Results Drifting Drift Live

Hubinette vs Forsberg fist fight in Long Beach

April 12th, 2008 | By: Geoffrey Chandler - 11 Comments » | Live, Results

Chris Forsberg Wins at Formula D Long Beach 2008. Teeth were lost, but when the tire smoke cleared, Chris earned the top spot on the podium, giving Sam his first look at the second rung on the podium. Relative newcomer, Kyle Mohan bowed out to Tanner Foust in the battle for third place.

Final Scores:

Chris Forsberg - 106 Points
Samuel Hubinette - 96 Points
Tanner Foust - 83 Points
Kyle Mohan - 70 Points
Daijiro Yoshihara -65 Points
Misuru Haruguchi - 64 Points
Kazu Hayashida - 63 Points
Ryan Tuerck - 63 Points
Darren McNamara - 61 Points
Vaughn Gittin Jr - 58 Points
Justin Pawlak - 57 Points
Ken Gushi - 56 Points
Mitsuhiro Takatori - 56 Points
Conrad Grunewald - 55 Points
Riju Miki - 55 Points
Kenji Yamanaka - 55 Points

Find out Who made the cut and Who Choked?

April 11th, 2008 | By: Geoffrey Chandler - No Comments » | Results

At this point it appears as if neither Rhys Millen nor Casper Canul will be running in tomorrow’s Formula Drift Long Beach main event, so the Top 16 unseeded qualifiers and the 2 alternates will get a change to fight for the Top 16 spots tomorrow.

Top 16 Qualifying Unseeded Drivers

M. Takatori - 93.00
J. Pawlak - 89.00
T. Angelo - 88.67
T. Yoshioka - 88.00
S. Papadaki - 86.33
K. Hayashida - 85.00
S. Verdier - 84.33
K. Mohan - 81.33
C. Gruenwald - 81.33
J. Maeng - 80.33
C. Kregorian- 80.00
T. Aono - 79.67
Y. Kondo - 78.67
P. Mourdaunt- 78.00
C. Wan - 77.67
S. Yamamoto - 76.33
R. Petty - 75.33
H. Schelley - 75.00

Scores and rank via Everything Drift

Forrest Wang Takes Top Drift Battle #1

March 5th, 2008 | By: Charlie Ongsingco - 4 Comments » | Live, Results

The 2008 Season of TOPDRIFT Federal cup 2008 has officially started!

After an 80% precipitation chances of rain at the tracks, we had to make a quick decision to switch up the tracks for round 1. The competition was moved from the Horse Thief Mile to the Balcony.

We want action, but we want it to be safe! We at JD never compromise safety. Drivers started rolling in at 7AM, Track was almost ready by 8AM. Everything went really smooth! A few rain drops, but nothing big! The track was cold most of the time.

The event had a good turnout, there were new faces, including some new skilled drivers, seasoned JD veteran drivers, and some drivers who attended the JustDrift Federal Clinic and got a push from their instructors to compete. Compete they did, with awesome results!

The main judges for 2008 are Hiro Sumida and Taka Aono, but due to prior commitment, Taka was not able to make the first event. In his place was last years series champion Henry Schelley and a guest judge from D1/Option Video, Daijiro Inada.

The skill level of playing field is very wide for 2008, but itâ€™s anybodyâ€™s game at this point. Some of the seasoned drivers suffered upsets at the hands of Freshmen Competitors such as Danny Chen. In the past, Danny was not a fan of competition. Heâ€™s a true driver who just wants to drift. He is a member of Pink Godzira, a Los Angeles based drift team. He is always being pushed to compete by his friends and team members. Now, Danny has made a promise to finish the whole series.

The inaugural Champion Justin Pawlak wasnâ€™t able to do a come back for Round 1 due to mechanical problem, he blew his motor in practice. Forest Wang, last years 2nd seed is back to win the whole series. He too, has minor problems with his car, but that didnâ€™t stop him from getting what he wanted.

Top 16 was very interesting, a lot of new names and faces on the board. We had a 2 â€“ 2 Way ties, one on top and one on the bottom. The drivers are stepping up their game and everyone wants to win! So the traditional Top 16 had 17 drivers coming in to Top 8. The very notable driver that made to Top 8 is Carl Rydquist, his 1st drift event in a stock Z33 was the day before the competition. But Carl is a seasoned racecar driver who is making the jump to drifting. The next up and comer, San Diego regular, Matt Powers came home with 3rd place in round 1.

