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Castle takes first Round Round 1 of the 2008 championship got underway this weekend at Donington Park in weather which made you wish you would have stayed in bed. The top 16 showdown was a serious battle from start to finish and the outcome of the final runs went down for a few 'one more times' Full report to follow shortly. Final standings for the first round below. The Gallery has been updated so check it out!
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The first round of the Japaneseusedcars.com European Drift Championship took place at Donington Park in conjunction with the International Tuning and Styling Show. The weather threatened to spoil the day, but for the duration of the practice session, the track stayed dry and each driver took the opportunity to get to grips with their new and improved machines for the 2008 season.
As qualifying began the rain came down. This made things very difficult for the drivers as they had no time to adjust their cars and driving to match the change in conditions. A new system has been brought in for the 2008 EDC season where the top 6 in the championship at the time automatically take a place in the finals. For round 1 it would be the top 6 drivers from the 2007 season would take the seeded positions. The top 6 present for round 1 were Brett Castle, Mark Luney, Ben Broke-Smith, Maciej Polody, James Grimsey and Phil Morrison.
The other qualifiers were:
Alan McCord, Shane Lynch, James Russell, Kieran Cameron, Mark Coyne,
Daniel Eyles, Declan Hicks, Steven Evans, Paul Smith, Paul Conlan
The Top 16 finals were to begin and this session was met with more rain and a hailstorm thrown in for good measure. The drivers coped well under the circumstances and showed what top calibre drivers we have in the EDC.
The first battle between 2007 champ Brett Castle and Paul Conlan caught everyone out by surprise. An uncharacteristic spin by the champ led everyone to believe that Conlan would take the win, only to spin later in the same run. With the scores level and nothing to separate them in their second run, sudden death was called and the champ showed a remarkable return to form comfortable taking the win.
Shane Lynch has been causing quite a stir in the drift scene lately. The Boyzone star took up drifting only a short while ago and has improved at an exponential rate. Having taken the win at the first round of the BDC feeder series in his Japspeed Skyline, Shane earned himself a wildcard entry to the first round off the EDC. A top 8 position would secure him an EDC licence for the remainder of the year but it wasn’t to be. Despite taking the advantage after the first leg, his opponent James Russell put the pressure on and forced a spin out of Lynch.
Maciej Polody and Declan hicks were both suffering the effects of the cold and damp circuit, both making big mistake to force a sudden death “one more time” situation. After an intense first leg with nothing to call between the two drivers, it was Hicks in the Universal Turbos Toyota Soarer who once again got caught out by the wet track handed the victory to Polody.
James Grimsey and Daniel Eyles were also hindered by the changing weather conditions, each making a big mistake whilst chasing their opponent. The battle was finally decided when Grimsey was unable to slow the GBH Motorsport 180SX down enough to match the speed of the Japspeed skyline in front of him resulting in a collision which pushed Eyles off the track. Eyles was awarded the win for this incident putting him through to the top 8.
Steven “Stiggy” Evans faced Ben “Bon Bon” Broke-Smith in his Toyota Starlet. A new car is on the way for Evans but unfortunately not ready for the first round. Evans had been struggling to keep his short wheel base car under control in the wet conditions and spun on the second run allowing the Driftworks chaser to proceed to the next round.
Phil Morrison from Driftworks is another driver with a new car in the pipeline which was not quite ready for round 1 of the 2008 season. His Skyline backup car found a new engine and with it added reliability. He comfortably saw off Mark Coyne in the JAE 200SX.
Alan McCord and Kieran Cameron had both brought new cars to the EDC for round 1 but it was McCord who was to end victorious after the wet conditions caught out Cameron and spun the Apex Performance “Onevia”.
Mark Luney looked like he was struggling in the wet but he managed to keep hold of the SVA Imports 350Z whilst Paul Smith was pointing backwards at the entry to turn one. This didn’t deter Smith from putting in a fantastic 2nd run giving his Japspeed/Abbey Motorsport Silvia a good advantage but it wouldn’t be enough to turn around the disadvantage from the earlier spin.
The Top 8 session ran later in the day when for the first time we were blessed with sunshine. The track had dried and the drivers were able to show their true potential and make the most of their tyre smoking drift machines.
Brett Castle showed us why he was champion last year by taking down James Russell in the DCY skyline gaining advantage in both runs. Russell had put in some good runs however and it will be interesting to see what performances we will see from the rookie over the rest of the season.
Maciej Polody and Daniel Eyles needed two calls of “one more time” making this a 6 leg marathon. Each driver clinging to the back of their opponent in each run giving them the slight advantage. Once the places had swapped it was all back to square 1 again with neither driver giving way. The break cam in run 5 when Polody lost grip and found understeer. This gave Eyles’ Japspeed Skyline enough of an advantage to take the win over the Polish hero.
Ben “Bon Bon” Broke-Smith and Phil Morrison would face each other reminding all that were watching of the final round of 2007 when these two met in the semi finals. Once again it would be Bon Bon and his JZX81 Toyota Chaser who would take the win after having let Morrison take the lead on the first run. Morrison hopes to be back with his new car for his next EDC appearance and so he definitely will be one to watch out for
Mark Luney may have struggled in the rain, but the SVA Imports Z has no problems once it dries out. He convincingly took the win over Alan McCord securing his place in the semi finals.
The semi finals followed and both semi finals decided by uncharacteristic mistakes. The first semi final would be between Brett Castle in the Autoglym Abbey Motorsport S14 200SX and Daniel Eyles in the Japseed ECR33 Skyline. Eyles tried to match Castles speed and couldn’t keep up resulting in a spin. Castle was then able to take a step back and allow Eyles to take the advantage in the second run knowing that he had enough points in the bag to take the win and secure a place in the final.
Ben Broke Smith and Mark Luney had a very intense battle where the chasing driver would not allow their opponent to get away. After two runs the decision was unclear and so sudden death was called. Run 3 saw Luney spin on the final corner giving the win to the Driftworks Chaser of Ben Broke Smith.
A third place decider was called with Daniel Eyles and Mark Luney fighting to see who would claim the bottom step of the podium. Eyles once again made a mistake and straightened the car on the exit of turn 1 handing a big advantage to Luney, who was able to stay calm and run through the second leg without trouble. Eyles missed out on his first EDC podium but definitely showed signs that he would be threatening the top boys in future rounds also.
The final would be between Brett Castle and Ben Broke-Smith, a repeat of the final from round 4 of the 2007 series. Nothing to split the drivers in the first or second leg meant that a sudden death decision was called. Runs 3 and 4 saw both drivers cutting turn 2 in a desperate attempt to not allow the front car to get away. The Judges were looking at other elements such as drift angle and corner speed and were close to making a decision but after many calls from the audience to run them again, decided that the difference was too small to make a decision at this point. The second 6 leg battle of the day drew to a close as Ben Broke smith lost momentum and straightened his car on leg 5. Castle stayed cool and made no mistakes on the final run to give him self the first victory of the year.
The weather did all it could to spoil the firs round but the rain an hail unable to extinguish the heat of some of the greatest battles we have seen in the EDC to date. 07 Champion Brett Castle take away maximum points to the next round which is his bogey track. If his luck continues we could see this championship blown wide open. The only way we’ll find out is at Knockhill circuit on 17th/18th May.
1st Brett Castle
2nd Ben Broke Smith
3rd Mark Luney
4th Daniel Eyles (also winner of HKS Hard Charger award)
5th Maciej Polody
6th Phil Morrison
7th Alan McCord
8th James Russell
9th Paul Conlan
10th Declan Hicks
Championship Standings after Round 1
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