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The Boonta Eve Classic is a fictional race from the Star Wars universe. It was the largest podracing event in the galaxy, held annually of the planet of Tatooine.

Contents 1 Appearances 2 The Movie's Race 3 Lap Two 4 Lap Three

• Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
• Star Wars: Episode I Racer

The Boonta Eve Classic was, in the Star Wars galaxy, the largest podrace in the galaxy. It was held annually on Tattooine, hosted by the Hutts. In Episode I: The Phantom Menace, it was hosted by Jabba the Hutt. The racecourse, a three-lap course, began in the Mos Espa Grand Arena, outside Mos Espa. After formal flag-bearer parade, the podracers would start their engines and begin. After the arena, the podracers zoomed at speeds upwards of 700 kilometers per hour into the flat stretch of land known as the Starlite Flats. After the flats, the racers entered the thin gorge that goes through Waldo Flats. After the rocky area covered in strange rock formations called Mushroom Mesa, the course dropped off over Metta Drop into Ebe Crater Valley. Single-file, they guided their racers into the Notch and finally into Beggar's Canyon, which gave way to the desert land, the Dune Sea, and then into the Arch Canyon, a hazardous canyon filled with stone pillars that were difficult to steer around. Then the course entered the twisting canyon known as the Whip. After the Whip came Jag Crag Gorge, and then into the dangerous, dark, underground Laguna Caves. Back into the heat of Tattooine's two suns, the race tightly wound through the Canyon Dune Turn, a chasm inhabited by Tusken Raiders. After the Canyon, the racers would have to maneuver around the rock forms in the Bindy Bend and then twist their way through the Coil. After the Coil came the relatively straight Jett's Chute, and finally the Corkscrew. The racers came through the Devil's Doorknob and finally out of the canyons onto the Hutt Flats. Then they would return to the Mos Espa Grand Arena and traverse the course twice more.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

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In the beginning of the race, all of the podracers zoomed out of the arena besides Anakin Skywalker's and Ben Quadinaros's. With the flips of a few switches, Anakin's engines jumped into life and he sped off to follow the other racers, while Quadinaros was stuck behind. Meanwhile, Sebulba forced a podracer named Mawhonic into the wall, blowing up the pod. Anakin moved up quickly, passing four other racers - Wan Sandage, Neva Kee, Dud Bolt, and Clegg Holdfast. The racers came up on the Laguna Cave and Anakin passed another racer, coming behind a racer called Ratts Tyerell, an Aleena. In Laguna Cave, Tyerell crashed and died. The racers came out of the cave, Sebulba still in the front. This was where the Tusken Raiders made their first appearance, shooting Anakin's pod. Back in the arena, Ben Quadinaros was still struggling with his pod. The power couplings between the engines malfunctioned and were turned off, causing the engines to shoot off into the walls of the arena and explode. The podracers entered their second lap, with Sebulba in the front closely followed by a Xexto named Gasgano. The racer in third place, Ody Mandrell, took a pit stop, and his pit droid was sucked through his engine, destroying it.

In the second lap, Sebulba brought out his illegal weapons. He used a flamethrower on one of Clegg Holdfast's engines, causing him to smash into the canyon wall. Anakin, meanwhile, was gaining on Sebulba. He rocketed over Gasgano's podracer off of Metta Drop. Teemto Pagalies crashed when a bug flew in his eye and he lost control. Anakin was now in third place, just after a Phui racer called Mars Guo. Sebulba dropped a piece of metal into Mars Guo's engine, and a piece of shrapnel from Guo's crash hit one of Anakin's cables. He tried to repair it quickly, and ended up behind Gasgano, Teemto Pagalies, and Ark Roose. He quickly overtook them again, though, and now it was Sebulba in first and Anakin just behind him. In the Canyon Dune Turn, the Tusken Raiders shot Anakin's pod again, although the damage was insignificant. However, Teemto Pagalies was hit in the fuel tank and he crashed. Sebulba tried his flamethrower again, this time on Anakin, but it didn't work. Then Neva Kee who was behind them got lost off the course and was never seen again.

The racers entered the final lap, Anakin and Sebulba next to each other for almost the whole lap. Two racers crashed into each other and another crashed into a Jawa Sandcrawler. At one point Sebulba took the lead as Anakin shot off the service ramp, but he maneuvered his pod back on the course in front of Sebulba. Now it was close to the end of the lap, and some of the cables at the cockpits of Anakin and Sebulba's racers became tangled together. Anakin gave an extra boost to the engines, and this cut the cords, taking Sebulba's engines off his pod. Sebulba crashed, exclaiming "Poodoo!", a Dug word. Anakin zoomed forward and won the race. He got the Boonta Cup and Qui-Gon Jinn won the parts he needed to get the spaceship back into space, and Anakin won his freedom. To give a picture of how dangerous the race is, only six out of eighteen racers even finished.