Hey guys - awesome weekend for the opening round of the D1NZ Drifting Champs at Manfeild last weekend; some awesome cars lining up for that trophy this year, everyone's stepped their game up!
FANGA DAN WINS FIRST MANFEILD DRIFTING TITLE:
The Demon Energy D1NZ Drifting Championship has kicked off it's summer season of Motorsport at Feilding over the weekend with Whangarei based two-time former New Zealand Drift Champion Daniel Woolhouse (Fanga Dan) claiming victory at Manfeild Raceway.
Cole Armstrong (V Energy Skyline) and Drew Donovan (Milwaukee Tools Nissan S15) battled for the third and fourth play-off with Armstrong taking the final podium spot in his RB30 powered Nissan Skyline 250GT, but the attention was firmly on the Century Batteries Holden Commdore of Woolhouse grabbing the round victory from pole-sitter Curt Whittaker in the final laps of the weekend; his first ever win at Manfeild despite more than a decade of competitive drifting under his belt.
"We've been coming here for ten years - we've had plenty of podiums but never the round win.. its been such an awesome weekend, im a little speechless." said Woolhouse after the final battle with Rattla Motorsport's Curt Whittaker.
While it was blue skies and dry conditions for the Pro-Class competition the morning practice sessions were plagued with moderate rain which caused a headache for teams and drivers preparing car set-ups in pit-lane.
"The last time we drove this car was in the wet at Pukekohe and it didn't feel very good to drive, so we made some good changes over the off-season. It felt so comfortable, even in the wet this morning, but we lacked a bit of grip through the middle but we'll keep working on it." Said Woolhouse.
While Woolhouse took the win, it was Curt Whittaker who was the strong contender all weekend. After qualifying first in his Autosure Insurance R34 Skyline Whittaker continued to impress throughout the Top32 Main Event, defeating Daynom Templeman (NAC Insurance E46 BMW) in the Top16, Dave Steedman (Ryco 24/7 180sx) in the Top8, and Drew Donovan in the Semi Finals.
"It's been a good weekend, the car's gone faultlessly and the boys did a wicked job in the off season," said Whittaker.
"It's good to come out and qualify well and be on the podium, and that was our goal. It's been wicked, the weather fined up well for us and the crowd. Fanga's always a battler, it was a good battle which was nice and close."
In the Pro-Sport class it was Auckland's Blair Gribble-Bowring (JWB Group Nissan S14) taking his first win on competition début, with Calvin Clark in his Prime Avocados C33 Laurel (RB25) taking second, and Top-Qualifier 'The Chad' Chad Mckenzie grabbing third place in his Waitara Tyre R32 Skyline (2JZ).
The next round of the Demon Energy D1NZ Series heads to the first and only concrete-lined custom course of the season, ASB Baypark Stadium in Tauranga over the 8th and 9th of January 2016. Full Event and Ticket information is available at D1NZ.com