Marble Racing exploded in popularity during the coronavirus pandemic, just as Jelle Marble Runs hosted their eighth and final event in Marbula One Season 1. Speedy, from the Savage Speeders, won Race 8 to secure a Marbula One title for the speeders in the overall marble racing standings. The Savage Speeders came into the finale in second place, trailing the first-place Hazers.
In the qualifiers, which aired on Saturday, Speedy won the pole with a 24.54 qualifying lap time on the Midnight GP course. Speedy edged out Momo from Team Momo by +0.43 seconds. Momo secured P2, while Clutter from Balls of Chaos secured P3. Mallard from Green Ducks and Prim from Team Primary finished fourth and fifth in the qualifier to secure top poll spots for Race 8.
Race 8 featured 12.84 meters of track, including a tunnel and a bridge on the Midnight GP course. Race 8 included 16 laps with 15 turns. In the qualifiers, the average lap time was 30.31 seconds.
Marbula One Race 8 – Top 5 Standings
Speedy (Savage Speeders) 7:54:57
Mallard (Green Ducks) +0.58
Snowy (Snowballs) +2.31
Prim (Team Primary) +2.64
Clutter (Balls of Chaos (+2.71)
Race 8 only had two lead changes up top, so the top positions certainly came into play during a race that did not see many challengers to the two leaders.
The Hazers and Savage Speeders have been flip-flopping the lead over the last couple of weeks. After finishing in third place in Race 6, the Savage Speeders snagged the lead for a week before they coughed it up. With a big win last week by Smoggy in Race 7, the Hazers secured first place going into the final race.
Race 8: Championship Still Open
Coming into Race 8, the overall marble racing championship was still in play with 25 points awarded to the champion. The Hazers were in the lead with 90 points, but anyone in the Top 4 posed a threat, including the Savage Speeders (76 points), O’rangers (69 points), and Team Galactic (64).
At the end of Lap 1, Speedy opened up nearly a half-second advantage over the chase pack. Momo from Team Momo finished the opening lap in second place.
At the start of Lap 2, Hazy moved into seventh place, but slipped to eighth place by the start of Lap 3.
At the start of Lap 4, Prim seized the lead after an explosive start out of the conveyor belt.
“Speedy caught napping in the slower parts of the track,” said commentator Greg Woods.
Speedy headed into Lap 5 trailing Prim by only 0.20 seconds.
At the end of Lap 5, Prim struggled getting onto the conveyor belt. Speedy made up valuable lost time and the two were then neck-and-neck.
By the start of Lap 6, Speedy regained the lead and never looked back. Prim slipped to second place, while Mallard from Green Ducks moved into third place. At the time, Hazy was stuck in the second grouping of marbles and fighting for sixth place.
At the midpoint during the end of Lap 8, Speedy opened up a +0.63 second lead over Prim in second place. Hazy, still in sixth place, trailed the front runner by 2.88 seconds.
Heading into the final lap, Speedy held a +1.24 second edge over Mallard in second place. Snowy jumped into third place ahead of Prim. Those frontrunners would finish 1-2-3 to secure podium spots.
Hazy slipped to eighth place heading into the final lap and never improved.
Marble Racing Final Standings
While the top two were slugging it out in Race 8, both the O’rangers and Team Galactic were still in the hunt for the marble racing title. If either could win Race 8, they’d put themselves in a position to secure the Marbula One Season 1 crown.
Hazy from the Hazers had a subpar race. Hazy finished in 8th place and secured only 4 points in Race 8. The Hazers finished with only 94 points in the standings, which was not enough to fend off the Savage Speeders.
Speedy, from the Savage Speeders, secured 25 points for the victory in Race 8. Their final tally passed triple digits with 101 total points to secure the Marbula One Season 1 championship.
Marbula One S1 Final Standings
Savage Speeders 101 Points
Hazers 94
O’rangers 69
Snowballs 66
Team Galactic 64
Green Ducks 64
Team Primary 54
Thunderbolts 49
Balls of Chaos 46
Mellow Yellow 44
Team Momo 39
Midnight Wisps 34
Rojo Rollers 32
Raspberry Racers 27
Limers 25
Hornets 8
Clementin from the O’rangers finished in 12th place and did not earn any points. Starry from Team Galactic finished in a disappointing next-to-last place in Race 8. Team Galactic also did not earn any points from Race 8.
The O’rangers didn’t see any change in the marble racing final standings though. O’rangers finished in third overall with 69 points. Team Galactic settled on a tie for fifth with the Green Ducks with 64 points.
The Snowballs secured third place in Race 8 thanks to Snowy. They added 16 points to their final tally to finish up in fourth place with 66 points in the standings.