[Previous entry: "Almost time for <3"] [Next entry: "Did you miss us?"]
| 15 February 2006: "Anyone give out a sack of potatoes?" |
|---|
| Movement Biggest news of the week is that I've finally found out Stacy Needham's gender (a burning question for over 2 years). But I won't tell you guys, so too bad! At the top of the ladder, #1 Raphael Segas is holding off #2 Hendrik Bunde's advances for another week. Both players are active, but Raphael mained a slight lead in AF drop, to finish the week 0.16 points ahead (that's still only a week's worth, btw). What tricks does Hendrik have for us? And can Raphael reach Myth A? #11 Paul Maes reported 4 outdated PRs to cut 0.6 back, but unfortunately didn't move up. The gap between him and #10 Paul Tanney is almost one AF point. #13 Olivier Peruch moved ahead of inactive #14 Mike Hartjens, and is not trailing two Frenchmen - #11 Maes and #12 Yannick Plebani. If he can get past them, he'll battle Tanney (inactive) to earn a top-10 spot. #30 Alejandro Hernandez is coming up very close to #29 Kyle Clayton, making up 0.5 pts this week. He hit his first Myth time on MCR, which should encourage him to keep the pace this week. A few places behind, #34 Emmanuel Debenest returned after 3 months away with a PR. Emmanuel is only 0.4pts behind countryman and ex-champion David Grard, so it's a wonder he stopped playing. Will he remain active? Just behind him is #35 Jake Sopcak, whose 5 PRs saw a modest 2.6pt cut and earnt him Titan B! Jake finished just shy of Emmanuel, but claims to be retiring. #60 Thomas van Leeuwen is leading the charge in the HRS (Hero Rivalry Society), fighting off Dutchies #65 Aron Langerak and #71 Ivo van der Stap, Swede #77 Jonas Natanaelsson, and Canadian #66 Benoit Boudreau. Thomas cut 4pts and moved up 4 places, passing #62 Jeffrey Gutierrez and reaching Hero A in the process. He also scored 3 new Titan times to add to his previous one, and evened out all of his scores to HB or better. Benoit cut 3.6 AF pts himself, extending his lead over Canada's second-placed #70 Simon Laflamme. Aron power through the week woth a 7.7 cut (17 PRs), which let him overtake Benoit by one place. Ivo almost equalled Aron's cut, with 6.9 AF points from his own total (but from only 9 PRs!). Ivo is 3 places behind Dutchie #68 Robert van Zanten, and the other nearest Dutchies are Aron and Thomas. The fifth member of the rivalry, Jonas, cut 6.7pts, so he is keeping up with the pace. Jonas and Ivo are only 5 players apart. While Benoit may be #1 in Canada, #78 Nathan Cromwell is unleashing the beast within, slicing off 1/5th of his AF. Nathan was feeling uneasy about being so close to the Top-100 cut-off, so he got serious and returned to MKDD, cutting 20pts and moving up around 20 places. He's safe from being ousted from the top 100 for a long time now, but will he go for Canada gold? #109 Marvin Mester returned after almost 3 months away, reporting 14 PRs to cut 12pts and move up 13 places. This means the Leichtenstein title has changed once again, since Marvin pass his friend #118 Max Reese. Marvin became the 104th Hero on the ARR chart, making it to Hero D with no room to spare. #147 Jan Haye Klijnstra made it into the top 150, passing fellow Dutchie Chiel Peters along the way. But Jan was feeling a bit sour after his good friend (and bitter enemy) #104 Piet den Dulk didn't let him get a win on LC 3lap (Jan races a faster LC lap, though). #203 Kenny Cott got a new controller and claimed a 10pt AF cut. He finished just outside the top 200... only 3 more pts to go. Similar story with recent-addition #303 John Hornick, who somehow landed just short of the top-300, after cutting a big 51pts (29 PRs). He reached Advanced C, though, skipping past D. Honourable mentions: #15 Cedric Willo (Titan+), #124 Christophe Cosentino (Exp A). New Records Vincent van der Fluit raced a couple of WRs on Wario Stadium (Wario recently purchased it from Waluigi, great discount), his best a 1'38"574. It's 0.2 faster than second-placed Marius Mollenhauer (both Myth B, along with Steel and Karlsson), but Vince insists that this record can do down lower! The second god time appears to have been hit! The first was Steel's BP flap, and now Raphael Segas, in his title defense, pulled off a 21"976 in Peach Beach! This is 0.05 faster than Marius, who had a Myth+ 22'02 since June last year. Raphael hinted on the MB that he's using some new strat reveal to him by JSX - there are vids in the New Vids topic, and it looks like doing SSMTs without zigzagging as erratically. It seems like it only works for long stretches, so many courses might not be affected. New Players Welcome to... Dave Smith from the USA (Beg A, 465th) Marius "Sargoth" Hukkelas from Norway (Adv D, 319th) Ned Furtney from the USA (Int D, 431st) Freddy Bos from the Netherlands (Int D, 445th) Tony Nguyen from the USA (Int C, ~421) We already know one of these guys from other Kart-related activities, a second is a brother, and a third is almost out-Methuselahing Finn and giving him a run for his krone in terms of who commands respect due to age and wisdom. I wonder if he has a daughter... |