Formula D Series Opener - Sliding The Line

It's Grrrrrrr8!!!
By this point in the day, it was time for serious business. Rhys would not let anything stand in his way, not even a pro Japanese drifter and top qalifier. Against Okubo, he kept up with the R34 then took a huge lead in the second pass and knocked the Signal Auto GT-R out of the running. Dai would not have an easy time either, taking on Hayashida in the RS*R S15. Coming into the first pass at a blazing 63 mph, Dai had it in the bag when Hayashida spun out at the hairpin on the second tandem pass. The match-up between Hiro and Gushi was honorable; on the first run, Hiro tagged the first clipping point and was hit by Gushi after straightening out, forcing the pair to break for repairs as both cars had damaged control arms as a result of the collision. As a show of camaraderie between competitors, Falken helped Gushi by fixing his Mustang with tie rods from JR's car. Unfortunately, Hiro could not fix his car and gave Gushi the go-ahead to the Final Four. Hubinette squared off against Tanner with American muscle against the AEM 350Z; both went even on their first pass, but Hubinette took a huge lead on the next, necessitating another "one more time" judgement. While the second tandem battle proved again to be good clean wholesome fun, the judges fell on Hubinette's side.

This Final Four lineup was far more impressive than the NCAA's, placing Dai against Rhys and Gushi with Hubinette. Perhaps just as controversial as Hubinette and JR's tandem was Dai and Rhys' short-lived slide show. Dai, who has stated before that his biggest goal was to take out Rhys, almost lived that dream when he evened out with Rhys' line. While it looked perfect for a "one more time" call, the judges allowed Rhys to move on even while the crowd booed the decision. While his pass would have been perfectly legal last year, some argued that Dai may have driven dirty according to this year's new rules, which promote cleaner driving during competition. This may be up for debate, but Dai still had a chance of placing in the Top 3 if Gushi was beat by Hubinette-and he was, but mainly because Gushi spun and hit the wall at the hairpin. After the allotted five minutes, Ken couldn't get his Mustang back into the game and took Fourth place by default, giving Third to Dai.

The final pairing was again a replay of '04-American cars gunning for the top spot-and would also be the last time both Rhys and Hubinette would be using these cars since they'll be switching to their new rides by Atlanta. Evenly matched in experience and skill, Rhys took an upsetting disadvantage as he spun at the hairpin, giving Sam the one-up mushroom he needed. On the last pass of the day, Rhys brake-checked Hubinette, but Hubinette did not falter, finishing with a clean pass and the first Formula D victory of '06.