I returned home yesterday from Round 4 of the Formula Drift Championship series at Evergreen Speedway in Monroe, WA. Overall, we had a great weekend that began on Wednesday with an in town appearance with the local NOS crew. We spent the day spreading the word about Formula Drift and the event that was happening only a few days from then. Not only did we hand out a bunch of drinks, we were even able to give away two tickets to the event.
The following day, we had our usual Thursday practice where we make sure the car set-up is suited to the track and at Evergreen we especially needed to make sure it was suited for the big bank. Throughout the day, we made our adjustments and after we got the car dialed in, we took a couple of the local NOS reps for ride-a-longs. Being that it was their first time in a drift car, it was especially fun for me to show them first hand what we do.
Friday begins with our second practice of the weekend but most importantly, it is our last practice session before qualifying begins. We made a few passes and I was feeling good to go but on the last pass, trouble! As I exited the bank, the car behind me bumped into my car and bent the rear control arm. Thankfully, I have Kevin and Sergio who busted out that Genius tool box and spare parts and got the car fixed with plenty of time to spare before our first qualifying run.
In qualifying, we scored 80 points on the first run which is solid but being that qualifying position is so important in earning Championship points, I wanted a higher score. On the second pass, I pushed for more angle coming off of the bank which paid off with the 5th highest score, 86.3.
We entered into Top 32 tandem paired up against Eric O’Sullivan. My strategy going into this round was to focus on my car’s ability to achieve better angle than I thought he could coming into the “power alley.” As we went through this section of the course, Eric over rotated and made contact with the wall. Although Eric was fine, the car was not able to make it back to the line, even after calling 5 minutes. This meant that we would advance to Top 16 where we would face Daijiro Yoshihara.
Dai is not only a great friend of mine but an amazing driver who, at this point, had a two event winning streak behind him. I would have to be perfect to beat him so as I approached the bank wall clipping point, I brought the car up towards the wall... it was at this time that he hit me and pushed the back of my car into the wall. For a second, I thought the front end of the car would snap back, wrecking the front end but it didn’t and I was able to keep going! Daijiro also damaged his car in the contact and was unable to make his second pass.
The ladder was not getting any easier as we went into the Great 8 against Darren McNamarra. His car was quick on the bank and although I was able to catch him in the latter part of the course, he had a definite advantage going into the second run. So on my lead lap, I pushed the car harder through the bank than I had all weekend. The lead pass felt great, but it was not enough to make up for my mistake on the first run. We ended the weekend in 5th position overall and with another solid finish under our belts, we now look forward to round 5, the flat track in Las Vegas.
