//------------------------------// // ECRL Round 4: Dodge Junction - Qualifying // Story: ECRL: The Wonderhawks // by WildFire15 //------------------------------// Only a few months into her new role as manager of the Wonderhawks, Fleetfoot had come to know Concorde as someone who always had a cheeky response to any remark made against him, so she was finding his extreme awkwardness at Cherry Jubilee playfully fawning over him highly entertaining. She had to admit that she was slightly worried, though. If anyone in her team was going to get the results that would make Money Bags back off and let Spitfire regain control of the Wonderbolts roster it was going to be Concorde, but the time at Cherry Jubilee’s house was potentially going to throw his focus. Practice ahead of qualifying alleviated her concerns however as he put in the fifth fastest lap after a consistent run of seven laps, allowing Fleetfoot to worry more about the Academy graduates instead. Rainbow Dash had done pretty much exactly as she and Spitfire expected, getting more confident in a close knit pack and constantly learning from those around her. In comparison, formation flying would be a breeze for her come the end of the season. Ratchett too was pleased with Dash’s improving performance and had noted that points weren’t off the table for her either, so long as she could improve her consistency and not get distracted Lightning Dust on the other hoof was wasting her potential according to Spanner and Fleetfoot had to agree. She was certainly learning, but frequently putting her focus into the wrong aspects of racing and ignoring advice from Spanner. To his credit Spanner hadn’t given up and was hopefully of getting through to her, but Fleetfoot had a horrible feeling that it wouldn’t be long before she overstepped the mark. But for now she had to focus on qualifying as much as her racers were as they went about their pre-qualifying routines, the academy graduates doing some last minute stretches while Concorde went for his usual ‘comfort break’, or whatever imaginative euphemism he opted for this weekend. He returned just as Dash and Dust flew out of the stable to join the steadily lengthening queue at the end of the pit lane and hurriedly got his helmet, goggles and face guard on before chasing after them. Fleetfoot and Maffett then headed across the pit lane to their place on the wall, where Ratchett and Spanner were already seated. Their section of the pit wall had a fairly simple wooden shelter over four seats and seven TV screens, two for each spotter with times and their racer’s front and rear facing helmet cameras, as well as a seventh that showed the main TV feed. Their section was open enough for them to look out onto the race track itself, unlike some of the more established teams who seemed to have hundreds of monitors and complicated switch setups. Ratchett had remarked upon how much more comfortable he was with fewer screens and a view of the track as it was easy to get overloaded with information and limited context. Fleetfoot put her headset on just as race control declared the circuit ‘green’ and qualifying begun, the marshal at the end of the pit lane waving a green flag as the flyers headed onto the track to cheers from the crowd sat on the roof of the pit building and various cloud grandstands. She had to admit she was likely more nervous than her team as there wasn’t much she could do beyond observe for the next hour. She wouldn’t say it out loud, but she did have a bit of a longing to join them. Being a Wonderbolt had always been Fleet’s dream but having spent a few years racing she’d come to love the moment to moment action that didn’t exist in performance flying. The Wonderbolts Derby was almost always the highlight of her year when she’d race the other Wonderbolts and certainly scratched her itch, but she wouldn’t argue with the chance to do more. “Wind’s picking up.” Dash remarked over the team radio, Fleetfoot hearing everything her racers and their spotters were saying. “Affirm,” Ratchett replied to confirm he understood. “Wind speed estimates haven’t changed, but I’ll let you know if they do.” “Remember Dust, two build up laps and then two flying laps. You should be able to find half a second in the second sector, confirm?” Spanner asked Dust. It was the current plan for all three to start with to get them warmed up and get times on the board. “I know.” Dust replied after a moment. “Gone blind yet?” Maffett asked Concorde as Fleet watch her flyers climb to the top of the track. “Why don’t you stare at the sun and tell me?” He flippantly replied, to Maffett’s amusement though Fleet didn’t approve of the pair starting their usual word battles now. “Focus.” Fleet prompted Maffett, who just nodded in response. After that the team went quiet as the three flyers did their warm up laps, bar the occasional warning of someone on a fast lap catching them. Fleet felt the butterflies in her stomach start to get excited and her hoof start to jiggle as Rainbow Dash came around to start her first fast lap. Fleet got down off her stool and went to stand beside Ratchett so she could watch Dash’s forward facing camera. She was wide in the first two corners but she soon picked up her pace through the third and through the first loop. Her first split time after the next corner was solid, but not the best she’d done so far that weekend as Dash continued up to the top of the track. Her skilled acrobatics helped her though the second section as she headed down, back up and down again into the second loop, her second split time being the fastest she’d set so far. Through the penultimate corner she nearly hit the lower end of the track limit ring before heading into the final corner too tight, but as an opening