- Falken asked me to come out
and make sure the guys are running smooth.
And this is my car.
- And this, is my car.
Don't get me wrong,
I wanna beat everybody out there.
- He's a great teammate, but an even better frenemy.
(rock music)
- Headed out for practice #1 on Friday, qualifying.
Sun's out, which is nice.
- You know, when the sun's out?
- Guns out.
Hey I don't have those, relax.
- We're in Seattle for the 5th stop
of the Formula Drift tour,
and I love this track, I'm absolutely pumped.
It's fast, it's dangerous,
and I really feel like that's gonna
suit the Corvette well.
- I'm sitting eighth right now in points,
I really need that bump. I've done it before,
I've podiumed here, I feel like I have no excuse.
I should be able to do well again,
and I really need those points.
- Call Matt Field.
Yeah, couple of notes.
Falken asked me to come out,
make sure everything's running smooth.
They both did really well in the last event.
They were thinking maybe a little Pumph
magic might be what takes them over the top
here in Seattle.
(laughing)
Okay, so next time I want you to try this.
- The track in Seattle is a long straight away
to the first outer zone.
This is one of the longest outer zones
in all of Formula Drift.
And as you start coming off the outer zone,
you have to push wide to driver's left
which is the touch and go, the edge of the track.
Once you hit the touch and go,
snap the car as hard as you possibly can,
downshift into outer zone two.
Soon as you're done with outer zone two,
you have to pull off immediately
because there's inner clip one
that you must get, right in front of the judges.
You transition the car as hard as possible,
hit inner clip two, and finish to driver's left
nice and wide.
(rock music)
- If you qualify well,
you have an easier time in a bracket, especially top 30.
Sometimes that's that little bit that it takes
to get on the podium.
Kinda put a lot of pressure on myself
to do well here because,
well, I've done it before
I've gotta do that again.
- Oh yeah, guys I've got this one.
- What's that set to?
Eight?
- 80, 80 is perfect.
- 100.
- 325.
There goes two of the bravest men I've ever met.
(upbeat rock music)
(engine revving)
- Went pretty good actually,
got a 93 on my first run which I'm very happy about.
Watching the rest of the drivers on the livestream
with Dai.
I tied for first, then bumped to second,
I think I'm sitting in third.
This is an important one, James Deane right here.
(groaning)
(rock music)
(engine revving)
- So going into qualifying,
I saw a bunch of people flying off,
approaching the touch and go, so I was like
alright, maybe there's not a lot of grip.
I was a little bit too safe there,
and because of that I was only scored a 90.
Good, but the top ten were sitting on 90s,
time to throw down.
(rock music)
- We're up on the roof of the trailer,
Matt's about to go for his second qualifying round.
(engine revving)
Tried to go off for a yank,
run number two, got a 90,
trying to improve.
- I'd initiated into the bank, I was on the wall,
probably closer than I'd been all weekend,
I was like this is just perfect, yes!
I tried to rotate the car,
I didn't quite get the rotation that I wanted,
And as soon as I pulled the handbreak, womp.
(engine revving, tires screeching)
Rear ended the wall.
(crowd cheering)
- Hey, got a zero! (groans)
- Just terrible.
- Womp, womp.
- I'm convinced you just wanna stay at the track
late tonight.
- The more weight you loose during the run,
the faster you'll go,
so I think Matt tried doing that a little earlier
but he knocked too much weight off,
and he wasn't used to being that light.
- Oh, I was in it on the wall
just dialed.
Soon as I added angle, I was - Oh yeah.
- Felt the wheel touch the wall.
Never good.
- Yeah, Matt's crash,
probably just a little bit of lack of experience
driving outside of his skill set so,
gotta keep up with the big dogs.
(laughing)
- Fortunately it's all cosmetic,
we're sitting 12th going into tomorrow,
I really wanna do well here.
The car can, and it's just up to me.
(guitar music)
- Sick lift.
This is the Falken lifestyle.
Whoah, whoah,
slow down Aaron.
- Be right back,
just dropping the babes off.
(rock music)
- I might have touched the wall but I have a coloring book.
(laughing)
Odi where's your coloring book?
- You know, Odi's daughter--
- How many qualifying runs did you complete?
- Odi's daughter specifically asked
for a coloring book.
She's gonna be there sitting in the pits, coloring,
Odi's gonna be staring at it.
- So all them parts you mopped up off your car?
Those going winched?
- I make a killing, man!
(rock music)
Top 32 we have Dean Kearney.
- This guy Dean?
Well he's an animal if he's pissed off,
and he's pissed off right now so.
[Dan] Last time these two went together was
the worst crash I've been involved in.
- [Matt] Now, Dean and I
have had our fair share of tussles.
(crashing, crowd yelling)
Dean smashed into me, made me crash into the wall.
If you guys don't remember the crash in Montreal
that led to my car falling off the tow truck,
Dean told me straight to my face,
"I'm gonna wreck you into the wall, you pikey!"
