ROUND 3

KONAMI 360 – REV CITY – Tokyo, Japan

March 16, 2014

"Welcome to Japan!"

That always lovely greeting of the very friendly citizens of that country whenever we arrived there via private flights have always been so heartwarming to us! We may be racing in Japan six times a year, but that doesn't stop us from occasionally feeling like first-timers whenever we go there.

The REV CITY street course goes through a small area of one of the busy city sections of Tokyo. Part of the course even goes through a small section of highway before descending back down again into the city area. The course is 1.78 miles long, and with the 200-lap distance here, the race distance is 356 miles. That's usually talking about a race that lasts just over four hours.

Of course, I enjoy racing on temporarily-closed city streets! There's nothing like a weekend-long stay in the wonderful hotels they have in Tokyo, and the racing action really excites the fans!

For Nissan/Toyota Racing, this course has had a special place in our heart for more than three years now. It was on this course where we sadly lost one of our dear friends back in 2010 during a race. Hattori Suzuki's fatal accident during the November 7, 2010 race was dreadful, and Diddy Kong was in tears for several weeks about it, considering that it happened just before the last race of the season, and because of many other reasons from what was going on at the time for the little monkey, such as the time when 'Donkey Kong Country Returns' was coming out. It was at the end of that year when Diddy decided that he would take the wheel of Hattori's former ride, the XANAVI NISMO GT-R, which Diddy still drives today.

Since the beginning of 2012, Diddy Kong has dominated at REV CITY, winning both 2012 races and both 2013 races. Now, he had a shot at winning five REV CITY races in a row!

During the Thursday practice sessions, Shadow was like a rocket on the track. His Audi R8 had been given a few updates to make it a bigger threat to win him his first race. I was convinced that he would be the one likely to snatch the pole, given that he almost won the pole two weeks earlier in London only for Diddy and I to put our two Nissans on the front row.

Shadow's pole position prediction would prove to be wrong on Friday, March 14, as Diddy and I went on to snatch both slots on the front row again, with Diddy earning his second consecutive pole and me being on the second slot. I had therefore taken three front row grid slots in just three races in 2014!

To make things even better for our team, Sonic and Tails also took both slots on the second row (third and fourth) to make it a 1-2-3-4 qualifying effort for Nissan/Toyota Racing, our second of the year.

Sure enough, on Sunday morning, everyone was predicting that Diddy would win. He took Grand Chelems in both 2013 races (pole position, lead every lap, fastest lap and win), so it seemed that this course was one of his racing playgrounds. I may have won here three times, but not since 2009.

However, a surprise awaited me as I walked into the garage that morning …

The moment I stepped in, a bunch of crew members from all of our pit crews, our senior members, our team principals, and my three teammates (Diddy, Sonic and Tails) jumped out in front of me and held a small cake with a big '150' on top.

"Hey, there, buddy!" said one of the principals, "Since today is your 150th race, we thought we might bring in a little bit of celebratory flavor!"

150? Oh, yes! Many things had been going in my mind lately, and it made me almost forget that today marked my 150th Professional Cup start!

"Oh, my!" I replied, "I'd been forgetting that it was coming up! Man, you guys are awesome! I'm glad I'll have run 150 races with some of you great people! Thank you very much, everyone!"

"Hey, no problem, ol' pal!" said Diddy, walking up to me and patting my shoulder, "I know it may not seem that long ago when you were just starting, but … yeah, eighth year in the league and you've reached another milestone today! So, we don't we all enjoy some nice cake, shall we!?"

The team agreed and we all got a piece of that nice Japanese-made cake. It seemed like a new taste for me, but I found it to be enjoyable, but I would still prefer American chocolate as my favorite cake flavor, although the Japanese made this one-off surprise pretty tasty.

After that little celebration was over, we got our cars ready and within a few more hours we were ready to get on with the third round of the season.

