Marble Rally Season 5 - Race 2

Marble Rally Season 5Race 2
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The podium finishers on the podium
Date	22 September 2020
Track	Dopersduin Bregtdorp (83 meter)
Weather	Cloudy, 19 ˚C
Weather Condition	4/5
Wind	2 Bft Headwind
Sand Condition	2/5
Hidden Marble	Roldo
Sectors	2
Top 5 Overtakes	44
Lead Changes	2
Link	Incredible SAND Race! Marble Rally 2020 Race 2
Podium
1st	Superball
2nd	Ducktape
3rd	Ghost Plasma

The second race of Marble Rally Season 5 was held on 22nd September 2020, on the same course as the season premiere, at Dopersduin Bregtdorp. 20 marbles participated in the race. As with the season's opening race, the conditions were very difficult for the competitors owing to recent rainfall and relatively strong winds, as indicated by an similar number of DNF's (identical if counting the Ghost Marble) in each of those two events.

Race

Report

At the start, Cool Moody swiftly launched into the lead. Having finished runner-up in the previous race, the least experienced marble in the entire field easily headed Ducktape, Nemo, Dragon's Egg, Cobra, Ghost Plasma, Comet, Superball, El Capitan and others coming into the first chicane on the course. At the chicane the top three order stayed identical with Cool Moody extending their early advantage, while Cobra and Ghost Plasma both soared ahead of Dragon's Egg, also battling each other a bit in the same time. As the marbles ran into the next section of the track, Cool Moody was suddenly very slow and allowed Ducktape to comfortably blast ahead into the lead of the pack. Nemo also had enough speed to overtake Cool Moody, but a very harsh block from the yellow marble convinced Nemo to stay behind. Several seconds later, Nemo denied themselves any more chances by running very wide at the exit of a right-hander. The error caused them to instantly come under pressure from the trailing pack of Superball, Cobra, Dragon's Egg and Ghost Plasma. The next section was a very steep curved drop where Ducktape enlarged their lead over the field.

Behind them, drama started to erupt. Cobra managed to get into second place by passing both Nemo and Cool Moody, but then immediately overshot a corner and swerved off course for an instant DNF. Nemo was still suffering from their previous error as Dragon's Egg took third place away from them and Superball was next in the queue. In sixth place ran Ghost Plasma, holding off Summer Sky, Lollipop, Red Number 3 and Comet. Cool Moody and Dragon's Egg, running directly next to each other on the track in second and third place respectively, were the next marbles to make errors as they went high up a wall almost in unison. This advanced Nemo into second place, only for Superball to immediately snatch the position away as they headed into the tightest section yet. Ghost Plasma was also keen to capitalize, going around both Cool Moody and Dragon's Egg despite the narrowness of the course. This wasn't the end of their advances, as Ghost Plasma then forced Nemo off line and stole their third place to further move up the order.

Near the back end of the field a collision involving Slimer and championship leader Crazy Cat's Eye ended both of their races, the former getting sent completely off the course and the latter getting beached on the wall. There were some moves off-screen as Cool Moody went ahead of Nemo. Not long after, Superball fell from second to fourth position behind Ghost Plasma and Cool Moody, but regained both of these places very quickly. Running in a respectable seventh place, Lollipop became the fourth runner to get caught out by difficult conditions, swerving out of the track and getting beached off-screen. Superball, unphased, wrestled their way ahead of long-time leader Ducktape. Ducktape was starting to fade as Ghost Plasma and Cool Moody both soon went ahead without much effort. Another move was being made by Dragon's Egg who rolled ahead of Nemo into fifth position. Nemo then went under pressure from Summer Sky at the timing checkpoint located at the end of Sector 1, where Superball led by three tenths of a second from Ghost Plasma with Cool Moody four-tenths further back.

