Baker, Jokowski Claim Championship in Equatus 500 HoverBlitz 02/27/3133
INN - Interstellar News Network
MANTRAA, SOLARIS VII--In a stunning upset that had fans on the edges of their
seats until the very end, Li Baker and Marlene Jokowski of Team Asbjørn claimed the
Championship in the 3133 Equatus 500 HoverBlitz, deposing three-time winners Verne
Dresden and Hoshi Calloway of Team Bannson. Reaching speeds up to 240 kph on
the winding track, dodging automated laser fire through fields of smoke, and even
surviving the dreaded Forest course in the final lap, Team Asbjørn (which means
“God-Bear” in ancient Norse) pulled off an amazing win. They finished the course just
a hair under 2.6 hours, barely a hoversled’s length ahead of Team Bannson.
Competition in this year’s HoverBlitz, sponsored jointly by Bannson Universal
Unlimited and DefHes Industries, was particularly tight, with three new hoversled
teams joining the Equatus League at the start of the fall season. The last month’s
semifinals, however, whittled the 34-team league down to a mere six teams for the
500-kilometer final, with Team Bannson favored by the odds-makers almost two-to-
one. The closest contenders in this year’s race, by all accounts, were Team Mjölnir,
Lyran favorites known for their aggressive driving, and the pro-Capellan Team Ji Nu,
but no one expected the Rasalhaguian team Asbjørn to claim the starburst, least of all
their champion racers, Baker and Jakowski.
“It was so incredible, especially in that last lap,” Li Baker told reporters, her forehead
still glistening with sweat from the hard-run race. “I just kept telling Marlene to pour
on the thrust, till we could actually feel the engine mounts rattling behind us and every
warning light on my panel was lit.”
“The laser hit in the fourth lap had me concerned most,” said Marlene Jokowski,
Baker’s engineer and copilot for the customized MKX-37 Avanti Starcharger they
drove to victory. “We took a blast from the field turret that had us both fighting the
controls to avoid going into a lateral spin. After that, I was just glad we survived to
set down.”
The laser cannons came online in the third lap, the infamous “crunch time” that gives
the HoverBlitz its name, and accounted for the disabling of two of this year’s
competitors, including the champion sled of third-ranked Team Eagle of Marik fame,
whose E-16 Macadam Bullet Glider slammed into the pit yards when a control-fin hit
destroyed their maneuvering jets and sent them streaking off the track. Neither
Hortense Timken, the Eagle pilot, nor his copilot, Ariel Ramos, was injured in the
crash.
Meanwhile, the secondary sled of Team Ji Nu, piloted by Nickolas Akmed, managed a
controlled slide to the sidelines when a laser bolt bit into its engine compartment,
slicing open its distributor lines.
But by far the most difficult leg of the race began in lap five, when the eight surviving
champion and secondary sleds swung through the infamous Forest course, darting
amid the steel trees and holographic foliage of a simulated woodland that can
confound even the most experienced hoverpilot. Only two competitors were
eliminated by the maze of artificial trees and shrubbery, a far cry from the six-sled
pile-up that all but ended the 3131 Equatus 500.
And in the end, Teams Bannson, Asbjørn, and Mjölnir were in the lead, leaving Teams
Eagle and Ji Nu and the Canopian-favored Team Stratos in the dust as each poured on
every last bit of power for the finish. The final standings were as follows:
Team Asbjørn, in first place, claimed this year’s gold starburst with a finish time of 2
hours, 34 minutes, 48.6 seconds. Team Bannson, in second place, earned the silver
starburst with a finish time of 2 hours, 34 minutes, 51.3 seconds. Team Mjölnir
placed third, securing the bronze starburst with a finish time of 2 hours, 34 minutes,
55 seconds. And Teams Ji Nu and Thunder claimed the fourth and fifth places with
times of 2 hours, 35 minutes, 6.4 seconds, and 2 hours, 35 minutes, 10.8 seconds,
respectively.
“We were so close to the Bannson sled, I could smell the exhaust in my cockpit,” said
Jeanine Loffredo, pilot for Team Mjölnir’s Kreischener 4000 champion sled, which
claimed the bronze sunburst. “But with every indicator warning of an imminent plant
breach, I just knew we couldn’t get the juice we’d need to pass.”
