ROUND 8

NISSAN 500 – LÖWENSEERING, Germany

May 25, 2014

The LÖWENSEERING circuit in Germany has had a rich history to it since it opened in 1969. Many drivers who have won here should be considered legends.

It is often said that the circuit's layout resembles the shape of a lion! The front stretch overpasses the tunnel that lies between turns five and six.

However, in recent years, no one has been more successful here than Diddy Kong.

The little monkey has won almost every race here since his May 2008 debut. He became the only driver ever to win on his debut, a distinction he still holds today!

He swept both LÖWENSEERING events of the 2011 season, and again in 2012 and 2013. He has won the Nissan 500 in every year he has participated in except 2009.

Every time Diddy has ever driven the Xanavi Nismo GT-R at LÖWENSEERING, he has always won!

You could simply listen to LÖWENSEERING's theme, "The Infinite End" by Masanori Akita, and as you listen to it, simply imagine that 2003 Xanavi Nismo GT-R taking the 4-mile circuit with ease, with Diddy Kong behind the wheel. It all combines such a perfect combination!

Why, check out Diddy Kong's LÖWENSEERING record!

May 2008 – NISSAN 500 – Diddy wins on Professional Cup debut as a substitute driver.

May 2009 – NISSAN 500 – Diddy finishes second while I take the win.

September 2009 – Pro Sports 500 – Diddy finishes fourth; Bowser, Jr. wins.

May 2010 – NISSAN 500 – Diddy takes his only Toyota Supra win at LÖWENSEERING.

September 2010 – Pro Sports 500 – Diddy gives up win to friend and teammate Hattori Suzuki on final lap. Suzuki wins as Diddy takes fourth in an emotional 1-2-3-4 team win for Nissan/Toyota Racing.

May 2011 – NISSAN 500 – Diddy is now full-time in the Nismo GT-R after Suzuki's fatal accident. Wins wreck-shadowed race.

September 2011 – Pro Sports 500 – Diddy wins first Pro Sports 500.

May 2012 – NISSAN 500 – Everyone in the whole facility cheers Diddy's name throughout the final lap. I pull alongside at the line, but Diddy wins by inches!

October 2012 – Pro Sports 500 – Diddy takes four in a row at LÖWENSEERING!

May 2013 – NISSAN 500 – Diddy wins yet again!

October 2013 – Pro Sports 500 – Diddy makes it six in a row!

May 2014 – NISSAN 500 – "?" for now.

This weekend was predicted to be no exception to Diddy's LÖWENSEERING domination!

On Thursday practice, Diddy's lap time was nowhere near being challenged by anyone. This set up the stage for others to stress themselves out, trying to find the perfect setup.

Time ran out, and qualifying arrived like clockwork on Friday afternoon.

With the other competitors unable to find the right setup to beat the Nismo, Diddy cruised to his second consecutive pole with a lap time of 2:01.805.

Sonic joined him on the front row, just under a full second slower than Diddy.

I snatched the third-fastest time while Tails joined me in row two, securing another 1-2-3-4 grid start for Nissan/Toyota Racing.

On Sunday morning, as I walked into the garage, Diddy seemed to be smiling at himself endlessly. He knew that the odds heavily favored him here. Many fans favored him here. Add to that, Nissan sponsors the race, which gives us an even more favorable advantage of popularity on this course!

I walked up to him and tapped his shoulder to get his attention.

"Can't wait for this one, I suppose?" I asked him once he had noticed me.

"No way!" he answered with a grin, "I love this place, it feels like my own racing playground! Like I said a few years ago, this track seems to be my home away from Kongo Bongo."

"I hear ya, buddy!" I said, smiling at Diddy.

"I might just see myself winning this one yet again, as I've done so many times," continued Diddy.

"I'm somehow predicting that too," I said.

Soon, that question would be answered: Would Diddy Kong win the Nissan 500 for the sixth time, and take his ninth overall win at LÖWENSEERING?

The skies were mostly cloudy, and temperatures ranged in the mid-sixties. It seemed like an okay day. No threat of rain came up on the forecast.

