Friday was a blur as FD drivers made their qualification runs, drivers were locked in for Saturdays Top 32 competition. Be sure to check out Part 1 coverage of #FDSEA – Fatlace Offset Kings Washington 2016 and our brief photos from Media Day! Continue to check out Top 16 Battles of Formula Drift Seattle 2016!

Source: formuladrift.com

Right off the bat, Mad Mike Whiddet was paired up against Alec Hohnadell. Conspiracy theorists aside, the Red Bull money wasn’t able to buy this match as the runs were night and day. YES, I am joking around! /sarcasm

Vaughn Gittin Jr took down rookie Kugay’s Kouki S14, Gittin’s RTR Mustang was turning heads with his 3 wheel motion.

I’m not much of a fan of Mustangs, but his RTR looks great. I managed to get a few good low shutter panning shots of him screaming by me right before power alley.

For PNW locals rooting for Cameron Moore, right off the bat he was put up against the big dog; Chris Forsberg. On the 5/8ths you could tell night and day the difference between Moore and Forsberg. With Forsberg leading, he put 2-3 car length gap half way through the 5/8ths, but Cameron managed to close the gap. A little hot off the bank he straightens.

Cameron Moore’s lead run was great, but Forsberg’s grip and forward acceleration through the power alley sealed the deal.

These two photos were taken right before Heilbrunn’s nose came to close to Dai’s rear bash bar. My 5D Mark II only does 4fps, action like this demands a faster DSLR!

CRASH!! @DaiYoshihara vs. Alex Heilbrunn – #FDSEA Top 32 – Run 1 – Watch Live! https://t.co/dBzJGRR9Q4 pic.twitter.com/qsfb9fKpF2

— Formula Drift (@FormulaDrift) August 6, 2016

While Pawlak and Foust battled it out, Heilbrunn wasn’t able to throw together his car fast enough to get on the line. Ironically, Dai in the Turn14 FRS ended up going into the 5/8ths wall during his solo run.

Mike Kojima get’s the win? *joking*

Although Tanner Foust was in a V8 VW Passat, I was secretly rooting for him all weekend. It’s a little goofy to see a VW out on track ripping up tires, but at least he’s back in the game. Foust has a long standing history at Evergreen with his Rockstar 350Z. Pawlawk and Foust went into OMT, but ultimate Foust ended up coming out on top.

After a few OMT’s and accidents (Daijiro and Heilbrunn) the media guys were getting restless. We were all periodically checking on the status of melting cheese and joking that we should have taken time lapses of this.

Kyle Robertson aka Krafted Photography out on track shooting for Northwest Nissans.

Luke Wylie reported he was getting awesome shots for his vantage point. This looks like a bad spot but he was way way back away from the actual wall. Keep an eye out for his epic photos through AlwaysReckless’ Facebook.

Two of my favorite chassis went toe to toe, Geoff Stonebeck vs Forrest Wang. I personally love this 370Z!

A group of us media guys were experimenting with low shutter speeds, above is 1/50th of a second shot of Forrest Wang.

Fredric Aasbo Sciont TC and Kyle Mohan Rotary powered MX5.

In the neon S14.5, Matt Field chased by Juha Rintanen’s S15 – coming off the bank Juha had a very low line and it looked like he was losing power. He was able to keep up with field but during Run 2 Juha was a no show.Matt  field made a solo by run after his opponent failed to show up on the starter line.

I never heard what happened to Juha this weekend, but I’m glad I got to see his car in person. His livery is killer!

Pat Goodin in the Pennzoil S13 got crushed this weekend against Tyler McQuarrie’s Camaro.

I was excited to see Charles Ng’s Infiniti G37 out on the track as he chased down Kenny Moen’s BMW! It seemed like Moen may have had the HP advantage, putting down more smoke and gaping Charles in key area’s of the track.

Next Up: Formula Drift Seattle Top 16