G'Day fellow tuxers……. Its your interim host here once again…….. Its a raining Saturday here right now…….…… Hope you all had a good week……. Been a very quiet week this week…… Has been raining for most of it…… Also been very cold as winter is just around the corner…… Was able to take Natasha out for a walk a few times this week but that was really about it as the rain really set in for most of it……..

My parents video card died this week……. Thankfully I still have a couple of old video cards kicking around…… So they are now rocking a ATI Radeon HD 5850……. I had two of them in my old gaming rig so now they have one of them….

They had an old Nvidia card from around the same time period…… So to 100% make sure there was not going to be any issues caused from the old nvidia drivers in the future……. I rebuilt the system at the same time……. They only use it the check emails and surf the web a bit…… So within an hour it was all back up and running and all setup for them…….


[+..••] As for gaming this week in Emulationville I played [+..••]

Arcade

SegaSonic The Hedgehog (1992 Sega) – Platformer


Console

Gran Turismo 4 (2004 Sony) - Sony PlayStation 2 - Sports (Racing)
NASCAR: Dirt to Daytona (2002 Infogrames) - Sony PlayStation 2 - Sports (Racing)


PC

Grand Theft Auto III (2001 Rockstar) - Steam - Action
Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (2004 Rockstar) - Steam - Action
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (2002 Rockstar) - Steam - Action
NASCAR Heat 5 (2020 Motorsport Games) - Steam - Sports (Racing)


The Dick Trickles Racing Career: Part 16
NASCAR Dirt to Daytona: Part 16
Weekly Dirt Racing Series Season 2: Race 5

Intro music…... Hello and welcome to Left Turn Heaven..... Im Murray Eastlake and today im going to be bringing you all the action from the 2003 Weekly Dirt Racing Series: Round 5 of 10 here at Baxter Fairgrounds Speedway.......

Baxter Fairgrounds Speedway is 0.500 miles long with 8 degrees of banking…. One of the biggest tracks in the Weekly Dirt Racing Series This track requires a lot of horsepower…… While also requiring a good handling car as it is almost a complete circle meaning the car is constantly turning…… It is also a very wide track with lots of room to work with……

Last week Dick Trickle set a new Weekly Dirt Racing Series record when he decimated the field…… Winning by three laps……. Defending champion Josh Ginter had another race to forget and Ted Finger collided with a lapped car on the final turn of the race to lose third place……

We are fast approaching the half way point of the season…… Can Dick Trickle rack up another win???…… Can Josh Ginter recapture the form that won him the championship last year???…….. Can Ted Finger avoid colliding with lapped cars???…...

Dont touch the sets...... Dont touch the dials...... You wont want to miss a single moment of the 2003 Weekly Dirt Racing Series action....… Practice and qualifying are coming up right now…...



Baxter Fairgrounds Speedway…...



Dick Trickle at the track ready to race.…

Practice was a good time for Dick…… He spent most of it working on the gearbox getting the gear ratios right for the track….. And he was looking very vast…….

Qualifying was up next and again Dick Trickle set the fastest time…….. This time a 21.080 to go .4 quicker than Josh Ginter who found some form in qualifying this week…….

Currently sitting second in the championship…… Ted Finger was only to get the fifth quickest time…….


Qualifying Results........

Time had come for the Heat 1 race……. Dick Trickle lead the field as the green flag dropped for the 5 lap race……. And he was off like a brides nightie……. Jeff Fulton who started second just couldnt keep up as Dick was gone by the first turn…….

Ted Finger worked his way up to secure second place…… While Jeff Fulton dropped like a stone all the way down to eighth……..

Dick Trickle lead the entire 5 lap Heat 1 race and won by a very comfortable 5.2 seconds…….


Heat 1 Results....…



Dick Trickle lined up ready to start the A Main......

Dick Trickle was again off like a brides nightie……. As he again disappeared off into the distance by the turn one……

Josh Ginter who started second had a slow start as was then pushed wide and hung out to dry by Ted Finger through turns one and two…….

Alan Andersen was battling Ted Finger hard for second place……. Both of them swapping paint and positions almost every lap and nothing could separate them…..

Josh Ginter was never in the hunt…… He qualified well this race but have no race pace….. Only managed to get seventh……. And was five laps behind the winner…..

Matthew Kato started well and was in fourth for most of the race……. Until getting spun out bu Mark Hunter as they battled while lapping traffic……. Kato dropped down the running order to finish in eighth……

But the man of the night was again…… Dick Trickle……… Winning by two laps…… And setting the fastest lap of 20.583…….. Half a second faster than his qualifying time…….. And along with that was zero damage…… The wide open nature of this track meant Dick Trickle was able to keep the car in near pristine condition……. Aside from the caked on mud from the track…….. There really is lots of room to work with on this track to get around traffic without contact……..

Alan Anderson out lasted Ted Finger to claim second spot and his first top five finish of the year…… With Ted Finger right behind him in third……. Both of them were two laps behind Dick Trickle…….

