2001 Report
Fifteen players turned out for the Victory in the Pacific Tournament on Friday and Saturday, August 31-September 1 at Conquest 2001 in Palo Alto, CA. The tournament ran quite smoothly, and the quality of the field was the highest it has ever been, with 6 players currently in the top 25 on the AREA list in attendance. What a difference a year makes! Attendance was up considerably (6 additional players) from last year. Thus the addition of a fourth round in advance of the event proved to be a wise decision. The top story of the tournament had to be the sophomore season return of 10 year old Eric Kam!
Last year Eric scared the pants off everyone he played. This year, he mostly crushed them. Eric blew away Alan Applebaum in 3 turns in round 1, John Pack in 3 or 4 turns in round 2, and Ed Menzel in 5 turns in round 3. I managed to survive turn 3 (it was REALLY BAD) against Eric in round 4 and slowly improved my position enough to force a concession at the end of turn 7. My advice for future games is don't give Eric the IJN! No bid may be high enough. While Eric still needs more tactical polish and a bit more precision in his ship counting, his strategic grasp of the IJN opening is excellent and he is absolutely fearless! Needless to say, he had a sensational event, going 3-1 against the top 4 players on the crosstable, all of whom are currently in the top ten on the AREA list.
Statistics
A total of 28 games were played, 7 in each round. This is 17 more games played than last year! There were quite a few spectators who came by and checked out the action. I'd say boardgame attendance at Conquest this year was around 200. The new venue in Palo Alto was an improvement over last year, (especially the parking situation) although the boardgame area seems isolated from the rest of the CON.
The Japanese won 19 games, the US 8 and there was one tie. We played with the I-Boat and CPO balance adjustments in all of the games. Despite this, bidding occurred in 26 of the games, and the IJN was the preferred side in all bids. The 2 games with no bid were won by the IJN. The bids ranged from 1 to 4.5. The average bid (when made) was 3.44, and 3.5 was by far the most common bid, being accepted in 9 of the games. Overall in the event, the break point for the bid was between 4.0 and 4.5. Pretty amazing given the adjustments used. 7-8 years ago Alan and I used to consider a bid of 2.5 without adjustments for the IJN fair! In the 4 games where the IJN bid 4.5, they scored 1-3, whereas at 4 and below the IJN record was 17.5-6.5.
I also did a separate (superficial) analysis of the scores and bids of all of the players who scored at least 2-2 in the event. The IJN scored 8-4 in those games, with an average bid of 3.92. The lowest bid was 3. Of these 12 games, 3 of the 4 Allied wins were in games with a 4.5 POC bid. The other Allied win was at 3.5. In these 12 games the IJN record was:
at 4.5 1-3 at 4.0 3-0 at 3.5 3-1 at 3.0 1-0
Clearly the results of this event indicate that the IJN sweet spot bid is 4. Of course the sample size is rather small, but one works with the data one has at hand. Perhaps John can provide more definite numbers based on the mass of data he has from the PBEM events he runs, but of course, PBEM is not quite the same as FTF, since more time is available for thinking by e-mail, at least in theory.
The specialists of the tournament were Eric Kam, who played the IJN in all 4 of his games and John Newman, who went 1-2 as the Allies after missing the first round.
The tournament was won by Ray Freeman, who as the US, defeated Eric Kam in the championship game. Ray finished with a 4-0 record, the only perfect score of the event. Three players tied for second with 3-1 records. Eric took second place with 12 tie break points, while Ed Menzel and Alan Applebaum finished in a dead heat for 3rd, both with 7.5 TB points. (The tie breaks are the sum of the scores of your opponents, and thus a good indicator of strength of schedule) Eric clearly had the toughest schedule by far, followed distantly by Nick Markevich with 9.5 and Scott Beall and myself with 9.0.
Nick Markevich, Scott Beall, John Pack, Martin Costa, and Brad Solberg finished with 2-2 scores. These guys listed in TB order. Scott and Martin were playing at Conquest for the first time, as of course was Alan.
Somewhat to my surprise, I won the event and took home the first plaque awarded at Conquest for VITP, a small wood and gold shield with an engraving of the IMS Akagi on it. I will make the plaque a little bigger next year as it seemed a bit smaller than I expected it would be. (I ordered it over the internet) I think everyone had a pretty good time and hopefully all of this years participants will return in 2002, although Alan's presence at Conquest was a happy coincidence. Apparently he induced his family to arrange their annual vacation around the Con. John Pack flew in from Utah and Scott Beall came down from Portland, Oregon. Bobby Clinton and Ed Menzel flew up from Southern California, so the event can rightfully claim itself as a western states championship. If attendance continues to grow, we'll add rounds as necessary to accommodate the field.
