Event: Prodrift round 4 Mondello 2010
The weather had managed to hold off, all it needed to do now was stay dry for just another couple of hours and everything would work for the better. The clouds were getting darker and it looked like mother nature was going against everyone but then Aaron came out blasting the Foo fighters and everything seemed to be just fine!
He also brought out the Prodrift girls which threw some product and got the crowd hyped. Thats always a plus.
Christy added some smoke to the entertainment as everyone did their starting dance to get the crowd even more entertained. At first I was sad that the meisters were gone off of the s15, but I must say the Gram lights really suit the look of the car on the track.
Eric was out in his f20 powered Trueno, it was cool to see this car again it didn’t disappoint.
First up saw Chris Brady against Eric’s ready for action Trueno. Chris just couldn’t keep to Eric’s speed in the first run and in the second Eric managed to lock on to Chris which made him saw him go through to the next battle.
Next up we saw Martin O Meara battle Mike Fitzgerald. Mike managed to have the aggressive edge over Martin this battle of the Nissans which would bring him out on top.
It seemed Nigel Colfer was on serious form in the first battle against Dan Moorhead, but in the second he pushed just that little bit too hard causing some contact.
The contact caused both of the drivers to spin out and knocked Colfer out of the battle for the top.
A very fast and exciting battle followed between Gavin Lenihan and Alan Sinnott but Gavin just couldn’t hold into the sr powered hachi of Sinnot.
Next up we saw Mike Dean take on Francis O Shea’s tasty s15, Mike put down a solid first run.
Francis got funky in the mud, which made for a good snap, but it would be MIke who would advance in this battle.
John Paul Mc Carthy and Damien Mulvey were on fire, defiantly one of the best battles of the day as both drivers were going neck and neck to advance.
Damien Mulvey had created a proper smoke screen, its amazing how drivers can manage to stay focused behind all that smoke. Jp knew how to handle it and managed to stay close to Mulvey which allowed him to advance to the next battle. What a show this was indeed as both drivers really gave it their all. I’m sure its one the crowd will never forget.
Next we say Christy Carpenter battle Damien Shortt’s purple hachi, Carpenter propelled through the corner which resulted in a collision with Shortt’s rear end.
Bits of fiberglass bumper was flying through the air as both of these purple monsters decided to kiss.
The kiss would end up being fatal for Damien’s hachi as he span on the exit of the Honda corner with more bumpers being lost in the act.
The grass was certainly been cut for free up at Mondello on the day as drivers like Stephen Bolger were doing some landscaping! It seemes he was having some trouble against James Deane in the second battle.
This resulted in a nice little spin out….
Which gave Deane the upper hand to go around Bolger and drift safely into the next battle.
Mike Fitzgerald was determined to get ahead of Eric’s Hachi,
But he also became a victim of landscaping as he over committed to the first entry which caused a spin. Such a shame for Mike as it seemed he was really on point in this round of Prodrift.
Dan Moorhead was out to catch Sinnott’s hachi, but Sinnott had other plans as he kept a decent gap between him and the rps13, as Dan tried to close the gap but it proved to be bad news as the car span just coming out of Honda and gave the victory to Sinnott and his Hankook Hachi.
JP’s e36 was flying the flag for Tipperary at Mondello, but he couldn’t pull away from Mike Deans s13.4 wich saw Mike advance from this battle.
Next saw a spectacular battle from the Team Nexen drivers Carpenter and Deane.
Christy’s purple smoke machine just wasn’t enough to keep James off of his tail which after two balls out runs put James in the final.
This was a great battle to be witnessing, something that is rare these days was this battle of the Hachiroku’s, one Levin and one Trueno, one black, one white, one … (ill stop now). A nice change from the usual s-chassis which more or less dominates drifting today. Even from the picture above you can see how Eric wasn’t letting go of Sinnott as he stuck with him right around Honda to the finish line which put him in the finals against James Deane.
As the weather still managed to hold up, which was amazing, Mike Deane scored himself third place over Sinnott with some of this crazy smoke screen action!
It really was nice to see two non s-chassis in the final for a change!! Both drivers were out for the number one spot,
But it was all in good fun!
Both drivers were on point, it was a real shame to hear that Dean had damaged his gear box which landed him in second place. This resulted in Eric winning round four of Prodrift which was another proper display of Irish drifting and a nice rap up to Japfest 2010!
It was real cool to see Eric back out in the car and hopefully we can see more of him and his Trueno again at the final battle in Fermoy.
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