British Drift Championship Round 5 – Grand Finale Invasion

The final round of the British Drift Championship would see the drivers championship decided in both the Pro-Am and Pro categories

The conclusion to the 2018 British Drift Championship saw a return to the venue where it began – at the Rockingham Motor Speedway with a record-selling audience in attendance. The last round of the championship also attracted a wider international base of drivers as drivers from Australia, France and the United States also took part in addition to the British and Irish mainstay of competitors. Despite the anticipation of both championships being concluded, this would be the final event of the championship as it was known since over the past three years since its ownership and had changed hands ahead of the 2019 season.

The Pro-Am category took part on 20^th October where 19-year-old Ulsterman Lee Scott, leading the championship by 41 points, would secure the title by winning his first battle in the Top 32, which he achieved by beating Lisa Branch to qualify for the Top 16. However, Scott’s progress would be halted in his Great 8 battle against Paul Cunnington due to an overly aggressive chase that resulted in a collision between the drivers during the expected deceleration phase of the drift. Unfortunately, this would culminate in a pyrrhic victory for Cunnington as his S14 Nissan Silvia would suffer damage to the steering, which couldn’t be repaired in time to battle Andrew Earle in the Top 4, who would progress to the final by default.

With Cunnington no longer in contention, 3^rd place was guaranteed to be awarded to either Ryan Caldwell or Alistair Sutton Raw in the second Top 4 battle. While both drivers showed great technical proficiency in both runs of their battle, Caldwell was able to exploit his S15 Nissan Silvia’s substantial power advantage over Sutton’s E36 BMW 328i, opening and extending a gap when leading from his rival. Caldwell would be able to maintain proximity to Sutton and mirror his moves when the former chased in the second part of the battle. While Earle made a valiant effort in both his chase and lead runs, the judges voted in favour of Caldwell in the final run for both runs, handing the Strabanian victory in the final round of the 2018 British Drift Championship’s Pro-Am category.

In the Pro category taking place on 21^st October, a clean sweep of victories in the first four rounds of the 2018 BDC all but assured Duane McKeever of claiming the championship. Reflecting the Pro-Am championship standings the previous day, only a top 16 finish was necessary for McKeever to take an unassailable points lead ahead of his nearest rival in the championship, Driftworks’ Martin Richards who had an almost unbeatable 2nd place standing ahead of the 2017 BDC champion Matt Carter who had an outside chance of pipping Richards to second.

As the top qualifier for the Top 32 battles, McKeever led the first battle to for the Top 16, pitted against Ian Phillips. Car problems for Phillips contributed to an over-rotation in both his chase and lead runs whereas McKeever did virtually faultless runs as lead and chase, not only progressing to the Top 16 battle but also seeing the Irishman crowned as the 2018 British (and Irish) Drift champion. The Northern Smoke Machine would also go through to the Great 8 after beating Martin Wonnacott. Having qualified to compete in the Pro category with his podium finish, Alistair Sutton would go on to compete against 15-year-old Conor Shanahan, who had been touring across Europe in 2018. However, Sutton’s foray into the Pro category would be short-lived as his power deficit would see him suffer a repeat result from the previous day despite a faultless technical performance. Caldwell and Earle would progress to the Top 16 – though Caldwell took a further three wins, Earle’s victory was arguably achieved from Ellmore effectively being disqualified from his chase for failing to maintain his drift though he would not advance beyond the Top 16. For the final Top 16 spot, the “Lithuanian Lunatic” Aurimas Vaskelis knocked Matt Carter out, proceeding to take successive wins against Team Japspeed cars as he would also beat Mathew Denham in the Great 8.

Having caused an upset in the last round of the Irish Drift Championship, Conor Shanahan would seek to end Duane McKeever’s unbeaten streak in the BDC’s Great 8. Unfortunately for the wunderkind an ECU malfunction would cause him to spin on his lead run, handing the Top 4 position to his compatriot. McKeever didn’t leave the battle unscathed as he would have to continue battling without a working clutch. The newly-crowed 2018 British Drift Champion put an end to a string of wins achieved by BDC debutant Antoine Amar, hailing from France, despite his car troubles and thus secured his place in the final. The second battle for the final would see Vaskelis contend with Caldwell, both of whom showed rapid pace in their previous runs and in their Top 4 battle. While Caldwell was able to keep proximity to Vaskelis, the Northern Irishman couldn’t match the Lithuanian’s angle during the drift, resulting the in judges voting marginally in the latter’s favour. As a consolation, Caldwell would win the 3^rd/4^th playoff against Amar for the final step on the podium, affirming most views that he is an amateur in name only.

The final poised a genuine dichotomy of drivers with McKeever’s technical proficiency competing against Vaskelis’ unbridled aggression. Vaskelis was able to maintain a close distance to McKeever with an especially bold dive chasing down the Irishman toward the end of the first run. Straightening up briefly during his chase down on Vaskelis and losing proximity appeared to be the only mistakes by McKeever in his stricken Nissan 180SX. Having sold his E30 BMW prior to the final round of the championship, Aurimas Vaskelis would give his car a dream send-off as he was awarded winner of Round 5 of the 2018 British Drift Championship, breaking the Northern Smoke Machine’s winning streak. This victory proved decisive the Pro driver standings as Vaskelis’ victory would help him leapfrog Matt Carter to claim third place overall ahead of the Englishman while Martin Richards’ 2^nd place was confirmed by scoring more than 7 points.

The following day, the new owner of the British Drift Championship was announced, ending weeks of speculation. Matt Stevenson of Slide Motorsport was confirmed to be taking the reins from Zigen Promotions after three years of the latter’s leadership under David Egan. Stevenson is understood to have great ambitions for 2019, not just to grow the BDC further but expand drifting as a whole from a driver and fan perspective in the UK.