| --9/1/2008 (Andrew Griffiths B-day)-- 2007 In-Person Multi-Activty Meet. |
KB's Ghost:
Well I wasn't able to make this one (life changes) But never the less, I just installed excel, and I see that nobody really did very much in covering this, so I'm going to give it a crack. I'm going to try to locate some of the old schoolers to tell the story since I wasn't there.From what I heard, everyone had an amazing time and the Weathertons are great hosts. I expected nothing less from them, cause I know Andrew is a class act himself, so I'm sure good parents were behind his upbringing. I heard it was a success, and they had around the numbers I expected. In fact, I remmeber telling them if they had 15 people in the tourney, that I would be there too. Figures, they got exactly 15 and I was missing. I do appoligize folks, but ya, life has that way of changing on you unexpectedly, but I'll see what I can do in 2008. If not then, I'll try to host one as soon as 2009.
Ok, well I haven't heard much about the tourney, so I'll just judge it by what I heard on MBs and others when I have been available. I think there were many activites involved, not just video games, and there was actually standings kept to reflect that. I'm obviously going to just cover the kart stuff, in which it appears there was only time to cover 4 of the 12 regular rounds, and then it skipped to the semi's and then to the medal rounds. Overall, it looks like there was some excitement by what I saw, and I think mostly everyone competed well, so who finished on top? Well, last contests winner Josh Layne was present, so I figure he would be favored to take it down again. Now lets cover the players...
2 Nathan Stinson
3 Brent Wingert
4 Andrew Weatherton
5 David Wonn
6 Sterling Neblett
7 Derek Clark
8 Jon "Ngamer" Barber
9 Eddie Lovins
10 Jim "Jimbo" Barett
11 Trent Hovis
12 Adam Matis
13 Greg Woll
14 J.T. Styron
15 Jon Mertz
16 Ghost Of Kevin Booth
KB's Ghost:
Well while I don't think I'll get into things quite as deep as last time because I was not there, I'll just comment on the rounds and how I feel about the stats and how I feel about them based on the very little I know about some of these participants. It is a mixed field between our kart 64 players field and the goldeneye/pd elite field. We even have an extreme old schooler from way back in the nintendo bbs days. it is people like those that really add some extra flair to things. But first, I'll comment on the seeding, or lack there of. (I think most of that was just put in there to save time)
First off, the obvious first seed is Josh Layne. The best time trialer by far in the field, and a lot of experience against J.T. Styron which also appears in the tourney and well cover later. Layne as you know won the very first kart meet, and his dominance over the field was pretty evident from start to finish, with some minor scares in the regular rounds from Stinson, and later Booth, via the gift from the gods draw. He had also a scare in the semi finals vs booth when he found is way down a canyon on choco, but Booth choked later on MR as well as all of star cup. Layne killed Cooper in the finals, which was unable to come to this meet. So yes, Layne is the person I'm expecting to win and not even considering anyone else.
We got the #2 seed here as Nathan Stinson. He was the Bronze medal winner at the first competition. He was strong at first, but weakened later, and in the semi's, just fell on bad times, and basically mailed it in for the rest of the tourney. Luckily Booth was exhausted, so he was able to salvage just in time to get back to Oky on the plane. We had to rush that last round, so I could tell neither person was too into it, although Booth did win the last 5 vs stinson. I guess being the 2nd best finisher from the last tourney in here, I think he's a valid second seed.
Next we got Brent Wingert at the #3 seed. Now don't get me wrong, in his day, he was one of the most veritile karters we knew. I'd say top 5 in that fact, before he went into inactivity, but it has been forever since he has played. I would consider Wonn as the guy that finished 5th and 3rd and final person to repeat visit as the true third seed. However, 4th is totally fair, due to his duel legend level time trialing and mastermind that can be proven by his poker savyness. A little known fact is that Wingert was a huge part of why the Elite and Kart 64 Players are basically partner sites and why there is a mix of them in this competition. Him and I merged out kart sites. Yes, there was a Mario Kart 64 Elite. No, not Jason Engel's site, lol, but another one years later. I was considered "corporate" at first, but well things were dicussed behind the scenes and boom, here we are. Even though I consider him #4, I would look to see him pile on some upsets.
We got Andrew Weatherton as of the #4 seed????? Ok, home advantage only goes so far here. He is a very creative and smart guy/racer, but I really would expect him to finish behind at least David Wonn here. I think a 5 seed would be more appropriate here.
Ok to the 5 seed David Wonn. No introductions are needed here. Him and Launspach were some of the first people to really talk about a meeting of the karters. Of course, Wonn and I thought of that cause of Jared Roses' site and that team cambellsville vs team seattle matchup. That was so awesome, and I wish I had that to still post up on the archives! I consider Wonn as said before #3
We then got Sterling is #6... this is where I would place J.T since he used to give Layne a good run by what I hear. Also, as much as I like Sterling, I think Clark due to the fact that he has placed strong and has lasted longer in many games (except golf), I would place Clark ahead of him.... But yes, Sterling is a sentimental favorite, since he has been around the site a good deal of time, and we used to chat a ton, which I need to catch up with him again sometime.
And yes, as said before, I would move up Clark up from being behind Sterling, but still #7 due to J.T's experience with Layne. You probably all thought I would rate him last, due to our fallout, but see, I can be unbiased sometimes.... dispite the pic choice, lol! Thank you Jason Whalls again. Ok, fine, I'll tell ya the story. We were talking about site cheating and stuff and back then he was the dude that was like me for kart, and ya, I kinda gave him the wrong impression and he was having a bad day, so he went off on me, so ya I was pretty mad, but then Whalls made that pic, and I had to laugh, cause really, Clark is a very very nice guy in all reality, so ya, as mad as I was at him, I couldn't be for that small time frame.
I'm not going to get too much into coverage on the rest of the field cause most of them are the elite people, and while skilled at shooters, karting is just a different skill set. I tried FPS's and I just couldn't hack it. However, Barber I figure should fare at least decently, and pull off a few upsets. I don't know enough about the rest of the field to comment further. Barber was a critical componant to the PD side of the elite early on.
I already covered J.T. so moving onto Mertz. I actually got to meet him in S.T. Louis before the first competition. I totally suprised Wonn with this by taking him and stin to the secret meeting place. He used to be Leader Of Hawc at the boards, and him along with Wonn and Valencio used to self-police the BBS against a lot of lame people. I'm telling ya, there has never been such a cool MB envirnment, but maybe cause it was my first. Either way, I obviously would expect him pretty much towards the bottom somewhere, but no knock against him. I think he would have finished 6th/8th in our tourney, and made things interesting instead of having that fake running 8th player since we wouldn't figure out 7 player rounds very well.
