Spain's famed Volcán shifts up but fumbles the gears of his Bugatti, losing pace against the French Salmson. Yet even so, he holds the lead. Sensing momentary advantage, Aristide La Fontaine artfully slides to the outside of the curve to take a perfect racing line to set up an overtake at Paillon. The Spaniard can see it coming, but what can he do? In a flash he sees his options unfolding -- perhaps speed is not all that it will take to win this day, but rather something more. His eyes narrow as he starts the turn.
At the curve at Place Masséna, Petrus de Salvion Bernardus of Switzerland guns his engine and cuts to the inside lane in hot pursuit of the two leaders. His Bugatti narrowly misses the stern of the Italian Maserati. Now he is certain of rejoining the fray and perhaps holding to his third place positioning to the finish.
Yet Vitez Rychly of Czechoslovakia maneuvers through the curve at Avenue de la Victoire, closing the gap against the Swiss driver. The wrecks of the British Amilcar and the striken Belgian Bugatti will block the left lane straight ahead -- he will need to cut to the right side to get by. Rychly's challenge is whether he can catch and overtake the Swiss car ahead -- yet the advantage is his. The orange Bugatti's tires are very fresh, whereas the Swiss car's tires are on borrowed time, heavily grained and shredded from wear.
Gasoline pours onto the track just ahead, but still does not ignite. For an instant, Rychly’s eyes meet the glance of Sebi Orsi as the Italian pulls the Belgian driver from the wrecked car. Orsi hefts the unconscious man up on his shoulder and looks to the side of the track. It will be a leap to clear the wattle boarding that lines the edge. The crowd sees the look of determination in his eyes and knows -- they can sense it -- this is a man who has somehow done this before, sometime in his past, if perhaps years ago.
Orsi glances south at the billowing smoke, then turns to look toward the approaching Bugatti of the Czech racer as it rams rashly through the debris lining the exit of the curve, coming through undamaged. Suddenly, another gunshot rings out from the paddock area. For an instant, Orsi's mind flashes back to another time when, during the war, he was on the fields at the Battle of Piave River, the future of Italy hanging in the balance…. The smoke and the sound of gunfire bring back the memory of dragging a wounded soldier toward his half shattered ambulance that lay hidden in the rows of corn as the fighting raged nearby.
He shakes off the memory, then leaps toward the side.
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