Event>>daigo Saito Wins D1gp Anaheim!

The weather forecasts called for some morning showers. But that did not deter the throngs of people that attended D1GP in Anahiem, California. They were in for a treat with the clash between the up-and-coming American drivers and the solid and well known Japanese D1 drivers. I'm sure, in the back of everyone's mind, that the winner of the day would be a Japanese driver. But who would've known that it was to be Daigo Saito in his Toyota Chaser!

Here is the shot of the final two warriors before they go off into battle for the win. The weather had it's battle win the sun and clouds throughout the day. But, as you can see, the sun took victory. –and it made for quite the snap.

So congratulations from everyone at SpeedHunters, Saito! And stay tuned for more coverage from D1GP Anahiem in the coming days…

-Linhbergh Nguyen

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1

wow that opening photo looks like a painting!

2

wow big props to Saito.... his chaser looks amazing

3

wow big props to Saito.... his chaser looks amazing

4

Amazing shots Linhberg, it was nice to meet you at the beginning btw, this is the white kid that was shooting next to the speakers.

5

"But who would've known that it was to be Daigo Saito in his Toyota Chaser!"... Uh, I'd say putting money on Saito winning would have been a good bet as it's not a big surprise.

6

Daito Saigo es very good but that Chaser is very COOL!.

7

LOOOOOVE the opening shot

8

Does anyone know if Speed will do coverage like they did last year?

9

Man I really wish they would have done AT LEAST 7 or 8 more "one more times" lol. We were all in good company though, so I was able to look past some of D1's shortcomings. Anyways nice shots, looking forward to more!!

10

I went to D1GP yesterday and I have to say, it was THE WORST motor sports event I've ever been to. Between the disorganization, technical difficulties, incompetent staff, and ass hat announcer, Will Mattox, it was truly an insult to the Japanese drivers who graced us all with their presence. I would think we could do a little better to pay homage to some of the best in the sport, Mattox couldn't even pronounce their names right! Many of the industry people I spoke with admitted the event was a bust and it's a real shame.

11

Man, this day was awesome. I know next time though to get Bleacher seats if I can't get Media haha.



Wish I could have seen the ending though. =[

12

That opening picture HAS TO BE A WALLPAPER!

13

All I can really say about this event is... it was truly an embarrassment to the sport of drifting. As Chris stated, not only was their countless technical difficulties but the announcer was so terrible our entire bleacher was making fun of him throughout the event. He even attempted to get the crowd to do the wave and we proceeded to remain seated as a show of discontent. Not only did he mispronounce the names of drivers and sponsors but he didnt even have a clue what he was talking about in regards to waht was actually happening. What made things even better was the fact the judges had the worst seating possible leading them to make absolutely terrible judgments in runs that were obvious wins for one driver over another. I don't know if i felt worse about the fact drifting and D1GP is being represented by the douche bag known as Will Mattox or the fact all the first time drift event attendees will go home thinking that is the lamest form of motor sports ever. Mattox is such a f*cking tool bag he was thrilled! anytime there was a potential passing opportunity and anytime a driver was "sucking" another one in.



I hope that faggot gets fired. This event made me really appreciate "Ja-rod" from formula d although he has his homo moments, I never appreciated his talent more than yesterday afternoon.

14

I wish someone would buy my Chaser........: http://www.jzx100.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=4583

15

wow i really wanted to go to this. but man, i kinda dont feel as bad now that i read what people are saying. i gotta go next time though, i still want japanese drivers and d1 to stay in the US. much support to them.

16

The only way D1GP will be actual D1GP is when they race for actual points in the japan series. I wasn't able to make this recent event, sounds like it was a glorified car show/stunt show. A real drifting competition event needs to be judged properly and organized properly. I attended the last Formula Drift event and I didn't have many complaints. The only gripe I had was there was too many "one more times" lol.



p.s. Isn't it obvious Saito would win? He was the japan series winner. In his 2jz single turbo +nos chaser. His car was great and his angles were insane. Great work Saito :).

17

The event did not have the D1GP feel to it. You didn't hear Toshi talk to hype up the crowd(Mattox couldn't do thet job), Tsuchiya wasn't even there, the car show was lame, the drift box sucks, but mostly the audio set up was horrible. Anyways, congrats. to Saito, Kumakubo, and Forest Wang.

18

I attended this and it was definitely not up to par with previous US D1GP events, but it was still fun. The announcing was horrible, and at one point a spectator had to run out on to the track to remove some debris before the next tandem pass because there were no staff around to pick it up. The spectator got thrown out, at which point the crowd erupted in protest against the security staff. The security staff were complete dicks. The food sucked and the car show had very few cars tuned in the drift style. The performance of the competitors was top notch though, especially Forest Wang and of course Kumakubo and Daigo Saito. Wallpaper that first picture!

