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Anticipation is high in hopes of more
body surfing as Gerald Lientz rolls to enter the far turn. |
It appears the stakes have been upped
in the Final with Reeses Cups replacing kisses as rewards for
being first out of each turn. |
blood amongst the kisses
A sweet aspect of John Jacoby's Circus Maximus event is
that he rewards the first driver into each turn with a Hershey's
Kiss. The candies replace the dolphins which were upturned in
the Roman Colosseum to record the number of laps run.
The 2007 Final was a bloodbath of 12 chariots. There were
no lights, and the only medium received so much attention that
it lost a horse by turn 3. After that it got ugly as heavies
turned on heavies. Six teams had less than four animals left
by race end. Three drivers had no chariots to ride as they tried
the new sand surfing sport that's all the rage in Rome these
days... with fatal consequences. This trend seemed to be brought
on by 34 missing wheel spokes .... truly shoddy workmanship by
the wheelwright guild. An investigation is under way.
With all that carnage behind them, three chariots came out
of the final turn with victory in their grasp. Nick Henning,
with eight spokes missing, finally risked increasing speed above
13 and flipped. Josh Githens team straddled the finish line with
victory one space away. But a failed attack by another chariot
allowed them to evade over the finish line for the win. Meanwhile,
Nick Henning survived his body surfing lesson to finish second.
Paul Bolduc evaded twice to cross the line for third.
Experience served Josh well. As the only returning laurelist,
he improved on a 2nd place finish in 2005 that found him tied
in distance over the finish line but lost by being drawn after
the winner.
The big news in the Colosseum this year is the plan to return
to a four heat format in 2008 with a special demolition derby
heat played on a single double- or triple-sized track. Not for
the feint of heart ...
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Thumbs Up? I thought the gladiatorial
games were next week. |
Enthusiasm abounds as some poor soul
kisses the wall. |
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Is there no task too great for
the Greenville Mafia? Having won the adult version, they show
up in force to harness little charioteers as well. Above Ralph
Gleaton whips a bunch into line. |
Carl Sykes ramrods his crew
through the first turn. The hardest part was guarding the Hershey
kisses long enough to get through the turns. |
Circus Maximus Junior
25 little charioteers reported to the Juniors Colosseum which
was ably manned by volunteers from the Greenville Mafia who earned
their stables the hard way. The swiftest kid proved to be Cameron
Graf. He was followed in order by:
2nd: Keith Boone
3rd: Jack Doughan
4th: Nathan Taylor
5th: Phillip Entwistle
6th: Jaclyn Sands
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