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The speed Forrest Wang found at Palm Beach would not be enough to get past the speed and style of Daigo Saito. Getting left in the judges hands, Saito gets the win over Wang to gain his spot in the Great 8.
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Matt “Giant Killer” Field would bring that magic he found against Saito last year and use it against Daijiro Yoshihara in the Top 16. Dai would go off course and allow Matt to pull what will be viewed as the ultimate move in modern drifting, the pass! Matt would make it stick and it would be legal. With a flawless lead run by Matt, Dai gets knocked out in Top 16 and Falken Tire had no cars in the Great 8.
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In what fans would cheer for because of the consistency of the judges, Robbie Nishida would get the win against Dave Briggs. Robbie got this win despite hitting Dave. But just as we saw with the Angelo/Maeng result, the judges saw the speed gun and declared that Briggs was too slow, causing Robbie to hit him. Robbie Nishida was in the Final Four!
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Mike Essa’s outstanding driving would be brought out once again against Chris Forsberg! Essa held fast lines with lots of angle while Chris would end up going off course in his follow run after he hit one of the course marking cones. This would allow Mike to move on, but there would something brewing for later.
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The start of the Vaughn Gittin, Jr. versus Fredric Aasbo Great 8 round would get off to a strange start. Both drivers launched up to the restart cone, but Vaughn came to a stop and turned his car around. He radioed into his spotter that he felt like he did not get the start he would need to keep up with Aasbo.
Aasbo, on the other hand, kept drifting and finished the course. He felt like both drivers were on the same page. The judges reviewed the tape, but it was clear that Vaughn did not keep going past the cone, despite flipping the car back around to the start line. Aasbo went back to change his tires and the restart ensued. While there was finally a full pull by the drivers, it would end up in Vaughn’s favor again as he was viewed as the better performing driver against Aasbo¸ again.
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Matt Field looked to have used up all of his magic tricks against Daijiro Yoshihara. Matt would end up going off course on his lead run, but while Daigo Saito when off right behind him. The judges determined that because Daigo was so close to Field, Saito was only following the line Matt put up and could not do anything to prevent his spin. This deficit would give Saito the edge and the win.
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