2011 - Chase

Gonzo dominated the final 10, posting 300+ scores in six of those races. The largest Chase field in RMFN history didn’t need to be – Gonzo’s margin over the final Chase qualifier was more than 1,400 points.
To cement Gonzo’s run, it also won the most races in the postseason.
Dirt Track Outlaw took the final invite to the awards ceremony, by finishing as the top non-Chaser.
Overall winner RYAN’S FAST was second.

Miami

Recaps on each of the competitions are coming, but here's a list of the competition winners and the gory details.

RYAN'S FAST: Overall, Double Elimination Heat
Gonzo33 Racing: Yahoo Overall, Yahoo Second Half, Yahoo Fall, World Cup, Single Elimination Bracket, Single Elimination Heat, Chase
RMO Lug Nutz: Yahoo First Half
napolean: Yahoo Spring
Cooter88: Yahoo Summer, Double Elimination Bracket


REMINDER: If you want an invite for 2012, drop me a line here or at fclex@yahoo.com

Congrats to all!


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Phoenix - white flag!

After Miami, I'll post the final sheet and then posts on each of the competitions over the next week or so.

Thanks for playing and good luck!!




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TEXAS

Two races to go, and we have a GREAT race for the Overall title shaping up.

Check it out...



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Talladega

Entering the final lap...

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Dover

Eliminations in the Single and Double competitions are set for Kansas - I'm eager to see if they impact the Overall standings.



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Loudon - fall

Eliminations in the World Cup, more shuffling in the Overall and Chase.


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Chicago

Another day, another delay.

The start of the Fall Season and some eliminations in the Double Elim competitions churned the Overall standings. Take a peak - we got a race folks!

Also, the odd scores at Chicago jumbled the Chase standings after the first race - should be an interesting run toward Miami.


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Richmond

Congrats to Cooter88 for winning the summer season!

The field for the Chase is set - 25 participants is an RMFN high. Good luck to the qualifiers.


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Bristol II

Bristol was one of RMFN's best tracks in the spring, so it was no surprise the same trend followed on the return trip. The 277 average was the highest since the spring and the zero - 0! - sub-200 scores was the third of the season and first since Kansas on June 5.

Two teams shared the top spot - #3 Intimidator and billy's boys 10 - at 359 (the fifth-highest winning score of the season).

Click here or the headline for the gory details.

On to the competitions...

OVERALL
RMO Lug Nutz bowed out of three competitions at Bristol, but still holds a commanding lead.
I added a 'Best Poss' column to indicate the best possible score for each team. I also incorporated live standings for the Chase (previous posts indicated 1s for all RMFN teams). Reminder: I fell behind on the template for the head-to-head format and it was dropped earlier this summer. Apologies.
It appears RMO's worst would be about 9.5. Even then, the contenders would need RMO to fall completely apart in the fall to give another team an opening. Not likely.

CHASE
RMFN has entertained up to 15 teams in the final Chase in prior years, but this year's parity and range of teams securing wins has changed that. Through Bristol - and with two races until the Chase starts - there are currently 27 teams eligible. Another seven are just 100 points short of the cutoff.

SINGLE ELIM BRACKET
The final four teams are set after the quarterfinal round finished at Bristol.
Damn Sunday Drivers is the highest remaining seed (7), while Gonzo33 is the lowest (33).
Tough luck award to LT4SS-DE, which lost to Dirt Track Outlaws by just 12 points.
Semifinal matchups:
SICK PUPS vs. Damn Sunday
Dirt Track vs. Gonzo33

DOUBLE ELIM BRACKET
Cooter88 moved into the championship with a convincing win over RMO. Cooter now has a bye until the other finalist is determined (late October).
RMO joins three teams in the losers' bracket.
Tough luck award to JoRo's Rockets and to Team Lester. JoRo lost to katie's bootleggers by just 18 points; Lester by 10 to Damn Sunday.
Consolation semifinal matchups:
Killer Carl #99 (now Sugar Ray Childress Fight Club on Yaho) vs. RMO
katie's vs. Damn Sunday

SINGLE ELIM HEAT
AMSKahne4, Damn Sunday, HEAVY CHEVY and Gonzo33 advanced to the semifinal heat.
HEAVY claimed the last spot by just 4 points over RMO.
Gonzo33 is the lowest remaining seed (35).

DOUBLE ELIM HEAT
Cooter88 advanced to the final with a big winners' heat win over MONSTER Racing. Like the double bracket, Cooter is off until late October.
GOOD TO GO, SICK PUPS and RYAN'S FAST stayed alive in the losers' heat. Sunday Money 10 was the last team eliminated, by 25 points to RYAN'S FAST.
SICK PUPS is the lowest remaining seed at No. 42.

