Yesterday was a day which had a few kinks. But today's top 32 battles moved along like a well oiled machine. Each battle was smooth, fierce and all sorts of impressive.
Vaughn Gittin' Jr. took the win after a great battle with Ryan Tuerck. Tanner Foust stood on the third step on the podium.
Team Need for Speed driver, Mad Mike Whiddett, drove amazingly well during his top 32 battle with Daijiro Yoshihara. His fantastic performance resulted in the judges calling a one more time which resulted in Dai taking the win and moving on to the top 16.
The other Team Need for Speed driver, Matt Powers, had his best performance of the season so far. He made it to top 16 after defeating Alex Pfeiffer. But his climb up the ladder was stopped short by James Deane whom he battled in the top 16. An overall great drive from Powers!
I can't believe there's only one more round of the season left! What a season it has been….
-Linhbergh
OFFICIAL SPEEDHUNTERS SUPPLIERS
GO MATT GO!!!!
IRWINDALE HERE WE COME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
photo 2 desktop please!!!
lost some respect for the judges in formula d this event.
there is no way Jr should have won after smashing into that s14.
Deane was robbed
i hope dai takes it all the way in irwindale!!!!!!
Gittin jr shouldn have made it past his top 16 battle!! how many times has he smashed into other drivers this season? FDs judging is just plain s#@t..
Unfortunately, it seems that Drift Alliance judges are getting more and more biased. Teurk should not have won against Dai, and this bad call guarantees the season win for Gitten. Why is there a Drift Alliance member one of the judges? I recognize that Tony has been influential and instrumental in the forming of Formula D, but being a teammate of certain *ahem* favorite drivers sorta makes his decisions extremely suspect. Especially when so many people saw it from the same angle, and all could not understand the call. Same thing happened at Irwindale, one judge (tony) guaranteed Forsberg the win after Tony voted Gitten to lose against Pfeiffer, who clearly lost. Yes, Gitten is DA also, but Chris' championship was engineered, and so is Dai's loss this year. This event really left a bad taste in my mouth.
Please, PLEASE Formula D, can we put someone in his place that doesn't have ties to certain teams? I have been a long time fan for 5 years now, and I (and others) are really getting tired of this. You cannot put team sponsor as a judge, so why is a team member a judge? D1GP lost much respect years ago due to biased judging (not the drivers), Formula D is headed the same way. Please don't do it!
Rad. I'm feelin this.
desktops of 1st. 2nd and 4th pics PLEASE!
Amazing year i hope Vaughn Gittin' Jr wins it all this season. He really deserves it.
The two things I will remember about this round is :
- When your name is Hubinette, you can't win pushing the lead car.
- When your name is Vaugh Gittin Jr, you can win this way.
i agree with logan, some of the worst judging iv seen yet at formula d,alot of big names should not hav made it through , if a car in front scrubs of speed ,the chase car has to follow suit, you cannot drive them out of your way no matter who you are,thats not drifting thats stock car racing.
get some forgain judges FD!!
some how are not attached! There are enough judges worldwide with enough experiance!
Horrible judging in this event. JR is an awesome driver, but he RAN INTO ANOTHER DRIVER!!! Congrats to Mr. Kearney for doing such a great job against America's favorite driver; who just so happens to have one of his best friends as a judge. Dai deserved this season.
Seeing the same few people on the podium.
wow im sorry but brake checking the shit out of a driver is just not on i dont care who is following you
i blind man could see kerney threw out the anchor thats not drifting at all when you lead you drive your qualifying line at full speed not basically come to a stop and expect to win
the judges where completly in the right with there call...
dirty tactical driving needs to fuck off out of drift.. it should all be balls out proper driving not slowing down so the car behind hits you
dai belonged winning this one
James Deane got robbed once again by the judges and also did dean kearney.
what a joke.!!! must be who you are to win over the judges!!!!!!!!!
Ok, theres 3 judges and one of them is in the da. So If tony voted for a da guy even if he did worse then the other two judges would vote for the other guy because he had a better run. So you saying the judging is riged becase only one judge is a da member is stupid. And if he kept picking the da guys dont you think he wouldve been fired by now? Theres lots of other instances where other people won when they shouldnt of, so just shut up
yeah Tuerck!!!!!!!
