of my knowledge, because as much as I am a master of Space and Time, significant events might have looked different in other people's perspectives. I kind of blame the multiple worlds effect on this one. Or the Mandela Effect, as it was primitively called way back. If there are any doubts, please just ask the NSSCRA officials.)

Not having a lot of dialog to themselves this time, Holly and Jolyn retreated back to their lounge and then their dropship to celebrate Anastasia's finish. The party was normal, but for them, there is still an itch that they needed scratching, and they were not sure as to if they should even apologise or let it be. Eventually, with the support from Valentijn and from the other Valentians, Jolyn, Holly, and Gwen decided to make their way to where they think Ricky Lee's lounge might be, with Jolyn acting more of her role as a translator. They brought themselves a handful of Mantou (steamed bun) and Wotou (cornbread), along with potato-stuffed dumplings. "Ahh, forget the blood sausage for now," Jolyn remarked, "Might not exactly be the best gift if there is blood inside." A monetary compensation of NSD 500,000 is set aside from Jolyn and Gwen's pockets (Holly does not have any money), not as a bribe and certainly not to make money a solution to a problem. Given how NSSCRA can be a matter of career for most people, the DNFs can matter a lot to some people, and from that, a loss of potential earnings or revenue. All of them set to set the plan in motion, they knocked on the door, with Jolyn starting it off, "Good day to you. We would like to ask if Mr. Ricky is around? I am sure that a lot of things have happened today on the race course, and for what is worth, we would like to express our most sincere apologies to Mr. Lee."

[The Sherpa Empire]

Rinzi was feeling good as he swaggered away from his car after the XanAir 300. He was a little disappointed not to catch Aye for the win, but 2nd place was still a good finish and there were still a lot of chances left for him to pick up a win. The Hapiloppians and TJUN-ians were yelling about something, but that wasn't too unusual. He had heard about the plush bird that someone sent to Drake Stevenson, and he thought it was funny, but he had no idea who sent it and he wasn't very concerned with finding out. He talked to the media and fans for a bit, then changed out of his firesuit and took Tashi out to dinner at a nice BBQ place.

At the next table was a family of four with a boy who looked to be around nine or ten, and a girl a good bit younger. The father had a bristly mustache and an XCAR t-shirt, the little girl had a huge hot pink bow in her hair, and the rest of their appearance was not very distinctive. The boy immediately recognized Rinzi and eagerly asked his parents if they could go over and meet the NSSCRA driver. The parents looked over at Rinzi's table and their faces lit up with recognition. They hesitated for a moment, perhaps worried that they might be bothering the Zakhilwals, but they decided to come over and let their son say hi.

Rinzi talked to the boy for a minute or two and gave him an autograph. The boy was beaming as he returned to his own table and showed off the autograph to the rest of the family.

"He seems like a good kid," Tashi mused.

Rinzi smiled and nodded. "Someday, I want us to have kids."

"Someday," said Tashi.

---

Kai Qiang was not especially happy with how his race had gone. He was also not especially impressed with Drake Stevenson.

On the track, Qiang got knocked around -- not enough to take him out of the race, but enough to get him loose and leave him struggling against a poorly-handling car.

Off the track, Qiang was convinced that the stuffed bird Drake was so upset about was a prank from a fellow Hapiloppian. He also thought Drake was overreacting. "That guy's making a bigger stink about a stuffed toy than I did about a live animal in my car," Qiang grumbled to his crew as they watched Drake and Ísfrúin dragging their ruckus up and down the paddock, first at the JR garage, then at the Team Blue Center.

"He's Hapiloppian; what do you expect?" said Houzhi Chang.

"Ha! I wonder how the TJUN-ians got dragged into it."

Chang shrugged. "Who knows?"

Neither Qiang nor Chang ever considered the possibility that Derrick Carlisle might have sent the stuffed bird to Drake. They just assumed the culprit was Hapiloppian. If you'd asked them to consider other possibilities, they would have suggested Gil Archer or the CEO of Stafford City Speedway.

---

Meanwhile, Tsering Chu was patiently explaining to Kami that she should not lick greasy bits of scrap metal that she found lying on the ground near the track.

[Xanneria]

Mart Munro was an odd choice for KRD's development team. A 40 year old driver in whats supposed to be a driver development car? He had been a household name in the motorsport fans houses. He was an open wheel guy who came from the capital of Esportivan Open Wheel racing, Chepelle, Suderland. But his real claim to fame happened in 2033. During an early lap of the legendary Suderland 500 and a crash broke out. Munro got involved and in the melee his purple and neon yellow car got destroyed. The nose cone of the car was sheared off and Munro's legs exposed. It took Munro the rest of the year to overcome and rehab his leg injuries. Munro though was determined not to give up. He continued racing albeit more in closed cockpit cars like Stock Cars and Dirt Sprints. Now due to his connections he was able to secure the gig running NSSCRA's Everlong Sportsman series.

He has had some mixed results though, in Newmanistan he had never really been able to hang with the big pack an it lead to him being the first car one lap down in 23rd. The next race in The Southern Marietta suburbs was much better. Munro survived the tumultuous race filled to the brim with 20 cautions and many drivers with cars that finished but finished with a high repair bill. 20 of the 25 cars that finished, finished on the lead lap. A product of the insane amount of cautions. Munro got up to 8th spot but with about 50 laps left a wreck with Harrison Cooper, saw Cooper DNF and Munro get shuffled back to 14th.

The other Xannerian team composed of Brookes Benson. Benson was a contender for Team Blue prior to this year. A talented driver who came up through the ranks of Team Blue Starting off in a HASCAR Sportsman series where he gained a reputation for being the king of restarts and it's rumored part of his Team Blue contract made him dye his hair. Benson was annoyed. He had thought that he was the driver who should replace Holmes at Team Blue, but when that didn't happen, he went running for the first team to throw money at him, the Cunningham development program. His race went about the same.

The main race took place at Road Marietta and unlike most events this was a solo round, with the track making it back on the schedule after a years absence do to the prior owners illegal cocaine distribution business finally catching up with them. Although the race itself was run with no comepting events from any of XCARs series, it was clear that no one wanted to enter, with most XCAR teams suffering the post Hastings 500 burnout no one showed up, while it was thought Capps or maybe Roman Gwinnett would show up neither did, with Gwinnett at a test at the similarly named "Road Xanneria" track in North Central Hastings area and KRD trying to keep focus on getting all it can out of the old version of the Hawkeye before the new version debuts later this season neither driver showed up.

Kelly Monroe's learning curve continued to bend, she got roughed up a bit by others, particularly a late race bit when she was racing with Kai Qiang. The pair had come down to the heavy braking spots at the Chicane near the end the lap and suddenly Bart Wheeler appeared with a slow, smoking car. Qiang made a sudden jerk to the right to avoid Wheelers cars , who later was learned to have had the entire rear housing of the car collapse onto the tires, but the knee jerk reaction did not take into account Monroe outside of him. The two made contact and Monroe's car beached itself into a sandtrap. Monroe was furious at Kai for not using his mirror, but there was a apology passed on from Qiangs crew that helped her calm down. This brought out a late yellow flag and may have inadvertently screwed over Eddie Walters Jr. Eddie had a rough time on that restart, he went in to pass the car of Chris Holmes, but ambition got the best of him and he over drove it spinning himself out and dropping down to 31st in a race where 32 cars finished on the lead lap.

Next up is the first true split weekend where drivers of either series will be in different nations. The Main Multiversal series will be in The Sherpa empire while the Everlong series will run at The Typhoon Speedway, Having City, Roromania

[Filindostan]

Fiona Sunarya thought that her starting position would help her finish a high position at Road Marietta. She was sorely mistaken as she spun and kissed the wall with the nose of the car head in the first laps of the race. She managed to recover lost positions and by 1/5 of the race distance completed, she was at 25th position. However, a handful of laps later, she reported an issue with the car that caused her #99 to lose more spots, being very uncompetitive, and eventually finished 36th place, a disappointing race all throughout for her. She regained her mood when the trio of her, Hana, and Shania went to a famous Xannerian fastfood chain to help her uplift her spirits and focus on the next race in Sherpaland. She would not have the opportunity to meet up with Shania though as the Everlong drivers will fly out to a different location in Roromania to for their series race.