WORLD CUP
Higher seeds won five of eight Round of 16 matchups, led by the two top seeds - Betty Boop Madness and Sunday Money.
The lowest seed remaining is Swindell Motorsports.
Tough luck award to Oval Friends, which lost by 8 points to swindell. Honorable mentions to GoSlowTurnRight and AMSKahne5.
Quarterfinal matchups:
Betty Boop (1-1) vs. Swindell (2-1)
Top of Texas Racing (1-6) vs. GOOD TO GO (1-4)
billy's boys 10 (2-6) vs. Damn Sunday (1-5)
Gonzo33 (2-2) vs. Sunday Money (1-2)

Texas snooze

Man, that race was HORRIBLE.

The only good thing to come out of it - a great week for RMFN. We averaged 303 and had 29 teams score more than 300 points (me, unfortunately, not included).

No eliminations this week but a couple of notables:
* CHASE: Rev-a-lusion's big score and win vaulted it from 27th to 6th in the standings (50 bonus points for the 'win' at Texas).
* WORLD CUP: Only two teams remain unbeaten - Little Deuce Coupe (6-0) and Yduck (5-0).
* DOUBLE ELIM BRACKET/HEAT: Talladega will mark the final race of the second round. We'll have some eliminations after the Big One. Will you survive?
* HEAD TO HEAD: napolean (14-2) has taken over the top spot. RMO Lug Nutz is second at 13-3.


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Chase details

Format focuses on the final 10 races of the season.

Qualifiers will include the top 12 in Yahoo! points and any others within 400 points of the leader.

Re-calculate points prior to the Chase. Chase qualifiers begin format with 2,000 points plus 5 points for each place on the qualifiers list (i.e. first place entering the Chase would start the format with 2,055 points; sixth place would start with 2,030; 12th place would start with 2,000). Start the non-Chase qualifiers at zero and also add 5 points for each position (i.e. 13th would start at 185 points; 50th at 0 points).

Teams earn 50 additional points for each pre-Chase and Chase win - top Yahoo! points for each race.




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'SMOKE in the Chase

BLOWINSMOKE bettered CLOWN CAR RACING by 42 points to claim the Chase title. BLOWINSMOKE was dominant in the first nine races with five 300+ races; the team posted a season-low 152 at Miami and still won comfortably.

CCR had the most impressive non-race-winning run of the competition. It entered the Chase as the 12th out of 13 teams, didn't win a race at any point in the competition and still finished second.
Third place Turn Right Once In Awhile was 98 points behind CCR. 13th place Tony is the Man finished more than 400 points behind BLOWINSMOKE.

09 Dodge Caravan Driver entered the Leftovers pool in 15th and jumped one spot to claim the top spot in the group by 44 points over FordFucusRacing. FFR jumped 12 spots to claim 15th.

Kansas

Good week for most, REALLY bad for a couple. Eliminations in some competitions next week.



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Dover

Golden Boy 48 came out of no where to claim the top score of 370 at Dover. Only BLOWINSMOKE had a better score this season (380 at Sonoma in June). All told, 18 RMFN drivers were above 300 and the average was a solid 283.4.

We're also finding some consistency. Seven teams have posted back-to-back 300 scores and four have reached that mark for four straight races.


WORLD CUP
The only eliminations at Dover resulted in our semifinalists, and the top two seeds in the final bracket - Sunday Money 10 and Damn Sunday Drivers - didn't make it.
paulmotors10 takes on BLOWINSMOKE and Al Briggs Racing plays Turn Right Once In Awhile in the semifinals. Al Briggs is the lowest seed remaining (entered the bracket as No. 14; entered the second round as No. 30; entered the season as No. 36).
The semifinals run from Kansas to Martinsville (four races).


CHASE
Fun race provided a tight pack at the top. 11 of the 13 teams are within 133 points of each other with 10 races to go. SNAPPY LOBSTA moved to the front, as one of two teams with consecutive 300+ races.
09 Dodge Caravan Driver is dominating the Leftovers group.


OVERALL
Turn Right continues to hold the top spot, and any shift in that will likely have to come in the Yahoo Fall standings. Right now, Turn Right stands ahead of the challengers.


SINGLE ELIMINATION BRACKET
Turn Right and Bassman Racing lead their semifinal matchups. Dover marked the third of five races in the semifinals.


DOUBLE ELIMINATION BRACKET
After one race (of three) in the consolation final (loser finishes third), Turn Right has a hefty 71-point lead over BLOWINSMOKE. This one could clinch the title for Turn Right.
yduck advanced to the championship already and is awaiting the winner.


SINGLE ELIMINATION HEAT
Tony is the Man and paulmotors10 lead the semifinals; Turn Right and Rolling Thunder have lots to make up in the final two of five races in this round.


