We are super excited for Alec Robbin as he placed 3rd at Formula drift ST.Louis! Here is his recap on of his climb to the top 3 of the night!!! Congrats!
“It was a great weekend for our team! St. Louis is like a hometown track for us. Coming from the Midwest.. it is the closest event to us and was also the first track I competed on in 2016. Being somewhat familiar with the track and layout, I came out swinging a little too hard in the first practice session. As I came around the last outside zone… I dropped a tire in the slick grass, lost traction and slid into the tire wall. When we got back to the pit we assessed the damage.. finding a broken tie rod and bent tie rod spacer. The tie rod was an easy fix, the spacer, however, was a different story. We did not carry a spare and finding one proved difficult. After spending the remainder of the first practice session asking around for parts, Austin Meeks came through and had a set from his s14. After modifying the S14 spacers for the 350z rack and a quick alignment.. we were back and ready for the second practice session! The first qualifying run we played it conservative, a little too conservative… scoring only a 56. I knew I had to put down a good 2nd run.. which we were able to do. Scoring an 82 put us in 7th place for top 16 competition. Our top 16 practice on Friday was cut short due to rain and a storm that rolled through, but we were ready to go bright and early on Saturday for competition. Our first battle put us up against fellow Midwest driver Garrett Denton. I put down a solid lead run like I had been all weekend but I was a little hesitant on follows, having no practice all weekend. I was able to make a follow run with a few mistakes, but ultimately getting the win. Our second battle was against Crick Fillipi. Going in with the same plan.. the run started out strong, but going into the outer touch and go I dropped a tire in the dirt. Normally not a big deal.. but the wheel scooped up the soft dirt and at 130+ mph wheel speed, it ripped the valve stem out of the wheel. I was able to hold it together and finished the outside zone and last clipping point with a shallow line and one flat tire. Because it was due to damage we were able to call our 5-minute timeout and change rear tires. On our follow run Crick straightened and we were awarded the win. In the final four, we were up against Travis Reeder. I was able to put down a decent lead for Travis and he stayed right there with us, keeping proximity the whole run. On my follow I gave Travis just a little too much room and lost proximity. Trying to chase him down… I dropped a tire in the touch and go and lost yet another valve stem. I took a shallow line and did what I could to keep up on one tire but it was not enough and Reeder earned the win going into the finals. Our team is beyond happy with our 3rd place finish and it was our first time on the podium! It couldn’t have happened at a better track with a lot of friends and family in attendance. My daughter was perhaps the most excited about “her new trophy”. It was a great feeling making it on the podium and hope to be back up there again soon!”
Make sure to follow Alec Robbins on Instagram at @alecrobbinsracing for more!
Alec is running Konig Hypergrams in 18×9.5 et 25 on the front and rear in RED OPAL. The Konig Hypergram is Flow Formed.