KB's Ghost:
Ok enough Babbling, and time to go over the rounds..... Unlike before, where we had 2 tvs, these rounds have 4 tvs!P1 (5)Wonn 9-4-2-1 =37
P2 (6)NEBL 4-6-3-3 =27
P3 (7)CLRK 2-3-7-4 =19
P4 (8)BARB 2-3-4-7 =16
KB's Ghost:Ok on TV A we have a nice matchup between Wonn/Neblett/Clark and good old Barbie! All 4 people have times on the kart site, so I figure this should have been a pretty good round, with the top 3 players fairly close, and poor Barbie looking for William Lacey's bra size. Now as expected, Wonn did have the majority of the wins (9 out of 16), but the suprise was Sterling Laying waste to Clark for second place. I think the fact he finished in the top 2 in 10 out of 16 races was key. Clark I think was the dog in this round (to my delight perhaps, lol). Ok but seriously, Jon Barber did do good dispite being the lowest time trialer in the round, and having to use an alternate driver (mario). Middles are probably the worst in the field, but he doesn't know that... He probably would have got third with a heavy.Round 1B
P1 (1)LAYN 10-4-2-0 =40
P2 (2)STIN 3-7-2-4 =25
P3 (3)WING 2-3-7-4 =19
P4 (4)WTHR 2-3-5-8 =12
KB's Ghost:TV B had a very nasty matchup with the top 4 seeds going at it from the get go. We would all predict Layne to have a strong win, with Stinson cleaning up most races, and Wingert caplitalizing when Stinson makes a mistake and poor Weatherton being outclassed, dispite racing strong and using a heavy. As expected, and as shown in the other tourney, Layne can get the majority of Wins (10) as well as rarely finish last (0) in his rounds with aggressive players. Stinson had an ok round, but I did not expect him to finish out of the top 2 in 6 out of 16 races, which lead to the huge disprepency between him and Layne. Brent did not do much cleaning up, but he did hang in there and only was 6 points behind Stinson overall. The key was the 12 out of 16 races that he did not finish last place, which tied Stinson and was twice as few as Weatherton with Bowser. Weatherton did manage a win and a couple second place finishes with Bowser and this horrific at best draw, so I can't badmouth him too much. I'd say Stinson is the dog in this round.Round 1C
P1 (9)LOVI 8-6-2-0 =38
P2 (10)JMBO 2-9-3-2 =27
P3 (11)HOVI 5-1-5-5 =22
P4 (12)MATI 1-0-6-9 =9
KB's Ghost:Action of TV C pins mostly elite players against eachother. Clearly Eddie was favorited in this round due to having some time trial experience. It showed by seeing him place in the top 2 in 14/16 contests. However the next 2 players did fairly good (Jimbo with 9 second places) and (Trent with 5 wins). Trent however slipped to third with ten of his sixteen races being outside of the top 2. Clearly had a lot of misfortune this round. It should also be noted that Jimbo placed second in this round with using a middle weight! So who knows how Lovins would have done if he had a lightie. Adam just was outclassed and just hung on for any points he could get.
Round 1D
P2 (14)J.T. 16-0-0-0 =48
P1 (13)WOLL 0-10-6-0 =26
P3 (15)MRTZ 0-6-10-0 =22
P4 (16)GHOS 0-0-0-16 =0
KB's Ghost:And finally, Tv D! Well looks like Booth is not the only one to put up the perfect round anymore. Layne's rival J.T. Just wastes the field. Now is this due to favorable draw or is he really better than the community expected? Well find out in the future rounds. Not much to say otherwise, except Leader of Hawc did alright beating Woll in 6 out of the 16 races, and at least trying to fight back in this 3 person round for them. At least this will give him hope into improving and making the quarterfinals by taking advantage of the free points each round.After 1 Round completed:
1. (14)J.T. 16-0-0-0 =48
2. (1)LAYN 10-4-2-0 =40
3. (9)LOVI 8-6-2-0 =38
4. (5)WONN 9-4-2-1 =37
5. (6)NEBL 4-6-3-3 =27
5. (10)JMBO 2-9-3-2 =27
7. (11)WOLL 0-10-6-0 =26
8. (2)STIN 3-7-2-4 =25
9. (13)HOVI 5-1-5-5 =22
9. (15)MRTZ 0-6-10-0 =22
11. (3)WING 2-3-7-4 =19
11. (7)CLRK 2-3-7-4 =19
13. (8)BARB 2-3-4-7 =16
14. (4)WTHR 2-3-5-8 =12
15. (12)MATI 1-0-6-9 =9
16. (16)GHOS 0-0-0-16 =0
KB's Ghost:Well kind of an unfair seeding round, so I can not make too many comments I haven't already. Players like Stin and Weather got hosed and players like Wonn, Mertz and J.T. got favorable draws which helped their scores. Layne did great for having to face 1-2-3-4! He still got 40 out of a possible 48 points! But ya, J.T.'s perfect 48 round marks the first time that a player has been ahead of Layne in an official in-person tourney since 1997! Even though it is early, Wingert and Clark had better play better when the matchups are more favorable in the future rounds or they risk an early exit.P2 (1)LAYN 13-1-1-1 =42
P4 (9)LOVI 0-10-5-1 =25
P3 (5)WONN 3-4-6-3 =23
P1 (13)WOLL 0-1-4-11 =6
KB's Ghost:You really begin to appreciate the high level of play from Josh Layne here. Wonn and Lovins are pretty strong players in VS, but yet Layne gets 13 out of 16 wins in this round. My suprise here was Wonn even with notching 3 wins in this round fails to place in the top 2 in over half is rounds (9). Especially with a 9 and 13 seed in his draw, and somehow getting 3 wins on Layne. How does that happen? Lovins I think did really well here beating Wonn overall by two points by placing second place in 10 events and ony finishing last once, which matches Layne's effort, and anything you can compare to Layne with as a nine seed is a great thing. Poor Greg Woll had a heavy and a horrific draw this round and is being brought in to the ER in critical condition after this beating and 6 total points. He did manage a second place somehow in the round... I just caught this but Greg had the first pick of character and picked Wario?? Really??Round 2B
P2 (4)WTHR 14-2-0-0 =46
P3 (8)BARB 2-10-4-0 =30
P4 (12)MATI 0-4-12-0 =20
P1 (16)GHOS 0-0-0-16 =0
KB's Ghost:Weatherton clearly takes advantage of a way more favorable draw and wins 14 races and finishes second in the other 2 to capture an insane 46 round. Barber did win 2 races here to keep Andrew Weatherton from his perfect round, however, he allowed Adam Matis to beat him to the finish line four times, helping Matis' cause of attempting to sneek into the quarters dispite his 15th position last round. He did have to pick an alternate driver, so really getting even 4 races not in last of the running players is a good achievement!Round 2C
P2 (3)WING 6-6-3-1 =33
P4 (11)HOVI 7-4-3-2 =32
P3 (7)CLRK 3-5-5-3 =20
P1 (15)MRTZ 0-1-5-10 =7
KB's Ghost:Well there is no suprise that Wingert won the round, but look at Trent Hovis, with a middle weight!!!! He Won more rounds than anyone else as an 11 seed and nearly took out Brent Wingert out this round as a 3 seed. I think Trent might be better than we expected. Clearly he has shaken the cob webs out from the last round where he was very inconsistent and put up a very strong round. The suprise is Derek Clark. Of course, you know I won't take this chance to rip on him. He did manage to win 3 but with half his finishes outside the top 2, he looks pretty bad here. Poor Mertz just keeps being bullied around, but I would like to see the race in which he finished second place.Round 2D
P1 (14)J.T. 7-5-4-0 =35
P2 (2)STIN 7-4-5-0 =34
P4 (10)JMBO 1-4-4-7 =15
P3 (6)NEBL 1-3-3-9 =12
KB's Ghost:What an amazing battle between J.T. and Nathan Stinson! It is clear that J.T. is for real, but also clear that Nathan Stinson is very serious about erasing the performace that he had last year by asserting his aggresiveness against our tourney leader. Neither of them placed last in any rounds so congratulations are in order to each of them. Jimbo and Sterling Neblett did manage to get a win each. Jimbo actually out pointed Sterling with a middle weight proving my previous claim that I made about Sterling being way overrated. If you want to make it to the quarters, placing last 9 times in a round as a 6 seed and one true person below you, is not the way to go about it.AFTER 2 ROUNDS COMPLETED:
1. (14)J.T. 23-5-4-0 =83-(No Change)-
2. (1)LAYN 23-5-3-1 =82-(Catching J.T.)-
