NEW MEMBERS

    We have two new players this week, both on PAL. Both have been recruited by some of our PAL Karters.

    First up is a recruit by German SMK Champion Björn Kühn. He is also from Germany and his name is Florian Bube. He has hit some nice times so far and looks as though he has a good chance at making some more records of Germany. He is currently Elite F overall standard and at #32 on the PAL Players' List.

    Our second new member has been recruited by Mike Groels. Mike has been working on the Dutch SMK site and hopefully will get more PAL players to the site, so the PAL players' list will be getting longer and longer as time goes by it seems. To start off with, Mike decided to recruit his sister Ilomé Groels who has reached Intermediate E and #53 on the PAL Players' List.

    To Florian and Ilomé:  All of your times have been added to the Top Time Lists, you are entered into the World Rankings and have your own profiles made on the PAL Players' List. Welcome to the site!

NATHAN STINSON SENDS TAPE FOR VALIDATION

    NTSC Player Nathan Stinson has sent off his tape to be validated, when we have received word that his times are valid, he will be re-instated to the site.

ARCHIBALD LEFEVRE ON FIRE!!

    It looks as though this time Archibald really is going to pass Pierre L'Hoëst for the #2 in France position. He is also now quite close to Gerard Roodhorst, so he may be able to gain a few positions soon, and possibly reach Legend D, depending on the amount of PRs he continues to make in the coming weeks. Some of the fast times he done included GV2, BC1, CI1 and VL2 laps. Archibald has now managed to climb to Legend E with all his PRs, and is half way to Legend D.

Archibald's PRs:

Mario Circuit 1 (5-lap):   1'01"80   Legend G

                            (1-lap):    0'12"24   Legend F

Donut Plains 1 (5-lap):   1'18"26   King B

                          (1-lap):    0'15"44   King A

Bowser Castle 1 (5-lap):   1'30"20   Legend D

                             (1-lap):    0'17"85   Legend C

Mario Circuit 2 (5-lap):   1'19"10   King E

                           (1-lap):    0'15"57   King D

Choco Island 1 (5-lap):   1'01"47   Legend G

                          (1-lap):    0'11"92   Legend E

Ghost Valley 2 (5-lap):   1'03"20   Legend B

                          (1-lap):    0'12"48   Legend A

Bowser Castle 2 (5-lap):   1'44"99   Legend C

Mario Circuit 3 (5-lap):   1'33"96   Legend F

                           (1-lap):    0'18"57   Legend E

Koopa Beach 1 (5-lap):   1'00"37   Legend G

                           (1-lap):    0'11"62   Legend C

Choco Island 2 (5-lap):   1'12"47   GOD

Vanilla Lake 1 (1-lap):   0'11"05   GOD

Bowser Castle 3 (5-lap):   1'33"72   Legend E

Donut Plains 3 (1-lap):   0'16"36   Legend G

Ghost Valley 3 (1-lap):   0'15"42   Legend G

Vanilla Lake 2 (1-lap):   0'10"64   GOD

SR Score:    4.450   =   Legend E

JOAKIM ALDERBORN REACHES KING G!

    Swedish PAL Karter Joakim Alderborn has played a lot of SMK this week, and has made some super fast times on MC3 and MC4 for his overall standard! The great news so far is that he has managed to reach King G overall, and pass two positions to be #20 on the PAL Players' List. One of the players he did pass is Pelle Bjöör, this means that Joakim is now #2 in Sweden!

Joakim's PRs:

