Super Mario Kart Time Trial World Records Site

"Look at that, even the Cactus says Boyd!"

Sami @ Sunday, August 17th 06:59AM [link]

New Photos in Gallery

This week David Schiering and Daniel Pabst have sent us their photos that have been added to the PAL Germany Photos page. Many thanks!

New Members

Welcome to...

Kevin Brogan, Canada (NTSC 199th, Canada 42nd, Warrior F)
Derrick Bodden, Canada (NTSC 226th, Canada 45th, Contender E)
Timo Jarvinen, Finland (PAL 246th, Finland 4th, Apprentice A)
Liisa Jarvinen, Finland (PAL 279th, Finland 8th, Pawn F)

New World Records

No new World Records this week...

Movement

PAL Activity:

#3 Florent Lecoanet drove an impressive set of new times this week all NBT, passing UK Champion for the 3rd place spot on PAL Time Trials.

#8 Angelo Di Vano hit an impressive MC1 fastlap this week, reaching one of the Top ranks of the World on PAL for that board, and also another PR help to cut some more average finish.

#12 Guillaume Leviach also makes a few more PRs and is chipping his way towards Christophe Paquin.

#30 Alvin van Asselt sets a new PR on DP2 with some sharper driving and a ncie chop to his stats overall.

#37 Gene Tagliabue, the Champion of Australia drove 3 new PRs, including some more work on VL2 with 5-lap potential.

#88 Florian Chollet of France makes a small return to SMK with some new times of a significant cut to move him up a few ranks.

#122 Daniel Pabst of Germany worked on Mario Circuit 1 only this week with a new PR in the bag.

NTSC Activity:

#29 David Smith, Tennessee State Champion, hit a pair of BC3 times with a sub 1'30" 5-lap included and a nice NBT record for KB2 lap.

#168 Chuck Foster also set some improvements for the USA team with a strong average finish improvement overall with his new times, landing him within the Top 170 of NTSC. Keep on karting!

Olympics! Maybe CDE should be SMK olympics?

Sami @ Sunday, August 10th 07:06AM [link]

Kart Contest

Don't forget the Kart contest still continues, we are down to some of the Top players and some from SMK still make a strong stand. Keep an eye out each day and vote for the one you want to win smile

New Photo in Gallery

Alvin van Asselt sends us a great photo of himself, updated in the Netherlands PAL section of the Photo Gallery.

New Members

Welcome to...

Abby Lawrence, UK (PAL 275th, UK 70th, Pawn E)
Adam Johnson, USA (NTSC 164th, USA 75th, Knight E)

New World Records

Karel van Duijvenboden makes some new NBT World Records on Rainbow Road PAL with 1'26"76 and 0'17"15.

Alvin van Asselt hit a few of the PAL trick/glitch method boards landing WRs on KB1 at 0'33"59, with a tie lap 0'04"42.

Movement

PAL Activity:

#2 Karel van Duijvenboden made his comeback to PAL this week, working on NBT Rainbow Road to try his luck there. Success was made with his latest World Record hits.

#4 Florent Lecoanet made a new 5-lap PR for Bowser Castle 1.

#8 Angelo Di Vano worked on Mario Circuit 1 NBT this week, starting to aim towards the big 59"00 barrier, with a pair of good PRs so far.

#12 Guillaume Leviach defends his rank with a few small PRs this week, as he extends his lead a bit from Mann.

#17 Michael Jongerius makes a surprise return to SMK, apparantely under some training of their Team NL leader Karel. Either way it has paid off as Michael shoots down his old GV1 PRs cutting a strong amount off his average finish. Lots of NBT potential, we would definitely like to see him progress to other tracks.

#29 Frederic Duarte-Leite worked only on Rainbow Road this week with a good pair of times and defends his rank, however another karter approaches him quickly...

#30 Alvin van Asselt, man on a mission this week for re-doing most of his PAL tracks with awesome results and his first WRs on Trick/Glitch method of Koopa Beach 1 on the side. An excellent week well done!

#37 Gene Tagliabue is driving some more great records consistently this week and pushing into the 30s, with Ben Allen just up ahead. He still has solid pace and can continue to reach new heights as his NBT skills sharpen.

#48 James Tagliabue has made another major climb this week, attacking the spot of Eric Scott after passing John Kenny for #3 in Australia. He has hit some sharper times including some NBT work that is helping his fastest laps.

