Event>>fd Pro Am Pt.3

I know a lot of our American readers are probably staring at the clock right now, counting down the minutes until the start of the holiday weekend. To help pass the time a little faster, here's my final bit of coverage from the Formula Drift Pro Am Nationals at Irwindale. Up above you can see Texan Stewart Leask preparing for a run in his LS1-powered S13. Ahhh…There's just something about a Japanese-styled S13 mixed with the rumble of an American V8.

Here we see Formula D drivers Joon Maeng and Matt Powers inspecting the damage to Nikolay Konstantinov's S13. It wasn't long ago at all that both these guys were pro-am drivers themselves.

Nikolay's RB-powered S13 with 180SX Type X styling is one of the most impressive privateer drift cars I've seen a long time. After attending Formula D at Evergreen Speedway, and watching Northwest drivers tear it up at Irwindale – I'm convinced that the PNW has one of the best drift communities in North America.

Tommy Roberts' car has certainly been to hell and back over the past couple months. Hopefully "goldmember" will be back on the track soon.

Jacky Sin had some decent runs in his turbocharged Z33, but it wasn't quite enough to get him into the Top 16.

Mr. John showing how it's done in the VTEC-powered AE86.

Third place finisher Chelsea DeNofa transitioning to the inner bank in his M3. As you can see, there are no k-rails here – I'm assuming they were removed to give the cars a little run off space in case things went awry.

I mentioned Serial Nine during my Cressida car spotlight yesterday. Ameen Rizvi is also representing the company on his 2JZ-powered MX83.

Kelvin Arreola was competing in this FC3S convertible pickup truck creation. He would advance to the Top 16 before being eliminated by Ian Fournier.

Dave Blunt's E30 BMW cooling off after morning practice.

Dave's opponent in the Top 16 would be fellow California driver Jeff Abbot in his Miata.

Another shot of Jeff's little beast for the Roadster fans out there.

Another pair of California drivers, Cyrus Martinez and John Russakoff faced off in the Top 16. It was an extremely close match, but Cyrus was the one who earned the judges' favor here.

One more shot of Kieth Wong's AE86. Corolla owners will likely be drooling over his concave face TE37's…

Mike Pollard burning his Maxxis tires into oblivion.

I'm not exactly sure what my favorite car at pro-am was, but Stewart Leask's S13 is certainly at the top of the list. You just have to see (and hear) this thing!

Event winner Ian Fournier is ready to go in his final battle against Mike Pollard.

Well, that does it for my Irwindale Pro Am coverage. Much respect to all the drivers who came out and put in the line.

Here's hoping will see a bunch of these guys mixing it up with the veterans in 2010!

-Mike Garrett

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1

keep up great coverage guys, cant wait till more drift articles come up :)

2

damn right the northwest has the best drift community in north america. were all a close group and all have a lot of respect for eachother. congrats to niko victor ajc roland ian trent and anyone else from the northwest im forgetting you guys really represented for us

3

LOVE THE COVERAGE , LOVE THE CARS ....BUT I HAVE TO BE A LITTLE CRITICAL HERE , I KNOW DRIFT CARS ARE MADE TO BE THRASHED AND ARE PREDOMINANTLEY HELD TOGETHER BY ZIP TIES, DUCT TAPE, AND LUCK BUT PLEASE...... IF YOUR GONNA "EL CAMINO" ANY CAR, ESPECIALLY ONE THAT IS AVAILABLE IN A CONVERTIBLE MODEL CUT THE DOOR PILLARS AND WINDOW FRAMES OFF TO, OR JUST GET JUNKYARD DOORS FROM A CONVERTIBLE MODEL, YOUD GET SO MUCH MORE RESPECT,,,,,,HOWEVER (SAME CAR) THE VINTAGE MITSU STARION WHEELS, DO UP YOUR STREET APPEAL, KUDOS ...KEEP THAT ASS OUT

4

Some people who "EL CAMINO" their car maybe dont have the money to buy the convertible doors and maybe when cutting off their roof with a saw zall wood blade they said fuck it and thought the window frames looked better because they regretted cutting the roof off in the first place. maybe if i put a roof on id get more respect.



anywho, thanks to mike and speedhunters for the coverage!

5

What type of mirrors are on Stewart Leask's S13? Are the a redesign from Ganador?

6

its Keith Wong...spell check! Thanks!

7

Love to see more on the green RB powered S13, it looks awsome!

8

BH WORLD.



Stew

9

awesome coverage as always.More on the ls1 onevia please

10

AE71- 4AGZE



Please turn off you computer.

11

What's awesome about these Pro-Am series is that the drivers are true to the "style" part of drifting, one thing that the Formula D guys could do as well... But what the heck? Politics and stuff like that are more important it seems... Sad though...

12

Wait...Tommy Roberts' was driving the same chassis which he crashed last month? Great coverage btw

13

Anyone know what headlights are in this car?, I'm guessing NSX:

http://ll.dev.speedhunters.com/u/f/eagames/NFS/dev.speedhunters.com/Images/Mike%20Garrett/1November/proam/three7.jpg



I need something sleek like that for my FD

14

I'm loving those TE-37's, and I don't own a Corolla.... :P My favorites. <3 I feel so lucky to be moving to the NorthWest soon. :)

15

runningprojects.com check it out for nw drift coverage

16

Yeahhhhhh Keith!!!! You've came a LONGGG way man. Congrats on the license!

17

Thank you for all of the great coverage SpeedHunters!!!!

18

OK @ DRIFTMONSTER, I SEE YOUR POINT, AND RESPECT YOU FOR EVEN CHOPPIN THE TOP, I JUST WISH YOUD HAVE GONE THE FULL 9 YARDS AND FINISHED IT OFF, I THINK IT WOULD HAVE LOOKED REALLY GOOD CLEANED UP A BIT, AND I LIVE IN JERSEY WITH JUUNKYARDS EVERYWHERE SO I COULD HAVE FOUND THOSE DOORS FOR LIKE NILL, I DONT HATE CAMINOED CARS AT ALL, JUST NEVER HAD THE BALLS TO DO IT TO ONE OF MY CARS

OH AND @HENRY, SPELL CHECK, AND YOUR A POSER... GET OFF AUTO FORUMS IF YOU DON'T LIKE WHAT PEOPLE HAVE TO SAY...DICK

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