No need to mince words. We're on the home stretch. The train is pulling into the station. We're down to the wire. It's the beginning of the end. The fat lady is warming up.
Buckyball Run 9 is coming to a close.
As tradition dictates, I've pulled back the veil of secrecy and revealed everyone's times for two reasons. 1, it gives everybody a chance to evaluate if they can make a final run and snipe their way to victory, and 2, it gives everyone a chance to make sure that in the HIGHLY UNLIKELY case of an error in reporting time that it is corrected before the final tally. Even then, there is a 24 hour period after the race ends for any disputes to be brought before the race commission.
And finally, and to prepare for possibly the oldest and most hallowed rule of the Buckyball Run, it allows those who plan to finish first to prepare their bank accounts to pay the bar tabs of the other racers, because as is well known amongst Buckyballers, the winners buy the drinks...
So on to Open Unlimited. Cookiehole maintains a healthy thirty-three second lead going into the final day, but Reload in
Dat Asp made a last minute push to jump to third, lagging only 36 seconds behind. Cheetah's Asp
Sleeper Awakes made a jump up to 6th, with Raiko's classic entry
The Nomad making an impressive debut at 9th. Ozric's Asp
Isil closed the gap to take 12th, just under two minutes out of first. First-time Buckyballer Avayu made an impressive splash with an 18:42 run in the
Von Humbolt, and in spite of an interdiction, Badweasel lopped two whole minutes off his time to bring
The Brown Clag in at 18:53.
A trio of rookies also finished the Run in sequential order, with NordicLion's Asp
Amelia barely beating out Tayo's Sidey
D-Minus by a scant 16 seconds, followed by AntiDisco's Imperial Eagle
Dark Comet, the last two setting end-to-end records for their ship type crossing the bubble.
Finally in Open we had CMDR Snake__Venom in the Asp
Krikkit Two finishing the Run and avoiding a dreaded DNF in spite of a spate of bad luck including a complete temporary loss of temporal existence (AKA a computer crash) during which time Venom kept the clock running and continued the run. While his time may have suffered during this time, his honor was validated upon touchdown at Obsidian Orbital. Well done, CMDR. o7
In Solo Unlimted, Aken B. provided the only new time, establishing the end-to-end Trans-Bubble record for the classic Cobra Mk III with a time of 20:57 in the
Millennium Faulcon]. Wherever he might be, CMDR Jameson has to be smiling. However, CMDR Kligg Jr. of the Asp Grey Mullet still holds the top uncontested time of 15:43. This is of course subject to change pending the Live run scheduled later today...
CMDR Aken B. also posted the only Open Hauler time, jumping to 3rd place in the Not Safe For Work. CMDR Cookiehole, meanwhile, still holds the top slot at 15:44, just a ship length ahead of three-time Buckyball champion CMDR Alot, who has been conspicuously absent these last few days of racing...
Lastly, in Solo Hauler, we had three commanders simultaneously looking to suck up to Bucky while pursuing an easy BBR Championship reverse dot. 
CMDR Lightspeed came closest with a run one minute shy of Cookiehole in the Your Wife Looks Good In This, followed by Freedom4556's Miri in sixth place and Ozric's Littlest Hobo in 7th. Bucky appreciates your efforts, CMDRs, but like most anybody he loves a winner, and for right now that is CMDR Cookiehole.
So there we have it, with less than 24 hours to go in BBR9. Don't forget that we're having another live run from Garden Enterprise to Obsidian Orbital launching at 21:00 Galactic Time on Saturday. This run will count toward the Solo/Private leaderboard as well as its own BBR9 Live leaderboard with a special custom dot, plus it's a great chance to hobnob with your fellow competitors. It was tremendous fun when we tried it out last week, so it should be double the fun the second time around! Check out the end of the first post for all the details. I plan to be online between 1900-2000 hours ahead of time to accept any last-minute private group requests or just to gab with anybody who cares to via IRC or teamspeak.
See you all aboard the Shotgun Shine for the after-party! With my current times posted, I don't believe I'll be needing to bring my credit chit...
EDIT: FoxTwo! Oh my goodness, I thought I was gonna have to cancel BBR9 before the final run if you didn't show up. You were in the pre-pre-race thread, got first post and everything and then disappeared. Folks, CMDR FoxTwo is the only other Buckyballer besides yours truly to possess the entire Buckyball Bumpersticker collection going all the way back to Buckyball 1. Assuming he finishes BBR9 in his Cobra Mk IV (and there's no reason to assume he won't, he's stubborn like that) he will collect his 9th dot, including the star for the Buckyball A*. Plus he brings a rather fetching fan club with him to the after party, which is never a bad thing... Welcome back F2! See you on the Shine!
