STAN PASSES TRAVIS AND JASON!!

    Stanley Jeram has made some great advances again this week, 3 great achievements, firstly being his super WRs on GV2, using Whalls's strategy of hopping the small gap in the corner, Stan was able to do that and greatly improve on Whall's lap WR and take a WR from Liem/Nelson. Another great achievement is passing the two fastest players of the U.S, Jason Whalls and Travis Nelson, this puts Stan at #2 on NTSC!!! This made his 3rd achievement of reaching Legend F, not too far from Legend E!!

Stan's PRs:

Mario Circuit 1 (1-lap):   0'12"03   King B

Ghost Valley 1 (1-lap):   0'12"21   Legend F

Ghost Valley 2 (5-lap):   1'01"76    (NTSC WR!!!)    Legend B

                          (1-lap):    0'11"90    (NTSC WR!!!)    GOD

Bowser Castle 2 (1-lap):   0'20"61   Legend F

Mario Circuit 3 (5-lap):   1'32"24   Legend F

                           (1-lap):    0'18"26   Legend G

Choco Island 2 (5-lap):   1'10"50   GOD

                          (1-lap):    0'13"96   GOD

Bowser Castle 3 (1-lap):   0'18"07   Legend C

Rainbow Road (5-lap):    1'27"58   Legend F

                          (1-lap):    0'17"29   Legend F

SR Score:    5.300   =   Legend F

KEVIN BOOTH HITTING LOTS OF PRS & 2 WRS!!

    Kevin Booth (NTSC) has been very active this week in SMK making many PRs and two WRs, one a small improvement over Brian Gallo's Lap and the other a great Super-consistent 5-lap!! It was obviously VL1 and it looks as though these records could stay under Kevin's name for quite a while. There is a lot of potential left on the fastlap, although a bit tricky to do. Well Done with those WRs Kevin, they definitely also included as some of the top WRs this week alongside Stan's GV2 WRs!! Kevin has also made big advances on some of his weaker courses including DP2 and DP3, which are now closing in to his overall standard. He has gone sub 1'01" on MC1 as a result of improved technique. His main target was to reach Legend G which he came close to but just missed by a few points. Not too far from Louis-Philippe Sabbagh, it looks as though Kevin will be able to pass another player and catch up to currently inactive/retired Jason Whalls and Travis Nelson, the two fastest players in U.S.A.

Kevin's PRs:

Mario Circuit 1 (5-lap):   1'00"82   King D

                           (1-lap):    0'12"02   King B

Bowser Castle 1 (5-lap):   1'29"68   Legend G

                             (1-lap):    0'17"64   Legend F

Ghost Valley 2 (5-lap):   1'03"27   Legend G

                          (1-lap):    0'12"36   Legend E

Donut Plains 2 (5-lap):   1'31"43   King C

                         (1-lap):    0'17"94   King C

Bowser Castle 2 (5-lap):   1'47"16   King C

Mario Circuit 3 (5-lap):   0'18"71   King E

Vanilla Lake 1 (5-lap):   0'54"06    (NTSC WR!!!)    GOD

                          (1-lap):   0'10"52   (NTSC WR!!!)   GOD

Donut Plains 3 (5-lap):   1'23"87   King C

                         (1-lap):    0'16"37   King D

Vanilla Lake 2 trick (5-lap):   0'50"74

Rainbow Road (5-lap):    1'28"67   King A

SR Score:    7.075   =   King A

Nearly there Kevin, then more players very close to pass, Keep on Karting!

MICHAEL LIEM AT BOWSER CASTLE 2

    Continuing to defend his #1 spot from active Legend Stanley Jeram and not too fasr behind Kevin Booth, NTSC Champion Michael Liem went to Bowser Castle 2 to try and take Travis's WR there for 5-lap, a small improvement at sub 1'43", nearly there. More interesting was the strategy used to cut on the inside of the second square block resulting in some faster lap times, still plenty of potential so plenty to try out here for other Legends and Kings who know the course well. Michael was able to make an improvement on his Lap WR here!

Michael's PRs:

Bowser Castle 2 (5-lap):   1'42"98   Legend D

                            (1-lap):    0'20"30    (NTSC WR!!!)    Legend A

SR Score:    3.925   =   Legend D

Keep on Karting Michael!!

