ROCKINGHAM — Two weeks after NASCAR’s historic return to Rockingham Speedway, MB Drift shifts into its fifth competitive season at the track.
2024 series champion Andy Lacause-Wright will be looking to carry on his winning streak after winning back-to-back rounds in the season finale and taking home the belt.
In addition to his wins last year with MB Drift, Lacause-Wright has also placed first and second in comps at Off Grid Motorsports Park in Gresham, South Carolina, and has finished eighth, fifth and most recently fourth in the Catch My Drift series at Southern National Motorsports Park in Wilson County.
Lacause-Wright also finished second at Driftaholic’s Door Bangers Ball during the Spring Matsuri in March.
Although he has yet to make the podium at an MB Drift event, driver Derick Gaskins is hoping to change that this weekend.
Gaskins, of Rock Hill, South Carolina, won the first race in the speedway’s Crown 9 Champion Series in March and placed second in the winter drift series at OG.
His son, Cameron, will also be entering his first compeition this weekend.
Cameron Gaskins logs seat time during MB Drift's Spring Matsuri in March 2025.
William R. Toler - Richmond Observer
Other returning top drivers from last season include: Belarusian native Anton Shenderov, who won the first round and finished second for the season; and Max Czibere, who finished second and third in the final two rounds and third for the season.
With this year being shortened from four competitions to three, MB Drift organizers Marshall Eggerling and Zach Sebald said in a video earlier this week that the cash prizes for each round have increased to $650 for first place, $400 for second and $200 for third. In the past, the third-place finisher received free entry to the next event.
“We’re looking forward to a really fun competitive season,” said Eggerling. “We’re trying to always step our game up a little bit so we’re trying to make some improvements here or there, the best we can.”
Other planned additions for this year include driver bios with headshots and interviews during the livestream by MBK Productions.
The course for “The Initiation” will be “Pebble Rock” — an oval layout on the track’s infield road course, which was used in last year’s final comp.
Open qualifying is scheduled to start at 12:30 p.m., with the competition featuring the top 32 drivers slated to begin at 2 p.m.
Additional layouts will be available for those just looking to make a few laps, like 2022 season champ Justin Bauer. The event will also include night drifting after sundown.
This year also marks MB Drift’s 20th anniversary. Events during the first 15 years were held at the former Myrtle Beach Speedway.
Eggerling told the RO in 2021 that the grassroots series started in 2005 to give young drifters “a place to have fun with their cars — not on the streets where they can get in trouble and get hurt.”
Tickets are $10 each day for those 13 or older and free ride-alongs are available for spectators 18 or older during non-competition runs.
Across the street, Rudy's Spring Truck Jam returns to Rockingham Dragway with testing on Friday and racing on Saturday.
The event also includes a show and shine and a burnout competition.
Two records were set in the Outlaw Diesel Super Series during Rudy’s Spring Truck Jam in 2023.
Kids 12 and under get free admission and tickets are $20 per day of $30 for a weekend pass.
The Zerbini Family Circus will also be at Rockingham Speedway on Friday and Saturday.
