at Formula D Sonoma 2009 and back . . . . .

This year's Formula D Sonoma was a little different
because we were combined with the IRL.
So, the competition started on Thursday with the
single run elimination.

As usual, us priveteers were grouped together.
Matt & "Mattley Crew", and Driftspeed were next to us !!

Across in front of us were Joon and Mike Essa.

Here's the "voice of Formula D" J-Rod doing a special
tribute to the surviving AE86's in the FD circuit.

Top 32 tandem battle on Friday.
Matt vs Tanner
&
Taka vs Miki

I really wanted Miki Taka (2009 Miss Formula D)
to be the starter flag girl for this match !!!

For the unfortunate drivers who lost in the top 32
tandem battle, they had a fortunate chance to
drift the full-track for the Formula D IRL
drift demo on Saturday !!

I was so jealous !! I almost took my daily IS300
and drove onto the track . . . hahaha!!!

Little action from IRL qualifying session.

And I spent the rest of the day chilling and sitting back
watching the Top 16 battle.

As all of you know already, Ken Gushi got 2nd place !!!
Look at that nice carbon fiber trophy !!

Congratulation for the whole RS-R team, Scion, Toyo tires,
Gushi family, and the guys at Hiro's Auto Repair of Costa Mesa
for their massive hard work for the last two years to
achieve this position !!!

Also, Ryuji Miki who beat Taka in the top 32 got third place
podium too !!! Both Ken and Miki were driving awesome :D


After we all got back to Los Angeles, we celebrated
Ken and Miki's podium finishes with our closest JDM
friends at Kappo Honda in Fountain Valley.

And yes, congrats to Dai and the team Falken/Discount
for busting their rear-ends to build that new V8
S13 in only 9days and getting their first top 32 win !!

Here's Ken after dinner.....

Must be tired after the eventful weekend !

Or

Maybe he's already image training the ideal perfect runs
for the final round in Irwindale !?!?

Here's a short clip of the full track demo...
(sorry for the bad video, i was doing pit crew and video at the same time...)

Pat, Taka, Cody, Matt, & Jeff ripping it up !!!