DOUBLE ELIMINATION HEAT
Turn Right built a 70-point lead over Bassman Racing in the first of three races of the consolation final (loser finishes third).
#3 Dale Earnhardt Sr advance to the championship already and is awaiting the winner.





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Richmond - Our Chase field is set

OVERALL
Turn Right Once in Awhile regained the overall lead from BLOWINSMOKE, but the real news from Richmond was who qualified for our Chase and who didn't.
A quick note about our seasonal Yahoo champs and Yahoo's spring, summer and fall champs - we broke each season up equally (12 races apiece), while Yahoo has a shorter fall season (just the Chase races). Why not just call it the Chase, Yahoo?
Damn Sunday Drivers and, less so, Bassman Racing appear to have jumped back into the Overall title contention.


CHASE
On the spreadsheet below, you'll find two Chase pages. One is the standings after the Richmond race, and the second is adjusted for the Chase. Again, Chase qualifiers start at 2,000 points plus stagger and win bonus points; all non-qualifiers start at 0 points with the same additions.
We had 13 teams qualify for the Chase (top 12 plus any others within 400 points of the leader, Bassman Racing).
yduck made the cut by 11 points; Revalusions missed by 32 points.
Once the points were reset (in the second Chase sheet), wins shuffled some teams. Turn Right went from the No. 2 seed to No. 7, for example. The upside is that all 13 drivers are separated by just 160 points.
Again, 50 additional points will be awarded for race victories.


RICHMOND
We had a nice bounce back from the Atlanta flat tires, with a 264 average and 10 teams above 300 (again FC Newman was not among that group). And big congrats to #3 Dale Earnhardt Sr for its 362 - the top RMFN score of the season.


WORLD CUP
Through two of four races in the quarterfinals
Tight races in the four matchups, no team is leading by more than 68 points. Current leaders are: paulmotors10, BLOWINSMOKE, Al Briggs Racing, and Damn Sunday.


DOUBLE ELIM - BRACKET
yduck is awating the winner from the losers' bracket and will sit out rounds eight and nine.
Turn Right leads ~~Gotta Love Jr~~ by 59 points with one race to go in the seventh round; BLOWINSMOKE leads Monster by just 3 points.


DOUBLE ELIM - HEAT
#3 Dale Earnhardt Sr is awaiting the emerging team from the losers' heat and will sit out rounds eight and nine.
Bassman Racing has a 112-point lead over second-place Damn Sunday; the top two advance to round nine. Turn Right and Rolling Thunder have points to make up.


SINGLE ELIM - BRACKET
Through two of six races in the semifinals
Damn Sunday leads Turn Right by just 19 points; BLOWINSMOKE has built a 168-point edge over Rolling Thunder.


SINGLE ELIM - HEAT
Through two of six races in the semifinals
Tony is the Man has a big lead - 75 points over second place paulmotors10. Top two advance to the final; Turn Right and Rolling Thunder have points to make up.



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The Glen

My love-hate relationship with Tony Stewart continues ... if B.Said has a decent finish, I sniff the 300 level again. But Tony is/was Tony, and that wasn't going to happen this year. To the stuff that matters ...


OVERALL
We have our first change atop the leaderboard for the first time since the first race at Pocono. BLOWINSMOKE held the top spot for seven races, but Turn Right Once In Awhile took the lead for the first time this season after the Glen.
For those interested, a look at how's led for how many weeks in this competition: BLOWINSMOKE (8), Damn Sunday Drivers (4), CLOWN CAR RACING (3), Monster (3), Stone Cold (2), Revalusions (1), and Turn Right (1)
And BLOWIN has also blown away my theory that a fast start to the season is required to win this competition. After Daytona in February, BLOWIN stood in 44th place.


CHASE
I forgot to change the labels for the cutoff on the right side of this page before uploading the stats. However, I can tell you that the current cutoff is 12 teams - as of now, 3 Virgins would be in and Go Daddy would be out. We'll reset the points, add the regular season win bonuses and stagger the points based on standings - all after the Richmond race.


GLEN
The RMFN surge continues - 19 300+ scores and just three below 200. Monster's Glen-best 360 was the second highest top score of the season behind BLOWIN's 380 at Sonoma (RMFN also combined for 24 300+ scores at Sonoma).


SINGLE ELIM BRACKET
Two races to go in the quarterfinals - SNAPPY, Rolling and Bassman hold OK leads; Damn Sunday appears headed for the semifinals.


SINGLE ELIM HEAT
After four of six races in the quarterfinals, the eight teams are separated by just 83 points, and spots two through six by just 36 points. Hang on, fellas ...


WORLD CUP
Two races left in this round, which will produce our quarterfinalists. Two of the eight spots appear to belong to Al Briggs and Damn Sunday.


