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Storm1968 Takes Winter Rally Title

sugarvalves [1963573] —
Incredible final race sees Storm1968 leap from third to first to claim his maiden crown. Data, ToxicMonkeyMZC take second, third. Soybean, graphics, prediction, and prize race winners announced.
Storm1968 secured the 2021 Ultimate Racing Tournament Winter Rally title last night with a dramatic victory in the final race at Stone Park.

Storm1968 went into the rally's final race in third position, 18 seconds behind ToxicMonkeyMZC in second, and 32 seconds behind Data in first. This situation meant that Storm1968 would need to finish the Stone Park race over half a minute ahead of the city's top-ranked driver to take the title, while also beating ToxicMonkeyMZC, our third-ranked driver, by more than 14 seconds.

And he only went and f***ing did it.



Storm's time of 26:10.42 was an astonishing 14 seconds faster than t1me in second place. But the nature of the rally format meant that the only comparison worth making was how Storm's time stacked up against those above him in the table. ToxicMonkeyMZC finished in 24th with a time of 26:39.18, almost 29 seconds behind Storm. And a few places back in 30th was Data, who posted a time of 26:44.75, which was 34 seconds slower than Storm1968.

This meant that after nearly eight hours of racing over sixteen different tracks, Storm1968 won the Winter Rally by a margin of just 2.32 seconds - for comparison, the 2019 and 2020 tournaments were won by 40 and 58 seconds respectively. The only way this year could've been more dramatic is if Storm1968 crashed on the final corner, jumped in someone else's car, and pulled off his mask as he crossed the finish line to reveal that he was Nicholas Cage. Understandably, our newly crowned champion was overjoyed to have won.

"Just amazed... In complete shock. Was only trying to hold on to 3rd spot tonight.. Made a tactical switch from NSX to A8 as Toxic and Hammer were running the same, and thought that would offer the best chance of not losing time to them."



Pictured: The final standings for the top ten.


HOW IT WENT DOWN

Storm1968 came into this tournament as its 12th ranked driver, but he belied his Racing Skill level to finish ahead of his higher-ranked rivals and secure his maiden URT crown. This was actually Storm1968's first time participating in a URT competition, and his story should prove inspirational to those who haven't yet managed to qualify for this elite racing competition.

"I tried for the URT event last summer but failed to trouble qualifiers. Knowing that I have a competitive RS, and recently won the JLT, I was motivated to pit myself against the fantastic community of racing friends we have in Torn."


Second-placed Data was obviously disappointed to lose out on the title, especially as he held the overall lead after all but four of the rally's sixteen races. Data was just 0.29 seconds ahead of his nearest rival selits when last we caught up with the tournament, and his lead was cut further to 0.2 seconds when Storm1968 outpaced our leader at Sewage by half a second to pull back up to second place.

A strong showing from Data at Mudpit saw him establish a six-second advantage, but this was cut to 0.4 of a second after a poor time at Uptown. NNWS was Data's nearest rival at this point, but he managed to restore his six-second advantage over NNWS and the rest with a fourth-place finish at Two Islands. Another good time at Commerce extended Data's lead to 13.74 seconds over NNWS, with ToxicMonkeyMZC and Storm1968 a further six seconds behind.

And when Data then pulled out his first win of the tournament at Hammerhead, it seemed the destiny of the 2021 title was becoming a foregone conclusion, as his lead grew to 23.55 seconds. ToxicMonkeyMZC was now Data's closest challenger, and he proved the rally was far from over when he won at Vector, closing the gap down to 15 seconds. Storm1968 was just a few hundredths of a second behind in this race, but he still lagged 33 seconds behind Data with just two races left. NNWS sat in third, 29 seconds off the pace.


Pictured: The standings ahead of the rally's penultimate race.

The race at Withdrawal saw NNWS dramatically crash out of title contention with a wreck on the first lap, thus earning him a penalty time that would see him drop down to eighth. There was little to separate the remaining contenders though, as Data, ToxicMonkeyMZC, and Storm1968 all finished within 1.6 seconds of each other in a race that was won by the increasingly impressive selits.

Data went into the final race as firm favourite, with ToxicMonkeyMZC having a decent chance of challenging him, and Storm1968 considered a huge outsider. But it looks like the drivers' choice of car played a huge role in deciding the outcome of this race and indeed the entire tournament. Data was one of just eleven drivers to go for a Honda NSX, whereas the vast majority plumped for the Audi R8. Storm1968 readily admits his choice was influenced by those of his rivals.

