G'Day fellow tuxers……. Its your interim host here once again…….. Its a very overcast Saturday here right now…….…… This week was a bit quiet….. Not much has happened…..

Just walked the bag of fleas and hung around the house……. Did a little yard work…… Mowed the lawns…….. And that was about it……. I did order a new controller……. That was probably the most exciting thing I did all week…….. The weather has been quite nice this week….. Even if the mornings have been freezing cold……..

Spent a lot of time inside playing WRC 10…..

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

Arcade

NHL Open Ice: 2 on 2 Challenge (1995 Midway) - Sports (Hockey)
Ninja Baseball Bat Man (1993 Irem) - Beat 'em up


Console

Cricket 07 (2006 EA Sports) - Sony PlayStation 2 - Sports (Cricket)
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)
Sega Rally 2006 (2006 Sega) - Sony PlayStation 2 - Sports (Racing)
Street Fighter II Remastered Edition (2020 Pyron) - Sega Mega Drive - Fighting
TOCA 2 Touring Car Championship (1998 Codemasters) - Sony PlayStation - Sports (Racing)
WRC 4: FIA World Rally Championship (2004 Sony) – Sony PlayStation 2 – Sports (Racing)


PC

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


Dick Trickles Racing Career: Part 27
NASCAR Dirt to Daytona: Part 27
Featherlite Modified Series Season 1: Race 5

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 5 of 11 here at ELK River Raceway……..



ELK River Raceway…….


ELK River Raceway is 1.00 miles long with a variation of banking at both ends of the track…… This track has a large bend in “back straight” that gives it a rather unique “D” shape…….. It has long straights and with rather open turns one and two while turns three and four are very tight…….. With such a difference between each end of the track car setup is critical here…….

Dick Trickle might not be having much luck in the Modified Series this season……… But he is still racking up wins in the Weekly Dirt Racing Series…….. As yesterday Dick Trickle got yet another win over at Baxter Fairgrounds…….. Lets hope Dicks luck starts changing in the modified series real soon……..


2004 Weekly Dirt Racing Series: Round 5 of 10…...


Jason Sulivan comes into this race with a 86 point lead in the championship……. Dick Trickle has not been having a the best of years……. He might be sitting second in the championship but two wins have been “stolen” from him so far……. He will be looking to right the wrongs from the past this weekend……. Joel York and Francis Lee will be looking to take second place in the championship away from Dick…… As they will be trying to set themselves up as championship contenders……. Last years champion William Anderson is currently fifth in the standings….. He needs to start making moves to stay in contention this year…….

I caught up with Dick in the paddock area before the race……. To find out his thoughts now that hes had time to cool off after last weeks race……. “Yeah Murray im still angary at that……. These guys are driving around like absolute drongos and NASCAR isnt going to do a damn thing about it……. Well I guess its time to start to wrecking cars if this keep happening…… Its the only way they will learn…….. If things go the same as last week you will need that censor button guy again for sure…….”

Well tough words their from Dick……. Can he finally seal the deal and win a race???….. Will Jason Sulivan secure yet another win or can one of the other talented drivers taste glory here today????…...

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 once again spent a lot of time in practice working on the car…… The unique shape of this track makes it very tricky to set up the car….. Dick decided to go for a flat out turn one and two while slow through turns three and four setup…… He looked rather quick out there overall with that setup……

Qualifying was up next……. And Dick was indeed very quick…… Setting a time of 25.268 to secure his first ever pole position in the Modified Series……. It was so quick that he was in fact 0.6 seconds quicker than second place Jason Sulivan who set a time of 25.838……

Third was Francis Lee with a 26.269…….. Followed by Joel York who set a 26.501……. Rounding out the top five was last years champion William Anderson with a time of 26.865…….



Qualifying Results........



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


For the first time the modified rookie Dick Trickle led the field as the green flag dropped for the 50 lap race…….

Dick got a great start as he had the clear lead going into turn one from Jason Sulivan…… Closely followed by Francis Lee…….. With Joel York and William Anderson battling over fourth and fifth……

Dick Trickle held the lead for the first few laps with Jason Sulivan all over his rear end……. And Francis Lee was just as close to Sulivans rear……. As the three of them started to break away from Joel York and William Anderson who had settled into a great battle as both of them were swapping positions almost every lap…….

