Jayce Habich NST S13 - 2025 Formula Drift New Jersey Recap

Tuesday - Arrival

We pulled into Old Bridge Township Raceway Park on Tuesday night around 11 pm. The track didn’t open until Wednesday for load in so we camped out in a trailer we rented on RvShare. It was only a 14-hour road trip this round from Atlanta, where we stored our car with good buddy Taylor Hull. Major thank you to him, he let us stay with him a week before the event and finish fixing our car.

Wednesday - Testing/Load In

We grabbed my spotter from the airport at 6:30 am and stopped at Walmart to get groceries for the week. We also had to go to Harbor Freight and Lowe's to make a special cord to power the RV with our generator. After doing all our running around we set up our space in the pits. Chris Napp held a testing session at the road course all day so I texted him and got it all cleared to come over to dial in the car. Jack Davis, Chris Forsberg, Nate Chen, and Coty Demster were all there too. Once again we were chasing a nitrous bug preventing the team from being able to dial in any suspension changes but the car still felt good. I put in 8 or 9 laps before feeling comfortable enough to go back to our pits and call it a night. As we got back our hometown photographer arrived, we picked him up, took him to the pits, and briefed him on how the schedule goes for Formula Drift. 

Thursday - Practice
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The team and I got going around 7:30 am to get the pit ready for practice. Despite multiple forecasts, the rain seemed to have gone elsewhere. The sun was out almost immediately. I zipped up to my drivers meeting at 8 am, thankfully the round 2 meeting was much more efficient than the first round, so I got out early and went out for the track walk. Englishtown is unique in that you can see the whole track perfectly from the stands. The only extra information that can be gathered on the track walk was the bumps in outer zone 2. I headed back to the pit to prepare for the first practice session of the day. 

The nitrous was still giving me issues so we left it off for the first session and focused on suspension. Despite the power deficit, the car still felt fast! I had to abuse my NonStopTuning handbrake to keep from flying off track but it saved me every time without fail. I Love that thing, the wheel too! Coming from a 15-inch to a 14-inch was a little daunting at first, but now that I am used to it, it keeps my elbows tight and offers more control with precise inputs.

I got to run with Allen Boss, Justin Ruth, and Dustin Miles all in the first session which was a blast! Only at FD do you get to drive with all the best around the country in the spirit of competitive drifting.

I pulled up to the burnout staging area waiting for an MSpek performance S14.9 to arrive. Before battles, I close my eyes and pretend I am running laps on the simulator. Executing each command in every corner in my mind from the thousands of laps I’ve done virtually. I hear a car arrive and it’s a purple S13. Kasey had car trouble and Matthew Bystrak lent him his backup car! The drifting community is something special.

I warmed up my tires and pulled up to the start line to lead. I knew I was going to lead first all day because I was the number 1 ranked driver in the bracket. My lead could have been better in outer zone 1 but other than that it was a heater. Kasey stayed with me pretty well until outer 3 where he dropped a tire and I put a decent amount of space between us.
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In my chase, I initiated on his door and he threw tons of angle. It looked like he was spinning out so I dove through the smoke to get away and he somewhat fixed himself resulting in me plowing into the front of his car. Sorry, Matthew! Due to Kasey’s entry, I got the win and moved on to the round of 8.

The top 8 battle was with my pit neighbor and Konig teammate Allen Boss. He’s a ripper in a supercharged 350Z. We’ve battled before in Utah last year and I got the win because his car did some funky stuff and spun out in front of me.

This time I wanted a clean battle for the fans. I took off for my lead and wall tapped perfectly into outer 1, Allen was right with me. On the transition to outer 2, I heard him get close and then fade away. Unfortunately, his car gripped up behind me and he had to shut it down or take me with him. His team had repairs to make so I received a bye run! ​

My next battle was with Brian Hop in the top 4.

If you don’t already know him, he's been driving for a while and has had some cool cars. He also has the Goat Chelsea Denofa in his ear as his spotter. He’s got a great program and I was excited to throw down with him at the Drift Coliseum.

I had a great lead, which resulted in Hop having a great chase just inches from my door from zones 1 through 2. Towards the end of 2, he surged on my door and hit my door so hard I almost flew into the wall by the fans. I had flashbacks of round 1 being in the wall, and all the work the crew and I did to get back to this point, before throttling through and finishing the run strong. I immediately got on my radio and thanked Carlton for pushing me around all the time on the sim, it just saved the car.

In my chase I stayed on line but I could have been closer, resulting in me getting 1 vote to advance and 2 one-more-time votes. The crew threw on a fresh set of tires and filled me up with gas and nitrous, and I went out to do it again!

