Camonized

* Halo 3
* Halo: Reach
* Halo 4

**Camonized, Cam** for short, formerly known as **Cassel**, real name **Cameron**, is a decorated Halo Racer, accomplished Forger and veteran Halo Player. He began his Halo racing career on HaloTracks in December 2008. He is a former staff member of HaloTracks as a Forum Ninja (moderator), Events Manager (briefly) and Journalist (prior to rank restructure).

## History

Cam was native to an urban region north of Toronto. Introduced at a young age, Cam came from a background of racing motocross, as well as playing video games in his spare time, particularly the Halo games. Cam sought after user created racetracks and custom game lobbies to partake in their usage. He discovered HaloTracks.org through the 'Bungie favourites' tab and considered joining the famous racing community. Cam eventually became a HaloTracks member on December 28th, 2008.

## Racing Career

Shortly after creating his HaloTracks account, Cam entered an exhibition elimation tournament hosted by Phoenix66 (soon to be Head Journalist of HT) on the very same day. Cam was able to finish 3rd overall in his HaloTracks debut. Post tournament, the two racers who bested Cam in the event, Fleck and Bomberman914, took notice of his performance and encouraged him to show up to future races. Soon after the new year, Cam joined another exhibition tournament, this time hosted by Bomberman. Unbeknownst to Cam, this tournament served as a tryout for an upcoming private competitive squad, titled 'HT Velocity'. While the event itself flopped, Cam's performance was enough to gain the interest of Bomberman and extended an invitation to Velocity.

**Velocity Inception (2009)**

Velocity officially began hosting tournaments in late January 2009. While Cam was familiar with the Halo 3 mongoose and it's behaviour, he entered Velocity as a rookie to competitive Halo racing, lining up against veterans of HT. Fortunately for Cam, Velocity was the first competitive squad of it's kind; a dedicated series soley utilizing competitively designed tracks was new to everyone in the squad. Be as it may, Cam rocketed to 2nd place in the grand opening Velocity tournament, but struggled to maintain top finishes after his electric debut. At the end of Season 1, he finished 8th overall, scoring 2 wins and earning the rank of 'Semi-Pro Racer' based on his ranked 'percentage'. His seasonal placing granted him eligibility to qualify for the inaugural 'Velocity Finals'. The Season 1 Finals of Velocity would take the top 16 racers from the seasonal leaderboard, seed them through qualifying tournaments, taking the top 8 to compete in a grand final exhibition tournament. However, in spite of his promising season, Cam failed to advance to the final after a controversial, drama filled qualifying tournament. Albeit he showed promising speed, but his attitude and consistency were his downfall. Season 1 concluded immediately after the finals in the late spring, with Bomberman claiming the victory.

Cam returned for Season 2 at the beginning of the summer, this time adequately prepared for the hyper competitive crucible Velocity had become. Cam would go on to finish 5th overall, score 3 wins and earn himself the squad rank of 'Pro Racer'. While his second season wasn't as exciting, Cam was on his way to becoming an established force to be reckoned with. While he was taking aim at improving his Velocity leaderboard ranking, Cam dabbled into the newest 'casual competitive' race mode, HARDCORETRACKS. His raw speed led him to win a handful of races and tournaments, his lack of discipline held him back from consistently finishing well.

However, HT was gearing up for the release of Halo 3: ODST; the general community focus began to briefly shift away from racing on Halo 3 and among other issues with squad leadership, Velocity's activity started to decline rapidly. To add insult to injury, other factors in Cam's life gatekept him from playing video games altogether. When the opportunity came for the Season 2 Finals of Velocity, Cam declined to race, in spite of only the top 8 from the leaderboard being allowed to participate. The Season 2 Finals concluded in October 2009 and Velocity went dormant.

**HT Supercross/Halo 3 Twilight (2009-2010)**

Former Velocity competitor and friend of Cam, *Purple Dinosaur*, was a motocross enthusiast looking to create a definitive emulation of the motorsport within the confines of Halo Multiplayer. Another forger and friend of Purple named *SDTxPappys r us*, had the same interest in mind. At the time, Purple and Pappys had produced enough Motocross and Supercross style maps to produce a dedicated series, while also utilizing various MX/SX style maps made by other forgers. With Velocity on hiatus indefinitely, it was time for a new form of premier competitive racing to it's place. In late November 2009, HT Supercross was established and commenced it's inaugural season. Unlike Velocity, HTSX was open to the public and encouraged anyone to participate, quickly establishing itself as a more laid back environment, compared to Velocity. In spite of it's short length of 11 total tournaments, the season was a success and concluded in December 2009. Cam was limited to exclusively playing on weekends, but managed to meet the 4 tournament minimum cutoff for the leaderboard, finishing Season 1 in 2nd place with a percentage of 85.5%. He would unknowingly lose the title to Le Hefe, who finished 1st with a percentage of 89.5% and one tournament ahead with a total of 5.

