G'Day fellow tuxers……. Its your interim host here once again…….. Its a raining Saturday here right now…….…… This week has been really quiet…….. The weather was ok…… Even though it is raining today…… Only one day was rained out this week…….

I spent most of the time tidying up the house and just getting odd jobs done that needed doing……. Also went on lots of walks with the fleabag……..

I had to get up the crack of dawn yesterday…… Lovely girl she was……. Had a meeting down in the big smoke…….. So that was my adventure for the week……. Venturing into the concrete jungle……..

Besides that not much else to report…….. Just a typical quiet week in a country town…….. She’ll be right mate…...

[+..••] As for gaming this week in Emulationville I played [+..••]

Arcade

Super Street Fighter II Turbo (1994 Capcom) - Fighting


Console

Blackthorne (1994 Interplay) - Super Nintendo Entertainment System - Platformer
Micro Mages (2019 Morphcat Games) - Nintendo Entertainment System - Platformer
NASCAR: Dirt to Daytona (2002 Infogrames) - Sony PlayStation 2 - Sports (Racing)
NBA Jam Tournament Edition (1995 Acclaim) - Sega Mega Drive - Sports (Basketball)
NFL Blitz (1998 Midway) - Nintendo 64 - Sports (Football)
Street Fighter II Remastered Edition (2020 Pyron) - Sega Mega Drive - Fighting
TOCA Touring Car Championship (1997 Codemasters) - Sony PlayStation - Sports (Racing)


PC

NASCAR Heat 5 (2020 Motorsport Games) - Steam - Sports (Racing)
WRC 10 FIA World Rally Championship (2021 Nacon) - Steam - Sports (Racing)


The Dick Trickles Racing Career: Part 24
NASCAR Dirt to Daytona: Part 24
Featherlite Modified Series Season 1: Race 2

Intro music…... Hello and welcome to Left Turn Heaven..... Im Murray Eastlake and today im going to be bringing you all the action from the 2004 Featherlite Modified Series: Round 2 of 11 here at Crystal Lake Speedway……..



Crystal Lake Speedway…...


Crystal Lake Speedway is 0.750 miles long with 12 degrees of banking……. This very fast track with tight turns at either end really requires a well balanced car…….. Lots of power for the long two straights and really good handling for the right turns in between……. The concrete barriers are like Jason Voorhees…… They are ready to kill the championship hopes of any one who dares touch them…….

Dick Trickle is riding high after a great seventh place finish last week….. And hes in top form again…… As yesterday he won the opening round of the Weekly Dirt Racing Series……. Dick didnt have it all his own way as Alan Andersen was only 6 seconds behind Dick…… (After winning a championship the difficulty goes up a lot in that series…… This makes it harder to win the championship more than once……) After the dirt race yesterday…… Dick Trickle then travelled through the night from Dundas County Fairgrounds to Crystal Lake Raceway……. To be here today for the Featherlite Modified Series race……

This Dick wont take a break….. Hes like a Duracell bunny…….. No wonder his wife loves him…….


2004 Weekly Dirt Racing Series: Round 1 of 10…...


I managed to snag a brilliant vantage point to study Dick with great interest as he rolled the Klipsch Modified Flaming Dick Machine off the trailer……. First thing that caught my eye was the shiny new exhaust sticking out of the car…….. And a new aero kit was the other thing I noticed…….

I spoke with the Dick himself after getting setup in the paddock area…… I asked him about the new parts I saw on the car…... “Yeah Murray…… I was a very busy Dick last night…… And not just with Pussy Galore…….. After last weeks race I bought the new top of the line exhaust system and fitted that during the week…… Then with the prize money after yesterdays win in the Dirt Series……. I was able to afford a full top of the line aero kit……... I was up till all hours of the night fitting that to the car for todays race…….”



New Exhaust…..




New Aero…..


Well Dick Trickle got some big new upgrades and is really gunning for that top five finish today……. Whos going to stop Dick???….. Last years champion William Anderson???……. Last weeks race winner Jason Sulivan????……. Can Francis Lee step up and take the win this week???…. Or can Luis Rivas or even Andy MacNamera get revenge from last week???…..

Dont touch the sets...... Dont touch the dials...... You wont want to miss a single moment of the 2004 Featherlite Modified Series....… Practice and qualifying are coming up right now…...


Dick Trickle at the track ready to race.…


Dick spent a lot of time again in practice getting his car ready……. Working a lot on the gearing and the wing angel…… He seemed to be very happy when the practice session came to a close……

Qualifying was up next…… And Dicks upgrades he bought really seemed to work well here today…. As he set a really quick time of 23.707……. To secure himself second place on the grid….. Just 0.2 off the pole sitter…… Which was John Bundy as he did a 23.529……..

Third was Jeff Ondich with a time of 23.855 just ahead of last weeks winner John Sulivan with a 23.963…….. And rounding out the top five is Jason Kausch who set a time of 24.332……..

Last years champion William Anderson could only manage the eighth quickest time as he set a 24.888…..


Qualifying Results........



