Changes

Florent won the SMK World Championship of 2013 (CDM 2013) and became the first player to successfully retrieve this title after being defeated in a prior edition (CDM 2012).  As expected, the rivalry with [[Sami]] went all the way to the wire again, climaxing in a MR semifinal between the two to decide who would win the overall title. After losing to [[Sami]] in MR for 4 years straight, a determined Florent managed to pull off an iconic 9-6 win to crown himself champion once more.  

Florent won the SMK World Championship of 2013 (CDM 2013) and became the first player to successfully retrieve this title after being defeated in a prior edition (CDM 2012).  As expected, the rivalry with [[Sami]] went all the way to the wire again, climaxing in a MR semifinal between the two to decide who would win the overall title. After losing to [[Sami]] in MR for 4 years straight, a determined Florent managed to pull off an iconic 9-6 win to crown himself champion once more.  

The CDM 2013 was organized by [[Geoffrey Label]], who arranged a top notch venue in the town of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Suze-sur-Sarthe La Suze-sur-Sarthe] near [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_mans Le Mans]. The usual suspects of previous editions were all present, including a big as ever Team [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK UK] Team (8 karters), [[Drew Blumfield]] from the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USA USA] and all the native top talent from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/France France]. For the first time the Championships welcomed it’s door to a competitor from the country gave us SMK, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan Japan], as well. [[Takashi Ogasawara]] seemed to be struggling a bit to adjust to the [[PAL]] version, but he seemed to be having the time of his life nonetheless. Also his GP driving on RR on the NTSC version had to be seen to be believed. The CDM 2013 also marked the first time in history that the proceedings were live streamed on Twitch (www.twitch.tv/ffsmk), thanks to the combined endeavors of [[Geoffrey Label]] and [[Patrick Wessels]]. The stream was a big success, with kart enthusiasts following all the action on Twitch  until the deep hours of the night every day.  

The CDM 2013 was organized by [[Geoffrey Label]], who arranged a top notch venue in the town of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Suze-sur-Sarthe La Suze-sur-Sarthe] near [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_mans Le Mans]. The usual suspects of previous editions were all present, including a big as ever Team [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK UK] Team (8 karters), [[Drew Blumfield]] from the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USA USA] and all the native top talent from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/France France]. For the first time the Championships welcomed it’s doors to a competitor from the country gave us SMK, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japan Japan], as well. [[Takashi Ogasawara]] seemed to be struggling a bit to adjust to the [[PAL]] version, but he seemed to be having the time of his life nonetheless. Also his GP driving on RR on the NTSC version had to be seen to be believed. The CDM 2013 also marked the first time in history that the proceedings were live streamed on Twitch (www.twitch.tv/ffsmk), thanks to the combined endeavors of [[Geoffrey Label]] and [[Patrick Wessels]]. The stream was a big success, with kart enthusiasts following all the action on Twitch  until the deep hours of the night every day.  

The first tournament day featured the traditional [[Time Trial]] 1-try event. [[Guillaume Leviach]] had bombared himself as the favourite to win this year’s rendition by crowning himself #1 of the PAL NBT rankings a few weeks earlier. He lived up to the expectations by beating Florent in the CI2 final with a second to spare. With [[Sami]] coming in third, Florent already established a narrow lead on his main rival. The GP150cc tournament was moved forward on the schedule to the second day of competition. Despite the fact that Florent demonstrated the form of a champion all day (beating the [[CI2]] OPEN flap WR and the [[MC3]] NBT WR on the way), his historical streak was brought to a halt by [[Sami]] in a historically thrilling final (final score 5-4). Florent was visibly disappointed with his 7 year winning-streak had finally come to an end, but many realized that such a streak will probably never be repeated in SMK competition history.  

The first tournament day featured the traditional [[Time Trial]] 1-try event. [[Guillaume Leviach]] had bombared himself as the favourite to win this year’s rendition by crowning himself #1 of the PAL NBT rankings a few weeks earlier. He lived up to the expectations by beating Florent in the CI2 final with a second to spare. With [[Sami]] coming in third, Florent already established a narrow lead on his main rival. The GP150cc tournament was moved forward on the schedule to the second day of competition. Despite the fact that Florent demonstrated the form of a champion all day (beating the [[CI2]] OPEN flap WR and the [[MC3]] NBT WR on the way), his historical streak was brought to a halt by [[Sami]] in a historically thrilling final (final score 5-4). Florent was visibly disappointed with his 7 year winning-streak had finally come to an end, but many realized that such a streak will probably never be repeated in SMK competition history.  

