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Welcome back race fans to
the Drift Session. It was certainly an action packed day as dozens of
Hawaii's best drifters took to the track again to test their skills.
Two additional drift competitions are coming up in the month of
March, so beginners and veterans alike were out to polish their
skills in an attempt to claim their space on the podium.
The day started off
relatively slowly as drivers trickled in through the main gates. The
drivers arriving the earliest had their pick of pit location in the Skid
Pad. When the track went hot at 10am, there were only a few cars that were
ready to go, those lucky few had the Short Course to themselves for nearly
the entire first hour.
The Group A drivers
could be seen entering the track and taking their time to setup in
the pit areas. Race gas was provided by Kell Komatsubara from VP
racing fuels and most of the Group A drivers are now participating
in the VP Contingency prize sponsorship in which the highest placing
Group A driver using VP Fuel gets an additional cash prize.
Barry Wong and Jensen
Kona were back from a recent trip to the USA D1 in which Barry drove
his 180sx for Kaaz and Hankook tires. Juo Ni president Earl Huang
was busy with his bright yellow 180sx with the help of Advance
Graphics owner Erik Alfires. Jerry Fuentas qualified for Group A
status several months ago, but only now has returned with a working
vehicle. Jason Watanabe was also back for competition with his
maroon 180sx. January 2006 winner Keoni Rodrigues returned with a
freshly painted vehicle and veteran hachi-roku drivers Royce
Fujimoto and Justin Kikkawa were back as well.
Forrest Wang was very
impressive on the track in his 400+ horsepower S13, but a mistake in
the Sweeper cost him dearly, sending his vehicle into the outside
tire barrier mid-Sweeper smashing his front end and right fender,
sending fiberglass particles of his car body everywhere and damaging
his front-mount intercooler. Forrest's car would be out of
competition for the rest of the day.
Due to some poor
planning, Justin Kikkawa also forced himself out of competition.
During the middle of the day Justin looked like the competitor to
beat for the upcoming Group A competition. His new powder blue
hachi-roku (AE86) was dominant on the Short Course, charging through
the entire top section at the very edge of control. Typical driving
for Kikkawa, he absolutely did not lift from the throttle and
powered his vehicle though the corners, hitting clipping points with
surgical precision. Unfortunately, Justin thought that he had more
tires left in his corner and when he came in from his mid-day
exhibition, he had no tires left for competition and was forced to
sit out for the rest of the day.
Barry Wong and Jensen
Kona could be seen out on the track running in tandem to prepare for
some of the upcoming drift competitions this month. Jensen came into
the pit area abruptly and found that one of his wheels had cracked
on the inside, forcing him to stop running. Kell Komatsubara and
Jensen quickly left the track in search of another set of wheels and
returned with a wheel from Kell's S2000 powered Mazda FC3S (RX7).
With the cracked wheel now replaced, Jensen returned to the Short
Course ready for competition.
Earl Huang was
experiencing some vehicle troubles of his own as one of his engine
pipes kept falling blowing off. Some clamps and screws later, Earl
was back in action.
Jason Watanabe was
seen on the short course particularly during the Group A reverse
track practice session. Jason has come a long ways in his finesse on
the track was performing some textbook drifts for the crowd to
enjoy.
At the end of the
day, the track was cleared for the monthly Group A competition.
Competitors lined up at Short Course Turn 1 and prepared for action.
This month's course would be the "bread and butter" course
for our drivers, the Chicane through the Sweeper on the Short
Course. Having completed thousands of laps on this very section of
roadway would allow our drivers to showcase exactly what makes them
Group A drivers and everyone else just drivers.
As a new addition to
the competition, cones were placed on the clipping points in the
judged corners and line judges were stationed to determine exactly
how close drivers were coming to the clipping points. If a line
judge's flag went up, that means that the driver was more than 2
feet away from the clipping point (with the front bumper of their
vehicle). If the flag does not go up, it means that the driver was
less than 2 feet from the clipping point. Want to know how it all
turned out? Stay tuned, the March 11, 2006 Group A competition video
is coming soon!
For event scores click here.
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