Of all the great things that came about that weekend at Final Bout 2, I think what I enjoyed the most overall was that feeling of camaraderie that was in the air. Everyone at the event just seemed to enjoy each other’s company and even strangers were welcomed with open arms. It was a competition but it didn’t “feel” like a competition at all. The whole thing was more of like a competition where it was set-up just to bring people together and not so much a matter of who won or lost. The crowd seemed to enjoy the competition but the guys who were driving didn’t even seem the slightest bit worried about who was winning or losing. They just had a great time with each other and it really showed. I love that about this event. And if anything, it will be the reason why I go back next year and the following years to come. It is hard to say if it will last because things are so fleeting these days but I really hope this event sticks around. A part of me worries that major companies will try to jump on board and throw money at this event and ruin it by turning it into some big market thing but I think the organizers have a good head on their shoulders. I know it is hard to turn down a big check or free stuff but I hope this event never loses that grassroots-type of feel to it. The smaller size and the good people that it consists of is what makes this whole thing special. I’ve been around a long time and seen good things go bad but I really hope Final Bout stays this way…

The camaraderie extends beyond the event itself too. I think my coverage has still been largely left unseen by the crowd of enthusiasts who like drifting or who follow Final Bout, but I think the response overall has been good. I wanted my coverage to cater more to the people who didn’t know about Final Bout anyways so it all works out. If I can bring a couple new people over to see what I do and they appreciate, that’s all good with me. Anyways, I say that the camaraderie extends beyond the event because I’ve actually been able to chat with a couple of people who were at Final Bout after the event. These guys didn’t even know who I was or knew I was there but they saw some of my work from the event and decided to contact me about it, which is really cool. Many of them said that they had wished that I had introduced myself and chatted with them at the event but like I said in Part 1, I really like just taking in the event from an outsider’s perspective. The fewer interactions I had the better because it brought about a more unbiased view of Final Bout 2. Hopefully there will be time to meet some of these guys again in the near future but I appreciate them taking the time to comment or extend a kind word. The other night, Matt Panic from ShaDynasty messaged me on Facebook just to chat and that was pretty interesting. I didn’t meet him at Final Bout 2 but I was pretty familiar with his car. We just got to talking about any and everything really and it went from cars to his general perspective on life and how it relates to his hobby and it was quite interesting. It is always cool to talk to people from different parts of the country and he definitely sees things very differently than most people do. The guy basically just loves his car, what he does, and doesn’t inject himself into much else besides that. He doesn’t even have Instagram or Snapchat and still carries a flip-phone around everywhere. Matt explained himself in a way where it almost seemed like he wouldn’t think I would understand his lifestyle but I completely did. You love what you love and it is great that people can be who they are with little care of what people think. That’s the best way to live. If you meet people along the way that share a similar interest as you do and understand (and appreciate) the life you live, well then, what more can you really ask for?…

It was a pleasure being at Final Bout 2. I love what the event stands for, I love the cars that were a part of it, and I love the ambiance and feel that the enthusiasts bring to it. Below are some more photos that I captured along with Part 2 of the Vlog featuring more Final Bout 2 coverage. There is still one more part to come as I shot way more photos than I expected to so Part 3 of 3 will be all photos. Enjoy.

Below is another batch of photos that I captured. Part 3 will be exclusively photos and the last batch are probably the ones which I liked the most since I finally got used to shooting with the lens I was using that day….

Dark*Squad/Doom*Squad PS13 on 15-inch RS Watanabe wheels. Again, loved how this thing looked and how it is representative of a build you’d see somewhere on the streets of Japan…

HIGH FADE, last year’s Final Bout champions, in the pits….

Ryan McClure’s BEAMS 3S-GE AE86 is so cool. Love everything about it…

Team Daring Partners

Daniel Barrett’s BN Sports RPS13 from Daring Partners….

Team Risky Devil from Chicago, Illinois…

Fish’s GM LSx-powered Rocket Bunny V2 “Boss” S14 before it got thrashed on…

Steve from Risky Devil’s Nissan SR20DET-powered E30 BMW on Work Equip 01…

AJ Gillett’s BN Sports IS300…

Tim Tulov’s RPS13 240SX with Regamaster EVO wheels up front and WED’S TC105 in the rear….

