Moving on with our coverage from Formula Drift Rd. 3 in New Jersey, it's tandem time.
Here's a look at some of the thrills, chills, and spills from the Top 32 at Wall Speedway.
The first two drivers to do battle in the blazing Jersey heat were Ryan Tuerck and Andrew Comrie Picard. This was Picard's first ever tandem battle in FD, and Tuerck made quick work of the Viper. Still, you can tell that ACP has really made some progress since Long Beach.
Matt Powers and Dean Kearney went out next an all-S14 battle. We were expecting a pretty intense match here, but Matt's gearbox gave out, allowing Kearney to take a big advantage and move to the Top 16.
Here Doug Van Den Brink leads Stephan Verdier through the transition during the next battle. Neither of these guys ran particularly well here, but it was Verdier who was awarded the win.
In the following battle Cyrus Martinez did his absolute best to hold off the raging Scion of Tanner Foust, but it was to no avail. Foust moves to the Top 16.
Justin Pawlak vs. Michael Essa looked like it would be another close match, but JTP opened an early advantage on the banking and didn't look back. More on Justin's wall-riding weekend coming soon.
Veterans Rhys Millen and Sam Hubinette had the misfortune of being matched up in the Top 32.
The battle would result in Rhys tapping the wall, busting his front suspension and handing the win to Hubinette.
Vaughn Gittin Jr. faced Robbie Nishida in the Top 32. Robbie ran hard, but the GT-R couldn't stand up to the lightning moves of Vaughn's Mustang.
Next up, Tyler McQuarrie finally gets over his Top 32 curse, defeating Tony B and making his first Top 16 of the season.
Here you can see the massive gap that Darren McNamara has put on Dennis Merztanis during their battle. DMac easily gets the win and moves to the Top 16.
Matt Waldin and Ken Gushi at the point of entry. Gushi would end up taking the win here.
Next up, Chris Forsberg and Bill Sherman headed out for what was probably the weekend's most insane battle. These guys would need two OMT's before Forsberg was eventually declared winner. Hats off to Sherman for putting up such a hard fight against the defending champ.
Rookie Charles Ng then surprised many when he defeated Conrad Grunewald and his Camaro. Charles will be along soon with his own guest blog on the event.
Facing the red hot Dai Yoshiara with a broken control arm, the odds certainly weren't in Brian Wilkerson's favor, and the BMI RX8 would be defeated in its first ever tandem battle. Baby steps, right?
Next up, a heated match between Kyle Mohan and Forrest Wang. The two cars would make contact near in the final corner, with Kyle's Mazda spilling coolant all over the track and Forrest earning the win.
The track would go cold for a while as the Formula Drift and Wall Speedway crews worked to clean up the mess.
Media goons always find an interesting way to pass the down time…
Finally the action resumed after the long delay with Ross Petty facing Ryuji Miki and his new Lexus. Ross took advantage of Miki's unfamiliarity with his new car, and easily got the win here.
And closing out the Top 32 was a solo run by Michihiro Takatori. He was due to face Mad Mike here, but Mike was forced to retire after a broken differential during morning practice. Bummer.
Top 16 action next time!
-Mike Garrett