How many DODO contributors does it take to cover a DriftWest event? I don’t have the answer, but we do have a whole lot of photos to go through. If you missed Scott’s Round 1 rundown, you can check it out here.
I missed the AM competition but showed up just in time to watch the Pros get it going. The first thing I thought as I walked up the starting grid was, “Wow, that’s a lot of barricades on each side of the course and through the first bank.” Then Shawn Hawley flew off from the starting line, all out, and hit the wall. Then it occurred to me this was the Canadian equivalent of Formula Drift’s Long Beach Course, with walls on each side singing their siren song to these drifters and their freshly built cars. There was no doubt in my mind this course would test its drivers.
One of the drivers who fell victim to the sweet song from the wall was Tanner Boyne. The internet is a funny place; thanks to Facebook you can interact with someone long before you meet them in person. It’s like you already know them and that their favourite color is orange. That’s exactly what happened with Tanner Boyne of Grand Prairie.
Chad Sager had a weekend full of commitments. Not only did he commit to his line and avoid any serious run-ins with the wall, but he also committed to his long-time lady friend when he popped the question in front of hundreds of drift fans.
Louren Sansregret’s driving is always on point. He and his teammate Jon Schildwachter might have two of the hardest names to spell in the league, but more importantly, they are both super consistent drifters.
It turns out there is more than one Chad driving Pro. This Chad is Chad Simpson and I’m certain we will be seeing more from him in the future.
The reason I say that is because Chad Simpson squared off against Louren Sansregret and came out victorious. This is no small feat, as Louren usually finds himself at the top of the ranks.
Chad then went the distance against Jon Schildwachter. Jon managed to avenge his teammate’s loss and move on. Eventually, Jon found himself in third place.
To get to third, Jon had to go through Tyler M. Hurman of Hella Drift Society and his 1UZ-powered S-Chassis. Tyler snagged fourth, but he also built a car that is easy to photograph. So thank you Tyler.
Spencer Hogg and his Boss Imports LS3-powered JZX100 knew the risk this track presented. Much like Odysseus of Homer’s Odyssey, he avoided the siren call of the wall. Spencer had some traction issues pretty much all weekend, but was a good sport about it all. I could tell it’d been a long few weeks leading up to the event because Spencer’s hair was getting pretty shaggy and that’s not the Spencer I know.
It always amazes me just how many DriftWest drivers have animal related last names. Hogg, Horsley and Goat; yet only Goat still remains on Drift Farm. Being the AE86 fanatic he is, Devin Horsley (above) belongs to Team Mellow and is, of course, now leading in points for the series.
Andrew Moschuk had the FD out and about.
Colton Burns won the Pro Am and then proceeded to do practice with the pros. Looking forward to the day he cages his car and moves up to the Pro level.
Here is my dear friend Kyle Zimmer and his RB25det-powered R32 spitting hot fire.
As you can see, Aaron Day is sporting the EVD banner because the day before he was in Seattle running in their event. He rushed home so he could drive in Round 1. Most people held back on the first bank — especially with the number of cars it claimed this weekend — but don’t know if Aaron got that memo. He ran the wall as hard as he could and things looked real good. Unfortunately, that wall would not be made a fool of and a brief run-in with it would knock Aaron out of the competition.
One last photo of Nathan Forsberg of Fors Racing and Travis Clark of Presidential Drift doing that whole tandem thing.