#110 Steve Bayliss made a return to PAL SMK this week with a few new times taking him up to a stonger level. He should definitely aim for the Top 100.

#111 Samuel Gomez is following closely also with some new records and defends his position well. A return from Nuutilainen could heighten a rivalry...

NTSC Activity:

#7 Chris Balch continues his CI1 adventure but hasn't quite hit the time hes after; however it is still very solid in sub 54 seconds.

#29 David Smith set two very nice PRs and improved his stats. KB2 5-lap has gone sub 57 seconds.

#35 Alvin van Asselt improved his CI1 PR on NTSC this week.

#74 Bryan Bosshardt of USA returned to SMK with some surprise new PRs for Rainbow Road.

#109 Steve Bayliss made a stronger attack on his NTSC side as he works towards the Top 100 of NTSC. His PRs helped him ahead of Samuel Aubry as he rests in the Top 110 until his next PRs.

#222 Robert Hill drove 3 PRs since his joining last week and is defending his position well so far.

The Psych-outs start and the Banter begins, it is the month of the greatest meet ever!

Sami @ Sunday, August 3rd 07:08AM [link]

New Photo added to Photo Gallery

A photo of Manuel Babjar has been added to the Germany PAL Photos page of the SMK Photo Gallery. Many thanks for the photo Manuel.

New Members

Welcome to...

Robert Hill, USA (NTSC 222nd, USA 109th, Contender E)
Stefan Luich, USA (NTSC 233rd, USA 118th, Apprentice F)

New World Records

No new World Records this week...

Movement

PAL Activity:

#9 Manuel Babjar makes a small cut to his Ghost Valley 2 course time with NBT to kick start August's training.

#29 Frederic Duarte-Leite returned to SMK this month, perhaps to put in some early CDE training also, with a bunch of strong new records and NBT skills.

#36 Ben Allen put more depth into some PRs of his and is making a volume of cut on average finish. He is extending his lead from Sean and picking up the pace towards Alvin.

#39 Gene Tagliabue, the Champion of Australia continues to fast improve his pace and close the gap to rivals ahead with continued strength since previous weeks. He is in a position to gain more ranks to the mid 30s very soon.

#58 James Tagliabue, Australia's Non-NBT strongman this week is fighting well despite snes pad difficulties with another set of PRs crushing his previous ones and landing in the Top 60 of PAL, also reaching the first of Belgian the rivals.

#74 John Kennedy of Australia improves his Ghost Valley 1 5-lap PR.

#110 Samuel Gomez has battled hard this week and is improving his overall level on his way to the Top 100s, also passing Finnish Champion Tuomas Nuutilainen.

#241 Lindsay Molenaar has had her first solid attempts at hitting PRs with Bowser and is making a success of it so far. Just one position ahead is an old friend, also a target to pass no doubt when Bowser picks up the pace and she hits more tracks. The wooden spoon may land in someone else's hands at the CDE...

NTSC Activity:

#6 Chris Balch, the Champion of Canada sets two PRs on Choco Island 1 with NBT, and potential is there for the fastlap to go down further.

#16 Ha Nyan of Japan drives a cut for his Ghost Valley 2 fastest lap.

#117 Samuel Gomez improves his NTSC side of PRs also alongside of PAL and is showing similar levels of skill as he aims towards higher ranks.

It went by too quickly...

Sami @ Sunday, July 27th 04:04PM [link]

New Members

No new members this week...

New World Records

No new World Records this week...

Movement

PAL Activity:

#6 Matthias Boucher took some more NBT PRs down increasing his strength a little further as he chips his way towards Julien.

#8 Angelo Di Vano drove another 4 PRs with strong marks including CI2 fastlap and some others. He defends his rank well and continues his path towards the next rank.

#9 Manuel Babjar goes for a few heavier PRs in order to make the cut he needed. He has passed Armin Huber to become the 2nd fastest PAL SMK karter in Germany.

#36 Ben Allen focused on some weaker tracks of Flower and Star cups this week and is making significant cuts, almost reaching Alvin van Asselt with more rivals further ahead.

#37 Sean Billingsley improved 3 PRs this week, extending his lead from Mazieres a little further.