PLAYER OF 4TH QUARTER AND PLAYER OF THE YEAR 2000 REVEALED!!!

    This week the Player of 4th Quarter 2000 has been revealed! It has been quite an active Autumn/Winter there, a lot of players were able to achieve this award, of course there can only be one winner and one player stood out from the rest!

    As for Player of the Year, I have to say that with SMK getting older and older as the years go by, Year 2000 has been a great Year for SMK, more new players entering, some great new WRs on both versions. New Legends on the NTSC Version, the possibilities were endless and there has been great achievement all round!! It was extremely difficult to select Player of the Year for 2000 but in the end one was selected, and it is displayed on the Player of the Year board (Special awards page). I have to congratulate all of you who have participated this year anyway, it doesnt matter how little or how large player's improvements were over the year, it is the taking part and the fun aswell, so congratulations to everyone who has been a part of the site and we hope to hear from further PRs/WRs and improvements in the future.

    To Stanley Jeram:   You can now make the archived page for the Special Awards page of the Year 2000 POWs.

    Last note: Happy New Year everyone, lets continue to keep SMK alive with another great year of Karting!!

A GREAT WAY TO START 2001 : NEW MEMBERS!!!

    Last week I was speaking of keeping SMK alive with another great year of Karting and in the first week we already have 3 new members!!!! Read on to find out:

    The first new entry this week is Chris Anujamol from U.S.A. He visited the site quite some time ago, and this week submitted all his NTSC times!! He has driven some nice times in the King/Elite area for Mario Circuit 1 and Ghost Valley 1 as h has concentrated on these most. It shows potential for the other courses using Bowser and D.K.Jr. Some great times on other courses too!! Chris has been placed on the World Ranking on NTSC at #41 with an NTSC Overall Standard of Pro A!

    The second new entry is Joseph Hurtgen also from U.S.A. This player entered all his Time Trial times already at Elite!! Since then he has continued to play and has made quite a few PRs as a result!! Some times even went to Legend and he has also hit two GOD times already!! This looks like another Player with a great chance of becoming Legend sometime soon with more Karting! Joseph has made a King G Overall Standard and #14 on the NTSC World Rankings!

    The third new entry is Nicolas Clementy, PAL Player from France. He found the site while searching for other SMK sites, he has one of his own where players can submit times. Joining this site has made him #1 in France!! He is really interested in improving his PRs and climbing higher in the standards, so we will be hearing more from him soon. Many great times from him including a super GV1 1-lap record pretty close to the WR!! Nicolas will also be able to recruit more great players from France soon and this will really get some PAL competition going in the near future!! At the moment Nicolas has reached, #1 in France, #6 in the World on PAL, and has a King D overall standard!!

    To Chris, Joseph and Nicolas, your times have been added to the World Ranking SR lists, all top time lists and you have your own profiles made on the Player's Lists. Welcome to the site and Keep up the great Karting!!

SUCCESS THIS WEEK FOR BRIAN GALLO!

    Brian Gallo has done a lot of karting that has made a big change in SR and rank, the greatest part has to be his amazing DP1 WRs that went under 1'16" and under 15 seconds for 5-lap and 1-lap respectively! He was also able to take back the VL1 1-lap record and make many other great PRs including mid 1'00" for MC1 and a very low 12 second lap, a pair of great Legend times on Mario Circuit 2, nice improvements on BC2 and BC3. This has moved Brian from #12 to #9 on the NTSC Player's List and he has a King D overal standard very close to King C. Able to pass more Players very soon, Brian has the ability to smash any remaining times that have lower standards with ease!

