The next race was the Berman Bros. Auto Dealers 300. A dirt track is certainly going to be a unique twist.
Luckily, all three of Dartsfield's boys had been able to qualify for the race itself. Though Rivier and Nimrac definitely seemed to have had a better time out there compared to De Soubre, who was complaining on the radio that the last time he raced on dirt was on a motorbike. But he seemed happy by the end of qualifying, being able to get into a race again. He's had to sit out the Spiritair Classic 400 and the Drymark 400 due to bad qualifying runs. So perhaps this is where he will start to hit the mark, you know what I mean.
However, there was definitely another reason that he was quite happy. With the NSSCRA race coming up, the week after that is when the Berman Bros Classic will be held. Considering that after the 300 will be the Exhibition 500, the three decided that they would be trying to partake in the Classic as mere fun. But only the three of them felt odd to say the least, especially considering that other nations were sending so much more participants. It felt kind of isolating at first, but then the Athearan out of the three had an idea.
Of course, don't worry, DRW knew ahead of this.
Why not invite some Formula Aphrilia drivers? All three had a connection to the domestic series (Nimrac and Rivier raced in it, De Soubre won a title outright) and it would definitely help some of the drivers gain international fame. Plus, it would be convenient considering that for this season around this time, there's actually an off weekend after the first race of the season. The start of Formula Aphrilia for most people is easy to predict, and for those who follow both F-APH and NSSCRA, it's around the start of the 12th race of the NSSCRA season. But this time the first race would be around the 11th, then an off-week before the next race which would be around the Exhibition 500.
And so, De Soubre sent out invites. Most drivers had their own personal issues or schedules, which were understandable. But four of them came around. Hikari Takanashi, Tristan Elbe, Amelia Lancaster, and Brendan Holiday. All were still signed with contracts for the current Formula Aphrilia season, so there was no issue regarding that. As for why the four had chosen to come along... Takanashi said that she wanted to see how the multiverse raced on dirt, Elbe just wanted an excuse to meet De Soubre again, whilst Lancaster and Holiday wanted to travel outside of Aphrilia for once before the new season came at the in full swing. Perfectly fine reasons.
As for interpersonal reasons and connections, well, there were aplenty.
Lancaster was around the same age as Rivier, and the two were good friends as they debuted in the same season. The latter's current girlfriend, Elise Carmine, can't help feel jealous when he's around the current Victoria Motor Craft driver. But the two girls surprisingly got along despite that. Elbe was teammates with De Soubre during his record-breaking title season, acting as his rear gunner whilst Takanashi was a fierce competitor. Not only that, the latter (Who is originally from Sangonomiya) did have experience with dirt racing as she had done rally racing before making the switch to open seaters. Nimrac and Holiday had a similar relationship to Rivier and Lancaster.
And that's how Aphrilia has seven entries.
