maybe in practice this is indeed rare, and in general blocks get cracked in sequence !!
This is not rare. Orphan blocks happen all the time.
so in a soft fork, its possible that 2(or nodes) could successfully crack the same block number at roughly the same time. (e.g number 1022), but that the fork, in practice, is resolved quickly so that only one will end up in the main chain (the longest),
Correct.
BUT do they BOTH get issued with Bitcoins ?
ummm!
Sort of, but no, not really.
An example:
Miner_A and Miner_B each solve and broadcast a block as nearly the same moment.
As the block is relayed throughout the network, some nodes hear about the block from Miner_A first. Other nodes hear about the block from Miner_B first.
Until another block is solved, there is a fork in the blockchain. Those who first hear about the block from Miner_A first believe that Miner_A received the block reward, and any miners who hear about the block from Miner_A first begin working on a new block that builds on top of Miner_A's block. Those who first hear about the block from Miner_B first believe that Miner_B received the block reward, and any miners who hear about the block from Miner_B first begin working on a new block that builds on top of Miner_B's block. During this time, both Miner_A and Miner_B believe they've received the block reward.
Eventually someone solves another block. Whichever fork they were in becomes the "longest chain", and everyone in the other fork discards (orphans) the block they were using and accepts the new longest chain as the official chain. Assuming for the sake of argument that the new block was built on top of the block that Miner_B had previously solved, then suddenly everyone who had previously accepted the block from Miner_A suddenly discards the block from Miner_A and accepts the new pair of blocks (the block from Miner_B and the block that builds on top of it). All the miners now work on a new block that builds on top of this new longest chain. At this time, Miner_A suddenly sees his block reward from the earlier block that he had thought he solved disappear with the block. Suddenly nobody in the network sees that Miner_A has received any block reward at all.
Because of this risk, there is a financial incentive for miners (or mining pools) to be as well connected as possible. The faster you can get your block relayed throughout the network, the better chance that more miners will be working on top of your block next any the more likely that your block will become the "official" block if a competing block is released.
During the brief period of time that the block that will eventually be orphaned exists in a forked chain, the miner (or pool) that solved that block (and anyone who accepted that block when relayed to them) will see that they have received the block reward. Meanwhile, anyone who received and accepted the block from the fork that will eventually be the longest, will see that m
and if they do this would be in advance of blocks being cracked every 10 minutes ?
In advance of? I'm not sure what you are asking here.