Brian's PRs:

Mario Circuit 1 (5-lap):   1'00"57   King A

                           (1-lap):    0'12"01   King A

Donut Plains 1 (5-lap):   1'15"88    (NTSC WR!!!)    Legend E

                         (1-lap):    0'14"91    (NTSC WR!!!)    Legend C

Bowser Castle 1 (1-lap):   0'18"12   King F

Mario Circuit 2 (5-lap):   1'16"03   Legend F

                           (1-lap):    0'14"98   Legend D

Ghost Valley 2 (5-lap):   1'03"97   King C

                          (1-lap):    0'12"29   Legend C

Bowser Castle 2 (5-lap):   1'45"56   King A

                             (1-lap):    0'20"88   King A

Mario Circuit 3 (1-lap):   0'19"16   Elite D

Vanilla Lake 1 (5-lap):   0'55"91   GOD

                          (1-lap):    0'10"47    (NTSC WR!!!)    GOD

Bowser Castle 3 (5-lap):   1'36"45   King F

                            (1-lap):    0'18"44   King A

Donut Plains 3 (1-lap):   0'18"11   Master E

SR Score:    10.125   =   King D

Keep up the great Karting Brian!!

LOUIS-PHILIPPE SABBAGH HITS LEGEND F!!

    Yes folks, Louis-Philippe Sabbagh is back!! After around 5/6 months of inactvitiy he has returned to set some great PRs to answer the challenge of Jeram! It looks as though Sabbagh won't give up the Canadian SMK title so easily, he has made 13 improvements including some GOD times!! He has hit the GV2 jump and set a great lap to go alongside Stan and Whalls, reached Legend F with an SR that puts him ahead of Travis Nelson into #4 on NTSC!!!  Included are WRs for BC1, the lap is a tie with Samuel Aubry and the course has gone a bit lower making a WR under Sabbagh's name only. We look forward to hear of more PRs like this in the following weeks!!

Louis-Philippe's PRs:

Bowser Castle 1 (5-lap):   1'28"32    (NTSC WR!!!)    Legend D

                            (1-lap):    0'17"48    (NTSC WR Tie!!!)    Legend D

Ghost Valley 2 (5-lap):   1'02"10   Legend C

                          (1-lap):    0'12"02   GOD

Donut Plains 2 (5-lap):   1'29"73   Legend G

                         (1-lap):    0'17"47   Legend D

Mario Circuit 3 (5-lap):   1'34"42   King D

                           (1-lap):    0'18"57   King D

Vanilla Lake 1 (5-lap):   0'55"64   GOD

                          (1-lap):    0'10"68   GOD

Donut Plains 3 (5-lap):   1'24"89   King E

Ghost Valley 3 (5-lap):   1'16"37   Legend F

                          (1-lap):    0'14"95   Legend D

SR Score:    5.500   =   Legend F

Keep up the great Karting!!

STANLEY JERAM AT LEGEND E!

    Stanley Jeram is really going for it now as he has moved up yet another standard to Legend E overall after many great PRs!! He did hit DP1 WR, but that was later taken back by Brian Gallo. Many tracks are really getting fast now for Stan including MC1 going into the low 1'00" region and a fastlap under 12 seconds!!

Stan's PRs:

Mario Circuit 1 (5-lap):   1'00"37   Legend F

                           (1-lap):    0'11"97   Legend F

Donut Plains 1 (5-lap):   1'16"21   Legend G

                          (1-lap):    0'15"09   Legend G

Ghost Valley 1 (1-lap):   0'12"15   Legend E

Bowser Castle 2 (5-lap):   1'43"75   Legend E

                            (1-lap):    0'20"41   Legend C

Ghost Valley 3 (5-lap):   1'15"97   Legend F

                          (1-lap):    0'14"93   Legend D

Vanilla Lake 2 (5-lap):   0'55"69   Legend G

SR Score:    4.675   =   Legend E

Keep up the great Karting Stan!!

JASON WHALLS IS BACK!!

    This has to be one of the greatest weeks, Louis-Philippe Sabbagh returned to answer to Stanley Jeram's challenge and now Jason Whalls has returned to join the battle! Jason has had a break from SMK since Summer 2000, some of you will remember his great success back then and that he is sure to do some serious PR'ing again! He achieved POY last year, so lets see what will happen in the following weeks! Jason has karted a few courses only so far, mainly to regain any lost skill since Summer, he has managed to go sub 1'01" on MC1, land a few jumps on GV1, sub 1'30" on BC1 and two nice MC3 PRs that put him on a lower SR that closes in on Legend E. We look forward to hearing more of Jason's great PRs!!