lap it wasn’t too bad. Fleet moved down to sit next to Spanner and watch Lightning Dust’s second lap, which she was about to start. She had a better exit off the final corner and a better final sector to her first lap, but her previous first and second sectors had been fairly poor. Dust hurtled into her next lap, quite clearly hustling as fast as she could as she always did. Heading through the first sector she was quicker then Dash on both her first and second laps as she chased her team mate, but as Dust approached the top of the track Fleet knew she’d lose out. Despite being every bit as acrobatically skilled as Dash, Dust’s lack of patience kept resulting in her being in the wrong position on entry for each of the highest three corners on the track, resulting in her losing a lot of time to Dash that she couldn’t recover. As Fleet started to head back to her own seat to watch Concorde’s lap, she noticed his camera feed showing him tumbling. She looked immediately out onto the track and saw him rolling end over end out of the penultimate corner, catching himself before he hit the ground and veering away from the track to get out of the way of anyone following. “You ok, Corde?” Maffett asked. “Aye. My own stupid fault, took too much speed in and hit the bottom of the ring.” He replied, relieving Fleet slightly that he wasn’t injured as she saw him pull into the pit entrance after ruining that lap and the start of his next one in the process. His first lap had at least been fairly solid but not quite up to his usual form. *** Fleetfoot watched her team as they sat in their stable discussing their first two runs with their spotters. After crashing into one of the track edge rings, Concorde had gone out on his second run and set the Ninth fastest time while Dash and Dust were twelfth and thirteenth respectively. There was plenty of room for improvement however, so Fleet was brain storming ways for them to improve their times as she watched the few flyers on track at that time. Wolke and Aperto Jnr of Fancypants Racing were flying together, about a second apart. Aperto was close enough to get a slipstream off Wolke without being held up and a quick glance at the timing screen as the two hurtled past the pit wall told Fleetfoot that the slipstream had given Aperto quite the speed boost. She watched as they went through the first two corners and saw they’d swapped positions so Wolke would get the speed boost on the next lap. Fleet ran back over to her team’s stable, everyone looking up as she arrived. “Right, I have an idea.” She stated simply. “We’ve only got ten minutes left, I hope it’s not too complicated.” Spanner said. “I’ve just seen Wolke and Aperto working together to give each other a slipstream. I want you guys to try it.” “I wouldn’t say it’s a good idea.” Ratchett replied, looking unconvinced. “That move’s meant to help along the following pony, but if the lead pony needs to keep up the same pace and any mistakes they make hamper the follower. Besides, it's not helping Aperto as he's a long way down the order. “It’s worth a try. You guys have room to improve so I thought it’d be helpful and give you guys chance to work together on track. Any volunteers?” “No.” Dust said simply, her bluntness taking the others by surprised as she went to get her helmet. “Why’s that?” “Because like Ratchett said, they’d just get in my way.” “Full of yourself today, aren’t you?” Concorde remarked, but Dust ignored him while Fleetfoot made another negative mental note against Dust. “Are you two ok to try this?” Fleet asked Dash and Concorde. “Go on, then.” Concorde replied. “Sure thing.” Dash smiled as she grabbed her own helmet. Fleetfoot nodded before returning to the pit wall. Spanner, Maffett and then Ratchett joined her in short order as her team went out on track for their last set of runs. “Right, Dash I want you to lead Concorde first. Then you switch around after one flying lap and Concorde leads Dash.” “Got it.” Dash replied as she looked over her shoulder to ensure Concorde was behind her while Dust disappeared up the track. Fleet wasn’t sure how well this would work as Dash was, on average, seven tenths of a second slower then Concorde now, but she figured it was worth a shot to test how well they’d work together on track, which Dust had automatically failed before even leaving the stable. Fleet’s nerves started to bubble up again and her leg jiggled as Dust came hurtling past to start her next fast lap. Not long after Dash and Concorde came past in close proximity, just over a second separating them as they went into the first corner. Concorde’s speed continued to be his main hindrance, but following Dash defiantly gave him a boost as he set his fastest first sector time. “Calm down a bit Dash, you’re taking too much speed into corners.” Ratchett prompted Dash as she threatened to hit one of the track edge rings before heading into the first loop. “I need to go fast so I don’t hold Corde up.” Dash pointed out, Concorde visibly closer to her as they headed for the top of the track. “Just food for thought. You’re looking good though.” Ratchett added before turning his mic away from his mouth so he didn’t disturb her further. Fleet’s leg continued to jiggle as the Wonderhawks pit wall watched on in silence. Dust was improving, with her lap taking her above Dash and into tenth. Dash and Concorde came around to elevate the pair of them to tenth, knocking Dust back down again, and seventh respectively. “Good work.” Fleet said over the comms. “Dash and Corde, switch places.” “Got it.” Dash and Concorde replied, soon swapping positions as they went into the first loop. As they carried on on what would be a cooling lap, Fleet looked at Dust’s times to see she was going a bit quicker again. Her