Unfortunately in outer zone 2 of my lead run the car just lost all grip and I flew into the dirt! This put me at a major disadvantage. My chase came and I was consistent again trying to force Hop into a mistake but he was dialed in and put down a heater, and took the win. 

They don’t do 3rd place battles in seeding so since I was the highest-ranked loser in the top 4 I automatically got 3rd! My team congratulated me on my first podium and we watched the final battle where our great friend Jerry Johnson took the win.

On the way to the podium celebration, giant grey clouds took form in the sky, as if Poseidon himself was coming to congratulate the winner. At first, it was mild but then the little storm quickly turned into a tornado! My crew was out in the Pro pits dropping wheels off to get tires changed and got blasted by various tents and banners from crews and advertising. I drove back to my pit to save our stuff and waited for the boys to arrive. Thankfully our pits were virtually unaffected besides some shammy towels blowing around and getting soaked. 

By far the wildest thing I have experienced at a drift event. We halfway tore down our pit and huddled in the RV to wait it out. The car did receive some damage in seeding so we spent the rest of the night fixing it up for Top 32 the next day.

Friday - Competition Day

Fresh off a podium, the sun is shining, nitrous works, my confidence couldn’t have been higher. Due to the storm and rescheduling of the pro seeding bracket. We didn’t have anything until we warmed up at noon.

My top 32 battle was with Nik Jimenez. I’ve known about him for a while because he used to live and drift up in the Pacific Northwest. Warm-up went well and I got to practice with top-of-the-line competition, such as Collete Davis, Nate Chen, and Chris Leonard.

The car felt amazing and I came back to the pits to get ready for battle. We were on the bottom left of the bracket this time so we had a good amount of time to rest. The power went out after Chelle Hansen flipped so that created even more downtime.

Finally, I was up. Ranked lower than Nik I was in the chase position to start off. Nik and I left the line together and I initiated right on his door! After the first transition, I mimicked the line, and angle but left half of a car length through outer zone 2. On the final transition, I surged in and felt like I put a bow on the run.

Now it was time for my lead. I left the line and charged at outer zone 1 but my sim driving came back to bite me a little bit. On the Simulator the cars I drive have a little more power than my car, so I got too much in sim mode and initiated 2 car lengths too early. This caused me to be shallow in zone 1 and negatively affected Nik in the chase. The rest of the run was solid and we came across the line side by side giving the fans a great show, however, my mistake in 1 was enough for Nik to get the win. The judges got it correct, you have to put on a good lead run for the chase to be awesome as well, the judges are stressing it this season and I failed to do so for Nik.
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After 32 ended I went over to autograph signing and signed as many as they let me stay for. It was good to see the fans from the East Coast come out in full numbers. Even meeting some I connected with last year, it was a good time. 

Saturday - Pro Day

We got going at 9 am and brought my car over to the NonStopTuning booth to show off their parts. We sent the tent up and talked to fans about the event and NST products. This round’s NST raffle was a lot more enticing than Atlanta's because it was pouring down rain there. So I handed out tons of entry tickets and got the fans excited to come back at 6:30 pm for the raffle announcement.

Alex Lichlighter, another NonStopTuning driver, had his car on display as well. It was cool to see the 2 cars together.

The crew made lunch and I went back to the pits to eat lunch and watch pro top 32. The crew and I then went back over to the NST tent and assisted in the very popular giveaway. There were fans of all ages who were excited at the chance to walk home with a free NST product of their choice. There was a winner on the very first pull!

After getting the winner and everyone else who wanted to buy things straightened out, I went to the stands to watch pro top 16 to the finals, before calling it a night.​

Sunday - Pro Brodown

This round is special because on Sunday there is an event at the road course called Pro Brodown put on by Club Loose and Chris Napp. There pro-am and grassroots drivers get to share the track with real pros! I got in 5 or 6 laps before my power steering pulley disintegrated. On my way back to our pits Jordan Becker offered to let me drive his LS powered S14.9. Driving that thing was an absolute blast! Big thank you to him for trusting me with his beast of a machine. We wrapped things up at around 5 pm and began packing for our road trip to Ohio, where we were storing the car between rounds. 

Overall, I am incredibly proud of my team and our performance. Even though it was only the seeding bracket, a podium finish is a podium finish. We battled our way through each round in seeding and made a statement that we belonged here in FD. We will taste that top 16 and beyond this season, I know it.

The next round is in St. Louis, and I can’t wait. Fortunately for us, there are only 3 weeks between rounds 2, and 3 so the NonStopTuning S13 will be back before you know it, July 18-20.
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We’ll see you then!

​WORDS: Jayce Habich
PHOTOS: @johnhongproductions, @nickelbag_media

NST - NonStopTuning
www.NonStopTuning.com