Cornelius, NC (June 16, 2012) – After a short 2-week break from their last event, the D’Vanz Motorsports team was north-bound and heading to Summit Point, West Virginia for the annual HyperFest event that made up the second round of the Xtreme Drift Circuit Eastern division. This event is always a favorite of both driver and team and everyone was feeling very good after their West Palm Beach win.
The Friday practice sessions went off without a hitch. The car was working well, DVM driver Doug Van Den Brink was feeling good and crew chief Jon Wilburn was adjusting on the car making it better with every pass. As the day grew to a close, everything was in order and the team felt they where somewhere within the top-half of the field by the end of practice.
Saturday morning it was time to qualify. On Doug’s first qualifying pass, he laid down a good/safe lap that got them squarely into the show. On his second run, DV pressed a little harder, got a little closer to the Clipping Points and wound up 7th in the final order. As he climbed from the car DV said, “I thought we’d do a bit better than that but I guess I didn’t carry enough speed down into turn-1. Good news is we’re in the show, bad news is we’re going to have to work hard for it.”
For their first tandem battle, Doug would go up against Allen Brentzel in his turbo Toyota Supra. Being a fairly new driver to this level of competition, Brentzel is still working out his consistent lines but his car does make a lot of power and subsequently, at times, a lot of tire smoke. With DV being the higher qualifier, he would lead the first lap. As the two drivers entered Turn-1, Allen carried more speed into the Apex than his car could handle and slammed into the left-rear of the DVM Mustang sending Doug into a spin. As a result of this collision, on the second pass, Doug simply had to keep the Supra within arms reach and he was awarded the easy victory.
In The Great-8, DV would be pitted up against Chelsea Denofa in his turbocharged BMW. Doug and Chelsea always have great battles and this round would prove to be no exception. On the pair’s first pass, Denofa led with Van Den Brink close on his heels. Entering turn-2, Doug was in perfect position to drop to Chelsea’s inside. He was no more than a few inches behind and looking to strike. He knew that the BMW had more top-end speed so with his close proximity, he shifted up to 4th gear a bit early so he could stay with Denofa through the high-speed section. As the STS-turbo’d Mustang came up on peak-torque, the engine’s power, combined with the grippy Falken tires were apparently more than the clutch could handle and engine free-wheeled under Doug’s flat-to-the-floor acceleration. When DV sensed this he lifted off the throttle immediately in an effort to “hook the clutch back up”. This “lift” achieved his goal and re-engaged the clutch but the pause in acceleration gave Denofa a 2-car gap that DV could not close back up. By the final corner, Denofa had enough of a gap to gain the advantage. Round-1 to the BMW…
On the second pass, Van Den Brink led with Denofa in hot pursuit. Exiting turn-1, Denofa over-cooked his exit giving DV the chance to open-up a small gap. This time it was the Mustang’s turn to throw-down some tire smoke of its own and DV poured it on as his increased the gap exiting the course giving him the advantage. Round-2 to the Mustang… Judges ruling, One More Time…
As is customary with drifting, when the judge’s view a battle as a tie, the first two passes are wiped-clean from the books and it all starts over again. Back up on the starting grid, the two teams each bolted on a new set of rear tires onto their cars and once up to the starting line, the two drivers gave each other a “thumbs-up” as to acknowledge their first two runs. Now “the heat” would surely be turned up.
As the drivers accelerated down “the chute”, Denofa made his usual manji-swing to set himself up for the left-hand turn-1. This maneuver had to be managed just perfectly by DV as his entry was of the more traditional straight e-brake style. Managing the gap of the two cars, Doug would have to stay close enough to Chelsea so as to enter turn-1 right with him but not so close that the BMW would hit the front bumper of the Mustang as it swung from left to right. As they exited turn-1, DV was in good position and charging hard. Trouble for Doug was the BMW laid down an enormous smoke-screen as they entered the meat of the course, making it a real challenge for him to see where he was going. In the cloud of smoke, DV lost his “transition marks” and Chelsea pulled out a small gap. DV then charged hard into turn-3 and the Mustang moved in on Chelsea’s bumper and then the BMW would use its 700+hp to pull out a gap… The seesaw battle would constantly go back-and-forth through out the lap with the BMW walking away slightly by the course’s end… Round-3 to the BMW…
On the next lap, Doug ran a clean line, hitting all his marks but Chelsea and his BMW had found their pace and drove in hard on the Mustang’s door leaving hardly any room between the two cars. It was a classic “follow” and one that earned the BMW driver the win. Round-4 to the BMW… Denofa moves on…
After the contest Doug reflected, “I’m really proud of how our team performed today. Everyone did all they could do and in the end, we were let down by a part that has never done so before. Sometimes, mechanical parts just don’t stand up and today wasn’t our day. Chelsea ran us hard but clean and his team deserved the win. We’ll get the car back to the shop, pull the clutch out and see what the heck happened with it. That’s all we can do at this point… We’ll get’m next time.” He said with a smile…
The next event for DVM will be the Formula Drift/Streetwise Pro-Am event at zMax Dragway. Please check back with us to see a full-event recap as the team chases the season-long Championship…