Round One
Ed Menzel as the IJN beat Jack Gin with a turn 4 knockout. Jack dispersed his LBA too much on turn 3 and took serious losses while losing Pearl. Ed also flagged Samoa. As a result, the US was too weak to hold Samoa on turn 4 and it was flipped as well. John Pack successfully set up a turn 2 Marshalls block against Dell Kam, holding Dell's IJN to a maximum of 15 POC.
Eric Kam got off to a sensational start with his patented 2 area wide open attack against Alan Applebaum. Eric nailed all 4 LBA on turn 1 and took Midway with Yokosuka. Alan chose to fight in the Mandate and was 5 long (with 3 BBs) on the surface. Eric apparently chose night twice in a row despite the surface lap (Alan assented) and ripped Alan's escort to shreds. Meanwhile Alan was mostly disabling the IJN CVs. Then Eric managed to get a 3rd night against the flag (by now he was 5 LONG on the surface) and blasted 3 of Alan's CVs out of the water. The next round was day leading to more mutual CV losses. On turn 3 Alan left 6 LBA to defend Hawaii against 9 CV. Eric's carriers shot well and wiped out the LBA with minimal losses. Alan also went into the SPO with his remaining fleet and got hammered again. Having no carriers and only 8 US/Allied surface left on the board after 3 turns, Alan resigned.
Ray managed to win a tough 5 turn game against Scott Beall when he established the full Applebaum perimeter (Midway was still in US hands, but devoid of ships) and sunk all of the US CVs. However, it wasn't all that easy. I managed to lose 5 fleet carriers on turn 2 while sinking only 2 US CVs. A battle in the Mandate on 2 was an IJN debacle as all 4 speed 8 CVs were sunk while only killing 2 of 4 US CVs in the process, despite a day action on round 1. When the I-Boat also missed, I had to retire since Scott still had an operational carrier. He killed 2 or 3 more ships in the pursuit. Fortunately for me, I got night in the Hawaiian Islands and blasted Scott's suicide CV and took Johnson. This saved my bacon as no way I can take Hawaii with 5 fleet carriers on the bottom and no LBA support. The amusing incident of the game was a day/night battle on turn 2 in Indonesia. Junyo missed Hermes in the day part, but somehow the IJN LBA took out all of its escorts. In the ensuing night action, Hermes and Junyo sunk each other with surface gunnery! Needless to say, after the debacle in the Mandate, I was in shock until the night action in Hawaii lifted my chances and spirits out of the gutter.
The second big upset of the tournament came when Martin Costa managed to win a very tough 8 turn game against Brad Solberg's IJN. Martin got 4 ships out of Pearl and I think both groups X and Y showed up in Hawaii. Martin chose to stay and Brad got Day, sinking both US carriers, but little else. Then Martin managed a night and sank a couple of IJN CVs with gunnery. Brad lost 4 carriers on turn 1 to Martin's 2, but more importantly, control of the HI and 3 POC were saved and Martin eventually was able to repair all but two of his 10 ships from Pearl Harbor. After many vicissitudes, the game ended at 1:15 am with a massive battle in the Japanese Islands, coming down to 2 US CVLs vs an undamaged LBA. One of the highlights of this battle was that Martin's US cruisers appeared to be using nuclear warheads. They literally mowed down the IJN CAs like so much wheat. In the final combat round, the LBA blew up one of the carriers, but Martin's return fire took down the LBA for a narrow win.
In other games, Nick Markevich beat Robert Greene and Bobby Clinton beat Larry Grein in Larry's very first game of VITP.