Top 16 qualifiers were:

Aaron Suarez
Stan Tran
Cody Parkhouse
Danny Chen
Forest Wang
Jason Aquino
Omar Godinez
Jeff Abott
Jordan Yeh
Keith Wong
Chris Mendoza
Davis Ikemiya
Matt Powers
Tommy Roberts
Carl Ryquist
Miki Frial
Jeff Jones

Top 8 tandem battle is exciting as ever! We also had the JD Tradition Team Tandem (3 car team) The team that came out on top of the Team Tandem Battle was Team Facial â€“ Miki Frial, Aaron Suarez and Chris Mendoza.

When the drivers get in to TOP8, it seems like a different competition all together. They reset to their competition mode and get in to the kick ass zone.

TOP 8 ladders:
RD 1

Forest Wang VS Jeff Abbott
Jordan Yeh VS Danny Chen
Matt Powers VS Jason Aquino
Aaron Suarez VS Carl Ryquist

RD 2

Danny Chen VS Aaron Suarez
Forest Wang VS Matt Powers

RD3

Danny Chen VS Forest Wang
Matt Powers VS Aaron Suarez

The event went smooth as always, the JD staff was on top of things as usual. Track and time was used up wisely and productively. Sponsors were on hand to watch the competition. Everything lined up! After all the smoke was clear, there can only be one winner. Forest Wang took first place, a seasoned JD driver that had finish Podium in most of TOPDRIFT 2007. 2nd place went to Danny Chen, his first year in competition and 3rd went to Matt Powers, a semi Regular JD driver from San Diego.

I would like to thank all our sponsors for helping us with making this event enjoyable!
federal tires, megan racing, apexi usa, kaaz usa, driftlive, citytiresonline, ctuneracing, baker precision, hps, momentum gt, and all the peeps at ziptied!

Get ready for round 2! HTM in April!

Prodrift Irish Series Round 6

September 22nd, 2007 | By: Stephen Errity - No Comments » | Results

It was the perfect end to a near-perfect year for Eric Oâ€™Sullivan in Rosegreen. With the title already in the bag, the determined Dubliner powered his way to his fifth victory from six rounds of the 2007 Prodrift Irish Series, a season that will now forever be associated with his dominance.

But this was probably the toughest victory for Oâ€™Sullivan yet: an unusually troubled qualifying session saw him spin twice and damage his Corollaâ€™s front-left suspension against Rosegreenâ€™s kerbs. Emergency repairs were carried out in the pits, but â€˜Flat Ericâ€™ was still driving with one hand tied behind his back for most of the day, with only limited steering lock to work with and a set of replacement 15â€? wheels that were rubbing against the carâ€™s arches. Another driver who wonâ€™t be forgetting qualifying in a hurry is Michael Sheehan: the semi-pro competitor mounted the wall during one of his runs and came perilously close to flipping his car over before crashing back down on four wheels, shaken but no doubt relieved it hadnâ€™t been worse. One of the biggest fields this season saw over 40 cars try for a place in the Top 16 and with the judgeâ€™s minds made up after careful consideration, it was time to go twin battling.

Oâ€™Sullivan kicked things off with a victory over Alan Lenihan, the latter driving well to close a gap in their first run, but a scrappy drive second time around saw the series champion go through. Billy Oâ€™Callaghan had made the Top 16 for the first time since changing his BMW 3-series for a Nissan 180SX, facing off against 17-year-old semi-pro driver Danny Oâ€™Mahony, who emerged the victor after two runs. Glen Maher gave championship runner-up Johnny Power a run for his money in the next battle, The Waterford driver making a slight mistake in the last turn first time around, but a more serious error from Maher in their second run was enough to end his progress for the day.

Nigel Colfer has improved greatly this year, starting off the season in the semi-pro class but now a fixture of Sundayâ€™s pro competition. He continued his good form with a victory over fellow Nissan 180SX pilot Stephen Shine after two 7-3 scores forced a rematch. There was a major upset in the next battle as crowd favourite Fergal McGovern in his Opel Manta overwhelmed Damien Mulveyâ€™s mighty RB26-powered Silvia. Mulvey was struggling with gearbox problems and was passed through turn one by McGovern, a move which drew roars of approval from the Rosegreen crowd. Mulvey pushed very hard in the second encounter, but could do nothing to come back from a 10-0 deficit.

Jonathan Murphy then sneaked past the ever-consistent Mike Deane with two 6-4 scores, while Dean Kearney had a slightly easier time of things in his match-up with semi-pro driver Anthony Bargett. Next up was â€™06 champion and Round 5 runner-up Darren McNamara. Driving a borrowed 4-door Skyline, he took on Christy Carpenter who was also in an unfamiliar car, having swapped his RB26-powered S14A Silvia for a striking gold-coloured example of the older S13 chassis. It turned out to be a very close match-up, with McNamara just shading it after two sets of runs.