Hana Bhe actually had a very steady race, being in the top 15 for virtually the entire race despite losing some spots early. With so much happening around her, she was able to keep composed, although at the final lap, she was not able to keep her 14th place when the #3 of Sage Caldwell passed her on the finish line, knocking her down to 15th, and with her frustration, she punched her hand against the steering wheel, knocking her back to her senses as the pain started to reel her in. Her knuckles were iced during her meeting with the two outgoing girls and they made fun of her and gossiped about Drake Stevenson's outburst in the fastfood chain.

Despite starting last, Rockii Ezis charged through the field in the opening laps and managed to run as high as 19th around the 35% race distance, but overcooking a fast corner in the race caused the Vilita and Turori driver to spun his #60 car off the track and nearly hitting the wall, dropping him down to 30th by the race hitting 2/5 race distance. Unlike Fiona's spin which caused damage to her car, Rockii had found no issues other than needing to nurse his tyres for a few laps to maintain its integrity. As the pit stops rolled around, and some cars tangling with each other, Ezis managed to recover to an 18th place finish, his best so far driving the flagship car of the organization. He hopes he can finally show what he can do in the coming races starting in the Ramba Test Track for the TMW 500.

---

The drivers and staff from the Rusty Motorsport went to Road Marietta to link up with the Badai Angin Tim, as part of the alliance, a Filindair plane was chartered to carry both organizations around the multiverse for their NSSCRA schedules. As the series' next round takes them to different tracks, the plane would make a stopover to Sherpaland first then would continue on to Roromania for the Everlong Series' drivers. After watching the race, Shania linked up with the two BA Tim girls and went their separate ways from Barney and Mercy. Barney then asked Mercy if she wants to eat something, but the latter rejected his offer, and told him that she will return to the motorhome and take a sleep. The Gergarian driver then received a call from Rusty, his boss and mentor, receiving a good news from the owner of the organization.

"Barney, I'm racing at Ramba. I won the TMW 400!" Barney was ecstatic when he heard the news straight from the mouth of Rusty. He would congratulate the Filindo driver-owner via phone and would go to a Xannerian fancy restaurant himself with Ilona.

[Aji No Moto]

THE AJIAN EXPRESS
bringing you the latest from aji no moto

---

Motorsport
A return to NSSCRA for Kissan?
badai angin kecepatans to be rebadged as kissan kamikazes for the race in sankyoku

Sankyoku - As the NSSCRA adds the Aji No Moto round back in their schedule, Kissan, an automotive giant in the country, has confirmed that the Kissan brand will return in NSSCRA, although for a single race only. Fans will see the Badai Angin Kecepatan cars that are driven for Filindostani teams Badai Angin Tim Motorsport, and Rusty Motorsport, and Katana Racing from Aji No Moto, being rebadged as Kissan Kamikaze cars for the race at the Sankyoku Triangle Tyrone Tabuso.

This has been seen as a marketing ploy by Kissan after the Ajian firm sold their motorsports division, which was named KISMO (Kissan Motorsport) to Badai Angin, and acquiring a minority stake in the Filindostani automotive company several years ago. This is also due to the fact that the Kamikaze lines of sports cars share a common lineage with the Kecepatan lines, as Kamikazes imported by Aji No Moto in Filindostan are simply rebadged as Kecepatans. Thus, the two car units does not coexist in either Aji No Moto or Filindostan, that is why the rebadging will happen. No changes in the configurations of the cars are expected to happen though.

This was confirmed in the event when Katana Racing launched their AOCAR project with the funding of Kissan Motorsport, having Katana Racing be a de-facto factory team for the revived KISMO, where the Kecepatans operated by the team in FISCAR would be rebadged as Kecepatans for all the rounds of the AOCAR events. Three cars are prepared for the event, as former WGPC and Formula Hodori driver Kyoko Fujisaki will lead KISMO's AOCAR effort, driving the #22 sponsored by Kissan Motors, while Chiemi Hino, a former NSSCRA and Hodoran GT driver will pilot the #0 car co-sponsored by Ayakashi Energy and Drymark, and former FISCAR driver Hatsue Hachirobei will drive the #00 car sponsored by Konbini 24/7.

Katana joined AOCAR after funding from Kissan Motors was secured, in exchange of the team pulling out of FISCAR and changing allegiances from having a Filindostani racing license to an Ajian one. It is yet to be determined if Katana Racing will enter an Open charter request for their race at Round 4 of the NSSCRA's Multiversal Series.

[Abanhfleft]

Newmanistan was, for lack of a better word, completely forgettable as far as UrGa’s Everlong team was concerned. Both drivers were nowhere to be seen during the Prospect Showcase, and the same could be said for the actual Everlong race there, otherwise known as the Tundra Falls 400. Well, that was not entirely true. Rustam Yudin could be seen by everyone during the Tundra Falls 400, but that was only because his engine blew up on the last few laps and he had to limp back into the pits in a cloud of white smoke. A few intrepid netizens and memers took the time to photoshop Leo Baxter’s Pixylight sponsorship onto Rustam’s car and then claiming that the Ceroatian driver was just caught hotboxing in the middle of the race by NSSCRA. And while Rustam actually found the image funny, it still reminded him of his DNF, so that probably took some of the comedic factor out of the meme for him.

So UrGa packed up its cars and its drivers and their respective crews and made the trip down the Xanneria. On the way to Corbin Motorsports Park, the engineers rebuilt Rustam’s engine, hoping that this would do the trick in time in time for the visitmarietta.xan 300. The Everlong drivers were going to compete in a very short track, while the Multiversal Cup Series would have to fight it out at a road course. Neither Rustam nor his teammate Agata Kosaryova were really looking forward to their race since it was a short track. A lot of things could happen on a short track. Shoving matches were going to be inevitable, and the pack running and draft partnerships on superspeedways would very quickly give way to an “every man for himself” mentality. Neither of them were going to get out of Corbin without any damage to their cars whatsoever, so the only question that both Rustam and Agata's minds was how much damage were they going to have to live with throughout the race.

Unfortunately for Agata Kosaryova, her run of bad luck in the Everlong Series continued on in Xanneria. She struggled in Galliburton, plain and simple. She thought she had finally settled upon a decent setup for this short track, and while she knew that her qualifying time could have been better, it was definitely an improvement over her lap times in Tundra Falls. But as soon as the green flag flew at Corbin Motorsports Park, Agata realized that her engine still had the gremlins from Newmanistan. "I still don't have power!" she complained. "I'm just losing time to everyone everywhere!"

"What do you want us to do, Gasha?" asked her crew chief Karolina Kazimirova. "Loosen or tighten you up, lower tire pressures, what?"

"It's not a setup thing, Lina," Agata said. "At least I don't think it is. And it's definitely not tire pressures. Don't touch the tire pressures; keep them the same. Leave them alone. This really looks like an engine thing to me."

"Your engine looks fine on my side," Kazimirova said. "How about on yours?"

"256," Agata reported. "Nope, now it's 257. Make that 258."

"That's not right," Kazimirova muttered. "We've only been running, what? Ten laps? And this is a short track too. Something's not adding up, Gasha."

"Tell me about it," Agata snorted. At that moment, small puffs of white smoke began billowing out from underneath the hood of her Luxur Byzant. "I got smoke!" she cried out.

"All right, Gasha, just take it easy," her spotter Galina Ossipenko told her. "Just a short back straight to go and then you're back in the pits and hopefully we can sort this out."

