Day 196

[from Project Hover]

"We're here in London's Hyde Park, for the first race of the inaugural World Hoverboard Racing Championships. I'm Ashley Garcia; here with me is Italian hoverboarding maestro Gianni Abbruzzi. Gianni, what do you think of this 1.5-mile circuit they've laid out here? Is it a fitting first race for the sport?"

"Well, in terms of the sport's history, there has never been a hoverboard race here before, so it doesn't have that history that places such as Japan or America do," said Gianni. "But at the same time, this is a historic opportunity for the sport to get more exposure in the UK, especially with an Englishman, David Edwards, competing in the field. As for the track itself, it's a very fast-looking layout, with some long straights that will really push the top speeds of these hoverboards, as well as some tight turns that will provide overtaking opportunities, such as the tight Turn 3 hairpin. While the main paths are quite narrow in places, there is plenty of grass at the side of the track, and of course these hoverboards are all-terrain; you won't lose any speed by going off-track, unless you hit the barriers."

[AUTHOR'S NOTE: Find the track layout here: http://www.mapmyrun.com/routes/view/808028007]

"Now, there are ten teams and twenty drivers taking part in this inaugural tournament," said Ashley. "We've got teams here including Texas, one of the earliest pioneers of hoverboard technology, and Kasaiki, one of the world's foremost hoverboard manufacturers and a dominant force in the Japanese hoverboard-racing scene. We've got teams from MIT, Shanghai University, and the UK's own Cambridge University. "You'd have to say that Kasaiki and Texas look like the favourites, don't they?"

"They are most definitely the favourites," said Gianni, nodding. "Their hoverboards are undoubtedly the fastest and most reliable on the grid, and I think the other teams will struggle to stop them from dominating this first season, except for perhaps Alti Racing's Claudia Brunelle. She's an exceptional racer, one of the best in the field, and could challenge the top four riders."

"What about the Texas and Kasaiki riders, then?" asked Ashley. "Both of Kasaiki's drivers are still only teenagers: compare that to Claudia, who's 26, or Texas' Aidan Parker, another of the legends of hoverboard racing, who turns 28 next month. Do you think the relative youth of the Kasaiki team will count against them?"

"Maybe at first," said Gianni, "but I think as the season goes on and those girls get more comfortable with their boards, their performances will improve quite dramatically. It's important to remember that these girls - Rika Natsume and Kazumi Matsuhara - even if they are only 18 or 19, they've still been racing hoverboards for several years, competing in the junior categories, so they're not completely inexperienced. And let's not forget, of course, this is the first-ever hoverboarding tournament on a truly global scale. None of the riders, not even the veterans like Aidan, have ever done anything like this before."

"Rika Natsume, Kasaiki's lead driver, is one of the youngest riders in the field, at just 18 years old," said Ashley. "Do you think that's too young to be competing at this level?"

Gianni shook his head. "Not at all," he said. "As I said before, she has several years' experience already, and I've seen her racing: she has an immense amount of raw talent, and the potential to become one of the sport's great names. She may be the youngest driver in the top teams, but I still reckon she's one to look out for this season."

"Okay, thank you for your input," said Ashley. "Qualifying is about to get underway, so let's head over to the track and our commentators, Callum Lancaster and Adam Scott..."

FULL ENTRY LIST

TEXAS HOVERSPORT
#3 Haruka Morimoto (♀, JPN)
#4 Aidan Parker (♂, USA)

SHANGHAI UNIVERSITY
#8 Liang Tai (♂, CHN)
#9 Li Zhen (♀, CHN)

CHT RACING
#14 David Edwards (♂, GBR)
#15 Michael Altermann (♂, GER)

TAKASA HOVERSPORT
#17 Takeshi Okamoto (♂, JPN)
#18 Saori Shinomiya (♀, JPN)

ALTI RACING
#22 Claudia Brunelle (♂, FRA)
#23 Vincent Martelli (♂, USA)

TEAM KASAIKI
#27 Rika Natsume (♀, JPN)
#28 Mazuki Matsuhara (♀, JPN)

HOVERTEC RACING
#29 Adam Williams (♂, USA)
#30 Ryan Edmonds (♂, CAN)

GRAVITAS RACING
#34 Francesco De Martini (♂, ITA)
#35 Marko Ivanović (♂, HRV)

PRETORIA RACING
#36 Marius Engelbrecht (♂, RSA)
#37 Elize Roberts (♀, RSA)

MITRA
#55 Carl Mitchell (♂, USA)
#56 Jamie Chung (♂, CHN)