Hi Guys and Gals i’ve been meaning to get this blog  posted with the last few days but something came up everytime…

Anyway i’ll get started, coming to New Jersey I really didnt know what to expect, people had told me so much about this track and what the 36degree banked first corner was like and then its comes into the flat infield with an almighty bang and followed by a figure eight

So setting the car up for a banked circuit with a heavy transition into a full throttle right hander and a bumpy section that would be more suitable for a tractor LOL….. I got to Garage Jtune Tuesday morning off my flight to meet my crew chief Lawrence and my tech Jun, we threw around a few ideas about set up for this track and made a decision to run a pretty simple one but make the changes on thursday practice at the track, when I was about to feel it out for real.

Making a few changes I quickly got to grips with this track and was loving it, changing from a 4:3 to a 4:1 final drive made it just perfect meaning for the first time I could run a whole track in FD in the one gear, perfect now I just had to focus on my line on the bank.  Every run I was getting higher and higher and feeling more at home in this V-LEDS 240sx then ever

Running practice with some of the front runners in the championship I was figuring out more and more about what this car needed to work well here and was still tweaking things even into Friday morning practice.

As you can see from this picture my little Nissan was able to stick with Conrads Camero monster on 305 rear rubber, so being really happy now it was time to enjoy the weekend behind the wheel and enjoy the Jersey fans.

Some shots from the practice here, hope you enjoy this, was trying to follow Dmac by the sound of his car because I sure as hell couldnt see him.

Running with Miki is great I remember watching video option dvds of this guy and saying i’d love a spin with this dude and feel very honoured now to be able to run door to door with him

Running with Gushi in pratice was giving me lot of confidence knowing he is one of the faster drivers in FD and been able to stick close enough to be a threat was good.

On my qualifying line here, now time to put this down when it matters.

Right…….. down to business (qualifying) the only part of the weekend I can really say I hate. Now its time when all your setting up and tricking about comes together and you’ll know if they are really working. As I launched at the bank I was on the high line and was happy down to the transition I tried to cut it a little tight for the speed factor maybe to tight knocking off an intercooler pipe when I tipped the clipping point……….

Never a good idea…… i’ve put a lot of pressure on myself for the next and final run. Knowing if i dont get this right we are packing up early and going home, not good I dont like these situations haha, so  I backed off, I didnt want to tempt faith so I just ran a 90% run and waited for the result off my spotter over the radio

Confirming back to me over the radio “12th he says well done” I was a little shocked I didnt think I was gone in the top half of the grid. Finishing up a respectable 16th over all I was happy knowing that the run I had put in was a pretty safe run

First part of the job done now some more twin battles to toy around with before the main competition starts.

Drawing Matt Powers in my first of the top32 battles I was pretty confident, we had been monitoring everyones speed all weekend and we knew we were quite faster than Matt and i was running a slightly higher line but saying that Matt is always a driver to watch out for and I was on my guard

Been the higher qualifyer I was to lead the first battle and running  pretty much my qualifying line and fast. At the end of the run I looked in my mirror and I had seen I had pulled quite a big gap on him

Knowing I had the advantage going into the second run I just knew a clean run was gonna put me through.

I followed well as good as I needed to do….putting on the pressure where i thought was needed

Coming out of the last turn I knew I had it in the bag as I applied the pressure going over the line….

Me looking like a dummy at the top 16 opening ceremony, my first FD top 16 to be exacted. I had then found out I had top qualifyer Ryan Trueck and it wasnt going to be easy but I was looking forward to it.

Ryan leading, I followed hard and fast probably  to my own downfall as i got too close to him at the transition and made quiet a big mistake. Losing the chase run i had it all to do…..

Ryan followed cleverly and gave himself enough room not to get caught out anywhere…..

On the infield section i tried to blind him with FALKEN 615K smoke in the hope of him making a mistake behind me but i wasnt so lucky..

If you look at my helmet in this picture you can see im looking back at him in my side mirror..

Knocked out in top16……..

Its a step in the right direction with the car and signs that we are making good progress…

Me after i was knocked out along with Sam in top16 just speaking about what happened in our battles and probably wishing Dai luck………

Anyway guys and gals thanks for taking the time to read my blog, really hope ye enjoyed it and look forward to meeting ye all soon at some event near you…….

I’m outta here

Karnage…..