Kaitaia drifter aims for strong finish
With two events remaining, Liam Burke is aiming to finish his debut season inside the top 10 of the D1 Pro standings of the national drifting circuit.
Currently sitting 13th on the D1 Pro standings with the penultimate round of the 2019 D1NZ National Drifting Championships coming up at Pukekohe Raceway this weekend, the Kaitaia-born drifter intends to raise his game, father Brian noted.
Previewing the coming event, Brian said Pukekohe was generally regarded as having the fastest drift corner in the world. He noted Liam tended to thrive in this type of environment as well as the pressure of breaking into the top 10.
“Liam is hoping for fine weather as the the start straight is normally made longer so they can get a good run-up . . . entry speed is only limited by fear and not horsepower,” Brian said, noting his son had been “hard out” modifying his car over the last two weeks and was planning to put on a good show for everyone.
Liam,
however,
will
be needing to bounce back from a less-than-ideal effort in the previous leg at Hampton Downs earlier this month; one of LBP Drift’s least memorable performances since making the step up to the Pro ranks after winning the lower tier Pro-Sport series last year.
“Really tough track,” said Brian of the North Waikato venue used for round 3/5 of this year’s series on March 16 and 17. One major issue was having the first inside clipping point (an orange marker cone) sitting four car-lengths closer to the start line than it had been at the previous event two years ago.
This made for a short run-up and then a longer stretch to the next outside clipping point for the first corner, which meant that as they had to come in slower, drivers needed a massive amount of power to make it around the corner and o nto the next without straight-lining.
The camber of the track was also really hard on the steering, with the front wheels hitting the steering bumpers so hard they bent, often causing the steering to bind, making it hard to turn the steering lock lock back in the opposite direction — “a really scary thing to happen at the speeds these guys race at.”
Liam snapped the steering rack of his Nissan SJ13 in the practice run on the Sunday, but was able to replace it just before his first battle against Joel Patterson in an AE86.
Despite suffering a couple more steering binds, Liam won and progressed to the last 16, only to discover he had lost fourth gear, a “fairly crucial” element at the Hampton Downs track. It was all too much of a setback and he was eliminated in the next battle by Whangarei’s Fanga Dan Woolhouse in an RTR Mustang.
Liam Burke has two more opportunities to finish this year’s campaign on a high note. The first is at Pukekohe this weekend, the second when the final leg of the D1NZ National Drifting Championships runs at Manfeild Raceway in Manawatu in late April.
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