June 5, 2010. Wall, New Jersey. Vaughn Gittin Jr. battles Daijiro Yoshihara in the 2010 Formula Drift Round 3 final.

For this year’s Formula Drift race at Wall, NJ I was privileged to be shooting for two publications. After a lot of fun down in Atlanta, AutoImportCraze asked me to keep the streak alive and provide shots from the other East coast event on the calendar. You can check out the full gallery of shots here: http://www.autoimportcraze.com/coverage2.php?menu=3&Warn=0&ShowID=561&car=1.

June 5, 2010. Wall, New Jersey. Yoshihara, Gittin, and Foust (middle, left, right) made up this year's podium for the 2010 Formula Drift Round 3 event.

The other publication was Drifted.com. I was contacted by Alex Quail not long before the race, and asked to provide not only photos but also editorial coverage. I enjoy writing about motorsports almost as much as photographing it (hence this blog), so it was a no brainer to hop on board as a contributor.

I crafted six posts going over the whole weekend, and adding a few words of praise for APEX’i/Hankook driver Ryuji Miki. A link to each is below.

1. Welcome to Wall
2. Qualifying Results
3. Ryuji Miki’s Past Rides
4. Ryuji Miki’s New Lexus SC Drift Car
5. The Main Event
6. Crash Still-frame Video

Be sure to browse the rest of the site and show them some love in the comments. Alex and Jord have assembled a great crew of photographers and film makers from around the world. I am honored to add to the USA perspective.

Click past the jump for a few more of my favorites from the weekend.

June 4, 2010. Wall, New Jersey. Ryan Tuerck takes a practice run in his Pontiac Solstice GXP drift car.

June 4, 2010. Wall, New Jersey. Ken Gushi duels with Conrad Grunewald as the sun sets over the track at Wall.

June 5, 2010. Wall, New Jersey. Rhys Millen tries to keep up with Samuel Hubinette's Challenger around the figure eight Wall Speedway circuit.

June 5, 2010. Wall, New Jersey. Darren McNamara sliding the tail of his Falken Tires Saturn Sky drift car.

While I was up in New Jersey covering the Formula Drift event for Performance Auto and Sound Magazine, I was also able to get the full scoop on Kyle Mohan‘s latest creation for the same publication. This past year was the debut of his new Mazda RX-8 drift car. It’s quite a beast, and the white/camo livery carries on the tradition from his previous FC nicely. Pick up the Dec. ’09 issue (cover above), or head on over to the website to get the full story. Follow me after the jump to see more photos from the shoot, including one that nearly cost me a camera!

The only time available to photograph the car was on Friday when things had been rained out. So, I strapped the rain sleeves on my cameras and decided to make the most of it.

And here is the man himself. He and his father were very accommodating during the shoot, and didn’t mind the car getting a little wet. Apparently it helped them find a leak or two on the interior!

But, that is not where this story ends. I had my rig with me, and was eager to use it since I had lugged it on the plane all the way from Tennessee. The result was a pretty neat shot, but I had to put my camera upside down beneath a dripping awning. By the time we got the shot, a few of the buttons on my 40D had stopped functioning. Luckily, I went at it with a blow drier as soon as I got home from the track, and everything was back to normal. Phew!

It’s time to close the book on 2009 as I look ahead to 2010. I was privileged to work with Performance Auto and Sound magazine on the Formula Drift Wall, NJ event, and the coverage went to print in the Oct. issue (shown above). I’ve noticed that some magazine racks run a little behind schedule, so be sure to check your local Borders or B&N just in case there’s a few of these still around.

Click past the fold to see some of my favorite shots from the weekend.

Friday’s practice session was cut short due to a large downpour that hit the whole NY/NJ area in the afternoon. I could see the clouds looming as I crossed the George Washington bridge in the morning on my way to the track. That didn’t stop a few drivers from putting on a show for the press photographers such as myself who braved the elements – the practice was not open to the public. I asked Robbie Nishida (below) afterwards what he thought of the conditions, and despite both his front and rear bumpers being torn off in the puddles, he thought it really wasn’t that bad.

NJ is home turf for Falken ace Vaughn Gittin Jr. and he was on fire the whole weekend.

Joon Maeng also had an outstanding weekend, beating out Ryan Tuerck in the round of 32. This ended up having huge implications on the overall points standings for the season, as Tuerck finished 2nd to Forsberg by only 6 points!

On Saturday during the early practice session there was still a little bit of standing water off-line on the track. This made for some cool reflections, as in the shot below of Kyle Mohan’s RX-8.

Tanner Foust didn’t have the best run in his Rockstar Scion tC, but it sure did look good when he had it sideways.

As the sun set in the afternoon, only one could stand atop the podium. That one was Irishman Darren McNamara in the Falken Saturn Sky. Gittin, and McQuarrie managed to make it a sweep for the tire sponsor in 2nd and 3rd places respectively.

Although I managed to catch a cold from standing in the rain all day Friday, the event was a blast and I look forward to attending again this coming summer.