After the race I spoke with Dick Trickle……… “Thanks Murray……. This track is something special……. Its big……. Its fast…… Its long…… Its wide…… Its much like me……. But more importantly there is lots of room out there……. I went the entire rice without any contact with anyone…… The small bull ring like tracks might be great for the spectators but they are bad for the wallet……. So its great to get a race done without any damage at all……..”

“The car was great all night Murray…… And no one was going to stop me…… This is my time…… Its my championship to lose now Murray…….. Ive put a lot of money and hard work into getting this Infogrames Flaming Dick Machine to where it is right now……”

“I have a 150 odd point lead over Ted Finger now who I heard finished third……. Half way point of the season now as well……. She might not be over….. But I hope the fat lady is ready to sing soon……. Because Dick is ready to make her sing…...”

Well there you have it…… Dick Trickle is a man on a mission……. And there are no signs of him getting complacent……

Next week the 2003 Weekly Dirt Racing Series heads to Eagan Speedbowl…… Another half mile track with lots of room to work with……..

Dick Trickle now has a 151 point lead in the championship over Ted Finger…… Ted Finger has finished in the top five in every race so far this year……. He really should be fighting hard for the championship……. But Dick Trickle has just been been to hard and fast for Finger to handle…….

With five races done and five to go we are at the half way point of the season…… Dick Trickle has a strangle hold on the season…… Can Eagon Speedbowl tame big ol Dick……. Or will Dick run a train over Eagon???…… Can Ted Finger finally get a win???…….. Cant Josh Ginter find consistency between qualifying and race???…..

Tune in next week for the answers to all these questions and more….. Exclusively here on Left Turn Heaven……..

This is Murray Eastlake reporting for Left Turn Heaven..... And until next time its goodbye from me....


A Main Results..…



Winnings.…



NASCAR Heat Weekly.…



2003 Weekly Dirt Racing Series Championship Standings after round 5 of 10.…







First lap A Main action....


SegaSonic The Hedgehog

This is one weird Sonic game……. And Pengling is going to hate this write up….

SegaSonic The Hedgehog is an isometric platformer and Sonic is controlled by a trackball….. Yeah already sounds weird right……. This arcade machine was only released in Japan…… The faster you spin the trackball the faster Sonic goes…… Its a neat idea…… But is very hard to being that home on a gamepad or keyboard…….

The graphics are really nice…… The isometric levels are really look great for the time and are also bright and colourful…… Sonic looks nice and the cutscenes with Dr Robotnik are really well done…….

The storyline is…… I dont know…….. Its all in Japanese so I have no idea…….. April O’Neil has been kidnapped and its up to the Ninja Tur………… No wait…….. Amy has been kidnapped and its up to Sonic and his crew of misfits to rescue her……

Thats probably not the storyline……. But hey…… It fits…….

Im not going to talk about the controls since a gamepad is so different to the trackball and its not easy to play like that……. For reference when I play arcade games I usually use my Madcatz Street Fighter X Tekken Arcade Fightstick……… So I usually feel confident talking about the controls because I am basically using an arcade joystick and buttons……

Gameplay is simple though…….. Get Sonic to the end of the level…… While avoiding all the traps Dr Robotnik has set……… The levels are rather short and sweet…… Sonic moves at lighting fast speed which causes him to die…… A lot…… As you either run head first into a trap……. Or off the side of the level…….. Its really annoying……. You really need to play this several times to learn the layout of the level and the trap placements…….

Sonics misfits…… Errrr….. I mean “friends”…… Are Mighty the Armadillo and Ray the Flying Squirrel…… Whoever they are..... And They are pretty much just a reskinned Sonic…… And are from what I can tell the same speed as well….. Which makes sense since this is a co-op game as well……. Cant have Sonic being to much faster than the others……..

Overall this is a weird Sonic game……. Its very short too…… around 20-25minutes…….. I wouldnt go out of my way to play it since you ideally do need a trackball to get the proper controls…… If your a massive Sonic fan I could see this appealing to you…… And its worth at least checking out if you into weird and obscure arcade games……


Next week…… Im hoping to do some more walking with Natasha…….. And im hoping the rain will ease off and allow me to get out more this week….. Besides that I really dont have anything planned…….

As for gaming there will be more hardcore Dick Trickle racing action in NASCAR: Dirt to Daytona……. There will be something a bit different….. And I will continue my stupid quest of making a setup for every car at every track in NASCAR Heat 5……

Current setup checklist…...
Cup: 27 of 30
Xfinity: 27 of 30
Truck: 28 of 31
Dirt: 9 of 9

Well thats it from me…… Hope all you tuxers have a good week……

Now for my bad joke of the week……
I cant afford a personal trainer...... So instead I go to the gym and lift incorrectly....... And wait for 3 different dudes to correct me for free......
*ba dum.... tssssh…...*