Danny Oâ€™Mahony then faced what was surely the biggest challenge of his drifting career to date: Eric Oâ€™Sullivanâ€™s in his championship-winning Corolla. After a spin in their first run, O’Mahoney drove well to keep O’Sullivan at bay second time around, but the champion’s progression was assured. Nigel Colfer had a solo run around the track and automatic passage to the semi-finals next, as for the second time this season Johnny Powerâ€™s charge was brought to a halt by mechanical failure. Spots of rain appeared for the encounter between Fergal McGovern and Jonathan Murphy, with Murphy proving too strong for his opponent and progressing to the semi-finals after two runs. Darren McNamara and Dean Kearney then had a dramatic pair of battles, with McNamara spinning and damaging his borrowed car in the first run. There was also contact between the two at the final bend in the second battle. With pieces falling off McNamaraâ€™s car left, right and centre, it was Waterford man Kearney who took the victory.

Nigel Colfer put in a creditable performance against Eric Oâ€™Sullivan in the first semi-final, with Oâ€™Sullivanâ€™s slightly superior angle in their first run securing him a place in the final by just one point. Darkness was beginning to fall when Dean Kearney and Jonathan Murphy squared up for the next semi. Murphy led the first run, but it was clear all was not well for him as he struggled along on a set of used rally tyres. He just about managed to keep it together though, forcing Kearney into a spin and taking a 10-0 advantage into their second run. This proved to be a welcome cushion for Murphy as he dropped well back in the second run, his tyres becoming increasingly more delicate with every corner.

The crowd were definitely in the mood for an upset as Oâ€™Sullivan and Murphy lined up for the final. But Murphyâ€™s aforementioned tyre problems would prove to be an insurmountable problem. He tried rectifying the situation by reducing the pressures slightly in an effort to find more grip, but his lack of traction was sorely evident as Oâ€™Sullivan harried him all the way around the track in their first run. Things were getting dire for Murphy by the second battle, and Oâ€™Sullivan was able to power past just before the transition. To add insult to injury, Murphyâ€™s left rear tire then cried enough, bursting as he rounded the final corner and throwing him in to a spin. It was all over â€“ there would be no upset and Oâ€™Sullivan would take his fifth and final win of the season.

As darkness fell over the Tipperary circuit, spectators, staff and drivers made their way home, all too aware that this could yet prove to be the final drift event ever held at Tipperary Raceway. Everyone involved with the sport will be hoping that the pending High Court case goes in favour of the circuit and 2008 will once again see drift cars being pushed to the limit around the much-loved â€˜Rosebowlâ€™.

More photos here.

RESULTS

Top 16

Eric Oâ€™Sullivan (Toyota Corolla AE86) beat Alan Lenihan (Nissan Silvia S13)
Danny Oâ€™Mahony (Nissan Silvia S13) beat Billy Oâ€™Callaghan (Nissan 180SX)
Johnny Power (Nissan 180SX) beat Glen Maher (Toyota Corolla AE86)
Nigel Colfer (Nissan 180SX) beat Stephen Shine (Nissan 180SX)
Fergal McGovern (Opel Manta) beat Damien Mulvey (Nissan Silvia S13)
Jonathan Murphy (Nissan Silvia S14A) beat Mike Deane (Nissan Silvia S13)
Dean Kearney (Nissan Silvia S13) beat Anthony Bargett (Nissan Skyline R32)
Darren McNamara (Nissan Skyline R32) beat Christy Carpenter (Nissan Silvia S13)

Top 8

Oâ€™Sullivan beat Oâ€™Mahoney
Colfer beat Power *
Murphy beat McGovern
McNamara beat Kearney

Final 4

Oâ€™Sullivan beat Colfer
Murphy beat Kearney

Final
Oâ€™Sullivan beat Murphy

* Winner went through by default after mechanical problems for the other driver.

Prodrift Irish Series Round 5

September 14th, 2007 | By: Stephen Errity - No Comments » | Results

It was a glorious day for Eric Oâ€™Sullivan in more ways than one as he clinched the 2007 Prodrift Irish Series title in blazing sunshine at Mondello Park. He was pushed hard all the way by the superstars of Irish drifting and had to contend with a bizarre problem in the final, but in the end his opponents had no answer for the now-legendary â€˜Flat Ericâ€™ consistency.

Despite the dry conditions, qualifying was an eventful affair with both Derek Whelan and Billy Oâ€™Callaghan finding the barrier after pushing too hard at turn one. Also having a torrid time of it was Glen Maher, who was in an unfamiliar borrowed car after his own Corolla let him down. It was a bad day too for the Lenihan brothers, with neither Alan, Conor nor Gavin making it in to the top 16. Missing the chance to qualify completely was Martin Ffrench, his car sidelined by an air fuel meter problem.

