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We’re still in the Top 16 and this battle would be between Mats Baribeau and Fredric Aasbo. Mats, in his rookie season in Formula Drift, would be the second Canadian rookie to do so in 2013 alongside Marc Landreville. However, it would be experience that would shine this time as minor mistakes and a decent lead run would not be enough to overcome Fredric Aasbo’s better looking runs.
In his quest to have the dirtiest car in Round 6, Toshiki Yoshioka went off course again against Mike Essa. Without a competition time out to use again, Toshiki went straight to the starting line without his team getting a chance to look at his car. It was unknown if Yoshioka’s car had be as damaged as it was before when he faced Primo with a severely damaged car.
With his car sparking on the way back and knowledge of what happened in Top 32 Mike Essa took an easy win and stayed with enough distance to say that he wasn’t holding back but far enough away to make sure Toshiki wouldn’t crash the both of them.
Drift Alliance brothers faced off as Chris Forsberg and Justin Pawlak would come in swinging. Chris was in a tight points battle against Mike Essa and, with Essa moving on to the Great 8, Chris knew that he would need to get past Pawlak. Justin, though, wasn’t completely out of the chase just yet. He had a mathematical chance, but would need to get past Forsberg to make it work in his favor. In order to do that, he couldn’t afford the mistakes he made while drifting against “Mr. Consistency” and Forsberg moved on.
You can’t really call it a comeback, so I don’t know what to really call the strides that Daijiro Yoshihara made at Texas this weekend. He was finally back in Top 16 after three rounds of poor performance. However, he would also have to get past Matt Powers who had just out performed the 2012 Champion and possibly ruined Saito’s chances at a title in 2013. This time, though, Matt didn’t drive like the champion killer he was against Saito. With Field's off course and two wheels off, Daijiro Yoshihara would move on to the Great 8!
