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== Introduction ==

== Introduction ==

'''Sami Cetin''' was born in London, UK on October 1982 and is the founder and webmaster of the [http://www.mariokart64.com/smk/ Super Mario Kart (SMK) Time Trial World Records Site for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System SNES]. He was the chief times and news updater of the SMK community since November 1998, and continues this job on the 2006 automated reincarnation of the site as a Director. Sami is a senior moderator of the SMK forum and a popular member of the [[mariokart64.com|kart community]], placing 4th in the 2004 Karter Contest and winning the 2006 Contest over [[Alex Penev]]. His dedication and long-service to [[Super Mario Kart]] have earned him the title 'Godfather of SMK'. Now ranked 3rd on the PAL Time Trial Rankings, he was a former World Champion in Super Mario Kart between September 1998 to April 2004 (at one time holding all 40 WRs). Sami has however retained his title as the Champion of the UK on Time Trial, also including Match Race, Battle Mode and Grand Prix modes of SMK. He was also the first player globally to reach the famous 1'00"99 mark on Mario Circuit 1 with Non-NBT driving. Sami won the overall Title for the first time at the Super Mario Kart World Championships 2012 held in Thil, near Reims, France during 21st - 26th August 2012.

'''Sami Cetin''' was born in London, UK on October 1982 and is the founder and webmaster of the [http://www.mariokart64.com/smk/ Super Mario Kart (SMK) Time Trial World Records Site for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System SNES]. He was the chief times and news updater of the SMK community since November 1998, and continues this job on the 2006 automated reincarnation of the site as a Director. Sami is a senior moderator of the SMK forum and a popular member of the [[mariokart64.com|kart community]], placing 4th in the 2004 Karter Contest and winning the 2006 Contest over [[Alex Penev]]. His dedication and long-service to [[Super Mario Kart]] have earned him the title 'Godfather of SMK'. Now ranked 2nd on the PAL Time Trial Rankings, he was a former World Champion in Super Mario Kart between September 1998 to April 2004 (at one time holding all 40 WRs). Sami has however retained his title as the Champion of the UK on Time Trial, also including Match Race, Battle Mode and Grand Prix modes of SMK. He was also the first player globally to reach the famous 1'00"99 mark on Mario Circuit 1 with Non-NBT driving. Sami won the overall Title for the first time at the Super Mario Kart World Championships 2012 held in Thil, near Reims, France during 21st - 26th August 2012.

Sami has studied Computing and Business Administration at the University of Kent at Canterbury between 2002-2005 and has been working full time since. His hobbies also include recreational weight training/bodybuilding in the gym, designing and updating the SMK site, producing and editing independent films with his friend Jason Mathoora; and socialising with friends.

Sami has studied Computing and Business Administration at the University of Kent at Canterbury between 2002-2005 and has been working full time since. His hobbies also include recreational weight training/bodybuilding in the gym, designing and updating the SMK site, producing and editing independent films with his friend Jason Mathoora, gardening, travelling and socialising with friends.

== Personal History and Education ==

== Personal History and Education ==

Sami Cetin first attended Downsview Primary School in South London in September 1987. He developed an interest in Mathematics, Computers and Designing activities that would forge the skills he would use in the future. He and several others during the later years of Primary School took an interest gaming as consoles became popular. Sami also participated in some Christmas productions that helped develop an interest in acting, one that he would not later study, but take part in recreationally for Jason Mathoora's films. Due to suffering from asthma since 1984, Sami was unable to perform heavily in sports; this prevented him from participating in football and related activities from a young age. However, as a turn of events, Sami did participate in some athletics on some occasions and he even scored 1st in his year and school for 1994 in the Long Jump event. He went on to compete at the Croydon athletics with other competitors from other schools and reached some targets but due to lack of time and training was unable to reach a high position in that event. He was also able to sprint fast on short bursts but fell short of winning on these events again due to the difficulties. Sami also participated in swimming during the early to mid 90s.

