*****Wire********

Rumors are spreading that Judicial Chair, Nathanial McEnaney will hear a case to dispute the results of the last race. Racer, Rod is challenging the 3rd place position of Patchy Anderson. Patchy is in response challenging the 3rd and 4th placements of Rod and Naney, respectively. The decision could over turn the current standings. The news has left many racing fans upset. The hearing is to take place before the race Sunday.

-RC

Power Rankings Pre-Naney 100

It's right before the last race of the Naney Cup and there isn't a clear winner in sight.

There have been some distinct patterns emerging from the races however. In the Invitational race which had modifications highly restricted, Rod Crousey's driving skills put him firmly in first place. Crousey's moderate pace and focused handling helped him win a challenging track. This also speaks to his experience as every other driver is completely new to circuit racing. I believe that this will put him near the top of the next race, but most likely he will not take 1st place because his pit crew doesn't have the skill to keep up with his driving ability, the last two races have shown their skills lacking to the point where they had to replace almost every part in the car to get back up and running in the last race!

Aside from the fact that Crousey's pit crew has kept him from winning, there is another reason he will not take first place. The reason is Patrick Anderson. Anderson's driving skills are that of a hot shot rookie and it shows judging from his wild up and down performance in the races. However, his intuition and natural skill in both driving and understanding the technical limitations and benefits of his race car. Anderson's technical understanding mostly comes from being very involved with the pit crew and constantly researching new power trains and energy efficiency.

In the last race Joshua Maag took first position and overall lap leader. In fact, he has linearly increased in points each race since the Invitational. Looking at this you would assume his skill has increased with each new race and while he may have done much better in the Technical Challenge, the reason he won the last race is certainly not an improved engine or great prowess on the track. The simple fact is that all the other contenders for Poolside race were plagued with problems, both with the track itself, the unexpected slickness due to the nearby Lake Crousey and the lateness in the day, and with overheating and slippage troubles from the track's incline. However, not having had many troubles with his pit crew, he is still a contender for 2nd or 3rd in the Naney 100.

For being both one of the core members of the GCRCR and the sponsor for it's first cup, Nate McEnaney has not fared well in any race so far. We've been unable to judge whether his racing skills are up to par with the his competitors because every time he enters the track his race car fails. It's as if he is cursed every time an actual race starts. All of the driver's have seen him race just fine outside of an actual race, but every time he needs to actually use it some tragic technical problem surfaces.

Taking all of the current scores for this cup for each race, I have come up with a chart of predictions for the final race.


This is the outcome I see happening in the next race, but really what matters is the cup as a whole. If Anderson continues using his technical abilities and natural ability he will rocket to first in both the next race and the cup. Where the points are really close is between Crousey and Maag, if the events play out as stated above, then Maag will actually win by a very small margin of points which is what makes the competition between the two so close. Unless they are separated by a position between them (one taking 1st and one 3rd for instance), it is likely that Maag will take this small lead. Unfortunately for team McEnaney, it would require most of the top 3 players losing and not finishing, as well as McEnaney claiming first, but he could still very well take 1st in the race if his pit crew comes through and the cursed is lifted.

Power Rankings

	Team	Rank	Record	Comment
	Anderson	1	3rd-1st-2nd	Anderson's rookie skills have put him at the top for the cup.
	Maag	2	4th-2nd-1st	Consistently improving performance have put this team as a late bloomer pick.
	Crousey	3	1st-3rd-3rd	Crousey's experience has allowed him to gain a competitive edge for every race.
	McEnaney	4	2nd-4th-4th	If he can break from his bad luck streak, he can still come out with a decent record, but isn't a contender for the cup.

-Joshua
Race Analyst

Technical difficulties a thing of the past for GCRCR

The GCRCR has come a long way since its inaugural race on Oct 18 in what is now the old courageous stadium. The night was met with a great deal of excitement as new racers and fans got their first taste of the GCRCR. This excitement soon turned to frustration and anxiety as racers began their first tentative laps around the newly completed stadium. Several of the problems were budget related, the fledgling league still had not been ________Commissioner Rodrick Crousey functioning long enough to raise the funds for a state of the art facility. Furthermore, racers were required to run their cars unmodified in order to create a more competitive atmosphere for beginning teams who hadn't scored enough wins to finance the best crews and racecars. These problems combined to form a track that was challenging even for the most veteran drivers.

