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It was time again to venture and see how far the Swedish Drifting scene has gone, with a highly staked (50 000:- SEK) BILSPORT Action Meet – or more in detail the Dotz Drifting Challenge! We were just a few weeks ago at a state of the art facility at TIERP ARENA and watched some decent runs but a damn tight ship in execution; and here the roles would be a bit reversed. Lets start with qualifiers! – – – – – Qualifiers: In what might have been the longest and most restless stage of the day, I took a seat in the audience stand and watched as 20 something cars tried to be one of the 16 that progressed. Naturally main focus was on SUPERIOR DRIFT, but having gotten to know everyone within the drifting circuit here in Sweden makes it even more interesting. We also had a few norwegian guests, and also a finnish one (very familiar) so the starting line-up was definitely as strong as it ever could have been. But back to the restlessness, because most of the runs where quite tedious and careful and you had to wait a while in between the single runs. The speaker was not properly ”warmed up” either, not really getting into the context of drifting to the audience- and probably not fed direct info from judges either. So we are all in for a quite *undramatic* narration of the event. For the driving at self, there were some highlights seeing the ”Big 5” in Sweden going at it. Guys like Johan Halvarsson, Limmet DrifTeam, Tokan of Raidopower and hungry veterans like Mikael Svensson and ”not so innocent” newcomer Daniel Björck really set things off far from the rest of the field. Was also incredibly amazed on Andreas Janssons first run which was jaw-droppingly good in my opinion. This guy has the chassis and skills, but seems to have lots of struggles on the technical side which is a shame. More cars noticed indeed were Christian Halvorssens Nissan Silvia S15 in the classic Gulf colors, a lot of rock and roll ”Gatebil style” but not a very high qualification spot. Things would tell it doesn’t matter much when the heat is on… Our own boys did not do more then to add competition experience this time around. Daniel Asp struggled badly and hit heavy sand with a big thump meaning he wasn’t totally nullified; but the other run was nothing to brag home with either. Gone from competition! Thompa Pettersson in the old Driftspeed Formula Drift S15 had higher hopes, but was shaky and just managed to qualify although he wasn’t the only one having problems. In summary, the qualifiers were struck in a bad way by limited training and too long waiting times. That makes absolutely nobody a happy camper… The scores finally looked something like this, my subjective views don’t mirror them do they: – – – – – Top 16: We’ll let the pics to most of the talking here, and if you get into it you will see how the Top 16 qualifiers eventually looked: (Halvarsson vs Pehrsson: Johan Halvarsson is by default the ”big dog” in any Swedish Drifting event he enters. And he barked down the S13 with R32 GT-R front pretty badly with an easy win.) (Andreas Jansson vs Dotz Drift: Being so good in the first round, I was expecting a lot from Andreas and he had a adrenaline-filled runs with the Dotz sponsors car; but surprisingly enough got eliminated.) (Mikael Svensson vs 7-series BMW: Mikael Svensson had high hopes for this event, the seasoned driver for Rockstar / Team SWR made short work of the big 7-series smoking him out!) (Dennis Martinsson vs Christian Halvorssen: Dubbed by ourselves as an underdog in any event, Martinsson in the Mercedes could have been in a breakthrough here- but it was not to cialis 30 day be here as Halvorssens norwegian thunder kicked in and he chased the hell out him!) (Limmet DrifTeam vs Superior Drift S15: A bit of a city-rivalery as Gothenburg regions Daniel ”Limmet” Liimatainen took on Thompa who hails from just outside Stockholm. In short words, some dirt and unknown ”boundaries crossed” in the first run; but Thompa could not handle the transition very well and ended his day in sand and without a rear bumper!). (Robin HA vs Fredrik Sjödin Heavy-hitting run just like we want it! Lots of wiiide angles and action. Shame Robin HA planted his car in the first sandbox in the second run, easy win for northerner Fredrik Sjödin.)   (Björck vs unknown: Daniel Björck has showed up with his VW V8 beast and : made many drifters afraid indeed. And in perhaps the smokiest first run, followed by the most aggressive chase-run; went on to Top 8.) (Tokan Raidopower vs Black Smoke Racing: The most interesting run of the Top 16, with an unfortunate seed for Tokan of free viagra pills Raidopower running into the mythical beast called Black Smoke Racing. We could go a lot into detail here, but it was damn close and personally I could have given Tokan the nod for keeping more distance, but it went to ”one more time”. Unfortunately Tokan let himself down there and hit sand in his first run, and was probably the most disappointed of all drivers after this weekend…) – – – – – Top 8: (Johan Halvarsson vs Dotz Drift: No mercy yet again shown by Johan ”Hollywood” Halvarsson. Nobody chases like him in Sweden, the Dotz car was an easy snack indeed.) (Halvorssen vs Svensson: Christian showed fearlessness from the S15 and chased Mike really well through think smoke- and then with his well-built machine really put on a clinic in speed going deeper into this and winning us over big time as fans!) (Limmet DrifTeam vs Sjödin: Good technical, but not spectacular driving by both leading to a ”OMT” (= One More Time) which was also close; but the man with the neon smiley stickers advance to the semi-finals.) (Daniel Björck vs Black Smoke Racing: This was the only battle I felt was a let-down, as Turbo+compressor and diesel fueled taking viagra with cialis Teemu Peltola got eliminated by Daniel Björck. A bit more speed and action was my analysis of why.) Semi-finals: (Halvarsson vs Halvorssen: Drop me a big can of OMG (OH MY GOD!) for this battle! The similarly named and joint S15 driving nut cases did the best driving I’ve experience live and did it TWICE! I had really warmed up to Christian Halvorssens Gulf S15 and his incredible speed in lead runs, but he pushed ”Hollywood” Halvarsson to be the true star that he is- and I can’t argue with the judges giving him the win. All in all, if you were here live and saw it in person… you won. Bigtime.) (Björck vs Limmet DrifTeam: Again with a rather unspectacular run involving Daniel Björck, he seemed clearly frustrated by Limmets pretty slow driving in the lead. But hitting a clipping-point with impact which sent the cone at my feet some 20m away did not help either. Daniel Liimatainen to the final vs ”Hollywood” it was!) – – – – – Third price: (Halvorssen vs Björck: Things got pretty heated here, Halvorssens Gatebil-like driving but with merciless accuracy was hard to handle for Daniel; who after the first run was bumped into after the finish- sparking a bit of emotions. In my opinion a perfect finish to the smokiest run of the day, controversy is good! Then in the lead, the gap was once again created which had taken Norways hope this far to finally seize a well-deserved top finish!) Final: (Johan ”Hollywood” Halvarsson vs Daniel ”Limmet DrifTeam” Liimatainen: No sense in describing this final run as it seemed fueled more about emotion then skills. Johan Halvarsson took his revenge from the previous Gatebil Mantorp debacle when Daniel eliminated him- and took first place and a nice sum of 20 000:- SEK at that. Congrats! (From the left: Daniel Liimatainen, Johan Halvarsson and Christian Halvorssen.) – – – – – [nggallery id=444] We hope you true fans of drifting appreciate this elaborate race report of Dotz Drifting challenge, and you newcomers to Drifting feel satisfied too. This was in terms of driving an awesome event, but needs a lot of work to make the whole experience truly shine. Just too delayed, but we thank BILSPORT for putting it on; and think that with some work in creating flow and less interruptions legitimate cialis online this could be the big finale it deserves to be…

