Daigo Saito just won his third straight Final Fight Irwindale Speedway round which has to be some kind of record I imagine. After his mishap in qualifying Daigo turned it around and had an awesome weekend in competition. His final battle with Fredric Aasbo also determined the championship for Forsberg. Here is how the event finished up:
1. Daigo Saito
2. Fredric Aasbo
3. Forrest Wang
4. Chris Forsberg
After yesterday’s qualifying, not a lot changed. Although Forsberg qualified 4 positions higher than Aasbo, the additional 1.5 points in qualifying is insignificant since each tandem round is worth 16 points. Forsberg’s current lead is 27.5 points, which requires Aasbo to earn at least 2 more tandem wins than Forsberg. The way the brackets are lined up, Forsberg and Aasbo could meet in the top 4. If this happens, Aasbo would have to win the battle and win the event to earn the championship.
If Forsberg loses in the top 32 (vs Geoff Stoneback), Aasbo must make the top 8 to win the Championship.
If Forsberg loses in the top 16 (vs either Pat Goodin or Vaughn Gittin Jr), Aasbo must make the top 4 to be champion.
If Forsberg loses in the top 8 (vs Tuerck / Aono / Field / Pawlak), Aasbo must make the top 4 to be champion.
If Forsberg loses in the top 4 (potentially against Aasbo), Aasbo must win the event to be champion. – Note: It does not matter whether Forsberg comes in 3rd or 4th based on qualifying score since both positions earn the same amount of championship points.
If Forsberg makes the final round, he is guaranteed the championship.
If Aasbo loses in the top 32 (vs Landreville), Forsberg is the champion.
If Aasbo loses in the top 16 (vs McQuarrie or Baribeau), Forsberg is the champion.
If Aasbo loses in the top 8 (vs Yoshihara / Hamilton / Kearney / Hohnadell) and Forsberg did NOT lose in the top 32, Forsberg is the champion.
If Aasbo loses in the top 4 (potentially against Forsberg) and Forsberg did NOT lose in the top 32 or top 16, Forsberg is the champion.
If Aasbo loses in the final round, and Forsberg did not lose in the top 32, top 16, or top 8, Forsberg is the champion.
If Aasbo wins the event, he is guaranteed the championship since Forsberg would have lost no later than the top 4. He would also become only the fifth driver in FD history to win back-to-back events in a single FD Season (Joining Hubinette, Yoshihara, Pawlak, and Gittin Jr.).
Congratulations to Dan Savage for winning the inaugural Formula D Pro 2 championship! While we posted about how the qualifying points don’t matter in Pro 1, Savage solely won the Pro 2 championship based on his qualifying scores, particularly his top qualifier position on Thursday. Both Stoneback and Savage tied with exactly 260 tandem points, and the extra 5.5 points that Savage earned on Thursday via qualifying are what put him over the edge. Had Savage qualified anywhere from 4th through 8th position, he would have earned exactly 4.5 points in qualifying alongside Stoneback and the championship would have been tied. Hopefully Formula Drift changes the points structure in future seasons to avoid this sort of scenario.
Alongside Savage, a huge congratulations goes out to all 8 drivers who have earned or retained their Pro 1 license through the new ‘Promotion’ system:
Promoted Drivers:
Dan Savage
Geoff Stoneback
Jeremy Lowe
Jeff JOnes
James Evans
Nate Hamilton
Matt Coffman
Brandon Wicknick
Drivers who earned at least 64 points will be allowed to continue in Pro 2 (unless they remain in the top 32 in Pro 1, in which case they can keep their Pro 1 license). This list includes:
Will Parsons
Tony Cisneros
Carl Rydquist
Juha Rintanen
Eric Hill
Dennis Mertzanis
Andy Hately
Jeff Wolfson
Ryan Litteral
Rob Primozich
Ron Ewerth
Hiro Sumida
All other drivers will be relegated to ProAm.
Pro 2 is wrapped up for the 2014 season after a wild one at Irwindale Speedway! Jeff Jones drove like a wild man and took home the win after Rapper Dan Savage crashed on the big bank in the finals. Rapper Dan Savage has to scramble and fix his car for Pro tomorrow now:
1. Jeff Jones
2. Rapper Dan Savage
3. Brandon Wicknick
Irwindale Speedway qualifying delivered some great runs from several drivers who scored high and some who seemed to wind up a little lower than I imagined. Forrest Wang continued his qualifying dominance with a finish of 90 just dominating everyone else point wise. Here is how they finished up:
1. Forrest Wang
2. Dai Yoshihara
3. Ryan Tuerck
4. Rapper Dan Savage
5. Robbie Nishida
6. Chris Forsberg
7. Tyler McQuarrie
8. Odi Bakchis
9. Conrad Grunewald
10. Fredric Aasbo
11. Pat Goodin
12. Ken Gushi
13. Kyle Mohan
14. Matt Field
15. Dean Kearney
16. Michael Essa
17. Kenneth Moen
18. Alec Hohnadell
19. Justin Pawlak
20. Ryan Kado
21. Joon Maeng
22. Vaughn Gittin Jr.
23. Marc Landerville
24. Dave Briggs
25. Jeff Jones
26. Mats Baribeau
27. Geoff Stoneback
28. Darren McNamara
29. Daigo Saito
30. Taka Aono
31. Nate Hamilton
32. Matt Coffman
Read More…
Some great Formula Drift paddock action is here from Luke Munnell. Some crashes, damage, pit action, and drifting on course to cover a big Thursday over the long Irwindale Speedway weekend.
