
At Barrböjen, Italy cruises into the chicane, closely followed by the German Bugatti. Hegkman looks to be enjoying himself, closing within inches of the already damaged Maserati. Both cars remain still cautious, neither wishing to burn too much tire at this point in the race.
Behind, the opposite is true for the Czech, Vitez Rychly. His orange Bugatti presses forward in 6th gear, all caution thrown to the icy winds that whip the car. Mere feet away, the trees lining the roadway flash past. Hundreds erupt into cheers, urging the Czech forward. Rychly is unfazed, the very picture of control. Despite the temptation to twist to look for his beloved Vilhelmina amidst the crowd back by the pits, he remains steadfast in his pursuit of the leaders. Falling short of the curve, he has no choice now but to ram the gears down hard, but he is well-positioned to challenge for the podium now....
Monaco's Louis de Montignac presses on, bypassing the pits. Meanwhile, the British driver, John Milk, shifts down to 2nd gear, obviously lining up to take a stop. Yet he fumbles the gear lever. The car barely crawls forward. He will sacrifice yet more time to take a pit stop as a result – it is a terrible turn of events for the Britisher.
Racing out of Lekböjen, the Scottish nationalist, Alastair MacDougall, presses his Amilcar forward with abandon, but misjudges the transition from the ice to the roadway. He falls short of the hairpin at Hårnålskurva and now must shift down hard, opening opportunities for those behind to close the gap and challenge him.
And indeed, like a pack of hungry winter wolves, those four cars form up for the assault on Hårnålskurva. Their sights are set on the blue saltire of the Scot's Amilcar. It will likely become very crowded in the hairpin – and will any yield?
At the tail end, Finland comes around the outside lane of Storkurvan, his engine complaining heavily as Tavho Myrsky seems unwilling to press ahead to regain advantage. The Belgian and Norwegian drivers look across the ice and both they realize that it might be possible to lap the hapless Finn before the end of the race. What an embarrassment for one of the world's greatest ice racing nations. The crowd begins to jeer at the Finn, urging him on to at least try to regain some honor....
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