The 3rd Round of the D1NZ Demon Energy Nation Drifting Championship saw Mt Maunganuis “Baypark Speedway” car park transformed into the 2nd of 2 custom built tracks in the championship series. The custom tracks nick named the Concrete jungles are a brutal test of skill and determination of the drivers. The concrete walls give way to no body, but the outside clipping points demand the drivers to push themselves and their machines to the limits. The judges criteria wanted the cars to take fast lines, pushing huge angle and sitting within 1 foot of the outside clipping points. Local fan favorite Drew Donovan is all too familiar with the concrete wall perils after crashing out in the last round. Unfortunately for him this round was no different as he went to the wall in his Milwaukee tools LS2 powered S15 Silvia. Drew’s partner and Team DMNZ driver Jodie Verhulst gave Drew the keys to her LS2 powered GT86 fronted JZA Supra to try and keep in contention. However playing safe saw Drew finish back in 27th position.
Drew wasn’t the only one to feel the hurt of the concrete walls as many other drivers fell peril to the unforgiving track.
For those drivers who felt just that little bit more comfortable rubbing the walls all day, this was merely a playground with only scuff marks and missing tail lights to replace. This kind of close and fierce battle action kept the crowd in awe and on their feet all day. With a bumper 7500 people trackside and countless viewers around New Zealand and the World tuned in to the free live stream courtesy of Gull NZ nobody was missing the action.
Back to the points board and local driver Cole Armstrong drove with precision and consistency all day long in his V Energy NASCAR Dodge V8 powered Nissan Skyline 250GT. Qualifying in top position, 1.5 points ahead young gun ‘Smokin’ Joe Kukutai and battling his way through the field including former Champion Curt Whittaker and Series Points leader Darren Kelly. Cole held his ground and took top tier on the podium. A proud moment and one that has been a long time in the making for Cole.
Cole was ecstatic by the support and was stoked to do so well in the new car, International V8 Supercar driver Shane Van Gisbergen took the helm of Cole’s former drift weapon an RB30 DET powered R34 Skyline, but got knocked out of the Top 16 battles by him.
2nd place on the podium was held by American born Andrew Redward in his crazy Archilles Radial LS2 powered FC3S RX7, while Gaz Whiter took 3rd place in his Fenix Radiators LS7 powered Nissan S14.
Australia Drift GP driver Michael Prosenik was over for some fun in his monstrous supercharged LS2 powered Nissan S13 Silvia. No stranger to mixing it up and rubbing walls all day he finished in 13th place.
In The D1NZ Pro Am Development series Pernell Callaghan made a huge impact by taking top position in his debut season, piloting his Pingu themed 2JZ powered Nissan R32 Skyline he slide to victory after some very tough battles, some of which were too close to call so multiple re runs were made.
As spectators came to expect it was a hot action packed weekend. Saturday closed out with some twilight team drifting with up to 5 cars on track at one time pushing hard for crowd based scoring. This was something new in competition and was welcomed with huge cheers and support, as seeing that much skill and talent on such a tight drift section really was a spectacle in itself. It was great to see the crowd dressed up to represent their favorite teams and see some real crowd interaction.
Sunday really turned on the heat and the action, with some of the closest drifting witnessed on track I would be surprised if anyone walked away from the weekend without sunburn and a smile on their face.
For more round results and details check out the D1NZ Website here.. http://www.d1nz.com/d1nz-news