Marble Rally 2019 - Race 1

Marble Rally 2019Race A1
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The podium finishers on the podium
Date	19 September 2019
Track	Doornse Gat (122 meter)
Weather	Sunny, 24 ˚C
Wind	5 Bft Headwind (fresh breeze, 10 m/s)
Sand Condition	Dry top layer, wet underlayer after rainshowers
Hidden Marble	Roldo
Top 5 Overtakes	73
Lead Changes	5
Link	Sand Marble Rally 2019 Race 1 - Jelle’s Marble Runs
Podium
1st	Crazy Cat's Eye
2nd	Blizzard Blaster
3rd	Quicksilver

The first race of the 2019 Marble Rally was held at Doornse Gat. 20 marbles participated in the race. It was run in hot conditions (24˚ Celsius), which caused the sand to dry out quickly. This, in turn, caused the race to be very difficult, as seen with the many retirements throughout the race.

Race

At the start, El Capitan took the lead initially down the starting straight, but a split was located nearly immediately after, causing shake-ups in the order. As the field divided itself into the higher and lower lines, it was Superball who slotted into the lead ahead of Crazy Cat's Eye, El Capitan, Blizzard Blaster and H2 Blue. Superball was alone among the leaders in opting for the high line, with the second-highest running marble in that line being Pollo Loco, who was eighth overall. Nearly immediately, rookie Cool Moody and veteran Reflektor both crashed off the course within several seconds of each other. Superball lost out massively through the rest of the split, dropping to seventh.

Not even thirty seconds in and already a third marble was out of the race as former champion Dragon's Egg stopped dead in their tracks due to "fatigue". Meanwhile, Crazy Cat's Eye managed to build a major lead over second-place Blizzard Blaster, followed by Quicksilver, Summer Sky, Pollo Loco and El Capitan. Through the esses, Summer Sky jumped into third ahead of Quicksilver, while Pollo Loco was successful in fending off a bold overtaking attempt from El Capitan. In a high bank, Quicksilver retook their podium position, while an extremely well-timed attack from Superball meant they advanced from seventh to fourth.

The shuffle caused by Superball's lunge also allowed El Capitan to finally move past Pollo Loco for sixth. Superball briefly took third from Quicksilver, before the field bunched up in a tight corner. Blizzard Blaster took the lead, only to fall into fourth as the marbles bounced off a hard right-hander. Pollo Loco ended up getting back past El Capitan and also past Summer Sky, advancing them to fifth position. Crazy Cat's Eye slotted back into the lead after Blizzard Blaster's antics, with Superball in second and Quicksilver in third. Through a smaller set of esses, El Capitan continued to fade, dropping to the bottom of the top ten behind Marbly McMarbleface, Ghost Plasma and reigning champion Red Number 3.

Blizzard Blaster was able to shoot up to second by the end of the esses, while Summer Sky and Marbly McMarbleface became the next marbles to drop behind the dueling champions in Ghost Plasma and Red Number 3. Somewhere at the back of the field, previous season's front-runners Phoenix and Black Knight got stuck on the course together, meaning one-quarter of the field was out of the race shortly after halfway. A bunch-up in front allowed El Capitan to move back into fifth, before falling behind Ghost Plasma again. Meanwhile, Cobra also crashed out to become the sixth retirement, while H2 Blue got stuck on the course after running in the top five at the very beginning. By this point, the top two in Crazy Cat's Eye and Blizzard Blaster had comfortably pulled away from the fights behind them and would remain in those positions until the end of the race. Quicksilver was able to fend off the attacks of Superball and also pulled away a bit in third place.

Red Number 3 finally managed to move past Ghost Plasma into fifth place, and then started hounding their 2018 rival Superball for fourth as the race started to come to a close. Crazy Cat's Eye, Blizzard Blaster and Quicksilver were not threatened anymore as they rolled home in the podium positions. Superball managed to keep hold of fourth despite Red Number 3's attempts. Ghost Plasma faded drastically in the final stretch, dropping to eighth place, with Summer Sky and El Capitan overtaking them for sixth and seventh. Pollo Loco and Marbly McMarbleface rounded out the top ten. The tricky conditions on the course resulted in only thirteen marbles finishing, the new Sand Marble Rally record for fewest finishers. Even the Ghost Marble failed to complete the course. The final three finishers classifed in positions eleventh through thirteenth were Silver Bolt, Comet and Slimer.

Classification

Pos.	Marble	Time	Delta	Starting Pos.	Points
1st	Crazy Cat's Eye	2:42.59	-	P4	20p
2nd	Blizzard Blaster	2:43.88	+1.29	P9	17p
3rd	Quicksilver	2:44.86	+2.27	P6	14p
4th	Superball	2:45.81	+3.22	P2	12p
5th	Red Number 3	2:46.12	+3.53	P19	11p
6th	Summer Sky	2:47.28	+4.69	P16	10p
7th	El Capitan	2:47.55	+4.96	P3	9p
8th	Ghost Plasma	2:47.60	+5.01	P10	8p
9th	Pollo Loco	2:47.73	+5.14	P1	7p
10th	Marbly McMarbleface	2:48.03	+5.44	P15	6p
11th	Silver Bolt	2:48.72	+6.13	P11	5p
12th	Comet	2:49.52	+6.93	P18	4p
13th	Slimer	2:49.91	+7.32	P14	3p
DNF	Cobra	Did not finish		P20	0p
DNF	H2 Blue	Did not finish		P7
DNF	Black Knight	Did not finish		P8
DNF	Phoenix	Did not finish		P12
DNF	Dragon's Egg	Did not finish		P5
DNF	Reflektor	Did not finish		P13
DNF	Cool Moody	Did not finish		P17
-	GHOST	Did not finish		N/A

• Note:
  • P1–P10 is on the front row
  • P11–P20 is on the second row

Championship standings after the race

Pos.	Marble	G	S	B	Total	DNFs	Points
1st	Crazy Cat's Eye	1	0	0	1	0	20p
2nd	Blizzard Blaster	0	1	0	1	0	17p
3rd	Quicksilver	0	0	1	1	0	14p
4th	Superball	0	0	0	0	0	12p
5th	Red Number 3	0	0	0	0	0	11p
6th	Summer Sky	0	0	0	0	0	10p
7th	El Capitan	0	0	0	0	0	9p
8th	Ghost Plasma	0	0	0	0	0	8p
9th	Pollo Loco	0	0	0	0	0	7p
10th	Marbly McMarbleface	0	0	0	0	0	6p
11th	Silver Bolt	0	0	0	0	0	5p
12th	Comet	0	0	0	0	0	4p
13th	Slimer	0	0	0	0	0	3p
14th	Black Knight	0	0	0	0	1	0p
	Cobra	0	0	0	0	1	0p
	Cool Moody	0	0	0	0	1	0p
	Dragon's Egg	0	0	0	0	1	0p
	H2 Blue	0	0	0	0	1	0p
	Phoenix	0	0	0	0	1	0p
	Reflektor	0	0	0	0	1	0p

Trivia

• The race had a record number of only 13 finishers, the fewest ever for a 20 marble race.
• The race was accidentally uploaded ahead of its scheduled release date.