Play by Play: Formula Drift Rd 1 Long Beach
Formula Drift kicked off the 2014 season as they do every year - by filling the streets of Downtown Long Beach with clouds of tire smoke. The track this year is unchanged, but the rules have. With a majority of the field making 700 horsepower or more, the competition is tougher than ever. 
Ford Top 16
Mike Essa Vs. Mats Baribeau
Forrest Wang Vs. Dennis Mertzanis
Wang Lead: Wang drops some big angle in the first turn and is fluid throughout his lead run. 
Kenneth Moen Vs. Kyle Mohan
Moen Lead: Moen gets away early and pulls some intense angles in the early stages but Mohan closes at the hairpin. Advantage Moen. 
Fredric Aasbo Vs. Conrad Grunewald
Aasbo Lead: Both cars initiate at the same time but Grunewald has too much steam and the two slam door-to-door. Run is DNF. 
Vaughn Gittin Jr. Vs. Darren McNamara
Chris Forsberg Vs. Pat Goodin
Forsberg Lead: Chris "The Force" Forsberg was on a mission in Long Beach. He initiated hard, kicked it out big on the first turn, and pumped the smoke throughout his lead run. 
Tyler McQuarrie Vs. Odi Bakchis
McQuarrie Lead: McQuarrie does not take the first turn as wide as some of the other competitors, but Bakchis was not doing well enough himself to capitalize. McQuarrie checks up at the hairpin, which is proving a tough customer today. Bakchis Lead: Bakchis pulls away from McQuarrie on in initial drift and maintains through the first turn. McQuarrie straightens at the hairpin, sealing his fate. 
Justin Pawlak Vs. Ryan Tuerck
Pawlak Lead: Pawlak told everybody at the driver’s meeting that he intended to feint on drift initiation by pivoting to the left quickly to set the car on a right turn drift. But the maneuver still seemed to throw Tuerck, who didn’t go wide in the first turn. JTP was solid. 
Nitto Tire Great 8
Mike Essa Vs. Forrest Wang
Essa Lead: Essa hung it out big time on initiation and carried the drift all the way into the first turn. Wang lost his drift in the first clipping zone transition area and brushed the wall. Advantage Essa. 
Kenneth Moen Vs. Fredric Aasbo
Moen Lead: This all-Norway battle was a good one as both cars initiated in unison. Moen took a wide angle while Aasbo was shallow early in the run and fell behind his fellow Norwegian. 
Chris Forsberg Vs. Darren McNamara
Forsberg Lead: Forsberg laid it down from the get-go, dropping a hard angle and big speed on McNamara, who lacked good angle in the final stages of the run. 
Justin Pawlak Vs. Odi Bakchis
Pawlak Lead: Pawlak hit all his marks with surgical precision and as exact as JTP was was how out of control Bakchis seemed. Bakchis was late to initiate early in the run, shallow, and out of shape the rest of the time. Advantage JTP. 
Final 4
Mike Essa Vs. Kenneth Moen
Essa Lead: Essa was killing it, running a great line and working a mean angle. All this made the fact that Moen was slipstreaming Essa’s smoke trail and rotating with him at every transition all the more impressive. Close battle so far. Moen Lead: Moen initiated first and was seriously throwin’ it out, his sweeping tail scraping the wall ever so slightly. Essa fell three or four lengths off the pace. Moen moved to the finals 3-0. 
Justin Pawlak Vs. Chris Forsberg
Pawlak Lead: Pawlak used every inch of the course, taking an aggressive line and harsh angles through the early stages of the run. Forsberg was in sync with JTP early on before disappearing in the billowing smoke. He emerged at the end and gained some points on the hairpin. 
3rd Place, Mike Essa.
For 2014 the third spot on the podium will be awarded to the Final 4 loser with the best qualifying position. Essa qualified #1. 
Final
Kenneth Moen Vs. Chris Forsberg
Moen Lead: Perhaps concerned by his tail-scrapping incident in the previous round, Moen came in a bit shallow, running a conservative line in the first turn. When Moen made a mid-turn correction in the second turn Forsberg pounced and two looked like mirror images of one another. Forsberg once again nailed the hairpin. 