#39 Gene Tagliabue, the Champion of Australia has had a great week combining his Non-NBT and NBT skills well with several PRs and a very strong cut. He has managed to pass Spanish Champion, Limona and land in the Top 40 Worldwide. Two active British karters are not too far ahead.

#62 James Tagliabue returned with 5 new PRs, an IB improvement on MC2 and some solid times on some Flower and Star cup PRs. He is heading to hit the Top 60 very soon.

#74 John Kennedy decided to push his GV3 5-lap Country Record down a little further with excellent results.

#242 Lindsay Molenaar improved a few of her MC4 PRs with nice results.

NTSC Activity:

#2 Guilherme Arantes, the Champion of Brazil returned to SMK to answer the challenge of a friend on DP1, succeeding with a nice PR. We look forward to see more results soon.

#7 Pierre L'Hoest sets a PR for CI1 NBT on NTSC this week.

#8 Joe Bernier, USA Time Trial Champion continues his work on DP1 5-lap, close in rivalry with Arantes.

#29 David Smith made some solid PRs for CI2 and RR lap this week as he keeps active and shows potential to reach further ranks soon.

#96 Raul Henrique of Brazil made a few more PRs this week to solidify his rank within the Top 100. These included DP1, CI1 and KB1 marks that are holding up well.

I flew that A380!

Sami @ Sunday, July 20th 01:18AM [link]

Next update

Hello all, as you all know this week the update was a little earlier; if your PRs didn't make it in don't worry, they will be safe for the next update and I will add them in then. Just to let you know that the next update (27th July) will be a little later in the day (by a few hours). I will still collect new records and PRs up until end of day Saturday as normal. After that it should return to normal. Many thanks and keep up the great Karting!

New Members

Welcome to...

Charlie Gosse, France (PAL 93rd, France 32nd, Veteran B)
Mike Oram, Canada (NTSC 190th, Canada 40th, Warrior D)
Jose Karica, Panama (NTSC 216th, Panama 1st, Contender C)

New World Records

Florent Lecoanet drives a pair of great WRs, Ghost Valley 2 5-lap PAL 1'01"35 and KB1 5-lap 0'48"45.

Movement

PAL Activity:

#4 Florent Lecoanet of France returned with a pair of great WRs on PAL, some platform jumping on GV2 and more crazyness on KB1.

#6 Matthias Boucher has again been active setting some new times to push his standards up and extend the lead from Stellmacher further.

#8 Angelo Di Vano, the Champion of Italy made a stron set of new PRs that have helped him to pass Armin Huber for the next rank. He is now beginning his journey towards the German Champion.

#10 Manuel Babjar continues to cut his PRs as he approaches Huber, this week with a cut to his GV2 lap with a platform jump.

#12 Guillaume Leviach of France improves 3 great PRs, a strong Non-NBT lap on RR followed up with a pair of fast DP1 NBT times.

#20 James Jones has had an incredible week, focusing his skills on other tracks and has made a large cut to reach #2 in the UK and the Top 20. His pace will keep him going as it gets tougher to shave time off his records.

#36 Ben Allen put more depth into some PRs of his and is making a volume of cut on average finish. He is extending his lead from Sean and picking up the pace towards Alvin.

#41 Gene Tagliabue, the Champion of Australia, works on his weaker GV3 times and is turning them into strong Non-NBT times. He has potential with the lap and see his way to a sub 1'17" soon.

#74 John Kennedy of Australia sets a few GV2 PRs and maintains his rank.

#123 Daniel Pabst of Germany made a little return to SMK this week with a new PR for GV3 fastlap.

#165 Daniel Caterbow also followed closely behind with a few PR cuts on his return and maintains his position well.

NTSC Activity:

#6 Chris Balch, the Champion of Canada continues his work on MC1 and manages to reach 56 second llevel along with a new lap PR.

#8 Joe Bernier, USA Time Trial Champion also returns?? Could it be? He has made a suprise PR on DP1 and rumours are he's not done with it yet... Very good to hear Joe has made a mini return.

#13 Tohgo Ariake of Japan drives one PR this week, for Rainbow Road 5-lap and is approaching the 1'25" barrier fast.

#29 David Smith has a PR from last week on DP1 that has helped him cut a few points down and maintain his rank.

#96 Raul Henrique of Brazil has done a great achievement this week with several PR cuts on a lot of tracks and a fast climb into the Top 100. He still has great potential, we look forward to see more of his records.