first sector was a hundredth of a second quicker while she matched her previous sector two time. Fleet watched as Dust rounded the last few corners, looking quite good and finishing her lap to be faster than Concorde’s previous best and putting her seventh with a very impressive final sector. “Cool down for a lap, Dust. Then you’ll be on your last lap of the session.” Spanner informed Dust. It seemed she hadn’t listened as she continued to rocket around the lap, though she was a bit slower judging by her first sector. Concorde and Dash came past not long after to start their next fast lap, Dash slightly further behind Concorde then he was on the previous attempt, but the speed boost from the slipstream saw her close in enough to almost hit him. Fleetfoot hissed ‘careful’ to herself as she watched the pair hurtle through the first few corners and through the first loop. As they reached the corner after to flip over and head towards the highest part of the track, Dash seemed to misjudge her extra speed and went off the track, missing one of the track limit rings. “Darn it!” She shouted over the radio. “Corde, keep going!” Maffett prompted, though Fleet noticed him looking over his shoulder as he reached the top of the track. His lap wasn’t looking that great as it was compared to his usual performance so he’d have to put his effort into his next and final lap. “Just go for it guys, forget about the plan.” Fleet told her team as she saw the clock count down towards the final minute. “Last lap, last lap!” Each spotter confirmed to their flyers as they came around to start their final laps of qualifying as the clock counted down to zero. Once it did, the fliers on track would be allowed to finish the lap they were on but they couldn’t start another one. Checking the current order, Fleet could already see her fliers had been demoted by faster times and she was hoping they could improve. Dust’s first sector didn’t fill her with confidence as, while it was an improvement on her previous slow lap, it wasn’t better than her fastest. It wasn’t slowing her down as she went past a slowing Nicki Hest, who’d made a mistake in the first corner and abandoned his lap. Concorde’s and then Dash’s first sectors were massive improvements on their best times so far, Concorde even being fourth fastest in the first sector. Several fliers ahead were slowing after finishing their runs, but they were at least getting out of the way. Fleet watched Dust as she went through the second sector, her movement fast and smooth but still not generating the speed needed to improve her times. Her usual lack of patience or just her determination to show how good she was had hindered her again. “What the f***’s he playing at?!” Concorde angrily exclaimed suddenly, Fleet’s focus shifting to roughly where he was. She could see he’d backed out of his lap after catching up with someone at the top of the track, but she couldn’t see who or why. “What happened?” Fleet asked of Maffett, who looked annoyed as she rewound Concorde’s helmet camera footage. “Hest cut across Concorde as he went over the heights corner.” She stated as she played the footage. As Concorde was heading towards the top of the track, Fleet saw he was catching up with a slow moving Hest. As Concorde went through the blind corner, Hest suddenly cut across the track infront of him, forcing her flyer to nearly stop to avoid a collision. Fleet looked back to the track, hoping Concorde wasn’t trying to have a go at Hest after that block but it seemed Hest had already hurtled off down the track. Checking the time, Fleet saw that Concorde didn’t have enough time to get back around the track and start another lap. “Call him in, there’s no time left.” Fleet stated with a sigh. Maffett did so as Fleet returned her focus to Dust and Dash. Dust still wasn’t improving while Dash was as the current grid order Fleetfoot was watching on her screen lit up with green and purple times to show those improving their times or even setting fastest times. She watched Dust loop around the final corner and rocket up the straight as Concorde pulled into the pit entrance, setting a time two tenths faster then her best. It wasn't fast enough to improve her position, but it did solidify her current ninth place. Meanwhile, Dash was looking promising until the penultimate corner, where she could have taken somewhat more speed into it but she was lined up well for the final corner. She couldn’t quite beat Dust’s best time but she did elevate herself into tenth. She noticed both Ratchett and Spanner continuing to scribble their notes before answering any questions, but Fleet was now watching her timing screen to see if her flyers could hold onto ninth, tenth and twelfth. Blitzen and then Wolke shot across the line to demote all three of her flyers. Red Rum slipped between Dash and Concorde before Wildfire and Leciec came past to improve but not beat her team. Skyline came past next to split Dust and Dash before Dawn Wisp demoting Concorde again, now down to sixteenth as he stood in the stable. He looked very unhappy as he practically tore his helmet off while Maffett got up and went over to him. Fleet leaned back on her stool, seeing the remaining times being set weren’t likely to knock her team down any further. Just as she was about to get up, she saw a red box appear on her timing screen, which meant the stewards were sending out a message. ‘Incident involving competitors 2 (HST) and 52 (CRD) to be investigated after the session – Impeding another competitor.’ the message stated. It gave Fleet mixed feelings as it was bound to result in Hest being demoted to the back of the grid and promoting her flyers, but she wasn’t looking forwards to trying to rein in a likely very angry Concorde.