|
Group
A Competition Video
right-click, save as
September
10, 2005 Open Practice Video
Music by "Pacifica"
right-click, save as
Group
A Competition Scores & Season Points
New
drivers added to the Group A competition class:
Kolu Lau Nissan 240sx (S14
Zenki style)
Just one week ago while performing a drift exhibition for his
sponsors, Kolu shot through the Sweeper and crashed directly into
the straightaway guard rail severely damaging his vehicle. After
only one sleepless night, Kolu managed to straighten his vehicle out
and repair the mechanical damage to get his car running in time for
competition. Often seen running closely on the track with his
friends Barry Wong and Shige Hirabayashi, Kolu's addition to Group A
puts yet another high powered vehicle into competition.
Paul Umholtz Nissan 240sx
Coupe (S13 Silvia style)
For the past several months, Paul has been running at private track
events to get in quality practice time. It appears to have paid off
as Paul returned this month to the Drift Session in full force,
sporting a new body kit, fresh paint job, flashy graphics, and a new
sponsor. Paul's vehicle seemed primed for competition, but an engine
blow later in the day prevented him from making it into battle.
Previously
Qualified Group A Drivers in Attendance:
Mitchell Precht
Nissan 240sx (S14 Kouki style)
A transmission blow after last week's event, put Mitch's car out of
action. After 2 long days working on the car, it was finally put
back together, but not in time to make it out for competition..
Keoni Rodrigues
Nissan 240sx Hatchback (180sx style)
As he gets used to the feel of higher horsepower in his vehicle,
Keoni Rodrigues is increasing his knowledge and technique on the
Short Course. Although he has no wins to his record yet, Keoni
remains a persistent competitor that remains within striking
distance of the lead position in season points.
Earl Huang
Nissan 240sx Hatchback (180sx style)
After a rough month of trial and error vehicle tuning, veteran
driver Earl Huang returned in his new vehicle after swapping out
most of his performance parts from his previous Nissan 240sx (Silvia
style) vehicle. Earl is no stranger to competition and has been
drifting since the early days of the Drift Session back in early
2001.
Justin Kikkawa
Toyota Corolla SR5 Hatchback (Trueno-style AE86)
Returning to the Drift Session after months at practice in private
track days, Justin Kikkawa finally unveiled his new vehicle to the
public. After years of dominance in his individual-throttle-bodied,
maroon AE86, Justin's has finally adjusted to his new vehicle and
returned with a vengeance. It was expected that this former 5-time
Drift Session champion would definitely be a threat to the rest of
his competition in Group A; however, a transmission blow kept Justin
and his vehicle sidelined when competition time came.
Denny
Cabal (no picture), Nissan
240sx Coupe (One-via style)
Another veteran driver, Denny Cabal broke into Group A with the only
non-turbo powered 240sx in the field. A major disadvantage in
horsepower and torque was compensated by Denny's consistent
performances on the Short Course.
Jensen Kona
Nissan 240sx Coupe (S13 Silvia style)
One month after returning to the Drift Session sporting a brand new
paint job, Jensen Kona is definitely a competitor on the rise. After
being noticed in July for consistent, flat-out drifting through the
Sweeper, Jensen was bumped up to Group A.
Shige
Hirabayashi Nissan 240sx
Hatchback (180sx style)
Although often seen running alongside Barry Wong, Shige Hirabayashi
is sure to attract attention in his own right. Once a Formula
racecar driver, Shige has turned his roadracing skills towards
drifting and hasn't looked back since. Shige's outstanding driving
through the 2005 season has put him into the top spot of the points
championship several times.
Royce Fujimoto
Toyota Corolla GTS Hatchback (Trueno style)
A competitor since 2001, Royce Fujimoto has remained an ever-present
force at the Drift Session. After taking home 1st place in the
Toyota Class at the 2004 Streetcar Showoff, Royce goes on to prove
that he and his car can both "show" and "go."
After years of competition, Royce finally walked away with a
championship win in the July 2005 Drift Session.
Barry Wong
Nissan 240sx Hatchback (180sx style)
Arguably the most dominant competitor in the Drift Session points
championship to date, Barry Wong remains the driver with the most
total wins to his record. His signature Kaaz 240sx hatchback is an
almost exact replica of the vehicle he drivers regularly on the US
Mainland in the USA D1 Grand Prix and Formula D competitions.
Chris Taylor Nissan
240sx Hatchback (180sx style)
A newcomer to the Group A class from the July 2005 competition, not
much is known about driver Chris Taylor. After competing
infrequently at the monthly competitions in the 2004 season, Chris
transplanted a new motor into his Nissan 240sx and set his sights on
Group A competition. Last month a crash severely smashed the rear of
Chris' vehicle and and going off road at the exit of the Sweeper
smashed his oil pan and kept him out of competition. This month,
Chris returned not only with his vehicle fixed mechanically, but he
also repaired his crash damage and threw on a fresh new coat of
paint as well.
Steve Oliberos
Nissan 240sx Coupe (Silvia style)
One of the most flamboyant drivers in the sport of drifting today,
Steve Oliberos is no stranger to competition. While competing
regularly in the USA D1 Grand Prix and Formula D drift competitions,
Steve returns home to Hawaii to protect his season points standing
in the Drift Session points championship. Owner of Niztech, Steve is
a master tuner of the Nissan SR20 DET motor and is responsible for
many of the SR motors in operation today at the Drift Session.
Gene Cho
Nissan 240sx Coupe (One-via style)
While previously unknown to the Drift Session judges, Gene Cho
seemed to come out of nowhere to dominate the June 2005 Drift
Competition. Although packing some serious punch, Gene's Nissan
240sx is very understated in its appearance, perhaps contributing to
him being overlooked in the past.
