Chelsea Denofa wins at Formula Drift Round 1
- By reflectionsofdrift
- •
- 11 Apr, 2016
- •
Long Beach, California 04/09/16
Photos by Justin Miller
Words by Bill Elkins
A
new presenting sponsor, a loss of big name drivers, and sponsors alike, many
questions loomed as The 2016 Formula Drift Championship kicked off on the
historic Streets of Long Beach. The one certainty of the weekend was going to
be the rain, and boy did it play a factor. A
soaked Friday saw practice get started and drivers were quick to find out the
track was insanely slick! Visiting Chinese drifter Zhang Shengjun
took the hardest hit into the wall with the rented, Get nuts
Lab S14. After about an hour practice was halted for an emergency drivers
meeting in which the drivers and teams decided to forego qualifying in lue of
an open practice in the rain to get the cars dialed in for the main show on
Saturday. This was met with mixed reactions by the fans, but with only 32 cars
available, Formula Drift made the decision to not chance having less than a
full Top 32.
Changing track conditions were the order of the weekend as crews scrambled to adjust the car setups to the ever changing weather. Most of the open practice saw clear weather and it allowed for a dry track and the smoke show from these 1000hp monsters that the fans love! When the track was dry these guys were fast! Ping-ponging from wall to wall inside the unforgiving concrete of Long Beach truly is a breathtaking sight to behold!
Top 32
kicked off Saturday with better weather conditions and a dry track for most of
the morning’s practice session. But the rain would return for Top 32 battles
with slick track conditions leading to spins and even surprising a few drivers,
like Kenny Moen who took his BMW hard into the wall on test laps before the
runs.
The
changing conditions and wet track could not stop Chelsea Denofa, who put on a
clinic, taking out some of the biggest names in the game! After moving past
Geoff Stoneback, Denofa had to take on fellow East Coast alumni Chris Forsberg,
but a mistake by Forseberg led to an exciting mid run pass and another win for
Chelsea. Top 8 saw A battle with former series champ Vaughn Gitten Jr, and Top 4 against Ken
Gushi.
Top 16 was fast, exciting and certainly was enjoyed by the fans. Close battles, OMT’s, and killer drifting led to a final which saw Chelsea Denofa going for his first ever Pro win against defending Formula Drift Champion Fredric Aasbo. A determined and all out effort led Denofa to the victory and the crowd to its feet!
Its been
awhile since an FD final was this exciting and it was great to see skill, style
and determination come out on top in a world where big dollar teams are the
dominant force. If Long Beach was any indication of how the Formula Drift 2016
season is going to shape up, I think we are all in for an amazing year!
Top 3
1st: Chelsea Denofa
2nd: Fredric Aasbo
3rd: Ken Gushi
1st: Chelsea Denofa
2nd: Fredric Aasbo
3rd: Ken Gushi
See the FULL GALLERY HERE...
http://www.reflectionsofdrift.com/gallery-formuladrift-round1-2016---j-
http://www.reflectionsofdrift.com/gallery-formuladrift-round1-2016---j-
See the FULL GALLERY HERE...
http://www.reflectionsofdrift.com/gallery-formuladrift-round1-2016---j-
http://www.reflectionsofdrift.com/gallery-formuladrift-round1-2016---j-
Club Loose kicks off the year with Opening Moves. It is always a good time getting back out to the track and seeing drifting friends after a long winter break here in the Northeast. A ton of new drivers showed up to the event to learn and shred with the best in the area. C group was stacked with drivers. We are excited for the rest of the season at Raceway park.
FULL GALLERY HERE
FULL GALLERY HERE
As the 2018 drifting season gets into full swing here in the Northeast and around the country, all of us at Reflections of Drift are set to bring you as much coverage of grassroots drifting as we possibly can. We are back in full swing! For many reasons website updates had to take a back burner in most of 2017. Over the next few weeks we will be adding a ton of content from 2018 to the website, along with a Throwback Series showcasing the 2017 drifting season. This is our 4th year and we are once again committed to bringing you the best up and coming drifting drivers and media talent from around the world! Drop us a line and let us know what you want to see in 2018? Lets get sideways!
Southwest Drift Series slides into 2017 with a banger event!
Ready Set Drift started the 2017 drifting season off at Pocono Raceway on April 1st, 2017.
Drifting at Import Face Off 2017 in Chandler, AZ
Photos by Alex Wilson
Photos from the drifting action at Irish Amateur Drifting Championship R3 that took place on February 12, 2017 at Mondello Park in Ireland. Photos by Mark Hannay / Drift Addicts
Charles Ng has revealed that he will be driving a Michael Essa built BMW E46 for the 2017 Formula Drift season.
SwingSet LLC hosted Midnight Matsuri at Shenandoah Speedway in West Virginia on September 10th, 2016. Over 60 drivers showed up to throw down on one of the coolest oval tracks for drifting in the Northeast. If you havent checked out these events or this track, you need to !! SwingSet LLC throws a banger of an event!!
Bear Rzesnowiecky takes the top spot at Round 2 of the Southwest Drift Series!! Bear and Andy Hately battled hard for the number 1 spot going “one more time” and putting on one heck of a show for the fans. Dr. Levi Wait of Drift Colorado took home the third place podium spot. Thank you to Tyler Mantz for braving the crazy weather to get us these awesome shots! Round 3 is coming Aug 26-27th in Tuscon, AZ.
