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Now that Intros are done and we are down to the Top 16, it's time for these drivers to show what they are really made of! With Daigo making it into the Top 16 in his Achilles Radial SC430, he's showing the talent a D1 driver brings to any event. He, Toshiki Yoshioka, Ken Moen, Ken Gushi, Fredric Aasbo, Kyle Mohan, and Rhys Millen also continue to show if you build anything with talent and know-how, you can drift against the V8s! Still not easy, but it can be done!
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| First up for Top 16 Eliminations was the Retaks S13 of Ryan Tuerck and the Nitto TIre/Need for Speed S14 of Matt Powers. With Tuerck being the Number One Qualifier, he showed the drive that he had in qualifying! He also seems to be more comfortable in a familiar chassis and the results do show to this point. |
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| However, Matt Powers' drive was that much more as he was able to out drive Tuerck on to the Great 8! It's still amazing to think about the fact that this car was only just completed the morning of Qualifying! Makes you wonder if they had more time what could have really been done with this car! |
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| Hankook Camaro Driver, Conrad Grunewald, had to get past the Lutz Performance 350Z of Kenny Moen. Kenny has really stepped up his driving this year and it's great to see him really shine as he is a very good driver. That's not to take away from Conrad, though, as he is a great driver inside and out of drifting. |
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| However, today would not be Conrad's day as Kenny was able to pull off the drive of his life! Can he keep this up? |
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| Falken Tire Mustang RTR driver, Justin Pawlak, was on a drive for a repeat Long Beach performance from last year. Nexen Tire/Mazdatrix RX-8 driver, Kyle Mohan, wanted to make sure that repeat performance would not happen! |
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| However, JTP was able to pull off the close run that the judges were looking for in his follow run and will be able to continue his drive for a Long Beach win! |
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| RS-R S15 Driver, Toshiki Yoshioka, had to take on the NOS Energy 350Z of Chris Forsberg. Chris was fully embracing the “Force” nickname Jarod gave him, as not only did his suit looked like an X-Wing Fighter suit, but his helmet matched it as well! The helmet was definitely cool looking, if you're a Star Wars nerd! Toshiki, though, was really showing his improvement since getting into the RS-R S15! Their first round was too close to call and they went One More Time! |
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| The Force that Forsberg was able to use was that of the Nissan V8 he had under-hood, as he was able to pull off a consistent gap leading and following Yoshioka in their One More Time Battle! Could we have a complete repeat of Long Beach '11? |
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| Rhys Millen now had to show if his experience at Long Beach would out weigh the D1 experience of Daigo Saito! The Hyundai Genesis and the Achilles SC430 were both using turbocharged 6-cylinder engines, but Daigo had nitrous power to use as well! |
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| Unfortunately, Rhys had a spin on Turn 11 on his follow run against Daigo and Saito moved on. Rhys, though will be at Road Atlanta, so he will have a Road to Redemption there! Many people have called this an upset, as well, but many have also argued that this was expected. That was mostly coming from the JDM fanbois who don't consider the skill level of Rhys. However, all the talent in the world won't stop you from being human, either. I'm willing to bet we'll see these two battle it out again very soon! |
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| Tyler McQuarrie in the GoPro Camaro went up against Ryan Kado in the Nexen Tire/Forged Performance 350Z. Ryan has really shown the talent he has since sorting out the issues his car gave him last year. If he had this car in 2011, I feel the rookie of the year battle would have had a different turn out. |
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| Ryan's lead run was what cost him the win, after making small corrections and using a shallow line, he didn't show what the judges were looking for and the win goes to Tyler McQuarrie. |
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| The GReddy FR-S of Ken Gushi has, in my opinion, awakened something in him! Ken's driving was kin to his early days of drifting and getting in this FR-S has probably been the biggest improvement since first driving the Ford Mustang. Odi, who is working off the momentum of his Rookie of the Year win last year, has steadily made improvements and has really locked in step with the judges. |
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| However, the gap Gushi made on Odi on his lead run and the close gap he had in his follow run were what allowed Ken Gushi to move on to the Great 8! |
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| The last round of the Top 16 was Daijiro Yoshihara in the Falken Tire/Discount Tire S13 taking on the Norwegian Hammer that is Fredric Aasbo in the Need for Speed Scion tC. |
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| While the Hammer was able to put on a decent follow run, Dai's follow run was much closer and was still able to follow the exact line Aasbo did. That gave the win to Daijiro Yoshihara! We might have a repeat of 2011 Long Beach after all. Well, there are still two more rounds left to go, though! |
