SDC Super Drift Competition 2025 SoCal Season Opener

SDC Super Drift Competition 2025 SoCal Season Opener

February 15, 2025

‘You should call this the Monthly Finals, and Worlds will be in October.”

This past Saturday was the Season Opener for the SDC Super Drift Competition 2025, SoCal Region here at Super-G. We had no idea what this weekend had in store for us. We had anticipated 50ish competitors for Round 1, but it was obvious from the time we opened doors here, that we had greatly underestimated the turn out.  The final count for SDC2025 SoCal Region Round 1, 79 Competitors! Before I go any further, we want to thank all of you for your patience and support. It was an amazing event, and really all due to the fact that you all helped to make it run smoothly.

Over the break after the SDC 2024 Season, we had made a few changes. Since the Drivers Stand seemed to make things a lot better all around, we added more lengths to accommodate more drivers for the Practice Groups. In doing this, we had to move our actual track out a little over 12”. We were finally able to use our entire sweeper again and not cut it short. Overall we gained some track area since we also moved most of Pit Lane to the backside of the track. All this moving around did put our track onto some “New” P-Tile areas that were not worn in yet, but it seems the tradeoff was worth it. We can get on the rail sooner going into the sweep, and can ride it all the way through without any major adjustments in line. It made for some good door hunting all night!

We started running practice groups after everyone got settled in. I seems like this is the way to go from this point forward. The ability to get clean laps in, even in limited windows of time seems to be more productive than getting unlimited time where you struggle to actually practice your line. Everyone’s cooperation made it run really smooth. During practice it was clear the competition was going to be insane.

The Judges
The guys making it all happen this round were none other than Shaine Collins, Manny Campalans, and Ted Britt. Scoring 158 individual qualifying runs, then judging 79 battles is not an easy task for anyone. Finishing up around 2:00am just made it that much more challenging. The people judging are often overlooked, but really it it weren’t for their dedication to the hobby, competitions would cease to exist. When the competitors get tired or need a break, they can go outside, grab a smoke or snack, and rest their minds. The judges are at full concentration for the entirety of the competition. The judges are the backbone of any comp and really should be recognized as such. Thank you guys for making this happen!

The Guys Running The Show - The Official SDC Advisors
(L to R)Ted Britt, Manny Campalans, and Shaine Collins

Qualifying
For Round 1 we decided to take the sweeper out of the equation. Other than using it for style points, not keeping that bumper on the rail didn’t impact the Line score. Same went for the inner sweep. We used shorter scored zones for this round thinking we’d have a higher average score. As it turns out, the scores were about normal for our regionals.

At the end of the day, Jason Fordyce of Team Super-G netted the high score of the event with a score of 89! Jason definitely looked comfortable out there showing his ability to adapt quickly to any layout. Congratulations Jason on a well deserved Top Qualifier TQ of SDC 2025 SoCal Round 1!

I wanted to add some clarification to the qualifying scores. The goal has always been to have the rules set in such a way that anyone can look and come to the same conclusion on just about every aspect. For many years now, this has been in place, but it seems some are still not aware of how qualifying placement is determined. As shown in the image, the qualifying placement is determined by 3 values, ALL 3 are determined by the competitor, not anyone else. There are no judgement calls once the scores are in.

1. The best score earned of the two qualifying runs
2. If there is a tie, then the secondary score is used to break the tie
3. If the best and the secondary are tied, then registration order breaks the tie

This means, if you qualified 29th in the example, you are not in a 4-way tie for 26th, you qualified 29th. Nobody is choosing that position for you, that is the position that was earned.

The Battles Tsuiso
Since we had 79 competitors, we ended up with 2 full Top and Bottom 32, and a Lower Bracket as well. Matthew Peterson had worked his way through the Lower Bracket, and all the way to the top spot in the Bottom 32! There he was matched up with  Bryan Perez. These guys put down some really good runs, but in the end, Matthew had made contact at the end of his lead run. It was enough to secure the win for Bryan. So Bryan would bump-up to the 31st spot in the Top 32! Great job to both Matthew and Bryan. That’s how it’s done!

Then it was time for the Top 32! When I say the Top 32 was full of heavy hitters, it was full of HEAVY HITTERS. Every competitor could take the win and nobody would be surprised. I’m sure every battle was making everyone feel the pressure. I could not think of a better way to raise your skills than to make it to the Top 32 here. Win or lose, you will walk away with some serious experience. Not to mention learning to deal with top level pressure. Truly amazing!

79 competitors, and it all boiled down to the Top 4. Cristian DeFalco of Tech1Drift vs. Chris Silva of Team AD. They were so closely matched, the judges needed to see them battle again with an OMT (One More Time)! This time around Cristian put down an amazing lead. He obviously turned it up a bit. Chris answered back with a really good chase! Textbook lead and chase. Then it was Chris’ turn to lead and he really put it down. Cristian was all over Chris’ door the entire run! In the end, it turned out Chris had made contact in Zone 1, making it a clear win for Cristian, and locking in 3rd place! Congratulations Cristian!

How many times have we seen this in SDC? Countless

Then it was the time we had all been waiting for, 2:00am! I mean, the battle for first and second place! You could call it the battle of the Kings. It was Mikko Yang of Team ReveD vs. Alfredo Chan III of Team Weld Overdose! Both of these guys are no strangers to battling each other for 1st and 2nd, they are both former SDC USA Drift Kings, and they are easily crowd favorites for many.

The Final Battle
Alfredo Chan III of Team Weld Overdose vs. Mikko Yang of Team ReveD

First up, it was Mikko on the Lead and Alfredo on the Chase. Mikko’s lead was about as good as it gets. Alfredo’s chase was about as good as it get as far as chases go. Then it was Alfredo’s Lead and Mikko’s Chase. These guys were just out to show us how it’s done. Amazing lead and chase. However, in Zone 3, Alfredo on his lead was able to stay locked in the entire time. This was enough to get him the win, and secure the top spot on the podium! Congratulations Alfredo on a hard fought and well deserved first place, and to Mikko for a very respectable second place!

The SDC Super Drift Competition 2025 SoCal Round 1 was nothing short of amazing for a regular Regional Comp. This is some serious training for the rest of the season and I’m sure will get a lot of people’s nerves in check for the bigger competitions. I was really impressed with the skills displayed this early in the season. It’s almost as if it was a continuation from SDC 2024 Worlds.

We will be making some changes for the next round. Right now we are thinking about opening doors at 9am, Tech at 1pm, Drivers Meeting at 2:45pm, and Qualifying at 3:00pm. Keep an eye out for pre-registration. We want to streamline this as much as possible so you guys can get the maximum amount of practice in before we start the competition. 

Huge thanks to all of you! You guys made the impossible possible with all your cooperation! Can’t wait for the next one!!!

SEE YOU ON THE TRACK!