Jason's PRs:

Mario Circuit 1 (5-lap):   1'00"88   King E

                           (1-lap):    0'12"04   King C

Ghost Valey 1 (5-lap):   1'04"54   King A

Bowser Castle 1 (5-lap):   1'29"97   King A

                             (1-lap):    0'17"62   Legend F

Mario Circuit 3 (5-lap):   1'33"40   King B

                           (1-lap):    0'18"36   King A

SR Score:    5.125   =   Legend F

Keep on Karting Jason, nearly Legend E!

MICHAEL LIEM HITS BC2 5-LAP WR!!

    Michael Liem, NTSC Champion continues to defend his title from rapidly catching Stanley Jeram. He stayed on at BC2 and has managed to pass Travis Nelson's WR there, also making a tie on the 1-lap PR using the new strategy. This now leaves Travis with 3 WRs left on GV3 5-lap and 1-lap and Rainbow 5-lap. Michael also tried GV1 for some improvement and hit a new 1-lap record, inching his way closer to Gallo's Lap WR. Keep up the great Karting Michael!!

Michael's PRs:

Ghost Valley 1 (1-lap):   0'12"13   Legend D

Bowser Castle 2 (5-lap):   1'42"43    (NTSC WR!!!)    Legend B

SR Score:    3.850   =   Legend D

Keep on Karting Michael!

ARCHIVES FOR POW/POM/POY

    As we have started a new Year for the POW awards, Stanley Jeram has created pages to keep archives of the POW tables of Year 2000 so I have now deleted the Year 2000 POW listings from the Special Awards Page to start fresh for the new year.

    The archives can be found along with the news archives together at the same link above under the 'SMK Extras' section.

STANDARDS TO BE MADE MORE ACCURATE SOON

    Some of you may have heard of my talk with Michael Liem this week on some of the standards of PAL and NTSC. They were written in 1999 by me and kept that way ever since. I was happy that with the knowledge we had of both systems, PAL and NTSC, we had been able to make the standards as accurate as posible and it has been a success ever since. But now since more players have entered SMK and we have had many more NTSC players improve to higher levels, take their driving skill in some races to new levels, it has become clear that in some courses, not many that some standards are looking a bit on the easy side and some on the harder side to achieve. This isn't a problem at all because the overall standard is then as accurate as can be, but still this leaves some standards a bit easy and a bit too difficult, which they can still be achieved anyway, but all GOD standards should be of the same difficulty. This is difficult to set because different players have diferent skill, some players like some courses, others don't and then it makes it hard to decide on the perfect standards to be set.

    This week's conversation between Liem and I was on Ghost Valley 1 5-lap GOD time which has been set on 1'04"99. This requires a 3/5 jump, at the time I thought this would be a good idea as it is a real challenge but ever since then I have been unable to even make another 2/5 jump, only 1/5 jumps. So the difficulty of this is far too great. It is really based on a lot of luck aswell, but a 3/5 jump on PAL is needed. I asked Michael to test this for himself to see if he also finds it hard. He has a PAL Snes/SMK to test on and being NTSC Champion is probably the best person to ask. He tried and after numerous attempts didn't even land 1/5 at all. This was about to conclude that the 3/5 jump to the 1'04"99 GOD time would be far too difficult. But then on another attempt Michael managed a 2/5 just like that which was amazing, he was to try a 3/5 but decided to finish the course to be on the safe side, during that time he did crash/fall off the track failing to complete that course. After that try he had another go and landed a 1/5 straight away!! This does in a way mean that he did in effect hit a 3/5, as he had 2/5 on the previous go and the very next jump attempt was a 1/5!! So this left us in a lot of confusion as to what to do. Obviously the 3/5 is possible, no doubt about that, but should be made reachable on a slightly more regular basis by GOD players. I explained that since I had already -2.3 or so on the SR, quite a bit under the GOD standard borderline, I should at least be able to achieve any GOD time afetr a while of playing, this does not mean however that the GOD times should be easy. They are still to be a challenge for everyone, very difficult, but not impossible.

    My proposal to Michael Liem after this was that when decided upon, the Ghost Valley 1 5-lap GOD times for PAL should be changed to 1'05"49 instead of being 1'04"99. This way, still a 2/5 jump is needed, of which I have only achieved twice ever, once with a failed attempt (hit a wall) and the other with my 1'05"92 PR. So a 2/5 jump will be required and a very well cornered race.

