Formula DRIFT #FDSLC 2022 - Saturday Recap

All right, we're here at Utah Motorsports Campus for Formula Drift, round seven of the Pro Series, and round four, the finals of ProSpec. And that finals yesterday of ProSpec was amazing. The level of driving at this track was incredible, close driving, we had a lot of contact, but the new champion, Robert Thorne, who's come in as a brand new driver in the series, a rookie, won the championship with consistency throughout the series. His driving yesterday was really on point in terms of where he was positioning his car, a lot of throttle usage throughout the course, but overall the tandems were really exciting to watch. In the pro side of things, qualifying was something that I don't think we've seen before. We had at least 15 scores in the 90s. It shows the level of competition that we have coming, because these drivers are very confident on this track, and they know that they can put on a good show due to those high qualifying scores. Now, what do I expect in the Pro Series today as we go into competition? The high qualifying scores tells me that these drivers are very comfortable with the track, and that means we're going to have a lot of close tandems. Because there's only one small decel zone on this track, we're going to have a lot of on-throttle situations where these cars can get really close together, and I'm looking at the two transitions I think are going to be really close. So it's going to give, because there's such a good flow through the course, a lot of opportunities for chase drivers to get really close and really tuck in after the transitions. So we're looking for tight battles. We're going to have, I think, a lot of fireworks today in pro competition at Utah Motorsports Campus. Looks like Matt Field, center pole, big wide swing. Now Travis Reeder gets it into that final outside zone. These guys on ditto tires, simultaneous initiation, 109 baby! Oh doctor, come on now! First outside zone, transitioning into second outside zone. Frederick Osborne with the goal. Oh, knocks him out! He stays in it! Oh, with the assist! The Scottie Pippen assist, he gave him a little bump up. Here we are at the end of the day, Formula Drift round seven, Salt Lake City. We did it. We made it all the way to the top spot of the podium. And honestly, Utah Motorsports Campus, the only thing that I saw was online, Justin Pollock driving some few laps. I really didn't know what to expect, but it looked like a fun track. Little did I know, once I got here and did my first few laps, I was super blown away by how hard it was. And honestly, throughout practice, I couldn't complete a single lap. So in that final run, the bye run, I noticed that my engine was sounding a little hurt. So we're going to have to go back to the shop, E3's Racing, and check it out. But Irwindow is one of my favorite venues. It's a home track for me, about seven minutes from my shop. My family, all my friends are going to be there. We got the win in 2019, so hopefully we can repeat that win. The car is really set up, dialed in now. So yeah, we have a hell of a weapon going into the final round. Utah has just wrapped up and Formula Drift Prospect, we had our championship round. We had a rookie run away with that championship. So he came into Utah with a one-point difference between him and Dmitri Brutski. Robert Thorne has done it. He's only been drifting for two years, and he was a man of few words, but he was so honored and excited to be our 2022 Prospect champion. And of course, our podium, we had Blake Olsen for the first time. He's been trying for three years. He was on that number one step. And then, of course, in our second-place finisher, that went to Derek Madison. We also saw Derek Madison on that second step in St. Louis. So congratulations to him. And Andy Haightley, he was our first winner in Prospect in Orlando. He was third on the podium. So congratulations to all of our drivers in Prospect. Then, of course, we move forward to Pro, which was on Saturday. So our winner came out as Ken Noguchi. And we haven't seen him on the top step since 2019 in Irwindale. Then, second place went to Frederick Osbo. Third is Chelsea Donofa. Now, as we look at that championship points standings, Matt Field is still in the lead. But Frederick Osbo with that second place really shrunk up that points gap. And so now there's 14 points between him and Matt Field going into Irwindale. And we are going to see you in just a few short weeks in sunny Southern California at Irwindale round number eight. We can't wait to see you.