In person it really seemed that Kearney parked it on JR. So much so that I thought he missed his 3-2 downshift.
I thought the call was correct because I think aggressive follow runs in tandem should be encouraged, not penalized. At a certain following distance/speed contact becomes unavoidable if the leading driver makes a mistake or parks it.
I also thought Dai should have got a one more time against Tuerk for the same reason. Ryan didn't park it on Dai or make a mistake but was slower than Dai in that part of the track and Dai was following like a big bad MFer.
Also, to the judging being biased, Tony seems to be harder on the DA drivers--if anything-- and I think the stats on his judging record doesn't show any favoritism to DA drivers.
the judging in this series is a joke
All you guys bagging on Gitten....the lead car slowed to 5 MILES PER HOUR. He hit him because there was nowhere else to go! He won fair and square, and I am NOT a Gitten Fanboi. As lead driver, you need to run your qualifying line...which does NOT mean laying off the gas until your car stops, forcing the chaser to hit you. Cheap move the weaker driver tried, and failed.
The worst call by FAR was the one on Dai. Teurck braked so hard on entry, his splitter was scraping and there was a HUGE cloud of smoke OFF THE FRONT TIRES. Judges, you really blew this. Tony A. said, "Dai misjudged the entry". and that was pure and total bullcrap. Dai entered perfect behind Teurck, until the moment Ryan slammed the brakes. Also, I seem to remember that incidental contact that does NOT affect the lead car's line IS ALLOWED. So.....How do the judges explain this call?
Sure it seems like one small call....but that call handed Gitten the season. Cheap, cheap politics again, and as the guy above said, why is there a Drift Alliance teammate on the judging panel?
Its complete BS and he should be removed. Also Dai smashed into Tuercks door, and Tuerck ran better laps.
@It's getting old, you're right. Which is why I wouldnt go into pro drifting leagues even if I had the skills.
Sorry Irish fans, Kearney stoppd. THATS why he got run into, Gitten hit him on accident. CORRECT CALL. But yet Ryan Turk did same to Dai and moved on. What?? Oh yeah, one of the judges is his friend.
FD is great but the judging is killing it. Watched the replay a bunch of times now. If FD dies, you know who to blame.
A perfect example of DA biased judging was Long beach when JR beat Aasbo, the entire crowd boo'd after that one becasue it was very obvious who deserved it.
kearney parked his car up, that stuff has no place in drifting, gittin had no where to go end off.
as for Dai Vs Tuereck , dai adjusted to Ryans massive braking and continued the corner, the only person that adjusted to this tactic, amazing driving.It should of wither went to dai or went OMT, but a shame the championship has more or less been decided this way as he deserves this championship so bad
also top driving by James deane, someone hook him up a full time drive, he took forsberg the 2009 champ to OMT
Soon Formula D will die because of horrible judging..All the people that think the Big sponsor drivers are winning fair and square are completely ignorant. Obviously their not the amateur drivers giving their blood and sweat on drifting and getting a spot on the podium. "But who gives a shit right" The people that spends their own money to compete in Formula D does!! I for once would like to see a amateur driver win a event this year but it won't happened because these judges aren't getting paid to pick the amateur drivers but only the fan favorite drivers. Sorry to say this but I'm done watching this sport go to shit!
all i have to is that FORMULA D SHOULD ADD 2 MORE JUDGES.... and take out tony angelo from the judges and replace him with steve millen or somebody that has name in the world of drifting
I will agree that Dai ran well, however if you know what your looking at...Ryan Tuerck rightfully advanced.
on the other hand, I dont feel that T. Angelo is the judging issue here! This is obviously the yr of Vaugn Gitten (hes doing his thing and people should respect that).
The final battle between Tuerck and Gitten (1st run), may have been one of the most beautiful tandem battles ever to have been recorded in the sport!
The judges know what they are looking at, and we should allow them to call it! RESPECT THAT!
