Super Drift Championship SoCal Region Round 3
August 21, 2022
This past weekend was Round 3 for the Super Drift Championship Series, SoCal Region. I have to say this was the Round of Rounds. 49 competitors all bringing their best to Super-G to test their skills. The Top 16 was about as good as it gets. As we get closer to the Finals in October, we are seeing everyone’s skill coming up!
We had competitors from Las Vegas, Arizona, Utah, and San Diego visiting and throwing down. In addition, we had the honor of Alexis and Lani from Super K RC coming from AZ to learn more about what goes on behind the scenes here at Super-G. Alexis sat in and helped with the judging, while Lani helped Joe with the announcing. Both did great, and we look forward to working with them more in the future. Huge shout out to Bret, the owner of Slidelines in Las Vegas for coming out and putting down so sick runs as always! It’s always an honor.
Qualifying
With 49 competitors, even getting through qualifying was a larger task than normal. This round the course was high-speed and proved to be challenging for even the best drivers out there. There ended up being a 3-way tie for TQ (Top Qualifier) - Alfredo Chan III, Colby Bradly, and Jason Fordyce. Alfredo and Jason are no strangers to TQ so this was no surprise.
Per the SDC rules, in the event of a tie, the judges can call for a single run from each competitor to break the tie. All 3 competitors made contact at some point on their tie-breaking run! It was almost worth giving TQ to the next runner up! Not really, but come on guys! A decision had to be made, and ultimately the TQ spot went to Jason Fordyce of Team Super-G / Team Futaba USA / Acuvance USA since he put down the most aggressive, highest scoring TQ run in the tie-breaking round. Congratulations to Jason for earning that TQ Spot. He received the new soon to be released Super-G / Dstroyr collab Tee!!!
Judging
The Judges for this round were Colin Chambers, Daniel Yribe, and Jaycen Wong. Alexis Sams was sitting in and had some great input. This was a tough one with so many competitors, I can’t thank the judges enough. If you have ever had to judge a comp such as this, you would really appreciate all these judges do for the scene. It was some serious concentrating for a good 7 hours. Talk about Brutal! Thank you all for making this possible. We couldn’t have a comp without your hard work.
Tsuiso
With our new format for brackets, the Top 15 qualifiers are seeded in the Top 16, with the 16th spot left open for the winner of the Lower Brackets.
The Lower Bracket battles were exciting, and Jaycen Wong of Team Zenshin fought his way through 5 rounds to come out on top of the Lower Brackets. This landed him in the 16th spot in the Top 16, and matched him up with the TQ of the event, Jason Fordyce.
Top 16 This round, the Top 16 was INSANE! This was the best Top 16 round I have seen, ever. Everyone was bringing the heat! As was near The Finals on October 7, 8, and 9, the level of driving keeps leveling up! There is no doubt the SDC2022 Finals will be nothing short of amazing!
In the end, Alfredo Chan III - Tech1Drift / Team RAZR took First Place, Christian Defalco - Tech1Drft took Second Place, and Hao Huang - Team Wallride took home Third Place! To find yourself on the Podium and place in the Top 3 this round, you really had to have nerves of steel and be at the top of your game. Congratulations to Alfredo Chan III for some amazing driving as always, and Christian and Hao for having what it takes to claim their spots on the podium!!!