Mario Circuit 1 (5-lap):   1'02"30   King E

                           (1-lap):    0'12"31   King C

Donut Plains 1 (5-lap):   1'20"23   Elite B

Ghost Valley 1 (5-lap):   1'07"91   King G

                           (1-lap):    0'13"43   King F

Bowser Castle 1 (5-lap):   1'34"98   King F

                             (1-lap):    0'18"61   King F

Ghost Valley 2 (1-lap):   0'12"73   Legend G

Bowser Castle 2 (1-lap):   0'21"81   King E

Mario Circuit 3 (5-lap):   1'34"58   Legend G

                           (1-lap):    0'18"79   King A

Choco Island 2 (1-lap):   0'14"75   King B

Vanilla Lake 1 (5-lap):   1'07"28   Elite G

Mario Circuit 4 (5-lap):   1'42"76   Legend G

                            (1-lap):    0'20"22   Legend F

Vanilla Lake 2 (5-lap):   1'05"19   Master B

                          (1-lap):    0'12"11   Elite F

SR Score:    13.925   =   King G

JÉRÔME GAVA PASSES STEVEN ZWARTJES

    Jérôme Gava has sent many new PRs this week, all of which were great Legend times!! He looks ready to challenge nearby French Players, Lefevre and L'Hoëst. So far he has passed Steven Zwartjes for #6 and is on his way to Legend E very soon.

Jérôme's PRs:

Bowser Castle 2 (5-lap):   1'46"30   Legend F

                             (1-lap):    0'20"98   Legend D

Mario Circuit 3 (5-lap):   1'34"32   Legend F

                            (1-lap):    0'18"55   Legend E

Koopa Beach 1 (5-lap):   1'00"47   Legend G

                           (1-lap):    0'11"71   Legend E

Donut Plains 3 (5-lap):   1'23"06   Legend F

Koopa Beach 2 (5-lap):   1'05"80   Legend D

                           (1-lap):    0'12"77   Legend A

Ghost Valley 3 (5-lap):   1'18"00   Legend F

                          (1-lap):    0'15"32   Legend E

Vanilla Lake 2 (5-lap):   0'57"23   Legend G

SR Score:    5.150   =   Legend F

SIMON LAFLAMME GOING FOR WRS AT KB1!

    Simon Laflamme has continued to attack on all different races, and this week, even at the WRs for KB1! He even managed to break Louis-Philippe's lap on KB1 which was later taken back. Other than that his DP1 and Rainbow times are looking fast! A correction also to his MC1 lap, which is 0'11"87, not 0'11"89. Simon is now Legend D, almost Legend C, and just about to pass U.S Champion Jason Whalls.

Simon's PRs:

Mario Circuit 1 (1-lap):   0'11"87   GOD

Donut Plains 1 (5-lap):   1'16"85   King C

                          (1-lap):    0'15"01   Legend E

Koopa Beach 1 (5-lap):   0'55"14   GOD

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

Rainbow Road (5-lap):    1'27"29   Legend F

                          (1-lap):    0'17"25   Legend F

SR Score:    3.125   =   Legend D

KELLY MALO NEARLY A LEGEND!

    Kelly Malo has made great success over the past weeks, and is now just short of reaching Legend G overall! He has been after some of the U.S records aswell as he drives a nice 1'28" on DP2 along with other good Legend times.

Kelly's PRs:

Bowser Castle 1 (5-lap):   1'30"18   King A

                             (1-lap):    0'17"83   King B

Donut Plains 2 (5-lap):   1'28"61   Legend E

                          (1-lap):    0'17"50   Legend D

Bowser Castle 2 (5-lap):   1'45"57   King A

                             (1-lap):    0'20"66   Legend F

Bowser Castle 3 (5-lap):   1'36"06   King E

                             (1-lap):    0'18"21   Legend F

SR Score:    7.150   =   King A

PIERRE'S BC2 SUCCESS!

    Pierre L'Hoëst, Legend E PAL Karter, has started to use the strategy to cut on the inside of the block in BC2,m the lap is slightly faster this way, although it is difficult to do. So far it has been a great success for him as he hits a great GOD lap with bonus points! Other PRs this week were some Legend times and a few King times.

Pierre's PRs:

Choco Island 1 (5-lap):   1'02"44   King C

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

Ghost Valley 2 (5-lap):   1'03"40   Legend C

Bowser Castle 2 (5-lap):   1'45"72   Legend D

                             (1-lap):    0'20"44   GOD

Choco Island 2 (1-lap):   0'14"49   Legend D

Ghost Valley 3 (5-lap):   1'18"16   Legend F

                           (1-lap):    0'15"36   Legend F

SR Score:    4.275   =   Legend E

LARS NOUWEN RETURNS WITH A LOT OF PRS!