I'm from Portugal and i watch D1, and some European drift events and the FD judging is the worst i ever saw, first in Long Beach with JR vs AASBO and now with JR crashing on other cars... AMERICANS COMMERCIALIZE AND DESTROY EVERYTHING... D1 GP and BDC are becoming the best drift championships in the world, FD is going down every year, dont know why i stood to 1 am watching this...if you have a energy drink sponsor, go ahead do what you want...
You guys who are whining about the judging should really shut it. FD has come a longgggg way since it's started and Tony has added a lot of credibility to the series. JR has been driving like a mad man all season and deserves this win. His following runs were absolutely insane being able to stay within a 1-2ft of the lead car the whole time. Dean Kearney has been known to do some dirty driving and I'm glad JR called him on his sh*t and hit him. One factor of the judging is speed, they factor in practice and qualifying speeds so that in case of what looks to be a brake check they can check to see if his speed is slower than normal(it was). Most of the top drivers have worked really hard(blood, sweat, own money) and waited many years to be in the position they are in. It's so ignorant/retarded to say that the judges want to see the "big name/big sponsors" advance. You know why they advance? It's cause their cars/driving/teams are better than the amateur guys in 300hp 240s. Why would you want to see slow, boring, low angle cars drift? This series has been progressing every year and the addition of top 32 tandem has created a more level playing field giving some of the lower guys a chance to qualify and even possibly advance.
Alex its a shame that you feel this way. The Amatuers deserve their credit, but they havent given as much blood / sweat / & tears as the pro guys have, thats the reason they are pros. As a matter of fact I dont think you should jump to conclusions either, because I can tell you from expierience that just because the drivers on the podium have pretty sponsors on their uniforms, its doesnt mean their deals are what is getting them there or that they arent spending their own money drifting.
On the podium you have Gitten / Tuerck / Foust, all 3 are top tier drivers in the sport, do you really feel they dont deserve to be there?
as for you routing for the amatuer drivers, I respect you for that, HOWEVER, would you expect an amatuer to beat Federer in a Tennis macth? or a kid on the street beat Shaq in a one on one game. Its just not likely to happen, & that doesnt make it a judges fault!
Just because these drivers are PRO doesnt mean they arent spending hard earned money to get there! Yes they're teams may have a budget, but one of the guys on the podium this weekend, isnt a BIG budget driver I know that for a fact, so if you do your homework you should realize that there is an amatuer driver sitting 2nd on that podium in SONOMA, and he just happened to get picked up 2 1/2 yrs ago, this is his 3rd season and honestly if you read between the lines, the kid is kicking some ass, and making waves in the sport, dominated by big budget teams!
Come on people, look at the bigger picture. If you are a SERIES sponsor and a TEAM sponsor, your cars advance. Look at the drink companies, look at the tire companies and then you start to see some patterns of who advances on BULLS*** judges calls.
Tony needs to go. Even if the stats show him to be fair, it plants the seed of doubt in everyone's mind.
Dai was robbed.
If JR didn't hit Kearney then give it to him but I can't understand why they were so quick make the decision for the win instead give the 2nd run to Kearney and go one more time. However I do feel Dai was just passed over by the judges. No consistency in judging at all this year. How is it one ruling is given for a win in one round but the same ruling can go against you in the next?
Don't spend the money on your car, use it to pay a drinks company for their name on your car and buy your way into DA!!
Total wank.
RJ got it right theu should make it 5 judges and get rid of Tony Angelo. Even have 2 celebrity judges that just like what they see, would be better
Looking forward to Irwindale!
Pulling for JR like always.
As someone who does FD and has been around it for a few years, I can honestly say that you are all wrong and don't know anything about what you are talking about.
Guys, if they kick Tony out ,whatelse is there left for him to do? Drifting ? Nah..he sucked at it
@ Tommy As someone that has also "done" FD and D1 for years, OPEN YOUR EYES and stop being a nut hugger. There are some good judges out there, just not in FD's booth.
@ eRIC b Tony can hand out wristbands with Cas at the front gate.....