The weather was 95 degrees and the skies were clear of any rain for the weekend. Twenty-seven drivers from coast to coast met at the Englishtown road course on Friday, August 6 for initial practice and qualifying late in the day. Many of the DMCC drivers from north of the border were in attendance for the weekend, as well as DMCC staffers and president, Eric Belec to cheer on the Canadian drivers on for the weekend.
After laying down a couple solid practice runs on Friday in the 350z Matt put her away early on one of the hottest days of the year to conserve tires and the engine of the 350z.
Up next was qualifying where Matt would prove that the lack of practice wasn't a big deal on his home town track. Matt set the bar high with the fastest entry speed of the day at 83mph into the first corner of the track and managed to crank out a second place finish for qualifications. This would put Matt up against number fifteen qualifier, Zachary Catlin in the Chevy Camaro. A classic Import vs. Domestic showoff would start the day on Saturday.
Saturday was here and it was time to stage up for the main competition. The stands were packed and the Remix Car Show was in full swing when Catlin and Waldin staged up to get the competition underway. Uncharacteristically, Waldin lost the car into a spin on the banked section of the track and avoided a near miss from a closely following Catlin. Angry with himself for making such a rookie mistake, Matt knew that he would have to put on a hell of a show in his follow run to overcome the error. The two drivers switch positions and Catlin puts four tires off in the first corner! This ended up in a "one more time" since both drivers made mistakes, so they staged again. Matt put down two solid runs this time and really put the pressure on Zach at the end of the course to seal the deal on the round.
Next up was Chelsea Denofa in the green turbocharged BMW. Denofa is currently the series points leader and was tough to beat. Waldin was able to pull off a win by tucking in close throughout the entire track and making very few corrections.
After the smoke cleared, it was time to head to battle with one of the other hometown boys from the track and number six qualifier, Justin Tureck in the white Nissan S13 240sx. Justin's brother is Ryan Tureck of Formula Drift so great driving definitely runs in the family. Justin's entry speeds were very fast and very consistent all day in practice. This would be a tough battle to win. Matt stayed on course and had no fear tucking in on Justin's door. Staying constantly close was where this battle was won. Matt said, "When I looked in my rear view mirror at the end of this race, Justin was still on my door and I wasn’t sure I had won. He was right there the whole time. The judges deliberated and the word came over the radio that I had taken the win. Yes, we are in the final 2!"
The last battle of the day puts every drift run Matt has ever done into the wayback machine. For deciding the first and second place spots Matt was set to run Nate Brasz. Nate has been drifting just as long as Matt has and in many of the same East Coast events. Nate has always been a formidable opponent and won numerous events that they both attended. Matt lead first and put down a solid run with a slightly better line than Nate making him a lot faster at the finish of the course. On Matt's follow run he ran Nate all the way to the entry and literally put his front tire inside of Nate's rear rim. There was a light scuff on the front wheel of the 350z that Matt was extremely proud of after the event. The light scuff wasn't enough to throw Nate off line at all and Matt knew that for the first place run he had to stick like glue. Nate's nickname is "The Robot" because he is so consistent and Matt used this advantage to get closer than he would to most other opponents.
The winner had been decided and Matt Waldin and crew had taken the win! It was a great event for the team and since this event was close to home the whole Waldin family finally got to come to an event where he ended up on top of the bracket. “Having my local friends, family, and my Canadian friends at this event made the win even sweeter,” said Matt.
Next up is DMCC Round 4 in Montmagny, QC for this weekend. Stay tuned to the media, we plan to back this win up with another one to close the points gap from our current second place standing to first.
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Other "braking" news, Matt Waldin and team are extremely proud
to welcome Brian Crower Performance
Products to the partners list. Brian Crower has been extremely generous
in supplying the hard parts in the bottom end of the engine that we are
preparing for the end of the 2010 season. With the new parts and switching
the tuning over to E85 ethanol the team hopes to be in the 550-600hp range
just in time for September.
Oakley Inc. has paired up with Matt
Waldin racing and is the official sunglass supplier for Matt and the team.
EBC Brakes has partnered with Matt
Waldin Racing and supplied a set of their "Yellow Stuff" brake
pads for the 350z which will surely be put to the test with the new power
levels.
The "Drift Maina Championship" game for Iphone, Ipod touch & Ipad is nearing 400,000 downloads worldwide and is the #2 downloaded game in Japan. An update to the game will be released soon where you can race actual DMCC cars including Matt Waldin's 350z.
Matt Waldin is proudly partnered with Mishimoto,
Selex Suspension, OverDosed
Performance, Import Intelligence,
Competition Clutch, K&N
Filters, NGK Spark Plugs,
Brian Crower, Oakley
Inc and EBC Brakes
More pictures and drifting stories avaliable at Wrecked
Magazine
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