With his main rival [[Sami]] proving he could even go toe to toe with Florent in his strongest mode, GP150cc, Florent knew he had to reach top-4 in the Battle Mode tournament. On paper this was far from an easy task, with big names such as [[Julien Holmiere]], [[Geoffrey Label]], [[Drew Blumfield]] and [[Harold Christensen]] all having their eyes on the title. After a good qualification, Florent struggled to pull through versus an on fire [[Conor Wood]] in the quarter finals. However, a narrow 7-6 win was sufficient to reach the semifinals; a result all the more important as [[Sami]] was denied a top-4 spot by Battle Mode player extraordinaire, [[Geoffrey Label]]. Subsequently Florent was denied a spot in the final by a rampant [[Harold Christensen]]. [[Harold]] had taken an early 7-1 lead, but Florent still managed to fight back 9-6. While [[Harold]] went on to win the tournament in emphatic fashion, Florent fell a little short of a bronze medal after a 9-6 defeat at the hands of [[Geoffrey Label]]. The CDM of 2013 was finalized with the MR tournament. Florent needed to rank above [[Sami]] to reclaim the SMK World Championship title. Despite the fact that [[Sami]] had been dominant in MR for 4 years straight, Florent was feeling confident, as the new tricks up his sleave (such as finish-line feather tricks on [[GV2]], [[BC2]] and [[BC3]]) made him feel he had an extra edge against his adversary. [[Sami]] had won a small psychological battle by beating Florent in the group stages; this also implied Florent had to face one of his feared adversaries, [[Karel van Duijvenboden]], early on in the quarterfinals. Somehow this draw happens every year, and while it is normally very close, Florent crushed an underperforming [[Karel]] 7-0, sending out a strong signal to his competitors that he was ready for whatever was in store next. While [[Sami]] had succeeded in breaking Florent’s GP streak, Florent returned the favour by eliminating [[Sami]] (and effectively becoming World Champion and stopping Sami's 4 year streak on MR) in the semifinal after a tense battle. The two rivals went head to head for the first few points, both showcasing incredible driving and full mastery of the tactical component of this mode. Florent was boosted a bit by 2 lightnings, but that took nothing away from his eventual 9-6 victory, earned by an ever more aggressive and risky driving style, rather than the more calculated style of his opponent. The MR final versus surprise opponent [[Julien Holmiere]] was played with Florent already having the overall CDM victory secured. [[Julien]] gave it his all and impressed the world with his moves, but it was not enough to prevent the unchained Florent from claiming the win with an 11-7 scoreline.

With his main rival [[Sami]] proving he could even go toe to toe with Florent in his strongest mode, GP150cc, Florent knew he had to reach top-4 in the Battle Mode tournament. On paper this was far from an easy task, with big names such as [[Julien Holmiere]], [[Geoffrey Label]], [[Drew Blumfield]] and [[Harold Christensen]] all having their eyes on the title. After a good qualification, Florent struggled to pull through versus an on fire [[Conor Wood]] in the quarter finals. However, a narrow 7-6 win was sufficient to reach the semifinals; a result all the more important as [[Sami]] was denied a top-4 spot by Battle Mode player extraordinaire, [[Geoffrey Label]]. Subsequently Florent was denied a spot in the final by a rampant [[Harold Christensen]]. [[Harold]] had taken an early 7-1 lead, but Florent still managed to fight back 9-6. While [[Harold]] went on to win the tournament in emphatic fashion, Florent fell a little short of a bronze medal after a 9-6 defeat at the hands of [[Geoffrey Label]]. The CDM of 2013 was finalized with the MR tournament. Florent needed to rank above [[Sami]] to reclaim the SMK World Championship title. Despite the fact that [[Sami]] had been dominant in MR for 4 years straight, Florent was feeling confident, as the new tricks up his sleave (such as finish-line feather tricks on [[GV2]], [[BC2]] and [[BC3]]) made him feel he had an extra edge against his adversary. [[Sami]] had won a small psychological battle by beating Florent in the group stages; this also implied Florent had to face one of his feared adversaries, [[Karel van Duijvenboden]], early on in the quarterfinals. Somehow this draw happens every year, and while it is normally very close, Florent crushed an underperforming [[Karel]] 7-0, sending out a strong signal to his competitors that he was ready for whatever was in store next. While [[Sami]] had succeeded in breaking Florent’s GP streak, Florent returned the favour by eliminating [[Sami]] (and effectively becoming World Champion and stopping Sami's 4 year streak on MR) in the semifinal after a tense battle. The two rivals went head to head for the first few points, both showcasing incredible driving and full mastery of the tactical component of this mode. Florent was boosted a bit by 2 lightnings, but that took nothing away from his eventual 9-6 victory, earned by an ever more aggressive and risky driving style, rather than the more calculated style of his opponent. The MR final versus surprise opponent [[Julien Holmiere]] was played with Florent already having the overall CDM victory secured. [[Julien]] gave it his all and impressed the world with his moves, but it was not enough to prevent the unchained Florent from claiming the win with an 11-7 scoreline.

== Championship Medal Collection ==

== Championship Medal Collection ==