After getting our  Superior Drift teams debut done at TIERP DRIFT CHALLENGE, we move on to our next competition which will be a good one- BILSPORT ACTION MEET 2012 and more specifically Dotz Drift Challenge!

We were only pleased with getting it over with, and hope to do better at a much faster track. This is a meet we have been to for many years in a row, and hope to have a lot of support.

(Picture by: Steffen Nilsen of Superior Drivers Club. Team Managers car; Soarer JZZ30)

The whole family & friends of Superior are invited here, as this is the only event that features the best in Dragracing, Drifting and showcars all at one place for one day.

Throw in a little Gymkhana and you’ve got most bases covered in the auto-enthusiast community, as our movie from last year proves very well. Something for everyone!

What will Superior be up to at this meet then? Lets find out:

Superior-family hospitality:

Family comes first, and we intend to have a nice stand on location where friends from past, present and future are more then welcome.

Expect plenty of coffee to be served and perhaps a little snack? Our event sponsors and different benefactors wont be disappointed.

Don’t be afraid to come by and say hi. All our cars from the Superior Drift team will be at your hands to take a photo in, children are extra welcome!

SUPERIOR SELECTED ”Ten of the best”:

We continue a tradition from most our meets we’ve done together with BILSPORT MAGAZINE who is our host for this meet.

The concept is simple, we pick ten cars that hit our stomach and hearts the most. Among previous winners you can find icons in the Swedish car culture scene such as Roland aka ”Dub-Rolle” and Christoffer Geiros:

(Rolands awe-inspiring Corolla made our jaws drop during ELMIA CUSTOM AND MOTORSHOW 2012, and was then in full domino-effect to conquer the world with features on SPEEDHUNTERS.COM and many other big media outlets.)

(The first ever ”Ten of the best” winner was Christoffer Geiros and his simply put s i c k Audi A4 build. This was during the CUSTOM & MOTORSHOW 2011.)

As usual you can expect us to come shoot a lot of video, so we can make a new movie of this years meet. But also to have a really good time and spread positive vibes in this last (?) truly big meet of the year in Sweden.

(The full squadron that is Superior Drift will be at Mantorp Park this weekend, and hope to make some noise in the 50 000:- SEK drift competition. Pic by our friend JALLEGRAPHICS!)

