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The track at Sonoma began with a fast straight away which lead into a narrow right handed loop that quickly switched back into a left handed tear drop. Entry speeds were getting close to triple digits and a lot of the cars were relying on their emergency brakes to slow the car down. Due to the popularity of the track there was no practice on Thursday. The only practice was on Friday right before qualifying.

During the first qualifying round, Henry Schelley scored 75 points, placing in the middle of the pack. Henry knew that his score would not hold its position after the second round of qualifying so he had to go all out. His entry style was unique catching the breath of both the fans and the judges. With entry speeds near 90 mph Henry was clutch kicking into initiation using less of his emergency brakes.

Despite barely missing the Top 16, the car and driver were still on display handing out posters and autographs. Next event, the team hopes to debut their new exhaust manifold design using Burns Stainless components and higher compression motor setup. Schelley Racing aims to place a lasting impression for the 2008 season at the last stop in Irwindale, California.

Special Thanks to:
Federal Tires, AEM, Arias pistons, Burns Stainless, Brian Crower, Griffin Radiators, TCSportline, ACT clutch, DG-5, HPS Racing, Baker Precision, Neo Synthetic oil, AIT Racing, DriftSpeed, XXR Wheels, AMSperformance.com, Victor Reyes, Just Drift

There were no huge celebrations in the Team Renezeder pit after rounds 11 and 12 of the 15-race CORR series this past weekend in Chula Vista, California, but three second-place finishes and one third kept the team alive in the points races in both the Pro-4 and Pro-2 divisions.

"It feels weird to be disappointed after a weekend that looks like it went really well on paper," explained Carl Renezeder. "You'd think we'd be elated with those results, but we come here to win, and we fell just short all weekend. However, I'm happy about our consistency, and a podium finish beats a DNF any day, so we'll take those results and try to capitalize on them at the next event."

The team raced in front of near-capacity crowds at the 10,000-seat facility, while Saturday's race aired live on Speed Channel and Sunday's race was taped for an October 5 airing on NBC.

With three rounds of racing remaining in the season (Oct 25 and 26 in Primm, Nevada and Dec 6 in Chula Vista, California), Renezeder is now tied for the lead in Pro-4 with Rick Huseman and sits in second place in Pro-2, 49 points behind leader Rob MacCachren.

The fifth showing of FormulaD at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, CA culminated in an impressive weekend for the Rockstar/AEM drift team. Considered a challenging course, replete with elevation changes and a fast downhill straight leading into a right-hand turn, Infineon has made most drivers look both unstoppable and generic at times depending on course strategy. This weekend, flawlessly prepared vehicles combined with a sound plan of attack launched Foust and the team back into first place in the series as they prepare for the "Final Fight" at Irwindale Speedway in October.

FOXY'S RESULTS
While admittedly challenging in tandem competition, it's no secret that for individual rounds, Infineon is not a favorite for several drivers. This is because when competing solo, the big braking zone prior to the first right is the most technical element of the course. In tandem, it leads to close competition, but solo it creates a make or break situation. In the first qualifying pass Tanner hit the left pedal too late, leading to a poor score that threatened to keep him out of the Top 16. The pressure was on for the second run. "I knew I had to nail a solid pass and make a clean transition off the straight, so I was more conservative upon entry," noted Tanner. His efforts paid off, culminating in the #2 qualifier spot among seeded drivers with a 96.67 to #1 qualifier Sam Hubinette's 97.00.

Tanner faced Michihiro Takatori and his Super Autobacs Skyline in the Sliding Sixteen. Tanner's strategy for tandem competition was to use big speed when leading to draw the competition in on the first turn, and then choose a smart line at the apex to create a gap between the cars and pull away in the infield course. This plan was well executed against Takatori, allowing Tanner to advance.

Tanner squared the Rockstar/AEM Z off against Vaughn "JR" Gittin in the Great 8, and his strategy worked well while he led. When Tanner was following, JR went wide after the first turn and Tanner had to hold the drift until the car essentially stopped on the course. "I chose not to pass JR, and held the drift for so long that I lost it." Both drivers received a zero for the pass, giving Tanner the advantage after an 8-5 decision when leading JR.