As we fired up our engines just before 12:45 pm JST (Japan standard time), the starting grid would bring almost no surprise:

ROW 1

1. Diddy Kong – XANAVI NISMO GT-R; 2. myself – NISSAN R390 GT1

ROW 2

3. Miles "Tails" Prower – TOYOTA EXXON Superflo Supra; 4. Sonic the Hedgehog – TOYOTA GT-one

ROW 3

5. Shadow the Hedgehog – AUDI R8 TEAM GOH 2004; 6. Al Reder, Jr. – MAZDA 787B

ROW 4

7. Greg Richards – AUDI R8 TEAM GOH 2003; 8. Knuckles the Echidna – McLaren F1 GTR

ROW 5

9. Bob Stu, Jr. – HONDA G'ZOX NSX; 10. Jean Dubois – Mercedes-Benz CLK-DTM

ROW 6

11. Pedro Fernandes – OPEL Astra V8 Coupe 24h

As the grid lights went off, I got a better start than Diddy and took the lead in the first corner. I could feel a bit of satisfaction coming to me already, given that I had not had decent results in the last two races and wanted to get a very good result here today. By the end of the first lap, I had awarded myself five bonus points for leading the first lap of my 150th Professional Cup race!

From there, Shadow began to show some strengths as he moved up from fifth starting spot up to second by lap six. A few laps later, I took one glance at my mirror and there he was, that dark hedgehog in pursuit of me, willing to pass, waiting for me to make a mistake, which I rarely ever do.

Even then, I didn't even have to make a mistake to enable Shadow to take the lead. On lap 20, he did it with his pure talent, pulling off an overtake to my right hand side in turn four towards the highway section. I was set on keeping up with him and trying to retake the lead, but then the rookie began to use his defensive maneuvers. If there was one thing Shadow proved, he doesn't need 'Chaos Control' to pull off a move on me!

(A/N: Just a pun on Shadow's 'Assist Trophy' ability in "Super Smash Bros. Brawl")

Shadow had broken away from his tie with Sonic for second place in the championship at the end of lap 20.

For the next twenty laps, no matter how hard I tried to get around Shadow, I could not get ahead of that Audi R8. Then, on lap 42, Diddy came storming by me to take second, then was quick to make a move on Shadow for the lead, which he did with success! I made another move on Shadow in turn six on that same lap and was finally ahead of the dark Audi again.

Twelve laps later, the first round of pit stops came up, and Diddy and I were the last ones to pit on lap 54. We came out still running 1-2 after our stops.

Throughout the second quarter of the race, things seemed (well, by my view) pretty boring. Even in my mirrors, nobody seemed to be keeping up with us.

It must have been another one of those days in which Nissan would dominate! Whenever this happens, I often think about that 2012 season where Diddy and I combined to win every single race that year for Nissan. The championship that year came down to the wire at the Nürburgring Finale, and in the end I just narrowly defeated Diddy for the championship by beating him for the win in that final race of what is now known as the 'Nissan Perfection' year. Diddy and I often like to look back at our perfect 2012 season. It really seems to have put such a great effect on our longtime friendship.

Somewhere far behind us, Al Reder, Jr. was determined to actually finish a race today, and he, for once, wasn't keen on his usually selfish driving behavior. He was having a rare clean race today and was now battling Shadow and Sonic for third place. Tails later joined that battle and they all swapped third place several times during the next hour.

However, from my POV, everything seemed boring and the rest of the second quarter ran like clockwork.

Diddy and I pulled in for our second pit stops on lap 108 for another full tank fill-up. Even after that, Diddy kept his lead, but the rest of the field had now closed in and I soon found my mirrors full of hungry competitors.

Reder, Shadow, Sonic and Tails all filled up my mirror and were hungry for second place throughout the next few laps. Soon after, we ended up swapping second place for quite a while with everyone taking turns trying to challenge Diddy for the lead, but Diddy never let anyone pass him the whole time.

It remained like this until the last round of pit stops around lap 160. Diddy and I pitted on lap 162 for a final quick fuel and tire service, and I was back in second place behind my #1 ally.

However, Shadow was still filling up my mirror and was once again keen on a possible victory challenge, but if anyone wanted to get around Diddy, they would have to get around ME first!

Shadow and I swapped second place several more times during the next 35 laps, and then with two laps to go I made my final overtaking move on Shadow as he ran wide in turn five, giving me plenty of space to make my move, and costing him time he would've dearly needed, ruining any chances he had left of victory. This assured that Nissan was going to do it again!