Dick Trickle lined up ready to start the race......


John Bundy led the field to the green flag for this 50 lap race……. Dick was quick off the line and got the jump on Bundy and lead the field into turn one…….

John Bundy was not going to give up and kept hounding the rear of the Klipsch Modified Flaming Dick Machine……… With Jeff Ondich not far behind either……

Jason Sulivan lost a spot to Jason Kausch in the opening laps…… The two of them where going toe to toe around the track…… Neither giving an inch……

Out in front Dick Trickle was just hanging onto the lead…… With John Bundy never more than 0.4 seconds behind……. And Jeff Ondich was also able to keep touch as well…… Dick had the hard straight line speed and would gap Bundy down the straights but Bundy had a better handling car and would bring that gap back down through the turns……..

Jason Sulivan managed to get past Jason Kausch on lap 10…… As Kauchs pace was starting to drop off a bit……. Now in clean air Sulivan set his sights on catching Jeff Ondich……

Back to the front Dick was still clinging onto that lead…… Keeping the car hugged against the bottom of the track…… Forcing John Bundy to use the high line if he was going to get past…… Dicks superior straight line speed was the only thing keeping him out front……..

As Bundy got frustrated he started to make a few small mistakes…… This allowed Jeff Ondich to close right up on the rear of Bundy……. The two started to battle rather hard for second place……. This slowed them down a bit and allowed Dick to get some breathing room…….

As the lapped traffic started to come into play… Dick was again using them to perfection…… Slicing through them losing minimal time……. John Bundy also used the lapped traffic well enough to break away from Jeff Ondich and extend the gap to just over a second…….

With 22 laps to go Mike Hemeseth pulled over to the side of the track with smoke bellowing from the car….. His engine was impersonating the Jamaican Dope Smoking team and Hemeseths day was done…… He sat on the guardrail and watched the on track action as the battle for the lead was back on…..

John Bundy had closed the gap to Dick and was right up Dicks rear with 20 laps to go……. Dick was not going to give this up without a fight though and he fought hard to keep Bundy behind him…..

Bundy kept mounting the pressure….. Waiting and hoping for Dick to crack…… Time was running out for Bundy as he was still right up Dicks rear with 5 laps to go…….

The white flag was waved to signal the final flap…… Dick was still in the lead with Bundy right there ready to pounce…….. Heading into the final turn…… Luis Rivas and Mark Kanazawa were in front of Dick and about to get lapped again…….

Just as Dick got to them Luis Rivas jump to the high line to make the lapped cars two wide…… Dick had to slow down and wait for an opening to get passed them……. Bundy gave the rear end of Klipsch Modified Flaming Dick Machine a little love tap……. Finally the gap opened up for Dick on the exit of turn four and he took it…… But he lost to much momentum behind the two cars and Bundy had jumped down to below the white line as they exited turn four to get beside Dick down the straight heading for the finish line……

A drag race was now on for the chequered flag……… And as the flag waved for the winner there was absolutely nothing separating them……. Neither Dick nor Bundy knew who had won at that point…..

After the officials had reviewed the photo finish……. The loudspeaker finally announced that John Bundy had indeed snatched victory away from Dick…… In what is the closet finish ever in the Featherlite Modified Series……..

John Bundy had won the race by 0.003 of a second……. Dick had come up just short….. In what was a heart breaking race for the modified rookie….. Dick Trickle lead 49 laps of the 50 lap race….. But he did not lead the most important lap…… The final lap……

Jeff Ondich was in third…… A great drive and a well deserved result for him today……. Last weeks winner Jason Sulivan had brunt his tyres getting past Kausch in the early stages of the race and just did not have any pace left in that rubber to mount any form of attack…… So Jason Sullivan had to settle for fourth place……. And rounding out the top five was Jason Kausch…….

The defending champion William Anderson did not have a good day……. He started eighth……. And he finished in eighth…….. He had no pace and was basically nowhere to be seen all race……. He will be looking to get his season back on track next week thats for sure…….

Last weeks runner up Francis Lee had a terrible day……. Finishing way down in seventeenth place…… Seven laps behind the John Bundy…….. It was like he was missing throughout the race……. So much so that I thought Jason Voorhees had got him at one point……..



Race Results..…


After the race I spoke to a very dejected Dick in the pit lane….. and asked for his thoughts on the race……. “Cheers Murray…… What a race……. My second ever Featherlite Modified Series race….. And I almost won……. The car was great…… No complaints about that….. Just the two lapped cars making it two wide at the end their really sucked…… I guess Luis Rivas got payback on me from last week by making it two wide there at the end…… I dont know why but he was blaming me for that spin he had last week at Dennison Speedrome……..”

“Congrats to John [Bundy]……. He drove a hell of a race…… And he kept it real clean…… I have no damage on the car at all……. I just couldnt shake the bastard…… He stuck to me like shit to a blanket for most of that race…… I would gladly have another battle with him…… Great clan fun battles like that for hard to find these days……”

“Getting a second placed finish is really good for my second ever modified race……. But leading for almost the entire race and getting so close it really hurts…….”