Tanner faced Bill Sherman in the Final Four round. "Bill was on fire this weekend!" added Tanner. "(He was) definitely having one of the best events I've seen him have and he is competitive." That said, with the help of a fresh set of sticky Toyo R1Rs, Tanner was able to stick to his game plan and send Bill to the consolation round where he would finish third overall. "He had an awesome event and it was great to see him podium. I was very happy to get past him," finished Tanner.

In the final, Tanner faced Rhys Millen and the Pontiac Solstice. He knew he would need as much grip as possible and would not be able to speed away from the lighter car when leading. "I stayed in 3rd gear through the first corner so I wouldn't have to shift going into turn 2, and the torque from the Garrett turbo-boosted VQ gave me the acceleration I needed to pull away from him," said Tanner. "When it came time to follow, I just committed 100% to sticking to him. At the end of the run I knew we had beaten him-it was a great feeling!"

BIG PAPA'S RESULTS
Steph was feeling good in the Rockstar/AEM S2000 after making the suspension repairs from the Seattle event and posted the second highest score in unseeded qualifying competition with a 96.9 to Bill Sherman's 98. Steph went after it in his second pass and was not as clean, but earned enough points to grab the 14th spot in the unseeded field. On Saturday, Steph recorded a blazing entry speed of 97 MPH en route to a 23rd overall finish, which did not allow him to advance to tandem eliminations.

"Sonoma has always been a challenge for me, but this year I felt really comfortable on the course. Despite not scoring enough points to advance to tandem rounds, I had a good weekend with fast entry speeds and high points for my first qualifying pass. As I continue to work on consistency, the payoff will happen with more rounds in tandem eliminations. On the upside, I was able to get to the tower early and spot for Tanner's tandem runs! He had an awesome event and earned that win."

FAST FACTS
FD Round 6 at Infineon was the fifth FormulaD event held at the track...both cars have qualified for eliminations in all but two events in 2008...the team has seven top 5 qualifiers (two seeded 1st, three seeded 2nd, one seeded 4th, one unseeded 5th) two victories and a third place finish this season...Tanner is currently first place in the series championship standings (26 points ahead of the #2 driver) and both Rockstar/AEM drivers are ranked in the top 35 series competitors...the next event is at "House of Drift" at Irwindale Speedway in Irwindale CA on October 11th...

The Rockstar/AEM drift team is sponsored by Toyo Tires, Motegi Racing Wheels, Tokico Gas Shocks, Advanced Clutch Technology (ACT), Specialty Products Company (SPC), ChargeSpeed and C-West.

The "Primm 300" is the roughest, most brutal race in the SCORE series. Hundreds of miles of rocks, sand and cross-grain pit drivers not only against each other, but against the terrain. Angered by a 3rd place finish at "Vegas to Reno" only two weeks prior, Team KORE worked non-stop, completely rebuilding the Power Wagon in record time.

"Primm is gnarly," said Team Manager, John Zambie, "In the short time allotted, we did everything we could to get the truck ready. Didn't sleep much – finished prep the morning of the race - but we got it done."

A 6am start from the back of the pack forced driver Kent Kroeker to fight tremendous dust while driving into the rising sun.

"A rear start is a huge disadvantage at Primm. The visibility was so bad we had to take a lot of chances to get past everyone. When we finally got behind Griffin, I hit him hard. Then it was a game-on for the rest of the race."

An all-out death battle ensued between John Griffin's Ford and Kroeker's Dodge. Swapping leads numerous times throughout the race caused a lot of nail biting in the pits. Both teams had to stop to refuel and each time the lead changed. For the entire second lap, both trucks remained within seconds of each other, going all out for the win.

With only 20 miles to go, Kroeker was in the lead. Then the motor stalled and Griffin got by, forcing Kroeker to drive inside his dust, all the way to the finish.

"They started 30 seconds in front of us, so I knew I could finish behind him and still win on corrected time," said Kroeker, "His dust was so bad, a lot of the time, I couldn't see anything. I had to flog our truck as hard as I could to stay with him and rely on my co-driver to navigate from the GPS."

