Hello, my name is Uchida.

As you can see on the top page, the "Fastest Player in Expressway Match 2008" will be held at the "AOU Amusement EXPO".
In this match, a total of 8 players (the top 2 players from Taiwan, China and Hong Kong, and Japan) will come to Japan to fight the final round. It promises to be a truly international event.

Following on from Takenaka's report last week about China, I'm going to tell you about the final in Taiwan, which was held in Hsinchu City.

The qualification matches for each area in Taiwan were held in 2007, and the final match, which I attended as a guest, was fought by 16 players who won the qualification matches.
Only the top racer would be able to go to race in Japan.
(Another qualification match and final match took place at another location in Taiwan, and the champion of that final was able to go to Japan.)

The final match was fought by just 16 players, but the venue was crowded with speculators and the players' friends.
It is relatively warm in Taiwan in winter, and the venue was made even hotter by the feverish excitement of all the people inside.

Above are the rules for the final match. I couldn't understand what it said...
There were 6 consecutive battles, each of which was fought by 4 players. The player who got most points progressed to the next step.
*This is the rule for the final in Taiwan, but other rules are used for the qualification matches in Japan and for the final in AOU.

A scene from the day's racing. As the players were all really skilled qualification match winners, and none of them took ineffective lines when they were racing.
Their skills were so well matched that the winner was decided by a very narrow margin in every race.

Above is a picture of the outrun stars of one of the top players.
Just look at how many stars there are!

Ceremonial photo with high-ranking winners. I am looking forward to seeing them again in Japan.

After the final, I had a chance to fight against these top players in the exhibition race, but they really showed me why they are going to represent Taiwan! They were so good. With my skill level, getting second place once in 6 battles was all I could achieve.
They will surely show us excellent races in the final at AOU.
I cannot wait for the day of the final to arrive.

Even if you cannot participate in the qualification match in Japan, you may have a chance to fight against the top players in the exhibition match on Feb. 16 (the day of the final).
This is a chance to see world-class driving, so you cannot miss it.

That's all for today.
See you.

(Original article in Japanese released on 2.6.2008)