Verne Dresden, three-time winner of the Equatus 500 and pilot for Team Bannson’s
champion V-20 Streak Missile Sled, demonstrated his legendary sportsmanship
immediately following the race by personally congratulating Team Asbjørn’s winning
crew, and even posed for pictures with a friendly arm on the shoulders of both
women.
“I’m a big enough man to acknowledge a great sledding crew when I see one,”
Dresden quipped to reporters, flashing another winning smile, “and I can definitely
say I am seeing one here.”
Towne Log
+ Helllllllllllll, yeah! About time someone knocked those Bannson punks off their high
horses! That’ll be 50 Stones, TVBluFist! :- BlazeFire
+ Dude! Team Asbjørn won? Over Bannson??? WTH? I didn’t know the Rasalhagians
even had a hoversled team! :- TVBluFist
+ Asbjørn and Stratos just came onto the scene last year, TV. Qualified for EL status
after they passed the Pan-Solaris Open, if I recall it right. :- KevvyCone
+ The PSO? Dude, the PSO is crap! Simple run-around-the-continent stuff. Who has
time to watch a 20-hour marathon of hoversleds when they got the Hoverblitz? If you
ask me, that is what racing should be about--going ballistic, dodging laser fire, and
trying not to slam your face into an iron tree!” :- BlazeFire
+ And who’d have thought it, BF? Just five years ago, the PSO was “the” race to
watch. Then Bannson took it to the next level with his Equatus League. Got to admit,
that guy’s a genius. :- GropoM
+ Yeah, and no wonder his boys were the winners so many years running, huh? I still
say these races are fixed. :- Synnik
+ Cripes, man! Did you see that finish? Hell, Team Mjölnir had its nose right up
Bannson’s tail-pipe, and you know it wouldn’t have been pretty if they just lunged
forward another five centimeters or so right then--not that Bannson couldn’t afford
some new glory boys after that. But tell me when you see one of those overpowered
gliders split in two how it’s all an act! :- BlazeFire
+ Almost expected as much when Team Eagle’s lead sled took that fin hit. Hell, to be
able to survive a crash like that is some pretty fancy driving, the way I see it. Too bad
they don’t award starbursts for race-track heroics, eh? :- OptMst
+ Winners get the medals, Opt, not survivors. :- Synnik
INN - Interstellar News Network
MANTRAA, SOLARIS VII--In a stunning upset that had fans on the edges of their
seats until the very end, Li Baker and Marlene Jokowski of Team Asbjørn claimed the
Championship in the 3133 Equatus 500 HoverBlitz, deposing three-time winners Verne
Dresden and Hoshi Calloway of Team Bannson. Reaching speeds up to 240 kph on
the winding track, dodging automated laser fire through fields of smoke, and even
surviving the dreaded Forest course in the final lap, Team Asbjørn (which means
“God-Bear” in ancient Norse) pulled off an amazing win. They finished the course just
a hair under 2.6 hours, barely a hoversled’s length ahead of Team Bannson.
Competition in this year’s HoverBlitz, sponsored jointly by Bannson Universal
Unlimited and DefHes Industries, was particularly tight, with three new hoversled
teams joining the Equatus League at the start of the fall season. The last month’s
semifinals, however, whittled the 34-team league down to a mere six teams for the
500-kilometer final, with Team Bannson favored by the odds-makers almost two-to-
one. The closest contenders in this year’s race, by all accounts, were Team Mjölnir,
Lyran favorites known for their aggressive driving, and the pro-Capellan Team Ji Nu,
but no one expected the Rasalhaguian team Asbjørn to claim the starburst, least of all
their champion racers, Baker and Jakowski.
“It was so incredible, especially in that last lap,” Li Baker told reporters, her forehead
still glistening with sweat from the hard-run race. “I just kept telling Marlene to pour
on the thrust, till we could actually feel the engine mounts rattling behind us and every
warning light on my panel was lit.”
“The laser hit in the fourth lap had me concerned most,” said Marlene Jokowski,
Baker’s engineer and copilot for the customized MKX-37 Avanti Starcharger they
drove to victory. “We took a blast from the field turret that had us both fighting the
controls to avoid going into a lateral spin. After that, I was just glad we survived to
set down.”
