Zara has no time for showboating in this last stretch, but rather opens up and gives it her all, in the final jumps of the race. She very nearly makes up her lost time, despite her rocky start, and manages to stick second place!

The spectators love her catch-up from behind, perhaps more than if she’d had a steady run the whole race through. Yoomnuff, despite a truly impressive first run, falls behind in the jump section. Still, as a new team, they had managed quite well for themselves.

Now , she can showboat a little. Removing her helmet, she stands in her stirrups and lets out a triumphant howl, fist raised. “Arrooooo!!” Smiling at the gathered racing fans, she scans the crowd for friendly faces. And enemies.

The Big Cerean makes his way through the crowd that had gathered for Zara’s comeback finish, like always he took the more realistic view on where she would do and once again she proved she could surpass it. He thought she’d be placing 3rd on a good day and here she was with a time that could rival first place if the champ wasn’t already looking like he’d beat her time. He pushed his way forward so he could meet with his friend.

“ Zara!” The mechanic shouts from behind her and gives a congratulatory slap on the back. “ Where did you pull that speed out from?” He chuckles as he speaks.

With the last leg of the race fast approaching Yoomnuff knew he'd need to get his act together if he was going to finish in a good position. Alas the giant ball of fur did not, becoming indecisive of wether he should go for the ramps or not, overall ruining his otherwise impressive time. Coming upon the finish line, Yoomnuff was disappointed with his later half of the race but still had a big goofy grin hidden underneath his translator. He had just finished his first official race.

The racers are met with raucous cheers from the crowd watching the race at the finish line. The 'civilians' are thoroughly enjoying the cold and dreary looking day. Despite the miserable day, the racing has bee consistently entertaining, with excellent performances and some truly brutal wipe-outs. For them it has been an excellent day out. For the racers and their teams it has been a far more intense and important event. One of the first races of the season, this could set the tone for the next series of races, if not the entire season.

When the pair cross the line after one another they receive an appreciative cheer from the crowd, along with a number of claps on the back from the other crews waiting for their own riders. During her admittedly brief stint on the surprisingly plush 'hot seat', Zara even sees the nikto ganger from earlier. He scowled up at her as he passes by, covered in mud as most of the racers were. Despite this, he does in the end give her a begrudging nod before slipping into the crowd.

In the end though, the victory was not for Sylops. As they listen to the commentator it sounds like Recko had been born in the area and had been racing these hills since as far back as childhood. The lead racer of the Tremours has a ground-breaking performance, and although it is a close call, his victory is absolute when he crosses the line. Going to take his place on the hot seat, he pauses to grip Zara by the shoulder and give her a nod. "You had a good run apparently, maybe I'll see you down the line somewhere if you can step up".

After this Recko remains unmoved from his seat, and and is eventually declared the victor of the first race of the Briar Cup. The podium is set out in front of the baying crowd, and Zara is able to take her spot at second place. Each of the racers is awarded an ornate medal, as well as the stick for the credits that they had earnt. Slowly the crowd begins disperse, and the teams begin to pack up while the race organisers start taking down the barriers.

As they dismount from the podium, the winners of the day find recorders thrust in front of them, and drones recording and taking images of them with a frenzy of flashes and clicks. The questions being thrown at them blurr together, asking how the race went, what comes next, what they think of the questions and so on.

As this is going on, Yoomnuff feels a tap on his arm (his height makes his shoulder hard to reach). Turning he would see the reporter from before, still wrapped in the heavy coat from before. "Hey! I saw your run down the hillside, you did really well for the first leg. You should be proud of it. Your teammate did great as well".

“Name’s Zara, Zara Thustra. Good race. You’ll be seeing me.” She hops up, relinquishing the hot seat to the local champ, and offers her hand. She at least hopes he will be seeing her, but is already worrying about how she’s going to come up with credits to enter the next race. I’ll have to step up.. Second place doesn’t pay well enough to cover our team for this race, much less get ready for the next...

Taking her spot on the podium, she receives the medal, winking at the Nikto ganger as he passes by below. She smiles at the drones, and spares a few words for the press, putting her name and team out there on the holo.“ Gesturing across to her new teammate, she continues, “ This is Yoomi’s first race, and he absolutely killed the first sections today. You’ll be seeing a lot more of both of us this season!”