“This really stings Murray……. All I can do now is regroup and focus on next week……”

Well that is one low hanging Dick…… I dont even think Pussy Galore will be able to cheer him up tonight…….

Next week the 2004 Featherlite Modified Series heads to Welch Valley Racing Complex….. The first road course of the season……. And the first time Dick will drive on a road course in a NASCAR series race…….

Can Dick harden up and take a win???…… Will John Bundy continue his top five run this season???…… Will Jason Sulivan get back in the winners circle????……. Can William Anderson get his season back on track????……..

Tune in next week for the answers to all these questions and more….. Exclusively here on Left Turn Heaven……..

This is Murray Eastlake reporting for Left Turn Heaven..... And until next time its goodbye from me....


Winnings.…



NASCAR Heat Weekly.…



2004 Modified Series Championship Standings after round 2 of 11.…


Dick Trickle picked up one new sponsor after that Featherlite Modified Series race…….


Ferris Financial…..







First lap Modified Dick action....


Blackthorne




Abes Odyssey meets Prince of Persia……. Developed by Blizzard…….. Yes….. THAT Blizzard…..

The graphics are really nice for the time…… It has a more grim and muted colour pallet than you would expect for a SNES game…… But it really works well with the tone of the game…… The sprites looks really nice and the animations are excellent and are really really smooth……

Sounds are…. Ok….. Nothing terrible……. But nothing great either……. The shotgun does sound very weak……. And the background music is a forever looping short bit of music…… At least its different music for every level and its not bad its just to short and repeated way to often……..

Controls are……. Well…….. Clunky…... Would be the best word…….. They arnt bad but they do take a while to get use too….. The whole game is slow and methodical……. The controls also feel slow….. It takes an age to holster and unholster your shotgun for example….. Ill get more into that in the gameplay section…… Every button is used on the SNES controller……. And some buttons do more than 1 thing……. Depending if the holstered or not…….. And you cant do more than one thing at a time……. For example Kyle cant move while holstering or unholstering the shotgun…… He had to be standing still to do that……. Running and jumping at the same time is the games biggest issue…….. I ended up dead in many pits from that…… As it takes time to wind up the jump animation before Kyle actually jumps…… Again this is just like Prince of Persia…...

The storyline is prime Saturday morning cartoon schlock……. April O’Neil has been kidnapped and its up to the Ninja Tur………. Wait………. Well this is a long one…… The first 20 odd pages of the games manual are dedicated to the storyline…….. So ill give a very brief summery…… The planet Tuul was ruled by an all knowing shaman…… But even with all the knowledge he doesnt know which of his sons to make his successor……. So he takes his two owns out to the desert and then kills himself and becomes two stones……. A light and dark stone…… Each son takes a stone to rule over their respective people……. And of course the Light Stone people are good and the Dark Stone people become evil and turn into monsters……. The planet Tuul then gets kidnapped by Sarlac who then rules over all of them……. Turning the white stone people into slaves and using the dark stone people as guards….. During the kidnapping the Kings son Kyle is sent to earth……. To save him and is given the light stone to keep safe…… 20 years later Kyle is brought back to Tuul to free Abe Odyssey….. Uh…. I mean…… Free his people and kill Sarlac……

The gameplay is the most interesting part……. It plays very much like a Prince of Persia game……. Its very slow and methodical and Kyle needs to stand is just the right place to get the desired action from him……. Like jumping up to a ledge…… It can be a very clunky and cumbersome game at times…… Jumping across gaps and even jumping up to a ledge can be a real pain in the rear shell…… The shooting is also very slow and methodical…… You can lean back again the wall to avoid fire…… And then pop out and fire a shot……. The enemy can do the same and it turns into a game of Wack-A-Mole…… With guns…… Some of these “fire fights” can last for ages……. This all sounds bad but its just how “cinematic platformers” play……. It was the style at the time…….. And if you dig that kind of stuff…… This game is right up all ally……

Overall its a very interesting game and an almost forgotten Blizzard game now…… As far as I know there was never a sequel made and I dont think one has ever been in the works….. If you really dig cinematic platformers like Prince of Persia or Flashback or Another World (Out of This World)…… Then you should really play this game…… Its a really interesting take on that genre of game……..

You just need to remember that you will need a lot of patience for this game….. You cant speed run it like a Mario or Sonic game……. You need to be slow….. Methodical….. And calculating…….



Blackthorne


Next week……. Not much to do this week….. I do need to give the dog a bath…… Besides that there is nothing big to do around the house……

As for gaming there will be more hardcore modified Dick Trickle racing action in NASCAR: Dirt to Daytona……. Getting down and dirty in WRC 10…….. And I will be playing a VERY obscure racing game…..

Well thats it from me…… Hope all you tuxers have a good week……

Now for my bad joke of the week……
I would be more inclined to grow up…….. If I saw that it worked out for everyone else…...
*ba dum.... tssssh…...*

Last edited by StoneColdSpider on 21 July 2023 at 10:57 pm UTC