"Copy," Agata replied. But even then, smoke started creeping inside her car as well. "I think I just saw 270 on my engine!" she said.

"Okay, that's it. Retire the car, retire the car," Kazimirova told her driver.

"Damn it!" Agata said, pounding her fist at the steering wheel in frustration.

Meanwhile, just as Agata Kosaryova’s race was about to end, Rustam Yudin’s race was just about to begin. Maybe it was because they were racing on a short track and not a superspeedway. Maybe having to rebuild the engine after its spectacular explosion in Tundra Falls did the trick. Maybe there was never anything wrong with the engine in the first place. But Rustam was just flying through the field. WIthin thirty laps, he was already in the top 5. Fifty laps into the race, Rustam was right behind the Filindostan trio of Mercy Binayas (also the polesitter), Barnabas Mate, and Shania Soraya. And that was where Rustam would stay for the majority of the rest of the race, only falling away from the Filindo trio due to pit stops. But once Rustam stopped for the last time that race, he started making moves to break into the trio.

Rustam started probing the inside line for a chance to get through the Filindos. Binayas was leading, while Mate was pushing her. Soraya was just a whisker behind Mate’s front bumper, which officially classified her as P3, but she was there simply to block anyone trying to come at them through the middle lane. And while technically speaking, Corbin Motorsports Park had four lanes to work with, in reality only the two bottom lanes were really worth racing. Rustam had tried going up top on the trio a few times but had to back out of all of those attempts. So it really was bottom lane or bust. Thus Rustam kept himself as close to Mate’s rear bumper as possible, and he hoped that the pressure would make him or any of the other Filindo drivers commit a mistake during which he could take advantage and the lead.

The chance finally opened for Rustam on lap 272 of 300. For some reason (either it was the pressure from Rustam or something happening with Mate’s car or something else entirely, Rustam couldn’t really tell), Barnabas Mate started sliding up the track in Turn 1, and Shania Soraya was dragged up along with him for a moment before she checked up and settled in behind Mate. This allowed Rustam to take the place in the bottom lane once occupied by Mate upon entering the back straight. Binayas noticed that she had lost her draft partner so she slid up a lane in the back straight in order to give herself a good entry into the bottom lane in Turn 3. Rustam stuck to the bottom lane and used the side draft to pull level with Binayas, and once the two of them entered Turn 3, the two of them were right beside each other. Rustam felt his car wanting to slide up as well, but instead of fighting it he decided to let the slide happen. This caused him to go door-to-door with Binayas, and that was how the two of them passed the line to start lap 273. This battle would continue for two more laps before Rustam finally took the lead down the back straight, and he officially became the leader on lap 276.

"Well done, Rustam," his spotter said.

But just because Rustam had taken the lead didn't mean that the battle was over. Now that he was in the lead, Rustam had three Filindos hot on his heels. Mercy Binayas of course was ready and willing to reclaim the place that she had occupied for the majority of the race, but her teammates were also standing by in the wings to take advantage of any screw-up on Rustam's part. But that was the thing with Rustam; he didn't screw up this race at all. His engine was on its best behavior, and there was still enough life and grip left in his tires to hold off the advances of the trio of Filindo drivers behind him. So it was utmost relief for Rustam when he heard the words "White flag", and then all he had to do was keep doing what he had doing for one more lap.

"Checkered flag," Paxton Ilishevsky announced. "Congratulations, man! You did it! You've won the race!"

"Whoo! Yes! Yes!" Rustam shouted back. "Yes, boys! Yes, boys! We've done it! Oh my God. Thank you to the engineers for rebuilding my engine in time for Xanneria. Thank you to the crew for helping me gain time and positions during the pit stops. And Paxton, thank you for being my eyes in this place. Dobriden, everyone. Dobriden, UrGa. This win is for Ceroat! For a United Ceroat!"

Rustam then took out a Ceroatian flag from inside his car and stuck it out from his window as he went on his victory lap and burnout. The red and white checkerboard was then draped over Rustam's shoulders as he took interviews and then received the trophy on victory lane. Rustam then ran over to the garage of his fellow Ceroatian driver and Everlong competitor Pyotr Lavrentiev to celebrate the victory. Rustam wished their fellow former Motorsports Ceroat colleague Taras Lakrov was there to celebrate with them.

---

The XANAir 300 at Road Marietta was nothing to write home about as far as UrGa's Multiversal Cup Series team was concerned. Dinggu Wang was the highest finisher among the team's three drivers, but it was only for 13th place. Wang managed to break into the top 10 a fair few times during the road course race, but he was unable to hang on for the last few laps and he slid down a few places before finally settling in front of Sage Caldwell, of all people.

Guillermo Archer and Wilma von Cärinthen finished the XANAir 300 side by side, literally. Like Wang in front of them, both Fleftic drivers were able to hang around the top 15 and 20 for the vast majority of the race before they lost some momentum on the final laps, and Gil ended up hanging on to P20 by the skin of his teeth. And Wilma would have finished the race on Gil's rear bumper had Gil not contacted her on their intra-car radio and said, "Let's give the photographers something to remember this race by. Get off my ass and let's finish this side by side."

"Are you sure about that?" Wilma asked. "You know I can easily take P20 from you."

"So what? One of us is bound to finish P21 anyway," Gil shrugged. "But the boss lady only really cares about where 79 finishes, and right now that's in P13."

"All right, fine" Wilma nodded. "But just remember, if something happens to the two of us here then this whole thing was your idea!"

"Always has been," Gil acknowledged.

Nothing happened to the 96 and the 98 as they crossed the finish line at Road Marietta for the final time this season. Wilma was just a front quarter panel behind Gil; not the door-to-door side-by-side photo finish the latter would have wanted, but it gave the press some cool photos anyway. No, the trouble for UrGa was to come after the race had ended.

Gil and Wilma had just returned their cars to their respective garages when they heard someone cussing up a storm approaching the UrGa garages. It turned out to be Drake Stevenson of Team Blue. "Hey, you! Archer!" Stevenson shouted as he gunned for the driver of the #96. "You wouldn't happen to know the dipshit responsible for this, would you?" the Hapiloppian asked as he brandished a plushie bird in front of Gil's face.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute!" Gil said back. "Is that a stuffed toy bird?" he asked once he got a good look at the thing being almost shoved into his face.

Drake nodded his head. "Damn right," he said. "Arrived here this morning without any sender. Does this look familiar to you?"

"Okay now, Drake, buddy," Gil said. "Before you continue down that line of thought, have you even stopped to think about the possibility that maybe this is one of your own people's doing?"

"I already asked them," Drake retorted. "It ain't theirs, and I know that they're telling the truth this time."

"And it ain't mine too," Gil said. "Look, Drake, buddy, Team Blue and UrGa may be competitors, and I know I've made fun of and talked shit about you Haps before, but you know that anonymously sending you toy birds just isn't my thing. If I talk shit, to you or to anybody, it's right in your face and not behind your back. Besides, Drake, I like you. I like you as a driver. Those Nexus Imagination-powered eight-wheelers really screwed you over in WGPC. If I ever decide to go after you, it won't be with a toy bird that I would rather give to my baby boy."

"I ain't your buddy yet, guy," Stevenson said. "All right then. Say I believe you that you didn't send me this bird. Got any ideas who could have done it?"

"I don't know," Gil admitted. "The Vals, maybe? No, plushie birds aren't their style as well. Maybe them Jaguars from TJUN-ia know something."

As Drake Stevenson stormed off in a growling huff, Wilma tapped Gil's shoulder and asked, "Do you really not know anything about that bird?"

"Are you crazy? Of course I don't!" Gil shouted. "I gotta prove myself here once again before I start stirring shit yet again. And I definitely won't start with Drake fucking Stevenson. I love the guy, loved him since NSSCRA 8. I loved him in WGPC too but things just wouldn't fall in place for him there. At least he's back where he belongs now, in a stock car."

