A Hard Brake Before the Chequered Flag

So, the unexpected happens again. In this year of incredible events (a pandemic, Roncaglia with less than one incident per race in a series), just when you think that nothing more can surprise you, a new surprise is yet to come. The world of racing is therefore shocked on hearing that Omer Kinay, a.k.a. Emperor Omerius, will leave his throne and go in exile for a month. As soon as the news spread out, all the racers with setup issues panicked and got off track with their cars, since they couldn’t control them anymore without the mentoring of their spiritual father. “I will take advantage of this month of exile for checking all Empire garages and planning the conquer of new lands”, declared Omerius “and, above all, I will finally have time to play Burnout Revenge. I’m reasonably good at it although my car slightly oversteers while exploding after a high jump for a triple takedown, so I’ll have to rework the setup a little”. Before leaving his imperial palace, Omerius also put up for sale on eBay his chariot with a false bottom filled with all his setup papyruses: hurry up on attending to the auction!

As foreseeable, the news put in deep discouragement Omerius’ teammates and consules Dario Bucalo and Gianluca Roncaglia. Bucalo couldn’t stop crying bitter tears and saying repeatedly “Take me in his place! I will stay two, three months in exile instead of him!” to everyone in the pit boxes; Roncaglia, that knows the stuff since he was also exiliated in the past after deflating all his opponents tires before a race, asked Omerius to sit in the passenger seat during his Abarth races – but Omerius kindly declined, asserting that he’s happy with his exile and don’t want to commute it to a death sentence.

Anyway, the show must go on, so Bucalo and Roncaglia continued to perform in the Abarth series on the fast Calabogie track. They also once happily and friendly joined the same race – “I will kick him out at T1 and let him eat my dust”, said Bucalo before the start; “I’ll end my race, go to dinner and then back to the track to see him crossing the finish line”, replied Roncaglia – but with no noticeable results. However, Bucalo could end the week with a good 3rd place and stays firmly in the upper side of the rankings; Roncaglia then won an early morning Sunday race while all the world was sleeping and snoring, and thanks to this result is still fighting for the top places.

Stay tuned for the report of the last series’ week… and also for a big announcement in the next days!

Editor’s note: Omer, you are one of the nicest and helpful guys and one of the fairiest (not to mention fastest) racers that one can meet around, and I would say that even if you didn’t deposit 50 bucks in my bank account. We all can’t wait to see you back on the track!