In Haraguchi's first match-up he met Forsberg, who forced a One More Time but struggled against Haraguchi's staccato style, handing the win to the Falken driver.
The imposing concrete K rails of the Long Beach street circuit offer almost no margin for error.
In the great eight, Tan Tan easily eliminated Tyler McQuarrie, and Haraguchi got past Hayashida. Dai may be one of the top FD drivers, having finished fifth in the '06 championship, but he had the unenviable task of taking on Rhys Millen. Rhys, arguably one of the best drifters in FD history, struggled with his Red Bull Solstice last season but at Long Beach it looked as if he shook the mechanical disease. Rhys had some of the fastest entry speeds of the weekend and the Solstice was transitioning Hachi-fast, making for a deadly combination. It was only Dai's high speeds and deep angles, and an uncharacteristic loss of angle by Rhys on Turn 10 that sent the Red Bull car home and Rockstar driver to the final four.
Another solid great eight battle was between JR and Samuel. These two domestic V-8 drivers have developed quite the rivalry over the years and this round will no doubt add to the conflict. It didn't seem as if anyone could follow a car as closely as Samuel followed JR on the first pass, but then JR put on a clinic, sticking his Mustang up against the Charger even on the tricky Turn 10-11 transition. It was one of the finest displays of tandem drifting we've seen in a long time and was more than enough to bring JR to the final four. From there things went horribly awry for the Falken Mustang.
In his battle against Haraguchi, JR spun, essentially giving up the round. Even after Tan Tan beat Dai, JR spun out again in the battle for Third against the Rockstar S13. Something was clearly not right with the Mustang. But even if JR had been able to bring his A game he would have had his hands full with either Tan Tan or Haraguchi. After the two passes, the final was too close to decide and a One More Time was called. However, Tan Tan was unable to continue because he made contact with the wall coming into Turn 9 as Haraguchi's stop-and-go style caught him off guard. The hit damaged a tie-rod on Tan Tan's Z and the win went to Haraguchi. Controversial? Possibly. Exciting? Shoe betcha!"
While he destroyed us on the kart track, Samuel still had time to play rock-paper-scissors with our photographer.
Drift @ Dromo
For the past three years, the Formula Drift has held its Drift @ Dromo event at Dromo One in Orange, California, near Disneyland. For the uninitiated, Dromo One allows you to unleash your inner racer behind the wheel of a real race kart in one of So Cal's premier indoor karting facilities. Drift @ Dromo allows Formula D fans to run head-to-head against their favorite drifters. In addition to Samuel Hubinette, PR flack Efrain Olivares also eliminated Nads in the first round (You suck, Nads! - staff). If you find yourself in Mickey's hood you should check out Dromo One. www.dromo1.com
Kate chopped her legs off at the knees so Ken could be taller than her.
FD Cherry popping
I've been to a couple of drag and Indy car races and, this being my first drift event, it's nice to see fresh blood pumping into the American car scene. Tarzan disappearing into a tornado of smoke inches from the wall and the macho spinouts of each car before they lined up for the tandem runs was everything I thought it would be, even when Sam Hubinette's pre-show maneuver broke something in the car and he had to be pushed off the track. It surprised me that, although everything looked clean and fresh from the stands (I didn't get a press pass, thanks, Primedia), a couple of the cars were really beat up when you got close to them. There's also a huge range in sponsorship support; the gargantuan Falken exhibit presented umbrella girls, swarms of mechanics and at least three different cars, all color-matched and cordoned off from the masses, while other cars limped to the back of the lot to park next to tore-up tires and spare trannys to regroup. It's good to see that small guys can still play with the big boys and I hope that charm doesn't get pushed out as the sport becomes more popular. All in all, seeing supercharged racecars do the dance not 30 feet from my face was a real blast, and although Chris Forsberg didn't catch the hint when I asked him why his car had two harnessed seats, I would still love to go drifting myself someday.Kate Petre
Results
1. Mitsuru Haraguchi Falken 240SX
2. Tanner Foust AEM 350Z
3. Daijiro Yoshihhara Pacific Rim/RockstarS13