Formula Drift 2013 Round 6 at Texas Motor Speedway – Eliminations Coverage
Be sure to also check out our live results coverage:
FD Round 6 at Texas Motor Speedway – Qualifying Results
FD Round 6 at Texas Motor Speedway – Final Results Recap
Right at the start, it seemed like the 30 point deduction from Vaughn Gittin, Jr and his Monster Energy/Nitto Tires team would not matter as he was not only able to gain number one qualifier, but also face first time Top 32 driver Gabe Stone in the Blu808 BMW 325i Coupe. While Gabe was certainly happy to finally make it into the 32, he wouldn’t feel that happiness for long as Vaughn Gittin, Jr’s RTR Mustang was just too much to handle.
Megan Racing teammates Conrad Gruenwald in the Hankook Camaro and Taka Aono in the Hankook Corolla would face off. While Taka was able to pull a gap on the big Camaro, Conrad was able to pull an even larger one forcing Taka to lose angle to keep up. With two advantages towards Conrad, the judges awarded he and the Megan Racing/Hankook Tires Chevrolet Camaro the win.
A battle of the lights would unfold next as Pat Mordaunt in the Diamond Lighting Technologies Lexus SC430 would try to blind the Oracle Lighting/Achilles Radial Dodge Viper of Dean Kearney. However, it would seem that both drivers actually blinded each other as both made large mistakes in each of their runs to force a one more time call. Dean would make the same mistake again, this time forcing the Viper to bend its wheels and need his one and only competition time out. The Oracle Lighting crew got to work and replaced the damaged rims. However, with that zero run and Pat making a good pass, Mordaunt would take the win and move on to the Top 16.
In an amazing feat of determination and camaraderie in the Formula Drift pits, Ryan Kado in the DNA Motoring/Nexen Tires Nissan 350Z came back from a fuel fire that happened after Top 32 practice on Friday night after qualifying. However, with the fuel injectors burnt up, he had to swap out to the old injectors he had in the Turbocharged setup. Down on power, he faced the fierce and powerful Chelsea Denofa in the US Air Force BMW E46 Sedan. The odds were against Ryan and the lack of power was evident. It’s not to speak ill of Chelsea, as he performed as he needed but Ryan did all he could muster and it wasn’t enough.
Forrest Wang in the Get Nuts Labs/Achilles Radial Nissan 240SX would face the MotoIQ Featured US Air Force Scion FR-S of Tony Angelo. Tony has slowly made changes to his car as experience has dictated, but more R&D will be needed as he was defeated by Forrest in Top 32.
Matt Field in the Blacktrax/CX Racing Nissan 240SX would then take on Texas native, Will Parsons in the Non-Stop Tuning Toyota Corolla. Will’s Honda Turbocharged FC powered AE86 had a large hill to climb over the 900+ Horsepower, Supercharged GM LS-engine and the deficit in power was evident. It also didn’t help Will’s chances after he spun out in the sweeper and Matt Field moved on to the Top 16.