Running outside the top ten, Marbly McMarbleface, Blazing Fireball and the Ghost Marble also veered off course and were unable to continue. Action seemed to have cooled down a bit as no significant gains or losses were occurring in the top five. Some moves were being made in the lower top ten positions, where Summer Sky and Blizzard Blaster advanced into sixth and seventh by overtaking the fading Nemo. Ducktape then pounced on Cool Moody and returned onto the podium. Superball had a pretty slow exit into the final straightaway, but then again Ghost Plasma was unable to capitalize, as they too exited slowly due to the tough sand conditions. Ducktape fared a bit better, which gave them a crucial speed advantage in a straight line. They attempted to pass Ghost Plasma too close to a wall, and a bit of contact convinced them to hang behind the former champion. The sand conditions and elevation of the terrain prevented the marbles from speeding up, as the leading trio slowed down to a crawl in a straight line. Ducktape, once again, coped better than the other two and this time was finally able to capitalize and overtake the defensive Ghost Plasma. Superball, though, was not to be denied and easily swatted aside a final-chance attack from Ducktape to score the second win of their still young career. Cool Moody remained in fourth to take over the championship lead, with the top ten being completed by Dragon's Egg, Summer Sky, Blizzard Blaster, Nemo, Pollo Loco and Red Number 3. El Capitan, Comet, Black Knight and Quicksilver were the other remaining finishers of the challenging event.

Classification

Pos.	Marble	Time	Delta	Starting Pos.	Points
1st	Superball	1:54.63	-	P14	20p
2nd	Ducktape	1:55.00	+00.37	P9	17p
3rd	Ghost Plasma	1:55.11	+00.48	P6	14p
4th	Cool Moody	1:55.68	+01.05	P2	12p
5th	Dragon's Egg	1:55.96	+01.33	P5	11p
6th	Summer Sky	1:56.50	+01.87	P17	10p
7th	Blizzard Blaster	1:57.12	+02.49	P16	9p
8th	Nemo	1:57.68	+03.05	P3	8p
9th	Pollo Loco	1:57.85	+03.22	P13	7p
10th	Red Number 3	1:58.30	+03.67	P10	6p
11th	El Capitan	1:58.93	+04.30	P1	5p
12th	Comet	1:59.07	+04.44	P7	4p
13th	Black Knight	1:59.20	+04.57	P18	3p
14th	Quicksilver	1:59.42	+04.79	P11	2p
-	GHOST	DNF		N/A
15th	Marbly McMarbleface			P12	0p
16th	Blazing Fireball			P20
17th	Lollipop			P15
18th	Crazy Cat's Eye			P19
19th	Slimer			P8
20th	Cobra			P4

DNFs listed in chronological order. The first marble to stop moving is placed in 20th.

Championship standings after the race

	Pos.	Marble	G	S	B	Total	DNFs	Points
01	1st	Cool Moody	0	1	0	1	0	29p
06	2nd	Superball	1	0	0	1	0	28p
06	3rd	Ghost Plasma	0	0	1	1	0	21p
03	4th	Crazy Cat's Eye	1	0	0	1	1	20p
09	5th	Ducktape	0	1	0	1	0	19p
01	6th	Pollo Loco	0	0	0	0	0	18p
04	7th	Marbly McMarbleface	0	0	1	1	1	14p
02	8th	Black Knight	0	0	0	0	0	13p
05	9th	Lollipop	0	0	0	0	1	12p
01		Red Number 3	0	0	0	0	0	12p
04	11th	Dragon's Egg	0	0	0	0	1	11p
04		Quicksilver	0	0	0	0	0	11p
02	13th	El Capitan	0	0	0	0	0	10p
02		Summer Sky	0	0	0	0	1	10p
00	15th	Blizzard Blaster	0	0	0	0	1	9p
01	16th	Nemo	0	0	0	0	1	8p
04	17th	Comet	0	0	0	0	0	7p
06	18th	Slimer	0	0	0	0	1	4p
04	19th	Blazing Fireball	0	0	0	0	2	0p
04		Cobra	0	0	0	0	2	0p