Round 5 marked the end of the TD ProAm season, where the leaders found out if they could stay ahead and the middle of the pack found out if they could catch up. When the smoke settled, four new Formula DRIFT pro licenses were given away.
Some people didn’t even notice, but the five tech stickers make a rainbow! We’d been waiting since March to see the rainbow completed.
As the chances for winning the championship or a license became slimmer, some drivers dropped out of the series. Not Joe McGuigan though. He’s thumbs up all the way. He’s got plans to swap a 1UZ into his IS300 in the off season, but for now he’s just getting seat time and getting comfortable with competitive drifting.
Gabe Stone came with a mission. Currently second in points overall, Gabe was too far behind to take the championship on his own. He’d have to do well of course, but he’d also need Bostrom to make some big mistakes. Either way it looked like he’d be taking home a license.
Rob Webber didn’t have any problems with his car this time, so that must have been nice. He had a lug get its splines stripped at Round 4, and nothing short of the jaws of life could get the wheel off. Luckily he had spare wheels.
Marcus Fry came into Round 5 only one place away from getting a license. Could he pass Julian Jacobs to get that fourth spot? That’s a tall order but anything can happen in drifting.
Julian brought the girls along this time. Would Phoebe and Dori motivate him or distract him? I’ve seen the effects of this scenario before…
Lex King was ready to rock. Convinced it was all a mental game, he was trying out a different mindset this time. His wife and kid were at Round 4, but not at Round 5. Could that make the difference?
The drivers’ meeting always drags on and on.
Out on the track finally, Rob was looking smooth.
…until he had an incident with the side of the hill. This is the same place Ryan Kado flipped his Corolla in 2010, though that was going countercourse. Rob was able to keep the car on its wheels and avoid any serious damage.
Tyler Wolfson came up from Socal to play with us. He drove in Top Drift, Vegas ProAm, and even Evergreen Drift throughout the season. How awesome is that?
Joe was looking pretty good in practice. You’d never guess his car is as underpowered as it is.
Our own Joe Ayala came to help with media coverage and gather more footage for Tandem of Die. I think the Tandem of Die DVD is going to be about 30 hours long at the rate Joe and Justin are going!
Fatlace teammates Lex and Joe practiced tandeming with each other all morning. Pretty soon they’ll be like John Corvinus and Mike Spring! Those guys are so fun to watch!
Soon enough it was time to get the competition started. We even remembered to hang up our banners this time!
Ryan Kado’s little brother Brandon was helping Joe get footage. Brandon has been traveling to all the Formula D stops this season as Ryan’s photographer.
Derrick Mance practiced his levitating camera trick. There were three of us there with 5D2’s and 70-200 II’s. Sheesh, that’s a lot of serious gear for an amateur event!
Luke, Ryan, and Fabian were ready to lay down some judgement. The Top 16 had four bye runs, including Jason Bostrom. That was enough to secure the championship for him.
Tyler was given the arduous task of battling Julian in the Top 16. I felt bad that Tyler had made such a long trip for just one battle, but he told me afterwards that he still had lots of fun anyway and he wants to come back!
In the Top 8, Mike Spring’s Chuckles and #1 qualifying position weren’t enough to keep Adam Swan away.
Rob went super wide as he chased Marcus, and kept his drift going through the grass! I was startled to see him coming at me from that angle, with no tire noise of course. 300mm does kind of limit your field of view!
Lex took Gabe to a one more time and then beat him. That was Lex’s first win ever and Gabe first Top 16 loss this season. Something was definitely going on here. In the Top 8, Lex took out Josh Kravitz. It seemed like Lex’s new mindset was working.
Jason and Julian met in the Top 8 and that’s where Jason’s day ended. I’m sure he wasn’t too shaken up, though, since he still won the championship and all that.
While Adam went to go change tires before his Top 4 one more time with Marcus, Lex skimmed by Julian in their own one more time. Julian’s spin didn’t help him at all and Lex moved on to the finals.
While Adam was still getting his tires changed, Jason, Julian, and Josh decided to run a tandem train. Julian must have been crazy; he still had the consolation round to run!
Still waiting on Adam…
Come on Adam, hurry up!
Finally, here we go! A broken brake caliper on a one more time spelled the end for Marcus, put Julian into 3rd place automatically (so the tandem train was safe after all!), and moved Adam on to the final battle against Lex.
With almost every battle going to one more time, we were expecting and epic final battle.
But it was over right away. Adam won but Lex still got his first podium ever.
The top four drivers overall got framed Formula D number panels. Jason, Gabe, Julian, and Josh received the coveted pro licenses for their consistency and perseverance.
That’s Ken Gushi’s number. Jason will have to pick a new one!
Lex was pretty pumped. He broke his front bumper and bent his tow hook. But so what? That stuff can all be fixed, but now he has a trophy. I heard he gave it to his son. That’s worth beating up the car a little bit for sure.
After the awards presentation, the new pros were given the rundown on the ProAm All Stars competition that will be happening at Formula D Irwindale. Right away the pressure of a higher level of competition is on.
.:Bohan
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