Then, on Lap 57, a mistake.

In this pressure-cooker environment, it was only a matter of time before someone made a mistake and it was the most unexpected person of all who made it.

Sally McDuff.

It was an uncharacteristically rookie mistake, too - coordinating her pit gear, Sally mixed up her supply of old and new mag drives and in the lead-up to the next pit stop, she accidentally attached a used magneto drive to the Tarantula for affixing to the Argonaut.

The stop took place and Jason gunned it out of the pits...and immediately knew something was wrong. He didn't have full power.

It was a costly error.

Because it meant that the Argonaut had to pit again on the very next lap.

'Jason! I'm so sorry!' Sally said as the Tarantula replaced the dud mag. 'It's my fault!'

'Don't worry about it! Just get us back out there!' Jason yelled.

The old mag came off and the new one went on and Jason blasted out of the pits - and suddenly found himself only inches in front of the ravenous Black Bullet. He was almost a full lap behind now and flying for his life: Washington was on fresh mags, a full tank of coolant and - according to the Bug - his eyes were deadly.

But Jason held on. Drove hard. Concentrated grimly. That first chase phase melded into a second, then a third, then a fourth. In each instance, Jason could only pit after Washington did: in his position, to pit first was to concede defeat.

Never give up. Never say die...

Lap 82 saw Washington pit again - and not a moment too soon for Jason. The Argonaut had been almost out of coolant, its mags all but on the point of burning up.

Jason charged into the pits on the next lap for a full coolant refill.

And suddenly his luck changed.

Isaiah Washington was still in the pits when he got there.

Washington's pit machine had frozen halfway through attaching a new set of mags to his car and Washington's Mech Chief was now frantically trying to manually pull the machine clear of the Black Bullet.

Jason recalled the words of Scott Syracuse from a few days ago: 'The pits are the X-factor in match-racing, because whenever you stop your car, you run the risk of it not starting up again.'

Which meant that Jason had now reclaimed the lap he had lost earlier - they were now on the same lap.

Jason flung the Argonaut into its pit bay - to find that Sally, rattled by her previous error, had misheard the Bug's radio instructions for a full coolant refill.

She had only prepared a top-up.

'Oh, Jason! I'm sorry!'

'Just give me what you've got!' Jason yelled. 'We gotta go!'

The Tarantula's coolant hose pumped a small amount of oily green liquid into the Argonaut's tank and Jason sped off...

...leaving Washington still in his pit bay.

The Argonaut shoomed around the track at bullet-speed. Alone.

It had made almost one full circuit when the Black Bullet blasted out of the pits - in the nick of time - resuming its place on the track just as Jason rounded the final turn.

And abruptly the tables were turned.

Whereas Washington had spent much of this race hammering on Jason's tail, now - with only 16 laps to go - it was Jason who was almost a lap ahead, and it was his turn to do the hounding.

And despite his own exhaustion, that's exactly what Jason did.

For the next six laps, he rode the tail of the Black Bullet, harrying it, ha.s.sling it, creeping alongside it until their nosewings were almost side-by-side.

It was all Isaiah Washington could do to stay in front.

But then the Bug issued a warning.

The Argonaut's coolant levels were dangerously low which meant that its magneto drive heat-levels were dangerously high.

Sally's top-up hadn't been enough. It wasn't going to get them to the end of the race. They were going to have to pit one more time, something which would sap the lead they'd just gained and make this race a dash to the finish.

The thing was, Jason was wiped, exhausted from all the previous chases - and he knew it. He didn't think he had the mental energy for another dash to the line.

'Ahhh!' he yelled. 'I just can't do it!'

And then all of a sudden, at the end of Lap 90, something very unexpected happened.

Just as Jason was about to give up on his chase and peel away into the pits and kiss the race good-bye...

...Isaiah Washington gave up.

Worn out by Jason's brutal six-lap chase - and completely unaware of Jason's own coolant problems - Washington pulled into the pits, allowing the Argonaut to cruise by him, thus winning the match-race.

The crowd cheered.

Jason was stunned.

The overwhelming fatigue that had gripped him moments ago was suddenly transformed into shock.

He had just won this race.

He had just made it to the semi finals.

The Argonaut returned to the pits, its mags practically smoking.

