@Flean: sorry, I wasn't able to include you in my comments awhile ago, but better late than never.
Anyway, you'll find out later who's the Crew Chief.
Here's the next installment. Enjoy!
LOVE IN THE FAST LANE=================
CHAPTER 2d - MAKING THE TEAM [Takamina the Drifter]
"Takamina, snap out of it. Let's just review the flow of the category." Miichan reminded, gently shaking her cousin.
Takamina sighed then grabbed the papers in front of her. "It says here... that it'll be just like any Drifting competitions: the preliminaries will be the Tansō (individual pass) followed by the finals which is the Tsuisō (tandem pass)... I told you it'll be a long race."
"Just think that you'll have a break at least in between while waiting for your turn." Haruna said. "From the looks of it, not all 20 teams will push thru in this category... only the top 16 teams are qualified for the Tansō then 8 teams will be chosen to move forward for the Tsuisō. In the Tsuisō, each participant will be given the chance to be the 'lead' and the 'chaser'. Judges will use the pyramid system in this category where the 8 teams will be randomly paired, whoever gets the top 4 scores will advance to the 'semi-finals' and among the top 2 who gets the best score will be declared the winner."
"To add to that, the order of the participants for the Tansō will be in random and will not be based on the group number." Miichan added. Suddenly the speakers blared to life and the advertisements on the wide screen changed, announcing the order of the participants.
ATTENTION: ALL 16 PARTICIPANTS, PLEASE CHECK THE WIDE SCREEN FOR THE ORDER OF YOUR INDIVIDUAL PASS. YOU MAY NOW GATHER AT THE DRIFTING TRACK."Hmmm... it looks like you're the last one to do the Tansō." Haruna noted as they all looked at the wide screen.
"Yosh! I'll show them what our team is made of!" Takamina pumped her fist and gathered her things.
"Make us proud Takamina!" Miichan cheered.
*****
PRELIMINARIES - TANSŌ
Twelve contestants have already made their passes. Takamina began pacing in her place.
"Mou~~ stop pacing, will you? You're making me dizzy just looking at you!" Miichan complained through her headset as she looked at Takamina using her binoculars.
"Gomen ne. I just want to get this over with." Takamina said, then a crew member signaled her to get ready. "Okay, I need to go to my car now, I'm up in a couple of minutes." Takamina said, removing her headset. Takamina walked towards her 2011 black Ford Mustang, flicked her hair, and wore her helmet. "Testing... can you hear me?" Takamina said in the built-in mic.
"Loud and clear." Haruna replied.
Takamina got in her car, started the engine and positioned it to the starting point. She then began revving up the engine by stepping on the gas while the waiting for the signal lights to turn green.
3...
2...
1...
GO!!!Takamina made a high-speed entry from the starting point, then continued to change gears until she reached the car's 6th gear and maintained it's top speed.
"You're approaching your first bend Takamina. Try to keep your speed when you make your turn." Haruna coached.
"Copy." Takamina simply replied as she steered the wheel as hard as she could when she approached the bend, keeping the rear of the car close to the bend. Smoke billowed from under the car and the tires made screeching noises during the drift and as she zoomed forward the next bend.
"Yatta! Nice drift Takamina!" Miichan cheered, looking at Takamina cross the finish line, leaving a trail of smoke and tire noise.
*****
Meanwhile in the Judges' booth..."Did you see that Mariko-sama? It's one of the best drifts I've seen so far in this competition." Sayaka Akimoto, the Crew Chief of AKB48 Race team commented.
"What happened to calling me Mariko-chan? It's as if we didn't go to the same high school, Sa-ya-ka-chan!" Mariko teased.
"Fine Mariko-CHAN." Sayaka smiled. "Well, let's go and calculate who's gonna be at the top 8 for the Tsuisō." She added as she gathered the individual scoring sheets.
*****
Back in 007 team's booth, the announcer finally announced the results:
HERE ARE THE RESULTS OF THE TANSŌ CATEGORY:
001 - 80.0 007 - 97.5 (1st) 016 - 94.0 (4th)
002 - 83.5 010 - 90.5 (6th) 018 - 81.75
004 - 96.25 (2nd) 011 - 85.0 019 - 92.75 (5th)
005 - 87.75 (8th) 014 - 89.75 (7th) 020 - 95.25 (3rd)
"Yatta! You made 1st place Takamina!" Haruna cheered as she and Miichan hugged their cousin and jumped for joy.
"We shouldn't celebrate yet. I still have to top the tandem pass." Takamina reminded, plopping on the nearby chair.
