Chapter 5: Finished a race where it all started

As Michael Strand was busy on putting pressure to Ravenwest. He finally caught a glimpse of light behind him.

He turned his eyes toward the rearview mirror, and saw Kei Eida was behind him.

Speed Joker was very close to Michael Strand, with a small clearance of fifty centimeters in front of her front bumper.

This was enough that Michael was sandwiched by the Ravenwest driver in front of him, and the Tristan Star driver behind him.

"Hey, Noah Pierez is out of the race," his racing engineer notified him.

"I know, I know. You do not need to tell me twice. Any ideas for me to get out of this situation?" Michael asked.

Then silence just followed suit, and didn't get a replied by his racing engineer.

Now he knew, he was alone for this dogfight.

As for the incoming hairpin. All of them brake at the same time on the brake checkpoint.

Speed Joker looked at Michael Strand carefully, she was searching for an opening.

Then they entered hairpin. Speed Joker saw the inside of Michael Strand was slightly opened.

And so, she pushed inside, let her car go inside of the hairpin, then accelerated quickly passed Michael at the third high speed turn.

"An impressive overtake! Kei Eida is now P3!" Commentator 1 said excitedly.

"I'm begging right now, I want to see Kei Eida passed a Ravenwest driver. This is going to be an Incredible drive from him," Commentator 2 said.

With now passed the finish line straight, onward to the final lap of the race.

---

In the spectator stand, busy with many crowd cheered for their favorite drivers. 

The man with cowboy hat smiled at the top of the stand, leaned on the guardrail.

"I knew she could do it," he said.

A middle age woman that wore a suit appeared beside him.

"Sir, you've chosen her?" she asked.

"Precisely yes. Motorsport will soon have it own community, and why not make money out of it," the man said.

The woman sighed. She knew something about a new business venture, but she didn't expected to be this.

"Soon, she will grow further, and enter the world stage. For now, this just a beginning," the man murmured silently under his breath.

---

Michael Strand couldn't believe in his eyes. He had been passed. He also realized that his front tires would gave up sooner than he would expected.

"I should focus on my tire management more," he said.

He saw the LP1440 going further ahead and stuck close to Ravenwest. He still needed a lot more improvement in the future.

Speed Joker stayed close to Ravenwest. They passed the first chicane easily, passed the third curve, and now went to the fourth curve at the end of the medium straight.

Teammate driver Ravenwest, Dave Justin. He was not really affected by the pressure from Kei Eida who was behind him. He kept his focus and didn't fracture.

After passed the curve, it went to the long straight. The LP1440 able to kept up with Ravenwest' Dodge Viper SR1 despite its more ranging horsepower of 830 BHP.

Since the LP1440 was significantly a ton lighter from the Viper, and its HP/kg matched equally. Making both of them equal fighting machines.

Unto the first high speed curve, LP1440 kept it in close. Speed Joker was waiting for Dave Justin to make a mistake. But there was none, he did not leaved a room for error.

Through the second and third chicane, and passed the second high speed curve. Speed Joker makes her move on the first sharp curve.

Dave saw it from behind, "Sorry, but I'm letting you take the spot."

Speed Joker got blocked. This made her felt irritated. But she kept her cool and calmness, it reduced her to make any mistake.

---

In the Ravenwest paddock. The team's engineer, he was impressed at the LP1440 performance.

"That car, it is well built and very impressive. Not only that, its finely tuned to the core. It makes me wanna see under the hood," Mike Rooney said with curiosity.

"You could say that twice. I'm more impressed by the driver it self able to release its potential. That car used a custom drive train to fit the driver's driving style," Jones Hanks added.

They saw them in last medium straight, and a unpredictable moved happened by Kei Eida.

---

Speed Joker went outside and hold the line. She kept herself close Dave Jones who was on her left, closed enough to scrape each other bodywork.

Then on the hairpin, she turned from the outside. At the exit, she accelerated first, floored her acceleration pedal.

While Dave Jones struggled to keep controlled on his car.

{Your too close idiot! Your going to hit the barrier!} he screamed in his thought.

They both entered the third high speed curve at the same time with the same speed.

Then onto the finish line straight. Speed Joker was very close to the barrier on her right, it was only five centimeters of clearance from it.

At every second, at every drop of gasoline, and every beat of a heartbeat. In this last straight, it would be only one who would get home for second place.

Speed Joker herself chose this move, now it was all about on her luck that will decide to get it.

In front, the leading Ravenwest driver, McCane Thomas crossed the finished line first.

Both Kei Eida and Dave Justin side-by-side, with no room of error. They hold their breath and hold fast onto it.

One mistake in this final moment, it would devastate many fans who are watching this race. Many more would later come.

They both crossed the finish line. Many who saw it, both of them crossed it at the same time.

Everyone in the spectator stand went wild, even some went half top naked swung their t-shirt around like crazy.

"Unbelievable race! Both of them crossed the finish line!" Commentator 1 excitedly said. 

"Right now, the race footage is being reviewed by racing official. Only one person that would get second place," Commentator 2 added.