Sami Cetin first attended Downsview Primary School in South London in September 1987. He developed an interest in Mathematics, Computers and Designing activities that would forge the skills he would use in the future. He and several others during the later years of Primary School took an interest gaming as consoles became popular. Sami also participated in some Christmas productions that helped develop an interest in acting, one that he would not study in future, but take part in recreationally for Jason Mathoora's films. Due to suffering from asthma since 1984, Sami was unable to perform heavily in sports; this prevented him from participating in football and related activities from a young age. However, as a turn of events, Sami did participate in athletics on some occasions and he even scored 1st in his year and school for 1994 in the Long Jump event. He went on to compete at the Croydon athletics vs competitors from other schools but due to lack of time and training he was unable to reach the desired results. He wouldn't participate in any other sporting / physical activity until the end of his teen years.

Secondary school began at Stanley Technical High School in September 1994 where Sami developed his education in many subjects. On his first day there he met friends that he has stayed in contact with until this day, including Jonathan "Biff" Sifleet, John Barber and Neil Skipper. Sami's subjects at school leaned more towards languages, Business and Computing which he would later go on to study at College and eventually University. He had developed a strong interest in civil aviation and wished to become a civil aviation pilot, however this dream was later not fulfilled due to various constraints, so he instead pursued other subjects of study. Sami also attended a Turkish School on Saturdays to complete a GCSE course from late 1997 up until Summer 1999 in which he achieved a grade A. He also performed very well in all of his other exams at the end of Secondary School and set his sights for his next step.

Secondary school began at Stanley Technical High School in September 1994 where Sami developed his education in many subjects. On his first day there he met friends that he has stayed in contact with until this day, including Jonathan "Biff" Sifleet, John Barber and Neil Skipper. Sami's subjects at school leaned more towards languages, Business and Computing which he would later go on to study at College and eventually University. He had developed a strong interest in civil aviation and wished to become a civil aviation pilot, however this dream was later not fulfilled due to various constraints, so he instead pursued other subjects of study. Sami also attended a Turkish Language School on Saturdays to complete a GCSE course from late 1997 up until Summer 1999 in which he achieved a grade A. He also performed well in all of his other exams at the end of Secondary School and set his sights for his next step.

Sami Cetin attended Coulsdon College to study A-Levels that he performed well in and enjoyed at GCSE; these were Computing, Business Studies and German. Although he had lost contact with his school friends for these few years he met many more people between 2000-2001 and had memorable moments during his A-Level studies. From late 2001 Sami started going out to bars with a few friends and then bumped into his old friends Jonathan "Biff" Sifleet and John Barber from school and since then has stayed in touch with them regularly. He also met Jason Mathoora in College who was one of the few people he kept in touch with from College when leaving in Summer 2002. By this age although his asthma never cleared, it had improved a little since childhood; Sami thought it was time to develop a new hobby and began training in the gym with weights and also to improve his cardiovascular (by inventing his own training methods such as running after buses). At first his weight training started at home but it later moved to a small gym in his College. Sami became involved in some small film projects of Jason's to relive some of the brief acting he took part in at primary school.

Sami Cetin attended Coulsdon College to study A-Levels that he performed well in and enjoyed at GCSE; these were Computing, Business Studies and German. Although he had lost contact with his school friends for these few years he met many more people between 2000-2001 and had memorable moments during his A-Level studies. From late 2001 Sami ventured out to bars with a few friends and bumped into his old friends Jonathan "Biff" Sifleet and John Barber from school and since then has stayed in touch with them regularly. He also met Jason Mathoora in College who was one of the few people he kept in touch with from College when leaving in Summer 2002. Sami thought it was time to develop a new hobby and began training in the gym with weights and also to improve his cardiovascular (by inventing his own training methods such as running after buses, his asthma while still present was slightly better than during his childhood). Sami became involved in some small film projects of Jason's to relive some of the brief acting he took part in at primary school.

After passing his A-Levels Sami was able to attend the University of Kent at Canterbury to study his degree course in Computing and Business Administration where he moved away from home for 3 years (returning to visit friends and family during holiday periods or a few weekends). The course began in September 2002 and lasted until June 2005 with his last exams finishing a month early. Sami continued his gym training by taking it more seriously involving a strict diet that lasted the 3 years of his University time. He made several friends during these years and involved some of them into his gym training programmes that he wrote himself. By the 2nd year he had a training group of 5 people. Sami spent time socialising on several and working on his Uni projects in the various Computer rooms and the library. He enjoyed evenings out in the main Uni bar and in town on a weekly basis. These were some of the happiest days of his life that will always be remembered. Sami then graduated in 2005 after sucessfully completing a 102 page dissertation and the final exams. He shortly after found full time employment in the City of London. Following his graduation he went to see Star Wars Episode III in the cinema which he had been looking forward to see during all of his University years; this was a present for himself for reaching the end of his many years of study. Sami did visit Canterbury a few times the following year to see friends but has not returned there since.