    It was decide so far betweeen us, that some other standards around PAL and NTSC can be altered, but they will have to be done in such a way that the overall standard level, doesn't really change. Of course this might mean that some players may either slightly lose or gain some SR points, but hopefully when we get round to it, there isn't any real big effect. This will not effect many players actually, only really the top few in each Players list, some races may have standards that can be slightly made faster or slower on either side PAL or NTSC, you will be informed. The changes will only really occur in the GOD down to Legend G times on those particular courses.

    For the time being though, not to worry, there is no rush and we probably won't be making any changes just yet, we will need to discuss on egroups what needs to be done. Looking at some of the records achieved and the potential of some players I will suggest some ideas through egroups sometime soon on which courses look like they need altering. Then I can get the changes done, any SR alterations done and then we should have even more accurate standards that should be able to stay forever.

    Lastly, just to say, there is nothing really wrong or inaccurate about the standards as they are, we are just trying to get them to be as best as they can be, it is all for our benefit. Ok, I hope this is ok with you all, and we will discuss it soon over AIM (Aol Instant Messenger) and/or e-mail.

NICOLAS CLEMENTY TAKES HIS FIRST POW!!

    Nicolas Clementy, (PAL) Champion of France who entered last week has made an amazing 30 PRs this week in an attempt to climb into the higher Kings and head towards Edwin Peeters at the Legends. Nicolas has made super PRs on all those courses with quite a few Legend times aswell! Mario Circuit 1 has gone into the 1'01"s with lap under 12"30 also. Ademir Cortes, Champion of Australia was in front of Nicolas at #5 with a King C ranking. Nicolas has now passed him to take #5 and moved up to King B overall standard!

Nicolas's PRs:

Mario Circuit 1 (5-lap):   1'01"92   King B

                           (1-lap):    0'12"26   Legend G

Donut Plains 1 (5-lap):   1'18"52   King C

Bowser Castle 1 (5-lap):   1'31"36   Legend F

                             (1-lap):    0'18"07   Legend G

Mario Circuit 2 (5-lap):   1'19"36   King F

                           (1-lap):    0'15"62   King E

Ghost Valley 2 (5-lap):   1'03"87   Legend E

                          (1-lap):    0'12"60   Legend E

Donut Plains 2 (5-lap):   1'31"32   Legend G

                         (1-lap):    0'17"93   Legend E

Bowser Castle 2 (5-lap):   1'46"98   Legend F

                             (1-lap):    0'21"27   King A

Mario Circuit 3 (5-lap):   1'34"82   Legend G

                           (1-lap):    0'18"69   Legend G

Koopa Beach 1 (5-lap):   1'01"27   King C

Choco Island 2 (5-lap):   1'15"60   King B

                          (1-lap):    0'14"95   King E

Mario Circuit 4 (5-lap):   1'43"61   King A

                           (1-lap):    0'20"44   King A

Donut Plains 3 (5-lap):   1'26"08   King D

                          (1-lap):    0'16"61   King C

Koopa Beach 2 (5-lap):   1'06"82   Legend G

                           (1-lap):    0'13"04   Legend G

Ghost Valley 3 (5-lap):   1'18"58   Legend G

                          (1-lap):    0'15"37   Legend F

Vanilla lake 2 (5-lap):   1'02"44   Elite D

                         (1-lap):    0'11"38   King C

Rainbow Road (5-lap):    1'30"08   Legend G

                          (1-lap):    0'17"77   Legend G

SR Score:    8.325   =   King B

Keep up the great Karting Nicolas! You will be Legend sooner than you think!!

WHALLS CATCHES JERAM!!

    Jason Whalls, U.S Champion has been playing a lot of SMK this week making a WR in DP2 Fastlap!! He is also getting very close to the GV3 Fastlap WR and this might be his soon too! Many other great PRs around many courses including sub 1'17" on DP1!! After calculating Jason's SR Score, it has turned out that he is in a tie with Jeram's new SR Score, both are on Legend E on the way to Michael Liem, World Champion of NTSC but it had to be decided who would go into 2nd Place and who would go into 3rd Place. Matchups were used and it shows that Jeram has a 23-17 Win on Whalls, leaving Whalls in 3rd Place for now. This is going to get interesting next week, we will see which of the two players will get the 2nd Place. The battle continues between SMK Champion of Canada and SMK Champion of U.S.A!!

