The Interstellar Gaming Consortium Racing League arranges races that are open to any and all capsuleers who fly interceptors, frigates or assault frigates. They are now into their fifth season and have been going from strength to strength.
The first race of Season V took place on Sunday 30th March and what a race it turned out to be. The usual suspects were on the starting line along with some racers who are new to the league this season. Side bets and pots for the different classes were being arranged and the atmosphere was similar to an old dirtside carnival and just as colourful, with the racers sporting their teams or sponsors colours during the preflight ceremonies; Ezekiel Sulastin was seen to be wearing a white and green CreoDron-branded interface suit, whilst Jason Nightwing came sporting a red and black interface suit with gold trim, but no matter what colour a racers suit was or what team they pilot for, the camaraderie was amazing and universal.
Gyra Rho, ISGC Racing League Official and course designer, started the race shortly after 20:00 and all the pilots instantly started undocking from the Quafe Company Factory near Arant V to make their way to the Parts system, the first waypoint in the race. There were fifteen waypoints in the race taking the pilots through both high and low security systems. The low security systems were riddled with pirates and during the race three capsuleers lost their ships, the first two ships were lost in the Aeschee system to a group of pirates from Triumvirate. and Serpentis and the third was lost in the Brarel system to another group of Serpentis pirates. The three capsuleers who lost their ships, Nyabinghi, demon flir and Deathlords were overheard saying that they would be back for race two of the season.
Thirty capsuleers started the race flying frigates, interceptors and assault frigates and for a majority of the race they were racing neck to neck, in the league's recorded history this is the first time that so many racers flew in a cluster for so much of the course. The final three waypoints were the deciding factor and in the end it was the veteran pilot's experience of slingshotting around the marker cans that gave them the lead they needed to win.
The official results were posted on GalNet on the third of April and they are as follows:
Interceptor Class
1st Place: Takashi Kurosawa [Venture Racing Team] - Malediction (0:55:44)
2nd Place: Elsebeth Rhiannon [Venture Racing Team] - Ares (0:56:34)
3rd Place: Kayleigh Jamieson [Dragonstar Racing Team] - Ares (0:56:40)
Frigate Class
1st Place: Lucas Avignon [Scuderia Caille] - Vigil (0:57:00)
2nd Place: Thulla Icin [Venture Racing Team] - Rifter (0:57:06)
3rd Place: Dhaikin Lharoud [Scuderia Caille] - Vigil (0:58:39)
Assault Frigate Class
1st Place: Dougalar [Frontal Impact Racing Team] - Jaguar (0:58:40)
2nd Place: Jude Kopenhagen [Dragonstar Racing Team] - Jaguar (0:58:49)
3rd Place: Ezekiel Sulastin [Venture Racing Team] - Enyo (0:59:25)
The next race is scheduled to take place on Sunday 6th April at 20:00 and will start in the Heimatar region and this reporter for one will be there to cover this exciting event.