Drift Australia Series - Round 1

The first round of Australian Drift Series proved the sport is as exciting for competitors as it is for spectators. Below is a report by Warren Melling of the Turbosmart-sponsored SlideFX Drift Team. Photos by Thai Tran.

See all the action from Round 1 on TV when Toyo Tire Drift Australia Round 1 airs on SBS Sunday 23 March 2008 at 1:30pm.

On the pace in Tassie

An interesting and ultra competitive Toyo Tires Drift Australia kicked off round one on the weekend with a strong performance by all competitors and quite a few upsets in front of the 1500 strong crowd attending the Symmons Plains circuit.

The Miluc Civil/JPC Drift Team started the weekend with a few mechanical dramas to sort out after a rushed preparation into the event, but quickly put down some consistent runs led by Adam “Borneo” Trewhella in the battle proven Cefiro. In a somewhat aggressive display, Borneo was on the pace early showing a liking to the track that netted him his first ever national podium during the 2006 DA season, blazing the track with his entertaining trademark smoke and flame show.

Danny “The Godfather” Vahoumis came to terms with an intermittent fuel surge problem that had resulted from a faulty fuel filter, and Clinton “PANIK” Brown got his head around another new track.

Saturday Qualifying saw the team evenly spread across the field with Borneo in 3rd, The Godfather in 16th and Clint Brown in 22nd. Sunday morning qualifying saw Borneo loose 2 spots, moving down to 5th for the opening battles, while Vahoumis stayed in 16th.

Clinton Brown tried pushing a little harder attempting to brake into the top 20 after coming to grips with the tricky Symmons layout. Unfortunately he was caught out on the entry into turn 1 and hit the outside wall causing major suspension damage to the left hand side of the car.

Heading into top 32 battles “The Godfather” came up against old rival Eugene Arendsen. The Godfather well known for his poor qualifying always steps it up in battles and this would be no exception. The first 2 battles resulted in a re-run, this allowed The Godfather another chance to get through to the Top 16 for the first time since Round 1 2007. Vahoumis didn’t let his chance go to waste and dispatched Arendson with 2 sensational runs to advance to the top 16.

Borneo started his 2008 campaign against Khudar Elhouli who loaned a car just to make the start line. Borneo used the 2 runs to ensure everything was ok with the car and laid down a couple of nice runs to secure a regulation victory.

Top 16 Battles would see The Godfather against Fernando Wheirl while Borneo battled Jack Monkhouse. Vahoumis showed some nerves going into the battle but all was resolved with a great following run behind last years runner up, pushing Wheirl right to the end. The lead run saw Wheirl (Autosalon) straighten into turn 2 as he struggled to pull the car up before hitting Vahoumis. All the Godfather had to do was complete the course and he was handed a well earned victory sending him through to the top 8. This was the first time since Round 3 in 2006 the Godfather had made it into the top 8.

Borneo faced off against a determined Jack Monkhouse in the JMS S14 for his top 16 battle. Monkhouse pushed Borneo hard in the first 2 battles forcing the judges to call for a re-run. Borneo was able to hold it together scoring enough to send him through to the top 8 battles.

Top 8 battles saw Borneo vs Pickering and Vahoumis vs Fine. Borneo lead out in the opening encounter with Pickering not giving an inch forcing Borneo to take a shallow angle entry. Not carrying the required angle into the first corner was all that was required for Pickering to take the victory in a hard fought battle to get to the podium positions.

The Godfather was always going to have his work cut out against an inform Leighton Fine (CTS/Toyo) leading into the encounter, but like previous battles Vahoumis had found a new lease on life pushing Fine right to the edge. Vahoumis made a mistake coming through the esses clipping the massive ripple strip unsettling the car enough to make it impossible to take the next turn. Fully aware Fine was pushing the gap The Godfather spun coming of the last corner virtually handing the win to Fine who would go on to take out the round.

The next round in Qld will see Miluc Civil/JPC Drift head to Qld Raceway with renewed enthusiasm after good results in Tasmania. The Godfather has previously taken a podium in Qld and likes the track a lot, while Borneo also see’s a good result coming out of Round 2.

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