Odi Backchis Takes the Win at Formula Drift Saint Louis, Balance of Power Has Shifted

We have passed the halfway point of the championship, but it still needs to be determined who will seize the Championship title this year. I will give you my predictions by the end of this story, though. Let's focus on what has transpired in Saint Louis, where both the Pro and the ProSpec series saw some hard-fought battles for the podium.

ProSpec Qualifying

Qualifying for both championships happened on Thursday, with drivers in the secondary league lining up for a shot at the Top32 battles. 29-year-old Ben Hobson has had a good season so far, and qualifying P1 in Saint Louis gave him an extra confidence boost before the main event. Driving the Feal Suspension Nissan S14, he scored 88.6 points.

Amanda Sorensen got her best FD Pro Spec qualifying result yet, finishing in P2 with 85.2 points. The JDM crowd scored another small victory, as Derek Madison took third in KQF, driving an S14. With 39 drivers on the grid, seven would have to watch the battles from the side, including Margaritis Katsanidis from Greece.

ProSpec Battles

The Alabama drift community must be particularly proud after the FD race in Saint Louis. Their home hero, Ben Hobson, won the event after a fierce series of battles throughout the weekend. Austin Matta and Andy Hateley tried to stop him in his tracks but to no avail. It is his maiden Formula Drift victory, and to top things off, he is now also leading the championship going into the final event in Utah. It was the beginning of a fantastic weekend for Feal Suspension, but we'll get to that in a minute.

Meanwhile, Amanda Sorensen won her Top32 battle against Faruk Kugay but lost against Dustin Miles in the next leg of the race. FD veteran Andy Hateley was second overall in Saint Louis, and this has to be one of his best seasons in years. But claiming the 2023 title won't be accessible at all. Speaking of which, former series champion, Dmitriy Brutskiy, lost his Top16 battle against Geoff Donati. Driving a 2JZ-powered BMW 3-series E46, the Ohio resident would eventually finish the race in third.

Pro Qualifying

But I know you're keen to learn more about how things went down in the Pro Class. I told people we should watch for Kazuya Taguchi, who could be the next big name in Formula Drift. He won the race in Saint Louis last year and was off to an excellent start this time. The 30-year-old driver from Japan scored 94 points in qualifying, driving his GT-R-powered Scion FRS, and that was enough to send him directly to the Top16. As for the following two drivers, I was surprised to see them so high up the list, given the intense competition.

Nick Noback scored five points less than Taguchi, but that was still enough to put him in P2, ahead of Dean Kearney. I honestly can't remember the last time the Viper driver had such a good qualifying run after so many years of racing in Formula Drift. Going into this event, Matt Field led the championship but only qualified 21st on Thursday. Denofa was 25th, but then again, people believe this used to be part of his strategy for a smoother ride through Top32.

Pro Battles

You can watch the live-action replay on YouTube, but if you want a quick summary of the last day of racing in Saint Louis, here it goes. Team RTR dominated 75% of the championship going into this fifth round, and everyone was curious to know if James Deane could extend that situation. But he lost his Top32 battle against the reigning Pro Spec Champion, Robert Thorne.

The 32-year-old driver from Oklahoma wouldn't go very far either, as Fredric Aasbo stepped in to claim a place in the Top8 battles. The Norwegian Hammer dominated the right side of the bracket, winning against Jonathan Hurst and then Simen Olsen. Eliminating the latter out of the game was tough, as the judges called for two OMTs to conclude. If that's not a sign that Olsen is a potential future FD champion, I don't know what is.

On the left side of the bracket, Taguchi lost his battle against Chris "The Force" Forsberg. And the Nissan Z driver kept going, defeating Chelsea Denofa on his way to the Top 4. In an unprecedented turn of events, a driver lost his bye run for the first time in 20 years. Ryan Tuerck couldn't go out for a lap, as his car could not perform the task. Meanwhile, Matt Field had won against Adam LZ but could not reach the same result competing with Aurimas Backchis.

Consequently, Odi would have to race against Chris Forsberg, and that was the beginning of a wild ride. One collision, one protest, and four runs later, the 39-year-old Pro Drifter from Lithuania was advancing to the final battle of the weekend. In a duel between Nissan and Toyota, both drivers hailed from Europe. Usually, you'd be safe betting on Aasbo in a battle against Backchis. But nothing could stop Backchis from having Feal Suspension on top of the world for the second time in Saint Louis.

Imagine that: victory in Pro and Pro Spec and the additional P3 finish by Simen Olsen. That's unheard of in the company's drifting history, right? While it must be hard on Aasbo to live without a race win after five rounds, he did come out of Saint Louis with something else to brag about. He is now the new series leader, as Matt Field has fallen to P2, some 15 points behind the Norwegian Hammer. Backchis is third overall, but Denofa and Olsen are just slightly behind.

Still, with three more rounds to go before the end of the year, it's tricky to say who will claim the title in 2023. We would wait to rule out James Deane, even though he is not quite back to his former shape. Norwegian drift fans would go wild if Aasbo wins again, but they would be even more excited if Olsen gets there. But you can always expect a spark of brilliance from either Matt Field or Chelsea Denofa. The "Throwdown" is less than a month away, and we'll probably have a clearer picture by the time the race in Seattle is over.