Sand Marble Rally 2016 - Race 4

The fourth race of the Sand Marble Rally 2016 was held at Doornse Gat on the 8th July 2016. 33 marbles participated in the race.

Race[]

Report[]

Wisp of Darkness took an early lead out of the gate. Marbly McMarbleface briefly had a moment in second, but was passed by Ghost Plasma. While the two were fighting, Tarantula snuck by to take second from Ghost Plasma. Pollo Loco took fourth from Marbly McMarbleface as they went through a turn, just before Ghost Plasma overtook Tarantula for second. On the straightaway that followed, Marbly McMarbleface was able to regain their fourth place position over Pollo Loco. Picking up speed, they tried to pass Tarantula as well, and the two ran side-by-side for a moment. However, they were able to fend off the challenge and keep third place. Mocha Madness, after passing Dragon's Egg, overtook Pollo Loco as the racers came into a split, which got them into fifth.

Yet again, most of the racers did not take the low line, but this time The Flash was able to maneuver into it, bringing them all the way up into first place when the split sections reconvened. The racers came into another set of diverging paths. The current first and second competitors (The Flash and Wisp of Darkness) took the low line, and the third and fourth racers (Ghost Plasma and Tarantula) took the high line. The high line ended up being faster, as Ghost Plasma and Tarantula were able to rocket ahead of the old first place, The Flash. In fact, both The Flash and Wisp of Darkness ended up losing several spots, giving the third and fourth positions to Mocha Madness and Pollo Loco respectively, who had each taken the quicker higher line at the split.

As they left the split, a block laid down by Dragon's Egg caused six racers (apart from themselves) to come to a complete stop for a moment, before getting started up again by the racers behind them. The racers entered another set of diverging paths, and into a teardrop, where Mocha Madness and Pollo Loco were able to pass Tarantula offscreen. Ghost Plasma came out of the obstacles with a comfortable lead, and was first into the hairpin curve. Mocha Madness kept second, but Pollo Loco went too high, and was passed by Tarantula. Ghost Plasma entered the set of braids with a significant lead over Mocha Madness and Tarantula. Silver Bolt started gaining on Pollo Loco, looking for fourth.

Offscreen, Tarantula passed Mocha Madness, taking second place. This was likely where Mocha Madness got pushed off the course, as they were not seen again after that. The racers entered a set of slalom curves, and then a second hairpin turn. Ghost Plasma and Tarantula got through with no problem, but Pollo Loco ended up getting passed by Silver Bolt. As the racers entered another split, Ghost Plasma stretched their lead over the other competitors. The top four held their positions as they entered a straightaway. Here the marbles slowed to a crawl, which brought down Ghost Plasma's lead significantly. As they went over the bridge, Ghost Plasma kept their lead.

Ghost Plasma held the lead into the final turn, and easily finished in first place. Tarantula seized second, over a second behind Ghost Plasma. Silver Bolt had a glancing bump off the stick before the finish line, but kept enough speed to keep third place out of the hands of Pollo Loco. Starman, after being a bit of a non-factor in the first three races, managed to come fifth. Dragon's Egg had another good finish in sixth, but with their biggest rival taking the gold, it would not be enough to take the lead in the overall standings. Big Pearl slotted into seventh, before Rastafarian crossed the line in eighth. Super Turtle barely kept ninth place over Reflektor, who would round out the top ten. This was the first race Rastafarian had finished in the top ten this season. It was also the first time Reflektor ever finished in a race in SMR history after not finishing in three straight races. This race had only two DNFs. Oddball would fail to complete the race, as well as Mocha Madness, who had been running in second for a while in this race.

