I dont wanna start a new thread soo....
Here are the drivers who made the trip to DeSoto Speedway in Bradenton for the December 16th NOPI Qualifier.
Driver Name Vehicle
Annti Karro 89 BMW 325i
Arwid Hecko 90 300zx
Bobby Broderick Nissan 350z
Brett Collins s13
Brian Caldwell 91 Toyota Supra
Charlie Thompson Nissan 240sx
Cole Morgan Nissan 350z
Daniel Chilton RX-7
Eric Delamata Nissan 240sx
Glenn Irizarry 95 240sx
Hasiel Mena S13 Coupe
Jeff “Heffe†Frontcakas 95 Nissan 240sx *Received a License
Jodin LeJeune Nissan 240sx
Joe Vick Nissan 240sx
Josh Bennett Nissan 240sx
Juan Henao Nissan Silvia *Received a License
Karr Crapps S13
Kitt Hock 89 240sx
Matthew Dahm Nissan 350z
Nick Leioatts
Pablo falero s13 coupe
Peter Ioannidis 93 240sx coup
Phil Scarlata 91 Nissan 240sx
Robert Duerscheidt S14
Ryan Hostetler 92 Nissan 240sx
Shawn Senokossoff 95 Nissan 240sx
Travis Deems 91 Nissan 240sx
Zoltan Hajdu, Jr. Nissan 240sx
Zoltan Hajdu, Sr. Nissan 240sx
These drivers showed up to a very challenging course. Design originally from Harri Tervola from a previous event held by Ter-Tech, but chosen by Jason Jiovani for this qualifier. Drivers faced a ~70mph entry on a steep unforgiving bank follow by a high speed transition that led into a very tight turn. Drivers that successfully negotiated the first section then faced a short straight that they had to use the full width of the road to link into the 4th clipping point and once past that there was a fun 2nd gear sweeper for the crowd to see everyone show off some smoke. I apologize if the course seemed too hard. I was concerned myself until I saw drivers beginning to combo it and doing it more than once. The advantage of having a hard course was when qualifying for a license, it simply came down to just full link because of the high difficulty.
Issues with the course layout seemed to be the section where it was slowing down and keeping line. The BALLS part (entry->bank) most everyone was doing very well. And the fun finish was getting ripped by everyone.
Throughout the day we had several drivers link the course including Dan Chilton, Juan Henao, Jeff Frontcakas, Rob Duerscheidt, the Central Automotive s13 (sorry I don’t know name) and possibly more (I didn’t see every single run unfortunately)
Impressive runs for some unusual cars:
-Brian Caldwell in his 91 supra was getting the bank very well toward the later part of the day , very nice for his FIRST event ever.
-Arwid Hecko in his z32 was among the lesser used cars and was doing amazing with it.
Other Noteworthy moments:
-Charlie Thompson showed his driving abilities NEARLY linking his qualifying run with a near stock ka s13.
- Brett Collins was impressive with a VERY consistent bank line/angle every run with the first time driving his newly acquired turboed s13.
- Central Automotive s13 tapping the wall and maintaining drift in practice and nearly kept it again in qualifying.
- Annti Karro angle with his BMW on the bank was centerfold material, just awesome.
- Phil S from Aero K for taking one for the team and having to cut his day short after hitting the wall early on in the first practice section. Freshly painted, made us all cry, car was very secksy.
- Gold Sil80 had a little head to head action with the wall in qualifying as well.
The event did have some hiccups / issues.
First, the dirt on the infield was very unfortunate and was due to a special tractor pull even the night before. Normally there is nothing but grass and pavement. It would not have been on the track but because over night it rained, it turned it into a sludge and was very difficult to sweep off. We apologize for that.
Second, the track owner was expecting 38 cars because that’s how many we had registered via email. He said we could use track lights with that many. When it came down to game time, we only had 28(because of this we will HAVE to do pre-reg with payment for next event, sorry). Lights cost money and the track owner felt we were wasting too much time and needed to go directly into qualifying. I personally spoke with him and apologized for low driver attendance and explained that we are try to be as fast as possible. I promised him I would speed things up if we could run another practice set and try to not use lights. I told him that we HAVE to run more practice because the drivers need it, you deserve it, and I told you we would. He allowed us to and did let the lights on for the last bit. We do need to understand his side of it as he is trying to understand our side best he can.
This time issue, the REASON we lost practice runs, I hate to say is mostly THE DRIVERS FAULTS. Start of the day when we call drivers meeting in 5 minutes and get 8 people, or call run group A get your cars up immediately and I have 4 after 15minutes. These are so frustrating because we could have easily fit in 2 more runs per driver if we were all more prompt. This wont fly so well at NOPI so make sure your where you should be or you will lose runs everytime.
Track owner was also having to deal with jackass motherf*****s rally crossing the lot and burning out of the track exit and this was also adding to frustration. We need to tell any spectators we invite/see there to not RUIN IT FOR US.
There was also an issue between Bill and the track owner where Bill ended up leaving the track. I do not think it needs to go any further.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Now I encourage all those who are more local to attend a practice event and really feel this course with open setup, it is VERY FUN all over the place to drive. Typically we have been doing 2pm-7pm for only 20$. It will also help you to learn the bank and infield sections for not only our local just-for-fun competitions, but for another NOPI Qualifier hopefully. We will have one either at Desoto or another location. Practice events I will be glad to jump in the car with you and help you the best I can.
If you have any helpful input let me know, if you have a complaint that’s fine, but give me a way to fix it, don’t just bitch at me. I know we can make the event better and I think the way we worked for the 2nd half of the day was actually very good. If we can keep it that way the events will be much better.
Special thanks to John (track owner) for letting us on the track, Chris from XAT for dealing with hundreds of emails, the Underhills for introducing the track to drifting, our judges (Blake Fuller, Harri Tervola, Bill Sherman, and Jason Jiovani, our entertaining announcer Rob Flemming, the spectators, our awesome cone runners, and ALL OF OUR DRIVERS!
Good luck to the 2 new pros on getting to NOPI and making their first top16!
Added for just this forum:
I noticed someone mentioned the thumbs up or down. Because the course was hard enough, we didnt feel the need to nit pick exact line and angle. We explained to drivers that if they link it, and keep a real angle they will get a license. Thumbs up or down wasnt even needed. If you happened to be around the drivers meeting in the start, I had a judging sheet on display and had them made for judging time, but we didnt see the need as I said. The event was not that disorganized, but it could have been smoother. It was our first full day event ever and really didnt go that bad. My pre-event estimates held true -about 7 or 8 capable drivers and only a few getting it in qualifying. Been the same at all 4 qualifiers ive been at so far now.
it was a funny night dude, and i think we were already all too delirious.