    PAL SMK Player from the Netherlands, Lars Nouwen has returned to SMK to set many new PRs. He is really flying up the list with his new times! They include of a Pro time, 7 Master times and 10 Elite times! It looks as though he will be reaching the Elites sooner than we think!

Lars's PRs:

Donut Plains 1 (5-lap):   1'23"63   Master D

Ghost Valley 1 (5-lap):   1'09"07   Elite F

                           (1-lap):    0'13"69   Elite F

Bowser Castle 1 (5-lap):   1'38"10   Elite E

                             (1-lap):    0'19"15   Elite F

Choco Island 1 (5-lap):   1'05"80   Master C

                           (1-lap):    0'13"07   Master D

Ghost Valley 2 (5-lap):   1'06"50   Elite B

                          (1-lap):    0'13"15   Elite C

Donut Plains 2 (5-lap):   1'39"73   Elite G

                          (1-lap):    0'19"14   Elite D

Mario Circuit 3 (5-lap):   1'40"81   Elite F

                           (1-lap):    0'19"50   Elite C

Koopa Beach 1 (5-lap):   1'05"29   Pro A

Choco Island 2 (5-lap):   1'20"13   Master A

                          (1-lap):    0'15"68   Master B

Ghost Valley 3 (5-lap):   1'29"17   Master B

                           (1-lap):    0'17"57   Master E

SR Score:    25.700   =   Master E

THIBAULT LUDWIG RETURNS!

    Thibault Ludwig, PAL Player from France, reached King G when he last played, he is now back to improve more PRs! He has been making more King times so far, with a few Elite and a Legend G time on Rainbow Road Lap. Thibault has now reached King F overall and is catching Andrew Kent pretty quick!

Thibault's PRs:

Ghost Valley 1 (1-lap):   0'13"52   Elite B

Bowser Castle 1 (5-lap):   1'33"19   King C

Koopa Beach 1 (1-lap):   0'11"96   King D

Bowser Castle 3 (5-lap):   1'42"50   Elite F

Mario Circuit 4 (5-lap):   1'44"49   King B

                           (1-lap):    0'20"58   King B

Ghost Valley 3 (5-lap):   1'19"34   King A

                          (1-lap):    0'15"63   King B

Rainbow Road (1-lap):    0'17"83   Legend G

SR Score:    12.400   =   King F

RAPHAEL BRAUN WITH SOM BIG TIMES!

    Raphael Braun played 3 courses a lot this week and hit some unexpectedly fast new records!! He stuck to DP3 first and drove a Legend G 5-lap along with a lap in the high Kings! He wanted to improve more on his already fast KB1 records, and took the 5-lap a few hundredths lower along with a slightly faster lap record. KB2 was the biggest suprise though as he cut quite a lot of the time! In the end a 5-lap of sub 1'05" he was very happy with and a matching GOD lap record to go with it! Raphael Braun is soon to be Legend it seems as he has already climbed to around the halfway point within the King A standard!

Raphael's PRs:

Koopa Beach 1 (5-lap):   0'59"85   Legend D

                           (1-lap):    0'11"68   Legend D

Donut Plains 3 (5-lap):   1'23"83   Legend G

                          (1-lap):    0'16"54   King B

Koopa Beach 2 (5-lap):   1'04"85   GOD

                           (1-lap):    0'12"68   GOD

SR Score:    7.550   =   King A

LOUIS-PHILIPPE RETURNS TO GET BACK A WR!

    Louis-Philippe Sabbagh, who was SMK NTSC World Champion before Stanley Jeram, has returned, and already driven a great new WR! His KB1 1-lap was taken by Simon Laflamme, but now Louis-Philippe, with some great driving has managed to take it back! How much faster can players go with this lap record? Congratulations to Louis-Philippe, he really is the best at this course!

