Round 5 of the US Formula Drift series went down this weekend in Monroe, Washinton at the Evergreen Speedway.
MonsterMob’s Otto has been competing in the series for the better part of this year but in Round 5 he ‘debuted’ a ‘new’ car. Those are all written like that because it wasn’t so much a new car as it was a Frankenstein creation, created on the fly. Due to reasons unknown to us, Otto swapped out the motor from the C5R V8 powered Nissan 350Z and transplanted it into the Turbo Z33 chassis – the car he had been competing with in the earlier rounds. We can only suspect that the V8 Z33 chassis was deemed illegal and didn’t pass their pre-race inspection (scrutiny).
Nevertheless, Otto took the Frankenstein machine through the paces, hoping to eek out a few additional championship points in his race for Rookie of the Year, a race that he sadly seems to be losing ground in. His prime rival. Walker Wilkerson. Some will recall that Walker was the first competitor that Otto tandem’ed against in competition and the blood drawn in that battle has not been forgotten.
There’s another rookie in the mix now, in the form of Aurimas ‘Odi’ Bakchis who now leads the Rookie of the Year race with a cracking finish in Round 5 – Throwdown. Bakchis secured a Top 16 finish to put him half a point ahead of Wilkerson and 26.75 points ahead of Graven.
After qualifying in 18th, Otto dropped out of the running in the Top 32 against NOS Energy’s Chris Forsburg after a trying run. Forsburg lagged a little while following in their second pass and the judges called an OMT. Both drivers once again made small mistakes in the OMT run but it was Forsburg that was deemed to have the upper hand and progressed through to the Top 16.
With only two more rounds left in the season, it’s make or break now for Otto Graven.
Take a look at their runs here:
Second run (OMT)
The results and standings: via Formula Drift‘s site
Featured Image courtesy Speedhunters
Otto is a go getter, and he make SA proud. I am all the way behind Otto