View from the Front
Formula De proved as popular as ever in 2004 with a
total of 51 entrants, one more than last year. Former champions
Roderick Lee, Barry Smith and Steve May all participated, further
highlighting the lasting appeal of this game.
The
tournament featured two preliminary heats. The Thursday afternoon
session drew 21 racers on three tracks: Estoril (Portugal), Suzuka
(Japan) and Budapest (Hungary). The Friday evening heat proved
more popular, drawing 39 racers on six tracks: Magny-cours (France),
Suzuka (Japan), Watkins Glen (USA), Monaco, Melbourne (Australia)
and Silverstone (England). All races ran smoothly with the help
of assistant GM Steve May. Although I collected data for all
the races, I was unable to find any real correlation between
start and finish position. Since the preliminary heats were two-lap
races, there was plenty of time for leaders to fall back and
others to overtake them. Also, one of the great things about
the game is the way it allows players to occasionally gamble
with a "big" die in an attempt to make up ground.
Due to the impossibility of realistically ranking players,
alternate qualifiers for the final have traditionally been decided
by a roll-off between players who finished second in a preliminary
heat. This proved to be a problem this year since there was only
room for one second-place alternate to qualify. Sending a half-dozen
gamers away, who were now too late for any other game starting
in the same time slot, left me with a bad feeling. I have resolved
to find A Better Way for next year's tournament. I also learned
an important lesson - during a roll-off, always be sure everyone
understands whether they are "trying" to roll high
or low!
I knew there was no way to top the spectacular 2003 final,
but I tried to recapture some of that magic by selecting Interlagos
(Brazil) as the track again. This is my favorite track as it
combines high-speed straight-aways with tight corners, allowing
players to gamble and crash spectacularly if they fail.
In contrast to 2003, the final began smoothly, with only a
few damage markers on the track. Things quickly changed as Rob
Kircher redlined twice, then blew his engine with two missed
engine-check rolls. Ilon Woll also blew his engine and Lane Newbury
retired after a spin-out. Ross Jones and Erik Lenhart were also
eliminated and the race was down to six on the final lap. Rookie
James Kendrick was the winner, who held on despite overshooting
a corner by an amazing seven spaces on the first lap. Alternate
and last-position starter Joe Sposito managed to take second
with the ever-dangerous Steve Cameron in third.
I would like to thank everyone who participated, especially
Steve May, who assisted so enthusiastically that in fact there
was very little for the GM to do. I hope it works out as nicely
next year! I'm sure it will as the move to Lancaster has put
us in Ron Magin's backyard so to speak and he indicates that
Euro Games will be present for its first official WBC presence
in 2005 ... which should mean lots of those great enlarged tracks
to choose from next year.
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