Dick Trickle was much faster through turns one and two……. But Jason Sulivan was gaining all that time back through turns three and four……. With Francis Lee shadowing the top two……. Waiting to pounce on any mistake made ahead…….

As the leaders got into the lapped traffic…… Dick Trickle managed to gap Jason Sulivan…… Who was not as good through the traffic this week……. Dick was making the right moves……. Seducing his way through the lapped traffic…….

The battle for fourth was still raging on as Joel York and William Anderson never stopped fighting each other…….. I reckon every lap so far has seem them swap positions…….

On lap 20….. It was looking good for Dick as he had managed to eek out a 1.5 second lead over Jason Sulivan and was lapping his old friend Luis Rivas……. Dick made the run through turns one and two and passed Rivas with ease down the back kink………

Entering turns three and four Dicks car setup meant he had had to slow down……. He slowed way more than Luis Rivas was expecting and Rivas ran into the back of the Klipsch Modified Flaming Dick Machine……. There was no chance for Dick to save the car as it spun like a top……. Dick did show expert car control just like last week in keeping the car off the inside wall…… But also just like last week Dick was now facing the wrong way……. And losing a bunch of positions and time……. I could almost hear Dick swearing like a sailor from all the way up here in the commentary booth…….

By the time Dick was pointing in the right direction and had got going again he was down in tenth and 1 lap behind Jason Sulivan…… Dick had 29 laps to salvage something from this race……..

Dick Trickle then went into a rage mode……. And tore off after the pack……. And it was not long before Mark Kanazawa had Dick up his rear……. Dick make short work of Kanazawa through turns one and two….. And his sights were set firmly on the guy who spun him Luis Rivas…….

At the half way point of the race Dick had caught Rivas and gave him a few love laps up the rear…… When Dick passed Rivas he made sure to rub up against Rivas and push him way wide and into the outside wall on the exit of turn two…….

He was a Dick on a mission as he ran down Andy MacNamera 5 laps later…… This time Dick made the pass nice and clean on MacNamera……. Who had no chance of fending off Dick or any length of time…….

Dick was now in seventh…… And was hunting down the sixth placed Jeff Ondich……. After he caught him It took a few laps but he was able to pass Ondich nice and cleanly…….. Dick was not trying to ram guys out of way who had not done him any wrong……. That was reserved for the likes of Luis Rivas…….. Who had survived his brush with the wall and was hanging onto ninth place……

Dick was now chasing fifth place……. Which was held by Gary Soros……. Soros was not going to give up a top five without a real fight and threw some cheeky blocks to keep Dick behind him…… But he couldnt keep Dick behind long enough….. As Soros threw one to many blocks and Dick was able to get the outside run on the exit of turn four and down the main straight Dick was able to pass Soros who had no answers in turns one and two as Dick was so much faster at that end of the track……

Up next was William Anderson but the number was laps was running out…… And with no hope of catching him Dick had to settle for yet another fifth place finish……. Dick was somehow still achieving all of his sponsors goals……. So he had another good payday and another step closer to an engine upgrade…….

The race was won by Jason Sulivan who had run away with it back half of the race winning by 16.2 seconds over Francis Lee who just couldnt hang with Sulivan in the latter half of the race…….

Third was Joel York who was putting in very consistent top three finishes this year even though he was 24.8 seconds behind Sulivan…….. Fourth was last years champion William Anderson who is still racking up top five finishes……. And rounding out the top five was Dick Trickle who I think might be even hotter under the collar than last week…….. Both Anderson and Dick were 1 lap down on the winner…...



Race Results..…


After the race the tempers flared in the paddock area as Dick Trickle and Luis Rivas came face to face……. Both Dick and Luis were yelling obscenities at each other…… When Luis put his hands on Dick and gave him a shove…….. Dick shoved him back and then punches where thrown by both men…… Thankfully they didnt land as both teams crew members came out to break up the fight…….. Even Pussy Galore got in on the action and told Luis where to go in no uncertain terms…….