Donut Plains 1 (5-lap):   1'16"67   King B

                         (1-lap):    0'15"11   King A

Ghost Valley 2 (5-lap):   1'02"63   Legend E

                          (1-lap):    0'11"94   GOD

Donut Plains 2 (5-lap):   1'29"07   Legend F

                         (1-lap):    0'17"44    (NTSC WR!!!)    Legend C

Donut Plains 3 (5-lap):   1'23"18   King B

                          (1-lap):    0'16"09   King A

Ghost Valley 3 (5-lap):   1'17"15   Legend G

                          (1-lap):    0'14"90   Legend C

SR Score:    4.525   =   Legend E

Keep up the great Karting Jason!! Getting close to #1!

STAN WITH 2 WR IMPROVEMENTS!

    This week, Stanley Jeram has had a bit less time to play as with all of us getting back to School/College after Winter break. Still he made some impressive times. Chipping away at the GV1 lap, he feels he is ready to have a go at the 5/5 jump for a great 5-lap time, reaching Gallo's times will also need some perfect cornering to go with it, but it is possible! During last week's standards discussion Stan brought up the fact that the DP3 standards are a bit hard to reach, but with continuous trying, it does work out in the end. And Stan made a new 5-lap WR on DP3 with potential to go for sub 1'20"!! The fastlap was the greatest part as it was done on Lap 1 for a great new WR improvement!! Whalls is now in a tie as mentioned, we will see what happens next week!!

Stan's PRs:

Ghost Valley 1 (1-lap):   0'12"14   Legend D

Donut Plains 3 (5-lap):   1'20"94    (NTSC WR!!!)    Legend F

                          (1-lap):    0'15"77    (NTSC WR!!!)    Legend C

SR Score:    4.525   =   Legend E

Keep up the great Karting Stan!! GOD times on DP3 will be yours soon!

LOUIS-PHILIPPE SABBAGH HITS A GREAT WR!!

   Louis-Philippe Sabbagh has spent some time on Bowser Castle 3 this week to see how much room there is left for improvement. It is a course where things constantly get in your way, making it very difficult to finish the race with a good time. Anyone who wishes to try and beat Louis-Philippe's new 5-lap WR is gonna have a tough time, cos it nearly went into Sub 1'30"!!! Fastlap PR also ended up very close behind Liem!

Louis-Philippe's PRs:

Bowser Castle 3 (5-lap):   1'30"15    (NTSC WR!!!)    GOD

                             (1-lap):    0'17"81   GOD

SR Score:    5.250   =   Legend F

Keep up the great Karting!! BC1 and BC3 look great on your profile! Go for BC2 aswell!!

STANDARDS TALK

    After some discussion this week it has been decided that we leave standards as they are, it will take a while to decide on anything anyway, so we will see how things go over the next few months. There are no real problems to this, so just Keep on Karting and we will not worry about standards for now.

NEW PAL PLAYER : JULIEN CHABANIS

    This week, SMK Champion of France, Nicolas Clementy has recruited his cousin, Julien Chabanis to the PAL Time Trials. He has some great times and has entered the Player's List on PAL at #7 with a King G overall standard, almost at King F!! This will bring more competition to the PAL side alongside Nicolas.

    Julien, you have had your profile made that is linked from the PAL players' list, you are also added to all Top Times lists and the World Rankings List. Welcome to the site and keep on Karting!!

STANLEY JERAM : THE SMK NTSC WORLD CHAMPION!!!