"And the toy bird?" Wilma asked.

"If I'm gonna send anyone a bird, it's going to be that Blue Flag bitch from Hodori," Gil replied. "Or maybe I should go for some anal beads given what she gave me a few months ago."

"All right, TMI now," Wilma muttered.

[Newmanistan]

Qualifying: TMW 500, TMW Ramba Test Track. Ramba, Rinbung County, Tibet Province, The Sherpa Empire (Short Track)
Lap Record: 22.453 sec.

Qualifying Results:

NSSCRA Multiversal Series
 1 #44- Kai Qiang (The Sherpa Empire)                    22.828
 2 #7- Clarissa Alanis Star Samantha (Valentine Z)       22.836
 3 #15- Anastasia Freya Yadana Aye (Valentine Z)         22.849
 4 #96- Guillermo Archer (Abanhfleft)                    22.857
 5 #18- Jeremiah Brooke (Saint Kanye)                    22.861
 6 #99- Fiona Sunarya (Filindostan)                      22.861
 7 #98- Wilma von Cärinthen (Abanhfleft) *Q*             22.864
 8 #79- Dinggu Wang (Abanhfleft)                         22.906
 9 #27- Maddie Alexander (Tropicorp)                     22.910
10 #07- Michael Stefan (TJUN-ia)                         22.914
11 #73- Taylor Henderson (Hapilopper)                    22.927
12 #06- Rinzi Aogar Zakhilwal (The Sherpa Empire)        22.971
13 #43- Tsering Chu (The Sherpa Empire)                  22.974
14 #81- Drake Stevenson (Hapilopper)                     22.981
15 #70- Gongming Gao (The Northern Chinese Republic)     23.005
16 #8- Chris Holmes (Hapilopper)                         23.006
17 #55- Holly Aurora Lapia Starlight (G6MR)              23.022
18 #03- Maddison Riley-Jones (TJUN-ia) *Q*               23.043
19 #60- Rockii Ezis (Filindostan)                        23.052
20 #41- Yraaga Gilli'i (Vilita & Turori)                 23.054
21 #31- Gwen Tracer Allison Oxton (Valentine Z)          23.086
22 #0- Hana Bhe (Filindostan) *Q*                        23.102
23 #64- Alfonso Mercado (TJUN-ia)                        23.169
24 #26- Jenna Logan (Tropicorp)                          23.197
25 #5- Liangmei Li (Newmanistan)                         23.226
26 #28- Cocoabo #28 (Tropicorp)                          23.238
27 #76- Jolyn Maxine Caulfield Ceeta (G6MR) *Q*          23.264
28 #12- Ricky Lee (The Northern Chinese Republic) *Q*    23.276
29 #3- Sage Caldwell (Saint Kanye)                       23.281
30 #30- Lexi Patterson (Jebslund) *Q*                    23.418
31 #13- Brigadegeneral Eva Kerman (Jebslund)             23.437
32 #32- Kalden Tso (The Sherpa Empire)                   23.439
33 #46- Thea Alvarez (Saint Kanye)                       23.526
34 #16- Eddie Walters Jr. (Xanneria)                     23.532
35 #40- Shigeru Ishikawa (Squidroidia)                   23.563
36 #48- Ashley Matthews (Newmanistan) *Q*                23.576
37 #90- Lexie Shelby (Sword Island) *Q*                  23.624
38 #00- Eiji Ibi (Aji No Moto)                           23.635
39 #56- Kelly Monroe (Xanneria) *Q*                      23.681
40 #97- Celeste (Yesopalitha)                            23.783
41 #35- Kassie Collins (Sword Island) *Q*                23.824
42 #19- Lilith (Yesopalitha) *Q*                         23.838
43 #14- River 'Shark' Suzgar II (Vilita & Turori)        23.924
44 #29- Velorina (Yesopalitha) *Q*                       23.956
45 #08- Bart Wheeler (Northwinds)                        24.030
46 #2- Centur Tiones (Vilita & Turori)                   24.120
47 #71- Rusty Ibuna (Filindostan)                        24.294
48 #25- Jessica Franssen (Vangaziland)                   24.406
49 #1- Vanda Rosa Cordeiro Kerman (Jebslund) *Q*         24.438
50 #17- Gavon Mitchell (Roromania)                       24.496
51 #89- Tommy Vinnlund (Vangaziland) *Q*                 24.613
52 #24- Travis Barkley (Newmanistan) *Q*                 24.692
53 #75- Floyd Hackerbee (Vangaziland) *Q*                24.769
54 #05- Micheal Rush (Sword Island)                      24.773
55 #21- Bob Wallace (Roromania) *Q*                      24.774
56 #58- Steven Beverely (Roromania) *Q*                  24.994

Race: Roromania 300, The Typhoon Speedway, Having City, Roromania (Speedway)
Lap Record: 37.611 sec.

NSSCRA EverLong Series
 1 #10- Valkyrie Valentijn Samantha Constantine (Valentine Z)       38.147
 2 #72- Barnabas Mate (Filindostan)                                 38.348
 3 #39- Rustam Ilyich Yudin (Abanhfleft)                            38.377
 4 #41- Turakki Mayelli (Vilita & Turori)                           38.414
 5 #20- Daryl Calhoun (Saint Kanye)                                 38.435
 6 #40- Agata Kosaryova (Abanhfleft)                                38.443
 7 #98- Jixaka Motorai (Tropicorp)                                  38.462
 8 #22- Pyotr Lavrentiev (Saint Kanye)                              38.476
 9 #8- Ceiridwen (Yesopalitha)                                      38.534
10 #4- Islago Tizilna (Vilita & Turori)                             38.553
11 #96- Alice Jepkosgei (TJUN-ia)                                   38.683
12 #05- Chris Gordon (Sword Island)                                 38.745
13 #77- Al Shelton (Hapilopper)                                     38.754
14 #0- Tadashi Mitsubishi (Aji No Moto)                             38.916
15 #97- Robin Dragonovic (TJUN-ia)                                  38.975
16 #71- Mercy Binayas (Filindostan)                                 38.990
17 #04- Byrce Evans (Sword Island)                                  39.006
18 #47- Edmund Flanders (Hapilopper)                                39.014
19 #60- Marcus Alan Ariel Reynolds (Valentine Z)                    39.074
20 #00- Shigeru Tsuchie (Aji No Moto)                               39.102
21 #59- Brookes Benson (Xanneria)                                   39.132
22 #37- Cocoabo #37 (Tropicorp)                                     39.152
23 #49- Lotara Novorali (Vilita & Turori)                           39.263
24 #16- Mart Munro (Xanneria)                                       39.347
25 #70- Shania Soraya (Filindostan)                                 39.849
26 #57- Gordon Orton (Appalachian Nation)                           40.128
27 #5- Ryan Carroll (Newmanistan)                                   40.185
28 #9- Licio Granado (Lisander)                                     40.190
29 #1- Jupiter Cosmos (Space)                                       40.249
30 #24- Dwight Webster (Newmanistan)                                40.415
31 #15- Harrison Cooper (Appalachian Nation)                        40.416
32 #27- Bryan Harrison (Tropicorp)                                  40.759

(Minimum to avoid DNF= 40.200 sec)