3. (9)LOVI 8-16-7-1 =63-(No Change)-
3. (4)WTHR 16-5-5-8 =63-(+11 EXCELLENT)-
5. (5)WONN 12-8-8-4 =60-(-1)-
6. (2)STIN 10-11-7-4 =59-(+2)-
7. (13)HOVI 12-5-8-7 =54-(+2)-
8. (8)BARB 4-13-8-7 =46-(+5!)-
9. (3)WING 8-9-10-5 =43-(+2)-
9. (7)CLRK 5-8-12-7 =43-(+2)-
11. (10)JMBO 3-13-7-9 =42-(-6!)-
12. (6)NEBL 5-9-6-12 =39-(-7!)-
13. (11)WOLL 0-11-10-11 =32-(-6!)-
14. (15)MRTZ 0-7-15-10 =29-(-5!)-
14. (12)MATI 1-4-18-9 =29-(+1)-
16. (16)GHOS 0-0-0-32 =0-(No Change Obviously)-
KB's Ghost:Well J.T. Still hangs onto the lead, but barely. Layne will most likely pass him by next round. Lovins had a good round and narrowly maintains 3rd via a tie with Andrew Weatherton which via his much better draw flew up the standings to that very tie. Andrew looks to be taking advantage of home court with that sudden surge. Wonn only moves down 1 and is ok so far, but he better watch his back cause Stinson Moved up 2 as well has Hovis. Jon Barber even moved up 5 to that last quarter final spot for the GP rounds. Wingert and Clark did move up, but not near as much as they needed to so they are on the inside looking out. the rest of the field basically flew back down and started showing their colors. Poor Mertz. I am really rooting for him here!P2 (14)J.T. 6-9-1-0 =37
P1 (9)LOVI 7-2-7-0 =32
P3 (3)WING 3-4-7-2 =24
P4 (8)BARB 0-1-1-14 =3
KB's Ghost:Well by now anything that J.T. does isn't suprising, but Eddie Lovins for not being a huge kart name is really showing some talent here. He managed to get more wins than J.T., however what hurt him is the seven 3rd places. Brent Wingert continues to underperform. He is in great risk of sitting the quarter finals out. Poor old Barbie ran into a huge wall this round and will be clearly flying down to to bottom after only managing 3 whole points. You think he would have mannged more 3rd places vs Wingert even with a middle.Round 3B
P3 (4)WTHR 7-4-5-0 =34
P1 (10)JMBO 6-5-5-0 =33
P4 (7)CLRK 3-3-3-7 =18
P2 (13)WOLL 0-4-3-9 =11
KB's Ghost:Well once again Weatherton puts in a semi-strong round, but check out Jimbo! He only had one less win than weatherton and matched him by not finishing out of the top 3 ever! Once again Derek Clark totally tanks and I would say that after this, it is clear he won't be joining us in the quarters. Woll did pretty good for volunteering to choose a heavy as the second pick. I wonder how bad Clark would have done if he had to take a heavy this round. It is clear Clarks head is not in the kart tourney at all... Debbie does Dallas perhaps?Round 3C
P3 (1)LAYN 15-1-0-0 =47
P4 (6)NEBL 1-8-7-9 =26
P1 (11)HOVI 0-7-9-0 =23
P2 (16)GHOS 0-0-0-16 =0
KB's Ghost:This kind of gives you one of those Vince Carter dunk moments. As soon as he dunks, it is so over! Josh Layne is that kinda karter. He did drop one race somehow to a heavy weighted Sterling Neblett that didn't to too bad considering that fact. Trent does have a lot to play for with others under performing so he keeps it close and takes advantage of Sterling's heavy status. My ghost as predicted guarrantees everyone in this round 16 points.Round 3d
P3 (2)STIN 9-4-1-2 =36
P4 (5)WONN 5-9-1-1 =34
P1 (12)MATI 2-1-8-5 =16
P2 (15)MRTZ 0-3-6-7 =12
KB's Ghost:Well this was Stinsons chance to really shine with 2 very poorly rated players... in fact the worst 2 running in the round, and his only threat David Wonn with a heavy. However, we all know Wonn can hold is own with one, and he did and only finished 2 points behind him. This was due to over half his races, he finished second place. Some how Matis got 2 wins in this round. Poor Mertz continues to struggle, but he did get second place 3 times. I wonder who won the races in which he got second place and how close he was to getting his first win of the tourney. Still though, a strong round for Stinson and a very strong heavy performace for Wonn should keep these guys in solid footing for those quarters, and the 2 others should stay at the bottom of the running. Time to summarize...AFTER 3 ROUNDS COMPLETED:
1. (1)LAYN 38-6-3-1 =129-(+1)-
2. (14)J.T. 29-14-5-0 =120-(-1)-
3. (4)WTHR 23-9-10-8 =97-(No Change)-
4. (9)LOVI 15-18-14-1 =95-(-1)-
4. (2)STIN 19-15-8-6 =95-(+2)-
6. (5)WONN 17-17-9-5 =94-(-1)-
7. (13)HOVI 12-12-17-7 =77-(No Change)-
8. (3)WING 11-13-17-7 =76-(+1)-
9. (10)JMBO 9-18-12-9 =75-(+2)-
10. (6)NEBL 6-17-13-12 =65-(+2)-
11. (7)CLRK 8-11-15-14 =61-(-2)-
12. (11)WOLL 0-18-19-11 =55-(+1)-
13. (8)BARB 4-14-9-21 =49-(-5)-
14. (12)MATI 3-5-24-14 =43-(No Change)-
15. (15)MRTZ 0-10-21-17 =41-(-1)-
16. (16)GHOS 0-0-0-48 =0-(Seeing A Pattern Yet?)-
KB's Ghost:Well no suprise to the seasoned followers, Josh Layne has retaken the lead, but J.T. did not do too bad and is not too far off in second place. I think it is clear we know those 2 spots are pretty set. However, there is a huge battle for spots 3-6, which are extremely critical for seeding in the quarters. Then again, not really, cause some combo of them have to face eachother anyway. Still usually there is a slight advantage with a 3 and 6 seed matchup, this time it's going to be a straight up crazy battle. Weatherton held ground, and Eddie even with a great round dropped out of that 3rd place tie. Stinson flew up to tie Eddie, and Wonn stays right on their ankles dispite drawing a heavy that round. With Barber dropping out of the running pretty much, we now have a 3 way battle for the last 2 spots. I still think Neblett at 10th place could make it a question with a good draw and an excellent round, but that will be very hard. The cool thing is that 2 virtual non-karters have a chance at the quarters, but of course their gift would be facing Layne or J.T. the first round, so maybe that is not much of a prize here. I would shoot to the 6th spot for any hopes of a second round
future. Not much else to say, cause the rest are looking out, but it is a shame because for Woll not ever winning an event, he has seemed to compete well with 18 second places and 19 third places. Probably with better draws he would have been right in the mix of things, but ya, the rest really have no excuses. A couple things of note. J.T. is yet to suffer a last place, and Woll and Mertz are yet to win. Any bets on which of the 3 break that streak?P4 (2)STIN 12-3-1-14 =43
P2 (11)HOVI 2-7-6-1 =26
P1 (8)BARB 2-5-2-7 =18
P3 (13)WOLL 0-1-7-8 =9
KB's Ghost:Well if Woll would have not taken a heavy here, he probably would have got his first win but oh well. The main news here is Stinson taking advantage of a favorable draw once again and scoring a very high 43 points! Hats off to Trent though for another very strong performace dispite the competition. Barber did much better this round and with his 18 points, he could have hurt Trent's Chances at making it to the quarterfinals. Now with Stinson getting 43, is it possible that he catches up to the #2 spot with a J.T. chokejob, or is 3rd a more likely placing?Round 4B
P4 (4)WTHR 5-8-3-0 =34
P2 (9)LOVI 4-7-4-1 =30
P1 (6)NEBL 7-1-6-2 =29
P3 (15)MRTZ 0-0-3-13 =3
KB's Ghost:This round has to be one of the biggest eye openers in the whole contest. Two players that would like to make the dance put in some really strong performaces, but a guy that is only playing for seeding also did extremely well and won the tough draw while using a heavy weight! Maybe I totally underestimated Weatherton as well as Eddie Lovins. These guys are true competitors. Looks like Neblett did redeem himself, but finishing outside the top 2 in half his races ruined his chances at glory dispite getting seven wins. We would like to thank Mertz for participating. He battled hard for being removed from kart or probably any game for many years. Also really cool that he did make it out to meet the old schoolers as well as some of the new players as well. It should be interesting to see if Neblett can catch enough misfortune to sneek in there somehow, but surely not going to get help from Eddie.Round 4C
P4 (1)LAYN 8-6-0-2 =36
P3 (14)J.T. 6-8-2-0 =36
P1 (7)CLRK 2-2-9-3 =19
P2 (12)MATI 0-0-5-11 =5