Classification[]

Pos.	Marble	Time	Delta	Starting Pos.	Points
1st	Ghost Plasma	2:35.54	-	P4	30p
2nd	Tarantula	2:36.76	+01.22	P11	25p
3rd	Silver Bolt	2:37.94	+02.40	P8	21p
4th	Pollo Loco	2:38.10	+02.56	P10	18p
5th	Starman	2:38.84	+03.30	P26	16p
6th	Dragon's Egg	2:39.26	+03.72	P6	15p
7th	Big Pearl	2:40.11	+04.57	P12	14p
8th	Rastafarian	2:42.13	+06.59	P18	13p
9th	Super Turtle	2:42.85	+07.31	P32	12p
10th	Reflektor	2:43.01	+07.47	P16	11p
11th	Fantasy	2:43.93	+08.39	P15	10p
12th	Glassy	2:44.04	+08.50	P1	9p
13th	Snake's Tub	2:44.08	+08.54	P23	8p
14th	Quicksilver	2:44.12	+08.58	P24	7p
15th	Marbly McMarbleface	2:44.13	+08.59	P5	6p
16th	Blazing Fireball	2:44.25	+08.71	P17	5p
17th	Blue Moon	2:44.82	+09.28	P33	4p
18th	Slimer	2:44.84	+09.30	P21	3p
19th	El Capitan	2:45.17	+09.63	P13	2p
20th	White Widow	2:45.80	+10.26	P27	1p
21st	Crazy Cat's Eye	2:46.06	+10.52	P20	0p
22nd	Comet	2:46.19	+10.65	P2
23rd	Summer Sky	2:46.22	+10.68	P19
24th	Olympia	2:46.70	+11.16	P14
25th	Cobra	2:46.84	+11.30	P22
26th	Black Knight	2:47.11	+11.57	P28
27th	The Flash	2:47.99	+12.45	P7
28th	Blue Smoke	2:48.85	+13.31	P31
29th	H2 Blue	2:49.94	+13.70	P25
30th	Deep Ocean	2:49.51	+13.97	P30
31st	Wisp of Darkness	2:50.38	+14.84	P3
X	Mocha Madness	DNF		P9
X	Oddball	DNF		P29

Note:
- P1–P7 is on the front row
- P8–P13 is on the second row
- P14–P20 is on the third row
- P20–P26 is on the fourth row
- P27–P33 is on the back row

Championship standings after the race[]

	Pos.	Marble	G	S	B	Total	DNFs	Points
00	1st	Ghost Plasma	1	2	0	3	0	98p
00	2nd	Dragon's Egg	1	0	0	1	0	81p
00	3rd	Pollo Loco	1	0	0	1	0	72p
02	4th	Big Pearl	0	0	1	1	0	59p
01	5th	El Capitan	1	0	0	1	0	55p
01	6th	The Flash	0	1	1	2	0	46p
06	7th	Tarantula	0	1	0	1	0	44p
01	8th	Wisp of Darkness	0	0	1	1	0	44p
00	9th	Super Turtle	0	0	0	0	0	44p
02	10th	Marbly McMarbleface	0	0	0	0	0	39p
01	11th	Fantasy	0	0	0	0	1	36p
02	12th	Glassy	0	0	0	0	0	35p
06	13th	Silver Bolt	0	0	1	1	1	34p
04	14th	Starman	0	0	0	0	0	30p
01	15th	Rastafarian	0	0	0	0	0	29p
04	16th	Blue Smoke	0	0	0	0	0	25p
04	17th	Comet	0	0	0	0	0	19p
03	18th	Olympia	0	0	0	0	0	17p
03	18th	Quicksilver	0	0	0	0	0	17p
04	20th	H2 Blue	0	0	0	0	0	16p
01	20th	Slimer	0	0	0	0	1	16p
02	22nd	Blazing Fireball	0	0	0	0	1	12p
05	23rd	Reflektor	0	0	0	0	3	11p
02	23rd	White Widow	0	0	0	0	1	11p
02	25th	Black Knight	0	0	0	0	1	9p
02	26th	Snake's Tub	0	0	0	0	3	8p
01	27th	Blue Moon	0	0	0	0	2	4p
02	27th	Mocha Madness	0	0	0	0	2	4p
03	29th	Crazy Cat's Eye	0	0	0	0	1	3p
03	30th	Oddball	0	0	0	0	2	2p
03	31st	Cobra	0	0	0	0	1	0p
03		Deep Ocean	0	0	0	0	2	0p
03		Summer Sky	0	0	0	0	1	0p

Trivia[]

This race holds the record for the most finishers after a race with 31 out 33 marble crossing the finish line at the race's conclusion.