The Goof 20X6

[Rollo75]

Round 1 - Phoenix Raceway

When the haulers arrived at Phoenix Raceway, they did not expect to find that ISC had refused them to run the 1.0 mile dogleg course and instead painted over sections and made them run the older 1.1 mile over. Pit lane had even been repainted in the older position; with the iconic cactus covered over.

There would also be another change to the way that the championship worked. There were 64 cars signed up for the 20X6 season; which is clearly too many to hold normal pre-qualifying. Instead, there would nominally be a Qualifying Race and the Main Feature at most venues, save for the traditional longer races which will incur "double points" later in the season. The top 32 in points would always be on the car for the main race; which the underhalf of the field racing their way in. Goof Management had not worked out the mechanics exactly yes.

As there was no data for Round 1, the field was simply cut in half and two Heat Races were run.

A-Heat Race:



For 20X6 the teams decided to return to the General Norton Systems 55 chassis and this meant that some teams who retained their data had an existing advantage. The surprise package was that Pom Pomni who replaced Judge John Judd at Team OSKO, was able to use this machine with relative ease.

Her late race battle with Mario Mario mostly came down to who could hold the bottom line better. The Mazda was clearly more stable on turn in.

8 Pom Pomni
5 Mario Mario
3 James Kojira
2 Kerrod Edmundson
1 Dale Tona



B-Heat Race:

The B-Heat race was a chaotic affair held later on Saturday afternoon, where temperatures soared beyond forty centigrade. As tyre life fell away, Jimmy Kohler pulled out a lead and then found it being whittled away. He was pursued by Kermit Cleveland who has returned for 20X6 and Bob Nikoban who chose to roll around the top of the circuit and run higher speeds.

This race would be decided on lap 59 of 60 when Kohler finally couldn't hold back the chasing pack. Cleveland ran up the inside but was able to close the door before Nikoban and the fast closing Ugly Arbuckle arrived.

8 Kermit Cleveland
5 Jimmy Kohler
3 Bob Nikoban
2 Ugly Arbuckle
1 Ellie McIllan

Main Feature Race:



Pole sitter Billy Highbank had been to Phoenix before and hope to jump out to an early lead. He led the opening few laps buy was hounded by Luigi Mario and Michael Maus, both of whom have returned in 20X6. Bandit Heeler also hung around for a few laps but complained of a vibration in his Ford and made the first pitstop on lap 40 of 200. Highbank was now a first choice customer for the Ford program and was allocated parts along with The Heeler Bros and McIllan Racing.
This triggered wave of cars coming in and out over the next few laps and by lap 45, Highbank had returned to the lead and with Retsuko Akapanda close behind.




On lap 88, Sticks Baja was tagged by Robie Robie going into Turn 1 and the two of them came to rest blocking the track. The pit cycle which followed came slightly too early; and at the end of the confusion, first time runner Grimace O'Grimace in the #67 Toyota Crown found himself at the front of the field. He was something of a sitting duck and within five laps, he was rounded and passed by Dale Tona, who this year has found sponsorship from Spam.

Retsuko Akapanda was content to sit in behind Tona because with slightly under half of the race to go, there wasn't really any benefit to be had. O'Grimace very quickly learned on the fly that patience was how races and seasons are put together and slotted into third place.

M3

The third round of pitstops came and went on lap 145 of 200 as different strategies all began to merge. O'Grimace found that he had late car run speed and passed Tona for the lead on lap 176.
Kane McKane in the Golden Fleece Chevrolet passed Tone on lap 178 and then came to O'Grimace on lap 180. He spent four laps trying to work out how to get around the Toyota and then finally did the bump and dive bomb going into Turn 1 on lap 185.

With the number of laps rapidly running out, attention then turned the two Chevrolet's of Jack Raymond and Felix White. Raymond in the #88 Telstra machine had already been passed by the leaders and put a lap down many laps before. He was having a nothing kind of afternoon when it became apparent that Felix White who has also returned for 20X6 was behind him.