The laser cannons came online in the third lap, the infamous “crunch time” that gives
the HoverBlitz its name, and accounted for the disabling of two of this year’s
competitors, including the champion sled of third-ranked Team Eagle of Marik fame,
whose E-16 Macadam Bullet Glider slammed into the pit yards when a control-fin hit
destroyed their maneuvering jets and sent them streaking off the track. Neither
Hortense Timken, the Eagle pilot, nor his copilot, Ariel Ramos, was injured in the
crash.
Meanwhile, the secondary sled of Team Ji Nu, piloted by Nickolas Akmed, managed a
controlled slide to the sidelines when a laser bolt bit into its engine compartment,
slicing open its distributor lines.
But by far the most difficult leg of the race began in lap five, when the eight surviving
champion and secondary sleds swung through the infamous Forest course, darting
amid the steel trees and holographic foliage of a simulated woodland that can
confound even the most experienced hoverpilot. Only two competitors were
eliminated by the maze of artificial trees and shrubbery, a far cry from the six-sled
pile-up that all but ended the 3131 Equatus 500.
And in the end, Teams Bannson, Asbjørn, and Mjölnir were in the lead, leaving Teams
Eagle and Ji Nu and the Canopian-favored Team Stratos in the dust as each poured on
every last bit of power for the finish. The final standings were as follows:
Team Asbjørn, in first place, claimed this year’s gold starburst with a finish time of 2
hours, 34 minutes, 48.6 seconds. Team Bannson, in second place, earned the silver
starburst with a finish time of 2 hours, 34 minutes, 51.3 seconds. Team Mjölnir
placed third, securing the bronze starburst with a finish time of 2 hours, 34 minutes,
55 seconds. And Teams Ji Nu and Thunder claimed the fourth and fifth places with
times of 2 hours, 35 minutes, 6.4 seconds, and 2 hours, 35 minutes, 10.8 seconds,
respectively.
“We were so close to the Bannson sled, I could smell the exhaust in my cockpit,” said
Jeanine Loffredo, pilot for Team Mjölnir’s Kreischener 4000 champion sled, which
claimed the bronze sunburst. “But with every indicator warning of an imminent plant
breach, I just knew we couldn’t get the juice we’d need to pass.”
Verne Dresden, three-time winner of the Equatus 500 and pilot for Team Bannson’s
champion V-20 Streak Missile Sled, demonstrated his legendary sportsmanship
immediately following the race by personally congratulating Team Asbjørn’s winning
crew, and even posed for pictures with a friendly arm on the shoulders of both
women.
“I’m a big enough man to acknowledge a great sledding crew when I see one,”
Dresden quipped to reporters, flashing another winning smile, “and I can definitely
say I am seeing one here.”
Towne Log
+ Helllllllllllll, yeah! About time someone knocked those Bannson punks off their high
horses! That’ll be 50 Stones, TVBluFist! :- BlazeFire
+ Dude! Team Asbjørn won? Over Bannson??? WTH? I didn’t know the Rasalhagians
even had a hoversled team! :- TVBluFist
+ Asbjørn and Stratos just came onto the scene last year, TV. Qualified for EL status
after they passed the Pan-Solaris Open, if I recall it right. :- KevvyCone
+ The PSO? Dude, the PSO is crap! Simple run-around-the-continent stuff. Who has
time to watch a 20-hour marathon of hoversleds when they got the Hoverblitz? If you
ask me, that is what racing should be about--going ballistic, dodging laser fire, and
trying not to slam your face into an iron tree!” :- BlazeFire
+ And who’d have thought it, BF? Just five years ago, the PSO was “the” race to
watch. Then Bannson took it to the next level with his Equatus League. Got to admit,
that guy’s a genius. :- GropoM
+ Yeah, and no wonder his boys were the winners so many years running, huh? I still
say these races are fixed. :- Synnik
+ Cripes, man! Did you see that finish? Hell, Team Mjölnir had its nose right up
Bannson’s tail-pipe, and you know it wouldn’t have been pretty if they just lunged
forward another five centimeters or so right then--not that Bannson couldn’t afford
some new glory boys after that. But tell me when you see one of those overpowered
gliders split in two how it’s all an act! :- BlazeFire
+ Almost expected as much when Team Eagle’s lead sled took that fin hit. Hell, to be
able to survive a crash like that is some pretty fancy driving, the way I see it. Too bad
they don’t award starbursts for race-track heroics, eh? :- OptMst
+ Winners get the medals, Opt, not survivors. :- Synnik
| February 27, 3133 |