KB's Ghost:Finally Layne and J.T. go at it directly. Layne did have a heavy so not really that fair, but still, Kudos to J.T. for equaling his score. Layne did get two 4th places, and with Clark and the praying Matis in, I cannot see how he doesn't at least place 3rd in every race. Never the less, it's not like they really needed that great of a round to secure a very easy first round opponant. Clark did get 2 wins somehow, as well as 2 second places, but of course, was a non-factor in 3/4ths of the events. well Adam at least did not place last in the tourney, but ya, hopefully he will return next year and with what he has learned do a little better. He did manage 3 wins and that is better than a person that placed ahead of him in the tourney.Round 4D
P1 (5)WONN 6-6-4-0 =34
P4 (3)WING 6-6-5-0 =33
P2 (10)JMBO 4-5-7-0 =29
P3 (16)GHOS 0-0-0-16 =0
KB's Ghost:Well just when I thought 4B was the most compelling, we had a very cutthroat 3 way battle here. Congrats to Wingert with his strong heavy performace here. Obviously he knew without a strong one here, he could have been taken out by Jimbo for that last spot, but via beating him by 4 this round, he at least took him out of the running. Still Jimbo gave those 2 a huge run for their money. Wonn hung on and did the best he could with 2 other players having the rounds of their careers. It should be interesting what the final tally ends up being. Lets get to it!Final VS Standings (4 Rounds):
1. (1)LAYN 46-12-3-3 =165-(No Change)-
2. (14)J.T. 35-22-7-0 =156-(No Change)-
3. (2)STIN 31-18-9-6 =138-(+2)-
4. (5)WONN 23-23-13-5 =128-(+2)-
5. (4)WTHR 27-16-13-8 =126-(-2)-
6. (9)LOVI 19-25-18-2 =125-(-2)-
7. (3)WING 17-18-22-7 =109-(+1)-
8. (10)JMBO 13-23-19-9 =104-(+1)-
9. (13)HOVI 14-19-23-8 =103-(-2)-
10. (6)NEBL 13-18-19-14 =94-(No Change)-
11. (7)CLRK 10-13-24-17 =80-(No Change)-
12. (8)BARB 6-19-11-28 =67-(+1)-
13. (11)WOLL 0-19-26-19 =52-(-1)-
14. (12)MATI 3-5-31-25 =50-(No Change)-
15. (15)MRTZ 0-10-24-30 =44-(No Change)-
16. (16)GHOS 0-0-0-64 =0-(Gotta Play To Win)-
KB's Ghost:And there are the final results. Well as predicted the top 2 stayed solid with J.T. still not getting that 4th place (one bet lost). There were some changes in the 3rd and 4th spots with Stinson flying by the pack, and Wonn inching by. Weatherton hung onto 5th and Lovins just missed out in 6th. Wingert separated himself a little for 7th, but the story is 8th and 9th. I must congratuate Trent for battling hard, but fellow eliter Jimbo took his final spot. For your reward, you get some Layne action. Oh yes, Woll and Mertz never got that final win, so bets 2 and 3 are lost. I think there is no need to talk about the rest, but thanks for competing and I am sure some of you will be back next year to try to make it deeper into the competiton. Anyhow, I won't keep you in suspense. The GP Quarters/Semis/Finals and Bronze rounds were not all that was cracked up to be. There was only one compelling matchup, and suprising result, so I'll just cover that one, and let the rest of the scores tell the story.1st vs. 8th - Television A
P1 (1)Joshua Layne (--Toad) 36-33-36-36 =141
P2 (8)James Barrett (Yoshi) 21-21-21-15 =78
2nd vs. 7th - Television B
P1 (2)J.T. Styron (---Toad) 33-30-30-19 =112
P2 (7)Brenton Wingert (Peach) 21-19-21-24 =85
3rd vs. 6th - Television C
P1 (3)Nathaniel Stinson (Toad) 30-33-22-36 =121
P2 (6)Edward Lovins (---Yoshi) 30-12-33-21 =96
4th vs. 5th - Television D
P1 (4)David Wonn (-------Yoshi) 36-28-33-33 =130
P2 (5)Andrew Weatherton (Peach) 21-18-18-18 =75
- Semi-finals (150cc GP) -
1st or 8th vs. 4th or 5th - Television A
P1 (1)Joshua Layne (Toad) 33-36-36-36 =141
p2 (4)David Wonn (-Yoshi) 27-24-16-18 =85
2nd or 7th vs. 3rd or 6th - Television B
P1 (2)J.T. Styron (-------Toad) 27-24-24-33 =108
P2 (3)Nathaniel Stinson (Yoshi) 27-30-30-27 =114
- Gold Medal Match - Television A-
P1 (1)Joshua Layne (------Toad) 36-19-33-36 =124
P2 (3)Nathaniel Stinson (Yoshi) 27-24-30-16 =97
- Bronze Medal Match - Television B -
P1 (2)J.T. Styron (Toad) 33-30-27-30 =120
P2 (4)David Wonn (Yoshi) 27-24-30-16 =97
KB's Ghost:Yep, pretty predictable all around except the semi-finals with Stinson VS J.T.. After what we saw in the 4 rounds of competition that we saw, we figured even with Stinson being the king of the weaker people, that J.T. would manage pretty well here. However, this actually was a great match with the key to the victory being the strong flower and star cups as J.T. must have had some bad races. Even his Start wasn't bad, and even if J.T. got a perfect 36, he still would have lost. I would say this is Stinson's best round all time in the two tourneys. This of course gave high hopes to Stinson competing against Layne, since J.T. is barely behind him, but it was not meant to be. I guess the other minor suprise was how Wonn killed Weatherton. Wonn admits openly that Weatherton got a bad draw, and he needed to get the 3rd seed here and he would have been in a lot better shape. Well, dispite only commpleting 4 out of the 12 scheduled rounds, it seemed like a very fun VS round never the less, and the other activities I heard about must have been a blast. The event got rave reviews with only a few complaining about the short kart competition. Never the less, I got to get the 2008 results back and either myself or Wonn will probably do those. Then off to 2009 where I plan on hosting at least a west event if not for everyone. Til then all!| --8/9/06-- Hmmm it's somebodies 20th B-day. |
http://www.kevinbooth.net/kart/vids/
| --7/27/06-- Finally, the report. |
KB: Well folks, it finally happened! It's been about 9 years in the making, but we finally got a group together in the states for a championship. Although I shall say,
that this was definitely a unique challenge as far as scheduling goes, and we missed out on some top names (Bukrim,Whalls,Wingert) to name a few, it was still
pretty competitive. While it was clear from round 2 on, who our top 2 was, hands down, it wasn't certain who was going to finish 3rd, 4th, and 5th.
Stin: What? I do believe it was ME who was 2nd place overall from Round 1 all the way through qualifying ;-) KB:The final 4th place to get into GP was decided by 2 points, and the guy who did that won his final 3 races of the vs tourniment! Either way, people showing up late due to previous engagments, and people having to leave early didn't stop us. Heck, even my appartment heating up to who knows what (despite 3 fans, and an air conditioner) couldn't stop us from having a very exciting competition.
Eventually we will have video highlights and perhaps even a few full races of the really eventful races. They shall be released from time to time and details on that can be found at http://www.kevinbooth.net/kart/. For now, I'll just talk about what transpired scorewise in this competition.
The format of this tourney was an 8 person tourney. We only had 7 show, so we gave our 8th person a name. (Michael Calahan). He was invited to show, but he was quite busy, so we couldn't find an actual fillin, so that player just basically sat at the finish line, unless, of course, he got hit by a kart or an item, which happened quite a lot with us, cause face it, we can't resist. Heck, Calahan happen to actually finish a half lap in LR once, but that will be something to show on video.
Stin: I think it was my fault he did that, but not for sure. I know it was in my race in the first round I believe. KB:But ya, we broke it up to 2 tvs so all 8 players can play each round. With the format we got, everyone played the other person at least 3 times, and everyone got
a crappy heavyweight exactly 2 times. Some players played eachother 4 times, but face it, we can't be perfect on that, you know? Ok, here it is!Seeding:
1.
Cooper Lovera, Missouri (the favorite based on top time trial rank, and success vs Booth and Farmer previously)2.
David Wonn, Ohio (Pre-tournament he landed the shortcuts, proving you can't count out this winner of his local tourney in 1997) Stin: He also dominated the pre-tourney races.3.
