It seems that more and more D1 drivers are trying to pull the crazy Kawabata backwards drift move these days, and they were all certainly going for it at Fuji over the past weekend. Here is Nomuken having a crack at it in his faithful old ER34 Skyline, certainly makes for an interesting shot!

Minowa did very well with his now yellow JZX90 managing to get into the Best 16 and finish the round in 14th position gaining him 3 points.

Imamura's first battle of the day against Koguchi in his RPS13 turned out to be an easy one as Koguchi lost speed and angle allowing Imamura to pull well ahead for the second clipping point.

Daijiro Inada looking very pensive as he checks out the morning practice session.

I really like seeing how all the little rear side canards fitted to most cars these days play around with tire smoke on fast, full-power slides. Orido was heavy on the throttle on the exit of the hairpin so his Supra was one of the coolest cars to check out.

Take a look at the clouds of smoke Kunnyz left behind as he enters the judged hairpin corner. 

Suenaga in the Team Orange Evo 9 didn't seem to get the hang of the fast Fuji layout until it was too late. He did a couple of great passes but running into the grass on the inside of the corner is what cost him a chance at the tsuiso battles.

The paddock at Fuji is always an interesting place to wonder around in and soak up the atmosphere. But while most people flocked towards the driver talk shows and live music stand I took some time to have a closer look at some of the cars on display like this very nice Top Secret kitted Z33…

…wearing full Dunlop coloring.

Johnny at Weld brought the back up JZX100 for display purposes. Which reminds me…I have to drop by and see if he is done building that new drift Celsior everyone is talking about!

These soon to be released Weds Sport SA-60M as usual caught my eye. I've seen these on display at TAS and other events over the last few months, although until now I though they were called SA-66M. Nonetheless a very nice design.

Kuroi has been far from forgotten and it's great to see how the memorial set up in the tent above attracted a lot of people who wanted to pay their respects. 

Saito during the driver presentation…

…and out burning up some Yokohamas!

Fukuda's S15 always looks great but he just wasn't getting those extreme lines the judges were looking for. He ended up in 29th position on his solo run.

This was a well fought Best-4 battle between Imamura and Kawabata. It was a tough one to call but Imamura seemed to impress the judges more.

Here is Kawabata's team mate Sakuma lighting up those rear Toyos!

Daigo pulled off a close to perfect solo run in the morning landing him in first position. His first battle was against Mizuhata which he won, but ended up loosing the encounter with Kawabata in the Best 8.

RPS13 front S15 driven by Utsumi, very original machine!

Next D1 round will be on Sunday the 27th of June down in Okayama, where not only we could be seeing a few new cars, but where I expect to witness more of those physics-defying backward entries! 

-Dino Dalle Carbonare