SNTRL Presents The PreGame

Friday 28 September, 2012 | By Ken

It’s been nearly a month since SNTRL’s PreGame Meet went down on the streets of New York City. Yet, as we go through the photos and video coverage, the excitement that arises, makes it feel like it was just a couple of days ago. Ever since Wekfest East 2012 was first announced by the good folks over at the Weksos Industries camp, the streets have been buzzing with anticipation. A first for the East Coast, Wekfest East or WekEast, as it has also come to be known, was poised to bring out the best from Canada to Florida to Chicago.

A few weeks before the big event, Clive Hendricks, hailing from Chi-town, approached SNTRL about doing a collaboration meet between some of Chicago’s finest rides and some of New York/New Jersey’s best. A New Yorker who had relocated to Illinois, Clive wanted to give his friends from the mid-west a proper taste of life back in the Big Apple. Putting together the details was left in the hands of the SNTRL Fam since we were giving a tour of our city. This is where SNTRL went to work on planning what we felt would be an awesome night of relaxing, hanging out, meeting new people, cruising and of course bringing out some epic photography landscapes to go along with all the beautiful rides.

Like most who take pride in where they live and where they are from, SNTRL, born on the streets of New York, was extremely excited and proud at having the opportunity to host a tour of Manhattan. Taking into account key locations for sight-seeing, the smoothest possible roads for the static guys, time-constraints (since this was of course the PreGame for WekFest East, which was the following morning) and just making sure the night was as enjoyable as possible for all was what made up the main priorities.

We decided to incorporate two famous NYC meets that reside in the borough of Manhattan. The reason for this was WekEast was going to take place in the Edison Convention Center in New Jersey, so most of our Chicago friends were staying in locations within New Jersey and on the New York/New Jersey border. Meanwhile, most of the local enthusiast were coming from the surrounding areas of Manhattan such as Queens, The Bronx, Brooklyn, Long Island, Westchester, Rockland, Connecticut and New Jersey. So it made sense to centralize the PreGame Meet to Manhattan and all the lights and attractions it had to offer, where we would have the opportunity to park our rides, hang out and mingle. For many, this would be the first time that we are meeting each other, so we wanted the experience to be as seamless, smooth and exciting as possible.

Two weeks prior to the PreGame Meet, members of SNTRL were cruising through proposed routes literally every other night, planning and making note of all dips, potholes and construction zones that may put one of the rides in danger. Knowing exactly how things were going to go down during the PreGame was the most important objective from SNTRL’s standpoint. Check out this link to one of the nights we did a test run with some of our friends static rides through the PreGame Route. Click here.

We had some people asking us, why this meet was “invite-only”. Originally, the plan was to have an open meet for the public. But with the way this particular meet was setup, space was limited, and cruising through the streets of Manhattan with what could easily turn into hundreds of rides, could potentially spell disaster. The original headcount of total cars between Chicago and New York started out at 50, but as we all know, things don’t always go according to plan and by the time we were ready to head out to the cruise, the number of cars was realistically closer to 150 including the Ruckus crew from Queens, Long Island and New Jersey.

At 10pm, the plan was to cruise down to 42nd street via the West Side Highway. If for some reason, we were forced to move before 10pm, we had back up locations setup Uptown. Thankfully the first meeting spot was a success. The second “location” of the PreGame was a cruise down the West Side Highway. Although lighting was an issue, some of the SNTRL photographers were able to capture the slow cruise downtown to the West Side  to 42nd street, where the cruise would head east on 42nd.

The third location of the meet paid homage to SNTRL’s Christopher Umali and his bi-annual Manhattan Halal Meet which takes place at the famous “The Halal Guys“, chicken and rice spot at 53rd and 6th. Thanks to the sheer number of cars, the only ones who were able to actually stop at the Halal spot was the Ruckus crew who had arrived at location three well before the cars. Just like the Umali Meet, the PreGame followed the cruise direction down Broadway and through Times Square where as many have seen in the past, the photo opportunities are always amazing.

The end of the meet found us on 29th street, where lighting was awesome, and the block was long enough to handle the capacity crowd that we had anticipated. For some, the night ended here, with a slow ride home/hotel to get ready for Wekfest in a few hours. For others it was just the beginning to a night of shooting and cruising til sunrise. The PreGame was just getting everyone warmed up for the big party at Edison, New Jersey…WekEAST!