Louis-Philippe's PRs:

Koopa Beach 1 (1-lap):   0'10"40    (NTSC WR!!!)    GOD

SR Score:    -0.125   =   GOD

STAN'S VL1 LAP IMPROVEMENT

    Stanley Jeram hasn't had much time to kart this week, but did try to improve a bit more off his VL1 1-lap WR. He took a few more hundredths off which took another SR point off.

Stan's PR:

Vanilla Lake 1 (1-lap):   0'10"38    (NTSC WR!!!)   GOD

SR Score:    -1.125   =   GOD

THREE GREAT PRS FROM GERARD!

    Gerard Roodhorst, Champion of Netherlands has been working on his DP3 times a lot this week driving a 1'21" time, but the great part was his DP3 1-lap -> sub 16 seconds!! He also improved a bit on the MC2 lap record nearing the Legend G time there. Gerard is getting very close to Legend D now!

Gerard's PRs:

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

Donut Plains 3 (5-lap):   1'21"70   Legend C

                         (1-lap):    0'15"98   GOD

SR Score:    4.100   =   Legend E

BJÖRN KÜHN'S RECORDS UPDATE

    Björn improved on five times this week, he tried to take some time off MC2, but has more potential mainly for the 5-lap, and should be able to go 1'18" there. The VL2 lap is getting better and he has hit a Legend G and a King A time on Rainbow Road. Björn is now just a few points short of passing Franck, we will see what happens next week!

Björn's PRs:

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

                            (1-lap):    0'15"45   King A

Vanilla Lake 2 (1-lap):   0'11"24   King B

Rainbow Road (5-lap):    1'30"18   Legend G

                          (1-lap):    0'17"87   King A

SR Score:    10.300   =   King D

MIKE GROELS REACHING PRO E

    Mike has sent 14 new PRs this week, two of them being Elite times! They were for KB1 5-lap and Rainbow Road 1-lap! Mike has passed James Collier and is now a Pro E PAL SMK Player.

Mike's PRs:

Ghost Valley 1 (5-lap):   1'11"38   Pro D

                          (1-lap):    0'14"05   Pro A

Bowser Castle 1 (5-lap):   1'45"25   Pro E

                             (1-lap):    0'20"75   Semi-Pro D

Ghost Valley 2 (5-lap):   1'10"86   Pro F

                          (1-lap):    0'13"85   Pro C

Koopa Beach 1 (5-lap):   1'03"16   Elite E

Vanilla Lake 1 (5-lap):   1'11"20   Pro C

Bowser Castle 3 (5-lap):   1'52"49   Semi-Pro A

                             (1-lap):    0'21"83   Pro G

Donut Plains 3 (5-lap):   1'43"81   Semi-Pro B

                          (1-lap):    0'20"05   Semi-Pro D

Rainbow Road (5-lap):    1'43"40   Master B

                          (1-lap):    0'19"64   Elite G

SR Score:    32.775   =   Pro E

FRANCK MAZIÈRES ON GV2

    Franck made two PRs the other day on Ghost Valley 2. He is getting pretty fast there now as he is reaching higher ranks on that course!

Francks PRs:

Ghost Valley 2 (5-lap):   1'03"64   Legend D

                          (1-lap):    0'12"51   Legend B

SR Score:    10.225   =   King D

IMPORTANT NEWS FIRST: AMERICA ATTACKED

    This has been a very sad week for us as we all hear of the news that the World Trade Centre in New York City had been attacked on Tuesday. It was a day that we should all remember, and I am sure that we will never forget. So I would like to write about this now just before the PRs update because I feel these important matters have to be said.

    I heard about it first in the afternoon at College before I was on my way home, but no one believed what had happened, so there was no talk about it, but then I overheard people talking about it on the second bus just before i got home. I spoke to my mum who explained what had happened, and I received a big shock. I spoke to my brother on the phone who told me that the buildings had collapsed, and that people were hanging outside of the buildings before they collapsed. I could not picture these images in my head.

