Event: Prodrift Finale 2011 - Juiceboxforyou

Its hard to think that another year of Prodrift has passed us so quickly. To be fair we were off to a fantastic start with Ennis weather wise. The typical Irish early good weather which results in a summer of rain as punishment, this didnt stop competition and even though Juicebox didnt make it to two of the events the finale in Mondello more than made up for it.

Never did I think the like of Fredric Aasbo would be competing in Mondello. A real milestone for the Irish drift scene.

The very same words can be said about Dai Yoshihara, the drivers were recieved very well by the Irish drifitng community and all weekend were being bombarded for autographs and photos, something that I’m sure both humble drivers werent expecting!

We also had Dmac and Dean kearny back on home soil ready to battle, accompanied by a few top drifters from across the Irish sea. Dmac’s car recieveing the crazy attention all weekend from onlookers.

A nice line up!

It was incredible to see that many top drivers battle it out on Irish soil. Easily one of the most entertaining weekends in Irish drifting. Many drivers walked away with a surprised result on the day.

Snapping the snappers, things were getting heated up as the top 16 were lined up. Unfortunately we hadn’t enough time to cover the semi pro class due to the intense amount of activities going on throughout the day.

Great to see Dai out on the track getting a warm welcome from the crowd and being as equally stoked on the day, piloting Martin fFrenches old sr20 powerd altezza.

Alan Sinnot was crowned overall Prodrift champion 2011 but that was short-lived on the track as Gavin Lenihan took him out of the picture in the top 16 battle.

Next on the list of seasoned drivers to be elminated would be Nigel colfer 2010 Prodrift Runner up, taken out of the picture….

…by Brendan stone in his recently finished MG crash Repairs s15.

Next up was a highly anticipated battle between two Formula D drivers Dean Kearny a veteran this track and Visitor Yoshihara. Sadly this battle’s excitemnt was cut short as Dean span on his chase run giving the victory to Dai.

Both Buttevant locals from the same village battled it out next, in a very entertaining battle netween Damien Mulveys s13 and D-mac’s rotary powered Trueno. It would be D-mac who deploying his smoke screen would advance from this battle.

A battle that could have went on all day without complaint was between Christy Carpenter’s s15 and Phil Morrison’s similar chassis. Two of the nicest drift liveried s15’s out there both powered by a 2jz produced enough industrial noise deafness for everyone in the audience. After several runs Phil Morrison got the nod from the judges and his s15 would take him to the next round.

Steve Biagiono would hand his place over his place in the top eight to Dan Moorehead after an unexpected spin.

John Paul McCarthy and his potent V8 E36 were just not enough to defeat James Deane in the ever so good looking Low Brain s13.

Frederic did what he does best in his beastly supra taking down Veteran Mike Deane for a place in the great eight.

A quick look around and I was stunned by the amount of people clutching the fence behind me waiting for the next battle. The track was packed with fans who were definitly getting their money’s worth. The first battle saw Brendan stone being eliminated by Gavin Lenihan. The second battle saw Dai Yoshihara go a little bit too wide on the entry which makred him a zero.

But without knowing this D-mac made the mistake of missing an upshift which caused him to straighten coming out of the last bend on the track. The Judges ruled that Dai had made the first error and to the disappointment of the crowd Dai was knocked out of the event and D-mac was sent on to the top four.

Next dan Moorhead made the mistake of going too wide on the entry which gave Phil a clear advantage to go through to the semi finals. The same mistake would be made again by Fredric which made for a good photo but a not so good run for Aasbo.

Aasbo managed to control the car well but the mistake but it was too late as James Deane was on a mission to win.

In the first of the Final four battles it looked like D-mac was out to kill taking out Gavin Lenihan using the NFS 86.

An incredible battle followed between Phil Morrison and James Deane, both drivers put on an epic display with James being at a disadvantage being only able to use 1st and 3rd gear.

This had the crowd on the edge of their seats which would eventaully James progressing in what was one of the most memorable battles on the day.

The final two battles were memorable for many reasons as both Phil Morrison and Gavin Lenihan battled it out for third place.

Morrison took a well needed break from his deafening smoke machine as Lenhian was picked for third place.

The last battle between to Cork locas, both James Deane and D-mac came to a short lived end as D-mac clipped the kerb just coming out of the apex. This in turn created a photographers wet dream.. a massive fireball which engulfed the car on the first run starving the rotary engine from oil in seconds. With this dramatic finish to an incredible day, D-mac had no choice but to hand the victory over to James Deane, who certainly derseved the win, beating his way through touch competition in 1st and 3rd gear.

What an impressive day for both the car scene in Ireland and drifitng in Ireland. Things can only get better from here.

Big shout out to Michal Metlicka for the awesome photos!