Author: FormulaD

2011 Evergreen Drift ProAm Championship Results

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Champion – Mike Phillips
2nd – Chris Jeanneret
3rd – Andrew Coomes
4th – Kory Keezer

2011 marks Evergreen Drift’s fourth year in affiliation with the Formula Drift ProAm series. We’ve grown from a single driver invite in 2008 to a full-fledged five round series. Locals compete on the same course that Formula Drift pros battle on during the Seattle round at Evergreen Speedway.

Walker Wilkerson, Roland Gallagher, Nikolay Konstantinov, Ian Fournier, Kyle Pollard, and others all earned their way into the Formula Drift pro ranks through this series.

This season saw twenty-one unique drivers gun for the championship and four Formula Drift Pro licenses. Championships require dedication and consistency and the top four guys had to overcome major crashes, mechanical issues, or both to compete in all five rounds.

Evergreen Drift is proud to give you the 2011 Evergreen Drift ProAm Presented by NOS Champion and Formula Drift Pro license recipients.

Autoblog.com Feature on Michael Essa

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Autoblog.com just featured a nice article on Michael Essa.

Sliding Sideways Through The Desert: A day spent drifting with Michael Essa [w/video]

Drifting isn’t a real sport.

So sayeth the peanut gallery that thinks drifting is just a bunch of wheel-spinning youngsters who’ve watched way too many selections from the Fast and Furious library. I’m here to tell you that it’s very much a sport, and the men and women behind the wheels of their sideways machines dance the thin line between aggressive fury and smoke-filled poetry.

I’m sweating my ass off in the middle of the Mojave Desert for my first lesson on drifting, and my teacher for the day is none other than Mr. Michael Essa. He’s late, it’s hot and I’m surrounded by a pit road filled with random examples of rear-wheel-drive Japanese machinery in all the colors of the rainbow. Plus three more hues that I’ve never seen before.

Who exactly is this guy I’m waiting for? If you’re already a fan of drifting, than you know that Professor Essa is the bespectacled pilot of the GSR Autosport BMW Z4. Essa is a professional drifter who competes in the Formula Drift series alongside the likes of Vaughn Gittin Jr., Rhys Millen and Samuel Hubinette, amongst others. Mike is passionate about his sport, skilled behind the wheel and also capable of ducking under the hood and turning some wrenches. At the moment, however, I don’t know any of this… because I’m melting into the asphalt of the Streets of Willow, and Essa is still late.

READ THE REST OF THE ARTICLE HERE