PHOTO COVERAGE :: ThunderDrift’s 2011 SuperAm Finale

After some super foggy days here in Norcal, Saturday cleared up a bit and made way for ThunderDrift’s SuperAm Finale. The driver turnout was decent bringing out the dedicated Norcal drifters. However the spectator turnout was beyond amazing. Thunder Hill was hella packed. With a crowd size of epic proportions. It paved the way for a nice finish to the end.

So for this trip to ThunderHill, I decided to take the Aston Martin Vantage..I kidd. haha. Alongside ThunderDrift’s SuperAm, ThunderHill was also hosting Hooked On Driving bringing out a lot of fancy cars. I felt like I was walking on shoot location of UK Top Gear. haha. It was amazing and a bit overwhelming. And, as much as I’d love to walk around and snap pics of these beauties, I had to find parking and head up to the TD shenanigans. So what did I really bring to ThunderDrift?

Yeeup. The good ol’ S14. It’s been awhile since I’ve taken it to ThunderDrift, so it was a nice go. Also, rolling to a drift event with an S14 is the way to go. Or, for that matter, any drift related ride. I hate it when I roll in my daily drive 4×4 nose bleed Honda Accord. yuck. Though I’m not hating on Hondas. Just saying that there’s a right car for every right moment. Here’s a little teaser pic with Pat’s 350z facing me. Cool huh?

More on the S14 in a future PHOTO CREW post and let’s get back to ThunderDrift’s last SuperAm event. Courtesy of David, Tim, and the rest of the NOS Energy Drink Team, ThunderHill was filled with enough drinks to keep us going for days on end. Even ThunderDrift ProAm driver Julian Jacobs’ was caught sipping some mighty energy. Oh..and what’s that? Yeeup. Some of our limited release box stickers not available at our stores. More details in a later post on how to cop some!

So I spotted Andrew Bohan with his new weapon of choice a 300mm telephoto lens. Boss status. He was sporting it with a nice vinyl wrap featuring his latest collab with Geoff Pitts called Life Blasters. For those of you unfamiliar with Life Blasters, it’s a photography based blog by Andrew and Geoff featuring their behind the scenes work. Check it out when you get a chance and show them support by adding them on Facebook!

There were some notable cars out at Thunder Drift such as this Mustang. If you follow Formula Drift, you’ve probably encountered Dan Pina’s Drift Patrol Mustang. If I do remember right, it was Dan’s dad driving the Mustang at Thunder Hill and he filled up the venue with smoke. It reminded me of Gymkhana GRID’s burnout contests..speaking of burnout contests, we had more contestants that day.

Also, there was another notable car, a Model T GT gracing ThunderDrift. Here’s a little snap of this super cool piece of machinery. Stay tuned to Fitted Life for a feature on this car as we go deeper in detail. I know..so many teasers in this post it’s ridiculous. haha.

As this was the end of the series, the last round would finish off with plenty of tandem action along a nice course layout, as they called it..the Mini Meihan. Starting at the farthest end, they would first encounter a slick right sweeper sending them full throttle towards another right sweeper. After exiting the right sweeper, they would then enter a tight chicane which would bring them back to the start for another lap.

Since we had plenty of AWOL drivers, we went through elimination rather quickly. The only drivers competing in SuperAm were Daniel Chong, Lee, Travis Ragona, Henry Van, Mike Bratton, Marcus Fry, and Josh Kravitz. Chong and Lee tackled each other in top 16 with Lee spinning out sending Chong to the top 8.

With top 8, Sileighty Adam Swan took out Chong, while the 510 brothers, Marcus Fry and Josh Kravitz, took out Travis Ragona and Henry Van respectively. Lastly, Mike Bratton passed top 8 with a by.

As we entered into top 4, it was a battle of doubles with Marcus Fry and Josh Kravitz going 510 head to head. Fry was knocked out by bro montana Kravitz, sending Kravitz to the final bout. Fairly newcomer Adam Swan sniped the last S14, sending Mike Bratton to a consolation round with Marcus Fry, where Fry defeated Bratton and took 3rd place.

It was David and Goliath as Josh Kravitz’ Datsun 510 took on Adam Swan’s Sileighty for SuperAm victory. As the audience clenched their seats, the two went head to head with one of the most memorable battles ever. As the two pitted, everyone went center stage as the judges announced the victor.

SuperAm victory goes to Adam Swan while Josh Kravitz takes an honorable 2nd place. Adam’s victory guarantees him a free ride through ThunderDrift’s 2011 ProAm series. Congrats to Adam once again and we’re looking forward to see all the competitors tackle the TD madness once again.

For more photos of the event check out the rest on Flickr.

:. Michael Cabuco

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