Here are some excerpts from Forrest Wang’s interview with Vegas Drift that I found very interesting. You can follow the source jump at the end to head over to Vegas Drift and read his whole interview.

Top 8 vs. Tanaka “Rematch” from Round 1

Lead Run
FW: As I qualified 2nd I was supposed to lead but Tanaka bullied his way into the lead position.
I followed him really well, at times during the run we were within a foot, he got away and then I sucked back up

Follow Run
FW: I gapped him by 2 car lengths. The judging panel I guess agreed that there must have been a starting error, and they called One More Time.
We did the one more time – he followed me well, and then on my follow I was almost rubbing his car. This is where things got strange.

The Starter made us wait at the staging start line for over 5 min and after much anticipation, the judges called a OMT, I was ready to go again and then we received another messaged that they changed their minds and said I won. Tanaka and Team Orange flipped out and would not leave the starting area. The staging guy said the decision was final they threw a fit.  Staging was motioning to Tanaka to back up,  he started revving his motor and starts burning out, the starter that was motioning to him jumps back as Tanaka’s car starts moving forward .It seemed dangerous as there were a lot of spectators and crew members and video crews in that area.  Tanaka did a half donut and turned around to go back to the pits and the flipped us all off with his crew yelling in Japanese. This was seriously a first for me, I have never even heard of anything like this in drifting ever. I was kind of upset from that. I waited at staging to go against Kumokubo for the final 4.

VegasDrift.com: So what happened with the final 4?

Forrest Wang: Well Kumokubo came up to me and gave me a hug, he was smiling and said “I don’t know what is going on” “it’s nothing against you, but I’m not going to be able to compete with you.”  I got a bye run and took on Nomuken in the final round.
VegasDrift.com: So how was it fighting for 1st against Nomuken?

Forrest Wang: I was definitely out matched grip wise, he had a ton grip due to his tire compound, and he was able to carry his speed better through the first clipping point. We ended up doing a One More Time but I just didn’t have the grip.

Read the full interview: http://www.vegasdrift.com/exclusive-interview-with-forrest-wang-on-d1-chicago/

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