NSSCRA EverLong Series
 1 #60- Marcus Alan Ariel Reynolds (Valentine Z)                    38.225 WINNER
 2 #10- Valkyrie Valentijn Samantha Constantine (Valentine Z)       38.265
 3 #22- Pyotr Lavrentiev (Saint Kanye)                              38.280
 4 #20- Daryl Calhoun (Saint Kanye)                                 38.290
 5 #0- Tadashi Mitsubishi (Aji No Moto)                             38.309
 6 #49- Lotara Novorali (Vilita & Turori)                           38.378
 7 #70- Shania Soraya (Filindostan)                                 38.381
 8 #96- Alice Jepkosgei (TJUN-ia)                                   38.416
 9 #77- Al Shelton (Hapilopper)                                     38.477
10 #27- Bryan Harrison (Tropicorp)                                  38.488
11 #04- Byrce Evans (Sword Island)                                  38.490
12 #98- Jixaka Motorai (Tropicorp)                                  38.503
13 #41- Turakki Mayelli (Vilita & Turori)                           38.615
14 #72- Barnabas Mate (Filindostan)                                 38.623
15 #05- Chris Gordon (Sword Island)                                 38.656
16 #71- Mercy Binayas (Filindostan)                                 38.681
17 #40- Agata Kosaryova (Abanhfleft)                                38.705
18 #4- Islago Tizilna (Vilita & Turori)                             38.715
19 #97- Robin Dragonovic (TJUN-ia)                                  38.730
20 #47- Edmund Flanders (Hapilopper)                                38.806
21 #37- Cocoabo #37 (Tropicorp)                                     38.837
22 #00- Shigeru Tsuchie (Aji No Moto)                               39.052
23 #39- Rustam Ilyich Yudin (Abanhfleft)                            39.142
24 #59- Brookes Benson (Xanneria)                                   39.534
25 #16- Mart Munro (Xanneria)                                       39.884
26 #8- Ceiridwen (Yesopalitha)                                      40.033
27 #24- Dwight Webster (Newmanistan)                                40.112
28 #9- Licio Granado (Lisander)                                     40.187
29 #15- Harrison Cooper (Appalachian Nation)                        40.203
30 #57- Gordon Orton (Appalachian Nation)                           40.358
31 #5- Ryan Carroll (Newmanistan)                                   40.432
32 #1- Jupiter Cosmos (Space)                                       40.497

Point Standings (After 3 Races)

+-----+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+--------+
| Pos |                       EverLong Contenders Series                        | Points |
+-----+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+--------+
|   1 | #49- Lotara Novorali (Vilita & Turori)                                  |     86 |
|   2 | #41- Turakki Mayelli (Vilita & Turori)*                                 |     79 |
|   3 | #20- Daryl Calhoun (Saint Kanye)                                        |     77 |
|   4 | #10- Valkyrie Valentijn Samantha Constantine (Valentine Z)              |     77 |
|   5 | #27- Bryan Harrison (Tropicorp)                                         |     76 |
|   6 | #72- Barnabas Mate (Filindostan)                                        |     73 |
|   7 | #71- Mercy Binayas (Filindostan)                                        |     69 |
|   8 | #0- Tadashi Mitsubishi (Aji No Moto)                                    |     68 |
|   9 | #70- Shania Soraya (Filindostan)                                        |     67 |
|  10 | #77- Al Shelton (Hapilopper)                                            |     65 |
|  11 | #98- Jixaka Motorai (Tropicorp)                                         |     64 |
|  12 | #22- Pyotr Lavrentiev (Saint Kanye)                                     |     62 |
|  13 | #00- Shigeru Tsuchie (Aji No Moto)                                      |     60 |
|  14 | #37- Cocoabo #37 (Tropicorp)                                            |     55 |
|  15 | #04- Byrce Evans (Sword Island)                                         |     55 |
|  16 | #96- Alice Jepkosgei (TJUN-ia)                                          |     55 |
|  17 | #60- Marcus Alan Ariel Reynolds (Valentine Z)*                          |     54 |
|  18 | #47- Edmund Flanders (Hapilopper)                                       |     53 |
|  19 | #39- Rustam Ilyich Yudin (Abanhfleft)*                                  |     50 |
|  20 | #4- Islago Tizilna (Vilita & Turori                                     |     49 |
|  21 | #97- Robin Dragonovic (TJUN-ia)                                         |     42 |
|  22 | #05- Carson Zanby (Sword Island)                                        |     40 |
|  23 | #59- Brookes Benson (Xanneria)                                          |     39 |
|  24 | #16- Mart Munro (Xanneria)                                              |     37 |
|  25 | #8- Ceiridwen (Yesopalitha)                                             |     28 |
|  26 | #40- Agata Kosaryova (Abanhfleft)                                       |     24 |
|  27 | #15- Harrison Cooper (Appalachian Nation)                               |     19 |
|  28 | #05- Chris Gordon (Sword Island)                                        |     18 |
|  29 | #24- Dwight Webster (Newmanistan)                                       |     17 |
|  30 | #9- Licio Granado (Lisander)                                            |     17 |
|  31 | #57- Gordon Orton (Appalachian Nation)                                  |      8 |
|  32 | #5- Ryan Carroll (Newmanistan)                                          |      7 |
|  33 | #1- Jupiter Cosmos (Space)                                              |      6 |
+-----+-------------------------------------------------------------------------+--------+

[Hapilopper]

TMW Ramba Test Track, Ramba, Rinbung County, Tibet Province, The Sherpa Empire
Leading up to the TMW 500
First, the bad news: The incident between Jaguar Racing and Drake Stevenson had gone viral, and Drake, as you would expect, had to face the media for it. But to his credit, Drake did not back down from the questions from the NSSCRA media scrum, who asked him about every detail of the post-race skirmish in Xanneria.

On who he talked to: “I talked to a bunch of people, asking them if the bird was theirs, and to say the least, they said no. And I believe them. Archer, talked to him, Holmes and Hendo, talked to them, the boys from GFR, talked to them, the Valentians, the North Chinese, I asked a bunch of people before I asked the Jag boys. And right now, I believe every single one of them.”

On if he believes Archer: “Yes. Archer doesn’t come across as the kind of guy that’ll hide behind something. I feel that if he’s going to do something, he’s going to do it to your face. Say what you want about him but he’s got a lot of stones, and for that, I like the guy.”

On why he confronted Jaguar Racing: “Derrick Carlisle was the only person that made a stink about the bird. He was my prime suspect, and honestly, if you put two and two together, nobody else really gave a shit about it until then. I’m of the opinion that if you fling shit, don’t be surprised if shit gets flung back at you. OK? Had he not gone on about me hitting the bird, I wouldn’t have gone over and asked him about it.”

On if he still thinks Carlisle sent the bird: “No. Quite frankly, the matter is closed and I’m moving on. I’m glad to be here in Sherpaland, it’s one of my favorite places on the trail and I’m looking forward to a great race.”

On if he plans to press charges against Harpa Gylfisdóttir for the slap: “No. What happens in the garage stays in the garage. The matter is closed and I’m moving on. This is a beautiful nation and I intend to make the most of the weekend here.”

And now, the good news: The NSSCRA Multiversal Cup Series had arrived in the Sherpa Empire for the TMW 500. Drake loved the Sherpa Empire. It just seemed like the most beautiful place for him to visit, and like last year, he vowed to take a week to go on vacation there. He thought about entering himself in the yak races again this year, like he did last year, and had the plush bird incident not happened a week before, he might have done it.

However, a desire to just stay in the background, for once, meant Drake declined to enter the yak racing this time. He’d watch from the grandstands and let the experts in the field try it out.

To his surprise, one of those experts was Chris Holmes, on a dare from Taylor Henderson and Frank Bronson. Chris was laying on a couch in the Team Blue Center, playing a video game when Taylor and Frank came over to him.

“Holmes!” Taylor shouted. “You ever rode on a yak before?”

“No,” Chris said, looking up from his video game. “We don’t have yaks in Hapilopper.”

“Wanna ride one?” Taylor asked. “Says here NSSCRA drivers are invited to try it out. I mean, it’s a chance we don’t get all the time, you know?”

“Stevenson doing it?” Chris asked.

“No, I asked him and he said he just wants to watch this year,” Taylor said. “Last year he went through a case of beer, rode the yak and fell on his ass. It was one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen.”

“And now you want me to drink a case of beer and fall on my ass,” Chris responded. “Hendo, I don’t drink anymore.”

“You don’t have to drink anything, just get on the yak and see if you like it,” Taylor replied. “Besides, you might be good at it.”

