The highlight for me was sticking on Rhys's bumper like glue in my trusty ol' Rockstar/AEM 350Z. Midway through the run I was so impressed with the old girl, that the weight of this being the Z's last event hit me. Don't get me wrong, I'm stoked to get into our all-new Scion for '09, but Steph and I have put so much effort into the Rockstar Z, and I was very proud to have her bring us all the way to the Red Bull party, to experience the fruits of our labor on the world-wide stage.
My fatal mistake was entering the first turn a bit shallow, and the judges saw fit to award the advance to Rhys, who qualified First for the weekend and had been killing it ever since. We were out of the competition, but I was still reveling in how fun it was to chase down a hardened competitor and friend on the ports of Long Beach, and watch him take the Champion crown. Good times.
In the end, I was surprisingly happy with Third. Maybe it's because I felt like I was crashing a wedding by bringing Rockstar to Red Bull's event... and taking home a bridesmaid by standing on the podium! Either way, it was an epic event for a one-off exhibition match, and I'd like to thank the thousands of fans that drove through the falling ash of the LA wild fires to spectate. I'm looking forward to putting our new Scion on the world stage next year, and I hope to see you there!
Rockstar
www.rockstar69.com
AEM
www.aempower.com
Tanner Foust
www.tannerfoust.com
Daijiro Yoshihara
After attacking the Long Beach course faster and more aggressive with each run, and initiating into the massive Turn One earlier than nearly everyone else, Daijiro seemed unstoppable as the Red Bull competition progressed. After surviving four rounds with Ueo--and some of the closest, door-to-door tandems we've seen from anyone all year--if there was anyone who looked right to steal the thrown from Rhys, it was Dai ...So what happened?
This was to be the last event for the RMR/Bridgestone GTO, so we did everything we could to prep the car to go all-out! I had been battling traction issues in the GTO all year, and since we knew we needed maximum grip to hold such high speeds, we took a risk and modified its suspension from the ground up, and re-worked alignment settings. It worked so well I was able to qualify Sixth--much better than anticipated!
Unlike other Formula D events, tandem battling started at Top 32 instead of Top 16. My first opponent was Robbie Bolger, an Australian driver in a borrowed car. He seemed uncomfortable with it, and I moved on. His regular car is a Holden Monaro, which is pretty much a right hand drive GTO... What a match-up that would've been! My Top 16 opponent was Leighton Fine, another Australian driver in a borrowed car... but he is the 2008 Drift Australia series champion! Our battle was really close, but somehow I managed to beat him.
In the Top 8 round, I went against Ueo. I knew it was going be tough to beat him since his strength is initiating early, with deep angle... which is also my strength! He went super sideways right after the initiation, so I concentrated on doing the same thing. I made a stupid mistake early on, so our battle went to a One More Time round, where I eventually won. I was so relieved! Actually, he was my first opponent at my first competition ever, which was D1GP in 2003. I lost that time and he went on to win the entire series, so this was my big revenge after five years!
I was paired with Sam in the Final 4, a great driver that I've battled more than five times before, but have only beaten once. But after the great battle with Ueo, I didn't feel that I could lose, so I threw everything I had at him and moved on!
By Luke Munnell
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