Lone Star Drift: Round 1

Well, the battle has been fought.  After finishing the LS swap (to be discussed later) around 8pm, the drift car was loaded and on its way to Houston for the 10 hour haul.  And that was just the beginning.  In order to pass tech, the doors, hood, trunk, and many other panels had to be reassembled on the vehicle.

LS motor...pushing the smoke.

With some help from friends, "Kim" was assembled and passed Tech inspection.  With that behind the team, it was on to learning the new motor, and its relationship with the car.  Kim's new heart was incredible.  The amount of smoke and grip that it put out was sheer giddiness.  Still, there was a lot of learning to do before qualifying in a few hours.

At the end of Day 1, Axle qualified 9th out of 50 drivers.  We were all excited.  That was a win, considering such little seat time.  Day 2 came with more learning.  And although we qualified well, we still had a series to compete in.  Where we finished that day would tell us where we stood starting out.

Top 32: Stephen Bayles.  We have seen Stephen compete before, and he's no noob when it comes to drifting.  His tenacity doesn't make our first round an easy task.  But with some careful and aggressive driving, Axle was able to walk away with the win and moved up to Top 16.

"Axle" Riser vs Stephen Bayles

Top 16: Travis Heath.  The battle with Travis is actually kinda funny.  Several years back, Travis was a spectator with aspirations of drifting.  Not sure what to do, he asked Axle during an event what he needed to do to start getting into the sport.  With some friendly, advice of getting a 240, setting the suspension correctly and learn how to drive the stock KA motor...Travis set out to do just that, and he did a fantastic job.  Although Axle won this round, Travis didn't let it go without everything he had.

Top 8: Ian Trinidad.  We had been at an event with Ian before.  I recall best at our final Round in 2013 at the Texas Motor Speedway.  Ian is no doubt a fighter, and wouldn't prove to be an easy battle either.  His car was set up well.  And most believed him to be the top contender for the competition.  How could you blame them? He was, of course, the top qualifier for the event.  However, Axle pulled another W, advancing him to the Top 4.

Top 4: Randall Waters.  Newcomers this year put Team MSA in a world of unknown.  Who were these drivers, and how well do they drive?  It doesn't help that we sat out last year to regroup.  This round ended our climb up the ladder.

The fight for 3rd or 4th place: Harrison Johnson.  Another unknown driver to Axle and Team MSA, it was a go for it.  Axle was on our last set of tires.  During the lead run, the tires had already gone slick.  And with the LS motor behind it, "Kim" spun out, almost causing a collision.  Harrison responded correctly, and both cars were saved.  Being the match went to Harrison, Axle did a crazy burnout, accepting Team MSA's placement at 4th.

Satisfied, this doesn't leave Team MSA at the top of the board, but it doesn't leave us at the bottom either.  Now...time to gear up for Round 2.  We didn't have time to cosmetically prep the girl, so we will use this time to do that.