Oâ€™Sullivan had an easy time of it in his top 16 encounter with Christy Carpenter. The latterâ€™s RB26 engine gave up the ghost after their first run, spewing oil on the track and delaying proceedings while the marshals cleaned up the mess. Next up was Dennis Healy, who had been pulling amazing angles in his Corolla during qualifying. Chasing John Oâ€™Brien, he got too close as they entered the Honda corner and had to straighten, handing the advantage to his opponent. At the end of the second run, Healy again misjudged the Honda corner and spun out, sending Oâ€™Brien into the top 8.

Pat McDonaghâ€™s popular Sierra Cosworth returned to the top 16 for the first time since Round 1 in April. He matched Shane Healy 5-5 in their first battle but put himself out of contention with a spin second time around. His brother Tommy unfortunately fared no better in his Cosworth-powered Volvo, losing out to Dean Kearney after two close battles. Darren McNamara had a scare in his battle against Adrian Walsh when he straightened dramatically going through the first turn. He was saved by a similar mistake from Walsh in the second turn and came way victorious in their second run with a score of 6-4

Visiting Belfast drifter Alan McCord was a new face in the top 16, piloting a fantastic-looking blue S15 Silvia which he drove to victory against a typically fearless Declan Munnelly in his Mark II Escort. Mike Deane posted an unexpected victory over Damien Mulvey, pulling off a great passing move on the â€˜Banditâ€™ at the end of their first run and in the final top 16 battle, Johnny Power drove to a narrow victory over James Deane.

Oâ€™Sullivan looked unstoppable as he breezed past John Oâ€™Brien in the first of the top eight battles. Dean Kearney threw away certain victory in his first run against Mike Deane when he spun at Honda and was unable to make up the deficit in the second run. Alan McCord and Darren McNamara crossed swords next, with a scrappy second run from McCord ensuring McNamaraâ€™s passage to the semi-finals. But their encounter was only a warmup for what proved to be the battle of the day, that of the high-horsepower machines of Johnny Power and Shane Healy. The Mondello crowd know good drifting when they see it and they definitely liked what they saw here, with huge cheers going up from the stands as the two drivers passed within millimetres of each otherâ€™s bumpers as they transitioned between the two corners. Johnny Power was declared the eventual winner after the inevitable rematch.

Darren McNamara met Mike Deane in the first semi-final and it was a relatively straightforward affair after the excitement that had gone before. Two 6-4 scores in Darrenâ€™s favour saw the 2006 Irish champion and current Formula Drift competitor advance to the final. The other semi-final took on special significance: If Eric Oâ€™Sullivan triumphed against Johnny Power here, he would be champion, otherwise, he would have to wait until the final round to seal the deal. What happened next, nobody could have predicted. The Wexford driver had ran wide while leading Oâ€™Sullivan in their second battle and lost the rear bumper of his car. The windscreen of O’Sullivan’s Corolla was then shattered by a loose rock thrown up by the 180SX. The mistake cost Power the win, but Oâ€™Sullivan would now have to contemplate running the final with a shattered windscreen. He disappeared into the paddock and Darren McNamara did a few donuts to entertain the crowd while they waited to see if Eric would return. Before long, the distinctive VTEC rasp of the Honda F20 engine could be heard over the hill and Eric slid into view, minus windscreen but still raring to go.

And so the 2006 and 2007 champions went head to head in their AE86 Corollas in the final of Prodrift Round 5. McNamara had done incredibly well to come this far in his 160hp 4A-GE-powered car, putting on a perfect demonstration of how the driver can make all the difference in drifting. But even he could not stretch to match an on-form Eric Oâ€™Sullivan, who pulled greater angle in their first run and came close to passing McNamara in their second. Oâ€™Sullivan thus sealed victory at the track where he made his drifting debut a little over two years ago. McNamara was philosophical afterwards, admitting he hadnâ€™t expected to do that well after failing to qualify at Rosegreen. â€œI always knew I had a chance here in Mondello because the first corner is downhill and you can carry the speed all the way through your drift,â€? he said. Later, a champagne-soaked Oâ€™Sullivan reflected on his championship victory: â€œThis year has been unbelievable,â€? he said â€œItâ€™s been a great payoff for the amount of work put into the car last year by myself and my friends.â€? He wonâ€™t be letting up until the season is well and truly over, however and will head to Punchestown as eager as ever to take the win.

CLICK HERE FOR FULL PHOTO GALLERY
RESULTS: