Snaps by Andy “Krzyzanotgonnaspellyourlastname” Krzyzanowski & Kyle “KP Photo” Pope
Words by Armin “Hammer” Ausejo

As beautiful as the weather was for Formula Drift Seattle back in July, it was only merely just another sunny day for the final round of Formula Drift in Irwindale, California in October.  With the temperature being nice and warm during the day and quite cool at night, the stands remained packed throughout the entire event, with the sold-out crowd making it the largest Formula Drift event in history.  This helped contribute to the overall tension for the event, since no driver was running away in the overall points standings, nor in the Rookie of the Year standings as well.This put all of the Northwest’s eyes focusing on Walker Wilkerson. Being just a few points behind the current Rookie of the Year leader, Aurimas “Odi” Bakchis, it was clear to Walker and everyone else that the Rookie of the Year title was definitely up for grabs. Throughout qualifying, Walker made solid runs, putting him in a Top 32 match-up against Formula Drift veteran Darren McNamara.  Walker gave D-Mac all he could handle on his lead run, wowing the crowd with a very solid performance that showed that his 4-cylinder motor could still play with the 8-cylinder big boys.  However, on the trailing run, Walker knew he had to give it his best and pushed as much as he could, which unfortunately led to a collision with the wall and the end to his Formula Drift season. Despite Walker’s strong showing and Odi not qualifying for the Top 32, Odi still had enough points to hang onto the Rookie of the Year honors.

Photo by Luke Munnell	As beautiful as the weather was for Formula Drift Seattle back in July, it was only merely just another sunny day for the final round of Formula Drift in Irwindale, California in October.  With the temperature being nice and warm during the day and quite cool at night, the stands remained packed throughout the entire event, with the sold-out crowd making it the largest Formula Drift event in history.  This helped contribute to the overall tension for the event, since no driver was running away in the overall points standings, nor in the Rookie of the Year standings as well.This put all of the Northwest’s eyes focusing on Walker Wilkerson. Being just a few points behind the current Rookie of the Year leader, Aurimas “Odi” Bakchis, it was clear to Walker and everyone else that the Rookie of the Year title was definitely up for grabs. Throughout qualifying, Walker made solid runs, putting him in a Top 32 match-up against Formula Drift veteran Darren McNamara.  Walker gave D-Mac all he could handle on his lead run, wowing the crowd with a very solid performance that showed that his 4-cylinder motor could still play with the 8-cylinder big boys.  However, on the trailing run, Walker knew he had to give it his best and pushed as much as he could, which unfortunately led to a collision with the wall and the end to his Formula Drift season. Despite Walker’s strong showing and Odi not qualifying for the Top 32, Odi still had enough points to hang onto the Rookie of the Year honors. Walker’s untimely meeting with the wall definitely wasn’t the only one of the event. Crashes were plenty in this final round, with Chris Forsberg hitting the wall so hard that his 370Z caught air and Jim Guthrie being hauled off the track in a stretcher after his collision. This resulted in a strained neck, fractured vertebrae, and having to wear a neck brace for roughly 4-5 weeks, but otherwise Jim made it out okay.  Even points leader Dai Yoshihara crashed during practice, which may or may not have affected him being eliminated early in the Top 16. While his defeat left the championship there for the taking by the rest of the field, the drifting drama of Formula Drift allowed Dai to hang onto a slim points lead. Edging out Justin Pawlak by only 5.75 points, Dai was crowned the 2011 Formula Drift Champion before the event was anywhere close to being finished. Ultimately, Tyler McQuarrie went on to defeat Rhys Millen for Irwindale’s top podium, with Chris Forsberg beating Darren McNamara for the final podium spot. While Walker and the other Northwest drifting favorites didn’t have the greatest showing at Irwindale, they still helped make 2011 probably the best year yet for drifting on a local and national level, along with representing the Northwest proudly wherever they went.  Congratulations to all of our Northwest Formula Drift drivers and we all hope to see more of you next year in the 2012 season!

Day 1 Coverage

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Day 2 Coverage

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