I think if you hit the flag, you would have lost a lot of speed after you got the 5th flag because you would be lower and you would have hit the rocky part directly instead of getting over it. But you are right, this game does show that faster is doable.
this keps hapening to me,almost I dentical to this(meening vega not th-champ)I will get the jump sooner or later,hopefully vega will let me get it before him,so I can enjoy a second place medall for a while,probly cant get 1st tho.