After two weekends of no rolls, many teams were excited to take advantage of the longest day of rolls thanks to the end of daylight savings. Unfortunately, the longest day is always preceded by the shortest day, which can always feel like a let-down for teams getting only a few rolls.

Unfortunately, Sunday rolls were called early due to weather, citing the precedent set from last year that rolls would not happen below freezing. While it is a little sad that rolls didn’t happen on the longest day of the year, it was nice to not be out in the freezing weather. Sadly this also means that I didn’t make it out to rolls this weekend, so thanks to everyone that I got info from to put this together, and sorry that there are no pictures.

As a note, I will not be able to attend any more weekends of rolls this year and I require volunteers to take notes and pictures so these can continue to happen in my absence. If you are interested in helping out, please email me at ben.matzke@gmail.com. Students and Alumni are both welcome and encouraged to help out. The more information the better!

In Attendance

Org Saturday
CIA Orca, Ascension, Freyja, Quasar
Fringe Bissa, Bonsai, Borealis, Bedlam, Banyan
SDC Bane, Avarice, Malice
SigEp Mamba, Barracuda, Pandora
Spirit Zuke, Haraka, Fuko
No-Shows AEPi, Apex, AEPi, DU, KapSig, PiKA, ROTC, SAE, SigNu

Observations (No Pictures)

  •  As the shortest day of rolls for the year, Saturday was only scheduled to go for an hour. This hour got shorter and shorter as there were a record 5 cars on the course needing to be towed, followed by lots of sweeping and re-sweeping of the wet leaves left by Sandy.
  • CIA Fringe was first rolls and last rolls as all orgs got two rolls around the course. From the sounds of it, CIA also had some bright yellow wheels on, clearly showing continued development in this figid weather. One wonders how much useful data and comparisons they are able to attain from these rolls.
  • Fringe was the high roller of the day bringing 5 buggies out. Bissa finally hit the course this year and started the long road to Raceday qualification.
  • The 5 orgs that came out Saturday seem to be the new core of sweepstakes. These orgs have missed no more than one day and are reliable for doing their chores and making sure rolls happen as often as possible. Come raceday, it will be interesting to compare fall turnout to day 2 qualifiers.
  • Apex mentioned in the post from 2 weeks ago that they are very close to making it out to rolls. Their new buggy is only missing a pushbar which is only not finished since the superstorm delayed some materials. Depending on what those materials, I’m sure other orgs may have been willing to loan some if extras were available. With only a couple potential weekends left and the temperatures continuing to drop, I wish them the best of luck getting any rolls this fall.

Since this weekend was so short and the end of the semester is nearing I think the time is right to take a look at the roll count top 10. This list was compiled from the Sweepstakes roll counts and only counting singular buggy driver combinations

  • Starting at number 10, Spirit’s Fuko comes in with an even 20 rolls driven by new driver Sussy Romoleroux. The veteran buggy show’s its experience and well tuned mechanics as Spirit’s top rolling buggy and driver combination.
  • In a tie for 8th place CIA and SDC each have a buggy with 21 rolls. CIA’s Quasar, driven by returning driver Lizzie Li, and SDC’s Bane, driven by veteran driver Melisa Yepes. If my memory holds correct Melisa drove for SDC’s A teams last year in Bane (somebody please check since I’ve run out of time to do it).
  • CIA’s Freyja comes in at number 7 with 22 rolls, driven by veteran driver Emily Ostrin. Emily originally drove for AEPi and for a while was the last driver for Camo until AEPi Apex tried to fix up the buggy before they were loaned Insite.
  • For 6th place, SDC’s Malice has 23 rolls. Driven by veteran driver Rachel Chow, Malice is the current buggy to hold both the men’s and women’s course record when she was driven by Michelle Mirabella in 2009.
  • Coming in as our number 5, CIA’s Firebird has rolled the course 25 times. Driven by the sophomore Shannon Lee, Firebird is currently the only buggy on the course with a bar that can fold down during the free roll.
  • With a surprising three way tie for 2nd place, CIA’s Orca, Fringe’s Bonsai and SDC’s Avarice all enter the fray at the 26 roll mark. Orca, driven by freshman Amy Hung, was built and rolled for Raceday 2012. Bonsai, driven by veteran Becky Peterkin, has been claimed as the current fastest freeroll and rolled for the first time in 2011 as Fringe’s A teams. Avarice, driven by returning driver Jing Xiao, first saw the course for raceday 2010 and has seemed to be somewhat of a problem child compared to the rest of SDC’s fleet.
  • And finally, with a commanding lead at 31 rolls, a full day ahead of the 2nd place trifecta comes CIA’s Ascension. Driven by veteran Allison Lim, Ascension first saw the course for raceday 2011 driving for CIA’s A teams. With a lucky DQ Ascension made finals in 2011 and broke Fringe’s design comp streak only to be returned the following year.

With teams getting so many rolls per day, missing one day can really set you back in the amount of practice that you can get, but clearly numbers aren’t everything. Obviously there are a lot of teams missing from this list, a lot of teams that are usually a large part of Raceday. And with so many other teams joining the fray, spring roll counts will likely show a very different picture.

Keep an eye out for news of mini raceday and information for fantasy buggy if we have the manpower or not.

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