Josh Layne, North Carolina (the next player to watch. has 3 years vs experience against his college rivals proving valuable in any tourney)4.
Nathan Stinson, Oklahoma (Raised his stock by doing well in the pre-tourney races)5.
Kevin Booth, Missouri (Oregon Previously) (5-Time World Champion Overall in time trials, however that doesn't mean jack against this talented field. Retire old man!) Stin: lol6.
Brent Dennison, Michigan (Just a fresh member, but has a lot of heart)7.
Michael Dennison, Michigan (Basically along for the ride, but had his moments) Stin: He did well for himself.8. Michael Calahan, Missouri (Basically an RPG player, and has never even picked up kart 64 in his life)
Stin: And still hasn't. lol(DAY 1)
Round 1 - Television A
1st pick (5)Kevin Booth---(Toad-)07-05-04-00-35
3rd pick (1)Cooper Lovera-(Peach)04-08-01-03-29
2nd pick (2)David Wonn----(Yoshi)05-02-07-02-26
4th pick (6)Brent Dennison(Luigi)00-01-04-11-06
KB:A suprisingly strong showing by the kart historian on this one. He managed to win 7 out of 16 races this round, and not a single 4th place! Perhaps
Kevin may not do as bad as he once thought. He even had the 1 and 2 seed in his round, and not only did he survive this, but he thrived against them. This
shows that you just don't know what's going to go on in a kart tourney. Originally I thought that it was going to be Cooper and Layne shooting it down, and then
with Wonn hitting SCs well, that changed the whole dynamics. Now this???? Who knows?!?!?!Cooper has a rough round, but manages a 2nd place in all of this. David Wonn was inconsistent but had more wins that cooper, and less 4th places. What killed him is being the 3rd place driver in nearly half of his races. He's going to need to step it up, or he's going to be left behind by the other 4. Clearly David realizes that this isn't going to be like 1997. He's not going to be able to dictate the pace here.
Stin: He did in 97? KB:Brent gets a first hand experience of what it's like to go against Kart's best. No wins, but he did manage a 2nd place, and that means he beat 2 out of the 3
major players, and that in itself is a major achievement vs these titans. Although frustrated, Brent takes it all in stride, and puts out a great effort
to salvage 6 points. Stin:STIN: Yup, he did well for himself.Round 1 - Television B
1st pick (3)Josh Layne----(Toad-)11-04-01-00-42
2nd pick (4)Nathan Stinson(Yoshi)05-11-00-00-37
3rd pick (7)Mike Dennison-(Peach)00-01-15-00-17
4th pick (8)Mike Calahan--(Luigi)00-00-00-16-00
KB:Uh Oh... So much for a close competition! With 11 out of 16 wins vs Stinson, it appears this outsider to the midwest is going to storm away with the championship. However,
what gives at least a shadow of a doubt is that he did score a 3rd place, while Stinson won, and that made it not a huge loss for Stinson. With Stinson at
least hanging on here, and winning 5 races, and never doing worse than 2nd place, he surpasses Booths first round total. Stinson could be a huge suprise
as well. Lastly Mike had a real rough round, and basically played the role of a 2nd Calahan except that one race where he somehow beat Layne. How'd that happen
again? Layne: Oh wait I remember, he was a strictly NSC player coming into the tourney and it was on DK's where he attempted and failed many times at the SC there. Would he find his SC niche as the tourney continued?
Stin: Yeah, other than the failed sc's, Layne did quite well... and got some lucky items on some races ;-) also, He had a nice sc come from behind win at CM.
THROUGH ROUND 1
1. Josh Layne-----42
2. Nathan Stinson-37
3. Kevin Booth----35
4. Cooper Lovera--29
5. David Wonn-----26
6. Mike Dennison--17
7. Brent Dennison-06
8. Mike Calahan---00
KB:Layne dominates basically. However, he only did have one of the major 5 in his bracket, so that's not a suprise yet. However the major suprise is Booth beating
out the other 3 and putting himself right in the mix for this championship. Poor Brent had a bad draw, and only got 6, but well see how he does once he goes
head to head with Mike, and Mike doesn't have the free points that Mike C gave away. Stin: Solid first round, after it was over I think we knew we were in for a crazy ride:) Round 2 - Television A
4th pick(3)Josh Layne----(Bowser)09-05-02-00-39
1st pick(2)David Wonn----(Yoshi-)06-04-06-00-32
2nd pick(5)Kevin Booth---(Toad--)01-07-08-00-25
3rd pick(8)Mike Calahan--(Peach-)00-00-00-16-00
KB:Woah! Well apparently, Josh's dominance was no accident. He only loses 2 wins and he had to take a heavyweight! Oh, how the competition is clearly in trouble here! However,
it appears that Booth is showing his true colors and begins to struggle, despite getting his favorite driver. He only manages to put up a single win the whole round, and even
worse, he finishes 3rd half the time. David Wonn hangs on with a fairly strong round, and even takes 6 wins. Don't count David out quite yet! Layne: This is where Josh's experience shows through, when he played vs. with his roomates he was periodically forced to use the "Big Man." So he was used to the dis/advantages Bowser had to offer (his heavyweight of choice).
Stin: and, thanks to Layne, everyone else ended up using Bowser after this pretty much:-)
Round 2 - Television B
1st pick(4)Nathan Stinson(Toad--)12-01-02-01-40
4th pick(1)Cooper Lovera-(D.K---)04-10-01-01-33
3rd pick(6)Brent Dennison(Peach-)00-03-08-05-14
2nd pick(7)Mike Dennison-(Yoshi-)00-02-05-09-09
KB:Over to our stat padders over here. Stinson takes full advantage, and surprises our top seed Cooper Lovera, taking 12 out of 16 races. This so far is the tops as far as total wins
goes, however, Stinson had 2 3rd places, and even manages a 4th against Brent and Mike! So Layne still proves to be the dominant force out there. Coopers 12 out of 16 races without
a win really segregates him to that bottom rung for the time being. If Cooper doesn't get his act together, he very well could be the casualty of this tourniment. Get this, a pre-tourney
favorite not even in the GP Rounds? Well, it's a heavy possibility. Stin: But, it didn't happen, unfortunately :-P The last place was some sc that didn't go well for me.. the sc's really were the a great bane or help depending on if you could do them.
Through ROUND 2
1. Josh Layne-----42-39-81
2. Nathan Stinson-37-40-77
3. Cooper Lovera--29-33-62
4. Kevin Booth----35-25-60
5. David Wonn-----26-32-58
6. Mike Dennison--17-09-26
7. Brent Dennison-06-14-20
8. Mike Calahan---00-00-00
KB:Well not so fast! If Stinson somehow finds a way to compete with Layne in a few other rounds, this may not be over yet! While Cooper had a horrific round, he's
still 3rd, and ahead of Booth and Wonn. Wonn beat Booth, but that's not good enough to even pass him. It really seems like the odd person out here would be
Cooper or Booth at this point. Time will tell though. Depends on if Wonn hits those shortcuts, and if Cooper continues to struggle when he probably shouldn't. We all know
he'll do what he can, so nothing is decided yet! Stin: Only one more round after this one before day 1 was over.. if only it could have continued since I was so hot.... also, Wonn's struggles are quite surprising... but even at this stage, he and Booth are very close, as they will be throughout.
Round 3 - Television A
3rd pick(3)Josh Layne----(Toad--)11-04-01-00-42
1st pick(1)Cooper Lovera-(Peach-)05-07-04-00-33
4th pick(6)Brent Dennison(Bowser)00-05-11-00-21
2nd pick(8)Mike Calahan--(Yoshi-)00-00-00-16-00
KB:Well Layne busted out his usual dominance here. Cooper with only Layne to focus on really showed that he really doesn't have anything to give Layne here, so
it appears we know whos going to take this all the way at this point. Layne appears to be on pace to run away with this thing. However, I think we need one
more round to be sure of that. Either way, Cooper does ok, and 33 points isn't bad, despite having a 6th and an 8th seed, but every little bit helps if you
want to qualify. Kudos to Brent here by scoring FIVE 2nd places in this round. I expected only 1 or 2 really, so great work there, and more notably, he got
the driver shaft and still came out smelling like roses. This shall definitely put him past his older brother. Who says age matters?
