Formula Drift Round 7 - Title Fight at Irwindale Matchups

Here are the matchups that will be seen during the Top 32 Round of the Irwindale Formula Drift event.

Rhys Millen vs Kenny Moen
Justin Pawlak vs Walker Wilkerson
Frederic Aasbo vs Darren McNamara
Chris Forsberg vs Conrad Grunewald
Ken Gushi vs Toshiki Yoshioka
Ryan Tuerck vs Ryan Kado
Tyler McQuarrie vs Joon Maeng
Chelsea Denofa vs Pat Mordaunt
Vaugh Gittin vs Nick D'Alessio
Tony Brakohiapa vs Michael Essa
Matt Field vs Luke Lonberger
Matt Powers vs Jeremy Lowe
Daigo Saito vs Taka Aono
Dave Briggs vs Robbie Nishida
Alex Lee vs Tony Angelo
Kyle Mohan vs Dai Yoshihara

With the points after qualifying and factoring in that each driver is guarenteed 24 event points for participating in the Top 32 round, Vaughn Gittin leads Daigo Saito by 26.5 points.  At this stage, the top 6 drivers have a mathematical shot at taking the 2012 Formula DRIFT Championship.

Other than points, drivers will mostly be letting it all hang out for this event, since they will be trying their hardest to put on a good show for their sponsors and teams.

Kevin Wells, the Formula DRIFT Technical Director, had x-rays of the Top 7 point position cars done to determine if there was any illegal ballasts placed on the cars' frame rails, which if found would disqualify that driver from the event and effectively eliminate them from winning the championship.

Formula DRIFT Round 5 Evergreen Results

Round 5 of Formula DRIFT had is fair share of surprises and strange happening during the tandem battles. Ultimately, it was number one qualifier Vaughn Gittin Jr, taking the win with Ryan Tuerck and Rhys Millen joining him on the podium. Ken Gushi had a strong run finishing in four place.

The event shook up the points standings a bit with Vaughn Gittin Jr now leading, followed by Saito, Pawlak, Yoshihara, and Tuerck.

Here is a run-by-run account of the event.

Top 32
The first battle at Evergreen started off with little surprise to many as Vaughn Gittin Jr defeats Miro Ovcharik.

Michael Essa then defeats Odi Bakchis after some apparent contact by Odi.

After some corrections by Chelsea Denofa in the RX8, it was deteremined that Walker Wilkerson would be moving on.

Matt Powers moved to the Top 16 after battling Kyle Pollard and Jhonatthan Castro wins after a spin by Pat Mordaunt.

Taka Aono made a huge error which lead to Matt Field moving on.

A big correction by Chris Forsberg allows his Hankook Tires teammate Rhys Millen to take the win.


Dai Yoshihara takes the win from Dennis Mertzanis after Mertzanis hits the wall.

One of the big surprises of the night was Justin Pawlak losing to Jeremy Lowe by dropping two tires off the track. Knocking him out of the points lead.

Ryan Tuerck wins after Robbie Nishida crashes into the wall.

Fredric Aasbo and Ryan Kado defeat Pat Goodin and Alex Lee, respectively.

Toshiki Yoshioka moves on against Tony Angelo due to Angelo going off course.

To round out the Top 32 Round, Conrad beats Tony Brakohiapa and Daigo Saito wins against Darren McNamara.


Top 16
The Top 16 round started with Michael Essa crashing, giving the win to Vaughn Gittin Jr.

Matt Powers defeats Walker Wilkerson after Walker has contact with the wall.

Matt Field and Rhys Millen move on after defeating Jhonattan Castro and Daijiro Yoshihara, respectively.

Ryan Tuerck moves on after a crash by Jeremy Lowe.

The Great 8 was then set after Ryan Kado defeats Fredric Aasbo, Toshiki Yoshioko loses his hood and the battle against Ken Gushi and Daigo Saito spins, giving Conrad Grunewald the win.


Great Eight
The Great 8 started just like the other rounds, win Vaughn Gittin Jr winning against Matt Powers.

Rhys Millen then betters Matt Field and Ryan Tuerck wins against Ryan Kado.

To finish out the Great 8 round, Ken Gushi wins after a spin by Conrad Grunewald.

Final Four
The Final Four matchup with Rhys Millen and Vaughn Gittin, again saw JR with the win, after Rhys dropped a tire.

After a OMT, Ryan Tuerck was able to beat Ken Gushi because of the gap left between them.


Finals
Rhys Millen then defeated Ken Gushi to take 3rd Place in the round.

Ryan Tuerck and Vaughn Gittin Jr had very close runs, but the win goes to Vaughn Gittin Jr. Who is now the Formula DRIFT points leader.

Ford Mustang Coilovers - Auto Parts Warehouse

Formula DRIFT - Wall, NJ Matchups

Judging by the qualifing order that was changed around a bit due to the weather conditions during qualifying, here are the matchups that we should expect to see during the Top 32 Round:

Odi Bakchis vs Nick D'Alessio
Vaughn Gittin Jr. vs Miro Ovcharik
Frederic Aasbo vs Jhonnattan Castro
Dai Yoshihara vs Taka Aono
Chelsea Denofa vs Tony Angelo
Chris Forsberg vs Danny George
Kenneth Moen vs Tony Brakohiapa
Conrad Grunewald vs Chris Ward
Ken Gushi vs Pat Mordaunt
Darren McNamara vs Matt Powers
Ryan Tuerck vs Kyle Mohan
Tyler McQuarrie vs Dennis Mertzanis
Rhys Millen vs Michael Essa
Justin Pawlak vs Ryan Kado
Robbie Nishida vs Joon Maeng
Luke Lonberger vs Daigo Saito

Weather should not be a factor today, other than changes to the track today compared to yesterday.  The forecast for the 07719 area today is mostly sunny with highs in the mid 80s and almost no chance for precipitation.

DC Shoes Spartan Hi Shoes (Black/Red/Turqoise) - Men's Shoes - 13.0 M