Doornse Gat

**Doornse Gat** is a sandhill located in the park with the same name. It is east of Doorn, a village located in the Utrechtse Heuvelrug municipality, 15 km south of Amersfoort, Netherlands.

## Track

In 2016 the first four races were held at Doornse Gat as well as races 7-10. Most were quite long and had splits and rocks as the main obstacles, as well as corners and banked hairpins and corners.

In 2017 the first two races were held at Doornse Gat. They were simple, medium races. After the summer break, races 7 to 10 were all held at Doornse Gat. The layout of the track used in races 7 and 8 was similar to the first one. The layout used in the next 2 races was fairly simple, not too technical, but longer than the previous ones. It had the teardrop where Red Number 3 got stuck while comfortably leading the race and it had a hard left turn at the end before the finish. It also featured a Plinko Board that stopped El Capitan and Glassy (the race leaders) and allowed Wisp of Darkness to take their only SMR win

In 2018 only two races were held at Doornse Gat. The layout was more technical than any of the previous tracks and they were also quite long.

Doornse Gat hosted all the races of 2019. Race 1 and 2's track featured many slaloms and a few helices while the track for race 3-4 had a lop-sided split that massively favored the top line, which was harder to take and changed the winner both races, along with many helices that caught out multiple racers. The race 5-6 course had a bridge and a long finishing section with boosts that sped up the marbles dramatically. It also had a final curve where Ghost Plasma made some controversial blocks that caused all the marbles to bunch up and even stop in race 5. Race 7-8's track had two variants - the one with two tight turns at the start and the one with a longer, faster section as well as a bumpy final straight where many marbles chose to draft the marble in front rather than try and pass due to the track's tiring nature.

In Season 5, Doornse Gat hosted 4 rounds: 5, 6, 9 and 10. The first course was longer and was most memorable for it's long finishing section and several split paths, with one route usually significantly faster than the other. There was one split in particular that caused problems for the racers one line, with the track being extremely slow after crossing under the bridge. This issue also carried over into the Marble League 2021 Practice Race, held on the same course, when several marbles (including Yelley of Mellow Yellow, who fell off the bridge onto the slower line) got caught up, apparently due to a beetle, which may have been the cause of previous issues as well. Meanwhile, the course used for the 9th and 10th rounds of the Marble Rally, and the qualifiers and friendly rounds of the Marble League 2021, was shorter, and faster. There was a large metal ball at the start, causing issues for many, followed by a split. There were a couple of other splits, but it was more memorable for the quick finishing section, where plenty of passing took place, including a close battle between Dragon's Egg, Pollo Loco and Red Number 3 for the lead in round 9, in which Dragon's Egg won by 0.02 seconds. The ML qualifiers and friendly were similar in action.

The Marble League later returned to a new course for both the Moguls and the Sand Rally events. The moguls track was fast and straight, while the rally course was particularly twisty but very high speed, resulting in several near misses on tighter corners. It also saw a 4-way photo finish for second place.