So we've just finished up the last group stage, which saw Italy and the Celtic Nations dominant over Canada and China to claim the last two spots in the quarterfinals.
We're now ready for the quarterfinal round; each individual round from here on out will be best two out of three. With that, here will be the quarterfinal match-ups;
United States vs Australia
Italy vs Celtic Nations
Japan vs England
France vs India
Let's get going, then!
Homer Simpson has just started the engine on an Audi R8, revving it like a madman. He briefly looks in his rearview mirror to see his wife Marge blowing him a kiss for good luck as he wheels the car out onto the track, lining up in position on the inner course. Lined up alongside him on the outer course is Guy "SheZow" Hamdon, representing Australia, and driving an identical Audi R8.
The green flag is waved, and both cars go rocketing off the line, seemingly dead even. Through the first set of turns, Guy Hamdon gets just a little loose - just enough for Homer Simpson to eek out a slight lead going into the crossover.
Both drivers get through their second sets of turns picture-perfectly, and so Homer maintains a clear advantage heading into lap 2.
But then Homer has a slip-up through the third set of turns, sliding through awkwardly and sending some smoke billowing up from the pavement. Guy Hamdon pulls even with Homer Simpson going out of these turns.
Through their final sets of turns, both drivers mess up, having ugly skids. But they save their cars and remain even on their respective corner exits, leading to a drag race to the checkered flag...
"WOO-HOO!" proclaims Homer as he beats Guy to the line by mere inches.
As the two drivers retreat to the pit area with Homer the triumphant one, their teammates both take to the track, driving identical Ariel Atoms. Lined up on the outer course is Edd, looking to get the United States in the semifinals; lined up on the inner course is Wally Beatles, looking to keep Australia from being eliminated from the Nations' Cup.
Both Arial Atoms blast off the line as the green flag turns them loose. Edd and Wally both zip through their first sets of turns as if threading a needle effortlessly, and thus remain dead even going out of the turns.
"Aw, CRUD!" Wally groans as he gets loose and slides through his next chicane turn, losing precious speed and allowing Edd to grab hold of the lead going into lap 2.
Wally makes up for that mistake by getting through his next sweeping turns perfectly - or rather he would've, except that Edd has nailed his hairpin turn just as well, and he retains a solid lead heading into the crossover.
"Oh fiddlesticks, come on!" Edd yelps as his car slips slightly through his last sweeping curve. This allows Wally Beatles to gain some ground on Edd, but it is not enough, as Edd holds Wally off across the line to win the race, eliminating Australia from the Nations Cup and getting the United States into the semifinals.
...
Edd retires back into the pits and gets out of his car, met by a series of high-fives and hugs from the Simpsons and his fellow Eds, along with kisses from his girlfriend Nazz while two Euro NASCAR cars head out onto the track for the start of the next set of races, which will be between Italy and the Celtic Nations. On the inner course is Fanny Fulbright for the Celtic Nations, and on the outer course is Will Vandom for Italy.
The green flag turns them loose; Fanny spins her tires, and ends up falling behind Will Vandom from the get-go. Will manages to stay ahead going through the first set of turns.
Smoke is then seen billowing out from the outer chicane as Will skids through in an ugly sort of manner. Fanny, meanwhile, has no troubles with her hairpin turn, and pulls even with Will heading into lap 2.
Both cars get very loose through their third sets of turns, but they manage to save it, and so they both remain even going into the crossover; that is, until Will Vandom charges up a jet of lightning in her hand...
"AAH, DAMMIT!" The crowd gasps as Fanny Fulbright's car is pummeled with a jet of lightning from Will Vandom, disabling her vehicle as its circuits are shorted out by the ultra-high voltage flowing through them. With this, Will pulls ahead, swings through her last sweeping curves and claims the victory for Italy while Fanny's smoking, broken car limps across the line several seconds later.
When Will and Fanny have both left for the pits, out come Will's teammate Bloom and Fanny's teammate Groundskeeper Willie. Bloom sets up on the inner course and Willie sets up on the outer course; both are driving identical KTM X-Bows.
They both zoom off the line under the guise of the green flag, with Groundskeeper Wille maintaining a slight edge as they swing through their first sets of turns with ease.
Willie and Bloom both sail over the crossover and into their next turns, with Willie getting just a little bit loose, sliding through his hairpin turn slightly - just enough for Bloom to eek out a slight lead going into lap 2, and leading Willie to say to his car, "Dammit, I''m gonna kick yer arse into next year if we don't win this!"
But next thing he knows, Bloom ends up having a similar slip-up through her next chicane, sliding just as awkwardly as Wille did in his last turn and allowing Willie to step back up into the lead. But what he doesn't notice as he does so is the fireball that is building up in Bloom's hand...
"AAH, BLAST!" Before Willie can think twice, his engine has suddenly exploded into a quagmire of fire and flaming debris. Nonetheless, he trudges on, limping his broken car through the final sweeping curve and across the line; Bloom, of course, has already made it, thus the Celtic Nations are eliminated from the Nations Cup and Italy advances to the semifinals.
...
It takes several minutes for Willie's destroyed car and the debris that came from it to be removed from the racing surface; when it does, two Toyota GT86's come up onto the track and line up at the start/finish line. On the inner course is Ferb Fletcher, driving for England, and on the outer course is Yugi Moto, driving for Japan.
Ferb gets the jump on Yugi at the waving of the green flag, but he does end up sliding awkwardly through the first hairpin turn, having to really work at the wheel to keep from spinning out. This allows Yugi to take the lead heading through the crossover.
