- We're here in Atlanta,
and everyone knows that Atlanta,
there's only one wall to hit and I found that wall.
What up, I'm Matt Field.
- I'm Odi Bakchis, and this is my car.
- And this is my car.
- I think I can teach him a few things.
- Don't get me wrong.
I want to beat everybody out there,
but there's one guy in particular.
- He's a great teammate but an even better frenemy.
- We're here in Atlanta.
This place is crazy.
The track is fast, it's technical,
one of my favorites.
You throw the fans into the mix,
legit people camp out from Thursday night
to get out here to get a spot.
They're wild, they're rowdy,
and the action here is always top notch.
So right as I'm about to load up my car,
I take it for a rip down the street,
the diff blows up.
We're working on the cars til 4:00 AM,
getting the whole drive train back in the car,
very little sleep.
We still had a couple of things that we needed to do,
alignment, this, that, the other.
So going into practice, my first two runs,
they were solid.
I was like alright, let's do some follow runs.
Followed a bunch of different drivers,
we're turning laps, we're doing pretty good,
the car's getting good, but I'm driving tired.
My focus isn't quite there.
And then I followed one guy, Forrest Wang,
known for his style and smokiness.
And unfortunately for me, that smoke is totally what bit me,
I got blinded a little bit,
my muscle memory wasn't quite there,
and everyone knows that Atlanta,
there's only one wall to hit,
and I found that wall.
- My stomach dropped.
That was probably the biggest hit I've seen on this track.
He stepped out of the car, and he's totally fine.
I could just tell right now Matt is running
all the scenarios through his mind.
How do I get my car back together
in a timely manner to get it back on track?
- It's racing.
Stuff just happens.
We drive our cars and push our cars to the absolute limit,
so it's expected that stuff's gonna break.
My team has my back, and they thrash.
Go into qualifying, I know we have a solid car.
All you can do is drive it, feel it.
If it feels good, drive it hard.
All of a sudden, he's here.
And when I go through the smoke, I'm like (bleep).
I should have had better muscle memory, but still.
- The Formula Drift, we go through eight different venues
and they're very distinct from one another.
We have to adjust the car specifically to each one,
our gearing changes, alignment changes,
every single venue, our setup is completely different.
Road courses are a whole different beast,
and we're on one out here in Road Atlanta.
I could run my car very low out here
because the track is very smooth.
I try to calculate everything that I do behind the wheel,
step up little by little from there,
so I'm very calculated.
- First run out, laid it down, no question.
Soon as I take off down the line,
I can tell the engine's not 100%,
but I make it through the run.
Got an 87, not a bad way to start.
Then, on my way back, I'm like, there's smoke in the car.
What else now?
The front main seal pushed out.
- At the end of the day, it's racing.
These kinds of things happen.
Some events are more rough than others,
but that's what we're here.
- For Top 32, I'm paired up with Vankirk.
He's a rookie driver.
The things that rookies mess up on,
they're just overthinking it,
making a simple mistake,
and basically taking themselves out.
If you're a rookie and you have to battle someone like me,
tighten up your car, go as fast as you can,
and try to lay down as solid of a lead line as you can.
- [Announcer] Odi Bakchis hearing that Falken Tires.
Watch this guy drive.
- Play it somewhat safe, put on a good show,
and do what you're supposed to do.
Things go well through both runs,
get to advance to Top 16, so overall,
I'm glad about getting a little bit of practice
going into Top 16,
but it was a fairly easy battle.
- Top 32, we're going against Dirk Stratton.
Dirk is coming from Pro2, so basically a Pro1 rookie,
but he's driving well.
You have to drive smart and drive hard.
- [Announcer] We've got Matt Field and Dirk Stratton.
And here we go, send it fellas, the onboard Vette battle.
Matt Field initiates into the first front clip.
Dirk Stratton taking on that front clip's
second outer zone.
Matt Field tightens it up through that front clip
and exits out of the keyhole.
- That was a veteran driving there, bud.
Great job, great job.
- Out on the follow run, that's gonna make or break.
If I'm following a slower car,
do something stupid and run into him,
that could be the whole battle.
So I just played it safe,
applied pressure where I needed to apply pressure.
He had a solid lead run,
which obviously makes it easier
for the follow car to follow.
I was able to stay close enough and then we got the win.
- [Announcer] And the judges' verdict is in.
Matt Field is your winner.
- Won our Top 32 battle against Dirk Stratton,
Formula Drift's first Corvette on Corvette battle.
He drove great, man.
Seriously super solid.