Round Two
Ed Menzel and Bobby Clinton played a rematch of last years final, with Ed taking the IJN this time. Ed managed to flip Pearl on turn 3 and sneak SNLF into Lae and Guadacanal at night on turn 4. Ed established a solid perimeter and maxed the POC and on turn 6, Bobby fought at a disadvantage in Hawaii as conservative play seemed out of the question. Ed's CVs and LBA were hot and wrecked the US carrier fleet in the first round. After 6 turns the IJN were still sitting at 29 and Bobby conceded the math lock. Meanwhile, Eric continued his march towards the championship by blasting John Pack. The only notes I have are that John says he lost every significant battle. Perhaps he can provide some supplemental detail. Alan recovered with a win when Nick defended Indonesia with only 3 LBA vs 2 US CVs and the British. Alan took no losses in the battle and saved Singapore. Alan also played for the Marshalls block and suicided at Pearl. The block failed but the suicide CV stopped Yokosuka's invasion of Johnson. Nick played on for several more turns but was unable to recover Singapore or take Pearl and resigned on turn 6.
Ray had another tough fight against Martin Costa, eventually achieving a math lock at the end of turn 6. I can't remember too many details of the game, but I know I made one horrible blunder after another. At one point I had to ask Martin if he had put hallucinogenic drugs in his after shave! His US cruisers seemed as deadly against me as they were against Brad. Somehow, despite all my tactical faux pas, I managed to play competently enough to survive. I know I failed to patrol the Aleutians on turn 2, for some reason had to patrol Japan with Hiyo on turn 3, fought 2 battles in the wrong order on turn 4 causing me to lose my LBA support, and missed an open raiding lane to Japan costing me 3 POC. I think I made more mistakes in that one game than I made all last year. I do recall that Martin was able to skillfully save Pearl on turn 3, Samoa on turn 4, and Pearl again on turn 5. Every time I thought I was going to flip one of his home ports, something happened to blow my plans.
Brad's troubles continued as Scott Beall held on as the IJN to win a close 8 turn game. Scott got off to a fast start as the IJN when he cleaned out Pearl, including 7th AF and Indonesia as well. Brad suicided on turn 2 to save Johnson and won a battle in SPO to save Lae. Scott was able to convert Pearl and smash the turn 3 reinforcements, but gave up control of Indonesia to do so. Then, in a bit of IJN luck on turn 4, Yamato held the Jap Islands alone against 2 patrolling BBs, sinking the last one with a single die due to being crippled the previous round and surviving the return fire...a 6 POC swing! The final battle was in the NPO, as Scott needed only to steal one POC to win. Nevertheless, it took several rounds of combat to snuff out Brad's last chances. Jack Gin as the IJN managed a win against John Newman in the only game to be adjudicated. Fortunately, the situation was quite clearly an IJN winning position. Jack was late for the round due to a very slow restaurant at the hotel and John came in an hour after the round had officially begun, so they were very late in getting underway. Robert Greene as the IJN won against Dell Kam. With one turn to go, Robert was up 17.5 POC after applying the bid. Larry Grein sat out round 2
Round 3
Eric continued to terrorize the top of the crosstable, beating defending champ Ed Menzel in 5 turns. Ed managed to save Singapore and the Philippines on turn 2 and control the SPO, but Eric flagged both Hawaii and the USM, shooting down 3 US LBA in the USM and then smashing up the US Battleships there. Eric won the Hawaii battle on turn 3 against the remaining 3 US LBA and flipped Pearl. The decisive battle of the turn (and game) occurred in the Mandate where 4 US CV and the US surface fleet (only 1 BB, for a one ship lap) faced an IJN force with 3 CVLs. Eric got night several times in a row and managed to sink or disable all of the US CVs with gunfire...US carriers never were a factor. Samoa flipped. Then on turn 5, Eric slipped an SNLF through to New Hebrides at night, disabling the US LBA there, and ending Ed's last hopes.
As there were only three players with 2 wins, John Pack (as the #2 seed) was paired up against Ray. John took the IJN for 4.5 and played a very unusual opening, taking me by surprise and pushing my back to the wall. He did very well at PH, sinking all my BBs, but a heavily damaged POW managed to escape in Indonesia. However, Hermes was sunk by the I-Boat. On turn 2, he sent Yokosuka to the Coral Sea, and forced me to fight in Hawaii. I won the battle, but lost 2 CVs, IIRC. The SNLF then seized Port Moresby. Meanwhile, in a critical event, the Royal Navy got a night action in Indonesia and sent Junyo to the bottom without loss, escaping the IJN LBA cover under night skies. Obviously, John Intended to isolate Australia and perhaps the entire British sector. However, I could do little about this and Samoa fell on turn 3 and Australia was threatened with capture on turn 4. I overestimated my LBA's ability to hold Samoa and placed 4 plus a damaged on there and one in the SPO. All should have gone to the USM. John had 7 CVs and CVLs and blasted my LBA to bits over two rounds of combat. The British were completely ineffective against John's air units on turn 3, but luckily again no Brit CVs were lost. Fortunately for me, I had a nearly intact British surface fleet and both turn 3 marines. John then made what may have been the losing mistake on turn 4 by sending a powerful surface patrol to the Indian Ocean covered by 3 LBA. I countered with my two remaining LBA, Illustrious, and the entire British fleet. Meanwhile I sent marines to New Hebrides (lost by isolation on turn 3) and the Philippines (via Midway) and attempted to control or raid the entire western theater.
