Super Drift Championship Round 2 - SoCal Region
August 29, 2022
With the setback of Round 2 being postponed, SoCal ended up with back to back weekends of SDC2022 Rounds. Rounds 2 (Aug 13) and 3 (Aug 20) ended up being one weekend after another. I apologize on the lack of coverage, but time doesn’t stop regardless of how large the responsibility load is.
The SoCal Region Round 2 had been pushed back a few weeks, and as expected, the turnout was a little smaller than usual. It was still an exciting round to say the least.
Judging
This round we had Shaine Collins, Colin Chambers, Daniel Yribe, and Jaycen Wong judging the event. Shaine and Colin were teaching Daniel and Jaycen all the ins and outs of our judging rules and standards put into practice. They have been studying the rules and scoring for awhile now, and they finally put them into use. They both did a great job and were making the exact same calls as Shaine, Colin, and myself would be making. We now have 2 additional judges we can use to ensure fair and consistent judging will take place here at Super-G. I have full confidence both Daniel and Jaycen will uphold the standards we have set forth.
Qualifying
The track layout had proven to be a little challenging for some of the competitors, but it was no surprise, Alfredo Chan III - Tech1Drift / put down a blistering qualifying run scoring a 85 and beating out the next closest competitors by 6 points! Alfredo claimed the most TQs last season, so he’s no stranger to TQ. Alfredo took home some awesome Hoonigan swag as well!
Tsuiso
This was an interesting round with Jason Fordyce - Team Super-G / Team Futaba USA / Acuvance, the points leader and TQ of Round 1 zeroing out on his qualifying runs. This forced Jason into the lower bracket to start the competition. He successfully fought his way from the bottom of the bracket to win the lower bracket and move to the last spot in the Top 16. The first battle in the Top 16 put Jason (Round 1 TQ) against Alfredo Chan III - Tech1Drift / Team RAZR (Round 2 TQ). This was really a Clash of the Titans! Alfredo really put it down and eliminated Jason in the first battle of the Top 16.
The night concluded with Alfredo Chan III - Tech1Drift / Team RAZR taking the top spot on the podium with a strong 1st Place finish! Mikko Yang - ReveD / Team DStyle taking home 2nd Place, and Shaine Collins - Team DStyle locking down 3rd Place!
Congratulations to Alfredo, Mikko, and Shaine for a job well done!
Shaine Collins - Third Place and Judge?
Anytime I see a judge land on the podium, I feel especially proud of them. Most competitors and observers as well, don’t realize why or how judges are allowed to compete here at Super-G.
First, most don’t understand what really goes into judging, especially here at Super-G. We always put each and every call online for the world to scrutinize. Any missed, wrong, or biased call would immediately be spotted. So the pressure to make the correct call is immense.
The judges during the competition are not “Judging”, but are called Judges for lack of a better name. They are basically spotters, watching the runs to enforce the rules. The equalizer is the Super-G Instant Replay System, which removes the “Judging” and allows the Judges to review any questionable events and apply the correct rules. The calls are based on the rules, not a judgement call.
Finally, switching from Judge mode to Competitor mode is extremely difficult. Judges never have time to mentally prepare for their battles, instead they transition from being mentally hyper-focused on each run, to “Ok, let’s do this, don’t mess up”. Anyone who has ever tried this quickly realizes how much of a disadvantage this puts the judges in. This is why you will often see judges make mistakes that are out of character.
So congratulations to Shaine for pulling off what most would struggle with! The sacrifice you make every event is greatly appreciated!
