Jun/090
ThunderDrift 2009 Round 3
Willows, CA - ThunderDrift held Round 3 of its competition series over Father’s Day weekend, with the top drivers returning to defend their positions. “This was a great event,” said Thunderdrift organizer Geoff Pitts. “I was surprised by the improvements in skill made by several drivers, and very impressed by the first-time competitors. If they all come back, Round 4 will be very exciting.”
Luke from Blu808 brought out his newly-turbocharged LS1 S14 for a shakedown during the Saturday practice sessions. The 700hp beast wowed the spectators and other drivers alike, but he did run into a few issues with the car.
A few new drivers came out to the competition on Sunday and kept the regulars on their toes, who in turn had to step their own games up. Judges Luke Lonberger, Richard Kong, and Yusef Wallace laid out a challenging course that gave a lot of the drivers trouble. To make it more interesting, Wallace placed some of Lonberger’s extra bananas at the clipping points.
#15 Gabe Stone from San Jose showed everyone that his 3rd-gen Camaro wasn’t as bad as eveyone thought by qualifying 2nd in the Top 8 and moving on to the tandem rounds.
In the final round, the judges had Kado and Jacobs do a one-more-time and Jacobs narrowly clenched the win, giving him his first win of the season and his first time beating Kado as well. #9 Jared Thompson came in third, in front of #66 Andy Gillespie and Gabe Stone in 4th and 5th. Kado is still in the overall lead with 290 points, followed by Jacobs with 285 and Thompson with 260. Round 4 is on August 16.