After passing his A-Levels Sami was able to attend the University of Kent at Canterbury to study his degree course in Computing and Business Administration where he moved away from home for 3 years (returning to visit friends and family during holiday periods or a few weekends). The course began in September 2002 and lasted until June 2005 with his final exams finishing a month early. Sami continued his gym training by taking it more seriously involving a strict diet that lasted the 3 years of his University time. He made several friends during these years and involved some of them into his gym training programmes that he wrote himself. By the 2nd year he had a training group of 5 people. Sami spent time socialising and working on his Uni projects in the computer rooms and the library. He enjoyed evenings out in the main Uni bar and in town on a weekly basis. These were some of the happiest days of his life that will always be remembered. Sami graduated in 2005 after sucessfully completing a 102 page dissertation and the final exams. He shortly after found full time employment in the City of London. Following his graduation he went to see Star Wars Episode III in the cinema which he had been looking forward to see during all of his University years; this was a present for himself for reaching the end of his many years of study. Sami did visit Canterbury a few times the following year to see friends only, but since then everyone he knew there has moved on.

On the 29th March 1994, it was his father's birthday and several friends and family visited Sami's home. During this time Sami felt it would be a good occasion to organise Super Mario Kart Tournament between the family friends that were attending. 8 players were gathered for a Match Race tournament and were organised into the brackets for single match races. As most of the players were on a beginner to intermediate level at the time it was kept only to Mushroom Cup courses. The participants included Sami's brother Hakan, sister Ayla, cousin Esra, friend Jonathan Cem Pulleine (later ranked on the Time Trial site) and 3 more friends of the family. The Semi-Finals saw a face off between Sami and one of the players with Sami reaching the final. Hakan did really well in his Semi-Final but was overtaken by Cem. The final took place on Mario Circuit 2 with Sami having a bad start after being hit by Cem's red shell. Sami made a comeback in the last lap with a Mushroom to win the Tournament that day. He did not participate in a similar Tournament again until 2006.  

On the 29th March 1994, it was his father's birthday and several friends and family visited Sami's home. During this time Sami felt it would be a good occasion to organise Super Mario Kart Tournament between the family friends that were attending. 8 players were gathered for a Match Race tournament and were organised into the brackets for single match races. As most of the players were on a beginner to intermediate level at the time it was kept only to Mushroom Cup courses. The participants included Sami's brother Hakan, sister Ayla, cousin Esra, friend Jonathan Cem Pulleine (later ranked on the Time Trial site) and 3 more friends of the family. The Semi-Finals saw a face off between Sami and one of the players with Sami reaching the final. Hakan did really well in his Semi-Final but was overtaken by Cem. The final took place on Mario Circuit 2 with Sami having a bad start after being hit by Cem's red shell. Sami made a comeback in the last lap with a Mushroom to win the Tournament that day. He did not participate in a similar Tournament again until 2006.

During 1994 Sami continued to improves his speed and skills on Grand Prix mode including noting some of his records there on paper to track his progress. During this time he had a vision that one day he would like to know all the best players around the World in SMK and to be able to compete, however without any good methods of finding players available at this time, the dream looked like it could not be fulfilled. However Sami was unaware that during this year in the Netherlands there were Nintendo Tournaments where several games were played with many competitors. Super Mario Kart was a popular one with the Super Mario Kart PAL World Champion at the time Steven Zwartjes who competed there on Super Mario Kart and Street Fighter 2; retiring from those two games following winning the tournament. In 1995 French gaming magazines contained a competition on several SNES games including holding some fast Super Mario Kart Records, some of which had reached the level of Steven Zwartjes in 1994, therefore possibly taking the fastest PAL Records at that time, but then retiring a few years afterwards. However, Sami was still unable to find similar activity within the UK.