As the engines were fired up at 12:45 PM CEST, the grid looked like this:

ROW 1

1. Diddy Kong – XANAVI NISMO GT-R; 2. Sonic the Hedgehog – TOYOTA GT-one

ROW 2

3. myself – NISSAN R390 GT1; 4. Miles "Tails" Prower – TOYOTA EXXON Superflo Supra

ROW 3

5. Knuckles the Echidna – McLaren F1 GTR; 6. Shadow the Hedgehog – AUDI R8 TEAM GOH 2004

ROW 4

7. Al Reder, Jr. – MAZDA 787B; 8. Bob Stu, Jr. – HONDA G'ZOX NSX

ROW 5

9. Greg Richards – AUDI R8 TEAM GOH 2003; 10. Jean Dubois – Mercedes-Benz CLK-DTM

ROW 6

11. Pedro Fernandes – OPEL Astra V8 Coupe 24h

A third of the way through the year, and round eight was soon … "GOOOOOO!"

125 laps around the 4.056-mile pure racing circuit.

Diddy got a great start from pole and was quickly building up a comfortable starting lead going into turn one as the LÖWENSEERING tradition, the precision air squad flew above us and let out colorful trails as they zoomed overhead.

We could only take a small glimpse at the sight of the colorful trails left in the air for about a second before the fast, high-banked first turn came up.

As Diddy stayed ahead, I was almost bumped from behind by Shadow the Hedgehog, but he slammed his brakes and avoided contact as he went into turn two.

Within a few laps, each lasting more than two minutes, Diddy and I were building up a 1-2 lead over the rest of the field.

From there, everything seemed to go very well for Nissan, and not so good for everyone else. Surely, LÖWENSEERING's heavy favoritism towards Diddy Kong really seemed to boost that up!

By lap 25, the first round of pit stops had arrived.

Diddy and I pitted together on lap 26 on a slight gamble on fuel mileage.

Both of our pit crews performed well with the tire changing and the fuel tank fill-up, and we kept our positions coming out of the pits, Diddy still leading.

As the laps winded down, Diddy never let his lead down, but Sonic and Shadow were somehow catching up for reasons I didn't quite know about.

After round two of green flag pit stops around lap 50, still nothing much had changed, but Sonic and Shadow were now all over my mirror and wanting a run for second place.

Soon, the three of us were jockeying back and forth in a heated battle for second place while Diddy escaped with a huge lead.

Not long afterward, the race was half over, and Diddy was still building his lead to an incredible margin. Both hedgehogs were still stressing me out with our second place fight. With one of those hedgehogs being a teammate, though, I had it a little easier than I had expected it to be, but Shadow was no pushover.

Round three of pit stops came on lap 75, but I pitted a little later, on lap 78, to try and get myself an advantage over the hedgehogs.

It seemed to work for a while, but by lap 89, they were both right behind me again.

Diddy was well ahead, possibly half a lap ahead by now, with no one to challenge him. Here I was in second place with both hedgehogs giving me a hard time over that place, and everyone else was struggling to keep up with us.

It surely looked like yet another LÖWENSEERING win for Diddy Kong had already been secured, although there were still 35 laps to go. We still had over an hour before this thing was over.

By lap 102, I made my fourth and final pit stop, but both hedgehogs were still chasing me for second place, and Diddy's lead grew even further.

Then, … on lap 106, it happened …

… the chaos that almost no LÖWENSEERING race can ever go without …

… "THE BIG ONE!"

Shadow made contact with Sonic in turn one. Both hedgehogs were sent up into the high right-side wall, but there was worse to come …

"Oh! Here we go, boys and girls! It's the Big One! With twenty laps to go! Both hedgehogs are high into the wall! Al Reder, Jr. nails Sonic, trying to avoid him! Tails Prower sneaks his way through into third place! Knuckles the Echidna's into the wall! Greg Richards! Bob Stu, Jr. smashes into Shadow's front end! Jean Dubois is spinning! Pedro Fernandes gives Reder a hard hit! Eight cars involved in turn one, sliding everywhere! Caution is coming out, no doubt about it!"

Eight cars had been baffled and littered in turn one.

However, as Diddy, Tails and I passed by the site of the wreckage behind the safety car during the next lap, Sonic, Shadow and Knuckles were not among them.

The three SEGA characters who had been involved had all coaxed their cars into the pits in desperate want of repairs. None of them wanted a DNF in this one.

The rest of them were simply atomized. Debris was spread for about a hundred yards! Smoke poured from some of the totaled cars as they sat in the steeply-banked turn one, unable to move again.

Man, what a wreck!

And the hedgehogs had started it all … unintentionally.

The safety car period meant that Diddy's huge lead would now be shattered into the margin of a few car lengths, much to his dismay.