As the final lap began, I came up behind Diddy's back end and gave him a bump-draft going into the first corner to keep his speed up so we could ensure our first 1-2 finish for Nissan this season, compared to so many 1-2 finishes we had in 2012.

Diddy seemed to have been boosted well by my bump-drafting and we ran the final lap like rockets! Even Shadow seemed to no longer be visible in my mirror.

I could feel the excitement coming now. We had surely earned another 1-2 finish! As we came out of the last corner and ran that final uphill section on the start/finish straight and approached the line, Diddy came on my radio and said, "WWWWWOOOOOOOOOO, YYYYYEEEEEAAAAAHHHHH! WE'VE DONE IT AGAIN, BUDDY! YYYEEEAAAHHH!"

"YOU SAID IT, DIDDY!" I shouted back at him via radio in excitement!

Diddy took another win and I crossed the line just over half of a second later.

DIDDY KONG WINS THE KONAMI 360! (DiddyKF1) IS SECOND! IT'S ANOTHER WONDERFUL DAY FOR NISSAN AND THEIR FAMOUS DOMINANCE HERE IN REV CITY! ANOTHER 1-2 FINISH FOR NISSAN AND VERY WELL-DESERVED!

Five REV CITY wins in a row for Diddy Kong, and I got my first podium finish of the season! YES, YES, YES! NISSAN DOMINANCE STRIKES AGAIN!

Elsewhere, Shadow took third place to make it three podiums in a row for him. Reder finished fourth, followed by Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Pedro Fernandes, Greg Richards, Bob Stu, Jr. and Jean Dubios. It was another seemingly occasional thing these days to have every car that started finish on the lead lap, compared to how extremely rare it was just a few years ago. With everyone having more competitive cars, Enthusia was still hoping to see some ultimate competition from everyone, although it didn't quite happen today.

As Diddy and I pulled our Nissans into parc ferme, it was another great sight of our pit crews waving at us in celebration of our 1-2 victory. I unstrapped myself, opened the door and stepped out of the car in front of a bunch of happy Japanese people. I walked over to my pit crew and gave handshakes to all of those great men who contributed to my good performance today. Then, I looked over and noticed Diddy walk up to me. I walked over to him and we hugged each other briefly.

Shadow soon pulled up in his Audi R8 and climbed out to join us.

We then walked into another room in which the three of us were led up a flight of stairs into another room. At the other side of this room would be the entrance to the podium stage, but for now we would wait a few minutes until everything was ready for the podium ceremonies. A senior member of Nissan/Toyota Racing walked up to join us while we waited.

I took a seat on a nearby bench.

Diddy looked like he couldn't wait to celebrate another 1-2 Nissan victory. He couldn't even try to wipe that grin off his face.

"Well, … there's a sight which I hear is common in this league," commented Shadow.

"Well, it happens quite often," I replied.

"True. I just love it when we get one-two finishes," said Diddy. He turned to me, "Don't ya, pal!?"

Diddy placed an arm around my back.

"Yeah," I said with a grin.

I turned to Shadow and noticed that he seemed to be pondering something. Then again, he always seemed to be doing that.

"Something on your mind, I assume?" I asked him.

"I could only wonder if it weren't for that mistake I made with two laps to go, … -" he said.

"I know that feeling," I commented, "I made a few mistakes myself in my rookie season back in '07."

"Yet you still won the championship that year," added Diddy.

"So … you'd say it's common pressure that's put on newcomers?" said Shadow.

"I guess you could put it that way," I replied.

I stood up and reached out my hand to offer the black hedgehog a handshake. What else could I do to get rid of that dark mind cloud over his head?

Shadow reached out his hand and we did a brief handshake. I could sense that we were about to begin gaining respect for one another.

Moments later, the door to the podium stage was opened and an Enthusia executive came in to tell us they were ready for us.

Diddy was the first to walk out and as I watched him walk over to the stage I could hear the sound of many loving Japanese fans and spectators cheering and crying out, it sounded like a huge party down there.