They ran together, with Raymond picking their way through traffic and White following; passing Kong, Highbank, Tona, Akapanda, and O'Grimace before finally reaching McKane on lap 193. McKane this late in the race was in preservation mode and didn't really put up a fight; surrendering the lead to White on lap 196 and from that point the final order was determined.

Curiously, this was Felix White's maiden win; despite this being his seventh season. Time away and scrobbling about at dirt tracks might have taught him something about racecraft. This might also be the first time in almost 25 years that no previous champions scored a point in the opening Round proper. Ellie McIllan's 1 point in the B-Heat race was as close as anyone got.

"We didn't really have a plan and I am still re-learning the car. A win to open the season is always a good thing though."
- Felix White, to U62-TV.

Main Feature Race:
20 Felix White
17 Kane McKane
14 Grimace O'Grimace
12 Dale Tona
10 Retsuko Akapanda
8 Donkey Kong
6 Billy Highbank
5 Jeb Brown
4 Waluigi Warui
3 Luigi Mario
2 Michael Maus
1 Stanley Spidalski

All Points Scorers After Round 1:

20 Felix White
18 Kane McKane
14 Grimace O'Grimace
14 Dale Tona
10 Retsuko Akapanda
8 Pom Pomni
8 Donkey Kong
8 Kermit Cleveland
6 Jeb Brown
6 Billy Highbank
5 Jimmy Kohler
5 Mario Mario
4 Waluigi Warui
3 James Kojira
3 Bob Nikoban
3 Luigi Mario
3 Ugly Arbuckle
2 Kerrod Edmundson
2 Michael Maus
2 Ellie McIllan
1 Stanley Spidalski

Round 2 will be held at Homestead Miami on Jan 11th .

 

[Rollo75]

Round 2 - Homestead Miami

The Qualifying Race:

The nominal regular season began in Miami and it was here where drivers got their taste of the new system. Last year's points had been divided by 100 to create an index for this season, and then the top 30 drivers in points would qualify for the Main Feature race, except the top 5 which would be given an automatic entry. This system simultaneously satisfied teams and drivers who were paid out on the old Racing Entitlement Contracts which were now defunct, and actively encouraged new teams to participate.

The Qualifying Race was a sprint race of 100 miles; which at Homestead Miami meant 67 laps.

Q1

Romanian driver Count Von Count who had arrived with not very much pomp or circumstance, led most of the early portion of the race. Evidently he had honed his skills driving in substandard touring car championships in Eastern Europe. It was nominally enough to hold back the challenge of Speedy Cerviche and Healhcliff, who were also rookies for 20X6.

However, experience shone through and while Von Count could hold back most of the field, it was Antoine D'Tigrette who finally bested him. D'Tigrette was running a car out of the remnants of the works Chevrolet stables, as was his newly found drafting partner in Judge John Judd; who was also in an Arbuckle prepared Chevrolet worked together and while they both couldn't get around Von Count, on lap 66 or 67, D'Tigrette who had managed his tyres better, was able to finally turn in and scoot past.

Points Awarded Qualifying Race:

8 Antoine D'Tigrette
5 Count Von Count
3 Judge John Judd
2 Speedy Cerviche
1 Heathcliff

The Feature Race:

Bandit Heeler who had come reasonably close to winning the title last year, was heartened by the fact that Von Count was able to make good use of the Ford and ducked out of the draft on lap one to take the lead. He was followed by Round 1 winner Felix White and Kermit Cleveland who was making his return to The Goof.

M1

One lap 9 while trying to weave his way through a space which didn't exist. Felix White came out of Turn 4 and slid across the nose of Heathcliff. On the outside of Heathcliff was Jeb Brown in one of two Dodges. Brown had rolled around the top of the racetrack and clearly found more speed out there.

