Team Falken at British Drift Championship Round 4: Lydden Hill, Kent

Team Falken at British Drift Championship Round 4: Lydden Hill, Kent

A challenging time at Lydden Hill

Lydden Hill, Kent – August 10, 2014 – For the first time in the circuit’s history, Lydden Hill Circuit in Kent would be run in reverse configuration during the fourth round of the 2014 Maxxis British Drift Championship. A heavy crash during practice would see an end to Alan Green’s weekend, although thankfully no serious injuries were sustained. Matt Carter qualifies in 5th position and makes it as far as the Top 16, although both Paul Cheshire and Kirsty Widdrington fail to make the grade this time.

The fourth round of this year’s British Drift Championship season saw a return to Lydden Hill Circuit in Kent – the second event to grace Lydden’s curves in a few months. To shake things up, the BDC organisers made the decision to run the track backwards – a first in Lydden’s history. Glorious sunshine on the Saturday saw many drivers entering the first corner at high speeds, as per the norm, only to be caught out by the tricky off-camber first bend. Unfortunately, Team Falken driver Alan Green was one such driver – after impacting the rear of the car with the temporary barrier, Alan’s 180sx was spun around, causing irreparable damage to the front end of the car. Alan walked away unscathed, a testament to the safety standards of both the championship, the car and the parts used.

In a 40-strong field of Semi-Pro drivers Kirsty Widdrington did her best to make it into the Top 16, however a mid-table finish wasn’t enough to see her through to the finals on Sunday.

Super Pro driver Paul Cheshire suffered a similar fate, the competition in the top class being higher than ever with only half of those present making the cut. Paul ended up in 23rd position overall, putting paid to his plans for Sunday also.

Former BDC champion and current third place holder Matt Carter was on good form in qualifying, beating a field full of world class drivers to claim 5th place. Matt impressed the judges by gently tapping the rear clipping point from the top of the wall with his R32’s rear wing not once but twice during qualification, much to the satisfaction of the crowd!

During Sunday’s battles, under heavy rainfall, Matt would face Christian Lewis in the Top 16 bracket. Following two close runs, the judges could not separate the pair, calling for a one more time. Large areas of standing water had formed on the circuit and, following a last minute change of tyre pressure, Matt went out again and forced yet another one more time against Christian. Come the sudden death battles, the two were inseparable to the untrained eye, but the judges had seen enough and deemed Christian the winner.

“This was an incredibly testing weekend for the team, who were clearly distracted by Alan’s bad accident early Saturday morning. We’re glad that he walked away uninjured – the car will be rebuilt, however Alan is pretty irreplaceable! Tough competition and a large field of drivers made qualifying incredibly difficult for all – still, we push forward, with Matt still sitting in a good position for championship contention,” commented team spokesperson Jordan Butters.

Kirsty Widdrington currently sits in 17th position in Semi Pro class, Alan Green is in 14th position in Pro class, Paul Cheshire is in 19th position in Super Pro class and Matt Carter is in 3rd position in Super Pro class. From here, the team are preparing their cars to visit the Nürburgring Drift Cup on 22nd-24th August. Matt and Paul’s competition calendar continues on Sunday 7th September at the annual TRAX show at Silverstone – we’ll see you there!