Chris looked over at Taylor and Frank, both of whom had huge smiles on their faces. Chris shook his head and got up from the couch.

“I’m gonna regret this, probably, but fuck it. Why not?” Chris said. “You got to live, you know?”

So, Chris went out and went yak racing. And it went just swimmingly. One of the biggest problems, you see, is that the yak handlers spoke Tibetan. Chris didn’t know a word of Tibetan. Chris spoke English. The yak handlers didn’t understand that much English. Consequently, any form of communication was severely limited, and as a result, Chris didn’t understand the right way to get on his yak. He got on precisely the wrong way, and the yak responded in kind, rushing away, sending Chris bouncing up and down, belly-down, on the yak.

Chris looked towards the line, eyes agape, horrified at what was going on.

“OH FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK…” Chris could be heard shouting. As the yak handlers rushed towards the misbehaving yak, it jumped up in the air, sending Chris a few feet skyward, off the yak and towards the dirt surface.

“SHIT!!!” Chris yelped as he dropped to the surface.

Chris landed face-first in the dirt like a moron, as those in the crowd started laughing. Off to the side, Taylor and Frank decided they’d help out their friend and teammate by laughing their asses off. Both of them agreed that it was much funnier than last year when Drake landed ass-first on the dirt.

Chris sat up and looked at the yak which had gotten rounded up by a couple of handlers. The yak handler that tried to help Chris ran up to him to see if he was alright. Chris just looked at the handler and chuckled. He wasn’t even mad.

“Why don’t you go over and tell that yak that he sucks and I’m gonna kick his ass,” Chris jokingly told the handler. The handler just looked at Chris, not understanding what the hell he just said.

And, ideally, that would have been the end of it. But someone recorded the whole deal and sent video to the Hapilopper Television Network, which broadcast the NSSCRA Multiversal Cup Series. The HTN crew thought it was the funniest thing they had seen, but decided they’d need to edit the video, because with Chris’s language, it would sound like a burglar alarm going off with all the beeps.

Across Hapilopper, millions of fans watched and laughed at the video of Chris struggling with the yak.

“And Chris Holmes failed miserably with the yak last night, because of course he did,” said Michael Bowers, play-by-play commentator for HTN. “We think he’ll be better in a stock car.”

[The Northern Chinese Republic]

The Beiyang crew figured out pretty quickly why Jolyn was there. They called Lee over and he readily accepted her apology. He had been upset about the crash, but Jolyn's apology seemed sincere and he believed her when she said it was an accident.

He felt a little uncomfortable accepting the Valentians' money, but at the same time he was afraid it might be rude to turn it down. They came from a different world, he wasn't sure of their culture's etiquette concerning gifts, and he didn't want to offend them by refusing too stubbornly. "You don't have to pay for the damage," Lee said, but it seemed like the Valentians still wanted him to take the money.

---

Next up on the NSSCRA calendar was the TMW 500 in Ramba, Tibet. It wasn't home for Gongming Gao, but it was close enough for him to easily visit home for a few days between races, and for some of his friends to bop across the border to watch him race. The state of the roads made it difficult to drive the whole distance between Ramba and Lanzhou -- but it was easy to get direct flights from Lanzhou to Lhasa and then drive the rest of the way.

Lanzhou was a grungy industrial city with filthy water and even filthier air, but it was home for Gao and there was no place like home. Gao persuaded Ricky Lee to come visit and spend a day sightseeing, but the city got hit with a sandstorm that day and Lee didn't seem very impressed. Gao showed Lee how to cover his face with a scarf so they could set foot outside without choking on the sand, but it was still absolutely miserable. The whole sky turned yellow and every time they stepped outside their faces, clothes, and hair would get caked with sand. Eventually Gao gave up trying to show Lee a good time and just apologized for the sand.

When they got to Ramba, the weather there was also dusty and windy -- though not to the same extreme. The dust wasn't as thick, and since Ramba was cooler than Lanzhou, people did not sweat as much and the dust did not stick to their skin the same way. Even so, Gao's familiarity with sandstorms may have worked to his advantage. He qualified 15th, a little better than usual, and it seemed like the dust and wind were bothering some of the other drivers.

[Saint Kanye]

PYOTR LAVRENTIEV ✓

@CeroatLav

Congrats to my brother @39YudinRustamIlyich on the win! Mother Ceroat is smiling proudly on you!


#NSSCRA : #VisitMarietta300 : #ForAUnitedCeroat

THEA ALVAREZ ✓

@Luna_Althea

@HapiDrake81 if you don't want the plush bird, I'd gladly take it off your hands - Cocoabo46 needs some new friends!


#NSSCRA

LENA EICHEL

@LenaH8sU

Whoever sent that plush bird to @HapiDrake81 was total lame sauce. I myself would have given him a real dead bird. Or two. Or 81. Or 87.


#NSSCRA

TYLER LINDE

@TyLindeRacing

Make way Brooke, Qiang, Talvela, iBen - there's a new champion in town! Tyler mfing Linde, KING OF THE YAKS!


#NSSCRA : #IRACT : #WGPC : #YakRacing

---

The Kanyeans have successfully cleared themselves of any involvement in the Drake Stevenson bird issue; their focus now is on the upcoming race weekend. It would be the first time this season that the Multiversal and Everlong Series would hold their races in different countries: the former would take their first of two visits to the Sherpa Empire, while the latter will head to Roromania. "What's this 'Roro' thing, and why do they seem so obsessed about it there?" Daryl Calhoun asked the night before he, Pyotr Lavrentiev and their respective crew members were about to leave.

Sherpaland has always been one of the Multiversal trio's favorite foreign destinations in the NSSCRA schedule. Whether it's Guilin, Jusenkyo or Ramba (where they'll be racing next), the difference in culture and customs from what they were used to in St. Kanye was fascinating. It felt like a breath of fresh air, which this week was only figuratively and not literally, due to all the dust. This dust was also why the Yeezies decided to stay indoors as much as they could during their leisure time, watching IRACT races and martial arts movies on television.

One movie they caught involved a group of peasants trying to protect their land from some greedy foreigners of indeterminate origin; it was a rather serious movie, but they had to laugh upon noticing that the main villain's right hand man looked exactly like Gil Archer, except with a mustache. Mayhem's commercials featuring Rinzi Aogar Zakhilwal provided more laughs, as were the video remixes of Drake's bird-related meltdown that have made their way onto the Pharaki news.

---

On Friday, they headed to the Ramba Test Track to watch the TMW 400. Four Kanyeans were in the field - Glorious Free Republic Motorsports sent their three AOCAR drivers to compete, and racing legend slash journalist slash Everlong team owner Max Gannon would also make an attempt. The dust was still thick, so the trio had masks on the ready.

"Won't all this dust be too hard on the drivers?" Jeremiah Brooke asked his teammates.

"I know, right? You'd have thought the event organizers would postpone this thing 'cause of that," replied Thea Alvarez.

"I just hope it's gone by the time we take the field on Sunday though," said Sage Caldwell.

The dust did turn out to be too hard on the drivers. Not even fifty laps in, six cars were already out of the running. As the race progressed, six more had to retire, including the #33 Chadwick driven by Northwesterosi Tyler Linde, former NSSCRA driver turned full-time member of Nanchang's IRACT team. All three GFR AOCAR drivers and Gannon finished the race with their cars intact, but it would be Filindostan's Rusty Ibuna who would win, and along with local Kalden Tso in second place, claim the open charters for the 500.

---

Qualifying sessions the next day, Saturday, went off without a hitch. likely because the dust had momentarily cleared by then. Thea was one of the first to attempt . She did not suffer any troubles, not even upon trying to negotiate the sloping part of the track. She did feel like her time was not the best though, and she was right. The 46 on the scoring tower slowly went down as more people put up laps. It started at tenth, then a few minutes later it was at 17th, then 24th, until it finally settled on 33rd. Even the debuting Kalden Tso was quicker.

