Always well attended, FMR approached triple digits this year in setting a new attendance record. Here, Pam Gutermuth tries to catch her sister's two titles.	Jason Levine and Anna Marion plot their strategy. Jason appears more pensive. Could it be that whitewash in Formula De is weighing on his mind?
Laurie takes a break from the Juniors room and catches a table with the defending champ.	Dacey Collinson and Gary Schaeffers enjoy life on the upgraded Final table.

A record 25 preliminary games were played in the three heats as one might expect in a year where the event drew its largest field ever. Nine were 5-player games and 16 were the 6-player variety. The 25 games yielded the following statistics:
· Minimum winning score: 29 (increase of one)
· Maximum winning score: 46 (increase of one)
· Average winning score: 33.88 (decrease from 34.57)
· Minimum second-place score: 26 (major increase from 19)
· Maximum score for second place: 36 (increase of one)

In seven of the 5-player games, the non-playing car (aka bank car) got no respect and finished in either fifth or sixth place, but in one game it came in second. The tiebreakers had to be used in five games to determine a winner including one game that had a three-way tie for first.

Amidst a plethora of car crashes, two highlights stood out.
· John Rinko lost one car to spin out and his other car to a crash before he even had a turn.
· Jonathan Barnes made the bold move of charging with his last place car on the last turn. He got all the way to 4th before hesitating -- only to fall victim to his adversaries' "can't stop" goading.

Harry Flawd continued to support a special "Crash" table in the third heat wherein you couldn't avoid playing the crash card. He was rewarded by having both of his cars crash in the first race and lost three more in the next five races. True to form, the Crash card was the last play in the game. Somehow, the force was with Bill Place as he did not lose a car. But this was tame in comparison to the Crash table held in the first heat at assistant GM Lisa Gutermuth's table. A grand total of 22 cars were knocked out in the six races. Bill Place was also at this table, but this time he lost three cars. Bill O'Neal was the lucky "I lost the most cars" winner with six hors de combat.

It was a great year as exactly 18 qualifiers appeared for the semifinal round. Sarah Vasilakos claimed the high score for the round with 37. Gary Schaefers win was more interesting though. On the last race, six cars were knocked out. There are only six cards capable of eliminating a car and all were effective. This meant a Tail End Turbo card could legally move to take the lead.

Lisa Gutermuth provided a great board for the Final. She had gotten 12 matchbox cars and made a track. The six finalists had a great time rolling their cars up and down the track. Race 1 gave Brandon Bernard a big lead, getting both first and second for 16 points while drawing more attention than was wise. Gary Schaefers and Dacey Collinson lost one car to crash, while Chris Kizer lost one to a Blown Engine. Race 2 was crash free but three cars Blew an Engine. The game remained close after the third race, with Gary Schaefers getting a second and third for a total of 18 points, and Scott Saccenti winning a race for a three-way tie for second with Brandon and Sarah Vasilakos at 16 points. Dacey and Chris trailed with six points. Race 4 gave Gary the lead with a win for 28 points. Scott took second place with a second for 22 points. Gary tried to cinch the tournament in the 5th race by charging his back car from 10th place. He got all the way to 4th before blowing the engine. Chris was able to win the 5th race to put him back in contention.

With one race to go, Gary led with 33 over Scott 26, Sarah 24, Brandon and Chris with 20 and Dacey with 10. Gary played the Spin Out and rolled a 5. It was his own car so he rerolled. The second roll, which he had to keep, was another 5, knocking his own car out of the race. With the penultimate play, Sarah was able to move both her cars into first and second place. Brandon had the last play, but could do nothing to change the final score -- leaving Sarah with 40 points and her first WBC title. Gary was second with 33 points followed by Scott 26, Brandon 22, Chris 20 and Dacey 15.

Sarah is a figure skater and took time off during the middle of a key training period to attend WBC. I am sure her coach was impressed. I say watch out if Sarah ever decides to take up hockey. Special thanks go to Lisa Guthermuth and Chris Janiec for serving as Assistant GMs.

Ed. Sidenote: The vertical photo is living proof of what a Duke education does to you. Can't even tell the difference between a kiosk and his hat.

GM Chris LeFevre oversees his six finalists.	The GM hands out the wood.

Jordan Shea provided a junior racing circuit for the pint-sized drivers. There were 22 little race drivers sans learning permits loosed on the streets of the Vistas room this summer. The best of these was Zach Correira, Ethan Shipley-Tang, Colin Laird, Josh Finkeldey, Tessa Lytle and Adam Wojtaszczyk in that order.