- I always tell him, don't talk to Dean
before you go with him,
because you guys are knuckleheads, both of you.
They're both the same people.
- They are, hotheads.
- [Announcer] Alright, Matt Field, Dean Kearney,
all American vehicles.
Send it fellas.
Matt Field, the beast from the bay, initiates,
look at Matt Field high on the bank.
- Fortunately enough, the car's fast enough
that we were able to stay clear.
(engine revving)
- You gotta get up on him, bud.
He was no slouch.
Do your thing, throw the jab.
(engine revving)
- [Announcer] Dean up front,
Matt field in the chase position,
the beast from the bay, and just look at this guy,
just ripping through that bank.
- [Matt] He has a fast car, but ours is too.
And it almost made my job a little bit easier,
because I could push hard behind him.
All I needed to do was apply a little bit
of pressure around the bank,
stick with him throughout the rest of the track,
and we're gonna get the win.
We cross the finish line,
it goes to the judges,
all three judges goes in our favors.
- [Announcer] Matt Field gets the victory.
- I don't see where it says Bakchis, Bakchis.
- He's got that one.
- Vankirk? - Think Vankirky's got that?
- I dunno, Vankirk gave him a good run last time.
- He'll do fine.
- I dunno, Odi might have a tough battle.
(rock music)
- It's been a lot of Vankirk this year.
Beat him that other time,
I gotta make sure I do that again.
Statistics,
sometimes kinda worry me when that happens, so.
(engine revving)
This is my third time battling Vankirk.
He drives an S13, fairly mild build,
but he's been getting better and better.
- [Announcer] Vankirk, a Formula Drift rookie,
Odi Bakchis,
both of these guys with the LS.
- I led cause I qualified higher
- [Announcer] Odi very dominant,
very comfortable in this S-chassis,
- [Odi] I just set a really good pace.
- [Announcer] Odi Bakchis, out to the touch and go,
Bang, switches it up,
gets out to the second outer zone,
tight to the front clip.
- [Odi] When it was my turn to follow Vankirk,
just kinda played it safe, stuck it to his door,
but left myself a little bit of cushion.
Coming off the bank, I could feel that he
had a lot of momentum, maybe a little too much,
and he went a little too deep.
- [Announcer] Big angle there from Vankirky,
- [Odi] I kept my composure, tucked behind him
and finished up the rest of the course.
I got the win.
- [Announcer] Odi advances on.
(rock music)
- All the guys are ready, they're feeling good.
This is as far as I can take them.
It's go time.
It's time to let these baby birds fly.
- Now Odi and myself are both going into the top 16,
and I have a pretty tough battle.
It's against Fredric Aasbo.
(rock music)
Fredric Aasbo is a previous champion.
He's a high-caliber driver,
and he's fast, he's driving on point this weekend,
we knew the battle was going to be difficult.
I had to pull everything out, drive hard,
not make any mistakes.
- Yeah there you go, there you go, there you go.
Yeah, yeah.
- Just in case something happens,
- Gotta run out there.
- Yeah.
- Yeah, be prepared.
Be limber.
Yeah, you're pretty flexible!
Oh, you're bending your knees.
- I think in the speed arena, we're a little faster.
We've just gotta play it cool,
Matt's got his head on straight this round,
I believe in him, I think we could do
a real, real, real good job against Aasbo
and possibly take the win, I hope so.
- [Announcer] Fredric Aasbo, Matt Field,
seven times going against each other,
Matt Field's only won one of those times.
Alright here we go, Aasbo initiates into the wall,
Matt Field right there,
that's just what we were expecting.
(dramatic rock music)
- I know when I initiate I need to be right there,
right on his door, apply pressure immediately.
- [Announcer] The beast from the bay,
his claws are out, the fangs are out,
- [Matt] Coming off the bank
is where things got a little messy.
- [Announcer] Fangs are out, And he is knocking on the door
- [Matt] He's two tires off the track,
I kinda just gave him a chest bump,
but he took the hit like a man,
was able to close back up, finish up the run.
- From the video it looks like he bumped him
with the left rear.
- [Matt] The judges actually deemed the hit Fredric's fault,
since he was flying off the track,
and gave us ten minutes to look over the car.
But, honestly, the car took the hit really well.
We realign it, move some panels out of the way,
and go back out for our lead run.
(upbeat music)
- [Announcer] Here we go.
- [Matt] At this point,
I don't need to run away from anybody,
I don't need to fly off the track and do anything stupid,
Just hit my marks.
I ran outer zone one all the way out to the wall,
came off the bank in the right place,
zone two was on point, hit inner clip one,
hit inner clip two,
finished off the run.
And it went to the judges.
Unanimously, us.
- [Announcer] Matt Field gets the win!
Make some noise, Seattle.
- We won!
I just got Carlos to repaint all this stuff,
and now it's just thrashed,
but it's okay, cause we're moving on.
- That was really good
- Woo-hoo!
- I didn't see ya, but I saw your shift past in and--
- Oh yeah.
