This is it: the final week of the inaugural season of Marbula One. It all comes down to Midnight Bay, the Rainbow Road of marble racing.1Minus the blue shells, obviously. There are snaky curves, a dark tunnel, and even a railing-free bridge. Our spherical sportsmen and women have risked injury before, but they’ve never risked outright death. This weekend, they will stare the Grim Reaper in the face and thumb their noses at him.2Or they would if they had thumbs… or noses…
However, before tomorrow’s 16-lap marathon, first the marbles must qualify to determine starting order. For the most part, this an uneventful qualifying round, with Team Momo holding pole for most of it. But then, midway through the O’rangers’ run, Speedy of the Savage Speeders bursts out of the starting block and rockets through the track, nabbing first place away from Team Momo. The Jelle’s Marble Runs Committee decides that this was not an egregious violation of protocol and lets Speedy’s result stand.3Was this entirely fair to the O’rangers? Probably not. But considering how many dirty tricks the citrus swindlers have played throughout this tournament, it’s only fair that they get a taste of their own medicine.
That pushes Team Momo down into second place, with Balls of Chaos and Green Ducks getting pushed down into third and fourth, respectively. In spite of that, they’re well-positioned for a good result in tomorrow’s big race. Will they capitalize on it? We’ll have to wait and see. In the meantime, keep on rollin’, baby.4But not, like, in a Limp Bizkit-y way.
Complete stats for Marbula One can be found at the Marble League Wiki.