This past Thursday, Anime Matsuri, Maydaygarage, Top Secret and Import Reactor joined forces to bring together a beautiful drift event to Gulf Greyhound Park. Sure, Houston has had drift events where anyone can bring their rear-wheel drive car to practice but this was bigger. The best drivers were selected, most of them local to Texas, to fill 13 positions to compete for $3,000 in cash. 1st place prize was set for $2000, 2nd place was $700 and 3rd was $300.

Aaron Losey of Fabricated Motorsports who helped put this event together said, “I was contacted several months ago by the gentlemen at Import Reactor and Anime Matsuri to throw them a drift event. They wanted the drift event to be big, awesome, fast, at night, with walls, etc. I was excited to be a part of this, so I agreed to do it. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention Maydaygarage.com was a huge part of everything.”

The competition began with thirteen cars warming up, led by professional drifter Vaughn Gittin Jr. in his signature teal and blue 2010 Falken Mustang. Thirteen drivers were each judged individually by speed, angle, and line to weed out “the Great Eight.” Vaughn would be a judge in the competition as well as Mickey Andre.

The qualifiers from eighth to first were as follows: Cory Gilbert, Ameen Rizvi, Fielding Shredder, Stewart Leask, Will Parsons, Chelsea Denofa, Russell Walker, and Sammy Tiger. In order to narrow them down from eight to four, those drivers would have to run against each other in tandem battles until they found their 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners.

Tires; one of the biggest expenses in drifting

Stewart went to battle against Sammy Tiger for 1st place. Even though Sammy’s car was broken, he still managed to drive it as hard as ever. Both put down amazing runs then were called back to await the results. Vaughn Gittin Jr. was going to award the second place trophy as they gave the special guest Smokey Nagata of Top Secret Japan, the honor to award the first. We all watched as Stewart Leask jumped for joy when he found out he got to take home the $2,000 prize. Sammy was also excited and very grateful to take second.

“I felt confident with my car’s ability to make it around the course, but driving against who I drove against was no easy task! Will, Chelsea and Sammy are amazing drivers and each one has specific skills that makes them difficult to drive against. I am always my hardest critic and with each run I feel there is always room for improvement. The end result is that I am very happy with my runs and I enjoyed the opportunity to compete against the best drivers Texas has to offer. I am thankful to everyone who worked hard to make this event possible and all of my family, friends and team sunworks who were there to support me,” Stewart Leask said.

Overall, Import Reactor Drift was a great success in that the crowd was entertained, Texas drifters were rewarded, and celebrities made appearances. Hopefully, Import Reactor Drift let everyone know how entertaining this sport really is. With attendance, we can help the sport grow and continue to have more events like these in the near future.