McKeever signs off in sensational style

DUANE McKeever brought the curtain down on the Drift Masters Grand Prix season in sensational style at PGE Narodowy in Warsaw by completing a spectacular hat-trick at the final round of the Europe-based series.

The Coalisland man went into the Polish event still in with a slim chance of winning the overall Drift Masters crown and he was determined to leave nothing to chance.

He dominated proceedings from start to finish, topping qualifying before winning the shoot-out and he then went on to defeat James Deane, who is widely regarded to be the best drifter in the world, in the final battle to take the overall victory, achieving the rare feat of achieving a Drift Masters ‘hat-trick’ in the process.

“That’s one of the best weekend I’ve ever had,” McKeever beamed after earning his first overall win of the season.

“There’s not many people have had a weekend hat-trick at Drift Masters. I think it’s only me and James [Deane] have ever done that before and to do it at the biggest show all year, that was the one to win.”

Unfortunately for McKeever, his efforts to win the overall Drift Masters crown fell short in the end as Finnish driver Lauri Heinonen did what he needed to do to clinch the title by reaching the top 16.

That left the Tyrone man to rue the misfortune he suffered at the previous round in Hungary when a broken driveshaft during his top 32 battle with Conor Shanahan cost him valuable championship points, which could and perhaps would have got him over the line.

“[Lauri] drove awesome all year, he was consistent and there has been rounds this year when he has been spectacular,” McKeever acknowledged.

“But if I had got one more stage higher or even got to the top 16 in Hungary I would probably have won the championship, but I broke a driveshaft. So it was a nice way to put an end to the season and let everyone know coming into next year I won the last round! We’ll be coming in next year with that confidence behind us.”