July 2010

Round 2 of 3 for the Grassroots Championship is just around the corner.  Kohei Nakuamura is the current points leader in the overall standings with Mike Lukomskiy and Chris Armstrong in 2nd and 3rd.

The Grassroots series is uniquely designed to allow drivers of all experience levels compete with an equal shot at reaching the podium. The judging criteria is based on how well a driver pushes their car to the limit putting mildly modified cars on an even footing with the high power cars.

The bracket eliminations are set up to allow both tandem and non tandem drivers compete head to head to experience the challenge of drift competition. If both drivers don't meet the tandem safety requirements they will compete in a Pseudo Tandem battle where each driver takes solo runs with the best driver advancing to the next round.

This is a run what you brung, fight to the finish drift battle for all drivers who want to experience the thrill of competition. Trophies, fabulous prizes, and money are up for grabs on the podium. The driver that earns the most points over all 3 rounds will be crowned the 2010 Evergreen Drift Grassroots Champion!

Event Info //

• Date - 8/1/10
• Location - Evergreen Speedway at the fairgrounds in Monroe, WA
• Drifting from 11am to 5pm.
• Pit gate opens at 10am and closes at 2pm.
• Drivers meeting @ 10:40am sharp!
• Drivers - $100
• Pit pass - $20
• Grandstands - $10 (Kids under 12 free!)

Schedule subject to change.

Driver Registration //

Pre-register online to reserve your season competition number and to make the volunteers jobs easier!

MotorsportReg Online Reg Form

Hurry and lock in your lucky number before some one else grabs it for the season! No online pre-payment is available for this event.

Media - Mandatory pre-registration is available at the same MotorsportReg.com link. Thank you!

Payment //

• $100 Competition Drivers
• $20 pit pass
• $10 Grandstands (Kids under 12 free)

No prepay - Cash or check only (not able to accept credit cards).

Payment is on site only - first come first served.

Full driver information is on the Registration Page and the Driver Information Page. The competition rules can be found here.

Additional info for:

• Spectators
• Drivers
• Volunteers
• Media

Must Know Highlights:

// Top 32 Tandem - This event will run top 32 bracket eliminations giving the maximum number of drivers a chance to experience head to head drift competition. Drivers who get knocked out in the top 32 will get an extra set of runs to ensure everyone gets about the same amount of seat time.

// The competition format and rules gives all entrants an equal chance to make it to the #1 spot.

All entrants who pass tech are eligible to join the Mishimoto Loves Drifters discount club to save up to 50% on Mishimoto cooling products.

When the tire smoke settles trophies, prize money, and product will be awarded to the top 3 finishers and top qualifier.

• 1st  $200
• 2nd  $150
• 3rd  $120
• Top Qualifier - TBA!
  

After the event is over everyone is invited to head over to Canyons in Monroe for the after party with the drivers and Evergreen Drift staff!

Official After Party of Evergreen Drift

Presented by:

Affiliates:

Autosport Dynamics, the powerhouse team behind professional drifters like Vaughn Gitten Jr., Darren McNamara, Justin Pawlak, and Tyler McQuarrie has announced a ProAm and grassroots driver development sponsorship for the 2011 season.  They are expanding the successful program that powered Doug Van Den Brink and Steve Sokol to podium finishes this season to help out other up and coming drivers.

The ASD "Mob" will consist of 10 drivers that will benefit from purchasing ASD parts at cost, assistance in finding additional sponsors, technical support over the phone and at events ASD attends, plus an expense paid trip to ASD headquarters in Charlotte, NC for a chassis setup clinic.

The program will select 10 total drivers from across the USA. Applications will be accepted until August 27th 2010 at 5pm EST. A final decision and announcement of ASD Mob members will be announced by September 15th, 2010.

Qualified drivers must compete in a minimum of 5 local competition or ProAm events during the 2011 season, and may not have a current Formula Drift for D1 professional licenses.

For full program details see the program information sheet.

If you have what it takes you can fill out the application and submit it to ASD.

Driving Sports put together a great video on Formula Drift Round 4 at Evergreen Speedway.

It includes some ProAm footage as well as a Nikolay Konstantinov interview.

Check the video for plenty of crash footage as well.

Be sure to watch till the very end to find out if Nikolay is team Edward or team Jacob.

Local FD pro Nikolay 'Molotov Cocktail' Konstantinov not only was the first ever Evergreen Drift driver to break into the top 32 at a Formula Drift pro event he also made it to the Sweet 16!

The weekend didn't start to well as Niko failed tech for having a Skyline front crossmember installed to support it's RB25DETT. After a scramble and a little fabrication the FD legal and correct for the chassis S13 crossmember was installed and the car passed tech.

After taking Conrad Grunewald to a OMT in the top 32 Nikolay was able to squeak out a win and move on to the Sweet 16. This was no small feat as Nikolay's measly460 HP was quite a bit slower than Conrad's monster V8 Camaro on the back stretch leading to the initiation point.  Nikolay went all out and was able to keep on Contrad's door during his chase runs which was a big factor in the judge's decision.

In the Rounds of 16 Nikolay faced current Rookie of the Year points leader Charles Ng in his proven RX7 with an LS6 V8. Both FD rookie drivers battled hard and a one more time was called after the first pair of runs. The second pair of runs were equally as close except that Nikolay tapped the wall and straightened at the tight final hairpin on his lead run giving Ng the pass to the next round.

With many rookie drivers taking up to two seasons to break into the ultra competitive rounds of 16 Nikolay accomplished a huge feat in his first ever attempt at Formula Drift competition! Keep your eye on this guy as his goal is nothing less than to "Go all the way".

As the only local Northwest driver to make it into the tandem eliminations Niko got all the home town fans excited and elicited extra loud cheers from the capacity crowd. Back in the pits after the Top 16 Niko was being mobbed like a rock star with people vying to have their arms autographed with a Sharpie!

Let's hope he can make it Round #5 in Vegas as that track will be well suited to his car setup and driving style.