   It has finally happened! Stanley Jeram in the middle of a busy week made some great PRs that cut his SR down to Legend D, then after some more PRs, Stan's SR made it past Michael Liem by a few points to make him the next Super Mario Kart NTSC World Champion!! To start the week off, Stan was being passed by Whalls, so he fought back!! Stan first headed towards VL1 an made some decent chops off his PRs there, more to come there soon, GV3 was an attempt to break the WR which he almost succeeded in the 5-lap and tied Travis's Lap which later had the WR taken by another karter. Great times there though! The next day he went to Koopa Beach 2 to see what could be done and two great times came out, a 1'02" and a low 12 second lap, then lastly close to reaching the WRs on Vanilla Lake 2, Stan made a Legend B and a GOD time there. Other news is that he is working on his tape some more and is continuing to record more great times on there as he karts more. Congratulations to Stan for becoming the next Super Mario Kart World Champion of NTSC!!!

Stan's PRs:

Vanilla Lake 1 (5-lap):   0'57"56   Legend C

                          (1-lap):    0'10"77   Legend A

Koopa Beach 2 (5-lap):   1'02"64   GOD

                           (1-lap):    0'12"15   GOD

Ghost Valley 3 (5-lap):   1'15"46   Legend D

                          (1-lap):    0'14"89   Legend C

Vanilla Lake 2 (5-lap):   0'54"09   Legend B

                          (1-lap):    0'10"48   GOD

SR Score:    3.775   =   Legend D

Keep up the great Karting Stan!!

LOUIS-PHILIPPE WITH PRS AND SUPER KB1 5-LAP WR!!

    Louis-Philippe Sabbagh is really going for it with 11 PRs this week, getting really close in SR to Jason Whalls, it looks as though he will be able to pass some players next week if PRs continue to be this fast! Louis-Philippe's PRs have cut 42 SR points off putting him on the Legend E overall standard pretty close to Legend D. A historical moment indeed, as years ago Laurens Liem hit an amazing KB1 5-lap WR which seemed unbeatable, Whalls took that one last summer by 0.01. Now get ready for Louis-Philippe's amazing time!

Louis Philippe's PRs:

Donut Plains 1 (5-lap):   1'16"59   King A

                         (1-lap):    0'15"14   King B

Ghost Valley 1 (1-lap):   0'12"22   Legend G

Bowser Castle 2 (5-lap):   1'43"11   Legend D

                             (1-lap):    0'20"42   Legend C

Koopa Beach 1 (5-lap):   0'55"47    (NTSC WR!!!)    GOD

                           (1-lap):    0'10"82   GOD

Donut Plains 3 (5-lap):   1'23"51   King C

                         (1-lap):    0'16"36   King D

Rainbow Road (5-lap):    1'27"71   Legend F

                          (1-lap):    0'17"40   Legend G

SR Score:    4.200   =   Legend E

Keep on Karting Louis-Philippe!

JASON WHALLS CLOSING IN ON LEGEND D!!

    U.S SMK Champion, Jason Whalls has been karting more this week, the most successful part was his amazing GV3 1-lap WR (also GOD time) that he hit this week!! Many other great PRs here and there lowered his SR near to being Legend D. Although Stan has passed him and taken the #1 spot, Jason looks ready to continue making more great PRs and WRs!!

Jason's PRs:

Donut Plains 1 (1-lap):   0'14"98   Legend D

Bowser Castle 2 (5-lap):   1'43"91   Legend F

                            (1-lap):    0'20"34   Legend B

Mario Circuit 4 (5-lap):   1'41"92   King B

                           (1-lap):    0'19"99   King A

Ghost Valley 3 (5-lap):   1'16"29   Legend F

                          (1-lap):    0'14"77    (NTSC WR!!!)    GOD

Rainbow Road (5-lap):    1'28"32   Legend G

                          (1-lap):    0'17"32   Legend F

SR Score:    4.100   =   Legend E

Keep up the great Karting Jason!

JOSEPH HURTGEN CLIMBS TO KING F!

    NTSC Player Joseph Hurtgen has set 20 PRs this week that has taken him to King F overall standard. Many great PRs on all the cups, big SR cuts on races like MC2 and BC3! Joseph has also hit double GOD times on Choco Island 2 after working out the correct strategy. It seems as though he may be able to take the WRs there, we will see! Joseph has moved up a position on the NTSC Players' List also to #13!