19

....sigh....after 4+ years of not missing any drift events in socal, this was about the worst and only bad one i have been to..the only thing that i enjoyed was the few japanese drivers that came. Ueno, Kumakubo, Saito,and the rest did a great job, along with some of the new drivers, ,props! but like you guys said it, poor organization, HORRIBLE, idiot of an announcer, whatever, i could keep going....i want the old D1 USA back...you know, with japanese drivers from D1 going against FD drivers =]

20

Linh-vision ftmfw

21

This turned out to be a huge disappointment to me, the horrible commentary, technical problems, incompetant "D1 track staff" and last but not least the Drift Box. I have attended D1gp US events at Irwindale since 2006, and this was nothing but an "empty shell" of D1's former glory some of my friends even deemed it "D Whack". What ever happened to the days when the US round actually counted in the D1GP Japan championship? More drivers came out, the driving was better because it actually counted towards the championship and we had Toshi, Tsuchiya, and the rest of the D1 gang. Plus Irwindale always sold out, and the bleachers were always packed! I guess thats what happens when car show guys take a stab at organizing a D1 event. I would like to say thanks to all the Japanese guys that came out and made the event enjoyable as always. I did see and hear of some interesting things happening as well, I saw of course the hillarious fan that ran out to pick up debris and was promptly taken away by event staff. Right after that i saw Alex Phipher being escorted away from the stands for who knows what, I heard from a buddy of mine that there were several Formula D personel in the crowd and that some of them were denied access to certain areas, again for unknown reasons. And last but certainly the Drift Box not only stirred the chants and boos of the crowd but I happend to talk to some of the drivers, they said that it obviously had way too much to do with the judging. It almost seemed as though the judges became so reliant upon the box that they couldnt even judge without it. I hope that some day, D1 will re-establish an American event as part of the Japanese championship again so that perhaps we could once again witness the Glory of a true D1 event!

22

I hate to say it but i agree with the majority. The staff and show were terribly unorganized. over all embarrassing. good driving all the way around though and good to see and E30 and E36!

23

Great photos but it is unfortunate that Saito's victory be tainted by the reportedly bad judging placement and overall botched event.



PS Thanks for giving us the scoop Chris and Advan, unbiased comments are the unsung heroes of Speedhunters.

24

I dunno, the car show blew hard, the girls were subpar, the cost of everything associated with the event was absolutely ridiculous...

But I thought the driving and crowd energy made up for it...I def. had a good time when all was said and done.

25

I too have to agree with what most are saying. While I did still enjoy myself, this could have been way, WAY better. Sound issues, slow track staff, dumb pace car with dumb girls messing up trying to shoot t-shirts everywhere, and shitty scoring (drift box) made for a sort of seemingly half-assed event. I haven't even read anything about the drift box but it seems absolutely retarded. It plays such a huge role in scoring it's ridiculous. Did anyone else feel as if Forest Wang actually should have gone on instead of the 2nd "One more time!!"? He was getting way more sideways than Kumakubo, he was going hhhaaarrrd. I found myself wanting Kumakubo to go on, but deep down I knew that Wang drove better.



Nice shots, I got some decent ones too.

26

D1USA, FTL. Go braddah Forrest, make Hawaii proud!

From what people are saying, it seems like I was wise in refusing to go up, although I wasn't able to support my Hawaii peeps. It's good, they did well, the staff sucked, and seems like I saved a lot of money without switching to Geico.

27

jeez after reading more about d1 the general feeling about this event was garbage, from fans to even media. if anyone goes to the drifting.com messege boards the fans on there where pissed to. makes me want to send an angry letter to the d1 organizers and i didnt even go.

28

I aint gonna spoil this for my 14 yr. son, being a D1 fanatic he was totally enthralled and lived the moment at hand. He did however mention that it would have been better hearing Tsuchiya announcing in Japanese than listening to that dood at the event. LOL.



After so many years absent from US soils, it could have been better but despite the harsh economic realities the show pulled thru and I hope they come back with a bigger and better show.

29

DRIFT BOX SUCKSSS!!!!!!

30

i was right behind you guys and i have the same pic but with the stupid fence in the way. did anyone know what happen to the guy that run in to take that piece of bumper of the track. thats messed up that security took him. and that a kick ass pic.

31

oh yeah i forgot like MAdHispaniK said DRIFT BOX SUCKS!!!!!! and Tanaka got robbed

32

Wait, you mean you people who went were surprised it sucked? Jesus just look at it all, it's being put on by HIN, there is almost no link to the original d1 besides having their name plastered all over it and given a few drivers, this shit was destined to fail.



The buildup to this event for me has been just telling people "save your money, it'll suck"



Surprise surprise!

33

Yeah this event was kinda lame. The drifting was good the drift box can suck a d1ck the anouncer was a complete moron had no clue what he was talking about and saying false statments I remember him saying everybody loves the drift box it is soo accurte and blah blah blah when it really isnt Nomuken didn't even qualify for the final 16 what is that all about? I think it should have been judged by the judges and not a machine they could sue the info from the box to see waht was going on but to ahve the box generate a score is lame. a box can't tell whether a run looked good or not just the speed and angle, and g force.



and where are the rest of the pix from the event? I want More then waht other people have already posted.

34

Wallpaper the first photo PLEASE PLEASE!

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