The IGPX Action Reports Archive

The 2049 season's second playoffs match pits Team Velshtein
against Team Satomi. Last year's final race found Team Satomi and
Team Velshtein duking it out in the face of heavy downpours. It
nonetheless had audiences standing and cheering in celebration of
Team Satomi's victory and the fierce battle that was waged.

IGPX's official bookmaker places the odds of either team winning at
about the same level. Almost confirming this towards the beginning
of the race, audiences saw Team Satomi taking on Team
Velshtein's formation, following closely behind them. Entering the
second lap, Takeshi appears in the front of the pack. From the
get-go, Cunningham faced Takeshi head-on for a one-on-one battle.
But at the pace with which things picked up, there seemed to be no
room for second guessing. Reaching the halfway point of the
second lap, there were minimal points with which the racers could
take a breath in this struggle to survive. Amy and Liz in a
coordinated move send Jan flying forward. With their built-up
momentum, they went for Dew and caused his mech to crash. It
was excellent timing, as Dew was focused on his teammate, Jan,
being vaulted just moments earlier. A pit signal is called for Dew.

The race then enters the second half, and the match turns into an
all-out war. In the fury of attacks, no pilot was able to deliver a fatal
blow to an opposing team's pilot, but no pilot was able to shake off
attacks made by opposing pilots perfectly either. Through the
innumerable attacks, every machine was decorated with scratches
on the front sides. Eventually, the protective layers of metal on the
mechs peeled off and slowly became less useful throughout the
race.

The fighting was so intense that it ushered the pilots quickly into
the second half of the third lap, where still no pilot had changed into
Speed Mode and the pilots were all crowded together in one spot
as the proceeded into the home stretch. Two pilots proceeded past
the finish line in a sheet of spray. The judges had to yield to a
replay to make the call as to who finished first (this has become
commonplace this season).

Those two pilots were Cunningham and Takeshi, who continued
attacking and blocking while making circling around each other's
mechs for a big chunk of the race. In the end, confirming with all
available angles on the footage, it was Takeshi's mech who barely
passed the finish line first to win the match for Team Satomi. At that
point, the standing ovation that was occurring in the audience for
the six pilots who all passed the finish line in their respective
mechs only increased more fervently to an intensity as there has
almost never been before. The lengthy applause and the cheering
that continued afterwards as fans left the stands was for Team
Satomi who have now placed in the finals for two years in a row,
and for Team Velshtein who showed an incredible display of power
during the race.

With the result of this race, Team Satomi and Team White Snow are
the two teams facing off in the finals. This is the second year that a
1st-year rookie team is facing off against the previous year's league
champion. Will Team Satomi proceed to become champion again
for a second year in a row as Team Velshtein has been able to do in
the past? Or will Team White Snow be able to pull off a win, making
it so that a rookie team will have won the championship two years
in a row? The finals race is in two days, and it will have the whole
world watching to see the results!
Episode 24 Action Reports
Report #01: Team Satomi Vs. Team Velshtein
-The fierce fighting seen a year ago returns!