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The start of the Chris Forsberg and Taka Aono match up actually began with a Competition Time Out called to repair an issue with the NOS Energy Drink Nissan 370Z. Once the needed repairs were taken care of Forsberg faced the Megan Racing/Hankook Tires 86 Toyota Corolla of Aono. Coming out of 10a, Taka had a correction that caused him to straighten out and get a zero on his follow run. He would do a double entry towards 10a on his lead run and gave Forsberg the win. At that point Forsberg couldn't use another Comp Time Out because teams are only entitled to one per event. Justin Pawlak in the Falken Tire Ford Mustang faced Patrick Goodin in the Enjuku Racing 240SX. JTP would take the win after Goodin made a huge correction following JTP. JTP would put on a great follow run with very close proximity against Goodin and Pawlak moved on to the Top 16!
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| While engine trouble caused Chris Forsberg to use his only Competition Time Out, he still took the win against Taka Aono. Photo by Dan Jenkins of Fueled Culture |
Danny George in the Wreckhouse Mazda Miata looked to improve his weekend even more by defeating the Retaks Scion FR-S of Ryan Tuerck. Danny's lead run looked spectacular with lots of smoke and decent proximity. However, just before the entry into the horseshoe, George hit the outside cone that marked him off course. That meant that Danny had a zero despite the great run he gave. Ryan wasn't slouching and kept a great follow run. With the advantage his, Ryan just had to pull off a decent lead run to move on, but Ryan isn't one to just cruise to an easy win.
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| One bobble gave Ryan the advantage and meant that he didn't need to push… Photo by Dan Jenkins of Fueled Culture |
Going into 10a Ryan pulled off a deep angle with Danny hot on his heels. Maybe too hot as Ryan slowed too much and Danny just tapped the side of Tuerck's car. It sent Ryan into a spin which George followed. This caused a huge debate between fans and even the judges and spotters. Justin Tuerck, Ryan's spotter, felt that Danny's tap was enough to spin Tuerck out and he was at fault. Fans, on the other hand, felt that Ryan was too slow and was stalling or spinning out regardless. After several minutes of debate and replays, it was finally determined that Danny did hit Ryan and he admitted to doing so. This gave the judges all the proof they needed to allow Ryan Tuerck to move on.
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| The fans were upset and cried foul against the Formula Drift judges, but Danny George also admited to hitting Ryan Tuerck. Photos by Dan Jenkins of Fueled Culture |
The next run was a bye-run for Darren MacNamara in the Falken Tires Nissan Silvia as Nate Hamilton in the Enjuku Racing Nissan 240SX failed to pull up to the line after suffering a mechanical during Top 32 practice. The final pair for Top 32 would be Odi Bakchis in the Nexen Tire/US Air Force Nissan 240SX and Toshiki Yoshioka in the GT Net/Tomei Subaru BRZ. Odi was able to run the preferred line that the judges were looking for, but Toshiki was able to keep proximity with a shallower line. This would favor Odi at the end, though as he did have the better run with the better line and some proximity gap. Yoshioka would try to do a bomb run entry into 10a, but as many drivers had found out that the wet track wasn't favoring it. Toshiki straightened into 10b giving the win to Odi.
