Roy Cardoso

Age: 32

Hometown: Walnut, CA

How did you get into drifting: I had some friends in high school that I would skateboard with. One day after school one of them said that they were going to the mall to play Initial D and asked if I wanted to join. A few days later they brought me street drifting. One had an Mk3 Turbo Supra and the other had an S13 Hatch. I tagged along and was hooked forever.

Judging Experience: I judged at a Club Drift Event w/ Lucky from Good Luck League. I’ve also judged the LooseSocksDaisuki Matsuri 1 Big Entry Comp. Looking forward to further expand my judging profile.

First Drift Car: 1989 240SX hatch w/ DOHC Swap.

First Event: Drift Spot 1 2010 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Favorite Drift Car: Any S Chassis. Favorite Track: USA (driven)- Apple Valley Speedway USA (not driven)- Canaan Motor club Overall- Bihoku Highland Circuit Biggest Drift

Inspirations: Team Burst, Mitsuru Haruguchi, Atsushi Kuroi, Masato Kawabata, Hideyuki Fujino, and Team Dmax.

Other Involvement in drifting: My biggest and most important involvement in drifting is my company Auto-Collect Storm. The people I’ve been able to meet and help are the most important to me.

Why Super D Cup? Super D focuses on the excitingness of aggressive driving, technical Course Layouts, and most importantly, driver progression. The real question is, why not Super D Cup?

Words of Wisdom for Competitors: Consistency is great but remember to step of out your comfort zone from time to time. Scare yourself a little. Each time you scare yourself, your limit will get pushed more and you’ll be able to go faster. We as judges want to be excited. Go faster. We’ll notice.

Ilia Smolov

Age: 33

Hometown: Moscow, Russia

How you got into drifting: I first saw street drifting in Chicago when I was 18 years old. Seeing a car fly into a street corner in the middle of the night captured my heart! I’ve loved drifting and street drifting since.

Judging experience: I am the co-founder and host of Final Bout, and have helped to coordinate judging for that event.

First drift car: Mazda RX7 FC3S, normally aspirated motor.

First event: ClubFR USAIR

Favorite drift car: FD3S RX7

Favorite track: USAIR, Shawano WI. I love the elevation changes and layout opportunities. I never get bored of my home course!

Biggest drift inspiration (driver(s)): Katsuhiro Ueo, Mitsuru Haruguchi (One of the most stylish entries in drifting!), and my team mates on team ProceeD!

Other involvement in drifting: I am the co-founder of Final Bout, and have connected with my friends at Super D by hosting that event.

Why Super D Cup? Super D has brought focus back to stylish driving technique. I’m excited to work with an organization to reminds people to drive in an exciting way!

Words of wisdom for competitors: Remember that stylish driving is more than flooring it and holding the car at rev limiter. Show me your technique!

Geoff Stoneback

Age: 33 in Asian years

Hometown: Allentown, PA

How you got into drifting: In High school my friend showed me videos of him drifting in the Bahamas. Cars were cheaper and he had a bunch of 180’s back in 2002. We watched tons of Options videos and Grip videos. I was instantly hooked and wanted to get a drift car. I found an S14 and then did a bunch of work to it to make it driftable. I crashed multiple times, fucked the car up but fixed it. It was so much fun. I saved up and put an Rb25DET in it and from there I kept drifting and it took me to where I am today.

Judging experience: I’ve judged Pro-am with US Drift, events at ClubLoose, 3 Palms (lol down in Florida) and also Final Bout Gallery. I’ve dealt with Formula Drift judges so I know how it goes and what they look for. I’ll bring my note pad LOL

First drift car: 95 S14

First event: Club Loose parking lot 2008

Favorite drift car: S Chassis but slowly turning into JZX

Favorite track: This is a hard one, giving you a top 5, no specific order. Road Atlanta, US Air, Grange, Englishtown, Canaan speed way.

Biggest drift inspiration (driver(s)): Daigo Saito, Fumaki Komatsu Youichi Imamura , Naoki, Masashi Yokoi, Forrest Wang, Ken Gushi.

Other involvement in drifting: Sometime I instruct at Clubloose, I like to share knowledge and shit with drivers so they get on the right path. Anyway I can help the drifting community I will.

Why Super D Cup? Because it’s Rad as fuck.

Words of wisdom for competitors: Sounds cliché…. Have fun – Remember why you started drifting and just have fun with friends. Don’t let something so fun burn you out and make you turn away from drifting.