ROCKINGHAM — Andy Lacause-Wright slid his way to another win Saturday, making it his third first-place finish in the MB Drift Series at Rockingham Speedway.
For “The Initiation,” the series’ first competitive event of the season, Lacause-Wright was behind the wheel of a Nissan 370Z instead of the ‘95 BMW M3 he’s been competing in since 2022.
The Massachusetts native said he bought the new car to get more seat time after having trouble with the BMW last year — which led to him borrowing a GMC Canyon (owned by the father of his opponent) in Round 1 and Steven Larsen’s Subaru in Round 2.
“Plus I thought it would be a fun challenge to compete in a basically stock car,” Lacause-Wright added.
While sitting in the Papa Joe Hendrick Garage prior to the competition, Lacause-Wright — who had back-to-back wins in the final two rounds of 2024 to secure the season championship — said he just wanted to have fun this year.
But that didn't mean he wasn’t going to compete.
“For me, I wanted to get back to what I loved most about the sport, which is the most laps with all my friends,” he said. ”That has proven to be difficult to accomplish in the BMW.”
Lacause-Wright qualified fourth and worked his way down the bracket, with victories over Cam Watkins and Ivan Herrera before facing who he considered his toughest opponent: 2025 season champ Derrick Gaskins.
“I swear, my boy could drift his tow vehicle and somehow be competitive,” he said about Gaskins. “We were both in our stockish seat time cars so it was cool to level the playing field a bit, but I thought for sure he was going to take me out … But it's always a good set of laps with him!”
Gaskins — who was driving a Ford Mustang instead of his usual C5 Corvette — faced off against his son, Cameron — with the judges calling for two one-more-times — prior to his run with Lacause-Wright.
“t was so cool getting to battle my son 3 times because the judges couldn’t determine a winner,” Gaskins said in a social media post after the event. “We both drive very similar. These moments mean the most to me.”
After besting Gaskins, Lacause-Wright moved on to face Paul Smith — who won the second round in 2024 and finished fourth on Saturday — and Max Czibere.
“After my final lap with Max… (we) both looked at each other and said,’I have no idea who got that one bro.’ It was going to be a surprise to both of us. Max is always an extremely consistent driver so I knew I had to run the smoothest lines I could, which is a tall order in a car I’ve only driven at three events over the past month or so.”
While Czibere — who finished second ahead of third-place finisher Gabe Broyles —has yet to win a competition with MB Drift, he previously placed second and third, respectively, in the final two rounds of 2024, finishing third for the season; and placed third in the first round of 2025, ending the year in sixth place.
There were several upsets early on in the competition, with several prior winners being knocked out in their first runs: Nicholas Abbott, the 2023 season sweeper, fell to Oleg Volcov; Dan Stoneburner lost to Curtis Mabry; and Belarusian driver Anton Shenderov was eliminated by Mason Mugnolo.
First-year driver Landyn Dysart, who qualified first, also lost his first run with Paul Smith; and Levi Kottwitz, another young driver who finished third in last year’s final round and eighth for the season, was bested by 2025’s season second Wade Smith.
“As far as those young bucks go, I have gotten the pleasure to get to know each of them and watch them progress and all I have to say is WOW,” Lacause-Wright said, referring to Dysart, Kottwitz and Cameron Gaskins. “Each one of them could win one of these at any moment, and their moment is coming, I will put money on that. I'm proud of those dudes.”
“My only advice to them is the same that I have to remind myself of often and it's simple: just have fun,” he continued. “In drifting, you perform better if you are having fun. The nerves don't get to you as much, you stop overthinking things, and you can be relaxed in the car while simultaneously looking like you are driving angry. Derick Gaskins is the prime example of that.”
Lacause-Wright will miss MB Drift’s second round June 6-7 due to competing in Catch My Drift’s first round at Southampton Motor Speedway in Virginia.
However, he plans to return for rounds 3 and 4 Sept. 26-27 with a message for his fellow competitors: “... get your points up because I’m coming!”
