What a dope weekend! It all started on Thursday night with our Opening Ceremony at The Paddock. Not only did I get a chance to kick it with the FTLC and FD family, but Del and Bukue killed it on the mic that night (be sure to check the other posts on Fatlace for coverage of that night). The only down side of the night was the news of the huge gas line explosion  in San Bruno which is literally a few miles away from The Paddock. A few people attending our Opening Ceremony had friends and family that lived in that area so they were making calls to make sure their loved ones were ok. Luckily, everyone was safe. Our thoughts go out to those that did lose their home, those injured, and those that lost a loved one in the tragedy…

Fast forward to Saturday morning. I wake up bright and early and make my way to the track. I am greeted with 80 degree temperatures with a slight breeze, which is heaven considering the past events have been 100 degrees+ and humid. I make my way into the media pit and await the madness to start…

Ryuji Miki on the entry. The thing that I noticed about the Sonoma event this year compared to last year was that it seemed like the drivers were going even more balls out on the entry, even during practice.

Local Bay Area native Tyler McQuarrie getting sideways. McQuarrie knows this track better than anybody on the circuit being that he practically lives at this track. Instructor by day, Drifter by night.

The more and more I admired Daijiro’s Rockey Bunny, the more and more stoked I got about seeing Mark’s S14 back on the track next weekend at our Fatlace Classic.

Nikolay’s Up Garage 240 looked great out there.

You know I had to root for our Fatlace sponsored driver Matt Field. He did great with making it into the Top 32 but unfortunately was unable to hold off last years champion, Chris Forsberg to advance to the next round. Great job though Matt, car looked awesome!

Fan favorite Mad Mike Whiddet. I can’t get over how proper this RX8 sits. Form and Function! WHAT!

Falken’s Teal and Blue were in full force this past weekend. The paint schemes on these cars makes them extremely easy to shoot, don’t ask me why…

Ryan Tuerck and Matt Powers both advanced to the Top 16.

Before the Opening Ceremony, we had a moment of silence to remember those that served and lost their lives on September 11th. We will never forget.

Formula Drift fans love Team Falken.

Tanner Foust takes out Tyler Mcquarrie. DAMN.

Note to Self: If you are going to be standing that close to Joon’s RX8, please wear ear plugs. I went deaf for a good 45 seconds after snapping the picture above. Joon fell victim to Chris Forsberg as well.

Bumpers were being torn apart left and right at Sonoma this year for some reason. James Dean takes out Matt Powers to advance to the next round.

Fredric Aasbo has impressed everyone since coming out like a bat out of hell in Long Beach. He advances to the next round over Ryuji Miki.

However, this years points leader Vaughn Gittin took out Aasbo while destroying his front bumper into pieces.

Daijiro takes out Takatori but Ryan Tuerck ended Daijiro’s day in the next round. In the picture above, Tuerck gets the go ahead to the next round while Jose pumps his fist. Jersey Shore ain’t nothing on J. Martinez…

Well fought battle but JR comes out on top.

The Linhbergh at work

Mini Rod Chong

And the winners are…