Biker Mice From Mars - Redline

18: Double Drift!

Later, on the Drift Contest Track...

Redline Stadium...

Shinji buckled into his Eight-Six, watching Takumi do the same with his. The drift track was a standard-looking track, with plenty of spots to drift. It reminded Shinji of the Indianapolis Raceway on Earth, from pictures he had seen online and on Television.

The raceway had a total of 12 corners, ranging in width, depth, and arc, all able to be cleared with drifting. The Drift Tandem event would consist of teams taking turns with two drivers on the track at the same time. First across the finish line, however, wasn't going to be the judge of who would win: The event would be judged by skill, style, and timing according to the stewards.

Shinji braced himself for the judging round. He had been practicing non-stop with Takumi to ready himself for this event. If he and Takumi could pull off what they did in their practice runs, they would no doubt dominate the event. Team Overdrive and the P.T.R.E. had already taken their turns, executing bold moves that earned them plenty of points in the event.

Once strapped in, Shinji started his engine and drove to the starting line alongside Takumi. They waited for the starting countdown.

Five...

Four...

Three...

Two...

One...

Go!

Shiji and Takumi took off, Shinji letting Takumi lead as he did in practice. They quickly began going through the first few corners, executing a set of smooth tandem drifts, both cars side by side as a timer counted down from five minutes.

They quickly executed parallel drifts for one lap, then they went into a set of perpendicular drifts on the straights, Shinji taking the lead as they did so. They quickly switched back to parallel drifts as they went into the corners, passing the lead to each other as they did so.

The timer was down to three minutes and thirty seconds. Shinji then spun the car around in a one-hundred-eighty degree turn, and both cars then went in opposite directions, executing drifts through each corner as they went at each other. By the time they were both on the straights to pass each other, the timer was down to one minute and thirty seconds as they rocketed towards each other, each drift executed with style, speed, and precision. Both Eight-Sixes rocketed towards each other on the main straight, then as they approached each other, they finished their routine with a circular spin around each other, both cars facing each other. The timer then ran out, and a buzzer blared.

Shinji and Takumi stopped their cars, turning off the engines and stepping out of their cars. Looking up at the judge's stands, they waited for their scores from the five judges. The scores were calculated by adding up all five judge ratings, who could rate them on a scale of one to ten – one being the worst and ten being the best – and dividing the score by five to calculate out their final score. So far, Team Overdrive and the P.T.R.E. had garnered scores of 6.9 for Team Overdrive and 7.2 for the P.T.R.E.

The first judge gave the two Project: D drivers a score of 9.5. The next judge gave a score of 10!

The judge after that also gave a 10! The forth judge gave a score 0f 9.5, and the final judge gave a score of 9. The score averaged to a final score of 9.6! The crowd went wild with approval, cheering and chanting "Project: D!" over and over.

Shinji and Takumi looked on, stunned as Manuel and the rest of Project: D ran from the pit areas onto the track, jumping up and down wildly in celebration! They had conquered the Drift Tandem event!

# # # # # #

Stratos Needle

Again, everyone was joyous and ecstatic from Project: D's victory in the Tandem Drift event.

"That was insane!" Itsuki said with high praise.

"You did me a solid, kid." Keisuke said to Shinji. "That wasn't a bad performance. Not bad at all."

"You worked well with Takumi," Ryosuke added. "You were both in the zone with that performance, I commend both of you,"

Manuel smiled, then looked out the window. "I guess this only leaves the Outrun event."

"Who do you think should take care of that?" Takumi asked. "You thinking of Tetsuya, or Akio? They'd do well in that kind of event,"

"No..." Manuel said. "I'm going to handle that event."