Season 7 takes off

Race Report
Posted on March 13, 111 EST by Aurora Speed

After a several month long break, champions and veterans returned to the interstellar racing circuit along with several rookies in the Interstellar Racing Championship.

The trio of KillJoy “K-Joy” Tseng (former Venture Racing Team racer and captain), Quintrala and Miette DelZahn continues their work in the Interstellar Racing Championship (ISRC), having taken over from Gyra Rho who left as League organizer midway through Season 6.

The first race of the season started out from the system of Gulfonodi in the Molden Heath region, traversing fifteen waypoints and finishing at the Thukker Mix Factory at Zemalu IX. A total of 15 racers lined up on the starting grid.

Venture team owner, Takashi Kurosawa (Malediction-class interceptor), returned to the track this evening, having been absent for the entire duration of Season 6. Mr. Kurosawa has yet to publically explain the cause of his absence from both racing and the capsuleer community in general – we’ll be attempting to get an interview with the two time interceptor champion in the near future, hopefully uncovering some of the mystery that surrounds his disappearance. Kurosawa wasn’t the only Venture veteran who returned to the track after a long absence, though, as both Renaika Verinaisi (Malediction) and Ezekiel Sulastin (Enyo-class assault ship) joined Kurosawa to make up this event’s 3-man fleet for Venture.

The Championship’s biggest team, Scuderia Dragonstar, was also prominently represented, featuring no less than 6 racers spread across all three classes, with Quintrala providing the biggest surprise, as she took to the track in a Jaguar-class assault ship.

A new team also joined the fray for this first race of the season. Dvice Racing (DVR) was founded by season 6 rookie Cai Lun and veteran racer Kazuo Ishiguro and fielded an impressive 5 racers for this race. Rookie Bloodpetal also joined the race, albeit on his own for now.

Mr. Tseng, responsible for track design and the execution of each race, had several twists and turns planned for this evening’s race, as it included both split tracks (separate routes for interceptors and frigates/assault ships, respectively) and what appeared to be a triple waypoint location but turned out to contain only two, with one of the canisters being a fake. Add to this a canister malfunction at waypoint 4, some racers more rusty than others returning from various lengths of hibernation from racing, and you have yourself an unpredictable race.

At the end of the day, Scuderia Dragonstar ended up victorious in all three classes, with Kayleigh Jamieson (interceptor), Demon Flir (frigate) and Quintrala (assault ship) winning their respective classes. Demon Flir was also the overall winner of the race, an unusual feat for a frigate racer. Takashi Kurosawa finished 2nd in interceptors, while Verinaisi took home 5th place and Sulastin 2nd place in the interceptor and assault ship class, respectively. No doubt, Venture will be looking to improve upon that performance for the next race, but considering the fact that all three racers returned to the track proper for the first time in a long time, the overall result should be deemed respectable, although of course none of the three racers, in usual ambitious manner, were satisfied with their performance or the finish order.

Please stay tuned for the next race of the season, starting out of Derelik next Sunday, at 20:00 EVE standard time.

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