Round 1 of the 2010 British Drift Championships and i couldnt wait to get out drifting again. This round saw us at Donnington Launch Pad. To liven up the track they added a wall to brush the back end passed! Quality.
With handbrake playing up, weight transfer flick entrys were the call of the day. I was happy with how things went in practise and was managing to get very close to all the clipping points including the wall. I even managed to do a few passenger rides while in my practise session. It was a dry, sunny day so smoking out the track was a must.
The wall was the best part of the track. Daring yourself to get as close to it as possible, wanting to scrape it without wiping yourself out certainly get your adrenaline pumping.
Time for the qualifying. Same system as usual, 1 practise lap and then straight into your judged runs. On both runs managing to get some awesome angle, smoke, speed and hitting the clipping points saw me into the top 16.
Onto the Battles. My first twin battle saw me up against Keith Hammond Myself to be the lead car. Keith using a borrowed car due to being unable to use his own. I managed to open up a large gap between us and still rub the wall which saw me take the win.
Next up Keith to be the lead car. As i manged to match his speed, angle and stay close to him, i managed to take the overall win and go on to the next round of battles. I was into the top 8. Well done to Keith for doing so welll in the car he had borrowed as he was'nt used to it.
Alan Green was my next twin battle. On the first run, again with me as the lead car i managed to open up a gap and Alan managed to spin so i took the first win. On the second battle with Alan as the lead car, i managed to match his angle and speed. With Alan making some small errors i went through to take the overall win. So far so good, through to the top 4.
Onto my 3rd twin battle. This time up against Matt Carter. Matt was the lead car and is a top class drifter with alot of skill so i knew this was going be a good battle. Although i gave it all i had and managed to match Matt as best i could and stay with him, an error on my part saw Matt take the win on our first battle. With me leading on the second battle against Matt, he matched my every move as i knew he would and kept so close that he went on to take the overall win.
Now the pressure was really on as i lined up against Declan Munelly for the battle for 3rd or 4th. Declans mk1 Escort is an amazing bit of kit. Always totally on the throttle from the start to the finish and changes direction quicker than the wind itself! With my big heavy soarer up against a tiny light escort i didnt think i stood a chance. Declan to lead first, surprisingly to myself and everyone watching i matched his every move, speed and angle and was shocked to take the win!
Lining up again at the start, this time it was myself as the lead car and Declan as the chase car. With everything to play for we were off. Somehow i managed to make some ground between us and pull quite a large lead on him. The crowd couldnt believe it..........but neither could i! With the battle over it was time to go into the centre of the track to find out who got position.
The judges gave me the overall win! I took the 3rd place position on the podium!
All in a weekends work :)
Matt Carter(right) took 2nd and Mark Luney(middle) took 1st place
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