Project Equestria Racing 4
Chapter 3: Our Town Amateur Open 1: Street Race 1
Previous ChapterSeason 1
Our Town, just outside Stalliongrad
Our Town Amateur Open
Event 1: Street Race
Equality Loop
F-Class Vehicles
Lap: 0 / 3
Race about to start...
"Well, hello Equestria! And welcome to the Our Town Amateur Open, a championship of the legendary Project Equestria Racing! My name is Feather Bangs and with me as always is the always beautiful, Sugar Belle!"
"Good morning, Feather Bangs! So happy to be here!"
"I've recently heard that your fiance, Big Macintosh, is actually a competitor in the PER series. Are you actually aware of this, Sugar?"
"Of course! He actually told me that he had signed up for the Project, I was so proud of him! In fact, he is currently the 33rd best racer in Equestria, so he is now a high-class racer,"
"Well, speaking of high-class racers, we've got some lined up for you here today! They're lined up on the grid right now, let's meet them!"
"Okay, first on the grid, we have #61 Racer, Gallus. One of the better racers of the list we have here for you today, he is currently the top ranked driver in the Amateur Division, behind the wheel of a beautiful Lamborghini Miura P400 SV. Apparently, he is also the Captain of the Royal Guard as well! What an impressive set of achievements! You know what? I believe that nothing will stop Gallus from absolutely running away with a victory here!"
"Ah, just hold your horses there, Feather! There is some other competitors that I think have a good shot at winning. Take our #64 and #66 Racers, Sandbar and Smolder. Sandbar, a pretty young and promising touring car driver at the wheel of a Lotus Esprit Essex Turbo. Smolder, a ferocious young dragon at the wheel of a fiery Chevrolet Corvette Stingray. I think they have what it takes to take out Gallus in this. Also, there's our #68 Racer, Silverstream, on a BSA Gold Star DBD34. She has been practicing with it so much, she knows how the best way to ride it! Finally, let's not forget to count count out our #69 and #70 Racers, Ocellus and Yona. Ocellus used to be this shy, little changeling, but not anymore! Especially behind the wheel of her Alfa Romeo SZ. Yona, of course being a yak, she picked the biggest car she could find! What she chose, was the powerful GMC Syclone. All of these drivers may be friends, but once they step onto the track, they become rivals!"
"Whoa there, you're forgetting our last driver! Our new #72 Racer, an amateur rally driver by the name of Akula. He's representing the Changeling Kingdom of old, which is a first. But I usually don't look at that too much, on the account that he is driving a nice looking Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500, one of the greatest touring cars of its day! And judging by the track he'll be racing on now, it might play to his advantage,"
"Well, we shall see. It looks like they are getting lined up on the grid now! Hold onto your seats, everypony! We are about to begin!"
Akula sat on the final spot of the grid, revving the Cosworth YBD engine of his Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500. He was ready to go, and was waiting for the others to signal that they were ready. And by signal, I mean revving the engine to say that you are ready.
Speaking of the others, Akula had taken the time to analyse his opponents' cars and identify their strengths and weaknesses. And he already had a plan.
Since the Equality Loop was a small loop of the town (with the start-finish being in the middle of the row of buildings that formed the equals sign shape of the town) and most of the other cars having big engines and poor grip, Akula would easily shoot by and take top spot, while the GMC, Alfa, Corvette, Lotus and Lamborghini would be left at the line, spinning their wheels. But Akula's attention was mainly focused on the BSA Gold Star and the light pink, blue maned hippogriff riding it. He had watched Project Equestria Racing before and he knew that motorcycles we always the quickest off the line, and usually on short tracks like the one he was on now, motorcycles reigned supreme with their unmatched grip and superior acceleration. But Akula's Sierra Cosworth had surprisingly grippy rear wheel drive, meaning he could keep pace with the Gold Star off the line. But the race itself would be close.
Suddenly, all the others started revving their engines. He knew that the light sequence would begin shortly, and he started to redline the Cosworth's engine (meaning that he held down the throttle while stock still at the lights). Okay, here we go. First race! Let's make a good impression, Akula thought, as the red light started to come on.