Special Thanks to:

Clive Hendricks and Zandro Zafra for being in constant communication with us as we prepared for the PreGame, along with the JDM Chicago crew! Rob at Vraceworks and Christoper Umali for helping to get us prepared for the meet locations.  Jay Martin, Siva Somya, Harry Peralta and the whole Ruckus crew for rolling through the rough city streets. As well as TMinus NYC, Pravan, Mike Styles, Dale and Chris  from the SNTRL Fam for working together to plan out and execute, making the meet an epic event.  We look forward to next year’s WekFest East and of course the PreGame to the big event!

SNTRL Photography: P R A V A N Photography | Al Norris Photography | Norman M. Photography | Streets Photography | Chris Mallari | Lauren Washbxyz | TMinus NYC | Umali Photography | Kenny Bascon

Check out the SNTRL PreGame video done by TurboCamMedia, based out of Chicago. And be sure to check the full gallery after scrolling through the photo coverage.

Chicago meets New York/New Jersey pre Wekfest East from TurboCamMedia on Vimeo.

This is how things started out in Queens for Pravan, the Ruckus crew and friends.

Taking over the highways and bridges of NYC!

The early roll-in at the PreGame on 12th Avenue under “the arches”.

ItsDaMayor aka Kenny and his M.

Getting to the PreGame early was a must for good parking. When the sun went down, so did the amount of quality parking spaces.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Chi-town has arrived!

Our friend Lyron was ready for some dorifto action is the opportunity presented itself.

Team NSU’s VIP’d Odyssey traveled from the midwest. Talk about gangsta.

Samuel and his super-clean RSX was a welcome sight.

Even CHR Performance brought out their full restored old school Civic hatch.

12th Avenue was LIVE!

SNTRL’s Edwin getting into the moment as you can see.

Vracework’s 24K coupe.

Bullet and 24K hanging out in Harlem.

Our friend Rich with his custom Midnight Purple EVO X.

NYC Vip Life.

Reppin’ Chicago hard!

Denis’ STi on TE’s. <3

Darren’s Xb which is now officially retired.

Miguel’s Suby! Just perfect for the streets and perfect for the drive down from Chicago.

Jason’s 5 series. His car has gone viral throughout the net, and was featured on Canibeat. It was awesome seeing him cruising through the streets of Manhattan.

Chicago rolls hard!

Allen’s Supra and Mike’s GC were breaking necks all night.

Morris and his orange EVO screaming. If you haven’t seen the Equilibrium USG bags yet, check out Morris’ website, www.equnit.com.

Chicago rolls deep! These guys and gals don’t play when it comes to their love for the car game.

Charles’ wagon is most definitely the Illest.

Toshe’s widebody EVO sitting on those Works. Don’t sleep on her EVO. It’s more than just a pretty face.

Julio reppin Team NSU with his JDM Beagle.

Greg’s Turbo E30 bringing that Euro flavor.

UberFresh Squad in the building!

Another NSU wagon. <3

TIHWL. If you know, you know.

Sergey Serge’s world famous MR2.

Seen It!

Our boy MoneyMike reppin Jersey with his Acura El.

Garagewerks always big in the car game. Shout out to Sean and his slammed turbo S2k for helping test out the PreGame route during the planning stages.

Eat Sleep Race, Makoa, USDM Freax, Speedlounge all represented by the Ruckus crew.

At 10pm, the NYPD rolled in almost on-cue.

The PreGame hitting up 42nd street!

Kuya and the crew in front of Radio City Music Hall.

Some awesome  action shots by SNTRL’s Lauren aka Ellemurata.

Bright Lights, Big City. PreGame Style.

O M G! Raymond Leung’s internet-viral EVO X from Chicago rolling through 42nd street.

Umali holding it down with the organization of PreGame all night.

Zandro and Jonathan living that low-life. Shout out to the static guys for driving their cars.

Ruckus in the city.

Phil’s S2000. Perfect for NYC street duties.

Gene’s Amuse Bestito 370Z is just WOW.

Chicago and New York’s Fits looking good together rolling down 6th Avenue.

Roan’s 9 second FD3S. A true street car rolling through Times Square. No track-only queen here.

Shy and Komal’s Integra’s looked amazing with the backdrop of the Crossroads of the World. It’s photos like these that inspire and amaze.

Awesome shot of Vinny in his slammed Forester enjoying the cruise.

About the author

Co-founder, Managing Director, Photographer, and editor for SNTRL. To many in the Tri-State, Kenny aka "MAD JDM" needs no introduction. Always out there, always ready, always down.

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The PreGame – Part 1
The PreGame – Part 1

Test Shooting in Manhattan
Test Shooting in Manhattan

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