Bucky's Journal
November 16, 2006
It was the day of qualifications. The qualifying races were held up in Antioch, where Pugtacular would be held on December 2nd. I was excited that Pugtacular lay only half a month away, and I felt ready for it. I felt I knew the pug Leia's moves, as yesterday I had a final meeting with Freeway. From now on I was on my own, but the last meeting had not been wasted. He watched the videotape of Leia racing, and analyzed it. He showed me her pros and cons, and told me how I might just beat her.
I felt good. The qualifiers awaited. I would be in the third race. There were four races, and the top two in each one would move on to the race at Pugtacular. But I didn't want to finish second. I wanted desperately to win, for I thought it would prove something to my competitors. I wanted to set an example.
Early in the morning, Mom woke me up so we could go to qualifications. It would just be the two of us, as Trinket was staying home to watch some TV. He wished me luck as I left, and I decided he was an okay brother, but nothing more than that. But I had better things to concentrate on.
Later that day
No spectators showed up to watch our qualifying race, as expected. It just simply wasn't big enough for the public. I surveyed the other seven competitors involved in my race. None of them looked like anything special. This race seemed to be in the bag. It was ripe for the taking.
And the race did end up being easy. I used all the tricks that Freeway taught me, and I got through the race just fine. None of the competitors stood a chance, and I won easily. Because I got through my qualifier so easily, I decided to stay and watch Leia in the fourth race. I had just gotten a seat when the race began and Leia had won in under 15 seconds. I sat there, open mouthed. The previous record was 18 seconds. In comparison, I had won in 21 seconds. It was clear my work was now cut out for me.
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