John got night in the Indian Ocean and sent my CV home (fortunately only a disable...a very significant event as it turned out). However, the British smashed the IJN surface forces in two night rounds, sending many badly needed Imperial ships to the bottom. However, both of my LBA were shot down for no losses (or damage) at all and the rising sun flew over Australia! This is the first time I have ever seen Australia fall. With both Samoa and Australia gone, I figured I was in deep kimchee, but I did own New Hebrides, Guadacanal, Philippines, Midway, Attu, DH and of course Pearl. Also, I must point out that John had only 3 operational carriers on turn 4, which included Hosho and Zuiho. 3 of his CVs were in Yokosuka getting repaired after being crippled on turn 3, and had to be guarded by 2 LBA which weakened the rest of the entire board except for the areas of "Operation Down Under".
On turn 5, I controlled both Coral Sea and Indian Ocean when Illustrious blew a lone damaged LBA out of the sky in the IO. Illustrious then repeated the feat on turn 6 and suddenly John had no fleet, no perimeter, no bases, no POC and I had both Samoa and Australia back! With John's raw POC count sitting at 12 going into turn 7, he resigned. This was definitely one of the most unusual games of VITP I have ever played. I had no clue as to how to proceed after turn 3. Alan looked at the position and commented: "You're on your own, I've never seen Australia fall." John is to be commended for trying this rather offbeat strategy. Except for the brilliance of the Royal Navy on turns 2, 4, 5 and 6, he may well have won the game.
Alan as the IJN won an easy victory against Bobby Clinton. Alan sunk 9 ships at Pearl. On turn 2, Bobby defended USM with 3 LBA so Alan sent his fleet to Hawaii and the Coral Sea. Bobby raided Coral, CPO and Aleutians, but failed to win a single day/night roll and Alan flagged everything but the Coral Sea. With no CVs left and only 5 surviving surface ships, Bobby resigned at the end of turn 2. Brad got into the win column with a 6 turn math lock as the IJN against Dell. Nick won as the IJN against Scott. Scott had 3 of his US CVs sunk on turn 2 and the other 2 were crippled. Although a suicide in Hawaii worked against Yokosuka, the Marshalls block failed and in other action no IJN CV were sunk. The IJN carrier force at full strength easily flipped Pearl on turn 3 when Scott played to try to save Samoa. Scott played on through turn 5 but was unable to reverse the tide and lost his remaining carriers in failed attempts to keep raiding lanes open. Jack Gin and Robert Greene played to a rare tie result. The bid was 3. John Newman won his first game, knocking out Larry Grein's IJN in only 3 turns.
Round 4
Brad won as the IJN in a 5 turn game against John Newman. Brad achieved the perfect position (the full Applebaum) after 5 turns. Ed sent Nick's IJN down to defeat in a 7 turn game. Nick had a good turn 2, taking many key bases, but not Midway or Johnson, however 3 US CVs were sunk. Unfortunately for Nick, Ed's LBA were successful at defending PH against 11 IJN CVs, saving PH, the 3 BBs and the marines. On turn 4, and again on turn 5, US forces turned back SNLF seeking to convert Guadacanal. At the end of turn 5, SPO was under US control and the Marshalls was open as well. Ed managed to drive the raw POC count to 11 (6.5 after the bid) with one turn to go and Nick resigned. John Pack got back into the win column with an IJN win over Robert. No other details are available. Alan played a one area attack on turn 2 due to strong pressure on Indonesia. Jack placed 2 LBA in Hawaii on turn 2, which stopped Yokosuka, but the LBA died and Alan was able to take Pearl on turn 3 with a single combat round, losing no carriers. After 5 turns, Alan had the full Applebaum position and Jack resigned. Martin, playing the IJN, beat Larry.