Stin: Whoa, didn't notice that he had so many 2nd places. congrats. Also, he got two TERRIBLE rounds to get the big driver in :-P
Round 3 - Television B
4th pick(4)Nathan Stinson(Bowser)07-03-05-01-32
2nd pick(2)David Wonn----(Yoshi-)05-05-05-01-30
3rd pick(5)Kevin Booth---(Peach-)04-07-03-02-29
1st pick(7)Mike Dennison-(Toad--)00-01-03-12-05
KB:Yep, 3 straight rounds that Wonn and Booth go at it. This can't be good if either of them want to secure themselves in the GP rounds. Either way, Booth and
Wonn played eachother pretty tough here, so Kudos to both... However, Stinson survived the Bowser curse quite well, and with only losing 1 point to Cooper in
this round, he will clearly be 2nd still, and that is very reassuring going into the later rounds. Mike managed ONE 2nd place, and THREE 3rd places, despite
going against 3 very historical figures in the kart community. Stin: Historical? Me? I'm flattered:) Not a bad round, considering I had Bowser (thanks Layne!)Through ROUND 3
1. Josh Layne-----42-39-42-123
2. Nathan Stinson-37-40-32-109
3. Cooper Lovera--29-33-33-095
4. Kevin Booth----35-25-29-089
5. David Wonn-----26-32-30-088
6. Brent Dennison-06-14-21-041
7. Mike Dennison--17-09-05-031
8. Mike Calahan---00-00-00-000
KB:Not a whole lot changes here. The top 5 spots are intact, however Cooper does put some valuable comfort zone points between 4th and 5th. Really the only notable
thing here is Brent passing his brother despite getting Bowser. Yes, he got Calahan too, but oh well, you gotta take the opportunities when they come, and he did
get FIVE 2nd places, and nobody can find an alibi for that, since it was against 1st and 3rd place so far.We had to conlude action due to it being passed Cooper's Curfew... Damn overprotective GMA prude, eh?
Coops: when i live on my own, and make my own rules, we can play all damn nite!!!! and i cant wait for that day! Stin: Whoa, Coop has no comments on the other rounds before now? Yeah, end of first day, if it weren't for Cooper, I'd have continued my domination:-((DAY 2)
KB:Day 2 Action time! Cooper was late due to having to sqeeze in a social life and spoofing GMA as usual. However, I have a feeling this can only last so long. Either way,
it worked again, so here he goes on this baby!Round 4 - Television A
2nd pick(3)Josh Layne-----(Toad--)08-03-02-03-32
1st pick(1)Cooper Lovera--(Peach-)03-04-06-03-23
3rd pick(4)Nathan Stinson-(Yoshi-)01-07-04-04-21
4th pick(2)David Wonn-----(Bowser)04-02-04-06-20
KB:Definitely the round of the whole tournament here. 4 of the strongest seeds all on the same screen. This definitely lived up to the hype, for sure! As expected, Josh
again prevails, despite the talented field. If it wasn't certain this guy was going to run away with this before, we know it for sure now. If the other 3 would have
ganged up on him, there was a chance at a different outcome. However, Layne dominated half the races, leaving the other 3 the straps. Suprisingly, David had Bowser
and won 4 races! Goes to show that David does like to use the other karts (Evident from the world records he's had with both Wario and Bowser in this past career).
Stinson would have gotten leveled if it wasn't for finishing 2nd place a total of SEVEN TIMES. I guarantee most of the videos will come from this FOURSOME on-line!
Stin: All those seconds shows how badly I got screwed out of first places:(
Round 4 - Television B - Wrong seats
3rd pick(5)Kevin Booth---(Yoshi-)16-00-00-00-48
2nd pick(6)Brent Dennison(Peach-)00-11-05-00-27
4th pick(4)Mike Dennison-(Bowser)00-05-11-00-21
1st pick(8)Mike Calahan--(Toad--)00-00-00-16-00
KB:And the lucky dog award goes to... KEVIN BOOTH! Yep, with the other 4 seeds cutting eachother up, that leaves Booth with a cakewalk! While some races were not
decided til the final lap, Kevin Won a perfect 16 out of 16 to fully do his part to capitalize on the situation. This should make points interesting...
Layne: a perfect 48! no one wanted to say it aloud but that is exactly what was expected of Booth in this round, and he delivered, so kudos to him here.
Stin: At least the other guys kept it interesting at times :-)
Through ROUND 4
1. Josh Layne-----42-39-42-32-155
2. Kevin Booth----35-25-29-48-137
3. Nathan Stinson-37-40-32-21-130
4. Cooper Lovera--29-33-33-23-118
5. David Wonn-----26-32-30-20-108
6. Brent Dennison-06-14-21-27-068
7. Mike Dennison--17-09-05-21-052
8. Mike Calahan---00-00-00-00-000
KB:Luck happens! Booth shoots up from a very close 3-4-5 battle, to a strong 2nd place. This gives the competition a new life. What if Booth gets it together and plays
Layne tough during the final rounds? He didn't do so well the first time, but maybe if he faces him mano-y-mano, it could be a different story. Stinson survives
and is a strong 3rd, as Cooper looks on for 4th, and Wonn getting hosered with Bowser looks to be at the brink of elimination. It's going to take a miracle for
him to get back in this at this point.
Stin: if this had been the night before, Stinson would still be second :-( My first and only drop out of 2nd place.
Round 5 - Television A
1st pick(2)David Wonn----(Yoshi-)08-06-02-00-38
2nd pick(1)Cooper Lovera-(Peach-)08-06-02-00-38
3rd pick(7)Mike Dennison-(Toad--)00-04-12-00-20
4th pick(8)Mike Calahan--(Luigi-)00-00-00-16-00
KB:Well if Wonn and Coops wanted to be back in this tourney, they did the right thing here. They evenly split first and 2nds for the most part, and each of them gave
2 3rds to the Dennison charity. Either way, a pair of 38s is very strong in a tourney like this. This will defintely improve each of their chances of not making an
early exit in this tourney. Either way, we will continue to watch these 2.Round 5 - Television B
1st pick(3)Josh Layne----(Toad--)07-05-01-03-32
2nd pick(4)Nathan Stinson(Peach-)07-04-04-01-33
3rd pick(6)Brent Dennison(Yoshi-)00-02-05-09-09
4th pick(5)Kevin Booth---(Bowser)02-05-06-03-22
KB:Well Booths daydream of making some sick comeback from 18 points down to take the tourniment is over. It's clear that he's at the very best 3rd in this tourney after
this performance. True, he did have bowser, but 2 wins and 3 4th places? Quite the choke there. Brent managed a pair of 2nd places as well as 5 3rd places, despite going
against 3 tough karters. Stinson also continues to prove the critics wrong by being the only person to beat Layne at a single round! Keep in mind, this is lightweight vs
lightweight here, so that makes it just that much more impressive! Also LAYNE GOT THREE 4th PLACES HERE! We could consider this a semi-choke here. If Booth would have
had a stronger round, we could have been telling a completely different story here...
Stin: This is the round that hurt Booth in the seedings the most probably. If he does better here, maybe he doesn't get 4th overall seed and Layne in the GP round... but thats how it goes sometimes. Also, probably one of my better rounds, coming back after last rounds disaster.
Through ROUND 5
1. Josh Layne-----42-39-42-32-32-187
2. Nathan Stinson-37-40-32-21-33-163
3. Kevin Booth----35-25-29-48-22-159
4. Cooper Lovera--29-33-33-23-38-156
5. David Wonn-----26-32-30-20-38-146
6. Brent Dennison-06-14-21-27-09-077
7. Mike Dennison--17-09-05-21-20-072
8. Mike Calahan---00-00-00-00-00-000
KB:Well Layne hangs in there to maintain a nice lead over new 2nd place Stinson. Due to Kevin's choking with his heavy draw, and favorable draws for Wonn/Lovera, We now have a
3-way competition for 2nd basically, with Wonn looking not too far back in 5th. Heck, even some doubt as to how the Dennisons are going to finish at this point. This tourney
is getting interesting for spots 2,3,4,5 and even 6 vs 7 at this point. Stin: No doubt in my mind that I'm 2nd overall, I felt pretty confident....