Diddy, Tails and I were the only cars left without a single dent.

The other SEGA characters were still in the pits, trying to get back into the game with as much damage repaired as possible.

Sonic and Knuckles' cars were quickly repaired, but for Shadow, his front end had been badly dented on one attachment point, and his crew spent several minutes trying to remove the damaged nose so that they could fit in the spare one.

This would cost him a lap …

As the safety car drove by the pits at the end of lap 108, Shadow was still in his pit, his battered nose still not off. This put him a lap down.

Unless, he could pass the leader during the upcoming green flag period, Shadow would not be allowed to run the final lap. He would be classified as finishing 124 out of 125 laps, since after the leader crosses the line to win, no more laps can be 'started' by anyone.

This would also mean Shadow had no chance of a top five finish unless another caution would come out to save his day.

The wreckage was soon cleared from turn one, and the track was safe for race speeds again.

Six cars were on track, with only five on the lead lap. This meant that five drivers had a shot to take the win of this Diddy-dominated Nissan 500.

On lap 110, the race was back to green.

Diddy and I had good restarts, but Tails was not as lucky. He immediately lost third place to Sonic, who now had a repaired Toyota.

Sonic was soon right behind me … again!

Tails was left dueling Knuckles for fourth place.

Shadow was quickly ahead of the fourth-place battle, but took no opportunity to pass me or Sonic.

The closing laps went by pretty fast, although each lap took more than two minutes to complete.

A short while later, I began to use Diddy's draft to keep myself ahead of the hedgehogs, and we were setting ourselves up for yet another 1-2 Nissan finish at LÖWENSEERING!

As the last lap began, I was right behind Diddy's rear end. It looked like history was repeating itself yet again! Diddy would still be as strong as he ever was at LÖWENSEERING! No one could ever beat him here!

Add to that, Diddy was about to earn himself a Grand Chelem: Pole position, fastest lap, lead every lap and win!

And that's exactly what happened …

Two minutes later, I was still right behind Diddy as the checkered flag flew.

"DIDDY KONG WINS THE NISSAN 500 AGAIN! THIRD WIN OF THE YEAR! THIRTY-THIRD CAREER WIN! SIXTH NISSAN 500 WIN! NINTH TOTAL LÖWENSEERING WIN! SEVEN WINS IN A ROW AT THIS FACILITY! HE'S DONE IT AGAIN!" (DiddyKF1) FINISHES SECOND TO GIVE NISSAN ANOTHER 1-2 IN THEIR OWN RACE!"

Sonic completed the podium in third.

The three of us had swept the podium many times in 2012 and 2013, but in 2014 it took us eight races to sweep the podium with Sonic in another car.

Knuckles defeated Tails for fourth place. Shadow finished all but the last lap, classified as sixth with only 124 out of 125 laps completed.

At that moment, I could tell Diddy had huge smiles on his face! He had once again proved that LÖWENSEERING was, indeed his best track! Better than all MarioKart tracks he had ever run on! He loved coming here, and there were millions of reasons for it! Today became another reason!

Diddy was now just one win away from tying the late Bob Stu, Sr.'s record of ten total wins at LÖWENSEERING! Today was number nine for the little monkey.

After failing to make the podium at BURGENSCHLUCHT last week, I was happy to be back on the podium here today.

As we stepped out of our cars after Sonic joined us, everyone in the crowds went nuts for Diddy. They loved seeing him win here! This area was filled with Nissan fans, but even more Diddy Kong fans!

Diddy came up and hugged me before shouting, "I love this place!"

I smiled at him as we walked with Sonic into the weighing room for mandatory checks.

All checks were successful, and we were soon just outside the podium stage with our team's representing senior member.

"I could say many things about LÖWENSEERING!" said Diddy as we waited, "I've always enjoyed the pleasure of simply driving here, even if it isn't competition!"

"I can see that!" answered Sonic, "You're the only one I've ever seen victorious on this circuit since I started in this league three and a half years ago."

"True!" said Diddy, "I could do just about anything cool or anything crazy and I'd still find a way to win!"

I giggled at that comment, believing every word of it. Although Diddy has never done anything 'crazy' on this track, he'd probably still win.

"You really are the master of LÖWENSEERING nowadays!" I said to the little monkey.