During 1994 Sami continued to improves his speed and skills on Grand Prix mode, noting some of his records there on paper to track his progress. During this time he had a vision that one day he would like to know all the best players around the World in SMK and to be able to compete, however without any means to find players, the dream looked seemed a little far fetched. However Sami was unaware that during this year in the Netherlands there were Nintendo Tournaments where several games were played with many competitors. Super Mario Kart was a popular one with the Super Mario Kart PAL World Champion at the time, Steven Zwartjes who competed there on Super Mario Kart and Street Fighter 2; retiring from those two games following winning the tournament, Edwin Peeters then took over as the Dutch front runner. In 1995, French gaming magazines contained a competition on several SNES games including holding some fast Super Mario Kart Records, some of which had reached the level of Steven Zwartjes in 1994, therefore possibly taking the fastest PAL Records at that time, but then retiring a few years afterwards. However, Sami was still unable to find similar activity within the UK.

In 1996 Sami decided to involve a few more family members including Karim Hasso and they started on Time Trial mode. Karim however only really focused on Mario Circuit 1 but Sami focused on the other tracks a fair amount also. By the end of 1996 Sami was at a very strong level on Time Trial but was still unable to find competition. He spoke to a few friends from his local school who played a bit and were later contacted to join in the competition on the site when it started. Sami continued to improve his times semi-regularly through 1997 and although it was not registered on a site as he had not been online yet, he had reached the level of UK Champion on Time Trial after landing ahead of former UK Champion Matt Leech who was active up until this time. Mario Kart 64 arrived and Sami turned to play this for a while but was back to SMK very soon after to continue improving his records.

In 1996 Sami decided to involve a few more family members including Karim Hasso and they started on Time Trial mode. Karim however only really focused on Mario Circuit 1 but Sami focused on the other tracks a fair amount also. By the end of 1996 Sami was at a very strong level on Time Trial but was still unable to find external competition. He spoke to a few friends from his local school who played a bit and were later contacted to join in the competition on the site when it started. Sami continued to improve his times semi-regularly through 1997 although it was not registered on a site as he had not been online yet, he had reached the level of UK Champion on Time Trial after landing ahead of former UK Champion Matt Leech who was active up until this time. Mario Kart 64 arrived and Sami turned to play this for a while but was back to SMK very soon after to continue improving his records.

== Development of the Super Mario Kart Time Trial World Records Site and Activities ==

== Development of the Super Mario Kart Time Trial World Records Site and Activities ==

Before the Summer of 1998, Sami Cetin and Hakan Cetin connected to the Internet for the first time and Sami immediately searched for Time Trial Records on Super Mario Kart. He was very surprised to find sites run by Dirk Wegener of Netherlands and Rene Elsässer of Austria that contained records, however he was disappointed to see that players were inactive on SMK since 1997. He also found an active site for Mario Kart 64 and communicated to a few of those karters. Sami was excited to see that his Time Trial Records were in direct competition with the current PAL Time Trial World Champion from Netherlands, Edwin Peeters. Sami continued to work on his records and then contacted Rene Elsässer regarding his page of SMK WRs. Rene responded and Sami's records were added in on the 18th September 1998 earning him the position as PAL Time Trial World Champion of Super Mario Kart. However this was still only the beginning of the fun...

Before the Summer of 1998, Sami Cetin and Hakan Cetin connected to the Internet for the first time and Sami immediately searched for Time Trial Records on Super Mario Kart. He was very surprised to find sites run by Dirk Wegener of Netherlands and Rene Elsässer of Austria that contained records, however he was disappointed to see that players were inactive on SMK since 1997. He also found an active site for Mario Kart 64 and communicated to a few of those karters. Sami was excited to see that his Time Trial Records were in direct competition with the current PAL Time Trial World Champion from Netherlands, Edwin Peeters. Sami continued to work on his records and then contacted Rene Elsässer regarding his page of SMK WRs. Rene responded and Sami's records were added in on the 18th September 1998 earning him the position as PAL Time Trial World Champion of Super Mario Kart. However this was only the beginning of the fun...

