Sand Marble Rally 2016 - Race 11

Sand Marble Rally 2016Race 11
← Previous race
Next race →
The battle at the finish for second place between Summer Sky, H2 Blue and Fantasy
Date	8 November 2016
Track	Klimduin Brechtdorp
Weather	Cloudy, 9 ˚C
Wind	8 m/s
Link	Sand Marble Rally 2016 Race 11 (Very Long) - Jelle's Marble Runs
Podium
1st	El Capitan
2nd	H2 Blue
3rd	Fantasy

The eleventh race of 2016 Sand Marble Rally season was the penultimate round of the season. The track was dubbed as "one of the most challenging courses ever" as it was a long track with a lot of twists and turns. Championship leader Ghost Plasma led the championship by 23 points ahead of Big Pearl. If Ghost Plasma's lead is bigger than 30 points after the race they'll be crowned champion.

Race

Report

Out of the gate, the racers entered a wide set of turns. Marbly McMarbleface took an early lead, followed by H2 Blue and Fantasy. Through a set of slalom turns, Big Pearl leapt into second place, but was soon overtaken again by H2 Blue. As the racers came upon a halfpipe, Marbly McMarbleface dropped back, allowing H2 Blue to take the lead, followed by Big Pearl and Fantasy. At a hairpin turn, Big Pearl took the lead. Through multiple hairpin turns, The Flash came into fourth behind Fantasy.

The racers entered another set of slalom turns, where Big Pearl stretched their lead coming into a split. Most marbles took the low line because of the structure of the course, but The Flash took the high line. However, it did not seem to benefit them, as they did not gain any positions. The racers came upon a funnel, where El Capitan was able to pull themselves into fourth. After the funnel came another halfpipe, which H2 Blue, Fantasy, and El Capitan leapt over, shrinking Big Pearl's lead. The racers came into another funnel, where Big Pearl kept their lead. However, as the racers entered a set of slalom turns, H2 Blue was able to pass them, and get into the lead.

The racers came upon more slaloms and halfpipes, but the top four held their positions. The racers then entered a wide boulevard with sticks as obstacles. Big Pearl was able to outpace H2 Blue and come back into the lead. Meanwhile a bump off of a stick from Fantasy allowed El Capitan to shoot into third, soon before both of them passed H2 Blue for second and third. The racers entered a set of diverging paths, where El Capitan took the high line, and the rest of the top four took the low line. However, when the lines merged, no positions were changed.

The racers then entered a wide straight which came right before a split. Big Pearl and H2 Blue took the high lane, while El Capitan and Fantasy took the low lane. Coming out of the split, Big Pearl's lead shrunk greatly, allowing El Capitan to close in on them, and make the pass for first. As the racers came upon a wide turn, Big Pearl, H2 Blue, and Fantasy bunched together, and H2 Blue came out in second, followed by Big Pearl and then Fantasy. Onto another wide boulevard, Fantasy was able to pass Big Pearl for third, and quickly H2 Blue as well. Meanwhile, the fighting between the rest of the pack allowed El Capitan to come onto the final straight uncontested, to win the gold.

After El Capitan came a three way race for second, with H2 Blue, Fantasy, and Summer Sky, who had passed Big Pearl as well. As they crossed the finish line, H2 Blue took second, followed by Fantasy in third, and Summer Sky in fourth. Finally, Big Pearl crossed the line in fifth; an important points haul for them, but not nearly enough to catch Ghost Plasma, the championship leader. Starman, Comet, and Silver Bolt came sixth, seventh, and eighth respectively, all of whom had quiet races. Dragon's Egg came across the line ninth, making them still eligible to win the championship in the next race, before Glassy rounded out the top ten. Rastafarian, The Flash, and Super Turtle were this race's DNFs. Tarantula got classified as seventeenth despite not racing the race: during a test run of the track they got stuck somewhere and Jelle forgot to take them out, and Tarantula was left on the track. So for the race they were replaced by a red marble. Tarantula did get 4 extra consolation points due to this incident.

Classification

Pos.	Marble	Time	Starting Pos.	Points
1st	El Capitan	3:26.31	P12	30p
2nd	H2 Blue	3:28.34	P6	25p
3rd	Fantasy	3:28.54	P3	21p
4th	Summer Sky	3:28.62	P16	18p
5th	Big Pearl	3:29.43	P19	16p
6th	Starman	3:30.42	P17	15p
7th	Comet	3:32.90	P9	14p
8th	Silver Bolt	3:33.02	P18	13p
9th	Dragon's Egg	3:34.52	P8	12p
10th	Glassy	3:35.19	P2	11p
11th	Wisp of Darkness	3:35.29	P10	10p
12th	Slimer	3:35.70	P7	9p
13th	Blue Smoke	3:36.08	P1	8p
14th	Ghost Plasma	3:36.09	P14	7p
15th	Pollo Loco	3:36.24	P5	6p
16th	Marbly McMarbleface	3:38.02	P4	5p
17th	Tarantula	3:38.66	P14	8p
DNF	Rastafarian	Did not finish	P15
DNF	The Flash	Did not finish	P11
DNF	Super Turtle	Did not finish	P20

• Note:
  • P1–P7 is on the front row
  • P8–P13 is on the second row
  • P14–P20 is on the back row

Championship standings after the race

Marbles in Bold have a chance to win the championship.

	Pos.	Marble	Points
	1st	Ghost Plasma	180p
	2nd	Big Pearl	165p
	3rd	Dragon's Egg	160p
	4th	Pollo Loco	141p
	5th	Slimer	138p