#124 Kristopher Lamp is sending a final batch of PRs, cuts to his full set and a good climb on average finish.

Campaigning and Raining

Sami @ Sunday, July 13th 07:24AM [link]

Update on Sunday 20th July a little earlier

Just a note to all, I will have to do next Sunday's (20th July) update early in the morning as I have a few important things to do during the day. So please send all your PRs by Saturday latest to be safe if you want to be in that update. Many thanks, and keep up the great karting!

Karter Voting Contest Round 2 over

The Kart contest continues and Round 2 has been completed, we are awaiting the preparations for Round 3. At the moment there are 32 players left standing, and it will be 1 on 1 votes from here on. A number of players of SMK have made it through to this round: Michael Liem, April Thompson, Matt Ellis, Kevin Booth, Pierre L'Hoest, Luca Barbetta, Kalle Videkull, Tom Gaffikin, Michael Fried, Joe Bernier, Marius Mollenhauer, Vincent van der Fluit, Paul Tanney, Robert Szabo, Leyla Hasso, Michael Jongerius, Kristopher Will, Benoit Boudreau, Sean Billingsley, Robin Usher, Karel van Duijveboden and Florent Lecoanet. We wish you all good luck this week!

New Members

Welcome to...

No new members this week...

New World Records

No new World Records this week...

Movement

PAL Activity:

#6 Matthias Boucher of France hits a few more PRs with solid NBT and made a climb past German Champion of PAL, Sebastian Stellmacher.

#9 Angelo Di Vano of Italy and #10 Manuel Babjar of Germany are still fighting their way towards the next rank. Angelo worked on a few key courses, including GV1 where he nailed a solid time and is not far from Huber. Manuel also supplied us with his latest strong records and follows closely behind Angelo.

#13 Guillaume Leviach set two new PRs this week, improving some of his stats overall and increasing his lead from Pierre Coste.

#23 James Jones of the British Team makes a great return to SMK this summer following completion of exams and has been working very hard on his favourite Mario Circuit 1, also making some decent cuts on other times to make a strong climb past USA's Joe Bernier. James is currently after Matt's 2nd place in the UK.

#36 Ben Allen and #37 Sean Billingsley both made their return to SMK this week too. Sean remains in position with a small cut to CI1 and defends his rank, while Ben goes on the offensive on MC1 with a couple of NBT PRs to get him started with plenty of potential as he defends #4 in the UK.

#41 Gene Tagliabue, the recently crowned Champion of Australia continues his PRs this week, a little fewer than previous weeks, but homing in on some more detailed strategy to gain himself some distance. A few more Australian Country records have also helped him to pass the Champions of Norway and Belgium during this week.

#65 James Tagliabue also karted this week, focusing on a few PRs, including an IB lap on MC2 gaining him a lot of average finish points. There are several close ranked karters ahead, so James can make a climb into the Top 60 once his utilises more NBT as Gene has.

#74 John Kennedy decided to work further on his Ghost Valley 3 PRs, setting a great sub 1'17" course time and finally succeeding in a lap Country record in Australia also.

#119 Samuel Gomez sets a new PR on Ghost Valley 3 this week.

NTSC Activity:

#6 Chris Balch, the Champion of Canada made a surprise little return this week and attempted to break the 57 second barrier on Mario Circuit 1. He will reach it on his next PR, we are confident.

#13 Tohgo Ariake of Japan makes a decent climb this week focusing on some tracks where he can gain average finish to help. He has 8 new records and passed Luis Felipe Ferrari, and is approaching Holmiere.

#16 Ha Nyan of Japan drives a very fast GV2 time, one of his strongest tracks that nearly rivalled a World Record. He is currently #2 on GV2 with his latest 5-lap time.

#66 Juan Manuel Arteaga, the Champion of Costa Rica is constantly chipping away at rivals average finish scores with mixed Non-NBT and NBT PRs to help raise his standards. He has passed 2 karters this week.

#119 Raul Henrique of Brazil has made an amazing climb after learning some Long boosting from the high ranked Brazilian karters. Along with some more PRs he still has excellent potential and can reach the Top 100s very soon if he keeps up the PRs.