When Yoomnuff is finished with his reporter friend, she throws an arm around his shoulder- or at least tries to.. Tall one, this fella.. “Awesome run! So where are we going to celebrate? Gotta be some good after-parties about.”

" Have Fun you too." Krydil says as Zara already plans to go out and have some fun, " i'm gonna work on the Bikes see if there is anything we can improve for the next race." He turns to Varik, "Let's load them into the truck and head back to the garage."

“C’mon Kry, the bikes can wait, can’t they? I think the whole team should celebrate. At least for a bit? Whattaya say, Varik?”

"You go on, I want to work on the bikes. I'm not much one for parties. And I got my family, so maybe I'll go home early today." He joins Krydil, helping him load the bikes into the truck.

1 hour ago, Edgehawk said:

“C’mon Kry, the bikes can wait, can’t they? I think the whole team should celebrate. At least for a bit? Whattaya say, Varik?”

" I would if I didn't think the Bike cost you first, Clearly from your performance today you had it in you to crush the champ, But I clearly must have missed something." He says with a smile and gives Zara a slap on the back. " You did amazing out there, I need to see what I can do with Furiosa so she can be as fast as she can be."

Yoomnuff turned to see the reporter from earlier and crossed his arms across his chest. "Your compliments are much appreciated! I had a great time running the race and look forward to the next one. As for my teammate, while her run was lost to me, obviously she did very well given her finishing position. A stupendous first race of the season!" Yoomnuff beamed. Sure he would have liked to win himself but he couldn't bring himself to dwell on it especially after everything that had happened today.

As Zara made her way over to put her arm around him, Yoomnuff ducked down ever so slightly to make the gesture a little easier "I am unsure, you are the poll position racer, I would have thought fans would be flocking to you with invites by now!" The ball of hair exclaimed cheerily.

The reporter nods to what Yoomnuff has to say. "Honestly, you both did a lot better than I thought you would. Look, I have to go, the crew are packing up. Maybe I'll see you at another race?" Still smiling she begins to walk away before turning back after a few steps. "Oh, my names Taren. Good luck out there!" Waving she turns back and hurries after the small gathering of news crews in the distance.

The journey back to the city is long but jubilant, the first race of the season had been a success, even if it hadn't been a total victory. Still, there was work to do to before the next race. However the next potential set of races wouldn't be due for a couple of weeks, unless the crew turned to the less legitimate venues for practice and credits. After unloading the bikes from the truck and trailer back at the garage, the crew were free to their own devices. It was still only late evening after all the spectacles of the race, the day was theirs.

After the race was over Krydil went back to his usual schedule of keeping the shop running and going through his daily routine: Shower, Eat breakfast, work at the shop, Eat lunch, work till closing, go to the gym hit the punching bag, do some exercise, Go home to whomever Zara brought in as her girlfriend of the week, Eat din ner, sleep, repeat. it was a simple life but one he was used to, he just needed to see if he could attract some rich clients so they could save for the next race.

Placing Second, Zara easily secures invitations to some of the livelier after parties. She spends time drinking with the fans, and generally making a spectacle of herself on the dance floor with Yoomnuff, who proves to be surprisingly talented and energetic with his own moves.

Rather than focusing on a special fangirl for the night, as is her wont, she sets her sights higher and tries to attract the eye of someone with influence, with credits...

Varik waives the chance to attend any afterparties, instead focusing on tuning up the bikes and performing maintenance after the race, blasting Sith Slayer's newest album, Time of Darkness as he does so.

As soon as he finishes working on the Nightscreamer, he hurries home to his family.

At the door, he is welcomed by Zeak's customary greeting. He scoops his son up and greets the rest of his family, offering a few "helpful comments" on his daughters' homework assignments, most of which consist of decrying the new methods of teaching math.

At dinner that night, he regales them with embellished tales of dramatic race moments, relaying the feats of Yoomnuff (Zeak's favorite) and Zara (Rissy's).

Yoomnuff spent the night getting down, not doing much of socializing as he rode the high from his first race. It was only going to get tougher and more expensive from here on in so the big ball of white was enjoying the moment. After his legs became spaghetti underneath him, Yoomnuff turned in for the night, giving his goodbyes and thanks to Zara and the host for inviting him along.