DOUBLE ELIM - BRACKET & HEAT
After one of three races in the seventh round, not much has been decided.



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Penn 20 too long ...

I really could have used some rain with Hornish in the lead ... instead I settled with the 295 and am still without a 300-point race this year. I blame global warming.


OVERALL
Our leaders haven't fared that great in the second half (25th and 32nd, respectively), but the lead for BLOWINSMOKE and Turn Right Once in Awhile could be too much for the contenders to covercome. They'll need some advancements in the elimination competitions and some losses by the leaders to move up and make the final weeks interesting.


CHASE
With six races remaining before the cutoff, 14 teams are currently eligible for the title in this competition. With 18 300+ scores at Pocono (a season high for the league), moving up has been a tall order of late. Over the last three races, RMFN has combined for 35 300+ scores and just five below 200. The group's average of 285 was 1 point behind the season best at Sonoma.


DOUBLE ELIM BRACKET
yduck posted a 62-point win over BLOWINSMOKE in the winners bracket to secure a top-5 finish, as did the Cinderella of the field - Gotta Love Jr. GLJ is the No. 32 seed in this competition and barely advanced out of the first round - an 11-point lead over "~" relative Abbie Knows. Since then, GLJ has mostly cruised aside from a 7-point win over Bassman in the Third Round. GLJ beat Turn Right by 60 to advance.
In the losers' bracket, Sunday Money, 3 Virgins (the lowest seed left here at No. 34), Monster, and Stone Cold round out the rest of the field.


DOUBLE ELIM HEAT
The winners' bracket is all about the 30s. No. 35 Damn Sunday and No. 37 #3 Dale Earnhardt advanced over BLOWINSMOKE and Turn Right. They are joined by Sunday Money, Tony is the Man, Rolling Thunder and Bassman in the seventh round losers bracket.


SINGLE ELIM BRACKET
Halfway through the quarterfinals. SNAPPY LOBSTA, Damn Sunday Drivers, Rolling Thunder and Bassman lead; the overall leaders are currently trailing their matchups.


SINGLE ELIM HEAT
Halfway through the quarterfinals. BLOWINSMOKE needs to make up 36 points to move into the top 4, and Turn Rich nees to make up 59 - both over the next three races.


WORLD CUP
After the first of four races in this round, just one item to note - Damn Sunday will likely advance to the quarterfinals after building a 135-point lead over No right turns. The other seven matchups are within 55 points.













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Daytona, part II

OVERALL
BLOWINSMOKE and TurnRightOnceInAwhile are dominating.




CHASE
13 teams are currently eligible for the Chase, down from 26 just one month ago. The top seven teams have posted the top score in at least one week.




YAHOO FIRST HALF
BLOWINSMOKE takes this title by 8 points over TurnRight.





SINGLE ELIM BRACKET
Rolling Thunder (by 11 points over LT4SS) had the closest victory. Joining Rolling in the quarterfinals are TurnRight, BLOWIN, SNAPPY LOBSTA, CLOWN CAR, Damn Sunday Drivers, 3 Virgins (lowest remaining seed at No. 35). and Bassman Racing.




DOUBLE ELIM BRACKET
Down to 12 teams here; BLOWIN and TurnRight are both in the winners' bracket on opposite sides. The lowest remaining seed is No. 45 Shake and Bake.




SINGLE ELIM HEAT
Down to 8 teams here, including BLOWIN and TurnRight. paulmotors10 (at No. 50) is the lowest remaining seed. The third round covered six races, and Gotta Love Jr mised the cut by just 10 points.



DOUBLE ELIM HEAT
Down to 11 teams; BLOWIN and TurnRight are in the winners' heat. The seven teams that advanced in the losers' heat did so comfortably.



WORLD CUP
Just two races remain in the Champions group phase; knockout round is next.
EARNHARDT: Damn Sunday will advance; CLOWN CAR and Abby Knows are vying for the other spot.
PETTY: Sunday Money has won the group and TurnRight will finish second.
GORDON: Nothing is settled here, but BLOWIN leads the group.
PEARSON: Team Lester has been eliminated but the top two seeds are still available; Revalusions leads.
WALTRIP: Nothing is settled here, but DaleEarnhardt3 leads the group.
YARBOROUGH: paulmotors and No right turns lead, but nothing is settled.
ALLISON: ShoeString won the group; #3 Dale and Rolling Thunder are vying for the other spot.
JOHNSON: SNAPPY and Tony is the man lead, but nothing is settled.





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Sonoma

Big numbers for a lot of teams, and, as a result, the cutoff for the Chase moved up quite a bit. Some of the World Cup group races tightened a bit; others are being dominated by a handful of teams.



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