Joseph's PRs:

Donut Plains 1 (1-lap):   0'15"48   Elite B

Bowser Castle 1 (5-lap):   1'32"76   King F

                             (1-lap):    0'18"21   King G

Mario Circuit 2 (5-lap):   1'18"66   Elite C

                           (1-lap):    0'15"50   Elite B

Ghost Valley 2 (1-lap):   0'12"76   Elite A

Donut Plains 2 (5-lap):   1'31"59   King D

                          (1-lap):    0'18"01   King C

Bowser Castle 2 (5-lap):   1'48"66   King E

                             (1-lap):    0'21"16   King D

Mario Circuit 3 (5-lap):   1'36"89   Elite B

                           (1-lap):    0'18"89   Elite A

Choco Island 2 (5-lap):   1'10"86   GOD

                          (1-lap):    0'13"78   GOD

Bowser Castle 3 (5-lap):   1'36"84   King G

                            (1-lap):    0'18"65   King C

Mario Circuit 4 (5-lap):   1'48"26   Elite D

                           (1-lap):    0'20"72   Elite A

Rainbow Road (5-lap):    1'31"13   King D

                          (1-lap):    0'17"66   King C

SR Score:    12.525   =   King F

Keep up the great Karting!

NICOLAS CLEMENTY REACHES KING A!

    PAL Player Nicolas Clementy has been very busy this week but did make some interesting PRs. Good cuts on BC1 and 2 and some other good laps. He tried Ghost Valley 1 this week and managed to hit the platform 2/5!! Unfortunately for PAL Players at this pace it is really hard to get the corner afterwards driven well round and to keep consistent driving on the rest of the laps. This resulted in a low 1'06" time which could have been the WR, this would be amazing! Edwin Peeters has held this WR since around November/December 1996, and it nearly went! As a result of all of Nicolas's PRs this week, he has reached King A now and is getting closer to Edwin Peeters overall. It won't be long till Legend is reached.

Nicolas's PRs:

Donut Plains 1 (1-lap):   0'15"54   King C

Ghost Valley 1 (5-lap):   1'06"24   King A

Bowser Castle 1 (5-lap):   1'30"74   Legend E

                             (1-lap):    0'17"95   Legend E

Mario Circuit 2 (1-lap):   0'15"43   King A

Bowser Castle 2 (5-lap):   1'46"78   Legend F

                             (1-lap):    0'20"89   Legend C

Koopa Beach 1 (1-lap):   0'11"94   King D

SR Score:    7.925   =   King A

Keep on Karting Nicolas!

ANDREAS MAKES 6 PRS

    Andreas Runnelid Karted some courses with D.K.Jr and some with Koopa/Toad this week to improve some PRs. Smaller cuts on MC1 and 3, VL1 went well resulting in around half a second cut off his time. He currently remains on Elite F but his SR has dropped by 10 points which is getting him towards Elite E!!

Andreas's PRs:

Mario Circuit 1 (5-lap):   1'03"54   Master A

Mario Circuit 3 (5-lap):   1'37"23   King F

Vanilla Lake 1 (5-lap):   1'04"61   Elite A

                          (1-lap):    0'12"16   King F

Donut Plains 3 (5-lap):   1'37"27   Master F

                          (1-lap):    0'18"50   Master E

SR Score:    19.725   =   Elite F

Keep on Karting Andreas!!

SAND STOPPED BOOTH FROM REACHING LEGEND

    Kevin Booth tried MC2 this week to improve on a slower standard, he reported that on the last lap he hit some sand and this made the lap around 0.75 seconds slower than the other laps. If not for this, Booth will have had a slightly faster 5-lap time, and another SR point off. This was just what he needed because he is a point away now from Legend G! Kevin will definitely reach Legend G on his next set of PRs.

Kevin's PR:

Mario Circuit 2 (5-lap):   1'18"96   Elite D

SR Score:    7.025   =   King A

Keep on Karting Kevin!!

NATHAN STINSON

   NTSC Player, Nathan Stinson was removed from the site last Summer as we waited for a validation tape from him. Great news so far as Nathan has been getting some amazing times on to tape including some great Vanilla Lake times!! As soon as he is validated by Kevin Booth, he will be added to the NTSC Player's List again, and will give the top 5-10 players on the list a challenge for sure! We look forward to hearing more news from his tape validation.

Continue to February 2001