    I went to the television in a hurry to watch the news which was showing on every channel. I was shocked by the pictures and filming that was shown. I, as many others will not forget the image of the man who fell to his death as he jumped from the top floors of the towers. These innocent people had no idea what was to happen that day, and were just getting on with their normal daily lives. The people did not know what to do and were jumping out of the towers knowing that they were going to die, and just wanted to get out, but there was nothing that could be done.

    People on the streets were speaking on TV explaining what had happened, but then the worst came when the 110 storey towers collapsed creating a terrible amount of dirt and dust around the whole area and a lot of New York City. There were a lot of people who were missing and could not escape from the towers, and thousands are assumed dead.

    They replayed these pictures over and over again, and I thought it was like something out of a disaster movie, as many people on TV who were later interviewed said so. It is difficult for us to picture what happened and one man on TV said that the only way he can take it all in that it has really happened is if he is there to see it with his own eyes.

    There were a lot of innocent lives of men, women and children lost today and they did not deserve to die, some of them were even very young and had only just begun their lives. I have spoken to everyone in College and watched news on TV from the United Kingdom and everyone offers their love and support in every possible way, and we are all praying for those who lost their lives, and for the friends and families of those who died.

    I would like to say to all our friends out there, members of this SMK site, and other sites where we have friends, to use this time over the following days and weeks to pray for all of those who died, and for their families & friends, because that is what is really important now. We must understand the situation of the loved ones of those who died, as it must be extremely hard for them. Life is very precious and whatever we do, we must make sure we look after each other and stick together in our World because we only have one life and we can all see how important that is.

Peace to all,

Sami Çetin

NEW MEMBERS

    Two more new members have been added this week, both are NTSC.

    Firstly we have Thomas James Harrington, from the U.S.A. He has entered the SMK NTSC Players' List at #42 so far, also having made a few improvements. He looks to have some really good potential as he already has a GOD time on VL1 fastlap! With that a Legend A 5-lap time!! Some of his other times are looking good too, so we are looking forward to hearing of his improvements.

    The next player is from Canada, Guillaume Sylvain. Guillaume has some fast times on many courses including a 1'00" time on MC1, and a sub 1'30" time on RR. He has entered the NTSC Players' List in the Elites at Elite G with a #36 placing on the list. Another player with potential!

LARS NOUWEN HEADING TOWARDS ELITES

    Lars Nouwen has submitted 16 new PRs this week, many of them being times at Master and Elite level! He is definitely on his way to becoming an Elite SMK Player sometime in the near future. Lars has now become Master C on overall standards and is approaching more karters on the ladder.

Lars's PRs:

Mario Circuit 1 (5-lap):   1'03"32   Elite F

Donut Plains 1 (5-lap):   1'22"80   Master B

Mario Circuit 2 (5-lap):   1'23"89   Master E

                           (1-lap):    0'16"52   Master E

Bowser Castle 2 (1-lap):   0'22"86   Elite F

Mario Circuit 3 (5-lap):   1'38"26   Elite A

                           (1-lap):    0'19"34   Elite A

Choco Island 2 (5-lap):   1'18"64   Elite D

                          (1-lap):    0'15"40   Elite E

Bowser Castle 3 (5-lap):   1'43"67   Master A

                             (1-lap):    0'20"21   Master A

Mario Circuit 4 (5-lap):   1'51"00   Elite D

                           (1-lap):    0'21"71   Elite E

Ghost Valley 3 (5-lap):   1'27"32   Elite F

                          (1-lap):    0'17"27   Master B

Vanilla Lake 2 (1-lap):   0'13"35   Pro G

SR Score:    23.400   =   Master C

BJÖRN KÜHN PASSES MAZIÈRES

    SMK Champion of Germany, Björn Kühn, has had a successful week on some of his slower courses. KB1 is nearly going to Legend times and VL2 is now sub 1'00"! His MC2 1-lap is looking pretty fast I must say and he may hit a big 5-lap time there sometime. MC1 and CI1 are going down a bit more. Björn has now earned himself a place as a King C karter overall and has passed Franck Mazières for #14 on the PAL Players' List.