"If Toxic and Hammer would have stayed with their NSX, I would have as well. Personally, I thought NSX had the best chance of winning, but its' the least consistent."


In the end, Storm1968 made precisely the right choice, with Stone Park playing host to his third victory of the tournament, earning him the URT 2021 Winter Rally title by the smallest of margins. And in addition to the honour of being able to call himself a URT champion, Storm1968's prize haul includes $1 billion in cash, a Gold Racing Trophy, the usual competition prizes and ribbons, plus the much-coveted Bugatti Veyron - which he absolutely won't be parting with.

"Sell it.. are you mad!! I've got some lap records to chase after."


Data, on the other hand, told the Torn City Times that he would happily swap his two Audi S3's for a Bugatti, as he now has a brace of rare Class C cars having finished as the Winter Rally runner-up for the second year in succession. Data also has third-place finishes to his name from both the 2019 Winter Rally and 2020 Summer URT, and although he may be downbeat, our city's highest-ranked driver will most certainly be back for the next edition of the URT.

"Before the contest, I would have been happy to end up in the first three. After leading for so long and then coming 30th in the last race and losing out on a Bugatti was disappointed, to be honest."


"Looking back I could not have done anything different and will be returning for the summer tournament this year. Hopefully, I can eventually obtain some luck to go with the skill."

ToxicMonkeyMZC was a great deal happier with his third-place finish, as this marked a huge improvement on his previous best placements of eighth in 2020 and tenth in 2019.

"Feeling good about it. I'm moving in the right direction which is very encouraging. I had several mediocre races in the tournament and was a bit surprised to finish so high up. Never thought for a moment all those years ago that racing would end up a big thing with substantial prizes."

ToxicMonkeyMZC doesn't think there's much else he can do to improve aside from what he's already doing, which is to race 24/7, hope for the TV Network special to boost his racing skill more often, and to pray to the RNG gods for a little more luck on the tracks!

"There might be one or two tweaks I can do with my cars to completely optimize them to certain tracks but I think the differences are so negligible they get cancelled by RNG. No regrets at all. The competition cost me nothing to enter and the prizes are phenomenal. It has been amazing fun, as always. My only regret is having to wait so long for the next URT."


Pictured: Top 20 tournament progress graph courtesy of Storm1968

2021 URT WINTER RALLY TABLE

2021 URT WINTER RALLY FULL RESULTS


SOYBEAN AWARD

In addition to the top three prizes and positional prize money paid out to all of our drivers, the URT also hands an extra $100 million to the driver who has, in the opinion of the organisers, exceeded expectations during the tournament. This award usually goes to a driver with low Racing Skill compared to their rivals, but whose results and/or final position saw them place much higher.

This year, there was no doubt that the winner of the Soybean award had to be selits, a driver who came into the tournament ranked 35th out of 48 competitors, but who managed to finish in an astonishing sixth place overall. Selits final cumulative time was a shade over one minute slower than our champion, and it was his exceptional consistency that helped him achieve this. Selits secured five top-ten finishes from sixteen races, with this record including a win at Withdrawal and a second-place at Parkland.

"I was extremely surprised when I qualified for URT and figured I'd end up 30th+ overall in the rankings. When it started, I was just running Docks nonstop for DS and choosing the car I normally use for each track but once I saw I was doing well I wanted to make sure I stayed in the top 20, so I was doing a lot of test runs with friends and chatting with other drivers in URT about car setups for each track. It was a lot of fun chatting with people I haven't really talked to before."

There were several other strong contenders for this years' award, with many middle-ranked drivers finishing way ahead of their ranking positions. Patapouf had a phenomenal campaign that ended in 19th place, despite his RS score of 22.75 ranking him 42nd overall. In any other year, Patapouf would've been a shoo-in for the Soybean prize, but selits' achievements simply couldn't be overlooked.

Others who overperformed in this tournament were Prehensile, PsycWard, AlphaDionysus, and Mud, who each had Racing Skill scores under thirty, and who all managed to finish between 14-17 places higher than their rankings. The pre-tournament RS scores and their ranking comparisons can be seen on the Final Ranks tab on the Results Sheet.

I'd also like to give a shoutout to our 48th-placed driver, Sarosv, whose Racing Skill of 9.52 made them the lowest-ranked participant ever to compete in the URT. Sarosv certainly put in a good performance for someone of their level, posting highly competitive times at Speedway (19th), Underdog (26th), Uptown (30th), and Vector (32nd).