"Here we go, everypony! The first stage is about to begin! We are about to get underway!"
The tree has been lit up! We've got one light! Two lights! Three lights! Four lights! Five lights! *slight pause* And the lights have gone green! We are under way!"
The lights went green and the race started.
As expected, Silverstream immediately shot into the lead on her BSA and all the others were left struggling for grip at the line, and Akula easily shot by them, into second.
The first event had immediately become a two-pony race.
"Silverstream and Akula have rocketed off the line! All the others are struggling to get grip as Silverstream charges towards the first corner, Akula hot on her hooves!"
As quick as they launched off the line, Silverstream and Akula reached the first corner, a sharp right leading the track into the mountains surrounding the town. Both of them took the right in train formation, neither of them making any mistakes. But as they started to climb the somewhat steep hills that turned in a long sweeping right, Akula then managed to spot the Gold Star's one weakness. As the incline got steeper and steeper, Akula saw that the bike started to struggle up the hill. Just what he expected from a bike made in the 1950's. And with his more powerful engine, he started to gain on the hippogriff. Finally, when they reached the peak of the hill and hit the top, they were side by side. As the two raced down the hill, Akula took a moment to get a look at his opponent. He was so close to the hippogriff that he could see the her fur blowing in the wind and the sparkles in her eyes. Then, Silver quickly looked at Akula, then did a double take and soon found herself staring right into the glowing red eyes of the Demon Lord. Akula could sense her fear and could see the terror in her eyes as she stared at him. Eventually, the two broke their stare...
...only to find that they were closing on the final corner, another sharp right that heads back into town and the start-finish line.
Panicked, both Silver and Akula hit their brakes, but Akula had hit his brakes later that Silver and he had the better line, so Akula slipped by Silver to take the lead!
"I don't believe this! The rookie, Akula has used the inside line and taken the lead away from Silver, who should've seen that move coming! What a move from the rally driver!"
"Don't get too excited. Remember, he has to hold the lead for two more laps to get maximum Position Kudos. And two laps is still plenty of laps to lose the lead,"
As it turns out, Sugar Belle was very wrong.
Not only had Akula managed to hold the lead, he had managed to lap the tail end of the field before the end of the race, easily taking the win. Gallus meanwhile, had managed to catch Silverstream in the hills and take second from her on the final corner, leaving the hippogriff in third. All the while, two battles were happening, one between Smolder and Sandbar for fourth and Ocellus and Yona for sixth. In the end, Sandbar managed to hold onto fourth, and the fish-tailing Corvette left in fifth. And Yona, despite some struggling on the hill, had managed to outlast Ocellus and take sixth and leaving the shy changeling in last.
Nopony in the entire crowd, the commentators, not even Akula himself could believe it. This nopony rally driver had taken down the Young Six in his very first race!
"What a race by our new 72nd driver! He has performed the unthinkable and beaten the Young Six! This could not happen, but it has happened!"
"And on that lovely note, let's check the leaderboard!"
Standings
Akula (Ford Sierra Cosworth RS500) K 12,693 Gallus (Lamborghini Miura P400 SV) K 10,269 Silverstream (BSA Gold Star DBD34) K 8,476 Sandbar (Lotus Esprit Essex Turbo) K 6,433 Smolder (Chevrolet Corvette Stingray) K 4,178 Yona (GMC Syclone) K 2,876 Ocellus (Alfa Romeo SZ) K 265
"Looks like our rookie Akula has taken an early lead, with 12,693 Kudos. Gallus is hot on his hooves, with 10,269 Kudos. Silverstream, Sandbar and Smolder complete the Top 5 and Ocellus completes the 7,"
"Okay, the racers are coming off the track now. We're gonna bring in one of the racers for an interview, while the others rest up and the next track is set up. You don't want to miss the next round of the Our Town Amateur Open, so as we always say..."
"Stay tuned!"