It was a splendid day
at Hawaii Motor sports Center, where 70+ competitors turned out for
a full day of pure drifting pleasure as well as some pretty intense
competition. The previous nights festivities with guest; Japanese
D-1 driver Tetsuya Hibino, had primed both drivers and promoters for
what would be considered another defining level of achievement for
the domain of North American grassroots drifting. Drivers and
organizers alike were blessed with the presence and insight of a
competitor in the mix of the most intense drifting competitions in
Japan and thanks to Hibino the evolution of our culture and sport is
now changed forever. It’s not as though we all quickly adopted
some type of new philosophy or anything, but more that one simply
cannot escape the influence of an experience.
If you have not been
here to witness a DriftSession event before, it’s a must and the
recent addition of titillating models and R/C drift competition are
the initial signs of event development yet to come. For those of you
who may not have noticed the media have been out in force lately
capturing the splendor of it all. Be sure to check out
DriftSession.com for event articles, competition video and scores.
Events are becoming increasingly exciting and spectators were
repeatedly heard voicing their fascination over the .75 road course
once it comes to life with a dozen of Hawaii’s top competitors
screaming around the circuit during Group “A” practice. The aura
now being created is unlike any that you have ever
experienced.
The atmosphere at
this event continues to develop towards a broader based spectator
crowd. There appears to be developing an older and more
knowledgeable fan base (or maybe it’s just the sixth year we’re
heading into) with every event and they are slowly learning the
sport of drifting and becoming increasingly enticed with the sensory
overload provided at our events. We’re really hoping that, if
things continue to develop, we should have a full field of 16 Group
“A” drivers in the near future and with the look of the
closeness of competition visions of tandem drift competitions are
looming on the horizon in many eyes.
As a judge in all
DriftSession events I have learned about the many elements used as
criteria for judging, but my experience of judging with Hibino
proved to influence me, yet again. Although DriftSession is
comfortable with our past performances Hibino made us quickly
realized there were many areas of competition that have yet to be
explored by either us as organizers or “you” as drivers. Hibino
made me realize that we are all still thinking rather small here in
Hawaii, but then again, he may not know where we came from or, the
dramatic improvement of both drivers and events that has been
displayed recently.
The format for the
event remained unchanged and will remain so, as long as it continues
to run so smoothly and effortlessly. The competition at the less
advanced track is held at the end of the drag strip at Long Course
Turn One and provided a new winner. The competition, which is held
for all non “Group A” drivers, had eight entries, in total, of
which five were regular short course competitors. The experience of
the short course competitors was evident by the level of competition
as there were only two competitors who failed to score points
(drivers are scored zero points for spin outs and stoppages). Hibino
was instrumental in the final decision of points awarded to each
driver and provided a little advice to the Long Course Turn One
competitors at the end of the competition. This influence will, no
doubt, affect them throughout their future drifting experiences.
Group “A”
practices, held at 12:00 noon and 1:00 pm, are definitely worth the
price of admission nowadays. Two new Group “A” drivers were
selected from the aspiring group on non-qualified short course
drivers: After careful studying of open practice all morning, it was
determined that Kolu Lau and Paul Umholtz be added to the growing
list of Group “A” drivers making it 14 in total now. Kolu has
been dormant due to a busy life lately and Paul has decided that it
was time to break out from the private events now that he had worked
out all the bugs, well most of them anyway; as he reported a rod
nock before the beginning of competition and was forced to withdraw.
The Group “A”
competition went seamlessly, although starting a little late, and
with some serious scoring debates due to the closeness of
competition. Also, the DriftSession scoring system had left Hibino
struggling to make a few decisions as he had the final say and this
was a bit new to him. The drivers were at the mercy of this truly
knowledgeable judge who really had his work cut out for him. Barry
Wong was unveiled as the ultimate winner with 82 points, but the
competition was so intensely close behind him that the top five
drivers were within eight points of each other and a few of them had
performed flawless runs although maybe with not quite the poise and
presence of Barry. Barry maintained a smooth run and a good line,
although appearing a little bit soft according to our esteemed
judge. Close second was scored as 78 points for the hard charging
AE86 of Royce Fujimoto, who was judged as being average, but smooth.
Royce was followed by a much improved, Chris Taylor, (Hibino thought
his run was a little slow, but had no errors). Chris seems to have
recovered nicely since a rather difficult time at the last event and
scored a respectable 76.
Jenson Kona had a
very good attack on the track and awed the fans with serious smoke
and angle of attack, but a slow off camber took away the valuable
points needed to win this tight, tight competition. He had to settle
for 75 points, whereas, Shige Hirabayashi displayed good angle, but
was slow managing 74 and Keoni Rodrigues would have tied for 4th
had he not dropped a wheel at the chicane entry that lost him 10
points. Disappointingly, Denny Cabal, Kolu Lau and Shane Oliberos
all scored no points due to spin-outs.
Organizers continue
to be impressed by the development of our local drivers and are
joined by the many fans in their appreciation of the development of
competition to the next level of competitive drifting. We feel our
competitions are unmatched, so far, in the United States. We are
enriched by these experiences and influence of professional Japanese
drivers that join us on occasion and look forward to continually
bridging the physical gap that separates us from the mainland and
Japan. We rejoice in the fact that our local drivers compete so well
in their professional endeavors and take pride in the fact that it
is in part to our doing, but meanwhile, we encourage all enthusiasts
to take up their personal challenges and diligently follow their
dreams, no matter what they are. I have learned that the connection
between succeeding in motor sports and succeeding in life is a true,
strong asset that is often overlooked and underused. Both require
self-dependency and offer little opportunity for blame to others and
you will find that once you adopt this strategy there becomes very
little that you cannot accomplish.
Good luck in all your
adventures in life,
Chris Messer
Events General
Manager, Drift Session
|