Season 2 began in late February 2010, with the intention of being significantly longer and more competitively authentic. Sometime in the early summer, Cam injured his hip during a motocross crash, which required time away from riding to heal, thus allowing him to be more active in HTSX and other various HT events. After some brief controversy near the end of the series, resulting in Pappys resigning from squad leadership and Le Hefe taking command of HTSX entirely, Season 2 concluded after 20 tournaments in mid July 2010. Cam finished as runner up again, with a consistent percentage of 81% after 8 races. However, Le Hefe was able to defend his title again, this time in convincing fashion, finishing with a crushing 97.5% after 13 tournaments. The highlight of Cam's season was his performance during the Season 2 Finale; in a race format which emulated AMA Supercross, Cam easily won his heat race and started the main event right behind Le Hefe. After the first rhythm section on the first lap, Cam cruised past Jeff and won the finale in dominating fashion. This main event marked the first major victory in his early career and stands as one of his most sentimental victories to the present day. Nearly two months later, Cam entered an official HaloTracks tournament to send off Halo 3, titled 'Best of Halo 3 Bash' hosted by Masta Blastr (then Head Map Maker). He claimed the win against a stacked roster, adding another high profile victory to his race record.

**Welcome to Reach/Supercross Season 3**

Carrying much of the momentum from the end of Halo 3, Cam looked to repeat his recent success coming into the newest addition to the Halo franchise, Halo: Reach. He quickly adjusted to the heavier, sluggish mongoose and was unsurprisingly competitive from the get go.

***'180 Decals'* Mini-Series (2021)**

**Season 9 (2021)**

With a disapointing mini-series showing behind him, Cam hoped to redeem himself in another complete season of HTSX. In the pre-season, Cam's outings were mediocre, finishing 7th at Metropolis and 4th at Aggregate. In late May 2021, the official schedule for Season 9 was announced and Cam discovered he would be unable to commit to the season; he could only participate in the opening four races, as the races afterwards conflicted with Cam's personal schedule to race the Canadian Professional motocross series. With his summer booked, Cam requested to be withheld from the Season 9 Team Draft, thus wasn't assigned a salary. Prior to the draft and the pre-season races, Cam was ranked 6th in the Season 9 Power Rankings.

Through the first quarter of the season, Cam showed little interest in practicing, knowing he'd inevitebly have to withdraw from the season. Cam participated through the first four rounds, where he would finish 6th, 6th, 3rd and 7th respectively, as well as earning a +/- of -14. While his goal was to leisurely participate, Cam was caught up in a bitter rivalry with Hatter and experienced a few unrelated racing incidnets, thus having a rather frustrating stint. After round 4, Cam departed HTSX to resume his personal preparations for the Canadian national motocross championship. In a twisted turn of events, Cam crashed while racing a local event and broke his collarbone. With his summer effectively free of any physical activies, it seemed Cam was destined to finish out the season.

Scoring a 5th place finish on his return at round 6, Le Hefe took interest in Cam after he was declared a free agent and thus recruited him as a member of Team Enertia for the remainder of the series. Cam rebouned his season at round 7, notching his first win of the season and effectively snapping a 27 race winless streak which stretched back to Season 6 of HTSX. Through the latter half of the season, Cam only missed the podium once and miraculously evened out his, +/- to 0. By series end, Cam overcame his early season deficit and finished 3rd overall, his first top 3 series overall since Season 2 of HTSX. While Team Enertia struggled all season, Cam's points contribution was enough to secure 3rd overall for the team. While Pancake dominated without question, Cam's highlight was being the only racer to stop Pancake from a perfect season. Cam finished with 6 podiums (one 1st, one 2nd and four 3rds), 120 total points, 94 official points, 3 Heat wins, 2 Hard Chargers, 2 Holeshots, 1 Fastest Qualifier and 88 Laps Led. Cam averaged 10.91 points per race and a qualifiying postion of 3.3, ranked 2nd overall on the qualifying leaderboard.

**Season X (2022)**

Tenth season of HTSX was officially announced in March 2022, dubbed 'Season X'. While retaining the structural format of recent seasons, the series underwent a handful of changes. Updates included a committee reviewed track list, increased grid capacity to 14 contestants, increased leniency to the rules and a $500 (USD) cash purse. However, the biggest headline centered around Pancake, who announced his withdrawal from personally racing in Season X, to solely focus on managing the series, thus creating the opportunity for a new champion to be crowned. Season X hosted an official pre season tournament on 'I'm Blind SX', where Cam entered as a last minute participant and filled one of the last available spots on the outside of the starting line. Cam went on to salvage a 4th, after a bad start and a couple of crashes. Shortly after the race, season participants were assigned their power rankings, with Cam given a performance rating of 90%, the 3rd overall highest. Cam was assigned a valued salary at $400'000, shy of half the team salary cap of $1'000'000. He declined team captaincy prior to the draft, thus placed as the highest ranked and most expensive free agent. Cam was selected as the first overall pick by Kat2bKittnMe, Captain of the returning Teal Team 6.

