| Baggsy returned to Ireland to party with his good friend James Deane, celebrating 20 years of James’ drifting career. Great craic, as they say. |
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| Mondello Park, Ireland’s home of motorsport added another event to its list, but this one is different to the others; celebrating 20 years of an illustrious career of a certain James Deane. That’s right, Mr 130 himself threw a huge drift party and invited Baggsy to be one of the special guests to drive and compete in a super fun Top 24 showdown. With an invite like that, it’s hard for the team to say no, right?! So let’s run it back and show you how it all went down. |
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| On Friday the SB Motorsport team unloaded the DY-2JZ GT86 into the allocated pit garage.The weather was slowly improving after Mondello Park received rain from all directions, the team crossed their fingers for better weather over the weekend. |
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| And the weather did improve; Saturday was dry which allowed Baggsy to run several practice laps around Mondello to dial in the GT86. “The car felt great. It’s always good to be back driving at Mondello Park – it’s a track I know well and really enjoy. Having won the LZ World Tour round here in 2023, I’ve got some fond memories of the place, so I’m looking forward to getting back out there. It’ll be so much fun to drive with James (Deane) and the boys again.“– Steve “Baggsy” Biagioni A solid 89.1 point Superlap in Qualifying earned P9 after a fiercely competitive session. |
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With a great day of practice sessions and a strong performance in Qualifying, the team rejoiced in the only way they know how – FEAST 🍽️🥳. |
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Sunday featured plenty of sunshine, seat time and epic battles. Baggsy’s first round was up against Harry Kerr, an extremely strong Irish driver and it was a very close contest. Mad speed, wild angles, insane transitions and close proximity – everything you dreamed of in a drift battle. |
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| Baggsy gets the win and advances to the next round 💪🏼. Throughout the weekend, the SB13 shop was in full swing selling the latest and greatest Baggsy and Initiate merchandise. Signing sessions, photos and great chats were had! The team had such a blast in the beautiful Irish sunshine. |
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| Waiting in the Top 16 was a legend in Japanese drifting – one of the OGs – Masato Kawabata. It was jaw-dropping seeing 2 driving styles throwing it down on track, it was a real sight to behold. The sheer pace, the outrageous angles, the plumes of tyre smoke, it was pure cinema at Mondello Park. That was, until Baggsy has a small impromptu meeting with a wall 😅. The GT86 was fixed up, looked sharp and went back out for Run 2, though it wasn’t enough to take down the D1GP legend on this occassion. |
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| He changed swapped out his race helmet for his cap and had a mega time watching the rest of the drifting, cheering on his friends, chatted with fans and visitors in the paddock and at the SB13 shop. |
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| So that’s the SB Motorsport team done at the 130 Showdown. It wasn’t the finish the team wanted, but the weekend was all about having fun with the lads and celebrating James Deane’s pretty amazing career. It was a mega weekend at Mondello Park, the 130 Showdown was so much fun, Baggsy and team had an absolute blast. Great craic. |
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