#136 Bryan Cochonour passes 4 karters and his 8 PRs are helping him climb further. His GV1 PRs are including platform jumping and he is getting sharper on the rest. Bryan is just a few points short of passing the Champion of Ecuador.

#189 Adam Leibach of USA makes a strong comeback to SMK with several new times and reaches well into the Top 200. He has a pace to improve and climb very far, we look forward to see the next set of PRs.

How much do they want to see it?

Sami @ Sunday, July 6th 06:44AM [link]

Karter Voting Contest Update

The Kart contest has started off well with lots of players on the Forum from all Mario Kart versions voting for karters. It is evident that a lot of the newer karters are not familiar with those on al the karts, and vice versa, so it has been difficult to vote for a few. Round 2 has already been in motion with Michael Liem and April Thompson (also SMK players) two of the 4 lucky ones to advance to round 3. Several great names of SMK are also in round 2 this week; so if you were planning to vote for one of the guys that are familiar on SMK (and other karts) keep checking each day to see if their voting day has arrived:

Sebastian Stellmacher, Jamie White, Matt Ellis, Kevin Booth, Pierre L'Hoest, Marius Hukkelaas, Luca Barbetta, Nathan Stinson, Alvin van Asselt, Kalle Videkull, Tom Gaffikin, Jonathan Sifleet, Michael Fried, Joe Bernier, Guilherme Arantes, David Smith, Marius Mollenhauer, Vincent van der Fluit, Armin Huber, Paul Tanney, Steven Zwartjes, Robert Szabo, Leyla Hasso, Ben Allen, Michael Jongerius, Kristopher Will, Sebastien Holmiere, Benoit Boudreau, Richard Karlsson, Sean Billingsley, Chris Clark, Robin Usher, Piet den Dulk, Cole Gilbert, Karel van Duijvenboden, Florent Lecoanet

There are several other karters who compete on other Karts, I would recommend vieiwing all the Campaigns in the Kart Contest 2008 section of the Forum for some background information and great advertisements of those great Karters so you can vote for them too smile

New Members

Welcome to...

No new members this week...

New World Records

No new World Records this week...

Movement

PAL Activity:

#7 Matthias Boucher of France makes a return to SMK this week with a small average finish cut, with his 2 PRs set this week.

#9 Angelo Di Vano of Italy and #10 Manuel Babjar of Germany continue a very close rivalry! Angelo takes the lead this week including passing Paquin and lands within the Top 10 at #9th place in the World on PAL Time Trials. Angelo hit several PRs and is on his way to reaching Armin. Manuel improved his BC3 time with a strong PR and defends his rank well this week.

#13 Guillaume Leviach improved a pair of KB2 PRs and has cut a few points to reach closer to Matthias Mann.

#28 David Bonne worked on BC3 Non-NBT, a little behind the reaches of Babjar but has been chipping away at a low 1'31" strong PR for 5-lap.

#46 Gene Tagliabue, has now become "Gene the Mean PR Machine" as he attacks this week with a crushing selection of PRs including tougher strategies on MC2, more NBT and Non-NBT on weaker tracks to cut off the maximum average finish. He has now passed Eric Scott to become the new Super Mario Kart Time Trial Champion of Australia! Gene still however has amazing pace with his NBT success, with the Norwegian, Belgium and Spanish National Champions up ahead, he has several goals and plenty of potential.

#74 John Kennedy, the Brisbane Champion in Australia worked on a few Ghost Valley times this week, lowering his fastlap close to the Australia Record.

#119 Samuel Gomez of France gains a rank this week vs a Belgian rival with a good pair of PRs on DP3.

#241 Lindsay Molenaar sets a few more PRs this week on random tracks and is defending her rank with a general improvement on stats.

NTSC Activity:

#5 Soul Kobayashi, the Champion of Japan has worked very well improving many of his new records, continuing to improve on his weaker tracks to cut more average finish. His score moves closer to the next two ranks, with Mann and Faria not far ahead.

#15 Tohgo Ariake of Japan now passes rival #16 Ha Nyan for 2nd place in Japan. Tohgo worked on 4 PRs to go for a bigger improvement on those courses. He is also close to reaching Tyler Worley and Luis Felipe Ferrari. Ha Nyan worked on Vanilla Lake 1 and is working on the strategy there as he hits a small PR and defends his rank.

