Vinnitsa met the drift with gusty wind and rain storm! On July 19 and 20 on the Kalynivka airfield, near Vinnitsa, there was the Third Round of the Ukrainian Drift Championship UDC2013.
Unlike the previous two rounds, the competition program shifted to one day before, i.e. Friday-Saturday. This was due to the fact that on Sunday at the same site the Ukrainian Drag Racing Championship (races on acceleration) was held.
The two day system is very convenient (1st day – qualification, 2nd day – pair runs), the teams have time to prepare the cars, and the pilots are given the opportunity to analyze their runs and the runs of their opponents.
So, Friday is the Qualification Day!
The trainings started early in the morning! The track configuration did not allow to practice in a cyclic order, but here you have to pay tribute to the UDC Team, which implemented the training process in such a way that the inconvenience was not even noticed.
At the trainings everything was a classic case – pilots adapt to the track, the teams prepare rubber and resolve any appearing problems, track marshals regulate the movement with flags, and everything would be fine if it were not for the sudden rain storm…
A half of the service park was destroyed! The tents, which the teams had not had time to make out, were broken by strong wind, and the cars were left in the open, rainy sky… Fortunately, the pit area of Marchenko Racing was not affected, because it was well secured and supported by the team and friends.
The heavy rain stopped as if someone had turned it off by pressing the button, in the truest sense of the word. The water went off from the airfield covering surprisingly fast! And in just a few minutes after the rain, the practice continued.
The time was ripe for qualification. But it seemed to nature that there was little damage, and it decided to go back with the second wave of the storm, interrupted in so doing the qualification which had already begun… At this time the wind was stronger! The pilots, resting on the experience of the first wave of rain, strengthened their tents, and this time all together helped to keep racing headquarters – WOG inflatable tent.
After the wind and torrential rain stopped testing the participants and organizers of the race, the drivers who had not qualified yet were gathered at a mini-briefing where it was announced about additional trainings in order to dry the airfield surface to continue the qualification under the same conditions for all.
According to the qualification results Vladimir Marchenko scored 96.6 points and took the 4th place in qualification, having added 17 points to an individual classification.
After the completion of the qualifying races the pilots were announced the qualification results and pairs of Top 32. Taking into account the number of pilots, 21, and the fourth place in qualification, Vladimir Marchenko is automatically sent to Top 16, where he will wait for his rival – the winner of the pair Korchevsky-Lavitsky.
The Racing Day!
From the early morning the weather did not delight with the sun, but it was not raining. The track was dry and according to the timing the practice began at 9:30.
The pilots trained pair runs, somebody adjusted to the possible opponents in Top 32, somebody dealt with the car problems and the opening ceremony of the Third Round of the Ukrainian Drift Championship was gradually coming up.
Meanwhile, spectators filled the stands and it was time to present the heroes of the day!
A competitors’ parade was accompanied by presentation of the pilots, tribute to the anthem of Ukraine, the opening remarks of Vinnitsa officials and, of course, beautiful girls!
The autograph session was an essential part…
And here comes the most important thing!
In Top 32 series an opponent of Marchenko was defined, it was a promising newcomer of the Championship – Sergey Lavitsky!
Top 16: Sergey Lavitsky
Due to Sergey’s little experience, in the run with Marchenko he was not able to approach him close enough, and because of the long distance and a number of minor errors he lost to Vladimir Marchenko.
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Top 8: Vitalii Liutyi
In his run Vitalii allowed a long distance from Vladimir, which led to the asynchrony of reversals. But Vladimir kept the nicely close distance in his run and won this fight.
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Top 4: Aleksey Holovnya
Runs with Aleksey were essential back in the Second Round in Odessa. This time Vladimir managed to maintain his supremacy and it did not come to One More Time. Aleksey made some mistakes along the path, as a result he dropped behind Vladimir and in a great arc, trying to shorten the distance, almost went over the track. Marchenko Racing moved on to the final of the third round of the Ukrainian Drift Championship!
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Final: Aleksandr Grinchuk
A pleasant final, a pleasant rival! In his run of Top 4 series with Nikita Lukianov, Aleksandr Grinchuk had a damaged radiator. In this regard, the finalists did not drive out to honor the audience and judges, but immediately raced to find out their places.
Vladimir Marchenko, in his run, got close to Aleksandr on setting as much as possible, ran into Grinchuk and after reversal made an alignment, but caught up his opponent before the finishing arch and finished close enough.
In his run Aleksandr Grinchuk was unable to approach so close on the setting, but quickly caught up with Vladimir before the finishig arc. Having overdone with the speed a little bit, Aleksandr touched Marchenko’s door with the front wheel, as a result, he allowed the adjustment.
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Having compared adjustments and settings, the judges in the person of Maxim Miller, Vitalii Lukianov and Haiko Simonian decided:
The victory in the third round of the Ukrainian Drift Championship goes to VLADIMIR MARCHENKOOO!
2nd place – Aleksandr Grinchuk
3rd place – Aleksey Holovnya
Marchenko Racing Team congratulates its pilot!
We thank Petronas Syntium and XXL magazine for cooperation! We thank every spectator who visited this race despite the weather! And we thank the Ukrainian Drift Championship Team for high-quality events!