"Oh well," Thea sighed. "At least this is a short track, the field can get shaken up a lot."

"Tell me about it," said Sage. His time was good for 29th, just two rows ahead of Thea. "You," he pointed a finger at Jeremiah, "why didn't you tell us your secrets? Leaving us stuck mid-pack while you're up there in fifth? The nerve!" he joked.

"Okay, fine. Here's my secret. Don't tell anyone, but Stacie switched bodies with me during my run." Jeremiah's wife, Stacie Houston, was of course a short track expert. She was talking so much about how she misses racing, especially on her favorite type of track, to the point of persuading her husband to let her have a little go or two at the simulator.

"I don't believe you."

"I don't see why you would."

"Whatever. Yo! What are you doing?" A little girl seemed to have found her way to Sage's car, so he went over to investigate. "Hey, kid. What up?"

"Where's Holly? I want to talk to Holly!"

"Holly?"

"Holly Starlight," Thea clarified.

"Yeah! Yeah!" said the girl. "I love Holly, she's my favorite driver!"

"This is the GFR garage, you're looking for G6MR," Sage told her. "It's, uh, right over there. Come with me."

"GG-what? What are you doing with Holly's car, then? I'm gonna tell Holly! You're taking her car!"

"Holly's what? What's she on about?"

"Dude, she thinks your car is Holly's car because they're both blue with numbers that are also blue," Jeremiah explained.

"Kid, can't you see the large 3 on the side? Does Holly even drive number 3?" Sage pointed out, his patience starting to run out.

"I don't know. But Holly's car is blue! I love blue!"

"Why, you...."

Jeremiah had to restrain Sage. "That's a kid, dude! Don't do anything stupid!" Sage broke free, but he never did get the chance to do anything stupid, because Thea had already started walking the kid over to where Holly's garage and car were located.

"So, J, there's this yak racing thing happening in a few hours. They're getting NSSCRA drivers to join, so I said f-ck it, why not. What about you?"

"Sounds cool, but... nah. I gotta be with Stacie. Maybe we'll just be watching from the stands? You want to watch, Stace?"

"Don't worry about me, Brooky. If you want to race yaks with Sage, that's fine with me. I can handle myself. I'm fine being in the stands, rooting for you."

"You sure?"

"I'm 127% sure."

"Well, you heard the wife. So, where do I sign up?"

---

"Don't you think you're taking this too seriously?" Jeremiah glanced at Sage. While the ninth season champ was dressed simply in sneakers, faded jeans and an Ensadrink WSR T-shirt, his dreadlocked teammate wore a full firesuit, despite the fact that in a few minutes, both of them would be riding yaks, not race cars. All around them were some of their fellow drivers like Chris Holmes, Wilma von Cärinthen, and even the Valentians ("I'm surprised they were able to find yaks big and strong enough to carry them," Jeremiah wondered). Stacie, as she said, was in the stands, accompanied by Thea. Tsering Chu was also there, providing support to her own husband Kai Qiang.

"So? Yak racing is serious business, at least around these parts." Sage climbed onto his yak, but had difficulty doing so, given that his guide knew very little English and instead relied on hand gestures. Jeremiah followed suit; not even five seconds after he was on his yak, he heard screaming and cursing behind him. One glance over his shoulder, and there was Chris, holding on for dear life like he was in a rodeo.

"Believe me, Thea, this will not end well," Stacie said as Chris' yak continued to shake him off, finally throwing him face first into a pile of dirt. "Told ya," the Cassadagan continued.

After the crowd was done laughing and taking pictures and videos of Chris' little mishap, the race began. Jeremiah started slowly, but while he picked up speed as the race went on, he couldn't catch up to some of the locals, including Qiang, who was clearly not doing this for the first time. Meanwhile, the firesuit didn't seem to help Sage. He tried screaming at his yak to go faster, but it refused to do so, likely given its limited knowledge of English (or human, for that matter). "Oh, come on!" he shouted as he got passed by a yak that was carrying the increased load of one Anastasia Aye. In the end, Sage finished thirteenth, passing Anastasia with just a few yards to go but himself getting passed by WVC and a couple of locals. Jeremiah was sixth, beaten by Qiang, three locals, and Tyler Linde, who started bragging to everyone in a ten-foot radius how he was able to win a race against some of the NSSCRA's best and brightest.

"Phew! Glad that's over! My yak just won't cooperate. Hope my car won't be like that tomorrow though," Sage said, wiping sweat off his brow.

"Your car? Don't you mean Holly's car?" joked Jeremiah.

"Hey. Don't you freaking start that again."

---

Over in Roromania, Daryl Calhoun and Pyotr Lavrentiev were having a great run. Both of them started the race in the top ten, and remained there for most of the race, even leading their fair share of laps. However, they weren't the only ones who looked like they could take a crack at the win. There were the two Valentian entries of Marcus Reynolds and Val Constantine, for instance. The final stages of the Roromania 300 pitted Daryl and Lav's Chadwicks against Marcus and Val's Evelines, trading paint and the lead seemingly every lap. Sometimes a Dart or Badai Angin would join the fray, but the idea was clear. It was anybody's race.

With five laps to go, Lav had successfully nudged Val out of the lead, but he didn't count on Marcus sneaking by him on the inside. Daryl then arrived, having ridden Val's air, and made it side by side for second with his teammate. Four to go. The two Yeezies continued to run alongside each other, Daryl on top and Lav at the bottom, even as Marcus began to increase his lead. Three to go. Lav found himself on Marcus' tail, but could not a chance to overtake. Val found a gap between him and Daryl, squeezing through it to grab second. Two to go. The Valentians ran 1 and 2 now, and were starting to pull away. Tadashi Mitsubashi tried to threaten Daryl for fourth, but was denied the chance. White flag. The Yeezies' task of catching up to the Valentians was made even harder by the field catching up to them. They were able to hold off the likes of Tadashi and Lotara Novorali, but didn't get enough time to get to the leaders, causing them to settle for third (Lav) and fourth (Daryl).



Lav felt tiny at the podium, standing on the lowest step, with much taller drivers on the other two. Still, he felt great, climbing seven spots to twelfth in the points and regaining some of the confidence he had during the Prospect Showcase when he finished behind only Daryl. Daryl himself also rose in the points, from seventh to third. He told reporters, "We may not have gotten the win, but we did stay in the fight for as long as we could. If we could have our cars like that every week, we're bound to grab a few dubs for ourselves sooner or later. Congrats to our winner, he made things interesting in those last few laps. Oh, and to our fellow Kanyean drivers over in Sherpaland, good luck in tomorrow's race."

[Abanhfleft]

(OOC: Here’s me trying out something else in NSSCRA for a change. We’ve had the stories, we’ve had the car shows, but now let’s do a podcast. Let’s see how this goes.)

John Watt-Samuels: Good evening, everybody! Or good morning or good afternoon or good whatever time of day you’re listening to this, and welcome back to the Motoring Along Podcast with Johnny and Daisy! As always, I am your host, John Watt-Samuels…

Daisy Samuels-Watt: ...and I am also your host, Daisy Samuels-Watt, and for the next hour and a half, we are going to be your backseat drivers throughout the latest that’s happening in the world of motorsports!

John: And we start off in... where else but NSSCRA? Yes, guys, the NationStates Stock Car Racing Association is back in full swing as it enters its third weekend of racing! And, for the first time this season, the Multiversal Cup Series—that’s the top level of NSSCRA for those of you who are new to this whole stock car thing—and the Everlong Contenders’ Series—that’s the second “developmental” tier for younger drivers or drivers trying to ease their way into the Cup Series—is going to be racing in different countries; heck, different continents altogether. The Cup Series is off to the Sherpa Empire for the TMW 500 in Ramba while the Everlong Series is over in Roromania for the Roromania 300 at the Typhoon Speedway in… Having City? How the hell do you pronounce this? Is it like “having a laugh” or “Hay-ving?”

