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Maxxis British Drift Championship round 5

Silverstone Success For Team Japspeed

All at Team Japspeed had been counting down the days to Round 5 of the Maxxis British Drift Championship at Silverstone. Sharing the day with the popular Trax show brings in crowds of over 16,000 people who are eager to see the live drifting, Team Japspeed didn’t want to disappoint them!

The build up was particularly tense for Shane ‘O Sullivan with last minute engine issues but the mechanics worked around the clock for the car to be rebuilt and prepared in time. The early practice sessions were tricky due to rainfall, creating an incredibly greasy surface and with the highest entry speeds in the calendar, the drivers needed to find some careful resolve to navigate the track to the judges lines. All of the Japspeed drivers managed to qualify! It put them in good stead for the twin battles later in the day.

In between sessions the Japspeed pit area was a blur of activity as fans came over to inspect the cars, before long Team japspeed joined in an autograph signing, and were an instant hit as they happily chatted with fans and engaged the crowd.

The battles were incredibly tough! The qualified drivers all had something to prove and nobody wanted to lose face in front of such a huge crowd. To further stir things up the Formula D drivers Fredric Aasbo and Darren “D-Mac” McNamara were competing together as a Speedhunters Team. It has to be said, this would be Team Japspeed Paul “Smokey” Smiths weekend. He really did shine!

Smith had arguably the toughest run to the podium you could imagine, and he calmly took on all-comers with style! Paul has looked strong all season and been incredibly consistent. It all started for him with a Team Japspeed battle against Steve “Baggsy” Biagioni. Smith put friendship aside and progressed on to then face the imposing Supra of Mark Luney.

Things certainly didn’t get any easier for Smith when the Supra had been dispatched, as he had to then take on the gifted “D-Mac” in the Semi Final. This close fought battle went to OMT, “One More Time”, before Paul was announced a worthy place in the final, only to go against the “Norwegian Hammer” Fredric Aasbo! This would cap off a brilliant display of drifting by all involved with the Maxxis British Drift Championship and prove to be thrilling Round 5 final!

This was a crowd treat! The battles between these two were most definitely of a world-class standard and so close! The seasoned BDC judges couldn’t separate the two, it required an OMT! Smith once again remained cool and put in another solid and exciting performance, by the narrowest of margins Aasbo slipped past and took the top spot, but that doesn’t take anything away from Smith who had an amazing run and now sits in an incredibly strong position in the championship! It will go down right down to the last round at Knockhill on 29th and 30th of September, the Team will be ready and we will be hunting for a driver championship and Team/Constructors win too!