Las Vegas track is known to be one of the most dangerous courses among all in the Formula Drift calender, in short words you are going close to 100mph(160km/h) on the straight line(4th gear for me), entering a "box" or an area that is surrounded by concrete walls at 80mph(130km/h) under braking and drifting, plus the judges wanted to see us scraping the wall and to get maximum angle, accelerating to the second wall with maximum speed, exiting the second wall hitting the 1st inner clipping point, followed by 2 consecutive S corners. It is highly technical and it takes much courage to get close to the wall. It is truly a drivers track where one mistake could lead to total destruction of the car! But once you get it right, it can also be very exciting and rewarding!

In the second qualifying run, I initiated the drift with full commitment, scraped the wall with my exhaust tip creating 8 feet tall of sparks, then I kept it floored and would hit all the marks for the rest of the course, 80.9 points it was. 13th qualifier!

In top 32 battle, I was up against fellow Rookie driver Fredric Aasbo, driver that I really respect and I like his fully commited driving style, also a great guy off the track. I knew it was going to be a tough match. I lead first, Fredric followed. Fredric initatied too hot and tapped my left rear tire, my car got pushed and led to a stop 2 feet next to the tire wall, luckily no damage! My following run I kept it clean and close to Fredric, I got the advantage and moved on to top 16.

Top 16 battle I was up against Formula D Champion and Redbull World Drift Champion Rhys "Mad Skilz" Millen, speaking of a tough bracket!! I led the run first since I qualified higher. I initiated early, nice and smooth through the outer clip, tried to keep as much momentum as possible through the S turns in the later part of the track pulling a decent distance  from Rhys. On my chase run, Rhys did a feint entry and I followed closely with a ebrake entry followed by  modulation of the throttle, clutch and ebrake. I didnt leave any space between my nose and Rhys' door, I tried my best to follow as closely as possible using the ebrake and clutch combination. The judges gave me a win. This could possibly be the highlight of my rookie year so far, Rhys has always been one of my favorite drivers and I have watched and studied his videos back then, this is like a dream come true for me!

Top 8 I was up against the current championship leader Vaughn Gittin JR, again, tough bracket! JR came up to me before we went, knowing the Horsepower differences, he said not to worry about him when I lead, but he will not pull away from me before the pace cone when he leads, thank you Vaughn for showing his class in being a top driver and his caring for rookie driver like myself! JR led first I then followed, I tried to stay close to him but it was tough, I managed to close up the gap in the later part of the S turns. My turn to lead, I tried to initate with maximum angle and speed knowing thats my only way to impress the judges, I didnt lift until the entry point, ebraked it hard and back on brake modulation and throttle control, throughout the later part of the course, I think I did a great job. However, that was not enough to beat the current championship leader, JR moved on. Congrats to JR for getting on the podium again, his consistency and showmanship are something I really admire!

All in all, this is the best weekend in my rookie season, I'd like to say big thanks to all my crew and sponsors, that will include Nitto Tires, Wilwood Brakes, West End Alignment, Akufuncture Clothing, Kaaz Differential, Rising Star Motor, Enkei Wheels, Ren Motorsports, K&N Filter, Extreme Dimensions, Just Drift(for the exciting drivers), Option Imports, the driveshaft shop, youdrift.net, Auto World Magazine(by-monthly, 949Racing, Trackhq.com, driftfotos.com.

See you next round in Sonoma!

CNR