In Summer of 1999 Sami travelled to Turkey with an ambition to expand the site. He took several documents and papers with him to help him work on the expansion. He was discussing ideas with the Kart Historian of the Player's site of Mario Kart 64, Kevin Booth and decided that he would like to create a similar format for Super Mario Kart. A full Player's site with more features such as Player Profiles and overall Rankings including Total Times and later on Standard Times. Kevin really liked the idea and advised Sami to pursue this. Sami drew up some blueprints while staying in a small village in the middle of mountains in south Turkey. This allowed him to come up with what he wanted the front page of the site to look like and also the Players list, rankings and later the POW Awards. He implemented the bluprint designs towards the end of August 1999 on his return to London and full Player's site was completed. The site's designed remained in that format for nearly 7 years. By the start of 2000 competition started to pick up, particularly more on the NTSC side with some rivalries near the top from new members, this competition continued consistently through the year into the new Millenium.

In Summer of 1999 Sami travelled to Turkey with an ambition to expand the site. He took several documents with him to help him work on the expansion. He was discussing ideas with the Kart Historian of the Player's site of Mario Kart 64, Kevin Booth and decided that he would like to create a similar format for Super Mario Kart. A full Player's site with more features such as Player Profiles and overall Rankings including Total Times and later on Standard Times. Kevin really liked the idea and advised Sami to pursue this. Sami drew up some blueprints while staying in a small village in the middle of mountains in south Turkey. This allowed him to come up with what he wanted the front page of the site to look like and also the Players list, rankings and later the POW Awards. He implemented the bluprint designs towards the end of August 1999 on his return to London and full Player's site was completed. The site's design remained in that format for nearly 7 years. By the start of 2000 competition started to pick up, particularly more on the NTSC side with some rivalries near the top from new members, this competition continued consistently through the year into the new Millenium.

2005 was another busy year for Sami as he had a lot of projects at University and final exams. After graduating he started full time employment which meant less SMK time but he still worked on updating the site although it was becoming a strain due to the volume of active members each week. Sami's rank on Super Mario Kart declined as he was no longer involved with Time Trial himself but only occasionally met up with #2 and #3 in UK, Matthew McCarthy and Chris Clark respectively for some races which he was still able to perform very well in. Sami was then ranked at #7 in the World on PAL by the end of 2005 and was set to drop further.

2005 was another busy year for Sami as he had a lot of projects at University and final exams. After graduating he started full time employment which meant less SMK time but he still worked on updating the site although it was becoming a strain due to the volume of active members each week. Sami's rank on Super Mario Kart declined as he was no longer involved with Time Trial himself but only occasionally met up with #2 and #3 in UK, Matthew McCarthy and Chris Clark respectively for some races which he was still able to perform very well in. Sami was then ranked at his lowest rank of #7 in the World on PAL by the end of 2005 and was set to drop further.

At the beginning of 2006, one of the first World Meets was planned for July of that year. As a result, Sami was forced out of retirement to learn NBT near enough from scratch to be able to take on the French and Dutch players. His return began around April 2006 where he struggled to make any prs as his NBT skills were very weak. He persevered however and gradaully made progress and the players saw him climb back up to #3 in the World on PAL by the time of the meet. Another major development in Sami's SMK World occured in May 2006, Alex Penev helped develop an advanced database and new look for the site with more automation as it moved to a new location at http://www.mariokart64.com/smk/ with more automation and several filters and stats. This assisted in the updating time greatly and provided many exciting targets for the players including new members.

At the beginning of 2006, one of the first World Meets was planned for July of that year. As a result, Sami was forced out of retirement to learn NBT near enough from scratch to be able to take on the French and Dutch players. His return began around April 2006 where he struggled to make any prs as his NBT skills were very weak. He persevered however and gradaully made progress and the players saw him climb back up to #3 in the World on PAL by the time of the meet. Another major development in Sami's SMK World occured in May 2006, Alex Penev helped develop an advanced database and new look for the site with more automation as it moved to a new location at http://www.mariokartplayers.com/smk/ (original server URL http://www.mariokart64.com/smk/) with more automation and several filters and stats. This assisted in the updating time greatly and provided many exciting targets for the players including new members.

Winning both PAL and NTSC Tournaments in 2012 was a dream come true for Sami and he hopes to see other competitors push to do the similar achievements for the future, not just in SMK but other game competitions.

Winning both PAL and NTSC Tournaments in 2012 was a dream come true for Sami and he hopes to see other competitors push to do the similar achievements for the future, not just in SMK but other game competitions.