The Thanksgiving Day long weekend is over up here in Canada. Sure we have to go back to work/school which isn’t always an enjoyable thing but look at it this way, only four more days until the weekend. That being said it was a big week for drifting, both locally and on the big stage. Let’s talk about it………..
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The final round of the 2011 Formula D championship took place at Irwindale on Saturday. We knew there was going to be a new champion crowned. The only question was who was it going to be. The event ended up being what many are calling the ‘best ever’ with lots of excitement. In the end Tyler McQuarrie was the top dog and Rhys Millen and Chris Forsberg joined him on the podium.
This left the championship to Dai Yoshihara in what turned out to be a less than 6-point margin over Justin Pawlak. Congratulations Dai!
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With everything settled on the track there was more awards to be handed out at the annual Formula D year end banquet. Here is how the awards were divided up:
Rookie of the year – Odi Bakchis
Fan Favourite – Walker Wilkerson
Team Manager – Chris Forsberg
Best Looking Car – Matt Field
Best Personal Style – Matt Powers
Best Drifting style – Dai Yoshihara
Hardest Charging Driver – Matt Powers
Spirit of Drifting Award – Walker Wilkerson
Most improved – Matt Powers
Comeback of the Year – Rhys Millen
Crew Member of the Year – Mike Kojima
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Alex Lee from Calgary had a tough go of it during qualifying and failed to make the Top 32. That being said, I don’t think anyone criticize Alex for making the jump to the big show. He ended up finishing 6th in rookie points and had awesome showings and made us Westerners proud. According to Alex he believes his license will be renewed for the 2012 season.
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With the 2011 Season officially in the books everyone can look forward to the 2012 season. The past week has has a couple interesting developments.
-First Rhy Millen mentioned that he was going to be Team Manager/Owner and let someone else drive. Then by Sunday he was still going to drive, albeit a limited schedule. This was after Rhys rolled out with the Drift Alliance guys during the opening ceremonies with the trademark Drift Alliance rear window sticker. Does this mean Rhys is a member of the Drift Alliance now? Or is this just foreshadowing that a Drift Alliance member is going to be making the switch to RMR such as Ryan Tuerck???
-Mad Mike is rumoured to be back in the series next year. Maybe he replaces Tuerck at Gardella? Maybe he doesn’t. Only time will tell.
-Tony Angelo isn’t going to be judging next year. Instead he plans to drive. What and who for is still unknown.
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With all the hoopla after the Formula D season it is hard to forget that DMCC announced that it was pulling the plug on it’s Western Canadian Series unless money ends up falling from the sky.
There is a lot of discussion on what would have made it better, and how it could have been run better. I am pretty sure something will be worked out for the Western drivers in time for next year.
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And to finish up an all drifting edition of the rundown we give you Rhys Millen’s dad Rod and his uncle Steve ‘drifting’ bone stock S-chassis’. Have a good Week!