Vd – After VPA rd 2 we were able to catch up with Mike “BOMAC” Bolanos, a seasoned driver/instructor and judge for the VegasProAm series. Mike, what are your thoughts on the series after the first two rounds?

MB – First of all, I would like to say my greetings to all the VD members and supporters. Thanks for always supporting your grassroots drift community. Moving on to the 1st Vd Check-Up question. So, what exactly is in my thoughts towards the VPA series??? I’m very excited! This year definitely has a lot of flavors in the menu. From the local support and from our friends from CA, AZ, CO, NM, UT, and etc. I can’t disregard last years success but this season is definitely a positive movement towards FD standards and the newer breed of drivers are very good. I would say that 2011 is a good year for Vegas so far.

Vd – Coming from the judges booth, which was the closest and hardest battle to “make the call” on from Round 2?

MB – Without a doubt, semi-finals battle (top 4) between George Marstonovic (AZ) and Brandon Patterson (CA). As I remember before the OMT, non of the judges agreed to one winner. Judge #1 scored George, Judge #2 Brandon, and Judge #3 OMT. I was really blown away on how these drivers performed this round compared to all previous rounds in the VPA series since 2010. Of course each event has its own story, but the last round was definitely ranked #1 in my books. Its like watching FD or D1 live, except I was actually a part of judging these excellent drivers. The most exciting VPA Top 16 by far!!

Vd – Give us an update on your S-13.

MB – The update is… it’s still the same car! haha. I know I have mentioned before that I was planning on building a new chassis in hopes of participating couple rounds in FD. Lets just say that the hope met it’s demise and will be sticking to grassroots until further notice… maybe join VPA 2012. Don’t quote me on that! On the real, my s13 coupe was revived. I was able to get the rear end damage somewhat straightened out (good enough) and a make over on the front end and new paint. Car came out really good I wasn’t expecting that kind of result, i’m really happy with it. Took longer than expected (1 year) my last event with that car was May 28th, 29th 2010 for the VegasDrift/Justdrift Balcony event. Thanks to my Dad’s S13 hatch I was able to continue driving while the coupe project was in the works.

Vd – What’s your take on the wave of V8 swaps?

MB – Wave? more like a tornado with the means of destruction. I can’t hate on them, I would love to own one and would be nice to actually compete with power like that. Great power comes with great responsibility! You better have deep pockets for tires! haha. It does make the level of drifting go up a notch. Less motor issues with a lot more efficient horses to count on. Definitely different from your common drifting laws. I bet it’s really fun to drift one, but for now I can only imagine that feeling.

Vd – Being an old 86 driver, what are your thoughts on drifting with low HP?

MB – My thoughts haven’t change a bit. from a 4AGE powered corolla, S13 with single bangers or KA DOHC and etc. I think if you can give your self a chance to learn from a low hp cars you get to experience a lot more. Nothing wrong with low HP cars as longs as you can have fun with it.

Vd – Do you think the experience of judging has giving you something to apply to your driving?

MB – Most definitely! It’s different when you concentrate on setting the standards on the track that you are judging on. Drifting is a motor sport art, it is really important that you follow what the judges want. Sometimes when you are out there, you have to imagine how good you can look from the judges stand point. It’s like impressing your dads gf, no matter how clean you look if you are sloppy you don’t get any points.

Vd – What is your favorite 80′s band and movie?

MB – 80′s band? a lot, I’m pretty versatile with my music selection, from jazz, r&b, hip-hop, soul, and alternative. Up to this point I still believe that the 80′s towards the mid 90′s were the best years of music. For my best movie, it has to be “TOPGUN” I cant tell you how many times I’ve watched that movie and never ever got tired of it. You always want to play the best guy in a movie… in this case, who is your iceman?

Vd – Thanks for the interview Mike! We will see you at round 3 at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Is there anyone you would like to mention or thank?

MB – Thanks Wes! And Thank you VegasDrift and Staff. As I always say and remind myself, I’m very proud to be a part of this organization. Drifting has been a passion for me ever since the 1st day I kicked the clutch of my corolla. To the OG people, new breeds, and future stars Thank you! You guys are a big part of VD’s success.

To Family and close friends who have always been there, Thanks for all the support!

To Justdrift for helping me out since I started being a regular driver and an instructor.

Thank you:
Maxxis Tires
Replay HD
AIT RACING
HPS
UDrift
BCE Designs
J’Spec
The Shop
Brian Camacho

Photo Credit

Larry Chen – Driftfotos.com
‘Sa Jamil Hogan “KidYosh” – Kidyosh.com
Joal Cada – Third Eye Photography

The guys over at Just Drift have a new Balcony layout now that extends over 40 ft past where it did just a few months ago. Video courtesy of Mike Bolanos.