Both Yugi and Ferb get through their next turns almost as if they weren't there, and so Yugi maintains the lead going into lap 2.
But then Yugi comes dangerously close to spinning out in the next hairpin turn, sending up plumes of smoke from that area that incite a tense gasp from the crowd. By the time he gets it going again, Ferb has gone ahead into the lead, forcing Yugi to take drastic measures...
"I SUMMON DARK MAGICIAN IN ATTACK MODE! DARK MAGIC ATTACK!"
The fans in Saltlake Stadium are shocked beyond compare to see a man dressed in purple robes and wielding a large staff suddenly appear out of nowhere on the roof of Yugi's car. Without delay, a blast of purple light is cast from the man's staff, which scores a direct hit on Ferb Fletcher's car, incapactating it as he slows for the final hairpin and thus preventing him from getting back up to speed.
"Yes, we did it!" cheers Yugi Moto as his Toyota GT86 crosses the line and makes him the winner of this round.
After Ferb's out-of-commission vehicle is cleared from the racing surface, on come two generic RoC Cars. The one on the inner course is driven by Ash Ketchum for Japan, and the one on the outer course is driven by Nigel Uno for England.
The two cars get off to a dead-even start at the green flag. Both slide awkwardly through their first sets of turns, but they maintain control and stay even through the crossover.
"PIKA!" howls a distressed Pikachu as Ash's car nearly runs into the wall going into the next hairpin - Ash is forced to slow the car way down to keep it off the wall, allowing Nigel to build a sizeable lead going into lap 2.
The third set of turns yield no changes - both drivers get through adequately, and Nigel Uno still has a solid lead...
"Pikachu, use Thunderbolt now!"
"Pika... CHU!"
"AAAAAAAAAAAAGGGHH!" Nigel screams as Pikachu's Thunderbolt scores a direct hit on him through the open cockpit into the car; Nigel loses his muscle control as it gives way to the many thousands of volts from the Thunderbolt, which leads to his car crashing head-first into the chicane, knocking him out of the race. As a result, Ash Ketchum wins, England is out of the Nations Cup and Japan is in the semifinals.
...
When the results of the Thundebolt are cleared off, two of the competitors from the last two teams left drive onto the track in identical Volkswagen Sciroccos. The fans in Saltlake Stadium give a huge standing O for Baljeet Tjinder, one of the characters driving for the host nation - India. Baljeet is lined up on the outer course, and on the inner course is his opponent; driving for France, it is Jeremy Belpois.
Baljeet and Jeremy remain even going off the line past the green flag; they stay even through their first respective turns and the subsequent crossover.
But then Jeremy slides awkwardly through his next chicane, almost getting wedged in between the walls, allowing Baljeet to build a sizeable lead going into lap 2, which incites much cheering from the home crowd.
Through the third set of turns, Baljeet does get a bit loose in his hairpin turn while Jeremy nails his sweeping curve - however, Baljeet retains the lead exiting the turn.
Both drivers then get through their last sets of turns alright, which leads to real ecstatic cheers from the crowd as Baljeet Tjinder wins the round for India, leaving Jeremy Belpois wondering what went wrong.
When they've left the track, two Audi R8s come roaring onto the racing surface, lining up at the starting line, hungry to get going. On the inner course is Aelita Stones, representing France, and on the outer course is Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, representing India.
As the green flag drops, both cars go thundering off of the line. Apu and Aelita both go sweeping through their respective first turns like a knife on butter, and remain dead even into the crossover.
Apu then gets loose, sliding awkwardly through his hairpin. The crowd gasps at first, but they breathe a sigh of relief when they see Aelita having similar issues on her turns, and the two remain relatively even going into lap 2.
Then on the third set of turns, Aelita gets just a bit loose through her chicane - losing just enough speed for Apu to take the lead by half a car length heading into the crossover.
But then Apu goes into a skid through his chicane; at the same time, Aelita nails his hairpin turn, pulling up almost even with Apu and leaving everyone in the stands with bated breath as they go to the checkered flag...
By one-thousandth of a second, Aelita nips Apu at the line, winning it for France. With this, France and India are now tied at one win each, and will now face each other in a tiebreaker race to determine who moves on to the semifinals.
Aelita drives her car back around and lines it back up at the line on the inner course while Apu retreats to the pits. Another Audi R8 then comes roaring onto the track driven by Baljeet Tjinder for India; he lines up on the outer course, waiting with growing anticipation...
The two Audis go surging off the line as the green flag is waved...
"NO!"
A shocked gasp ripples through the crowd; Baljeet Tjinder's Audi R8 has blown its engine. The car doesn't move when Baljeet floors the pedal - it only sputters and dies, with smoke billowing up and fluids leaking out. Defeated, Baljeet exits the broken car, waves to his home fans to acknowledge that he's okay, and leaves for the pits, hanging his head.
With that, Aelita Stones is called as the winner; thus France defeats India and moves onto the semifinals. Aelita wheels her car into the pits, parks it and gets out to be greeted by her teammate and boyfriend, Jeremy.
"Well, that's not how I wanted to win it," Aelita shrugs, "but it's better than a loss, I guess."
"Are you kidding?" Jeremy beams as he slings an arm around Aelita. "We're headed to the freakin' semifinals - we have a real shot to take the Nations' Cup! Why would you not be excited?!"
"I... I don't know," Aelita blushes.
"Oh, that's alright," Jeremy shrugs as she kisses Aelita on the lips. "Now c'mon! The semifinals are coming up soon, and we'll both need to get ready..."
...
The final rounds will be coming up next, with the United States, Italy, Japan and France going at it for the Nations Cup! Stay tuned!
