Smokin’ Teesside…BDC Round 3

As we hit the middle of The British Drift Championship 2015 season, Teesside Autodrome was the next venue that was going to be victim of many played tyres.

Teesside uses its ‘National’ circuit layout for the Championship, which many drivers favour as it has a mix on quick and slow bends making it a technical but fun set up. Judges mixed it up a bit using different clipping points and excluded the popular final corner, which I thought was initially a bit disappointing but it did make a difference as to which drivers ended up where.

We had a fine attendance of Irish drivers this round to stir things up – Tom Murphy, Robert Barnett & Nigel Moody.

And with the Irish drivers came the hero that is John Shanahan and his ‘fix all’ abilities, rebuilding his son Jacks gearbox over the Saturday night…

PRO-AM Saturday

Pro-AM Practice I spent my morning on the line talking to drivers and getting shots before everybody went out, strolling about gave me time to fully appreciate just how far the cars and their presentation/ preparation has come.

As practice continued on I spoke to more drivers, some gaining confidence and some struggling, regardless of this qualifying was just around the corner…

Qualifying went on with a few Dramas, one being James Roberts in his DriftBuild Toyota Corolla as he lost a wheel on his way to finishing his first run.

The Championship this year has a feeder series called “Drift Cup”. The top 3 drivers from Drift Cup gain the chance to compete in the British Drift Championship and depending on how they qualify, they stay in the championship. The Drift Cup drivers were on form. Jamie Owen ‘put it’ into 2nd place in the Pro-AM qualifying table gaining him his BDC License.

On to the ‘Battles’, Teesside was action packed as always!

I took a walk around the spectator viewing area to get a view shots and witnessed some awesome proximity from drivers, Nathan Chivers chasing down Stu Egdell was a battle I really took a liking too as they hammered it out around Teessides South Bank Corner.

Also Matt Stevenson in the Slide Motorsport BMW E92 chasing down one of The Bakery Squad E30’s made me smile, its tough to beat two BMW’s, old and new, powered by big V8’s smoking the place out. Always a good sight!

We also got the pleasure of seeing Slide Motorsport drivers Adam Simmons in his R33 Skyline take on Team mate Matt, Matt going through to take 2nd place on the podium after Brad Wallbank and Martin Wonnacott. First place was secured Louis ‘Geldy’ Geldart who in my eyes was showing strong and consistent form all of Saturday. Well Done lads.

PRO Sunday

Pro Practice was hidden by clouds of smoke when the cars hit the track – smoke taps were opened.

Jack Shanahan got out for some practice in his BMW M3 Turbo powered S14 but kept it steady due to gearbox issues.

The top 4 drivers from Pro-AM that made it though to PRO were Matt Stevenson of Slide Motorsport, Martin Wonnacott, Louis Geldart and Brad Wallbank.

Taking the ‘number 1’ qualifying place was Martin Richards in the Evergreen tyres R33 Skyline.

After the lunch break our ‘TOP 32 battles’ got to parade around track in front of the crowd and had chance to chat to the crowd about their cars and teams…

The ‘TOP 32’ of Pro got opened by Paul “Smokey”Smith against local lad Ian”Bizz”Phillips.

Mike Marshall took out Jo Fletcher after putting in a strong proximity chase run.

One for the crowds was Jack Shanahan taking on Paul Cheshire with Shanahan taking the win.

Matt Stevenson from the Pro-AM Class met Shane O’Sullivan who put in a blinding chase run knocking Matt out.

Pro witnessed some incredibly close battles including this of Dan Firmer and Robert Barnett…

Louis Geldart combined with Rich Grindrod are a cloud making dream.

One battle I was hoping would go like the year before was Marc Huxley against Mark Luney…this battle went to sudden death last year and did so again this year with Luney taking the advantage.

Martin Richards day came to an end after Matt Carter knocked him out.

Simon Perry in the GTR Skyline went up against Paul Smith and this battle was a really close one with Paul Smith taking the win after a one more time.

We eventually got to our finals and there was a bit of a wait as Shanahan was having gearbox problems which unfortunately could not be resolved, resulting in the final podium consisting of

3rd – Matt Carter Team Falken