Assalamu'alaykum and good evening..
DAY ONE(Qualifying for last round of 16)
I arrived in the Selangor Entcorp Mall about 2 pm, we had to pass the qualifying session. Our venue was situated at the centre of the mall, it brings me a few memories back when I was still playing counter-strike and we would had it in a cybercafe but this time it was different, it was at the centre of a mall. The Selangor Cyber games is host to various games, but the title game is Dota 2. Among the games that were hosted were F1 Codemasters 2014, FIFA 15', Counter-Strike Global Offensive and DotArena.
So anyways, I checked out the venue before I went to participate into my own event. There's like a huge screen at the centre, but it only showcased the Dota2 event and not any others. There was like a stage for the main Dota2 Competitors and they had like 10 computers on the stage. There were chairs placed in front of the chairs for the spectators to watch the event and at the side of the mall gaming equipments are being sold there for 'Sales' price(not sure if that was true). Anyway, I went to the main entrance of the mall to get my 'participation' merchandise? I don't know, but I had to wear it and register myself for my event. So I head into the booth that my event was at and was ready to play. I received 3 red tickets and an explanation by the event organizer(Playbox) and it's staff, VK someone I met few years prior at one of the Codemasters competition sponsored by Gaming Arena.
Anyway each 'ticket' represent 3 laps I can do per session which means I can only do 3 laps max for my qualification into the last 16 players. My first session I got a fastest lap of 1:39.00++ while the last two sessions I had I got a fastest lap high 1:38s, needless to say I took a short break after my first session at a cafe nearby to review the corners and apexes, whether I got it right or not before continuing for my last two sessions. By then, it was almost 4PM and I immediately left the venue after doing my qualification rounds.
DAY TWO(Finals)
I arrived at about 12PM, I was nervous as usual while I make my way to the booth. There's a lot of people at the venue, the main attraction was Dota 2 but the booth where F1 codemasters would go on had a couple of people too. There's nothing much going on, the organiser told us to get to know each other and we took pictures before the final round of 16 started. I head out to eat with another competitor outside of the mall, performed Salat(prayer/prostration) after that and then waited for my turn.
Round of 16
Unfortunately, I've arrived late for my turn and apologized as I had a problem with my chest so I went to buy water. Anyway, this was it, I took a seat and said Bismillah, recited surah Al-Inshirah and hoped for the best. You know, with all the hours I put in to winning. The one-shot qualifying started, I was getting used to the seats and everything else in the end I got pole position a low 1:40s. After that it was race time, it was 3 laps so here we go. I qualified on pole, so there was tense in the air. The lights went green and I dropped into 3rd while trying to catch the first placed person. On the second lap we were battling as hard as we could, I tried to play cleanly but I guess that's just impossible because we had the accident setting set to visual and I naively made that mistake which is trying to play cleanly. On the third lap, I got a good run outside of turn 2 and when I turned in for the 3rd corner the competitor rammed into me, I didn't know if I didn't give him space(which I think I did), so I had to be stuck behind him again. At the final corner, in relation to everything that has happen, I tried pulling an aggressive move up the inside and touched either his sidepod or rear wing but it was contact. We raced to the checquered flag and I got 2nd. I was not impressed.
Quarter Finals
After the round of 16 ended, we had a quick break of 30 minutes, I couldn't remember if it was before Asr' prayers or after, but anyway I got into the quarter finals Alhamdullillah. The Air became tense again and I said to myself I have no choice but have to make contact in order to overtake because it doesn't seem that the competitors would lightly let me go without contact. Anyway, one-shot qualfiying began and I got pole, albeit a little faster than it was in round of 16. I made sure to watch how the others make their start as I had a bad start previously, but once again I got overtaken at the first corner but this time it was worse. I didn't know how, but at the 2nd turn, either I purposely made contact into another competitor, or had myself rammed, either way everything seem to happen quickly and contact was made and I spun. It was a devastating feeling, I knew I had to react quickly in order to qualify for the next round. I cooled my head down, remembered how the real life f1 drivers used to deal with such situations ie, Alonso, Reinmeister, Seb, Lewis Hamilton, I reversed gear and began chasing. I made consistent low 1:40s, so I was able to catch up to the 3rd placed competitor and overtook him swiftly. I manage to make fastest laps and cut down the deficit unto the 2nd placed competitor. I'm not sure if it was now a 3 lap or 5 lap race, but anyway I manage to get a good run down the competitor at the last corner of the final lap, and I got 2nd. I get to proceed the next stage, it was a satisfying result.
Semi Finals
I knew it was going to be difficult to win proceed to the next stage. I had tremendously fast and quick competitor, a competitor that had already beaten my twice and 1 unknown person which I had predicted he's very fast. I made the same procedure before the one-shot qualifiying started. I started off well but start to see the shadow or rather, ghost car of my competitor in front. In the end I did my best qualfying lap that day, but it was too much for me and I lost around.900 and 0.400 to the first placed and second placed competitors. The race then started, I had a bad start(again) and down into 4th position. I was stuck behind for 2 or 3 laps, and by the time I overtake him I was already about 5 seconds away. Now I need to get lucky and hope for the best, if my competitor even slip once I can gain a few tenths or second per lap. Sadly it was to me, the first placed competitor proof to much for me as he got fastest lap after fastest lap while the second placed competitor was about 3 seconds away from me after the chequered flag was waved. At this point, I felt dejected but said Alhamdulillah anyway. All those hours spent, lost in defeat but there's always things to learn from this event. I had gain an ample amount of experience and will use that in my life such as being calm when everything goes wrong.
Finals
After Salat-ul-Maghrib, the race for the final order was about to begin. I knew it was going to be a good one, I had a friend of mine in there along with three other competitors which were blindly quick. The one-shot qualfying started and everyone was in watching the lap times. They were all very closely matched and in the end they were about only a few tenths quicker than each other. As the race started, the first placed competitor quickly fell behind fourth as he was overtaken at the second corner. By this time, the second placed competitor is pulling ahead while the 3rd and 4th placed competitor were battling for 2nd. The first placed competitor was going to lead a charge that was unexpected. First he overtook the 4th placed competitor, then the 3rd placed competitor. By the final lap he was neck and neck with the second placed competitor and he would try to overtake at the first, second, and managed to do it in third but lost the placed in around 4-7th consecutive corners. After the second main straight, the first competitor was closing in quickly with the second placed competitor, as they reach the final corner, the first placed competitor managed to aggressively pull towards the inside of the second placed competitor, they both had wheelspin and it was all down to the last second. By now they were wheel2wheel with each other and I think the first placed competitor had DRS on. The chequered flag waved and the race ended with the first placed competitor winning by a margin of 0.79 hundredths of a second. It was a good race I tell you!
Final Thoughts..
I can't help but feel dejected, but happy that I get to at least reach the semis. It just means I only need to practice harder and win the competition next time. You can plan, but Allah knows best for you.
Till then, thanks for reading, good bye!
Assalamu'alaykum~
No comments:
Post a Comment