Northland drifter Liam Burke, 27, (left) chases down Australian drift champion Luke Fink to progress through to the semifinals at the D1NZ pro championship in Tauranga. Photo / Ian Moss - snapsbyMossy
Northland drifter Liam Burke, 27, (left) chases down Australian drift champion Luke Fink to progress through to the semifinals at the D1NZ pro championship in Tauranga. Photo / Ian Moss - snapsbyMossy
Northland drifter Liam Burke has broken into the national drifting competition top-five after a second-place finish in Tauranga on Saturday.
The 27-year-old Whangārei floor installer battled hard to earn his silver medal over the two-day event at Bay Park Arena in round three of the 2020 D1NZ pro championship.
Afternot attending round one in Invercargill, Burke took out second place in round two at Auckland's Pukekohe Park in early February with his Nissan Silvia S-13 powered by a Toyota Supra 2JZ engine.
Liam Burke (right) was close to taking the win in the final against Taylor James on Saturday. Photo / Ian Moss - snapsbyMossy
In addition to his result last weekend, Burke now sits fifth on the championship table, 62 points behind leader and round three winner James Taylor, with two rounds to go.
Fellow Northland drifter Daniel 'Fanga Dan' Woolhouse is currently third, 14 points ahead of Burke and 48 points below Taylor. Another Northland drifter, Scott Dinsdale, finished second in the pro-sport class, a feeder class to the pro championship.
"The last battle, the judges had to work extremely hard to make a decision on some of the calls, but it was a crazy event," Burke said.
Burke started drifting in 2013 before he crewed for Woolhouse in 2015. Burke made the jump to competitive drifting in 2016 in the pro-sport class.
Northland drifter Liam Burke (2nd - left), Taylor James (1st), 2019 D1NZ pro class champion Darren Kelly (3rd). Photo / Ian Moss - snapsbyMossy
In 2018, Burke won the pro-sport class, ahead of about 24 other drivers, with four podium finishes from five rounds, including one win.
The following year, Burke moved into the pro championship where he finished 11th of about 27 drivers.
With plans to continue his rise in competitive drifting, Burke said his passion for the sport still burned bright.
"Obviously I'm always driving for that top result," he said.
"For me, I just love the competition side of it, it's just a massive thrill."
Burke said the main obstacle for young drifters was the cost to compete. With costs nearly doubled in the pro championship from the pro-sport class, Burke said at the very least, drivers would spend $5000 per round.
"It's not cheap and that [number] can vary heavily, almost every round you are guaranteed to break something that you're going to be up for repair costs.
"There are still really good drivers in the pro-sport class, they just can't afford to make that jump up to the pro championship because the cost of it is quite substantial."
The former mechanic of 10 years hopes he can move up the table with a good performance in round four at Waikato's Hampton Downs at the end of March. However, Burke knows how fickle the sport can be.
"It's really anyone's game. You could have a gearbox failure, an engine failure just in practice so with the pro field, the good drivers can be put out so easily with mechanical failures," he said.
"It's such a cutthroat sport when you get to the battles, you get two runs and if you muck up on either of those, you're on the trailer."
With dreams of competing overseas, Burke said he was determined to continue testing himself at the top level.
"I just wanted to keep going to events, I'd just love to get out there and make a name for myself."