Im going to get a word with Dick right now I hope the censor guy has his finger on the button……… “You see the *BEEP* I have to put up with week in and week out……. Its out of *BEEP*ing control Murray……. NASCAR Really needs to do something before we well tear up each others race cars………”

“I was having a great race until that *BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP*ing *BEEP* [Luis] Rivas spun me……. And then he wants to blame me for it……. He really has a *BEEP*ing screw lose……..”

“What sucks the most is that I was actually having a good race with Jason [Sulivan] there at the start……. It was actually good clean racing…… I was even starting to get the better of him and had managed to gain a bit of a lead on him…….. But we all know how that ended…….. The battle back through the pack was insane…… I honestly dont remember a lot of it…… I was so focused on getting that top five for the sponsors that I was just in the zone……… We again achieved all our sponsors goals……. Which is a very good thing when looking at expensive engine upgrades…...”

“I just feel bad for the crew who put a lot of work into preparing the car…….. Next week its back to Dennison Speedrome…….. I wonder how many cars we can tear up on that tiny bullring style circuit……… Luis Rivas better watch out…… Im coming for him…… And I wont be *BEEP*ing gentle”

Next week the 2004 Featherlite Modified Series heads to Dennison Speedrome….. Dick Trickle has now dropped to third in the champion……. Can he get the revenge that he is looking for next week???…….. Can Jason Sulivan get win number five next week???…….. Can William Anderson resurrect his title defence????……. Or can Joel York or Francis Lee sneak in a win to set up a championship battle???…...

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 5 of 11.…







First lap Modified Dick action....


Sega Rally 2006…...



Do do do do do do do do do dooooooooooooooooo…... DAAAAAYTOOOOONAAAAAAA…….. Oh….. Wrong game………

Sega Rally 2006……. Released on the PlayStation 2 only in Japan…….. Making it a somewhat obscure game…….

The graphics are really damn nice for this game……. The cars look amazing and the circuits are very nice as well…….. A lot of time and effort was put into the graphics and models which makes it even more weird that was not released outside of Asia…….

The sounds are actually really good too…… Engines sounds are nice….. The exhaust pops are really nice and the co-driver is really easy to understand……… This video pretty accurately describes the sounds……

The controls are ok…… Its very arcade….. The car feels very floaty…… There is very little in the way of damage….. Its more a time penalty as hitting things slows you down…….. Takes a little bit to get use to but the controls are fine for what it is…….

The Storyline…… Well……. There IS a career mode…… But you need to know Japanese to play it……. And I barely know English as u can tell from my posts……. So their aint no way that I know Japanese…….. And the arcade mode has no storyline….. So I get to make up another storyline this week……..

This week…… Play the role of a unnamed foot soldier in the Foot Clan…… Ordered by Shredder to kidnap April O’Neil…….. After you have successfully kidnapped her and thrown her in the boot of your inconspicuous rally car…….. Speed through different countries of the world as you try to escape the Ninja Turtles who are always seconds away from catching you…….. Can you make it to the end and escape before the timer hits zero and the Ninja Turtles catch you????…….

The gameplay is simple…… In arcade mode its get to end of the rally before the timer hits zero……. Career mode is bit more in depth as you can apparently upgrade the car……. I have no idea as I dont know any Japanese so I couldnt play the career mode……

Its a rather shallow game…… Even more so when you cant play career mode…… Arcade mode is really fun….. But its really short (Thats what she said)…… Each stage takes about a minute (So about 57 seconds longer than I take in bed………) And each rally only has 5 stages and there are only 5 rallies overall….. And the only real replay value is trying to beat your previous high scores……. I do wish I could have played career mode……

Overall its a really fun if very shallow experience……. I would have been really nice to have had an english translation for the career mode…… You wont be sinking a 100 hours into this game if you dont know Japanese……

I rate this game a Colin McRae driving into a tree out of 10……..


Sega Rally 2006……..


Next week……. Probably more of the same……. Which is good…… Means nothing will break…… I do need to do some more yard work……. And the rain is meant to be back next week……. So probably even more time indoors……. I should have been a bear……. I just seem to hibernate….. Hopefully the controller should arrive next week.....

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 play yet another obscure racing game……..

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

Now for my bad joke of the week……
The maintenance woman in my apartment complex asked me the other day if I wanted to smoke some weed with her...... I told her "No....... Im not into high maintenance women…..."
*ba dum.... tssssh…...*