#68 Juan Manuel Arteaga, the Champion of Costa Rica hits 5 new PRs, with mixed NBT and Non-NBT PRs and has passed Guillaume Sylvain. Former World NTSC Champion Travis Nelson is his next target.

#135 Raul Henrique of Brazil returned to SMK and drove some good records on a few of his favourite tracks using solid NBT on a few. He has cut a decent amount of average finish and approaches the Champion of Ecuador.

#140 Bryan Cochonour hit 9 new PRs this week and sticking to Non-NBT as he refines his turning angles to be sharper on corners. He will hit more PRs soon and rival the karters above including recently active Raul.

Euro Cup Final... Who will it be?

Sami @ Sunday, June 29th 07:03AM [link]

Super Mario Kart European Championship 2008 (Reminder - 1 Day to Subscription Deadline)

A final reminder! As per last week's update regarding the European SMK Championship. Those players wishing to attend, tomorrow is the deadline to submit your forms. Please do so by then in order to have a place in the tournament in France this August 2008, it is shaping up to be a fantastic event!

Karters Voting Contest

Some of you may remember the Kart contest a few years back (2004 and 2006) that involved players from all the kart games and we were able to vote on them to see who would be the winner after several rounds. This year a similar event has been set up on the forum, check it out when you have a chance, read the rules and vote for your choices, there are new groups each day to vote a few players from:

http://www.mariokart64.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?board=contest_2008

Today from the SMK site some familiar faces are available to vote on the two topics; tomorrow several more special names are up for voting. Please follow the rules carefully and have fun voting in this contest.

New Members

Welcome to...

Adrian Lucy, Australia (PAL 175th, Australia 12th, Warrior A)
John Winter, Canada (NTSC 192nd, Canada 40th, Warrior E)

New World Records

No new World Records this week...

Movement

PAL Activity:

#10 Manuel Babjar defended his rank further this week during Angelo's absence with some great cuts on BC3 and also DP3 NBT. This also had another motive, as Manuel succeeded past Paquin for #9 on PAL. Next he will be after Armin Huber for another World Rank and to reach #2 in Germany.

#13 Guillaume Leviach passes Pierre Coste this week for #6 in France with a BC2 fastlap PR.

#41 Mathieu Jaspard, the Champion of Belgium improves 4 PRs with solid Non-NBT on the DPs and GV2.

#53 Gene Tagliabue, the Melbourne Champion in Australia has been unstoppable once again, crushing more times as he works on more NBT techniques, and at the same time refining more Non-NBT on the weaker tracks.

#58 Geoffrey Ewbank of Belgium returned to DP2 and has hit a pair of solid Belgian records.

#67 James Tagliabue has also been delivering some crushing times, focusing more on Non-NBT tightness and reaching records of Australia of his own. He is now #4 in Australia and heading at fast speed within the Top 70.

#74 John Kennedy focused on fewer tracks but he had special plans. He has reached his first record of Australia on Ghost Valley 3 5-lap.

#109 Tuomas Nuutilainen, the Champion of Finland, regained his Finnish record on KB1 from Jukka and has continued some more PRs, already heading fast towards the Top 100s.

#120 Samuel Gomez of France hit some more PRs on PAL and is defending his ranking well at 120th.

#241 Lindsay Molenaar improves a pair of DP1 PRs this week.

NTSC Activity:

#5 Soul Kobayashi has made a great achievement this week. The Japanese Champion cuts some time down on key records. This has helped him pass the Canadian and French Champions on NTSC to reach the Top 5 Worldwide.

#16 Tohgo Ariake of Japan also made a similar level of improvement and is passing some more karters. He was one small point short to pass Ha Nyan for 2nd place ranking in Japan, but he is very likely to reach this and climb further next week.

#35 Alvin van Asselt suceeded in over a 0.7 average finish cut this week with a number of NTSC records, some NBT and an extra cut on Non-NBT CI1. He is ranked ahead of Stanley Jeram.

#38 Akita Sounori of Japan made a great improvement this month with several new records and he climbs past the Top 40 Worldwide ranking at 38th. Hero Nake is close ahead to reach another ranking in Japan.

#69 Juan Manuel Arteaga, the Champion of Costa Rica improves 3 of his Non-NBT PRs and defends his ranking.

#121 Samuel Gomez also karted NTSC alongside PAL as per the previous week with a similar flow of new times and defends his rank well for another week.