Track architect, Patrick Anderson was forced to do a complete redesign of the stadium at the last minute in order to make the track drivable for the beginners in the league. "We don't want the course to be too challenging for new drivers, the first race must be fair and competitive so as to garner all the excitement and support that we can for our new league" said Anderson before the race. However, the redesign posed several problems; first of all, racers were unable to spend enough time on the track prior to the race, resulting in longer lap times and a late discovery of the communication problems inherent to the new stadium and radio equipment. Secondly, even though the track was redesigned to be made far less challenging, some argued that it was still too slipperly to be raced on effectively. Rookie driver, Nate McEnaney and his crew cheif adapted their car to this surface quite well with an unconvential set of tires; soon, many of the other teams fallowed suit.

However, once the race started, many of the racers realized that it would take more than new tires to win. A near catastrophic breakdown in radio communication meant drivers couldn't hear from their crew cheifs and vice versa. Furthermore, the slick surface resulted in more accidents than were anticipated, forcing drivers to loose their cool on the track. New driver, Steve Douglas's was overheard saying "Dude, we need to find a new surface to race on cuz I'm not like, getting any traction" clearly the sitution needed to be resolved before the next race.

All of these technical difficulties took their toll on the GCRCR and many racers lost faith in the league and its equipment sponsers. However, commissioner Rodrick Crousey stood by his sponsers and took action to see these problems addressed. Rodrick's plan was to place the transmitters as close as possible to eachother in order to keep the proximity to the cars as constant as possible. However, when asked about the situation, the sponsers suggested the very opposite to this plan, in hopes that keeping radios away from eachother would result in less interference. After hearing this, race car driver, Patchy Anderson said "I don't know what to think, even the experts don't agree, we'll have to wait and see what happens".

Over the Holidays, Judicial Chairman, Nathenial McEnaney donated a completely new track and stadium to the GCRCR. The new top of the line track performed better than any of the racers could have hoped. "This is definitely the biggest upgrade we could have found for the race cars" said track architect, Patrick Anderson. Furthermore, it is believed that the track material aids in the absorbtion of radio waves, resulting in a more flawless communication between drivers and crew cheifs. Anderson was able to design the new track far longer and narrower than the old courageous stadium. The old track had an average width of 39" and a length of 62' with 1 hair pin turn and 2 half hair pin turns, while the new track has an average width of 30" and a length of 85' with 3 hairpin turns. Despite being more technical, the best lap times for both tracks are nearly identical, it is obvious that drivers can push the limits of their cars.

Furthermore, due to the implementation of Commissioner Crousey's radio placement ideas, not one radio interference issue was reported. Although driver Nate McEnaney experienced several radio issues, none of them were attributed to interference. Conversely, the sponser's resolution method only enhanced the problem. While it is mystifying that they were unable offer any solid advice on how to get the radios to function properly, it is encouraging to know that the equipment can be used to great effect in a race.

The race did not end without incident though, Team Crousey tried a new car body style that proved difficult to keep on the track. Track designers have already made plans to improve the stadium to allow Crousey and other teams to continue to try new body styles in the GCRCR. Furthermore, in a bold move, team McEnaney decided to become the early adopters of several new parts not yet seen in the GCRCR, new wheels, chassis and suspension were all used to give the team a competitive edge in the reliability of their vehicles. However, last minute alterations were needed to get the car in racing condition, the race was delayed in order to allow for the crew to finish the upgrades. Team Crousey used an upgraded motor in addition to the new body and Team Maag used a new motor and an all AWD drivetrain after wisely abandoning a bizarre modification to use rear wheel steering.

However, despite all of these modifications, Team Anderson won the race with a completely stock car. "I wasn't able to get my upgraded parts installed and tuned before the race, so I just raced as best I could with a stock racecar" said Patchy. "I think this is part of the reason for my success in this race, others were busy trying to get the best car, and I just wanted something that would be dependable. I really do admire their efforts though, and I will need to perform similar upgrades for myself in the near future if I wish to continue to compete on their level."

Clearly, the GCRCR has a brighter future than ever as it finishes up its first cup at Courageous stadium. However, racers are only going to continue to up the ante as they seek out new methods to gain their team an edge on the competetion and these adoptions will force the league to evolve more and more as it seeks to satisfy its racers and their widely diverse methods. We are looking forward to the next race to see what transpires.

-PDA