Ross Fairfield Presents Formula D Road Atlanta in 2011
Ross Fairfield brings us Formula Drift Atlanta 2011 with some dubstep, and starting line burnouts. The video provides a great compilation of events through the Formula Drift Road Atlanta weekend, and even OMGDrift’s Drew Fishbein sleeping in his hotel bed.
Watch the video: http://www.wreckedmagazine.com/watchvideo/ross-fairfield-presents-formula-d-road-atlant
We just posted about the Palm Beach International Raceway track layout and now we have our hands on the drivers list for this event in Florida. Here is who is currently signed up for the event:
1. Fredric Aasbo
2. Taka Aono
3. Odi Bakchis
4. Tony Brakohiapa
5. Pat Cyr
6. Michael Essa
7. Mike Feiock
8. Matt Field
9. Chris Forsberg
10. Vaughn Gittin Jr.
11. Otto Graven
12. Conrad Grunewald
13. Ken Gushi
14. Jim Guthrie
15. Zoltan Hadju
16. Brad Hettinger
17. Sam Hubinette
18. Jeff Jones
19. Ryan Kado
20. Dean Kearney
21. Luke Lonberger
22. Joon Maeng
23. Darren McNamara
24. Tyler McQuarrie
25. Dennis Mertzanis
26. Rhys Millen
27. Kyle Mohan
28. Patrick Mordaunt
29. Charles Ng
30. Eric O’Sullivan
31. Justin Pawlak
32. Ross Petty
33. Alex Pfeiffer
34. Matt Powers
35. John Russakoff
36. Mike Skudlarek
37. Ryan Tuerck
38. Matt Waldin
39. Walker Wilkerson
40. Daijiro Yoshihara
41. Toshiki Yoshioka
Eric O’Sullvian made his return behind the wheel at Road Atlanta in the Gardella Racing Pontiac Solstice. A wild and crazy crash with Kyle Mohan along with some other small car problems over the weekend made it a wild one. After watching EOS plagued with car troubles last year in the Hankook Tire Subaru WRX it was nice to see him with a proper built ride over the weekend. Head over to his blog and read about how he thought the weekend turned out for him.
Source: http://ericosullivan.com/2011/05/19/road-atlanta-blog/
Rogue Status Visits Road Atlanta
The boys at Rogue Status are back in 2011 making new videos from the 2011 Formula Drift season. They follow around the Scion Racing drivers Fredric Aasbo and Ken Gushi as they took on the second round of the series. They bring a great flair to drifting videos and they are always filled with burnouts.
Watch the video: http://www.wreckedmagazine.com/watchvideo/rogue-status-visits-road-atlanta-
Lately (this season) I feel like every time I talk to a team/driver/friend/fan they are talking about judging. Anyone who gets a close call just calls “foul” or fans get angry and “boo” and cook up conspiracies over some cheep beer. During Road Atlanta I logged every judging call Tony Angelo made and analyzed it. I figured this was more work than any conspiracy theorist had done about this “outrage.”
The funny story about reviewing Tony Angelo’s judging calls is that he never found favor with the Drift Alliance members that he is always accused of boosting/helping by others. The Top 32 battle against Odi and Vaughn is the closest thing you could even find from the whole day. Andy Yen and Tony Angelo called for Vaughn Gittin Jr. to take the win while the new judge Ryan went OMT. Even if Tony made a different call and went Odi/OMT he would not of been able to advance Vaughn Gittin Jr. but force a OMT between the two drivers. His call was also backed by the most veteran judge of the three guys on the stand.
One run to take note from was the Dennis Mertzanis Vs. Justin Pawlak battle that took place early in the main event. I felt like Dennis drove his way to a OMT and the crowd sure did as well. Once the official call came out that Justin Pawlak was moving on… the crowd roared into a frenzy of booing. Tony Angelo went against Justin Pawlak and flat out picked Dennis Mertzanis to move on. He didn’t soft up his call with a OMT but flat out went against Justin Pawlak. The other two drivers advanced Justin into the next round of the event. If any of them went OMT or picked Dennis the whole story would be a different one.
The same case happened later with Chris Fosrberg taking on Eric O’Sullivan in the Top 16. Tony Angelo picked Eric O’Sullivan flat out while Andy Yen went with Chris Forsberg and Ryan took the middle ground with a OMT. This ruling resulted in a One More Time call and a second run with this tandem pair. On the OMT all the judges voted for Chris Forsberg.