Björn's PRs:

Mario Circuit 1 (5-lap):   1'02"34   King F

Mario Circuit 2 (1-lap):   0'15"35   Legend F

Choco Island 1 (1-lap):   0'12"26   King D

Koopa Beach 1 (5-lap):   1'00"91   King B

                           (1-lap):    0'11"82   King A

Vanilla Lake 2 (5-lap):   0'59"18   King D

SR Score:    9.750   =   King C

SIMON LAFLAMME DOING GREAT ON BC3!

    Simon Laflamme has hit some fast PRs this week, BC3 being the biggest suprise! He had a chance at sub 1'30" even but settled for a tie with Stan's 5-lap. He first took Stan's 1-lap WR though, but that was later taken back. So much WR swapping going on! A nice pair of GOD times on KB2 were also driven. Simon has now passed Jason Whalls for #4 in the World on NTSC. It looks as though he will be after Michael Liem's 3rd Place soon as he is not only Legend C, but well on the way to Legend B!

Simon's PRs:

Bowser Castle 3 (5-lap):   1'30"60   Legend A

                            (1-lap):    0'17"71   GOD

Koopa Beach 2 (5-lap):   1'01"85   GOD

                           (1-lap):    0'11"85   GOD

SR Score:    2.300   =   Legend C

STANLEY JERAM TAKING BACK THE BC3 LAP WR

    Stanley Jeram after seeing his BC3 1-lap WR taken by Simon Laflamme, wanted to try the course out. He has had some close times to a sub 1'30" for the 5-lap, and in the end, took the 1-lap WR back by 0.01 of a second!

Stan's PR:

Bowser Castle 3 (1-lap):   0'17"70    (NTSC WR!!!)

SR Score:    -1.150   =   GOD

KELLY MALO BECOMES LEGEND G!

    Kelly Malo has now made it to Legend G!! He has too had a successful attempt at BC3 this week, with a sub 18 second lap record and a 1'31" 5-lap time! He has also improved his GOD time on CI2 well. We will see how Malo's PRs go in the next few weeks, he will be aiming to pass Nelson next.

Kelly's PRs:

Choco Island 2 (5-lap):   1'09"42   GOD

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

Bowser Castle 3 (5-lap):   1'31"73   Legend E

                             (1-lap):    0'17"99   Legend B

Koopa Beach 2 (1-lap):   0'12"34   GOD

SR Score:    6.650   =   Legend G

NICOLAS CLEMENTY GETTING THERE ON BC2

    Nicolas Clementy has been trying out the technique more on BC2 this week and has managed to lower down his 5-lap and 1-lap records much further. BC1 1-lap is also looking very nice at Legend C, we will hear more soon.

Nicolas's PRs:

Bowser Castle 1 (1-lap):   0'17"85   Legend C

SR Score:    1.575   =   Legend B

PIERRE ON GV3

    Pierre L'Hoëst played GV3 today. He has hit two nice new PRs, also having to answer the telephone part way through. For most of us we lose concentration when a phone rings or something. But he still got an SR point off.

Pierre's PRs:

Ghost Valley 3 (5-lap):   1'17"59   Legend E

                          (1-lap):    0'15"34   Legend F

SR Score:    4.250   =   Legend E

NEW MEMBERS

    We have two more new members this week!

    First we have on NTSC from U.S.A, Dirk Olson. He has been trying to improve his SMK times and has now sent them all in. So far he has reached Elite D on the overall standards and #28 on the NTSC Players' List! He has a lot of potential and should be able to climb higher in the list.

    Secondly on PAL we have Michael Jongerius, from the Netherlands. Michael also has some fast times on all the courses and should be able to reach the Kings on his next lot of PRs as he enters the PAL Players List at Elite A and #22.

CORRECTIONS ON NTSC PLAYERS' LIST

    Stanley Jeram has been checking through with the SR scores on the NTSC Players' List, and has checked quite far down the list. From now we have all the SR scores there corrected. There were a few changes to some players on the list including Jerad Rose and Erik Huffman, but nothing too big. Everything there is correct now for the top 30 players or so, the rest will be checked through soon. Thanks very much for the help Stan!

