Then came Krishna, Washington, Ariel and Wong. Followed by Jason and Cortez.
But then, as the number of racers diminished, things started to get desperate.
CHAPTER ELEVEN.
RACE 50.
LAP: 35 OF 51.
RACERS LEFT ON TRACK: 8.
By Lap 35, Jason was still in 7th place - second last. He was starting to worry.
The main thing he had to do in this race was beat Barnaby and at the moment, Barnaby was way out in 1st place, protected by Xavier, while Jason was still way back in 7th - with a total of eight racers still on the track and five of them between him and Barnaby.
Jason still had Horatio Wong directly in front of him in 6th and Joaquin Cortez behind him in 8th.
Cortez continued to harry Jason, especially in the iceberg section of the track - trying to axe through the Argonaut"s tailfin by taking the turns straighter than Jason - recklessly straighter.
In the end, it was Cortez"s determination to nail Jason that was his undoing. At one point amid the icebergs, Jason took one turn a little too wide, offering Cortez a clear straight-line charge at his exposed tailfin. Cortez took the opportunity, not realising that it wasn"t an opportunity - it was bait.
Because suddenly Jason banked the other way, leaving Cortez to smash hard into the side of an iceberg.
Ejection. Explosion.
Cortez"s car was history and the Mexican racer and his navigator soon found themselves floating down to earth on hoverchutes, and as Jason completed Lap 36 several minutes later, Cortez was eliminated.
But now Jason was in last place - with Horatio Wong banking and bending in front of him.
Jason had three laps to overtake Wong.
Lap 37 - no dice. Wong fended him off grimly, at times using dubious defensive tactics.
Lap 38 - Jason flew the entire lap within a metre of Wong"s tail, but no matter what he tried, he still couldn"t take Wong.
Jason began to panic. He was running out of time and track.
He zoomed through Hobart again, and commenced Lap 39, knowing it could well be his last.
And as he rocketed down the long Southern Ocean straight, eyeing Wong"s weaving tail-lights, he made the call.
"Bug," he said. "Either we get past this b.a.s.t.a.r.d on this lap or we"re out! Out of the race, out of contention to go to New York, out of everything. I say we take him via the Clashing Bergs. Opinions?"
The Bug replied instantly...and firmly.
"I"ll take that as a yes," Jason said.
The leaders rushed into the iceberg section of the course, all taking the standard route, Wong among them. But as Wong swept right, taking the regulation route, Jason abruptly cut left, slicing between some smaller icebergs before he beheld two clashing bergs.
They were absolutely gigantic.
The rough seas of the ocean and the underwater mechanism caused the two big icebergs to alternately slide apart and then clang back together like a pair of G.o.dsized cymbals. The enormous bulk of the two bergs - each was easily 100 metres long - meant that a racer had to really floor it in order to get through.
Jason floored it.
The Argonaut screamed into the shadowy canyon between the two bergs, just as they reached their widest point.
Then the two bergs converged.
The Argonaut sped - The canyon narrowed, its towering white walls closing -
The Bug screamed -
And Jason flipped the Argonaut onto its side as the canyon"s walls became unbearably close and - CRASH! - the two icebergs came together with a deafening boom just as the tiny Argonaut blasted out from between them, house-sized chunks of ice raining down into the water behind it.
"Hoo-ah!" Jason yelled, blood pulsing through his veins as he swooped back onto the track proper...three carlengths ahead of Wong!
In 6th place.
Wong"s eyes went wide. He couldn"t believe it - Jason was now in front of him!
"Okay..." Jason said, his eyes now laser-focused. "Time to put you out, Horatio."
And put him out, he did.
No matter what Wong threw at him, Jason fended him off, and as Lap 39 ended, it was Wong who found himself
in 7th place, last place.
And out of the race.
CHAPTER TWELVE.
RACE 50.
LAP: 40 OF 51.
RACERS LEFT ON TRACK: 6.
So by Lap 40, the race order was this: 1st: Barnaby.
2nd: Xavier.
3rd: Krishna.
4th: Ariel.
5th: Isaiah Washington.6th: Jason.
As one would expect of such an important race, it was super close - while he was in last place, Jason was still flying within sight of the leaders.
Then, at the end of Lap 41, everyone pitted.
Jason swung into the pits, to see all the other pit bays teeming with activity. In a race as long as this one, pit stops were longer, taking anywhere between 30 and 50 seconds.
As he arrived, he saw Barnaby shoom back out onto the track - closely followed by Krishna and Ariel, but not, surprisingly, Xavier Xonora. For some reason, Xavier was still in his pit bay.
Jason came to his own bay.
Sally immediately went to work, and outdid herself. She performed a superb stop, so superb that Jason came out of his pit bay before Isaiah Washington did, leapfrogging him into 5th place.
He gunned the Argonaut out of its pit bay - only to slam on the brakes a moment later.
A car was blocking the exit tunnel that led back out to the track.
Xavier Xonora"s Speed Razor.
It was just splayed across the tunnel, completely blocking the exit - as if it had stalled in the process of leaving its own pit bay. Xavier offered Jason a disingenuous shrug: "Sorry. But it"s not my fault."
Seconds ticked by.
Jason fumed. "The son-of-a-b.i.t.c.h is blocking us!" He couldn"t believe it. Every second he was held up here by Xavier, Barnaby was racing away to victory.
And then Isaiah Washington appeared in Jason"s rearview mirrors, looming up behind the Argonaut, only Washington didn"t appear to be slowing: at this rate, he was going to ram Jason"s tailfin - To evade him, Jason started edging around Xavier"s car. But then, just as he was about to get round Xavier, surprise-surprise, Xavier got the Speed Razor started and darted off ahead of Jason.
Jason could only swear and chase after him, still in 5th place ahead of Washington, but now a long way behind Barnaby Becker.
Jason raced hard through the rain.
He was now second-last and so safe from immediate elimination, but directly in front of him was the tailfin of the all-black Speed Razor. And Jason had a feeling that Xavier wasn"t going to let him past lightly.
At the end of the next lap, Lap 42, Isaiah Washington bowed out.
Five racers left.
Nine laps remaining.
One elimination to go, before the six-lap dash to the Finish Line.
The race order was: 1st: Barnaby Becker.
2nd: Varishna Krishna.
3rd: Ariel Piper.
4th: Xavier.