"It was very random that I joined URT, I did not think I could qualify but someone said on faction discord it was a race up and I only joined that one race and managed. My goal was to not finish last but after a few races, I figured that would not happen since I don't have that many modded cars yet. My plan is to finish all my cars and continue to race and try to qualify for the next URT."


Sarosv is proof that the URT is a tournament for drivers of all skill levels, and that with the right application and enough luck, anyone can make it through to the finals. The next URT event is the Summer URT, a league and knockout format which takes place in July. If you're thinking of entering the qualifiers, here is some advice on what you should be doing over the coming months.

"Firstly, just ask. The majority of racing drivers are happy to share their knowledge and help to build a stronger community, which all adds to more exciting competitions. Secondly, be prepared to forego travel... your Racing Skill will take time to build, although you will be competitive once you reach Class A."
- Storm1968

"There are plenty of up and coming competitors, and my main advice would be to keep their cars on the tracks as much as possible to obtain decent racing skill." - Data

"Constantly racing and TV specials are the fastest way to get ahead so that's the obvious advice I'd give to any racer. It is extremely difficult to catch an active racer. I don't ever expect to catch Data as long as he's active like me as we both do the same things. Just stay actively racing is my best advice. This isn't always possible for newer accounts if they need cashflow and need to fly for flowers/plushies." - ToxicMonkeyMZC

"The best advice I can give is to read the racing guides from Baldr and RD, both helped me a lot. Also, if you're not traveling, make sure to keep racing to increase that RS! I'd also like to say thanks to my friends in aXiom for dealing with me talking about racing almost nonstop during this tournament. It was fun! Congratulations to all the drivers!" - Selits

"Enter as many official races and player-run competitions as you can without jeopardising your existing playstyle. Official races are obviously important as they earn you racing points, but it's more important to enjoy racing, and joining player-run events helps you integrate into the racing community and tap into a wealth of useful knowledge." - Sugarvalves


PRIZE RACES

Our ten prize races were run mostly without hiccups over the course of Sunday, with many filling up within less than a minute of their opening. Prizes have already been sent out to all participants who ended up in the following positions:

1st
Donator Pack
7th
Random Clothing
16th
Anniversary Present
25th
Christmas Cracker
40th
Drug Pack
55th
Keg of Beer
69th
Erotic DVD
77th
Rosary Beads
84th
Six Pack of Energy Drink
Last
Feathery Hotel Coupon
Crash
Box of Medical Supplies


We also had a secret position that gave ten drivers the chance of winning one of three stat enhancers. The secret position was 74th, and the drivers who have won this prize have already been chosen, contacted, and rewarded. In case you're wondering how we chose this number, it came from Rum4nyby's father's inside leg measurement.

Rum4nyby, a URT steward, missed one of his qualifying races because his father needed his help to purchase some trousers online. We thought we'd make use of this information for prize-giving purposes. So if you were one of the three players who won a stat enhancer from a prize race, you have Rum4nyby's father's groin to thank.


PREDICTION PRIZES

Another competition we ran offered players the chance to guess the top 10 drivers in the URT standings. $50 million was set to be paid out to the first ten people to guess correctly. As it happens, we may have underestimated the statistical likelihood of someone predicting the results accurately. Nobody managed all top ten, so we decided to change our prize structure and payout $100 million to the person who made the most accurate prediction, and $75 million to two runners-up.

Speedskater was the most clairvoyant entrant as she correctly predicted four out of the top ten positions, including the entire top three. BT999 and Groff both successfully guessed three positions, so have been given joint runner-up status.


GRAPHICS COMPETITION

Our final racing-themed competition was the URT Graphics contest, where entrants were asked to design a new set of victory banners for our top three drivers. There were some good entries in this year's competition, but in the end, the judges chose Fluffy-Kitten's animated banner as the winner. Fluffyduck was given second, with BT999 chosen to receive the third-place prize.


Pictured: Fluffy-Kitten's winning banner.


THE STEWARDS

I would like to end by thanking my team of stewards for making this expanded version of the Winter Rally possible. We ran more qualifiers than ever before and were able to boost the number of participants from 36 to 48. The only reason this was possible was the dedication and reliability of our stewarding team, who turned up to help make this event the biggest and best yet. Thank you to everyone who helped set up a race, share results, alert me to a goof, and provide help and assistance where it was needed.

Thank you also to all of the drivers who took part, and congratulations once more to Storm1968, our 2021 Winter Rally champion!


The qualifying dates for the Ultimate Racing Tournament Summer Edition will be announced in June.


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