I straightened my red Nissan cap and took a couple of paces forward towards the stage and looked at a bunch of people waving and cheering at me and Diddy. I could tell that there were a bunch of Nissan fans of ours among that huge flooding of people. I waved my hand out to the crowds before walking up to the stage and stepping on the left step with the number '2' on it.

Shadow followed me with a brief wave to the sport's enthusiasts before taking the #3 step, and was soon followed by our Nissan/Toyota team's representing senior member.

Behind me, I could hear the Japanese national anthem (for Nintendo and for Nissan/Toyota Racing) begin to play. I brought my ears' attention to the crowds and I could faintly hear some of them singing to their own national anthem. I couldn't help but smile at that.

Just as the anthem finished playing, Diddy and I banged our knuckles against each other in happiness. Of course, we couldn't openly show our friendship to the crowds without doing that.

A moment later, an elderly Japanese man came up to the stage with the winner's trophy and handed it to Diddy. I applauded him in approval as the man came up to me to give me a handshake then did the same with Shadow.

Then, another elder Japanese political figure walked up with the Owner's Trophy and our senior member walked down to gladly accept it for our ever-so-great team. It was the team's 91st victory in 108 races since the Double-Manufacturer Team Era started back in 2009. He also gave all three of us drivers each a handshake.

I felt my heart pounding at that moment since I knew my second place trophy would be next, and, sure enough, another very polite Japanese man came over to me and presented me with a shiny silver K (for Konami, being the race's title sponsor). I smiled at the man, took the silver trophy in my grasp and gave the man a handshake. Then, I raised my second place trophy high above my head so everyone could see it.

Lastly, another Japanese political figure stepped up with a bronze third place trophy for Shadow to accept, which he kindly did with more handshakes from all of us drivers.

Finally, the most fun moment of all podium ceremonies had come. The three of us (in unison) grasped our champagne bottles in front of us, popped the caps off and began to spray the champagne everywhere just as Bizet's "Overture" began to play in the background behind us. Shadow and I sprayed some all over Diddy before the three of us sprayed most of the rest over the crowds.

Soon after, we each drank the last of the champagne from our bottles before we stepped back onto the podium steps with our senior team member and we each waved at the crowds once more before picking up our trophies and champagne bottles and exiting the stage and making a trip towards the press conference room.

The press conference room seemed like a good quiet break from all the loudness that had been going on. Diddy, Shadow and I walked in and took the three seats that were provided to us in front of a group of journalists, cameras and an interviewer. Now came the time to deal with the press as a top three finisher. First time this year that I was among the top three, so today was a different deal for me than the previous two rounds were.

As we waited, miniature microphones were connected to the front of our uniforms so it could be easier for the TV viewers to hear us. After about ten minutes of waiting, I heard a signal come from one of the cameramen, revealing that the television viewers now had their eyes on us and it was time for the interviews to begin.

The interviewer began to speak through the microphone:

"Thank you, Michael. Now I'm here with our winner today, Diddy Kong of Nissan/Toyota Racing, second place (DiddyKF1), also of Nissan/Toyota Racing, and third place Shadow the Hedgehog of Audi/BMW Racing. Diddy, we are going to start with you. This is your fifth consecutive REV CITY win and you were in dominating form all day today. Tell us what exactly does REV CITY mean to you given that you've now won five in a row."

Diddy seemed ready to answer those questions just as the interviewer was finished asking him:

"Well, REV CITY means a lot to me and has for the past three years, so to win five in a row today really means so much to me. I love racing here and it's always been fun running here in the Nismo GT-R, so it's really no surprise that I was in dominating form today. The crew did a great job with the car this weekend. It seemed flawless and nothing could take a challenge to me. When that final lap began and noticed that only (DiddyKF1) was in my mirrors, I felt assured that this win was ours. There was no doubt about it. I've basically added another great REV CITY memory to my resume and I feel proud of it. This track has been special to everyone on the team since that tragic day in November 2010, and ever since then, we've been making up some great results here and always have been looking for great results so I feel glad to have added another one today."

"Well done, Diddy," said the interviewer before turning to me, "(DiddyKF1), your first podium finish of 2014 and it comes as another second place finish to your best friend, Diddy Kong. I'm sure you're feeling quite ecstatic right now."

