DEC Sekia Hills "Back Issues" - D1GP Rd.6 2002

The first round of D1GP hosted at the exciting Driving Enjoy Club

This post has some video, but first check out this audio

Rd.6 SEP.28-29 - DEC SEKIAHILLS

Course condition: dry — Number of participants: 76

Source: D1 Grand Prix Year Book 2002-2003

The spectacle of D1 Grand Prix started in the year 2000. During a time when the drifting craze in Japan was beginning to reach into the mainstream culture, the newly minted drift series decided to visit a newly minted track.

Drift competitions had been around since the late 1980s in Japan with events like the CARBOY GP, TOYS Cup, and BM Cup being held. But in 2001 D1 Grand Prix stepped onto the scene with a series that aimed to polish and professionalize competition drifting.

The inaugural event was held at Ebisu Circuit, a fitting locale given the manager and owner of the track, Nobushige Kumakubo, was a drifter himself. This was unique, even in Japan, where most tracks were not managed and operated by drifters. There was, however, one other track where this was the case: Sekia Hills. Local Kyushu drifter Takashi Sakai had been appointed to run the place. For this reason, D1 Grand Prix’s first visit to Sekia Hills in 2002 was a special one.

Source: D1 Grand Prix Year Book 2002-2003

At this penultimate event of the season, a total of 76 drivers gathered to qualify for the 7th and final round of D1GP. Only drivers who had earned enough points throughout the season were eligible to participate in the final round. For this reason, the 6th round at Sekia was of great significance to those who had not earned any points during the first 5 rounds. These were the drivers who were especially motivated to earn points, but they would have a difficult time doing it. Out of the top ten seeded drivers who already had guaranteed spots in the finals, eight of those drivers made up the top competition bracket positions, making it much harder than expected for drivers without points to break through.

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The dorimanager showdown

Many local Kyushu drivers participated, but Sakai drew the most attention. Despite not earning any points during the previous rounds, his role as track manager meant he knew every inch of the circuit and was expected to score points this round—possibly enough to advance to the seventh round.

Source: D1 Grand Prix Years book 2002-2003

This made the most anticipated battle of the event the top-16 matchup between Sakai and Kumakubo. It was north versus south, track manager against track manager, and Sakai's chance to showcase his home track advantage.

Unfortunately, he blew it. During his chase run, Sakai miss-shifted, allowing Kumakubo to create a gap as he tried to salvage his run. This was a big disappointment for the hometown crowd that had gathered to cheer on their manager whose season ended without a single point. Sakai commented, “After that match, no one spoke to me for a while.”

An exciting battle with the king of destruction

After defeating Sakai, Kumakubo would continue on to battle Yuki (Dart) Izumida and his 1JZ-powered S14 in the top-eight.

After their first run, they went to a sudden-death battle, something that got the crowd very excited. Even after the sudden-death battle, the judges struggled to pick a winner. With identical lines and matching entry speeds, it looked less like a battle and more