Check out the Gallery: http://www.wreckedmagazine.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=436
With qualifying wrapped up, the chase is mathematically down to 5 drivers. With all remaining drivers earning at least 32 points for their top 16 appearance and an event win worth 100 points, only drivers who are within 68 points of current leader Geoff Stoneback have a chance at the title. Here’s the top 10 points standings entering tomorrow’s final Pro 2 competition of the season:
| Rank | Driver Name | Points | Pts Behind |
| 1 | Stoneback | 233 | |
| 2 | Savage | 206.5 | 26.5 |
| 3 | Lowe | 195 | 38 |
| 4 | Evans | 178 | 55 |
| 5 | Hamilton | 172 | 61 |
| 6 | Coffman | 150 | 83 |
| 7 | Jones | 146 | 87 |
| 8 | Parsons | 125.5 | 107.5 |
| 9 | Rydquist | 109 | 124 |
| 9 | Wicknick | 109 | 124 |
Drivers in Green still have a shot at the title, drivers in Red are mathematically eliminated. These points include the qualifying points from yesterday’s qualifying session, but don’t include the guaranteed 32 points for making top 16. Since Rydquist did not make a qualifying pass and will not be driving in the Irwindale main event, Wicknick is guaranteed to finish ahead of him and would be driving with the hopes of earning his Pro 1 license promotion by passing either Parsons or Jones. Here’s how the points break down for each round of tandem competition:
Top 16 finish – 32 points
Top 8 Finish – 48 points (+ 16 points from top 16)
Top 4 finish – 64 points (+ 32 points from top 16)
2nd place – 80 points (+ 48 points from top 16)
1st place – 100 points (+ 68 points from top 16)
For Stoneback, the answer is simple. Finish ahead of the competition and you’re good. Knowing he’s in a borrowed car, that may be too much to ask. An early top 16 finish and a top 4 appearance by Savage would give Savage the upper hand. If Stoneback makes top 8, and Savage makes the final round, Savage will again jump Stoneback. If Stoneback makes the final 4, then only a win by Savage gives him enough points to take over the lead. A final round appearance from Stoneback guarantees the championship. Even with Savage gaining the upper hand in some of these scenarios, the other three drivers still have a shot in some cases.
Pro 2 Qualifying at the House of Drift went smoothly, and the championship race got a little tighter due to the results. Rapper Dan Savage laid down an awesome run that likely would have qualified him in the top 5 or 6 positions of Pro 1, and was rewarded with a nice 85 point score from the judges. As we highlighted earlier, Pro 2 leader Geoff Stoneback is driving a borrowed S13, and broke an axle towards the end of practice. The team was able to source a new one and get it swapped out before his qualifying run. Here’s how it all shook out:
1. Dan Savage – 85 pts
2. Jeff Jones – 82 pts
3. Brandon Wicknick – 79 pts
4. Matt Coffman – 77 pts
5. Juha Rintanen – 75 pts
6. James Evans – 70 pts
7. Geoff Stoneback – 69 pts
8. Rob Primozich – 67 pts
9. Nate Hamilton – 65 pts
10. Hiro Sumida – 65 pts
11. Will Parsons – 64 pts
12. Ryan Litteral – 64 pts
13. Jeremy Lowe – 63 pts
14. Dennis Mertzanis – 61 pts
15. Tony Cisneros – 61 pts
16. Eric Hill – 59 pts
Here’s a look at how the tandem matchups will work:
Left Bracket
Dan Savage vs. Eric Hill
Rob Primozich vs. Nate Hamilton
Matt Coffman vs. Jeremy Lowe
Juha Rintanen vs. Ryan Litteral
Right Bracket
Jeff Jones vs. Tony Cisneros
Geoff Stoneback vs. Hiro Sumida
Brandon Wicknick vs. Dennis Mertzanis
James Evans vs. Will Parsons
Check out Geoff Stoneback and his new car for the weekend. Geoff blew his motor yesterday and scrambled to find a loaner car for the weekend. The Retaks S13.4 has seen more drift events than any drift car anywhere at this point we imagine but it did fair well for Patrick Mordaunt earlier this season. Geoff Stoneback is fighting for a Pro 2 championship and Rookie of the Year in the pro series. So stay tuned for this one as he is about to qualify for Pro 2.
Falken Tire is rumored to be stepping back its drifting program after the end of this weekend at Irwindale Speedway. Falken Tire is known in sporting as a “factory team” that staffs its own crew, rigs, and cars while hiring drivers to perform in events. The company is planning to step back after 2014 and just sponsor drivers for next season putting them in line with how most other tire companies function in the sport. It will be interesting to see how this transition works out for certain drivers next season. Sources have told us that Justin Pawlak and Dai Yoshihara have both been offered the cars for next season and some sponsor money. This is the talk around the paddock this weekend.