I quickly came up with an answer:

"Yes, I do feel quite ecstatic. I've not been very satisfied with how the first two races turned out and I really wanted to improve it to a podium finish today. I possibly may have wanted to win, but I guess I just didn't have the strength to stay ahead of Diddy today. Then again, I'm happy for him anyways, given that we make great teammates, and I'll just go ahead and congratulate him for another REV CITY win. He well-deserved it and it couldn't have gone better. Uh, my race seemed to go very well during the first twenty laps when I took the lead going into the first corner, but when Shadow showed me what a rookie really can be made of, I had pretty much lost the majority of my strength for the day, but I'm sure I may have had a chance of making it better for me and my crew, but I guess we just didn't have the edge when it mattered most. I'm just happy that we got Nissan another 1-2 victory and we'll take things to California from here, so … great race."

The interviewer asked me another question as well:

"Today was also your 150th Professional Cup race. Are you sure that you may have deserved better than second place?"

"Well, … I think I may have had a chance to improve my result if I had my defensive strengths with me today, which I wasn't quite fueled up for today. I somehow can't believe that today that was my 150th race given how fast time tends to fly when you're off the track, having fun. I'm proud to have reached that experience milestone today, and I hope to improve things even further in California two weeks from now."

"Great job today," replied the interviewer, who then turned to Shadow, "Shadow, just three races into your career and three podium finishes already, something that very few, including Diddy, have done in the past. What would you describe about that achievement?"

"I somehow wasn't thinking that was going to happen, given that I really didn't have any experience in this prior to this year, but I guess the team's form must be at an extremely high rate this season, given that we have a decent performance package and a good lineup. I thought today was quite some excitement for the fans, like they say, REV CITY always brings some kind of excitement for everyone to see. We had a pretty good car this weekend, we were fastest in practice on Thursday and we were assuming that we had a chance to win. I did have some strength today to show that I could be a top contender when I found myself dueling with the Nissans all day today, as well as having to fend off Reder, but overall I think this was a decent weekend and I hope to transfer it into a possible victory in California two weeks from now."

"Good job today," the interviewer said before turning back to Diddy for the closing statement, "Diddy, back to you. You have a 115 point advantage over Shadow right now, and three races into the season you seem to be showing signs of a possible title-contending season. Do you have any thoughts right now on the possibility of winning your third championship this year?"

"Well, … I haven't really been thinking about that. It's still early in the year and we've got eighteen more races ahead of us, so we've really been focusing on trying to get through the early part of the year. Then again, I'm sure I might have a chance this year. I've already won twice in three races and a few other guys are already over a thousand points behind, so only time can tell at this point."

"Thank you to all three of you, and congratulations, Diddy, on your win here today. Diddy Kong, (DiddyKF1) and Shadow the Hedgehog: the top three for the 2014 Konami 360. Thank you and good luck in San Francisco."

"Thank you," the three of us replied in unison before disconnecting our microphones and leaving the room to rejoin the celebrations down in the paddock.

Inside, I felt very happy for Diddy taking his fifth straight REV CITY win, although I'm sure I may have deserved better since it was my 150th race, but I just wanted to give Diddy some extra respect.

Among the first things Diddy got when we returned to the paddock was a huge bear hug from Donkey Kong which he seems to always get whenever he wins. Sonic and Tails also came to congratulate us on our 1-2 victory.

It was the first time this year that Tails finished outside the top five, but it didn't really effect him that badly.

One seventh of the way through the year, and the championship standings seemed to be near-identical to how they looked after SPEEDIAPOLIS:

1. Diddy Kong – 1,580 points

2. Shadow the Hedgehog – 1,465 points

3. Sonic the Hedgehog – 1,360 points

4. myself – 1,115 points

5. Miles "Tails" Prower – 1,005 points

6. Knuckles the Echidna – 955 points

7. Greg Richards – 700 points

8. Al Reder, Jr. – 655 points

9 (t). Bob Stu, Jr. – 400 points

(t) Pedro Fernandes – 400 points

11. Jean Dubois – 350 points

I told you Tails wasn't badly effected!

Coming up on March 30, it's the second American race of the year when Enthusia takes a trip to San Francisco to race through the 'City by the Bay'!