DNN2

“They call it the Costa dei Fiori, the Coast of Flowers, but today it’s more like the coast of showers-“

“’Showers’ is a bit mild, Sam.”

“So is calling anything around here mild, Bob. Welcome to DNN Sport 2, ladies, gents and friends, for the start of our coverage of this, the seventh race weekend of the 1454 season of the Imperial League of Dragon Racing. I’m Sam Tinbru, with me is former IL Team Principal Bob Anmo, and over the next four days we’ll be bringing you all the action from the course here in Calabria, plus analysis, gossip, and interviews from around the venue. But first, well, it’s not quite the weather we’d hope for from a holiday on the Taranto coast, right, Bob?”

“No indeed. To be honest, if the race had been a week earlier, it’d probably have had to be cancelled or postponed.”

“Right. A real humdinger of a storm blew up about five or six days ago, and it’s sort of squatted on the coast, never quite coming ashore, never quite blowing out. They can do that a bit here, it’s not often we have bad weather on the south coast but when we do it tends to linger. The weather forecasts here say it will last through the race weekend, too, though the worst of it is past. It’s going to make for a tricky race.”

“That it is. Almost half the course here, including the starter perches, is right up against the face of the cliffs, and crosswinds can make that pretty perilous. Add to that that we don’t know whether practice sessions or qualifying might be shortened or disrupted and it’s going to be tough to predict the results.”

“Yes, in good weather it can be a bit of a procession here sometimes, a lot of long straights and not much to make life complicated for the riders, but with the wind gusting to thirty-five knots sometimes it’s a different story this week. One for the experienced riders, do you think?”

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“Typically you’d think that about bad weather, yes, but of the front-runners, Feran Andoal’s never been a big fan of bad weather races, and, well, Lucia Aelschu…”

“Yes, let’s give a quick update on Lucia, for those of you who haven’t been following the news since the last race in Galicia. You probably remember that Lucia’s dragon, Olympia, injured himself in the closing stages of that race, an old shoulder strain coming back to bite him. Well, Lucia managed to get him landed safely – really a heroic effort on her part, bailing out into the surf so he could land without her weight – and the ICDA vets have cleared him to fly this weekend, but the Royal Hermeia team have said they’re going to take it easy, they’re treating it as flight trials and rehabilitation more than a race.”

“We’re very lucky Olympia’s able to fly at all, you can’t understate how much Lucia’s experience and courage saved him last race. I understand why the team want to get him airborne again, but I wish they weren’t risking it in these conditions.”

“It’s a risk, for sure, but Royal Hermeia really need to do something to kick-start their year. Their riders are now only fourth and fifth in the championship, they’re third in the teams championship and in danger of being caught by Phoebe Tenryuu by herself, Tenebrae's only entry. For a team wearing the Royal gold this year, that’s got to be embarrassing, surely?”

“It is, and it’s bad for the sport to see such a prominent team struggling like this. I think we might see heads start to roll over there if things don’t improve soon, and this situation with Olympia won’t help matters.”

“Can Arden Markwe steady the ship this weekend in Lucia’s place? He’s a very experienced rider, multiple race wins under his belt, and unlike Feran he doesn’t have much trouble with bad weather.”

“You’d have to hope so, but Arden’s not looked too comfortable so far this year either. We’re as likely to see some of the current midfield get the advantage – Marca Calwehr for Phaestia, Queru Idcoulh for Augir. And of course you can’t count out Gerald Ipemas at Temisia.”

“Indeed, this is Temisia’s home race, there will be a lot of fans here wanting to see a rider in blue take home the win. What about the rookies? They can sometimes float to the top in the chaos of a weather-effected race weekend.”

“I hope the same thing I always hope for rookies in bad weather – they’ll be careful. It’s so easy to be overeager, to push too hard and get a careless injury. Coro and Tenryuu are both full of promise, but I’d hate to see either of them wreck their careers by taking an early sprain or something.”