Formula Drift 2014
Round 7 – Irwindale
Photos by Andrew Gates and Rupa Begum
Written by Andrew Gates
Every year the Formula Drift season ends at the House of Drift AKA Irwindale Speedway. RUKUS magazine had the pleasure of witnessing one of the most epic battles and endings to Formula Drift in its history. The battle for the championship was a nail-biter to the very end.
There’s something to be said about the show in general though; it’s a great place to meet new people, see some outrageous car builds and meet a lot of your favorite drivers…you can’t beat the weather either. As you walk around the different driver areas you get a sense of two huge emotions; exhaustion and determination. As you can imagine; the season is long and hard and to have it coming to an end, everyone is at the ready, but still putting in the best effort until the very end.
Since this is the last round for most of the drivers and the end of their season, it means you can expect the level of driving to be raised and the cars to take a beating since most of the drivers will start tearing down their cars to rebuild them for the next season immediately after this round.
This was also the first year for the implementation of the Pro 2 series, which shaped up quite nicely with First Place going to Jeff Jones, Second Place went to “Rapper” Dan Savage and Third Place going to Brandon Wicknick. The Pro 2 Championship went to “Rapper” Dan Savage, although there was a moment where it looked like there might be a tie for the Championship with Geoff Stoneback. The only thing that set Savage apart was his qualifying position, which gave him the lead by a mere 5.5 points. If Dan would have qualified between fourth and eighth it would have been a tie…interesting scenario.
As the main event neared for Pro 1’s Top 32, you could feel the enthusiasm spread throughout the grandstands and pit area since everyone knew the point standings and various outcomes that could take place. Would it be a duel to the final battle or would it be a clean sweep for Chris Forsberg? Everyone was on the edge of their seats waiting to see how it would play out, although it would most likely be between Fredric Aasbo and Chris Forsberg. It was really anyone’s guess, either way we knew it was going to be a night of screaming tires, blinding smoke and heart pounding action.
In the end it came down to Aasbo needing to beat Daigo Saito in order to secure his spot as the 2014 Championship, unfortunately that didn’t work out for him. Daigo Saito took First Place, Fredric Aasbo got Second Place and Third Place went to Forrest Wang. Chris Forsberg would grab the Pro 1 Championship for 2014. We are looking forward to the 2015 season and can’t wait to see what kind of madness comes out of each driver’s garage…stay tuned.
For those who couldn’t make it to the event, check out some of the killer action you missed.