One more of the Dark*Squad 240SX…

Kam Caldwell’s S13 with Final Konnexion aero and Work VS wheels from TRACKER…

Street Dancer S14 on Work Emotion XT7….

S13 240SX on Desmond Marquis Promada from TRACKER….

Street Dancer/Burst Speed Rotary-powered Miata….

The special guest judges for the day included Benson Hsu from Socal and Rob Riter along with MC and Drifting Pretty-creator Nadine Hsu….

Touge Factory AE86 Levin…

This big sweeping turn near the audience was a major section that helped the judges decide who won or lost that day….

Ilia Smolov’s Cressida from PROCEED….

Mike from Street Dancer’s 13B-swapped Miata in action. He also owns the pink SR20-powered Nissan Skyline that you saw in part 1 of the Vlog…

Steve from Street Dancer’s turbocharged KA24DE Zenki S14…

Caldwell’s RPS13. There was a point during the second day of free runs when his hood actually flew up while he was driving and he just continued on his way with little worry. I really wish I would have captured that moment…

BLACKMOON S14 Kouki as it was about to lose it’s left turn signal light…

Tim Tulov’s S13 looked great all of day one. By day two, it had seen better days after a run in with another teammate that left his car pretty damaged…

Rocket Bunny Boss S14. I honestly didn’t know how I would feel about this kit until I actually saw it in person and the car actually looks really good…

The GM LS motor definitely had enough power to get the rear tires smoking…

Turbocharged Zenki 14 from Dirty Love car club…

Team Animal Style from Northern California….

PROCEED on the move…

Josh from PROCEED’s 1JZ-powered S13 looking utterly fantastic…

He ended the weekend with probably the least amount of damage out of all the PROCEED guys also…

Eric Chob’s 2JZ-GTE 2GS before he ran over his own body kit…

Faction Motorsports did an excellent job on competition day and the three were driving very closely together in great style…

Toyota JZX90 from ESSENCE…

BREAKING Z33 owned and driven by Caleb Nichols…

Derek Bianski’s Sexy Style FD…

Drake Bianski’s widebody NA8C Miata….

Anthony Covey’s 400HP SR20DET-powered Supermade S14….

Heat Bloom from Canada did so well that day that they ended up on the podium with their trio of ER32 Skyline sedans…

Auto Factory REALIZE from Southern California….

Gary from REALIZE’s 2JZ-GTE S13….

Chuck Uemura’s 1JZ-GTE PS13 with Kouki S14 face…

We didn’t get to see a whole lot from these guys the second day because they got into a pretty big wreck which took down all three of their cars. As you saw in the Vlog above, Gary was able to acquire another radiator from someone at the track and was able to get his car back on the track before the weekend ended…

Team HIGH FADE in action…

Drift Farm builds in motion…

Matt, Mark, and Paul from ShaDynasty keeping it tight around the corner…

Paul Harrison’s BEAMS 3S-GE TE27….

One more of the twin BN Sports S13s in action…

Overhead view of Fish and his Boss S14 exiting…

Risky Devil S13 during the introduction of the final four teams of the competition…

Alex Cook’s C-West SXE10 on Work Emotion XD9 from Risky Devil…

AJ and Fish from Risky Devil…

Here you can see just how much wider the Boss S14 kit is compared to the stock body…

In the end, Team Animal Style didn’t advance but it didn’t stop them from doing one more parade lap to the applause of onlookers….

Risky Devil cars lining up in front of the crowd as the winner of Final Bout 2 was about to be announced…

Champagne and the Final Bout 2 trophy on the podium…

…and as you saw in Vlog Part 1, the winners of Final Bout 2…Team Risky Devil from Illinois…

After the competition, it was basically a free-for-all on the track and guys were able to just drive all afternoon…

Ilia’s Cressida as it progressively got more beat-up throughout the weekend…

Rob Riter’s beautifully-simple AE86 coupe…

BLACKMOON S14s from Northern California….

John Ruiz’s BN Sports IS300 from Auto Factory REALIZE….

Hertlife’s FC RX-7 from Team Animal Style…

Ryan Kado’s S13 from Animal Style getting some minor adjustments done…

Closing out Part 2 with a parting shot of Jason’s S13 coupe from Animal Style…

Make sure you watch the Vlogs if you haven’t as there are only two in this episode. Still one more part to come with strictly photos to close out my Final Bout 2 coverage, stay tuned!!!….