■Sports Class
The Sports Class, designed for drift beginners and those getting used to drift controls, and open to both AWD and RWD machines, featured 8 participants this time and was conducted using the roulette judging method.
Ryu Papa, who showed off stunning drifts from the qualifying rounds without missing almost any of the two clips, clinched the victory with an impressive performance in both qualifying and the finals. Fumi-san took 2nd place with very stable drift runs from the start. 3rd place went to Same-san, who came out on top after a fierce battle among the participants.
■AWD Expert Class
The AWD Expert Class is limited to AWD vehicles, and both qualifying and the finals were judged based on single-run point totals.
In qualifying, Itchi-san delivered a brilliant drift run to secure the top spot. Cutter-san followed closely in 2nd place. The finals consisted of two single-run judging rounds, with Kawahara-san posting a high score early on. Cutter-san, who had shown excellent driving in the qualifiers, unfortunately made mistakes on both runs, possibly due to pressure, and missed out on the win. Finally, Itchi-san, our top qualifier, outperformed Kawahara-san’s score in his first run of the final, securing the victory.
■AWD D1 Class
For the AWD D1 Class, qualifying was based on single-run points, while the finals featured a tandem tournament for the top 8. Participants posted high scores with fantastic driving from the qualifying stage.
Among them, Takujin-san secured the top seed with a sharp drift performance. Mak-san took 2nd place after improving his score on his third attempt. The finals were a tandem tournament, leading to a semifinal clash between tournament favorites Takujin-san and Gorugo-san. It was a spectacular match, but Gorugo-san defeated Takujin-san to advance to the final. The other semifinal featured local Aichi driver Shin-kun, who qualified 3rd, against 2nd-place qualifier Mak-san. After a 5-5 tie in the first tandem run, Shin-kun secured the points in the second to advance to the final. The 3rd place match was between Mak-san and Takujin-san; after a 5-5 tie in the first run, the points gap in the second run gave Mak-san the 3rd place position. The championship match was between Gorugo-san and Shin-kun. After a 5-5 tie in the first tandem run, Gorugo-san gained the advantage in the second run to claim the victory.
■RWD Expert Class
With a large number of participants, the RWD Expert Class featured single-run judging for qualifiers and a tandem tournament for the top 16.
The RWD Expert Class, which attracts top-tier drivers from various events, saw a high-level qualifying session where a maximum score of 100 was achieved. This perfect score was recorded by Takujin-san, who qualified 1st in the AWD D1 class, and Takeyan-san from the Kansai region. Although both scored a perfect 100, Takeyan-san took the top qualifying spot due to the difference in secondary points. 3rd place went to Nagashime-san from the Kanto region, who secured his spot with a near-perfect drift run.
The finals featured a notable first-round matchup between Takeyan-san and Drift Meeting champion Gorugo-san. While Gorugo-san gained an advantage in the first tandem run, Takeyan-san reclaimed it in the second, forcing a sudden death. Takeyan-san eventually won the sudden death to advance to the quarterfinals. Another intense first-round battle was between 5th-place qualifier Kirin-san and FuruBoh-san. After three sudden death rounds, Kirin-san emerged victorious to reach the quarterfinals. In the semifinals, it was Sho-go-san vs. Kirin-san, and Nagashime-san vs. Takujin-san. Both matches went to sudden death, resulting in Sho-go-san and Nagashime-san advancing to the final. Despite another sudden death round in the final, Sho-go-san successfully defeated Nagashime-san to take the championship.
Finally, we would like to thank Hobby Shop TamTam Nagoya for their cooperation in the event's operation, all the participants who joined us, and our sponsor, RC-ART.
We are committed to making our future events even more enjoyable for everyone, and we appreciate your continued support.
The next Drift Meeting will be the Drift Meeting Special Round 2019, to be held over three days from Friday, December 13th to Sunday, December 15th at Yatabe Arena in Ibaraki Prefecture. It will feature a special program, including participation from overseas drivers, the YDS judging system, and MC Manabu Suzuki. We look forward to seeing you there.