ROCKINGHAM — Gray Champion lived up to his surname on Sunday winning Driftaholic Racing’s Doorbanger’s Ball during MB Drift’s Spring Matsuri at Rockingham Speedway.
The drifting shootout featured nine drivers going head-to-head at the Little Rock.
The final run of the bracket was a showdown between Champion and Anton Shenderov.
Champion, of Kernersville, came in second in last year’s final competition to season-sweeper Nicholas Abbott — also at Little Rock — and placed sixth for the season. He drives for Winston-Salem-based Team RPM.
Click here to read about the 2023 season finale.
Shenderov is a Belarus native currently living in Charlotte. According to his Instagram account, Shenderov was granted a green card for drifting. A short bio posted on the Catch My Drift Facebook page notes that Shenderov was third in the national championship and champion in all semi-pro competitions in his home country.
“Their first battle was too close to call,” said Driftaholic’s Nathan McDuffie. “They both did exactly what was needed.”
That led to a “one more time,” in which McDuffie said each driver had “independent mistakes that the judges needed extra time to examine, which we felt like there was no clear winner, which led to the last battle.”
McDuffie was one of the judges, along with fellow drifters Drake Carter and Steven Larsen.
The determining factor of the final showdown, McDuffie said, was Shenderov spinning out his BMW at the end of the run.
Champion took the win and the $675 purse. His car, a blue Nissan 240SX, will also be featured in the promotions and T-shirts for next year’s shootout.
Shenderov and third-place winner Skylar Lett were awarded a free dyno session with CruZin Auto Performance in Fayetteville. Lett has only been drifting for four months and this was his first competition and first time at the Rock.
Last year’s winner was McDuffie’s Team Bumper Thumpers teammate Joe Busam, who also won MB Drifts inaugural season at Rockingham in 2021.
Click here to read about the 2023 Battle of Little Rock.
Sunday’s shootout could foreshadow MB Drift’s 2024 competitive season, which starts April 27. The second round is scheduled for June 1-2 and the third and fourth rounds will be Aug. 24-25.
Drivers had plenty of seat time at this weekend’s Spring Matsuri — including night drifting — which serves as the kick-off to MB Drift’s season. Saturday night, there was a performance by Fayetteville-based band HyDryver in the Papa Joe Hendrick Garage.
This was the grassroots drifting organization’s largest event with 86 drivers, surpassing the previous record of 73.
Rockingham Speedway made some improvements to the infield road course prior to the event, which allowed for new layouts to test the drivers’ technical skills.
“The new paving felt so amazing,” said Derick Gaskins, of Rock Hill, South Carolina. “The added grip it gave was tremendous.
“The whole track flowed so much better with the new additions,” added Gaskins, who drives a 2000 C5 Corvette. “I look forward to the year ahead and I love Rockingham Speedway.”
The speedway’s Dustin Russell said in a social media post that the rest of the road course would be paved this week, weather permitting. However, it did rain Wednesday and part of Thursday.
In addition to the competitions, MB Drift will also be hosting a Summer Matsuri July 27-28 and its annual Halloween Havoc Oct. 19-20.
The series will also be on site for a demonstration at the track’s open house May 18.
See more photos below. Additional photos are available at visitrichmondcounty.com and in the MB Drift “Chats and Media” group on Facebook.
