Drifting: Drivers revel in qualification battles

Battlemania Milwaukee Cup podium finishers were, from left, Drew Donovan (second), Joseph Kukutai (winner) and "Mad" Mike Whiddett (third). Photo/Supplied

Ricky Lee believes his new drifting competition format is here to stay.

The Wanganui drift racer ran Battlemania at Taupo Motorsport Park last weekend, under a new format he devised with Wanganui-born race designer Andrew Stewart, during the annual Diesel, Demons and Daredevils show.

The current D1NZ driver teamed up for the event with the Drift Motorsport NZ team.

On Saturday's qualifying round, all 24 drivers were split into four separate pools and instead of the usual qualifying runs there were 60 individual battles to determine the qualifying position of all drivers.

The aim of the format is to create a spectator-friendly event.

In these pools each driver battled each other to gain a score for the day with a winner found from each pool.

From the accumulated scores of each driver from each pool, the top six overall made the top tier Milwaukee Cup final on Sunday.

Drivers who qualified 7-12th competed in the second tier Automotive Direct Cup, with the remaining 12 going into the third tier Snitch GPS Cup final.

Lee said Sunday's fine weather made for some fantastic drifting on the final day where 60 showdowns took place to determine who would be crowned champion of each tier.

"The event was like a well-oiled machine that just ran like clockwork over the two days," Lee said.

He said there was plenty of positive feedback from drivers and was keen to run it again.

Auckland teenager Joseph Kukutai was top qualifier in his pool and went on to win the Milwaukee Cup on Sunday, with veterans Drew Donovan and "Mad" Mike Whiddett second and third respectively.

Results:

May 10, Qualifing.

Pool winners - A: Joseph Kukutai; B: Michael Etter; C: Mad Mike Whiddett; D: Drew Donovan.

May 11, Finals.

Milwaukee Cup (Tier One): 1. Joseph Kukutai; 2. Drew Donovan; 3. Mad Mike Whiddett.

Automotive Direct Cup (Tier Two): 1. Bruce Tannock; 2. Pernell Callaghan; 3. Dylan Woolhouse.

Snitch GPS Cup (Tier Three): 1. "Fanga Dan" Daniel Woolhouse; 2. Jodie Verhulst; 3. Bex Bennet.

Most Improved Battler: Shayne Giles.

Best Female Battler: Jodie Verhulst.

Battle of the Weekend: Adam Davies Vs Joseph Kukutai.

Hardwired Industries Cup (Team of the Year): Ian McSheen and The Machine Team.