Once the footage is fully reviewed by race officials, everyone saw the slow motion.

Kei Eida was three centimeters more than Dave Justin after looked further on the front bumpers on both of their race cars. Now, everyone knew who got the second place.

This would be a mark, the most unforgettable first motorsport race in Japan.

"Kei Eida takes Second Place on Japan's first motorsport race in History! Truly an unbelievable moment for him!"

---

All the cars on the tracks made another lap, then went to pitlane, and went into the paddocks of each team.

Speed Joker met with her mechanics in her Garage, all of them ecstatic about the win.

One of the mechanics said, "Hell Yeah Baby, we won!"

All of them gathered around Speed Joker and thrown her into the air. Everyone was cheering on her for getting the podium.

After that small party, Speed Joker went to a team meeting room. In there, she take a plastic cup and fill it with water, then she drank it.

"Puah! This felt so good. Inside the car, the heat is killing me," she said.

She took a second serving. After that,  she thrown the plastic cup away in the recycling bin.

Tanami knocked at the glass door. 

"Excuse me," he said.

Joker saw Tanami through the glass door.

"You can come in," she said.

Tanami entered the room, and closed the door.

"You should get to podium stage, every fans want to see you there," he said.

"Alright," Joker replied. "faster the better that I will get to my comfy bed," she murmured, felt very tired.

Tanami saw Speed Joker left the room. He sighed and actually listened to her silent murmur. He had known about her for a very long time, she had tendencies on not liking extra activities after races. But, that what makes her very special Horse Girl, and a Race Car Driver as a whole.

Speed Joker stood on the podium. A racing official gave her a silver trophy. After that, everyone given a champagne and spray themselves with it as a celebration of the race.

Then Dave Justin from Ravenwest went to Speed Joker, and opened up his right hand to her.

"Hey, that was a good race," he said.

Speed Joker turned her attention to Dave, she grabbed his right hand with her right hand, and shook it.

"You too, it was an Incredible drive," she replied.

---

As the race of Daiban Raceway came to a close, which was a grand success for Speed Joker's team, and also herself.

She got a notification on her bank account. The statement was her balance had been added of 200 Million yen, along with a message notification of Koji Ian report about her racing suit.

Speed Joker grinned under a light.

"I won't have to worry about my financial for a while," she said in relief.

Speed Joker already changed into her red and white jersey, and removed her mask and her face make up. Her uniform was inside a blue bag that she brought.

Tanami knocked at the changing room' door.

"Hey, Joker, I have a massage to pass for you," he said.

Speed Joker went curious. She wanted to know what the message was.

"Just come into the room, I'm done changing. We can speak it here privately," she replied.

So Tanami went into the changing room. He gave her an enveloped.

"Its from Kenji. He asked to give me this," he said.

Speed Joker uncovered the enveloped, and read the massage on the paper. After that, she flipped the paper; there was a map marked outside Daiban Raceway, located at the unfinished parking lot.

"I got this one," she said.

"Since you know the message wants, I'll go back home," Tanami said tiredly.

Tanami went to the door.

"Just be careful around strangers," he said, and then left the room.

Speed Joker gave another glimpse of the map drawn on the paper.

---

Speed Joker left Daiban Raceway facility and headed toward the unfinished parking lot. There was a lot of dirt and dust in the air, along with lights shined brightly from the light poles.

She covered her nose and mouth with a handkerchief.

"Seriously, why this place out of all the places to be in," she murmured.

She found where the location was pin pointed by the hand drawn map. it was a single garage near the heavy machinery.

{Here?} She thought carefully.

Speed Joker knocked at the garage door.

"Excuse me, anyone here?" she said softly.

A sound of metal clashed came inside of the garage.

"Ah, yes! You can come in!" Kenji said.

He pulled up the garage door and saw Speed Joker.

"Boss, good timing. I fixed your car as promise," he said proudly.

Speed Joker saw the car. It was a four door saloon. It was named the Jetsun AL500, a special car derived from the AL350.

The A behind the L designation was for prototype sports cars that she made along the way. For trucks, currently only sold as mini trucks for a moment. It has designated T for Trucks, with the M designated for Micro. But in Japan, it was as called a Kei Truck.

"You really did a good work on rebuilding the body," she said, impressed.

"Of course, I follow the design you given to me on the email," he said.

Kenji opened the hood of the car. It was revealed a Inline 4 engine, its named AI-4SA.

A successor engine of the AI-4A engine. It had various improvements from the previous design, it had better material, technology, and overall fuel efficiency. 

"Amazing, why not becoming the top mechanic for the team?" Speed Joker asked.

"Tanami-san didn't allow me to be there yet. Because he said, 'you aren't ready for it'," Kenji replied honestly.

Speed Joker patted Kenji's head, and she smiled at him.

"Well then, I'll be waiting for you when the time comes," she said.

Kenji blushed, his cheek turned rosy pink on the embarrassment by the given praise.

"I-I think you should take the car now," he said with a slight stutter in his voice.