Chris Forsberg
After a heated final battle against Darren McNamara in the last chapter at Atlanta, Chris found himself on top of the FD podium with a First Place finish, leaving him Second in the Championship chase. A veteran, car-wise, years of seat time in his tried-and-true 350Z is starting to pay off.
We arrived Thursday with plans to get some good practice in for the weekend. Kevin and Sergio got the car ready and I jumped in. The first few runs were pretty good-I was decently high on the bank, trying to find the line through the lower section. Then the rain came. It started coming down pretty hard, so we headed back to our trailer to check the weather-it was supposed to rain for the rest of the day, and all day Friday. We went back out on track to switch the car to a rain setup, since we were going to have to qualify in the wet. This was the most I had ever driven my car in the rain to date. We were doing fine on the course and the car was adapting to the wet conditions, thanks to the Maxxis Z1 tires.
Friday morning, we arrived at the track to torrential downpours! All the drivers started talking as we watched two cars go out on the course. There was standing water everywhere, and a thunderstorm headed right for us. The cars could barely make it around the track-the pools of water literally broke front bumpers in half. After a few rescheduled driver meetings, Formula D made the decision to postpone all driving until Saturday, as the outlook said it was going to be sunny then. That meant we had to qualify and run Top 32 tandems in one day!
Saturday morning . . . sunshine! We had a long day ahead of us, so we started nice and early. Because of the changes, we only had one practice session scheduled before Qualifying. The track officials had just started trying to dry the infield, but there was still standing water and the course was wet. Our practice session was a wash, literally! Qualifying started, and as we were going through the ranks, the rubber started to lay down and the drivers started to make some smoke. When it came time for my run, I went back to my line from Thursday morning and tried to stick it on the first try! I pulled up onto the steep bank and waited for the signal-First, Second, Third, flick! I grabbed the handbrake over the big dip and got back on the throttle, driving high up on the bank. I backed off the gas, prepping for the big transition-full throttle! I threw the Z back and forth across the Start/Finish line down into the first corner and got super wide. I got back on the throttle and pushed for the inner clipping point, transferred across the infield where the car started jumping up and down. I got through it and into the last corner, but with the dry conditions, I gained too much speed! My rear tire hopped up on the steep bank and when I tried to pull off, the car spun. I got a zero. I needed a score-any score-to get back in the game. I tried my best to not let it get to my head during the hour-long wait before my next run. Second run came around, and it was time to focus. 'Nice and easy, don't push too hard,' I told myself. I ran through the course about a foot or two off the outside clipping points and got nice and tight on the inners. That landed me in 10th place!
It was time for head-to-head battle at Wall Speedway. My first match-up was against Doug Van Den Brink. His car was fast through the course, so I made sure to remember that for my chase run. I was the lead car for the first pass, which was an advantage. I ran through the course, super high on the bank, and actually scraped the bumper on the outside wall! I flipped through the infield, hit all the clips, and felt great. Off the start on my turn to chase, I gave him one to two car lengths. By the time we were coming off the bank, we were side by side! Transferring through the infield, I stuck to his car in every corner and got the win!
Our next match-up in the Top 16 was against my Drift Alliance buddy, Justin Pawlak. He was driving a brand-new RX-8, and doing a phenomenal job! For the first run, I had to follow. I jumped off the line with him, tore down the straight and threw it into the first corner-our initiations were identical. We ran through the course together, side-by-side, as if we were putting on a demo. For my lead lap, I ran through the course as I would for Qualifying. I could hear that three-rotor monster behind me, but when the judges made the call, we moved onto the Great 8!
For the next round, it was an Atlanta rematch against Tyler McQuarrie. His car was great on this course, so it was going to be tough. Chasing again on the first lap, I ran down the straight as close as I could, trying to not let him get away. As we rounded the bank, the smoke from his car was so thick I couldn't see! As I transferred off the bank for the first inner clipping point, I got through the smoke and realized that I was headed straight for a cone! I tried to correct and get around it, but that caused my car to understeer. I couldn't regain control fast enough and Tyler pulled almost five car lengths. Unless something serious happened on his chase run, our weekend was over. No slip-ups from Tyler; he had a smooth run and moved on to the Final 4.
Overall, it was a great weekend for our team-we're still in the Top 3 in the Championship and Las Vegas is next!
Chris Forsberg
www.chrisforsberg.com
Nos Energy Drink
www.drinknos.com
Maxxis Tire
www.maxxis.com
By Carter Jung
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