Round 6 - Television A
4th pick(3)Josh Layne----(Bowser)13-02-01-00-44
3rd pick(2)David Wonn----(Peach-)03-10-01-02-30
1st pick(6)Brent Dennison(Yoshi-)00-04-11-01-19
2nd pick(7)Mike Dennison-(Toad--)00-00-03-13-03
KB:WE'RE NOT WORTHY!!! WE'RE SO NOT WORTHY!! OH... MY... GOD!!!!!!! Did you just see that? 13 wins vs Wonn, and the 13 had the heavy. Well, if there was any doubt to who was going to
take the whole thing, it's been put to silence. In retrospect, this is the round in which David needed some points to try to get back into a position for seeding, and he totally bombed
this round. He needed at least a 35 point round in my opinion to do this, but not only did he only win 3 times but he finished 3rd or worse 3 times as well. Wonn is in serious trouble.
Lastly, it appears we know for sure now whos clearly the best Dennison. With even opportunity to have lighties vs eachother, Mike ddn't even manage better than 3rd in all 16 races, and even finished last 13 of the 16 times (Thank Wonn for 2 of those 3 instances). He only beat his brother ONCE the whole freaking round. I think the picture is nearly crystal clear at this point.
Stin: Thanks for playing Mike, tourney's over for you it seems though:) Also, could Lane have had a much more favorable draw for a big match than this?
Round 6 - Television B
2nd pick(1)Cooper Lovera-(Peach-)09-05-02-00-39
1st pick(4)Nathan Stinson(Toad--)06-05-05-00-33
4th pick(5)Kevin Booth---(Bowser)01-06-09-00-24
3rd pick(8)Mike Calahan--(Yoshi-)00-00-00-16-00
KB:COOPER FOR THE WIN! This could be heard quite often. This was defintely Coops best performance. With only TWO 3rd places this round, and winning over half his races, it's clear that Cooper
is back, and finally had the round to separate him from the bottom rung of this tourniment. Stinson didn't do bad, but he needed to dominate for a slim chance of catching Layne for the #1 spot, but since
he didn't, he just needs to hang on to protect his #2 seeding. What can we say about Booth? He did have a heavy, but NINE times in 3rd place?? I'm suprised Calahan didn't take one from him on
this round. Looks like Wonn has new life here.
Stin: Booth ftl! I don' remember what happened to me here, so I can't think of any likely excuses.Through ROUND 6
1. Josh Layne-----42-39-42-32-32-44-231
2. Nathan Stinson-37-40-32-21-33-33-196
3. Cooper Lovera--29-33-33-23-38-39-195
4. Kevin Booth----35-25-29-48-22-24-183
5. David Wonn-----26-32-30-20-38-30-176
6. Brent Dennison-06-14-21-27-09-19-096
7. Mike Dennison--17-09-05-21-20-03-075
8. Mike Calahan---00-00-00-00-00-00-000
KB:Yep, Unless Layne basically doesn't even show up to the next 2 rounds, we got our #1 player. However we don't know who's going to be 2 or 3, or 4 or 5 yet. By virtue of
2 strong rounds from Cooper, he puts himself in a position to get a 2nd seed over Stinson, and by Booth choking hardcore with the Heavies, Wonn now has a great
chance for the final qualifying spot. However, there is a problem, and you'll see on that one... Stin: What are you talkin about here?Round 7 - Television A
4th pick(4)Nathan Stinson(Bowser)09-04-03-00-38
3rd pick(2)David Wonn----(Peach-)06-07-03-00-35
1st pick(6)Brent Dennison(Yoshi-)01-05-10-00-23
2nd pick(8)Mike Calahan--(Toad--)00-00-00-16-00
KB:Wonn finally gets the strong round he's been seaking the whole tourniment! This puts the pressure on Booth for sure. Stinson has a strong round with 9 wins in
this favorable draw for him. However, check this out... BRENT FOR THE WIN!!! Also 5 2nd places to go along with that, so he played spoiler quite well, and that
23 point performance should pretty much lock up 6th place for Brent vs his Brother and Rival! Stin: Yeah, Brent won one... on DKJP I think? Me and Wonn couldnt do the sc for squat :( I didn't have a bad draw for this biggie round, so I think I locked up 2nd in this round because of Coopers showing with HIS biggie.
Round 7 - Television B
3rd pick(3)Josh Layne----(Peach-)09-07-00-00-41
2nd pick(5)Kevin Booth---(Toad--)04-05-03-04-25
4th pick(1)Cooper Lovera-(Bowser)03-03-08-02-23
1st pick(7)Mike Dennison-(Yoshi-)00-01-05-10-07
KB:Layne once again dominates, but the surprise here is how bad Cooper did. He even finished behind Booth! Well hopes of that 2nd seed are going down the drain, and
if he really slips up in the last round he could even be out of it. EIGHT 3rd places is no way for a top seed to place. Booth once again struggles despite getting
his favorite driver this round. He should have gotten at least 30 points, because now, it looks like Wonn is most likely in, and Booth will be sitting this one out.
Nearly half of Booth's races were sub 2nd place, but worse is Cooper with having 10 of his 16 races outside the top 2. Josh Layne never finished worse than 2nd
place this whole round, so Kudos for not letting up despite pretty much having this wrapped up!
Stin: NEVER give up!
1. Josh Layne-----42-39-42-32-32-44-41-272
2. Nathan Stinson-37-40-32-21-33-33-38-234
3. Cooper Lovera--29-33-33-23-38-39-23-218
4. David Wonn-----26-32-30-20-38-30-35-211
5. Kevin Booth----35-25-29-48-22-24-25-208
6. Brent Dennison-06-14-21-27-09-19-23-119
7. Mike Dennison--17-09-05-21-20-03-07-082
8. Mike Calahan---00-00-00-00-00-00-00-000
KB:Well, this is where we're at. Layne is guaranteed 16 points in the final round due to Calahan not being present, so even if he didn't pick up the controller, he'd still
get 16 points, which means we already know Josh Layne is our champion. However the final 4 spots aren't decided yet. It looks pretty solid for Stinson, but if
Cooper was to have an awesome round and Sinson was to bomb vs Booth, Cooper would pull off the miracle. Stinson has really been a suprise this tourney and has
played strong in nearly all his rounds. Cooper has shown up to some rounds and not others. Wonn has struggled with the shortcuts, and Booth, well, what can we say about him?
Despite Wonn's lack of competitiveness most of the tourney, I really think the fact that Booth dropped from 2nd to 5th with that seeding hand me down, he's the one going home, and
Wonn will get that final spot. Stin: Booth's gift round and round 1 really keeping him alive here despite other lackluster rounds! Also, if not for my 2 bad rounds, I might have had a shot for 1st... ah well... dang you coops!
Round 8 - Television A
3rd pick(4)Nathan Stinson(Peach-)07-07-02-00-37
1st pick(5)Kevin Booth---(Toad--)08-04-02-02-34
2nd pick(6)Brent Dennison(Yoshi-)01-03-07-05-16
4th pick(7)Mike Dennison-(Bowser)00-02-05-09-09
KB:Well Stinson won the Battle, but Kevin may have won the war he was planning to. With favorable seeding here, Booth stands a good chance at his 34 standing for
the victory. He just needs Wonn to store 31 or less. 32 and Wonn and him are going to have to go at it... TURNPIKE REVERSE STYLE! And you thought that track was
confusing before... Booth won the final 3 races after getting both his 4th places in the previous races. Brent finds a way to win his 2nd race, and wins a race in a round
the 2nd time straight. It appears Brent is improving, but sadly, this is the final round, so no more chances to improve after this.
Stin: He got good when it counted... and we all had a group choke job to allow Booth to get into the GP rounds... sorry Wonn, we were feeling sorry for Booth!
