Taking place aboard the Victory, the Venture flagship passed from Kendar Zek to current team owner Takashi Kurosawa, the post-season party celebrated Venture’s continued success in the League.

Though the team failed to defend the frigate championship, Venture took home the interceptor championship for the second consecutive season. Being the most hotly contested class in the League, it’s no surprise that team owner Kurosawa, himself an interceptor pilot, was very happy to see the team’s success continue in this class, as he took to the podium and spoke to the party’s attendants: “It really has been a rollercoaster ride for us in all three classes this season. Coming from 4 consecutive 1st and 2nd places in the interceptor class in the first four races of the season, the last six have been something else entirely. While we didn’t take home a victory in any of those six races, we were still right there on the podium, and that consistent performance is what secured the championship for us in race 9.”

Kurosawa then went on to comment the team’s performance in the two other classes: “We had hoped to be able to defend of championship title in frigates, and we certainly had the pilot to do so, with the excellent performances K-Joy [team captain KillJoy Tseng, ed.] have been handing in. Unfortunately, circumstances conspired to keep K-Joy off the track for a few too many races. As for assault ships, this is a class which I was really hoping we could make an inroad to this season. With Ezekiel [Sulastin, ed.] perfecting his performance, the possibility of winning the class was certainly there, and up until race 4 or 5 I think, we were rather competitive in the class – even leading it at one point. Unfortunately, Ezekiel had both technical difficulties and eventually had other matters that prevented him from racing with us for the latter half of the season.”

While spirits were high throughout the evening, the absence of Ventured co-founder Kendar Zek, who passed away a few races into the season, still seemed to affect many of the participants, and many speakers mentioned Kendar Zek as the reason people were gathered this day in celebration of yet another season of success for Venture.

The hard work Zek put in at the start of the season also meant that the team would be able to continue it’s tradition of paying out bonuses to all racers, according to their participation and number of podium finishes. While most racers don’t participate for the ISK, it is clear that Venture management enjoys being able to hand out these bonuses at the end of each season, and with upcoming changes to the League, the payments might even come in handy for new investments on the track. Using the same rates as for season 4, racers received 3mil ISK per race, as well as 5mil, 10mil and 15mil ISK respectively for a 3rd, 2nd and 1st place.