CHANGES TO THE WAY UPDATES ARE WRITTEN

    I have been thinking about this for a while, and now I think it is a better idea. For quite a long time the main page update has consisted of subtitles for each player with a very brief explanation of their activity during the week, then a write-up of their PRs/WRs. I have read the updates on other sites like MK64, and the main page updates usually just have a few paragraphs of writing explaining what is happening that week. It includes details about some of the PRs that player have made, WRs etc. I feel that it would be a lot quicker for me to write updates in that form because long PR lists have to be written out otherwise.

    So I have decided to write the news updates in a block of writing instead. I will be writing about the highlights of the week which include things like new WRs, mentioning every player who made times and maybe the number of PRs they made, or some PRs in important areas, players making national records and reaching POWs or POMs. I feel this is quicker and as we are having new members entering, we may have long lists of PRs sent in each week and it may not be worth writing up the whole list if i can mention some brief things in a paragraph of writing instead. As from now, there will still be the red subtitles, but one subtitle will go towards all the PR updates.

   From here then will begin this new News Updating system:

THIS WEEK'S UPDATE : NEW PRS, WRS AND ACTIVE KARTERS!!

    It has been a very active week again for some players! Lets start with our recent new entries, Guillaume Sylvain and Thomas Harrington. It has to be said that these two have the ability to reach the top if they want to, they have climbed past so many ranks so far. Thomas reaching his first POW already having reached the mid Elites! Guillaume is also not far ahead at Elite C, was at Elite G beforehand. He has been trying out the jump to the platform on GV1 and made a 1'05" so far with a decent lap. Other statistics show that Guillaume is #7 in Canada so far.

    The WRs this week have been improved on NTSC! Simon Laflamme having now reached Legend B overall is in a position to start taking WRs from Stan and Louis-Philippe. He has done so already by hitting some crazy WRs on KB1. 0'54"54 for the 5-lap and 0'10"33 for the 1-lap!! We thought that Louis-Philippe's lap at 10"5 couldn't be beaten but we are now pretty sure that this lap is strategically perfect. We will see if anyone can take a bit more off it! He has also been successful on VL1 1-lap taking the WR from Stan with a 0'10"31 time so far! Stanley Jeram has been making further progress on BC3 as he gets closer and closer to breaking the 1'30" barrier and taking another WR, but so far he has improved his lap to 0'17"67, and he also states that it could go further!!

    Kelly Malo has had yet another great week with quite a few nice PRs! He also had a successful run on KB1 Simon style! KB1 got him a lot of SR points taken down, and along with his other PRs has put him into Legend F near Legend E! He has passed two other great U.S Karters, Joseph Hurtgen and Travis Nelson. Now #3 in U.S.A he will be after Legend E and maybe passing Booth!

    The Legend competitors in France are looking more serious than ever as Archibald Lefevre, Pierre L'Hoëst and Jérôme Gava battle it out! Archibald turned up first with some fast new PRs including a 1'32" on Bowser Castle 3 PAL! He also tried the technique on BC2 and hit some nice times. He later tried KB2 and hit two fast GOD times there which secured his place in #3 on PAL, #2 in France and Legend D!! Pierre responded with 14 new records, some of them being French records! His KB1 time amazed us all as he reached 0'59"66 and a slightly faster lap to compete more with some of the fastest times in the World. Pierre has now also reached Legend D, but is a point behind Archibald. On the 19th of September, Gava sent in 8 new records which meant business! He hit some fast Rainbow Road times and was pretty close to the GV3 1-lap WR!! 0'15"09!! He also reached 1'16"73 for the 5-lap time. He climbed to Legend E with these records, so it looks like he will be aiming to reach Roodhorst and French players Pierre and Archibald sometime soon!

