Geoff has been very good at following up with all of his sponsors after every event. Goes to show he’s not just in drifting for himself, or simply for personal gain. That’s something for us to admire, as we know Geoff already works hard at what he does, and he also has a wife and baby added to his personal life. I’m glad that he can find some time in between all of that to let us know how he’s doing!
Here’s what Geoff has had to say about the year in Formula Drift so far:
“Coming off of the two rounds of Formula Drift, we were sitting 29th in the standings. We felt positive going into Round 3 Homestead-Miami since every round we were improving on and off track. The car set up was getting dialed in more as I felt more comfortable in the car. Since this was a new venue, I felt we had a great opportunity to put on an amazing show. On top of the regular Formula Drift series, Pro 2 had its first round of the new series. With many pros and cons of running two events in one weekend, we decided the extra seat time will pay off.”
Geoff certainly knows how to lay down some smoke!
“We would have a full three days of non stop drifting, which would really put the team and I to the test. Going into paid practice on Thursday, we had four hours of Pro 1 practice, straight to the Pro 2 drivers meeting and finally into Pro 2 practice and qualifying. With the added seat time we were able to dial the car in as well as our line on the track. We felt confident going into qualifying and our first run landed us in first place with a score of 74. It wouldn’t hold for too long, we were knocked into the second qualifying place by Carl Rydquist with a score of 76. Our second qualifying run, we wow’d the judges but being a couple feet off clip 3 landed us a score of 75, still stuck in the 2nd qualifying spot. Thursday was complete!”
Easily gapping his competitor!
“Heading into Friday, we had another busy day of qualifying for Pro 1 and then top 16 in Pro 2. After the drivers meeting, it was officially announced we ended up qualifying 21st in Pro 1 and were really excited that we were in both of the shows! We went right into Pro 2 practice for an hour and directly into top 16. In our first battle we were supposed to face Ron Ewerth, but due to mechanical issues we got the Bi-run into the top 8. In the top 8 I faced Dave Briggs, an Achilles Radial teammate, also a Pro 1 driver. We laid down a solid lead run giving us the advantage. On our chase run, Dave spun around the 2nd inner clip giving us the win. In the top 4, we faced a local Florida native, Jeremy Lowe. This was going to be a tough battle because I have personally driven with him before and know he is a tough competitor. We had another amazing lead run, which Jeremy straightened hard into clip 2 giving us the advantage. On our chase run, we stuck our front bumper to his rear wheels and got the win. Moving on to the top two, we would face our good friend, Nate Hamilton. Nate and I have battled once before, in 2012 at Buffalo XDC where I got the win. I knew he wanted to get the friendly revenge, but I wouldn’t let that happen. I led first and laid down the solid runs i’ve been doing all day, gaping Nate off the line and throughout the whole course. On our chase run I laid hard into the throttle into inner clip 2, putting the car door to door and amazing the judges, drivers and fans! We stuck to his door and got the win in the first ever Pro 2 series event, Friday complete!
Saturday was the big day! We showed that we were able to adapt in tandem and on the track. The guys at R/T tuning dialed in the car from yesterdays abuse and we were 100% ready to get into the top 16. Every event we want to better ourselves from last time. We qualified, which was great, but it was time to get our first win as a Pro 1 Formula Drift driver. Coming off of our momentum and Fridays win in Pro 2, we raised tons of eyebrows and had everyone asking how are we so fast. We knew we were extremely fast off the line and we needed to keep that momentum going in our first battle against Odi Bakchis. We had a great follow run, with one correction with our lead run on point, but we had a OMT call. On our second follow run, we put the car closer to Odi giving him no room for error. On our lead run we had an amazing line with aggression, not allowing Odi to keep up. We finally broke out of the top 32 and into the top 16! For my first ever top 16, I decided to take my wife, Linda out as my umbrella girl. She has been there since day one and I knew it would mean a lot to us in our first top 16!
One of the coolest feelings to date was riding out with my Achilles Radial teammates Kenny Moen and Robbie Nishida. It will be a memory that I will never forget. With the ceremonies complete it was back to the focus of our next battle with Forrest Wang. I was excited to go against one of the best privateers, as I really look up to Forrest, but it was time to take him out. We had our follow run first and kept on his door throughout the whole course. On our lead run I launched hard and left Forrest at the line, unable to catch up. We were awarded the win and made it to The Great 8!
Our next battle was with Matt Fields. We had a great follow run, but the car bogged down on power a bit. We added fuel to the cell, thinking we had a fuel slosh problem and went out for our lead run. We left the line hard and had a decent gap, but going into inner clip 2 the car lost all power, we straightened, dropped a tire and reinitiated. We were called for a OMT and brought the car back to Hot grid. We checked the data logs and found that our car was throwing fuel into the tune to make up for the O2 sensors that were not functioning correctly. We went back to the line, hungry for the win. We were one more battle closer to the top 4! Unfortunately on our second follow run, we stayed to close to Matt on inner clip 2 and 3. I switched back to quickly running door to door, but Matt threw tons of angle and scrubbed a bit of speed and I tapped him just hard enough to make him spin. We were at a huge disadvantage, but we still remained positive! I did my lead run but dropped a tire. Although we still had a couple car lengths on Matt, at the end, Matt got the win and we finished 8th place in Pro 1.”
“After we were knocked out, I was bummed about being too aggressive and beating myself, but the fans definitely made the team and I feel better. Many drivers came up to congratulate us on a great round in Miami! With a 1st place podium at the first Pro 2 event and finishing 8th in Pro 1 was a very successful weekend for the team and I!
We currently have the car back at R/T tuning and are making sure it is 100% ready for our “hometown” round at Wall, NJ The Gauntlet!”
Two TEIN equipped drift cars battling it out!
With Geoff facing some stiff competition, not to mention well-funded teams, we’re glad to see his racing talent really shine. He’s making the best with what he’s got. It’s great to see him in the points, and with the first win in the inaugural Pro 2 series, we’re sure that the only place Geoff has to go from there is UP!!!
Sitting atop the Pro 2 podium! Congrats, Geoff!
Here’s a link to Geoff Stoneback’s Vimeo page. He gave a full report on the event here!