Last weekend was the final installment of VEGASDRIFT 21 for 2010. The event was fun as usual like any other local event that is being held every month. This year has been a success to the VD staff with all the PROAM, VD Practice, and FormulaD. Kudos to Nick, Wes, Ray, Ace, AJ, Josh, and the rest who I forgot to mention for doing a superb job. Im honored to be a part of this organization and to be able to help out in any possible way. Nick has also assigned me as one of the main judges for his VegasPROAM 2010, that was definitely an experience I will never forget. So Thank you Nick and VD for that!

Now lets move on to the event: VD21

Day started early! as VD and staff start thier day around 5:45am to meet up and eat breakfast @ the skillet. This is like the 2nd time i missed it! haha. I had to get an extra time to rest and got to the speedway around 8:30ish, just in time for the drivers meeting. Picture above was Nick, me, and Josh Guild monitoring the track and making some last minute adjustment on the shutoff area. Me, Ray, and Josh did the set up day before the event. I was able to pull a couple laps before finishing the rough layout. This course had a 65mph entry to a right hand 90, unto a left transition conituing to a loong sweeper, another transition towards the grandstand/wall then finish. it was like a wider and extended long beach FD track.

The idea was to get a bigger course and to have a good flow. I think we had better success on having maximum run time to every run group. the line was quick and very efficient. We also made it wider to lessen the work and the rate of cones being hit and flying all over the course. We also have to get ready because the chance of rain was at 80%. This event was going rain or shine.  – Check out the rest of the story at Mikes Blog  http://bomac.justdrift.com

Larry Chen – Drift Fotos
Yosh Hogan – KidYosh.com

A lot of time and work went into this video. The video has a short montage front end followed by a linear progression though the Vegas Proam Round 2 just like Round 1. (continue reading…)

For those of you who missed the last installment of Vegasdrift aka VD18 too bad… just too bad. Just to start off, the timing of the event is just perfect… it got a little warm towards the end of the day but it didn’t stop the drivers to get aggressive with their driving either. The next VD/practice event will not happen in a couple months because of the weather and other outside events that the VD staff will be doing. Hopefully with the break the local drivers will have time to prepare and get their stuff together before the VegasProAm rd 2 begins and the night events in summer.
A lot of media coverage this weekend  Josh Herron and Will Roegge  of KEEP DRIFTING FUN , Joel Cada of  THIRD EYE, Brenton Ho Flickr,  Chris W CWPhotography, and a lot more that i have not personally met.

Josh Herron

Will Roegge
Im pretty sure a lot of people in the community know about this two individuals. Please support them and follow them on thier journey of making a DVD of KEEP DRIFTING FUN. They will be going around the US to cover most of the grassroots and formula d events. VD18 was thier 1st stop, and im sure they had a lot of footage for that event… just another thing you non-show guys missed! via tweeter, thay are in AZ now. goodluck guys!
Here are some pictures from CWPhotography from this weekend.

Forest doing a wall ride… not ones but about 70% of his runs was super close… the other 30% was either a tap, scrape, or a hair gap… he had some contacts that gave his Wang Machine some battle scars. A true drift driver that knows the high quality of drift showtime. One of my hero’s in drifting for sure.

battle scars! and this was done on a practice day event… both sides suffered scrapes and dents from both track 1-2. i’m sure the next event i will see this car it will be perfect again.
‘
here is another local Las Vegas kid who knows how to make an impression. Determined to have fun and to put on a show every time he is out there… hes like a little forest. Sick ass car, sounds like the Wang-Machine and all. in this picture he came in and gave that wall a little love tap. no major damage.

here is my good friend soon to be lawyer Inku Nam tearin it up. he drove my car too and had a little accident while doing it… nothing happened to my car and i will keep that little accident to my self. LoL.

Mike Pollard all the way from Minnesota state. he too suffered a hard crash towards the end of the day. He also drives at the D1 Grand Prix and will be flying back to Japan next week. Goodluck Minnesota Mike!

Josh Guild on the yellow car was driving really consistent all day and taking his time to drive smooth and easy… was definitely something new from him because he is usually super aggressive. He said that he is just practicing for next weeks TopDrift battle in HTM.

Dave Briggs behind Josh is a kid from Canada who is definitely making a name in the Pro Amateur series. JustDrift Top Drift , XDC points leader and VegasPROAM podium points holder. watch out for this guy in the future events.

here is a shot of me from Chris W. Photography… this is the the 1st outside clipping wall before the main sweeper. The course set up was the VegasPROAM but tweaked by Tommy Suell to be a lot (i mean a LOT) faster than the original course. it is really a big risk to get close to that wall from a very fast transition and coming from a high 3rd gear entry.

this is my money shot of the day. i remember this one in particular because i almost felt that wall touching the car… it was crazy i got away with that close of run. i call this “My Forest Stunt”.

and to end this blog post, a picture of Nick Dizon running around riding his pit bike around the track and pit area. very busy person every event.
Please check out http://www.vegasdrift.com for more info and pictures of the event.
Thanks to Chris W. for the pictures i used for this blog.
See you all guys next event!

=Mike Bolanos