White tried to do a classic slide job in front of Heathcliff and likely because his spotter could give decent enough information, he slid straight into Brown and took out both of them. As it was still way too early for the field to come in, this only had the effect of reducing everyone to a 41-car train; in which practically everyone was annoyed and angry.



With the feature race being 167 laps, it meant that the race would nominally be cut into thirds if it was clear running. The caution on Lap 9 had dialled a little but of leeway into the strategies but it was precious little.

What was really curious thought was that by lap 50, there were three clear leaders. They were Polly Esther in an actual Wood Brothers prepared Ford, Judge John Judd in the Chevrolet, and Harry Pikachu in the Dinamo Electric Toyota. Dinamo Electric was a customer of Team Yellow Toyota; with Robie Robie and Patrick Mann still not quite getting over their spat from seven years ago. It is unclear how Harry Pikachu is related to former champion Jean-Luc Pikachu but the older was now buzzing around the team in some kind of engineering capacity.

When the filed pitted under green from laps 110-117, it became apparent that various teams had been holding back in the heat. For from laps 120 to lap 151, their lead was chiselled away until it was non-existent until a seven car leading pack had formed which consisted of Pikachu, Esther, Judd, Heeler who was now back in the fray, Dale Tona in the Spam Ford, Kane McKane and Eggatha Robotnik.

M3

It was from this second set of four chargers where the race would be decided.

Tona like Brown had done earlier, found speed by running around the top of the track. In doing so, he would surrender track position to whomever could hold the bottom. Heeler had a car that could turn in nicely but was tight and would wash up the racetrack. McKane probably had the fastest car potentially but couldn't find any opening into the angry peloton ahead of him.

This meant that 20X4 champion Eggatha Robotnik, who is still only in her early 20s, ended up with 50 laps to think about how and where to chip away at the leaders. She has already picked off McKane who seemed resigned to the fact that the best that he could hope for was 4th, and more or less gave up ten laps from home.

In a move that surprised everyone and as a testament to just how well Team Eggman MAD had prepared the cars, Eggatha rolled behind Tona for five laps and then seizing the opportunity on lap 147, came off the top of the track and split the two of them as though she was carving through a turkey. Heeler couldn't defend, and Tona couldn't come downwards.

Heeler had seen this all before. He knew better than try and chase down Eggatha but even then, he still had to defend against Tona who was running a fine race of his own. In the end, Tona was able to baulk Heeler by constantly making him think twice and on more than one occasion Tona upset the handling of Queensland's favourite son by running in the wash of the No.17's wake; thus creating a weird turbulence.

With Eggatha long gone and with Tona harrying him, eventually Heeler decided that third place was just easier to live with as championships are not won by putting cars into walls. Perhaps the unsaid story of this race was that there were three previous champions in the points; thus proving that talent still matters.

"We've seen this all before. Our old data and settings still work and the Mazda PY-V8 is even better this year. We're not bothering to build our own cars this year; so we've been able to do more things."
- Eggatha Robotnik to U62-TV.

With a point in a heat race and a fourth and a second, Dale Tona now leads the championship.

Points Awarded Round 2:

20 Eggatha Robotnik
17 Dale Tona
14 Bandit Heeler
12 Kane McKane
10 Harry Pikachu
8 Ellie McIllan
6 Mao Mao Mao
5 Talon Claw
4 Polly Esther
3 Walter Kronkyet
2 Count Von Count
1 Friedrich Bang

Top 20 After 2 Rounds:

31 Dale Tona
30 Kane McKane
21 Eggatha Robotnik
20 Felix White
15 Bandit Heeler
14 Grimace O'Grimace
10 Retsuko Akapanda
10 Harry Pikachu
9 Ellie McIllan
8 Antoine D'Tigrette
8 Pom Pomni
8 Donkey Kong
8 Kermit Cleveland
7 Count Von Count
6 Jeb Brown
6 Mao Mao Mao
6 Talon Claw
6 Billy Highbank
5 Jimmy Kohler
5 Mario Mario

The next race will be at Talladega Super Speedway on Jan 25th.