The only other call that wasn’t 100% unanimous from all judges was the Tyler McQuarrie Vs. Vaughn Gittin Jr. tandem run where Tony Angelo made a call for Tyler McQuarrie to advance into the Top 8. Instead, the other two judges favored Vaughn Gittin Jr. and let him advance on.
Here is all of the Drift Alliance related judging calls Tony Angelo Made Against Other Judges:
Cryus Martinez Vs. Chris Forsberg (Tony – Forsberg Andy- Forsberg Ryan- Forsberg)
Odi Bachkis Vs. Vaughn Gittin Jr. (Tony- Vaughn Andy – Vaughn Ryan- OMT)
Dennis Mertzanis Vs. Justin Pawlak (Tony- Dennis Andy – JTP Ryan- JTP)
Eric O’Sullivan Vs. Chris Forsberg (Tony- EOS Andy – Forsberg Ryan- OMT)
Eric O’Sullivan Vs. Chris Forsberg – The OMT (Tony- Forsberg Andy – Forsberg Ryan- Forsberg)
Tyler McQuarrie Vs. Vaughn Gittin Jr. (Tony- OMT Andy – Vaughn Ryan- Vaughn)
Justin Pawlak Vs. Ryan Tuerck (Tony- JTP Andy – JTP Ryan- JTP)
Chris Forsberg Vs. John Russakoff (Tony- JR Andy – JR Ryan- JR)
Daijiro Yoshihara Vs. Vaughn Gittin Jr. (Tony- Dai Andy – Dai Ryan- Dai)
Darren McNamara Vs. Justin Pawlak (Tony- DMac Andy – DMac Ryan- DMac)
I did my best over the weekend to collect data/notes on the weekends event to help assist people in Fantasy Drift or just fill the minds of curious readers. I would love some feedback on this and if it is something people would like to see in the future.
Recorded Entry Speeds
Daijiro Yoshihara – 96.8mph (Final)
Daijiro Yoshihara – 96mph (Top 4)
Vaughn Gittin Jr. – 95.9mph (Top 16)
Fredric Aasbo – 94mph (Top 16)
Chris Forsberg – 92mph (Top 16)
Eric O’Sullivan – 91mph (Top 16)
Toshiki Yoshioka – 90mph (Top 16)
Walker Wilkerson – 89.4mph (Top 16)
Kenneth Moen – 89mph (Top 32)
Justin Pawlak – 86mph (Top 16)
John Russakoff – 84mph (Top 4)
Battle Breakdowns
Daijiro Yoshiara Vs. Jeff Jones
Daijiro Yoshihara Vs. Fredric Aasbo
Daijiro Yoshihara Vs. Vaughn Gittin Jr.
Daijiro Yoshihara Vs. John Russakoff
Daijiro Yoshihara Vs. Darren McNamara
Darren McNamara Vs. Mike Feiock
Darren McNamara Vs. Matt Powers
Darren McNamara Vs. Justin Pawlak
Darren McNamara Vs. Toshiki Yoshioka
Toshiki Yoshioka Vs. Ross Petty
Toshiki Yoshioka Vs. Walker Wilkerson
Toshiki Yoshioka Vs. Patrick Mordaunt
Toshiki Yoshioka Vs. John Russakoff (3rd Place/OMT)
John Russakoff Vs. Conrad Grunewald
John Russakoff Vs. Matt Waldin
John Russakoff Vs. Chris Forsberg
Matt Waldin Vs. Kenneth Moen (OMT x2)
Chris Forsberg Vs. Cyrus Martinez
Chris Forsberg Vs. Eric O’Sullivan (OMT)
Eric O’Sullivan Vs. Kyle Mohan
Vaughn Gittin Jr. Vs. Odi Bakchis
Vaughn Gittin Jr. Vs. Tyler McQuarrie
Tyler McQuarrie Vs. Dean Kearney
Fredirc Aasbo Vs. Pat Cyr
Patrick Mordaunt Vs. Ken Gushi
Patrick Mordaunt Vs. Michael Essa
Ken Gushi Vs. Charles Ng
Battle Damage
Justin Pawlak – Rear End Damage from Solo Crash (Practice)
Eric O’Sullivan – Rear End Damage from Solo Crash (Practice) / Side Damage from Mohan Contact (Top 32)
Ryan Kado – Wheel/suspension damage from contact with Charles Ng (Practice)
Dean Kearney – Broken Control Arm (Practice) / Steering Rack Issues (Practice)
Matt Powers – Front Passenger Side Suspension Damage (Qualifying)
Kyle Mohan – Hit in Door by Eric O’Sullivan (Top 32)
Darren McNamara – Passenger Side Door Damage from Matt Powers (Top 16)
Mechanical Issues
Darren McNamara – Engine Sensor Issues (Practice)
Sam Hubinette – Header Crack (Practice) / Engine Cutting Out (Qualifying)
Rhys Millen – Engine Problems – Noted as Electrical (Practice)
Ross Petty – Blown Engine (Qualifying Run 2)
Ken Gushi – Wastegate Manifold Crack (Practice) / Broken Differential (Top 16)
Kyle Mohan – Coolant Line Burst (Top 32)
Taka Aono – Failed to line up for Top 32 battle against Ryan Tuerck
Patrick Mordaunt – Engine Fire (Top 16)
Here is how the Top 25 are sitting in the chase for the championship. Anything can still happen but quite a gap is developing from the top drivers already in the race. Daijiro Yoshihara holds the lead currently in the 2011 season championship race and is now in first place for the Tires.com Triple Crown.