With zero visibility, two miles from the finish, Kroeker hit a rock, exploding the right rear tire.

"There was no time to change it – no time to even think of that. I just kept it pinned and hoped most of it would stay on the wheel."

The crowd cheered as Kent Kroeker and co-driver Frank Martinek powered down the final mile with a mangled bumper, crumpled bedsides and a shredded tire, flapping on the wheel.

When they reached the checkered flag, KORE had the win by 16 seconds.

AUGUST 11TH, 2008, Hawthorne, CA-The team was pumped heading into Round 5 at Evergreen Speedway in Seattle, WA, having two full days of practice prior to the event to get familiar with the track and set up the cars. However, all this preparation was academic, as the perfect conditions during practice turned slippery in the rain during competition.

FOXY'S RESULTS
Tanner was coming off his Silver Medal effort in Rally competition at the X Games the weekend before, with just enough time to pull his rally suit out of the bag, put the drift suit in it, and jump a plane to Seattle. "The first time I relaxed was when I got to the track, because Steph and the Rockstar/AEM team had everything ready to go! We just went about setting the car up for the track."

The efforts in practice went south once the skies opened up on Saturday, and every team was scrambling for a new strategy to deal with the wet tarmac. The track was dry during Tanner's first qualifying pass and he earned enough points to make the show, but during the second qualifying run he must have been experiencing flashbacks to his ice racing days, as Tanner cranked it up a notch and captured the #2 qualifying position behind Sam Hubinette and his Viper.

The sliding 16 round paired Tanner against Kyle Mohan and his FC RX-7. Tanner drove very well in the conditions, commenting that the slippery surface was "fun," and while Kyle drove well, a mistake caused him to spin and Tanner advanced. In the Great 8 round, Tanner faced Michihrio Takatori and his R34 Godzilla. Takatori made a mistake in transition and hit Tanner hard-which gave Tanner the round-but in the crash moved the engine a full inch on the engine mounts (which are slotted for adjustability) and set the turbo on top of the steering tie rods making it difficult to turn right.

In the Final Four round Tanner faced Rhys Millen and his Solstice. After two passes it was too close to call and the judges called for a "One More Time," during which Tanner made a small mistake in the first right and allowed Rhys to advance by one point. During the consolation round against Robbie Nishida and his 350Z, Tanner again had trouble in the first right and Robbie advanced to the podium. In all, Sam Hubinette's #1 qualifier and 2nd overall finish advanced him to first overall in the Championship race and placed Tanner second overall, just 12 points behind Sam. With a mere 54 points separating the top four drivers, expect some intense battles heading into the final two rounds.

"After the crash it was a challenge to turn the car to the right, but it was drivable and I can't make any excuses," commented Tanner. "We made a lot of changes to the car this season-the new Toyo tires, more steering angle, making the car lighter-and they will serve us well at the remaining two events. It's going to be a battle for first place all the way to the championship, and we are ready."

BIG PAPA'S RESULTS
Steph had great runs during Thursday practice and went into Friday's practice session feeling confident, but he got too close to the wall during one pass and it sucked him in. Unfortunately, the Rockstar/AEM S2000 uses many custom parts for the suspension and brakes, and the team did not have a few critical items to put everything back together, ending Steph's chances to qualify for eliminations.

"It was horrible not to compete this weekend," said Steph. "Especially when you saw the tandem competition in the rain. That was awesome. Plus, there's just something about this event that brings out incredible drifting and tandem rounds. Everyone was on their game, as you can see by the 92- to 96-point spread in the qualifiers. Maybe it's the fans! The house was full even with the rainy weather!"

FAST FACTS
FD Round 5 at Evergreen was the first FormulaD event held in the rain...both cars have qualified for eliminations in all but two events in 2008...the team has six top 5 qualifiers (two (each) seeded 1st and 2nd, one seeded 4th, one unseeded 5th) one victory and a third place finish this season...Tanner is currently second place in the series championship standings (12 points off the lead) and both Rockstar/AEM drivers are ranked in the top 30 series competitors...the next event is at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma CA on September 13th...