We would like to think BILSPORT for the continuous support, and truly appreciate them for hosting us and believing in what we do at Superior.

There will be several event sponsors and maybe a few surprises to announce as well, but keep looking at OUR FACEBOOK for the spontaneous ones while the big news drop here!

The smell of tiresmoke from the Final 16 at Tierp Drift Challenge is still fresh on our clothes, and we’re getting you up to date with a summary right here right now!

This was probably Swedens most prestigeous Drift competition yet, set at the newly built TIERP ARENA– you just couldn’t ask for better ingredients to showcase the sport.

Pictures are screenshots filmed by Daniel ”O’SNAP” Hovdahl for us, and we hope top present a few finished videos in the near future with the best from this event. Enjoy!

– – – – –

Qualification:

In three qualifying attempts you had your two best results place you into a classic ”top vs bottom” format. Only the Top 16 qualified, and suddenly people knew you had to be sharp from the first practice to get somewhere.

Kudos to the Swedish Motorsport Federation who decided on this format, as the competetive part of drifting up to this point in Sweden has been a little ”undemanding” on the drivers.

Therfor some were unfortunate, like our buddy Andreas Jansson in his Bad Ass Parts sponsored S13; who discovered his turbo had crapped out in the first run… and then an all-nighter later stood on the line without practice and eventually missed out.

Better luck next time mate!

Our own Superior Drift debut was of mixed results. Daniel Asp in the Rocket Bunny LS2 powered S14 drive ran solidly.

When he had already posted two runs that would take him on, he decided to ”crazy up” a bit and actually put on quite a show picking out each clipping point like a champ (although unintentially and just on the wrong side of margin):

Another big incident during qualifiers was ”Tokan” of Raidopower and a harsh backwards crash into the concrete wall.

In the corner of my eye, and it didn’t seem bad at first; but after some pit heroics straightening it out- he was lucky not more was busted in the drivetrain etc. Look at the carnage!

Damn impressed by this VW Golf with a V8 driven by a Mr. Björck, whose brother is a driver in the TTA Elite league of racing:

Apparantly driving skills run in this family, and the car itself had many people more then impressed…

At this moment the best we could get in order to follow the qualifying was this pic of the Top 16 tree.

 

So just click the picture and make out the best you can from it!

– – – – –

Top 16:

For the finals I actually drew the short straw of the whole spectators experience, just seeing plenty of the big corner action and not the final more technical part.

The idea for the layout was for it to be totally dedicated for the huge rafters of audience, and I definately think they got their moneys worth.

Drivers were also extremely positive, Johan ”Hollywood” Halvarsson said he really had the ”time of his life” driving here.

Big positive words coming from the by far most established and respected ”semi-pro” drifter we have in Sweden…

Too bad our own Thompa Pettersson had to run into him as the opener, but he refused to be a sacrifical lamb and put up a decent fight in especially the first run- but ”Hollywood” passed on deservedly.

Upsets along the way were few, some established drivers like Mikael ”wunderbaum” Svensson spun out, while birthday boy ”Mad Mange” Magnusson gave us the hardest crash of the weekend:

We really hope he will with the aid of sponsors get his custom built Opel Calibra together very soon. Always big fans of something different…

Daniel Asp also spun out misjudging his speed trying to catch up northerner Jim Olofsson in his E30 BMW. They did in our humble opionion bring us the tightest follow-up run though:

Rounding things of here, the final four consisted of the following:

Daniel Björk (VW Golf V8) vs ”Tokan” of Raidopower

Johan Halvarsson S15 2JZ vs Dennis Martinsson Mercedes E190

Controversy in the judging of the first semi, but series leader ”Tokan” eventually advanced after a ”one more time”- while Halvarsson made short work of Dennis ”Dempa” Martinssons very nice sounding Merc Turbo to get to the final battle.

In there we saw ”Hollywood” yet again live up to his ”the best drifter in Sweden” epithomy, and all we can do is to ask ourselves how long ”Tokan” can cling on to his POWERDRIFT SERIES lead before the ”blacksmith” catches up…

(From the right: Daniel Bjørck, Johan ”Hollywood”  Halvarsson and ”Tokan” of Raidopower Motorsport).

Conclusion:

Was this indeed the future of Swedish Drifting, at a ”bite size”? The crowd of almost 1500 people would be fools to disagree, and it truly goes both ways that TIERP ARENA with their big league facilities matched well with a up and coming Motorsport such as drifting.

We would like to thank the entire event staff, from the manager Emelie Carlswärd to every member of the staff who worked at the event. We were professionally treated at every little inch of the event.

From getting coffee to the press room to getting humble free time at the track to shoot some promo for both the arena and ourselves:

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Also a thumbs up to the Swedish Motorsport Federation officialls, who are proving everyone wrong in being ”stuck in the past”. They did the formal running of the event at the track with time to spare at every block of the schedule. A l l weekend!

More of this please, keep up the good work everyone involved these two days!