Published: 21/04/2010
Buff is still at the top of his drifting game, as he put in an amazing performance, coming second overall, at the first round of the JDM Allstars championship which took place last weekend at the Trafford Centre, Manchester.

Over the course of the practise and early qualifying sessions on Saturday, it became pretty evident that he was one of the drivers to watch, consistently clocking up near perfect runs. In the final session he was placed fifth which ensured his entry into the following day’s proceedings.

However, disaster followed. During a display run for the crowds, Mark was involved in a crash with Martin Ffrench, through no fault of his own. As a result of the impact, there was major damage to the oil cooler and several hoses, as well as damage to the bodywork, which had moved back several inches.

Not one to give up easy, Buff and the rest of the SATS team, rolled up their sleeves and it was all hands on deck as they worked hard to repair the damage.

Against the odds, the car was fixed by early evening, enough time to quickly test the car on track before competition the following day.

On Sunday, the final qualifying session proved no problem for Mark, as he nailed all his runs and qualified in 3rd place, with an amazing score of 98 out of 100.

With the competition beginning proper, Luney was up against some tough opponents, with his first runs pitting him against Alan ‘Chubby’ McCord who this season is using a Nissan S15, with a custom built V8 engine. In their first run, Mark drove flawlessly in both his laps. With McCord making some very small mistakes, he handed the win to Buff who progressed through to the top 8.

Marks next competitor was Anthony ‘Scotty’ Scott, in his world famous Rocket Bunny S13. Once again, it was Buffs consistency that paid off, with Scott making some mistakes and allowing Mark to progress through to the semi-final.

The penultimate challenger for Mark was Dan Chapman, who drives his Nissan PS13 for Team Driftworks. With both their high standard of driving it was extremely difficult to call their runs. In the end, it boiled down to a major error by Chapman, who on their last run, left Mark at the start line early and was not scored as a result. This handed Mark a free pass to the final.

His opponent would be James Calvert, who was driving a borrowed Nissan Skyline. With the first run evenly matched, the pressure was on, and with Buff taking a slightly shallower line into the final corner, he gave the advantage to Calvert who took the win as a result.

However, it is still an amazing result for Buff, who has only piloted the car once before.

Speaking afterwards, Mark said;
“It is a fantastic result for myself, and the Sandy Arthur Training Services team, considering yesterday the car looked like it might not be driveable after the collision we were involved in.

It is a credit to everyone involved that we managed to repair the car so quickly, get it back out there, and to go on and claim 2nd place. However, we will be back, and we will be aiming for the top spot.”