XDC Irwindale

XDC Round 1 at Irwindale was the first event of my 2011 season. I felt some pressure to repeat after winning this event in 2010. However, it had been about 4 months since I was last behind the wheel, and almost 6 months since the last competition event I participated in, so I was a little rusty.

Friday practice was a little shaky for me at first. Even though only minor changes had been made to the car during the off-season, I found it difficult piloting the car with a similar amount of grip as I was used to running last season. I had my team loosen up the car significantly to allow me to feel more comfortable behind the wheel and drive the car with less commitment. That frustrated me because I felt like I was taking a step backwards. Throughout the day I took many passes around the track trying to regain my comfort and confidence. Unfortunately my day was cut slightly short due to a couple rocker arms breaking in the engine. My crew did a great job to have them replaced that night before Saturday’s main event. They also took a moment to change the engine’s rev-limiter from a hard cut to a soft cut. We believe the hard cut may have contributed to the broken rockers.

Saturday started off much more smoothly. I took a few passes in the morning practice session to get in the zone for the day and confirm the engine was healthy. I felt much more calm than usual leading up to qualifying. I am now beginning my fourth season of competitive drifting and am slightly improving my ability to control my nerves.

My first qualifying lap went very good. I scored an 82, which sat me in first place for quite a while. On my second lap I attempted to turn it up a little but unfortunately spun upon crossing the traditional start/finish line. The car was a little too loose for how aggressively I was trying to drive it. So my first score stuck, leaving me in 2nd place at the end of qualifying. After comparing other drivers’ speeds against my own, we decided not to tighten up my car. We didn’t want to risk getting caught up too close behind another competitor with too tight of a car.

My top-16 match up was against Formula Drift driver, Jeff Abbot. He was unfortunately experiencing some difficulties with the power steering in his car and wasn’t able to put up as strong of fight as he usually does in Formula Drift. I got the win and moved on to the top-8.

My next match up was against Josh Steele. I created a large gap while leading and then proceeded to spinout all on my own. Not cool! I didn’t have too much to loose after that so I gave my 100% behind him on my chase lap but unfortunately got caught up behind him while crossing the finish and spun, handing him the win.

Although it would have been nice to make it on the podium, I am still happy with my 5th place finish. I feel a lot more comfortable and confident behind the wheel now and I believe I will have a stronger showing at my next event. I thank my team and partners for their support!