Drift Tengoku — October 2013

Ishikawa's championship hopes took a turn for the worse. Saori Ishikawa managed to qualify for tandem, but the power-steering trouble persisted and she lost in the top eight. She fell to fourth in the standings, while leader Mimoto opened a seven-point gap. With so few points available per round in the Ladies League, that is a major deficit. Can Ishikawa recover at the final round in Nikko?

The absence of spotter Tsuyoshi Tezuka may have been a major factor. ‘My driving finally started coming together on final day,’ she said, but the lack of polish was still noticeable. She could not make it into the tandem bracket in the D1SL series. In the top-eight battle she defeated first-time entrant Ono and earned eight points, but her ranking did not change. Expectations are high for her performance at the final round.

Ishikawa's top-eight elimination shakes up the rankings! Ishikawa made the tandem bracket, but her troubles did not improve and her driving lacked its usual sharpness. Against Mimoto, who had topped the solo final, she attacked boldly but could not slow the car and drifted wide, losing the battle. Mimoto advanced, and Niimi and Yabuuchi also reached the semifinals, turning what had been a favorable championship position into a difficult one for Ishikawa. The first semifinal was a rematch of last year's final: Mimoto versus Endo. Their first two runs were closely matched. In the rematch, Endo made no major mistakes, but Mimoto drove even better, earning the advantage both leading and chasing and advancing to the final. In the other semifinal, Niimi faced Yabuuchi. Niimi's lead run was too tight on the first pass, giving Yabuuchi the advantage. On the switched run, Niimi attacked but drifted slightly wide, so the judges called it even. Yabuuchi reached her third final—

Tandem regular Miyake still needs to improve her chase technique?! She unusually missed the tandem bracket at round 2 in Bihoku, but Terumi Miyake had qualified for tandem at Setonaikai last year. This time she placed seventh in the solo final, raising expectations for her tandem performance. In the top-eight battle against Yabuuchi, she rode an inner curb while chasing at corner two and was eliminated.

Mimoto appeared to be closing in, but not enough to gain an advantage, forcing a second rematch. On the first run of that rematch, Yabuuchi drifted slightly wide while chasing, giving Mimoto the advantage. On the second, Mimoto stayed close behind, and Mimoto won the event. She took over first place in the standings, Yabuuchi moved to second, and Niimi rose to third. Ishikawa, eliminated in the top eight, fell to fourth.