Laces Out
SUICIDE SQUAD – The 17 week marathon that is the Suicide Squad’s Points Race League has been an extended sprint for most of the season for the top teams of 2017. AF#8 Finkle is Einhorn captured the Fast Lap of Week 12, turning in a 254 point performance that beat their personal best of 249 and marked the 3rd lap of the race that they’ve won. Running neck and neck with Tmande’s AF#16 Our Miss Brooke in the 99 car who has 2 fast laps of their own, the two of them dominated the first half of the season, leading from the poll position through 7 and 3 laps – respectively – as they opened up several car-lengths of distance between themselves and the field.
Starting the season at a slower clip and getting hung up in traffic, AF#5 Tigershark Dracula Fangs turned in their first Fast Lap of 226 points in Week 2, but then went through several weeks of sub-200 scoring before their turbo spooled up in Week 7 propelling them to a 226 point week, and they’ve been melting the track ever since, turning in top 3 scores over the last 6 consecutive weeks, including a 2017 season lap record of 288 points in Week 11. In Week 10, the Fangs made their move on Miss Brooke, coming from 60 points back to overtake the #2 spot and close to within a single point of Finkle, the pair of them swapping paint at the close of the week with season totals of 1782 and 1783 points. In the following week they not only passed, but took the lead and kicked it into overdrive, opening up a 66 point lead from the top spot in their first week there.
In Week 12 the Dracula Fangs were once more a top 3 performer, turning in a 221 point score, but Finkle’s monster Week 12 lap, blower at full power in the #33 GTO helped them to drop the Fang’s lead to just 33 points with the final 5 laps ahead. The two of them are careening around the track, headed into Week 13 with 2291 and 2254 points. Our Miss Brooke has dropped back, keeping the engines cool, and a gap has opened up between the leaders and Miss Brooke’s 2039 total points in the #3 position.
Loonies and Goonies in the #4 Taz roadster is now up in the #4 position after drafting through Week 12 right on Finkle’s tail lights, turning in a 253 point score. They’re leading the second pack of teams, a trio consisting of themselves, Hickory Windies, and Skull Crushers – and have gotten to within 100 points of Miss Brooke’s 3rd place position with a 1958 season score. The Hickory Hurricane has a 1950 total right now, and they’ve gone back and forth with the Goonies through several laps. The Skull Crushers have been one of the most consistant teams throughout the race, but their steady pace isn’t going to help them unless injuries to some of the front runners can slow the leaders down over the final weeks.
The rest of the field is falling further behind as the gap widens between those with and without enough horsepower. Frustration has begun to set in from the back of the field, with Longwaydwn jettisoning extra players this week from 11th place, perhaps in the hope that debris on the track will slow down the leaders. Rosters continue to shrink, and with just 5 laps to go, start/sit options are becoming more and more narrow for all involved. By rule in this league, teams aren’t allowed any roster adds, and instead must drop a player each week until they’re left with nothing but their starters. At the speeds they’re going, if any of the top 3 suffers an injury in the next weeks, they most likely wont be able to keep up with the pace they’ve set, so some big drama could still remain in this season.