FINAL PARTICIPANTS FOR THE TSUISŌ CATEGORY, PLEASE ASSEMBLE AT THE DRIFT TRACK IN 15 MINUTESTakamina sighed... again. "I'll just take my break at the assembly point. I gonna take a very long hot bath after this event is over!"
*****
FINALS - TSUISŌ
Takamina was able to move forward from the eliminations and semi-finals of the Tsuisō and was currently waiting for the final tandem pass.
"Great job Takamina! Just one more opponent and you will be the winner!" Haruna encouraged.
"Be on your guard though. Your opponent is from the 004 team who placed 2nd in the individual pass. From what I've observed, she also has the technique. Be careful Takamina." Miichan added.
"Thanks minna. I will do my best." Takamina replied while waiting for the signal.
*****
TAKAMINA - AS CHASER3... 2... 1... GO!
Takamina let her opponent zoom past her then finally started shifting gears to make the chase. She made sure to get as close as possible to her opponent without colliding on the rear of the opponent's car.
"Keep it steady Takamina..." Takamina thought, approaching the bend. Both cars steered down the curve emitting a cloud of smoke on the road. Takamina steered closer to her opponent while maintaning her speed and control over the wheel which caused the other car to swivel a bit as they both passed the bend.
"That's it Takamina! Just maintain your gap with each other. Don't overdo it or you might collide with each other!" Haruna cheered, monitoring the pass through the wide screen.
At the Judge's booth, Mariko squinted her eyes and smiled cryptically. "Impressive, she was able to maintain that small gap during the drift without collision. Not even our previous drivers had the courage to that daring." She thought."Roger that... I won't let her gain speed ahead of me." Takamina said as she speed close to her opponent on their way to the finish line.
*****
TAKAMINA - THE LEADBreathe in... breathe out... was Takamina's mantra while waiting for her turn to be the lead in the second pass. Haruna and Miichan on the other hand, was silently cheering for their cousin in their booth.
3... 2... 1... GO!
Takamina stepped hard on the gas as she saw the signal light turned green. "Haruna! How's my opponent behind me?" Takamina blurted out, focusing on the road ahead while trying to outrun the other car.
"She's about 1ft. behind you! Be careful Takamina, you might lose control going fast like that." Haruna replied.
"There's the bend, let's see how my opponent will keep up on my drift." Takamina thought.
With focus and determination, Takamina seemed tuned out all the noise emitted by both cars. Takamina now understood why they liked to race - it's the calm... the rush... that feeling when you can already hear your heartbeat while seeing everything around you blur as you pass by. Like snapping out of a trance, Takamina, steered her wheel as she approached the bend.
Haruna and Miichan stood up as Takamina made her drift. Meanwhile on the Judges' booth, Mariko and Sayaka were already leaning on their desk staring in awe as Takamina drifted beautifully and maintained the rear end of the car's angled longer than anyone had in the competition. Because of the car's angle, the chaser's car made a wide gap from Takamina's.
"Now's my chance!" Takamina screamed in her mind. She immediately repositioned the wheel after passing the bend and furiously stepped on the gas. The engine roared and her tires screamed as she zoomed straight to the finish line.
TAKAHASHI! TAKAHASHI! TAKAHASHI! the crowd chanted. The chanting continued as Takamina got out of her car. She then removed her helmet, let out a loud sigh and smiled a dimpled smile as she saw her cousins running towards her and gave her a hug.
Mariko and Sayaka looked at each other and smiled. "Looks like even the crowd agrees who's the winner." Sayaka said, Mariko nodded in response.
WINNER FOR THE DRIFTING CATEGORY - TAKAHASHI MINAMI OF THE 007 TEAM... MAKING THE 007 TEAM THE OVERALL WINNER OF THIS COMPETITION!!!Takamina, Haruna and Miichan squealed and jumped for joy as the crowed noisily cheered with them. "We made it!" Takamina said, hugging her two cousins.
*****
Somewhere in the bleachers..."Wow they sure are great! They will make a great addition to the team!" A short girl said to her companion beside her, looking at the three cousins at the race track.
"Yes they will, and they are not bad looking as well." The taller girl smiled keeping her eyes at Takamina. Her smaller companion smirked and nudged her.
"I see you've already set your eyes on the Drifter... I find the tallest one cute though."
"I guess... we'll see. Anyway, let's go look for onee-chan. I bet she's still with Sayaka-chan right now." the taller one said as they made their way to the Judges' booth.
To be continued...
Finally finished the whole chapter! I apologize that this seemed kinda long because in reality, Drift races are REALLY long that it takes two days to finish both individual and tandem pass.
I hope I did justice to Takamina's category though
And ooooh.... I'm gonna add new characters in the next chapter too! I bet everyone knows who they are
I would really love to read your feedbacks! Thank you all for your support!