Round 4 of the Formula Drift Pro Championship took place at Wall Stadium Speedway in Wall Township, New Jersey. Notorious for its super high (and unforgiving) bank, this track is one of the most daunting in the series and also one of the favorites for some of the drivers for that same reason.
Coming off the bank was no simple task; if the suspension wasn’t dialed in and the right line was not taken, the bank would either shoot the car off line past a point of recovery or the car would bounce and lose grip/speed and the run would be lost.
SS Driver Alec Hohnadell mentioned how “…sketchy the initiation was.” and how he was “trying to figure out how high on the bank to go without the wall catching the rear of the car and sucking the car in”. Many cars fell victim to the wall at this event.
Both drivers were looking solid during Thursday practice and right up to qualifying on Friday afternoon.
Alec lived up to his reputation of destroying all aero while pushing his car to its limits and laid down a solid qualifying run of 78 that set him up with Dean Kearney for his Top 32 battle. Forrest scored a 74 for his highest qualifying run and was matched up with Tyler McQuarrie for their first battle of the event.
Although Alec’s car had seen its fair share of abuse in the past 3 round of FD, it was still able to be a competitive machine. Who needs aero and a tail light anyways?
Our drivers were ready for their Top 32 battles!
Alec and Dean had a tough battle, and the judges ultimately gave Dean the win and he advanced on to Top 16.
Forrest’s top 32 matchup was not an easy one, Tyler McQuarrie was an aggressive driver and has proved in the past to be very consistent. The consistency stood true, as they went into a one more time battle after the judges thought the runs too close to pick a for sure winner.
Once again, these two drivers threw their cars around the Wall Speedway… and once again the judges ruled it as a one more time.
For a third time, it was too close! This was the first matchup to have a third OMT in several rounds.
Forrest was laying down some of the best runs of the day, and was able to best McQuarrie and advance on to the Top 16.
Forrest was having clutch issues (more than likely due to him beating on the car during his three one more time battles) and his team was hard at work swapping the clutch out for a brand new one before the Top 16 introductions started. The team got everything finished and bolted back up with plenty of time to spare, and Forrest was ready for his battle against the former champion.
If the fans didn’t already love Forrest for his style and rad S15, they loved him more for throwing out free T-Shirts! Forrest was to go on and battle Chris Forsberg.
Forsberg a.k.a. Mr. Consistent came out with a strong lead run, however Forrest was on his door from bank to bank the whole run, laying down an excellent chase run on the 370Z.
The makings of a perfect lead run were in effect for Forrest as he took his normal deep angle, high bank line in his S15. On the bank, Forsberg was having some trouble with the angle and could only keep up with more speed and sacrificing angle and style, as well as taking a lower line on the bank.
Going off the bank and into the first clipping point, Forsberg came through the smoke and crashed into Forrest’s door. There are many theories as to why it happened; some blame Forrest for throwing in massive angle (as he normally does) and scrubbing too much speed, others say that Forsberg knew his chase run had been poor and was trying to gain some proximity and got lost in Forrest’s smoke, etc. Regardless, the car is fixable and Forrest wasn’t injured at all. At the end of the day, the sport is fun to watch and participate in, but in no way does winning become equivalent to someone’s safety. The judges awarded Forsberg the win, which led to a loud outrage of boos and other not so friendly terms aimed towards the judges, as well as one of the biggest controversies in FD history. Through all of the drama and speculations, we are proud to support all of our drivers in their programs and help them chase their dreams.
Forrest announced the day after the event that New Jersey would be his last round of Formula Drift, however, after meeting with the FD officials he decided that he would finish out the year for his team, his friends, and especially his fans. Check out his Instagram and Facebook page for all of the details, as well as the Formula Drift page for the in car and livestream video on the run.
Thank you for reading our blog post on Formula Drift New Jersey! Check back for more event coverage and BIG product announcements coming soon 🙂