As the day came around for the season opener, a thunderstorm ripped through Cam's hometown. In what seemed like an act of god, Cam's massive municipal region lost power for nearly the entire day, subsequently forcing him to withdraw from the event. Cam returned for round 2, where he pulled the holeshot and never looked back. Cam took his first win of the season and his 4th career Halo 4 SX victory. Days after his win, Cam suffered a devastating blow to his championship hopes; Cam moved from his home to a temporary residence in a rural region. In the week leading up to round 2, his internet service provider was unable to set up his short term residence with stable internet in time for the race. In an eleventh hour arrangement, Cam was able to take his computer to a friend's house with stable internet for the evening of round 3, but his struggles were only the beginning; he had not set up his computer since his move and entered the event with no practice. His lack of preparation became apparent as he struggled to a 4th place finish. Hoping for his internet situation to be resolved, Cam discovered his ISP was unable to set up at his location. Luckily for Cam, he was able to make the same arrangements at his friend's house for round 4. He was adapting better to racing cold, but was still off the pace in the races. He finished 5th overall, and was left with a considerable points deficit to his rivals, Sully and Nuked, who traded wins and 2nds. Cam's luck began to turn around, as he struck a long term deal with his friend to finish out the series, but had to do it without getting seat time on Saturdays as he worked throughout the day. Faced with the reality of his situation, Cam decided to see the season through. He set up his computer and began practicing alone for round 5 at Goldrush. Cam broke through to take his 2nd win of the season, his 5th career Halo 4 SX win, his first SX grand slam and moved up to 5th on the combined Halo 4 HTSX leaderboard. Cam followed up his winning performance with a 2nd at round 6 to rack up valuable points.

Cam slowly dug himself out of his points deficit through the second half of the season. He kicked off the 2 week break with a win, after a fierce three way battle with Nuked and Sully. Cam followed up with another steady win at round 8, becoming the seasons first consecutive race winner, then upped the ante by clutching his third consecutive win at round 9 in dramatic fashion. Cam narrowly took 2nd to Sully at round 10, but was effectively in the drivers seat to take the title. Nuked had dashed his championship bid after a handful of uneventful performances, leaving only Cam and Sully in title clinching discussion with two races left. Cam missed his opportunity to clinch the title at round 11, but fortunately was able to keep Sully behind him and take the points lead. With Nuked taking the win at the penultimate race, Cam and Sully were set for a winner take all scenario going into the last round of the season; if Sully won, the two would tie on points and wins, but Sully would clinch as he had more 2nd place finishes, meaning Cam had to prevent Sully from winning the race. As the gate dropped for the final main event on Aurora, Cam and Sully sprinted to the first turn, only for Sully to brush the inside tuff-blocks and anti-climatically spin out. In contrast, Cam went on to collect his 6th win of the season and earn the HTSX Season 10 title, becoming the 5th unique champion in the history of the series. While Teal Team 6 fell short in the team championship, finishing 4th, their team took comfort knowing they brought home the racer's title. Cam ended Season 10 with 9 podiums (six 1sts and three 2nds), 144 total points, 110 official points, 7 Holeshots, 6 Heat Wins, 3 Fastest Qualifiers and 181 Laps Led. Cam averaged 13.09 points per race and a qualifying position of 3.5, ranked 3rd overall on the qualifying leaderboard.

**Hiatus**

With his internet situation left unresolved and left mentally exhausted from the series, Cam decided it was time to step away from racing. Following the conclusion of HTSX Season 10, Cam posted a message of mixed emotions in the HaloTracks Discord, officially declaring his 'retirement'. While he didn't rule out racing for social or casual events, he vowed to never race competitively again.

4 months after the end of Season 10, Cam finally landed a stable internet package and was able to race again. He made his racing return in the Halo Celerity Racing League, then joined mid way through Season 6 of HT Hardcore. Regardless of his steady activity since regaining internet access, Cam remains firm about being finished with competitive racing for good.

## Trivia

* Cam maintains a methodical appearance for all of his player models; Recon helmet (full set in Halo 3), Mark VI ligament components (for Halo 3, Halo 4 and the full set in Halo 2: Anniversary), a green visor (gold in Halo: Reach) and armour donned in a 'Celtic' theme (primarily white with green accents).
* Naturally attracting fellow racing enthusiasts, Cam is apart of a small group of HaloTracks members with credentials in motorsports, including his respective sport of Motocross.
* Cam is one of two active racers to have participated in every season of HT Supercross, the longest running competitive racing series on HaloTracks (the other being Populare).
* Due to mandatory use of team colours of RACETRACKS (a VIP variant of the Halo 3 gametype), Cam naturally favours green team. However, he originally favoured Gold due to his distaste for the specific tone of green in the Halo 3 colour pallet.
* Cam sports the original Halo 2 emblem 'Runes' as a reference to the Metroid franchise. The Metroid Prime trilogy was one of his favourite childhood series.