1. Daijiro Yoshihara – 194 points
2. Justin Pawlak – 164 points
3. Matt Powers – 151 points
4. Darren McNamara – 148 points
5. Chris Forsberg – 134 points
6. Ryan Tuerck – 127 points
7. Fredric Aasbo – 116.5 points
8. Tyler McQuarrie – 115 points
9. Walker Wilkerson – 111.25 points
10. Matt Waldin – 110 points
11. Toshiki Yoshioka – 103.25 points
12. Conrad Grunewald – 102 points
13. John Russakoff – 95.25 points
14. Kyle Mohan – 95 points
15. Patrick Mordaunt – 85.75 points
16. Ken Gushi – 82.50 points
17. Matt Field – 80.25 points
18. Ross Petty – 79.50 points
19. Dennis Mertzanis – 79 points
20. Rhys Millen – 65 points
21. Vaughn Gittin Jr. – 63 points
22. Joon Maeng – 56.50 points
23. Eric O’Sullivan – 54.50 points
24. Michael Essa – 50.50 points
25. Odi Bakchis – 48.75 points
The Pontiac Solstice that Ryan Tuerck tapped into the wall during Long Beach Media Day now has a new look and driver for Road Atlanta. The car features some repeat pattern Gardella Racing logos on blue with a ton of flat white compliment the offset. This thing looks great and has white wheels to finish off the look. EOS will be running Nitto Tires and is supported by Mobil 1 and ACT clutch from what we can tell moving into the 2011 season.
A tentative drivers list for Road Atlanta has been released by Formula Drift today. Eric O’Sullivan is finally on the list and ready for action in a Pontiac Solstice. Some of the rookies like Walker Wilkerson are making the trek out east. Make sure to sign in to Fantasy Drift and update your roster in case your drivers are not making it to Round 2.
Justin Pawlak
Matt Powers
Daijiro Yoshihara
Chris Forsberg
Kyle Mohan
Conrad Grunewald
Rhys Millen
Ryan Tuerck
Fredric Aasbo
Darren McNamara
Tyler McQuarrie
Walker Wilkerson
Matt Field
Ross Petty
Matt Waldin
Dennis Mertzanis
John Russakoff
Michael Essa
Ken Gushi
Joon Maeng
Cyrus Martinez
Charles Ng
Alex Pfeiffer
Taka Aono
Odi Bakchis
Mike Feiock
Otto Graven
Jeff Jones
Dean Kearney
Patrick Mordaunt
Tony Brakohiapa
Patrick Cyr
Vaughn Gittin Jr.
Jim Guthrie
Zoltan Hadju
Brad Hettinger
Sam Hubinette
Ryan Kado
Luke Lonberger
Eric O’Sullivan
Mike Skudlarek
Here is the 2011 Chevrolet Camaro SS from Gardella Racing. After speaking with Gary Gardella this car is now complete but will go into testing just after Long Beach up in New Jersey. The official release of the car will happen at the NY Auto Show and will have Ryan Tuerck will step into it passing the Pontiac Solstice off to Eric O’Sullivan. The car looks pretty similar to the car he smashed up at Formula Drift Media day livery wise.
Source: UrbanRacer.com