Sally McDuff came running over and hugged both Jason and the Bug in their seats. She apologised profusely, but Jason wouldn't hear any of it.

'Sally,' he said. 'Forget it. I've made far more mistakes out on the track than you have in here, and you've always covered for me. Hey. We win as a team and we lose as a team. Don't even think about it again.'

A few minutes later Isaiah Washington came over to their pit bay, with Scott Syracuse by his side. And to Jason's surprise, Washington extended his hand. 'Good race, Chaser,' he said, shaking Jason's hand.

'You, too.'

At which point, Washington glanced at the Tarantula and saw the computer readout of the Argonaut's mag and coolant levels. They were all deep into the red, bordering on blowout.

Washington's jaw dropped. 'Wait a minute. You were redlining on coolant and mag levels when I dropped out?'

'Er, yeah.'

'But...' Washington stammered. 'G.o.d, no...you were running on empty.' But then his gaze became steely, suspicious. 'How'd you learn to do that?'

Jason shrugged. 'Mr Syracuse taught us. Yesterday, in cla.s.s.'

'And what exactly did he say?' Washington demanded.

Jason let Syracuse answer that.

'Never give up,' their teacher said.

And so by mid-afternoon on Tournament Day, it was time for the semi-finals and the tournament draw looked like this: ROUND 1 QRTR FINALS SEMI-FINALS FINAL.

1. XONORA, X.

16. [BYE] 1. XONORA, X.

10. LUCAS, L 8. WONG, H.

8. WONG, H 1. XONORA, X.

6. CORTEZ, J 4. KRISHNA, V.

11. PHAROS, A 6. CORTEZ, J.

14. MORIALTA, R 4. KRISHNA, V.

4. KRISHNA, V.

3. WASHINGTON,I 3. WASHINGTON,I.

13. TAKESHI, T.

12. CHASER, J 12. CHASER, J.

5. PIPER, A 12. CHASER, J.

7. DIXON, W 2. BECKER, B.

9. SCHUMACHER,K 9. SCHUMACHER,K.

15. [BYE] 2. BECKER, B.

2. BECKER, B.

CHAPTER EIGHT.

1ST SEMI FINAL:.

XONORA V KRISHNA.

If Xavier Xonora's first race in the tournament had been an 11-lap execution, then his semi-final against Varishna Krishna was a slightly longer demolition.

It lasted all of 14 laps.

For on Krishna's first pit stop on Lap 10, the young Indian discovered that he'd received two depleted mags. A hurried second pit stop had ensued on the following lap, but by then Krishna's race was over.

Xavier Xonora didn't let mishaps like that go unpunished. Within four laps, he'd shot by Krishna and ended the race, putting the talented Indian racer out of his misery.

And so, having raced only 25 laps in the course of the tournament - all of 12 minutes' racing time - the Black Prince was in the final.

The next race between Jason Chaser and Barnaby Becker would determine who would face him.

'It's over already?' Jason said in disbelief.

He had only just stepped out of the shower at the rear of his pit bay, wrapped in a towel, when he was met by Sally McDuff and the news that Xavier Xonora had already beaten Varishna Krishna and that they were due on the grid in ten minutes.

'What happened to Krishna?' he asked. 'Xavier's good, but he's not that good. Krishna's too talented a racer to go down in fourteen laps.'

'Looks like Krishna got some bad mags,' Sally said. 'The mystery mag-demon strikes again. Hurry up, champ. We're on.'

Jason grabbed his racesuit. 'Geez, I'm still just recovering from the last race.'

The two hover cars sat on the grid, surrounded by their Mech Chiefs, mentors and supporters.

Jason looked over at Barnaby Becker's maroon-coloured Lockheed. Xavier Xonora, fresh from his semi-final win over Varishna Krishna, was giving the helmeted Barnaby some tips, while Zoroastro simply glared directly at Jason, trying to psyche him out.

'Racers! This is your five-minute warning! All crew members are to leave the track area immediately,' the Race Director's voice echoed out over the stadium's speakers.

'Stay sharp,' Sally said, slapping Jason's helmet. 'Don't take your eyes off this sneaky b.a.s.t.a.r.d.' She turned to the Bug and slapped his helmet, too. 'And you, you look after your brother, okay?'

The Bug gave her a brisk double-thumbs-up.

'Hey Sally,' Jason said meaningfully.