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Once Top 32 started, there was no going back. This event had so many surprises for nearly every single competitor. The way judging was done, there were no favors done and really you couldn’t accuse the judges of playing favorites this time.
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| The first to fall during Top 32 was Miro Ovcharik in the Sikky Engineering Nissan 240SX. Despite having a V8, it just wasn't enough to topple over Vaughn Gittin, Jr. Next was the fight of Aurimas “Odi” Bakchis in the M7 Energy Drink/Nexen Tires Nissan 240SX against the GSR Autosport/Nitto Tires BMW Z4 of Mike Essa. Odi followed Essa first, but struggled after tapping the wall on the bank. Essa's tight follow run allowed him to move on. |
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| Walker Wilkerson in the Fatlace/Falken Tires Nissan 240SX brought the hometown advantage against Chelsea Denofa in the BC Racing/Nitto Tires Mazda RX-8. After Chelsea had a bobble in the power alley during his follow run, his lead run wasn't enough to over come that disadvantage and allowed Wilkerson to move on. This would be only the second time that Walker had gotten past Top 32 this year. Matt Powers in the Need for Speed/Nitto Tires Nissan 240SX had an easy time with Kyle Pollard in the PSI/Falken Tires Nissan Silvia. Kyle, who uses a 2.2 Stroker SR20DET, just didn't have the same speed as Matt does in the LS Powered Nissan 240SX. |
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| In an upset of Rookie Versus Veteran Proportions, Rookie driver Jhonnattan Castro in the Banco del Progresso/Hankook Tires Nissan 350Z outperformed Pat Mordaunt in the Apexi/Yokohama Tire Lexus SC430. Pat's spin on his lead run and going straight on his follow run off the bank allowed Castro to move on. Matt Field in the Blacktrax/Maxxis Tire Nissan 240SX would move past Taka Aono in the Megan Racing/Nexen Tire Toyota Corolla. Taka had a crash prior to Top 32, so that may have lead to his poor performance, but not holding his drift in the bank and Matt's ability to close in on the little Corolla on his follow run allowed him to make it to Top 16 on this day. |
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| Rhys Millen in his Hyundai/Hankook Tires Hyundai Genesis began his run to the Top 16 with an uphill battle against Chris Forsberg in the NOS Energy/Hankook Tires Nissan 370Z. Despite the displacement disadvantage, Rhy was packing more Turbos that Forsberg did. By more, I mean that Rhys is using a single GTX3582 turbo setup on his Genesis. Rhys' ability to keep up and Forsberg's mistakes allow Millen to advance. Dennis Mertzanis in the Fuel Culture/Kenda Tires Nissan 240SX looked to try to surpass Daijiro Yoshihara and his Discount Tire/Falken Tire Nissan 240SX. However, on Dennis' lead run into the last rear clipping zone, Dennis hits the wall and Daijiro passes him by to move on to the Top 16. |
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| In the Upset of Upsets, Jeremy Lowe in the Enjuku Racing/Falken Tires Mazda RX-7, that is still powered by a Rotary Engine, took out points leader Justin Pawlak in the Falken Tire Ford Mustang. Despite both cars going two tires off and because Jeremy was close enough to be considered in proximity, JTP was given a Zero on his Lead run. With a good lead run by Jeremy Lowe he moves on and takes out the points leader and the chase to first place is on! |
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| Ryan Tuerck in the RETAKS/Maxxis Tire Nissan 240SX had to face the Achilles Radial Lexus SC300 of Robbie Nishida. However, while Robbie hit the wall of the bank on his lead run and ended his day early. Ryan would move on after repairs could not be performed in time for Nishida. Fredric Aasbo and his Need for Speed Scion tC would also slide past Patrick Goodin the Enjuku Racing 240SX. |
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| Alex Lee in the Serial 9 Toyota Cresta was defeated by the “PVC Powered” Forged Racing/Nexen Tires Nissan 350Z of Ryan Kado, proving that outside the box thinking isn't so bad when you have a Home Depot around! Next was a very strange round with Tony Angelo in his Scion Racing/Hankook Tires Scion tC and Toshiki Yoshioka in the RS-R/Nitto Tires Nissan Silvia. After determining that Toshiki was the winner, Tony protested as Yoshioka was using the Restart Cone as a Pace Cone after some miscommunication. After awarding the protest to Tony, Toshiki's Lead run was re-ran. Toshiki was awarded the win, once again. |
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| Kenney Moen in the Lutz Performance/Falken Tire Nissan 350Z went a round against Ken Gushi in the Greddy Performance/Hankook Tires Scion FR-S. Ken Gushi was able to bring more sucess to the FR-S chassis as Kenney Moen went two tires off on his lead run to give the win to Ken Gushi. Conrad Grunewald in the Hankook Tires Chevrolet Camaro, the lone Camaro in the Top 32, defeated Tony Brakohiapa's EBay/Yokohama Tire Ford Mustang. Tony ran very shallow lines on his follow runs to keep up with Conrad and Conrad had excellent lead and follow runs against Brakohiapa. The final battle in the Top 32 was Daigo Saito in the Achilles Radial Lexus SC430 who looked to take out the Falken Tires Nissan Silvia of Darren McNamara, who made it easy by going three tires off on his lead run. With far less power than Daigo, Darren could not keep good pace against the Formula Drift Asia driver and Saito was given the win. |