- Congrats dude.
Good job.
- You drove good.
- When I put two and two together,
that I have to battle Piotr Wiecek,
I know this is gonna be a tough battle.
I met Piotr when he was competing in Europe.
I've battled him before and advanced.
Statistically, there's only so many times
I can beat this guy.
Piotr's been under the gun so much.
It's hard to rattle his cage.
- [Announcer] Piotr Wiecek will lead,
and Odi will give chase.
Here we go, Piotr Wiecek throws in,
and Odi Bakchis right there, wow.
Piotr Wiecek now into that first outer zone
into the second.
Odi will drive down the door.
- I ran as hard as I could,
even though I was blinded by smoke at times.
- [Announcer] Just a gangster initiation.
- I knew that if I just put down a solid follow run,
he's gonna have to step it up when he chases me.
- [Announcer] Barely let him transition in front of him.
You cannot even see Odi.
- It's always great to put your opponent
into a risky situation.
I felt like he might have trouble
keeping that same proximity when it's his turn to follow me.
- [Announcer] Bakchis, Piotr Wiecek,
you see him twitching his way towards Bakchis.
Transitioning up the hill, Wiecek,
right there, wheel to wheel,
looks like they're about to touch Falkens.
We got some serious Falkenry going down.
- He's quite a ways back,
so that's when I'm going alright, we pulled a gap.
After the run's over, I hear my spotter,
and she said, it was a great run,
but then my lead run wasn't probably as great as Piotr.
She's very analytical,
and sometimes, it's the hard truth.
- [Announcer] Slide them right for Piotr Wiecek,
says Ryan, Andy says one more time,
and Brian says Piotr Wiecek gets the victory.
And Piotr Wiecek again, Ryan and Brian siding with
Piotr Wiecek. - Well, that's a bummer.
That was one hell of a ride, gotta take it,
and build on it for next round, I guess.
- Why you got to break my heart Piotr?
- I was lucky, I was lucky for the first time on this track.
I'm still shaking.
- Good luck on the next one, man.
- I will try my best.
Thank you, thank you. - See you.
Unfortunately for us, when you're racing
versus world class drivers,
your margin of error is much tighter,
so today wasn't our day,
but we'll get them next round in New Jersey.
- You're going against Dai Yoshihara,
you know his lead run is solid,
so it's gonna be easy to follow,
but he's also fast and that means your lead run
has to be just as good.
Last time I faced Dai, Irwindale, when I got my win
a couple years ago and he got second.
Dai's a solid driver,
and I know I can drive a hard with him,
so no games this drive.
- [Announcer] Daijiro Yoshihara will lead,
Matt Field will give chase.
Matt Field has had one heck of a weekend.
Dai Yoshihara, he's been looking flawless.
Alright, here we go.
- He does a solid follow.
He kind of underestimated the amount of grip on the entry.
- [Announcer] Matt Field dips his Co into the dirt.
- Had to hang on the hand brake a lot longer
than I would have liked to,
and that immediately gave me a little bit of a gap.
- [Announcer] Man, Dai Yoshihara is on a tear.
- We still have a battle,
we still have a fast car,
just trying to see if we can pull a gap.
- Let's go, Matt.
- [Announcer] And here we go
with the second half of this battle.
It's all Falken right now.
Dai Yoshihara and Matt Field.
- My main goal in my lead run is to just hit my marks
and go fast.
- [Announcer] Field initiates, nasty initiation there
into that front clip.
- To be completely honest though,
my head's not all there.
There's instances I'm going around the track,
where normally I wouldn't pull the handbrake,
but just to be safe I did.
- [Announcer] If he really wants to lock this in.
- I know that cost me a little bit of speed,
but it was just like, huh, I just didn't feel all there.
He had the advantage I guess.
Two judges said Dai, one said one more time.
My heart wasn't in it like it should have been.
- The whole thing is you don't want to leave the event
in the judges' hands, so you just have to beat them
by a margin that there's no
judgment call on behalf of the judges.
So it's just one of those situations,
where Dai was just a smidge better
and the judges gave him the win his way.
- All in all, not a bad round.
Every round the car gets better,
and honestly, I drove better here in this car
at this round than I have ever in my S14.
I see the light at the end of the tunnel,
just it was a rough one this round.
- Overall, I was not happy with my finish here.
The event is over for me, and I'm pretty bummed out
about going out in the Top 16.
But moving forward, I gotta hustle
and get back on the podium.
You can have pretty bad lows,
but the highs kinda balance everything out
and what happened is not so bad.