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Route 30 traffic ... anyone want to
play Frogger? |
David Stiffler of the Gang Greene
team in his team game. |
Family Ties ...
There were a total of 17 games in the three heats. We were
fortunate to have even multiples of players at each heat so that
each table had the same number of players. 36 players raced in
the first heat, giving us six games of six players each. That
was followed by 42 drivers for the second heat for seven games.
The last heat fell to 20 players resulting in four 5-player games.
Each heat ran the traditional six-race slate. The stats for the
17 games were:
Min score for win: 29 (drop from 30 in 2008)
Max score for win: 41 (major drop from 46 in 2008)
Average score for win: 33.57 (decrease from 34.95 in 2008)
Min score for second place: 27 (unchanged from 2008)
Max score for second place: 35 (decrease from 37 in 2008)
Average score for second place: 30.12 (decrease from 31.11 in
2008)
Two games had to be decided by the tie breaker rules. The 5-player
games were noteworthy for the following. The bank car (aka non-player
car) finished in last place in every game. The winner in three
of the four races won by the biggest margin, with a 38 vs 33,
41 vs 31 and 39 vs 30 point difference. These three games also
provided us with the top point winners as the max points for
a 6-player game was 35.
The winner of the Geico cancelled insurance policy "I lost
the most cars to spin-out, engine blown or crash" award
went to Joe Burch, who managed to lose a car in each of his six
races.
The best quote was by Megan McCorry when she stated "I'm
going to pit stop blue because he gave me the dice". The
blue car racer happened to be John Tighe who refrained from handing
the dice to anyone else after that.
14 of the 17 heat winners posted for the semi-finals including
defending champion Jordan Flawd. Four of the top runner-ups were
selected to round out the field of 18 for the next round.
The semi-final table of Terri Wicks, Chris Greenfield, Thomas
Strock, Harry Flawd, Kevin Youells and Rich Fetzer provided the
closest race of the tournament. The score was 28-28-27-27-25-21
with Harry and Rich tied to qualify for the Final. They were
joined by GM Chris LeFevre (32 points), Matt Fetzer (31). Jordan
Flawd (29), and Sarah Vasilakos (27). Jordan, Matt and Rich were
returning finalists. Rich and Matt were the first father-son
team to make the Final last year. They were joined this year
by the Flawds as two family driving teams made it to the last
round.
Chris started by winning the first race which usually draws
unwanted attention while Jordan and Sarah crashed a car each.
Harry jumped into the lead with12 points after the second race,
with Rich and Chris tied for second with 10 points. Casualties
were limited to Jordan's blown engine and Rich's spin out.
For having the lead, Harry was rewarded in the third race when
he lost one car to a crash and the other blew an engine. Chris
also crashed a car in the race. The worry over one of the father-son
teams working together were erased as Jordan played the crash
card to knock out his father's car. This provided us with the
best strategic analysis of the game when Harry said: "If
you crash another of my cars, you are walking home".
Race 4 knocked out four cars. Jordan and Sarah each crashed,
while Matt lost a car to spin out and Rich had a blown engine.
Chris won again to take the lead at 22 points followed closely
by Rich, Sarah and Harry at 21-20-20 points.
Rich was hit hard in Race 5, losing both of his cars. Jordan and
Sarah also lost a car Matt made the most impressive move by finishing
in first and second to give him 16 points for that race amd vaulting
him from last place in the standings to a tie for first. The
Standings going into the last race were Matt and Harry with 25,
Sarah 23, Chris 22, Rich 21, and Jordan 14.
Everyone had a car finish in the points in Race 6, but Chris
won it - and the tournament with 32 points. There was a three-way
tie for second at 27 points which had to be decided by tie-breakers.
The Flawds brought up the rear with Harry in 5th with 26 points,
and now ex-champion Jordan in 6th with 17.
The GM is rooting for a repeat champion in 2010, but he might
be a little biased. Special thanks to Lisa Gutermuth and Chris
Janiec for being assistant GMs.
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Corey Kim at his first WBC is about
to console Joe Burch for his impending engine trouble. |
Katey McCorry is now an old pro ...
learner's permit in the rear view mirror. |
Formula Motor Racing Junior
There were 16 little race drivers sans learning permits loosed
on the streets of the Heritage room this summer. The best of
these was Dacey Collinson who was followed in order by Thomas
Melton, Jordan Shea, Brian Pappas, Brian Sherwood and Katie Elliot..
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