"Thanks, (DiddyKF1)!," replied Diddy, wrapping an arm around my back and hugging me a little, "Plus, it's always nice to have a trusted teammate in second place for me to share the glory with!"

I blushed slightly.

A moment later, the door was opened, and we filled up the podium stage.

As Diddy appeared in front of the crowd and stepped on the #1 step in the middle, everyone went nuts! His popularity would only grow even more after this win!

The Japanese national anthem played for both Nintendo and Nissan/Toyota Racing before the trophies were awarded.

For Diddy, this was the ninth golden winner's trophy that he had won on this track alone. Overall, it was his 33rd win.

As I was handed my silver Nissan-sponsored second place trophy, I gazed at how in shone under the gray skies filled with clouds.

After Sonic received his piece of bronze to take home, we lifted our champagne bottles and began to spray them everywhere!

Sonic and I poured almost all of our champagne over the victorious Diddy as he did virtually nothing to defend himself, as if he wanted to be sprayed into a mess of victory!

This continued over the next minute before the champagne was all gone.

As we left the stage, Diddy took some time to wave to all the fans who loved him so much!

It looked like that combination of Masanori Akita's "Infinite End" tune, the Nismo GT-R and the LÖWENSEERING itself would still be a perfect combination for years to come!

We rushed through our podium press conference, but Diddy's words could only be so heartwarming towards the track itself …

"I love LÖWENSEERING! I've never raced on a track better than this! They say it's so dangerous, but I've never seen the face of danger on this circuit, unlike many others who didn't have the courage in the past. I've known this place like the back of my hand! My Cup career started here, my first win came here, many of my wins have come here, and I'm so well-loved here by many! I know I say this every time I win here, but … I love LÖWENSEERING and it loves me!"

As Diddy, Sonic and I walked into the paddock with our trophies, Tails was the first to congratulate us.

"Great job, you guys!" the young kitsune said.

"Hey, buddy, you had a pretty good drive yourself," said Sonic.

"Well, … yeah, … but not as good as you three, especially you, Diddy," said Tails.

Diddy smiled, "I'm glad to be teammates with you, Tails."

Then, Donkey Kong sneaked up from behind us and grabbed Diddy. Sonic, Tails and I nearly jolted as the big ape surprised us all, giving his little nephew a victory hug, just like always!

"I love you, little buddy!" said DK.

Diddy blushed heavily in embarrassment.

"You really have to shout that out in front of my three teammates!?" he said to his uncle in an unsatisfactory tone.

"Well, you are my best little buddy!" said DK, "Plus, I love LÖWENSEERING almost as much as you do because I love seeing you win here!"

"Okay, DK," said Sonic, "Perhaps it's best if you give your little nephew a small break for once?"

"Oh, okay," said DK playfully.

DK let Diddy back down to the ground on his feet.

"Man, your victory hugs can be pretty tight sometimes!" said Diddy.

Tails giggled slightly.

"Let's go put our trophies into our paddock," I said to my teammates.

Sure enough, the five of us walked back to our team's paddock. Many crew members, mostly Diddy's, were celebrating right outside.

"Hey, Diddy, you the man!" said a crew member, waving at the little monkey with the gold.

"Thank you!" said Diddy, "You guys make a great crew!"

The crew members raised their fists in excitement and let out a victory screech as I opened the door to the paddock.

"Congratulations, Diddy," said Sonic.

"Thanks, bud!" said Diddy.

We stepped in and placed our trophies on the counter next to one of the benches. Then, we all sat down and began another pleasant chat that lasted throughout the evening.

Four months down, six more to go, and the standings now looked like this:

1. Diddy Kong – 4,115 points

2. myself – 3,535 points

3. Sonic the Hedgehog – 3,325 points

4. Shadow the Hedgehog – 3,175 points

5. Miles "Tails" Prower – 2,975 points

6. Al Reder, Jr. – 2,110 points

7. Kunckles the Echidna – 2,055 points

8. Jean Dubois – 1,560 points

9. Greg Richards – 1,350 points

10. Bob Stu, Jr. – 1,250 points

11. Pedro Fernandes – 950 points

I personally felt shameful that Tails was now more than a thousand points behind Diddy, but what could happen in the future? As long as Diddy keeps finishing on the podium, it looks like Tails will soon be racing for more well-earned podiums and team recognition, which he has already earned.

Next week, June 1, we'll be heading to somewhere rather beautiful; somewhere by a fancy Italian lagoon!

See ya there!