Scott, playing the Allies managed a win over Bobby. Bobby's Pearl raid was mediocre, and ships in various states escaped. The Brits also got away in Indonesia and 3 CVs ended up in Australia. Bobby had to place all 6 LBA in Indonesia and as a result, Scott was able to play loosely with his CVs on turn 2. His standard suicide attempt failed, however. On turn 3, Pearl flipped to red and the marines were sunk, but the 3 trapped BBs got away. The next two turns ended with the POC at only 24, and US flags in the HI and the US still holding Guadacanal, leaving the road open to Indonesia. Scot flipped PH back to blue on turn 6 and took Lae, really putting the squeeze on Bobby's fragile position. With the POC standing at 11 (7.5 after the bid) entering turn 8, Bobby resigned as he had insufficient force to hold more than one area.
The championship game between Eric and Ray started with Eric taking the IJN for a bid of 4.5. Next year I think I'll make him go to 5. Turn one was mixed. I think I got the better of it. At Pearl, Eric sunk 8 ships, leaving me with a damaged BB and a cripple. However, the POW, Repulse and 5th AF survived when Eric's LBA went cold in Indonesia. Both the 5th and 7th AF had 2 points of damage however. Then 4 US CVs and 8 CA showed up in the CPO. Eric took the free withdrawal and I dumped 3 CV into Aussieland. POC=6.
On turn 2, I placed all my LBA in Hawaii and Eric sent 4 CV there and 5 CV to USM. I decided to send a suicide CV to Hawaii to make sure I won the area and went after the peripheral areas and CPO. Surprise! Eric got night in Hawaii, sunk my CV, then blew 3.75 of my LBA out of the sky! Suddenly Hawaii and the Mandate were flagged and my situation was desperate. 2 US CV went down, but Midway, Attu, DH, and the Philippines were still blue. POC=13.
My strategy of saving PH with LBA and placing my fleet in the Northeast and CPO was shown to be a disaster. I had to reposition virtually all of my ships to Australia in the hope that I could save Samoa on turn 3. Eric over patrolled, sending nearly his whole surface fleet out, and too many ships went to Hawaii (6 would have been plenty). I put everything on raid and prayed. Eric did not send CVs to Hawaii, but his lap and the flag convinced me that 2 CAs and a CV had no chance there. He further hurt himself by patrolling 2 CA in Marianas, backed up with 2 CVL. This made the USM fight a lot easier for me. I was able to fight in the USM with 3 LBA and 2 CV vs 6 CV. It was one of those battles where everything seemed to go right for the US and I scored a smashing victory in the Mandate.
Turn 4 was mostly a disaster for me. I was able to break IJN control in Hawaii, the only bright spot from my POV. In the Marianas, Eric got an SNLF through to the Philippines despite day and despite 2 US LBA. This not only captured the base, but disabled my 2 LBA in Marianas and 4 more in Indonesia. Then Eric's 3 LBA in Indonesia sank one marine and put 4 damage on the other and disabled it. I had hoped to take at least Lae back. Eric reached 29 POC on turn 4.
From then on my notes are pretty sketchy, but I think I got Pearl back on turn 6, trimmed off 5 POC that turn, and was able to pound on Eric's fleet on turns 5-7. After I blew 4 of his LBA out of the sky on turn 7 in Indonesia, Eric gave up. It was a very tough fight. Eric left the door open a crack for me on turn 3 and the dice helped me kick it open. The tide really turned on turn 5, and even though I was unable to cut into his POC lead that turn, my board position and ship attrition situ had improved considerably, enabling me to make big gains on turns 6 and 7. Eric had 12 raw POC going into turn 8 and it was doubtful he could prevent me from controlling the entire board.
I would have to say the tournament was very much a success. The competition was very tough, the turnout was excellent, and there was a lot of socializing and comraderie as well. Next year promises to be another tough event, as I am optimistic that everyone but Alan will return. I had a great time, as usual (hey, I actually won too!), and will be looking forward to next year with eager anticipation. Boardgaming at Conquest this year was very well attended and the CON seems to be getting stronger as a boardgaming venue each year.
I just got back from Conquest. It was a glorious 2 day, four round affair! Ray Freeman, the GM, won the event by winning all four rounds against stiff competition and taking home the plaque he'd prepared for the event!
The VITP tournament drew 15 players all-together and made a definite impression on the whole convention (since the largest board game tournaments -- Axis and Allies & Settlers of Catan -- only drew 16 and didn't last as long). In fact, there were 14 players in each of the first three rounds -- with 12 hanging around for the final round! That's the best staying-power of any VITP tournament I've ever been in!