Daisy: Is there some sort of pronunciation guide in those “Welcome to Roromania!” brochures or field guides or whatever that are usually handed out over the weekend?

John: Nope, no pronunciation guides whatsoever. In fact, I don’t think there are even field guides being handed out over there! The people over there looked real surprised to see the whole NSSCRA circus coming their way! It’s like they didn’t even know they were about to be visited by the biggest stock car series the multiverse has ever seen!

Daisy: Whoa, bro. Like, how in the world could that happen? You’re telling me the organizers didn’t tell their own government about the race?

John: I don’t think it’s like that. It’s more like this race didn’t have a lot of promotion over in Roromania. Shit, I don’t think the race got promoted over there at all! The stands were packed, sure, but they were packed with foreigners like us Flefts, Yeezies, Haps, VilTurs, Filindos, Ajians, you name it. Not a lot of locals.

Daisy: That must be rough. Especially for their drivers. Imagine: you train and wait for the day when you can finally drive alongside the best stock car drivers the multiverse has to offer, and you’re excited for the day when these drivers finally get to drive in your country… and nobody bothers to show up. I’d be absolutely gutted if I was one of the Roromanian drivers right now.

John: I wouldn’t feel so sad if I were you. There aren’t any Roromanian drivers in Everlong right now.

Daisy: Huh. Imagine that.

John: Anyway, since we're already in Roromania anyway, let's get to talking about the Everlong race. It's the first ever running of the Roromania 300 in NSSCRA, either in Cup or Everlong. Yeah, wow, very fancy and imaginative name! Totally not something NSSCRA had to make up on the fly because the organizers didn't have a sponsor lined up in time for the race.

Daisy: And let me add that the 300 part of the event title doesn't make sense as well. It just doesn't! The organizers said that this race had 230 laps. On a 1.9 mile speedway, that's… what? 437 miles ran? Tell me, bro, where's the number 300 in all that? And don't tell me that you don't know enough math to answer this because you don't need algebra to figure this out.

John: All right, sis, no need to rub your degree all over my face. But you're right. It doesn't make sense to call it the Roromania 300 if you're not gonna run it for 300 miles or 300 laps. But it would just look weird if it was the Roromania 437 though, right? Maybe you could make a case for the Roromania 230, but that's a little bit clunky, don't you think?

Daisy: Not as clunky as something like the Mang Dolfo's 299 or the Moonwalk Resorts 401 though.

John: Well, enough about the race name. Let's talk about the 300 itself. Or the 437 or the 230 or however you wanna call it. Let's talk about my boy Rustam Yudin. Ridin' on a high after winning the http://www.visitmarietta.xan 300, he gets P3 during qualifying for the Roromania 300. Looks like his streak is set to continue, right? Well, yes, but also no. Yes, Rustam ran over a hundred laps in the lead, battling against the Valentian duo of Valentijn Samantha Constantine and Marcus Alan Ariel. So why the heck did my boy end up finishing in, what was it? P23? I'll tell you why! It's because he was speeding in the pit lane! Not once, but twice!

Daisy: Oh my god! That was just one of the most painful things for me to watch! I mean, come on, man! I know that this is the first time anyone's been on this track and all, but surely Rustam's had more than enough time in practice to get to know where the line is and what the speed limit is, and yet during the race he forgets this, not once but twice like you said. Sure, you can say that this was during race conditions so he might have had a lot of other things on his mind, but just the sheer fact that he did it twice! That's what really bothers me.

John: Damn right! If he had had just one penalty, I really think Rustam would have been able to make those positions back easily. But two penalties? That’s what really cost him, I think.

Daisy: All right, time to move on from Roromania and to the Sherpa Empire. Qualifying for the TMW 500 just ended, and NSSCRA 8 champion Kai Qiang has taken pole at his home track.

John: Is it really his home track though? I always thought he was from Guilin or somewhere like it. This race is being held in Ramba.

Daisy: Whatever. He’s from the Sherpa Empire, we’re racing at a track in the Sherpa Empire. That’s good enough for me. Anyway, Qiang takes pole, a Val Z duo of Clarissa Alanis Star and NSSCRA 10 champion Anastasia Freya Aye hold P2 and P3, and Gilly Archer and NSSCRA 9 champion Jeremiah Brooke round out the top 5. And what do you know? Wilma Cärinthen and Dinggu Wang are also into the top 10.

John: P8 for Old Man Wang as well. I think that’s probably his best qualifying position while driving for UrGa, but of course on the day that that happens, Gil and Wilma combine to start 5-7. Look, I love Wang. Really, I do. But he just seems like he’s cursed to never qualify above his teammates. If the impossible happens and UrGa gets a 1-2-3 in the Cup Series, I’m willing to bet a hundred nups (new penenks) that it’s Wang who’s gonna start in P3.

Daisy: A hundred nups? Man, you’re really that sure about this, huh?

John: Don’t tempt me into making this an actual bet, Daze. You know I’ll do it. Anyway, are there any other drivers whom we should be keeping an eye on? Well, Michael Stefan, winner of this season’s Tundra Falls 500, is starting in 10th. Drake Stevenson, winner of this season’s Exhibition and currently involved in a shitstorm involving two birds, one dead and the other a plushie, is in P14. Taylor “Hendo” Henderson and Rinzi “the Bringer of Mayhem” are starting alongside each other at 11th and 12th place and Chris Holmes—aka “the Yak Whisperer”—is P16. Alfonso Mercado is in P23. Cocoabo #28 starts in P26, two numbers away from his—her? Its?—number. Suzgar the Shark is starting in a lowly P43, and teammate Centur Tiones is just a few places away in 46th. Things are looking uncharacteristically bad for VilTur Motorsports this season, aren’t they?

Daisy: Yeah, you would expect them to be running top 15 easily, maybe even top 10. But something about Ramba didn’t seem to agree with these guys so they’re gonna have to start at the back for this race. Maybe they can make up the places, maybe they can’t. But remember, this is a short track. Anything can happen.

John: As for the open charters, both charters got filled after the Independent Racing Association of the Chinese Territories—IRACT to you and me—nominated the top two drivers of their TMW 400, the support event which actually ran at Ramba with Everlong off at Roromania. In a race where a lot of drivers got caught out by the sand, it was Filindostan’s Rusty Ibuna who won the TMW 400, and local driver Kalden Tso took second place and, consequently, the second of two open charters for the TMW 500.

Daisy: According to the official records, Kalden Tso is from Kowloon. Now, I’m not as good at geography as you are, Johnny, but I’m pretty sure Kowloon is a long way away from Ramba.

John: He’s still from the Sherpa Empire so he still counts as a local driver! Anyway, two of our local drivers took part in the TMW 400 as well, David Clarke of the UrGa works team and... Koshiro Kawai. Yes, ladies and gents, it’s the very same Koshiro Kawai who won the 2030 Abanhfleft Racing Truck Series championship. Winning ARTS has given old Koshiro-san a thirst for pitting himself against the multiverse’s best drivers, and the TMW 400 could very well be just the first of many events where he’ll try to get a hand in NSSCRA. Rumors are already abound that Koshiro Kawai may be planning to apply for an open charter at the Aji Air 400 next week!

Daisy: If the charter request goes through—okay, when the charter request goes through, what’s Koshiro going to drive in NSSCRA? You don’t expect him to take his Duisburg Picayune to Sankyoku, do you? The Picayune’s a truck, not a car. And what about the number? He can’t use #58 because someone else has already got it.

John: He’s probably not above asking for a Luxur from UrGa if it has to come to that. Sure, UrGa and Duisburg hate each other’s guts in ARTS, but unless Duisburg get an Ascension or something like it NSSCRA-ready in time for Aji No Moto, he’s shit out of options right now.

To be continued…