Round 8 - Television B
3rd pick(1)Cooper Lovera-(Peach-)05-09-02-00-35
2nd pick(3)Josh Layne----(Toad--)06-04-06-00-32
4th pick(2)David Wonn----(Bowser)05-03-08-00-29
1st pick(8)Mike Calahan--(Yoshi-)00-00-00-16-00
KB:With Layne semi-choking, and Wonn getting 5 wins, you'd think that would be enough to lock up a 4th place, but Booth had one of the best rounds he's done in
the tourney, and that and sickeningly lucky seeding gives Wonn the toss here. Cooper had a very strong round to take the win here, with NINE 2nd places, which is
very good against Layne and Wonn, cause between those 2, they are either racing him hard, or doing shortcuts better, so this was the right round for Cooper to do
good and lock away that 3rd spot from Booth and co. Booth could have been seeded 3rd if Cooper would have scored 24 or less, and that's not been unheard of for him
in rounds with the like competition. Lets see where were at now... Stin: Very evenly matched round surprisingly.THROUGH 8 ROUNDS (FINAL SCORES)
1. Josh Layne-----42-39-42-32-32-44-41-32-304
2. Nathan Stinson-37-40-32-21-33-33-38-37-271
3. Cooper Lovera--29-33-33-23-38-39-23-35-253
4. Kevin Booth----35-25-29-48-22-24-25-34-242
5. David Wonn-----26-32-30-20-38-30-35-29-240
6. Brent Dennison-06-14-21-27-09-19-23-16-135
7. Mike Dennison--17-09-05-21-20-03-07-09-091
8. Mike Calahan---00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-000
KB:Man, talk about close between Wonn and Booth. IMO All 5 really should have advanced at this point, but 4 is what we decided on, so sadly, Wonn was the 5th Wheel. Either way,
Booth gets one last chance at regaining his reputation, while Cooper and Stinson have a college grudge battle! Not much else to discuss with these results, so well instead
talk about the other scoreboard I calculated by hand... Stin: I knew I had 2nd wrapped up so I let up on Booth near the end;-) and WOW. I was consistent except for that 21 ROUND? what the heck?VS-150cc-NTSC-ALL 16 PLAYED
1.(3)Josh Layne------ 74-34-14-006 = 304
2.(4)Nathan Stinson-- 54-42-25-007 = 271
3.(1)Cooper Lovera--- 41-52-26-009 = 253
4.(5)Kevin Booth----- 43-39-35-011 = 242
5.(2)David Wonn------ 42-39-36-011 = 240
6.(6)Brent Dennison-- 02-34-61-031 = 135
7.(7)Michael Dennison 00-16-59-053 = 091
8.(8)Michael Calahan- 00-00-00-128 = 000
KB:This board speaks novels. Layne just dominates here with all but 20 races in the top 2. Stinson and Cooper really are close as far as top 2s go, but the difference is that
Stinson wins in the clutch, and Cooper tends to just try for the consistent finish here. That's what ended up keeping him from the top seed here, but that definitely doesn't
say Cooper can't beat Stinson, and we'll get to see that head to head. Really Kevin's stats here are quite shifty, cause 16 of his 43 wins came in that cheap round, and even vs
one other competitor, he'd probably only get half of those wins and Wonn would have easily advanced, but Wonn admits that he would have been no match vs Layne, cause when he had his
chance at Layne, he lost nearly every race, despite his shortcut reputation. Lastly, we congratulate Brent and Micheal Dennison for giving it the best shot they could. Honestly, I would
have quit if I got beat this bad, but we thank them for being good sports and driving all this way to get clobbered, but hey, that's how Kart goes, and they
know the drill. Humility I'm sure will make them stronger in future competitions, and I have no doubt they will be back! Stin: This speaks it all, I was clearly the 2nd best racer of the tourney, just got shafted in the next round ;-)GP-150cc-NTSC-ALL 4 CUPS
(Day 2)
KB:We had time to bust out part of the GP rounds. Stinson has to go home early, so we barely got this one in.Semi's
1.(1) Josh Layne------ 24-27-36-30 = 117
4.(4) Kevin Booth----- 33-24-18-24 = 099
KB:This score was a lot closer than it appears. The first race really set the standards here, because Layne was about to win, but then... HE HITS A FAKE AT THE FINISH LINE... Then Kevin
nails him with Triple Reds, and he finishes 3rd. Outside of that, he didn't even place in Choco, cause of falling off first the higher level with a star, than worse, ends up falling off the lower
area to the canyon on the same stroke. What finally let Layne in was Booths unexpected 3rd place finish in Mario Raceway, A sorry showing in most of Star cup, and lastly, getting 0 points on Bowser. After that, it was decided, but not without Booth making his final stand and giving Layne at least something to think about.
(Day 3: Except 1 Cup)
2.(3) Cooper Lovera--- 30-30-24-28 = 112
3.(2) Nathan Stinson-- 30-24-30-00 = 084
KB:This matchup had to be done throughout 2 days. The first day it seemed very even, but once they resumed, Stinson got constantly screwed by items, and then the
Special Cup happened, and he all of a sudden forgot how to do the DK SC, and lost 9 points there. Then Yoshi Valley went to hell, and then he had to get medieval
in Banshee, and it nearly worked! Cooper got the 4th place finish he needed to clinch it, so Stinson opted out of Rainbow, and we didn't make Cooper play rainbow alone, so
we ended it there, and we quickly went to the Bronze Match. Stin: After DKJP, I just gave up, hence no points for the last 3 races. I knew it was over.... TWO TIMES Cooper got a lightning bolt in SECOND PLACE on the LAST LAP and used it on the LAST CORNER to pass me and win.... that says it all... Also, how the heck did I forget the DKJP SC? I won that level almost EVERY time in the VS round and couldn't do it here:(
(day 3)
Bronze
3.(2) Nathan Stinson-- 33-36-24-18 = 111
4.(4) Kevin Booth----- 24-21-24-36 = 105
KB:Nathan got the revenge he seeked. He pretty much owned Booth here, and honestly, he let totally off the last 2 cups cause it really wasn't all that important to him. He came to win this
and was quite disappointed so the Bronze was just the Bronze. Booth took the opportunity to win his last 5 races in a row to retire his controller with respect.
Stin: Didn't really try hard near the end, but Booth still did VERY well on Special Cup, probably would have won all the races either way.
Gold + Silver
1.(1)Josh Layne------- 30-33-36-36 = 135
2.(3)Cooper Lovera---- 27-27-18-24 = 096
KB:We were hoping for a better final round, but Layne was really at the top of his game, and Cooper, as we discussed before relies on consistent and solid driving, rather than parlor tricks, (COUGH BOOTH COUGH) so
Layne never scored under 30 points on his way to a blowout victory here.
Stin: Didn't get to see this round as I had to be taken to the bus dropoff by now... so I'd like to see this later.
Coops SYNOPSIS: overall, this was some pretty intense stuff. i did not expect layne to be as good as he was in VS play, even though i knew he had the experience. i also didnt expect as many messups on my part through out the whole tourney, though i imagine my predicted number 1 seed gave me some false hope of an easy victory. overall, stinson i think was the surprise in this whole tourney, as well as wonn not being as good as predicted. in the end, however, layne won, as was evident from the very beginning, and i still ended up second, although i felt pretty bad for stinson, as he got really gayed by items in my GP round against him. i would have liked to have seen brent and mike go at it, just to continue the fraternal rivalry, and its too bad calahan didnt give a better showing of himself!!! lol, but yeah, fun stuff overall, and i'm hoping we get alot more people at the next one that is organized!
PEACE, COOPS Stin: Yeah, congrats Coop, wish you would have won though (to keep Layne from the sweep, but oh well, at least he didn't win the Battle mode. Wonn dominated that.)
LayneSYNOPSIS: my versus experience really did pay off for me this weekend. a really huge part of my ability to win was knowing how and when to use my items. it's pretty key to be able pull out into first and then be able to use the bananas and green shells to your fullest advantage. i'll be the first to tell you what my vs. strat is (especially on the later, more difficult boards): i like to get out in front early using whatever items i get, then concentrate fully on not screwing up and allowing the 2/3/4th players to destroy each other with items.
i'll see you guys at weatherton's place next year.. practice up!
Stin: Yeah, when I did that though, you got some awesome items to catch up (hence the "Layne effect" ;-))