The field did not lack for quality either as Alan Applebaum flew in from Boston, I came from Utah, Ed Menzel (last year's champ) and Bobby Clinton came from LA, and Ray Freeman, Nick Markevich, Jack Gin, Dell and Eric Kam, and many others came from the local area. Hopefully we'll see them all on the PBEM ladder!
Eric Kam proved that quality comes in small packages! The ten-year-old started things off with a bang by defeating Alan Applebaum in 3 turns (Alan had very few surface ships left in his USN navy and wishes he'd never agreed to that first night action on Turn 2 when it turned into three more night actions in a row)! Eric then flipped Pearl and Samoa against me in his second round! In the third round, he took a bit longer to crush Ed Menzel. And, in the championship match, it looked as if he'd be beating Ray Freeman until a miraculous turnaround on Turns 4 and 5. Even so, it wasn't clear that Ray would win until Turn 6 was over. Dell Kam, his father, went 0-3 but proved that he's an excellent teacher!
For myself, my first game against Dell Kam was decided on Turn 2 and 3. On Turn 2, I establish the Marshalls block (along with flags in the U.S. Mandate and CPO). On Turn 3, I won in the Mandate again and set up a PoC disaster for the IJN. In round two, I was annihilated by Eric despite having good odds in 3 of the 4 battles he needed to convert Pearl and Samoa. I learned a valuable lesson, however. In games where Midway is taken on Turn 1, I will patrol the Marshalls with 4 CAs so that the IJN can't deny control so easily.
The third round was the most interesting game vs. eventual champ and GM, Ray Freeman. I was the IJN (for 4) and went with a full court press on Turn 2 with the NLF in the Coral Sea. With the Shoho failing its speed roll to the Hawaiians, Ray elected to contest that area (vs 3 CVs and I-boat). With a first round day action, I thought I'd be sitting pretty -- but only two small USN CVs were sunk (no damage or disable on the others) while all three IJN CVs were lost. That set up some surface losses (though not as bad as they could have been). This wouldn't have been so bad except that the British had managed to sink Junyo at night in Indo and escape without CV loss.
With the US Mandate and Coral Sea (together with SPO and Marshalls) under my control, I elected to invade Port Moresby. On Turn 3 my remaining 8 CVs beat 5 LBA to take Samoa while my LBA took Indian Ocean and Coral Sea. However, due to my error, I failed to take SPO and let Ray have it for a single LBA. My last LBA should have gone to SPO instead of Marshalls.
Nonetheless, the game was still a good contest. On Turn 4, my LBA took Coral Sea and Indian Ocean again to convert Australia. Unfortunately, I mistakenly sent my fleet into Indian Ocean -- which wasn't needed (since there was no Marine available to take Port Moresby). That turned into disaster when the IJN shot poorly at night and the Brits shot lights out (sinking 8-9 ships).
Had I used my fleet to keep the Marines out of New Hebrides and control the Mandate that turn, I probably would have had the makings of a good game. However, with the loss of the fleet, the USN punched hole after hole in my lines -- including the CPO on Turn 5 (despite my using every possible resource in the CPO myself). That spelled the end despite my having reached 29 PoC.
The final Brit CV proved decisive by itself -- shooting down two LBA (one each on Turns 5 and 6) to deny me the Indian Ocean!
This was the first game where I've managed to take Australia and still lost (and it was a BIG loss)! It was a fun game!
The last game vs. Robert Greene was a typical two-area strike that converts Pearl and sets up the full Applebaum. Of course, when I lost SPO in Turn 5, it looked scary (since the NE corner wasn't quite under control yet). However, on Turn 6 I was able to knock down Attu and Dutch Harbor as well as control the Hawaiians and Japanese Islands (and CPO) to lock up that corner on Turn 7. A final fight on 7 in the Japanese Islands was easy to win for the lock.
Anyway, it was a blast -- I encourage all of you to go next year and make it even better! I'm going to bring my own 10 year old -- hopefully to give Eric some competition! We'll see, but Ray's awesome 4-0 performance may also have vaulted him in the ratings enough to make it to the Top 10 Invitational! Ed, Alan, and Eric finished 3-1 to make the second tier! Congratulations to all of them! It was a blast -- I'm looking forward to it with the whole family next year!