Chest bump Tom!
- It's still greasy out there?
- Yeah, I'm not telling you to slow down earlier,
but I'm saying it's not any more grippy than practice.
- Okay, that's all I need to know.
- Kill it dog.
- For top 16, I battled Matt Coffman.
And I qualified higher,
I'm very confident when I have to go up
for top 16 with Matt.
- [Announcer] Well we've seen Coffman
have some success here,
almost got a podium a few years back,
Odi Bakchis fighting for a championship,
this is a pinnacle event for him.
Bakchis, eye on the bank,
nice job by him.
- [Odi] The first round, everything went pretty smooth,
I felt good.
(engines revving)
- [Announcer] Sticking it close to old transitions
into that second outer zone,
(engines revving)
All out there, flex in closer,
Odi Bakchis, whoah,
wide swing by Odi and Coffman.
- Except for the last turn,
and I went a little wide,
but I kept my composure.
I was feeling overall happy about the first run.
(rock music)
When we switched, he was smooth
which allowed me to just charge hard
and keep an even proximity to his car,
all the way around the track.
I got on his door at the bank,
and I just kept that same proximity throughout,
and the last transition I actually inched
a little closer to his car,
tapped my front bumper just a tiny little bit,
that's as close as I'd ever wanna get,
and I just finished off the run.
Me and Matt Coffman are sitting there at the line,
waiting for the judges' verdict,
I was feeling pretty confident.
I'm just focused about moving on.
And it's taken a little while for the decision,
and I go, oh man, I hope it's not a one more time.
- [Announcer] Ryan says Matt Coffman.
- Andy says one more time.
- And, Brian says
Matt Coffman gets the win taking out
Odi Bakchis.
- [Odi] I really thought I had that one.
- I guess we're all surprised.
I didn't even second guess that you were
low on the bank at all.
- [Odi] Really?
- Like, zero.
- [Odi] Okay.
Well we'll look at the video
and see what it looks like, so.
Bummer.
Was feeling really good today.
- Yeah.
(groans)
- [Odi] Hey this is drifting, anything could happen.
From inside the car, it didn't feel that bad.
From the outside of the car it could be
a whole different story, so
I'll have to replay some of that footage
and hopefully learn something from here.
(engines revving)
- Got the W.
James Deane time.
(rock music)
- [Matt] Going into the great eight, this is it.
This might as well be the finals,
that's how hard I'm driving.
What can you say about James Deane,
except for he is just on point.
Last year's champion,
driving like a beast,
and obviously coming right from Jersey
beating me and I got second place.
There's only one way to look at this.
Follow hard, be up in their business,
then when you switch positions,
lead fast, lead hard,
and do your thing.
- [Announcer] We are seeing James Deane, Matt Field.
We saw some amazing battles from them in New Jersey.
Here we go.
(engines revving)
Field initiates, right there in that wish,
Falken tires, Corvette
- [Matt] Coming off the bank is really where things
got a little bit interesting.
He slowed down and pulled off the bank,
so I did the same,
but then he immediately grabbed the handbrake
and moved onto a higher line.
So then I'm just kinda stuck on a lower line.
Finish out the run, overall pretty good.
- [Announcer] Matt Field will lead,
James Deane will give chase.
- When we switched positions,
it's almost the exact same run.
He initiates right on my door,
- [Announcer] Matt Field, great angle there,
James Deane mimicking that angle,
look at the hands on the wheel.
- I kinda stayed high coming off the bank
so he didn't have any of the drop down stuff
- [Announcer] Matt Field throwing down some power,
Deane right there.
- [Matt] Finished solid, no major mistakes from me,
none from him.
- [Announcer] And man, wow!
- [Matt] Went to the judges,
the judges put so much emphasis on the main bank,
as they do at a lot of tracks that have a bank.
I watched the runs, I'm like,
ah, I could've done this, should've done that.
Went to the judges,
they favored James.
- [Announcer] James Deane gets the win.
James Deane advances on.
- It was like dead even.
Freaking follow run was awesome.
I dunno how they gave it to Deane.
- After watching the round I think he won.
I just was a little bit shallower following than he was.
- That was awesome initiation.
(groans)
- So close, again.
This time, knocked out in the great eight.
Honestly, I'm happy,
gotta remember we got good points,
the car is performing flawlessly,
it's fast, it's drivable,
so there's a lot of good things to take out of it.
- We lost. (chuckles)
It was pretty darn close, we were getting ready
for a one more time there,
and a little bit of proximity maybe in zone two
was the issue.
But car ran great, Matt drove like an animal,
and we'll get 'em next round.
- Matt and I, we both run Holley products.
I love them, they're simple.
He makes it not so simple.
Matt, what is all this stuff you got going on over here?
- Odi, I need some complexity in my life.
I run EGT sensors, I run drive-by-wire,
progressive nitrous,
I do all of those things.
That's really the beauty of Holley.
It's quality stuff, you buy the product,
you put it on your car,
you go perform.
(electrical humming)