The Challenger Race, also known as the New York Challenger, is a preliminary hover car racing event which takes place ahead of the New York Masters.
History[]
Early History[]
During the growth of the hover car industry, and the accompanying racing sports, the professional league established the Masters Series of races. Chief among them were the four "Grand Slam" races, which included the New York Masters. Prior to the New York Masters itself, a "show day" race called the Challenger Race was established to afford up-and-coming racers from minor leagues and racing schools the opportunity to make a name for themselves in the professional racing league, and the winner of the race would be granted a slot in the Masters races.
Hover Car Racer[]
A few days prior to Race 25, Principal Jean-Pierre LeClerq of the International Race School announced that instead of the usual two openings for students from their school to afford them entry into the New York Challenger, the IRS would be getting four invitations, which would be given to the top four ranked students following Race 50.
At the end of the International Race School's season of racing, Xavier Xonora, Varishna Krishna, Jason Chaser and Ariel Piper had all placed in the top four of their racing season's tournament, allowing each to be granted one of the four invitations to participate in the New York Challenger.
Once the Challenger began, Jason and Xavier quickly took to the front of the field. Soon after the race had begun on Lap 3, the twin Russian racers Igor and Vladimir Krotsky ganged up on Praveen Chandra on the Fifth Street straight in a bid to overtake him, forcing the Indian racer into a sideways lateral skid. In Chandra's attempt to regain control, he foolishly turned his car into the wind, which slowed him down and left Chandra a huge target as three racers flew into his car. The ensuing crash caught Zhang Lao, Krishna and Markos Christos in its wake, their cars crashing and being flung into the magnetic dead zone fields protecting the surrounding buildings, which dropped the wreckage into two piles along the sides of Fifth Street, creating a narrow pass only large enough for one car to move through at a time throughout the rest of the race.
As the race wore on, and with a huge lead on the remaining racers thanks to the Lap 3 crash, Jason feigned attempts to pass Xavier while also intentionally beginning to lose some ground to Xavier, knowing that his mech chief, Oliver Koch, would be reporting this to Xavier, so as to make the black prince overconfident.
Once the two racers hit the home straight on Fifth Avenue, Jason moved the Argonaut into the Speed Razor's blind spot (enhanced by the confetti falling across the street), and waited until Xavier prematurely celebrated his perceived victory by pumping his fist in the air. The moment his rival did so, Jason powered his thrusters on full and and caught Xavier off-guard with a sudden charge, darting ahead of the black prince and slipping through the gap between the wrecked cars first, leaving Xavier without any opportunity to respond, and allowing Jason to fly over the finish line first and win the race.
Race Details[]
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Trivia[]
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