    Joakim Alderborn is now becoming more and more famous on the SMK list as he has managed to earn himself the title of #1 SMK Player in Sweden! He sent a number of fast PRs in this week including MC1 which is getting closer to the 1'02"00 barrier. He has now many King times and some Legend times, but the records which were a really good achievement were his VL1 PRs! He has now cut a lot of time off there and is back on track in the top times there! Joakim is now King F overall and #17 on PAL!! Other activity this week in Sweden involved the return of Andreas Runnelid with some nice new records! He has gone under 20 seconds on Bowser Castle 3 lap and hit double PRs on DP3 and GV3 that look good! MC4 lap is going down further now with D.K.Jr which leaves a lot of open potential and a chance to take off more SR points on the 5-lap! Andreas climbed to #29 on the list and is right behind Peter Elsässer at Elite D on the PAL Players' List. Mike Groels sent only one PR on MC1 this week, but is now trying some more of the powersliding techniques on more of the courses, and we should see more of his PRs improving soon!

3 NEW MEMBERS!

    The new players have continued to pour in! 1 NTSC player from Canada and two PAL, from France and Germany.

    Firstly we had Ramzy Kebaili, from France, who was recruited by Nicolas Clementy. Ramzy has made himself an Elite G karter overall so far and has joined the PAL Players' List at #34.

    Our next new karter is from Germany, and he has some serious potential here as he made some fast MC1 times, and didn't spend much time karting the others. His name is Thorsten Fellberg, and has entered the PAL Players' List at #40 and Master F.

    Lastly we received an e-mail from a Kent Marten who plays NTSC. He is currently studying away from home but hopes to return and make new PRs soon. He is a Master F Karter who has entered the NTSC Players' List at #45.

UPDATES THIS WEEK

    Another week with some fast new WRs!! Stanley Jeram has hit BC3 seriously this week, not only with a sub 1'30" WR, but also an unbelievable WR on the 1-lap which was done on the first lap! This means that 1'28" may even be in reach for him!! His records were 1'29"72 and 0'17"66! He has also driven a great pair of MC3 WRs, the 5-lap being in 1'30", not at full potential, so we will see more there, and a sub 18 second WR lap! The times were 1'30"60 and 0'17"96. Simon Laflamme has also hit a new WR this week, that was an improvement on his VL1 1-lap, the new time is 0'10"23. His VL1 5-lap is also looking good at mid 54 seconds. He too had a good try at MC3 in an attempt to take the WRs, and is not far off with a very low 1'31" and very low 18 second lap. Simon managed to pass Michael Liem on SR and is on his way to Legend A overall!

    Other news from Canada was from Guillaume Sylvain, who has made a lot of new PRs since his entry, and passed many players. He is now #17 on the NTSC Players' List and has reache the Kings at King F! Go check out his profile to see the great times he is making! Guillaume wasn't the only one trying to reach the Kings this week. On PAL, our recent entry Michael Jongerius has been trying to reach the Kings, but fell short by a few points at Elite A. He did however manage to pass Pelle Bjöör with his nice Mushroom Cup PRs and PRs on CI1.

    Archibald Lefevre submitted a few more PRs this week to widen the gap between him and rival Pierre L'Hoëst on SR scores. He chopped off a few points with some good Rainbow Road PRs and some very fast BC2 PRs, the 5-lap being 1'43"!! Jérôme Gava on the other hand has been trying to catch up with Archibald and Pierre, and not too far ahead, Gerard Roodhorst. Jérôme Gava improved 7 PRs by little bits taking 7 points off the SR. Björn Kühn only improved 2 courses this week, GV2 and DP3, which were two Legend times and two King times. He has however managed to climb to #13 on the PAL Players' List after passing Julien Chabanis.

    There has been a lot of activity in U.S.A involving Dirk Olson, our other recently entered member. He has hit many great PRs and looks as though he will be a King in no time. He may have potential to become one of the best U.S Karters, maybe one day even U.S Champion. He has already climbed to Elite C and #22 on the NTSC Players' List! Thomas Harrington didn't make as many PRs, but the 6 he did do brought him also up to Elite C overall standard and #23 on the NTSC Players' List, so there is competition there currently. Kelly Malo is now very close to Legend E overall, he improved 3 PRs, being DP2 5-lap, and VL1 both. He now only needs 2 points to be Legend E, and a little further to pass Booth.

Continue to October 2001