Gateway Motorsports Park in St. Louis is the first new course on the Formula Drift circuit for a couple of years. In theory, that put all of the drivers on a level playing field going into this event, the 6th Round in the 2018 Series. A few drivers had been at the facility for grassroots events previously, but not one had driven the specific course laid out by Formula Drift. This meant all drivers had the challenge of learning the track and finding their preferred lines.

Taking turns 3 through 6 from the roadcourse track to make up the course, St. Louis features easily one of the longest full-throttle sections from any race course this season. The large sweeper allows for over 100mph of wheel speed through the entire turn, which lets the higher horsepower drivers flex their muscle, and makes for a increased level of excitement for the crowd in attendance.

In qualifying, Matt Field brought the heat with a solid 95 out of 100 point score, which was good enough for the #2 Qualifying position. This is the highest qualifying spot for Field thusfar since he began piloting his new Vortech V-7 YSi-B Supercharged Chevy Corvette at the beginning of this season. Normally, the tandems begin with a full bracket of Top 32, but since only 29 drivers were able to secure high enough scores in qualifying to move on, the top 3 qualifiers received bye runs in the first round of tandem elimination runs. In addition to Field, this included Fredric Aasbo, and Ken Gushi (Qualified #1 & #3, respectively).

Matt Field had no trouble carrying his momentum through the competition, eliminating Forrect Wang in Top 16, Justin Pawlak in the Great 8, and ending Chelsea DeNofa's weekend in the Final 4. Meeting #1 Qualifier Fredric Aasbo in the finals, the competition was fierce, and both drivers gave it their all. However, when the smoke cleared, it was Aasbo making it a perfect weekend, narrowly defeating Matt Field in an extremely exciting duel to the finish.

This performance earned Field a 2nd Place Victory, and yet another trip to the podium this season. Field continues to push harder with each outing in his Vortech/A&A Corvette Supercharged C6, and with only 2 more events this season, you can expect Matt to be striving for a podium spot at both Dallas and Irwindale. Stay tuned for more Vortech Supercharged action coming soon!