USA Today Articlefeaturing JR
Formula DRIFT Kicks-off the Season to a Sell-out CrowdLong Beach, Calif. – April 14, 2008 – Formula DRIFT kicked-off it’s fifth season to a near sell-out crowd for Round 1: Streets of Long Beach with Chris Forsberg and his NOS Energy / Maxxis Tires Nissan 350Z Roadster taking home the first victory of the season.
The Long Beach Grand Prix Street Course hosted the opening round and the teams came prepared to start the season off. Scion’s first entry into drifting had Ken Gushi and his RS*R Scion tC make the Top 16, Daijiro Yoshihara made incredible adjustments from a RHD Nissan Silvia into a LHD Pontiac GTO to finish in 5th place overall, and newcomers Justin Pawlak and Michihiro Takatori also advanced to the Top 16 competition. The highlight of the day came when Long Beach local Kyle Mohan battled through the competition to finish in 4th place overall, the highest finish of his career.
“This was the most anticipated opening round in Formula DRIFT history,” said Jim Liaw, president and co-founder of Formula DRIFT. “The grandstands were full with standing room only and you could feel the energy of the crowd. The competition was fierce and made for one very exciting event.”
Grand Marshall for this event, Rob Dyrdek, made a special parade lap in his Rogue Status ’69 Camaro, having the car do donuts in front of the packed stands leaving a cloud of smoke that had the crowd screaming for more. Special guest, UFC Light Heavyweight Champion and star of the “Ultimate Fighter,” Quinton “Rampage” Jackson also came to check out the action and sign autographs. Even avid rally supporter Ken Block, founder of DC Shoes, came to check out the drifting action. This event also marked the introduction of Miss Formula DRIFT, Catherine Kluthe.
The final battle of the evening brought Samuel Hubinette and his Mopar Dodge Viper back to action against Chris Forsberg and his NOS / Maxxis Nissan 350Z Roadster. After 2 very tight competitive runs with each driver pushing the other to the limits a, “One More Time,” round was called and the finals pitted the drivers in a sudden death victory round. After 2 additional runs with each driver closing in on the other, the judges deliberated and awarded Chris Forsberg as the first winner of the season. 2007 Formula DRIFT Champion Tanner Foust and his Rockstar / AEM Nissan 350Z grabbed the 3rd spot on the podium by beating out Long Beach local Kyle Mohan and his Mazda RX-7.
Castrol SYNTEC Power Cup 2008 Point Standings
1. Forsberg 106 Points
2. Hubinette 96 Points
3. Foust 83 Points
4. Mohan 70 Points
5. Yoshihara 65 Points
6. Haruguchi 64 Points
7. Hayashida 63 Points
7. Tuerck 63 Points
9. McNamara 61 Points
10. Gittin 58 Points
11. Pawlak 57 Points
12. Gushi 56 Points
12. Takatori 56 Points
14. Grunewald 55 Points
14. Miki 55 Points
14. Yamanaka 55 Points
Full official standings available on: http://www.formuladrift.com
Formula DRIFT Prepares the Kick-off of Season 5The Formula DRIFT Championship’s fifth season is about to get underway and to kick-off the season in style, guest Grand Marshall for Round 1: Streets of Long Beach will be professional skateboarder and star of MTV’s, “Rob and Big,” Rob Dyrdek. Rob will be making a special guest appearance and will start the event with a parade lap in his Rogue Status Camaro.
For the first time in it’s 5 year history, Formula DRIFT will be announcing it’s first ever Miss Formula DRIFT for the 2008 season. Miss Formula DRIFT will be attending each Formula DRIFT round and will be make her debut on April 9 at the season kick-off party in Long Beach, CA.
New cars, new teams, and new sponsors will make for a very exciting season. Scion will be entering Formula DRIFT with a rear-wheel drive Scion tC operated by RS-R USA and piloted by Ken Gushi. Gardella Racing of drag racing fame will be entering drift by picking up Ryan Tuerck and he will be piloting a Pontiac Solstice. Vaughn Gittin Jr. is officially Ford supported and Peak Performance / Hankook will now have a two-car team with Robby Nishida and Joon Maeng behind the wheel. Falken driver, Darren McNamara, will now pilot a Saturn Sky, but one of the biggest off-season moves has been Rhys Millen Racing signing of Daijiro Yoshihara and he will be piloting Rhys’ championship winning Pontiac GTO.
The battle of the energy drinks continues with Champion Tanner Foust getting a full ride with Rockstar and NOS picking up Chris Forsberg. Redbull will still support Rhys Millen and Gardella Racing.
“We are very excited to begin the 5th Formula DRIFT Championship season and ready to kick it off with a bang!,” said Jim Liaw, president and co-founder of Formula DRIFT.
ABOUT FORMULA DRIFT
Entering its fifth season, Formula DRIFT is recognized as the North American professional drifting championship series. Established on the streets of Japan, drifting has involved into a worldwide competitive sport that challenges each racer's driving ability and vehicle control. Formula DRIFT provides a forum for North American professionals to demonstrate their skills against the world's top drifters. As the first official series in North America, Formula DRIFT has taken competitive motorsports to the extreme attracting fans and car enthusiasts from all walks of life. For a race schedule and ticket information, visit: www.formuladrift.com.
About IMG
IMG is the world's premier Sports, Entertainment and Media Company. IMG is a diversified global business with two major business segments: IMG Sports & Entertainment, and IMG Media. IMG employs over 2,500 people in 30 countries. Forstmann Little & Co. purchased IMG in 2004.
IMG Sports & Entertainment includes: consulting services; event ownership and management; fashion events and models representation; licensing; golf course design; client representation in golf, tennis, broadcasting, European football, rugby, cricket, motorsports, coaching, Olympic sports and action sports. In addition, IMG Academies are the world's largest and most advanced, state-of-the-art, multi-sport training and educational facility, delivering world-class sports training experiences to over 12,000 junior, collegiate, adult and professional athletes each year.
IMG Media, which includes our content production subsidiaries TWI, Darlow Smithson Productions (DSP) and Tiger Aspect Productions (TAP), is recognized as a global leader in the delivery of traditional and new media content and services, with Internet, broadband and mobile expertise, transforming how audiences access and interact with content.
IMG Media produces and distributes over 10,000 hours of sports, documentary, drama, comedy, entertainment, popular factual and children's content annually, over multiple platforms across 200 countries, including award-winning television and radio programming. It also represents the broadcast rights to many of the world's premier sporting events and has the world's biggest sports archive with more than 200,000 hours of footage.
More information about IMG is available at www.imgworld.com.
Formula DRIFT Expands InternationalLong Beach, Calif. – February 26, 2008 – Formula DRIFT will expand international for the first time with (2) exhibition events to take place this year. The first event will be held in Singapore on April 27, 2008 at the Singapore Air Show Grounds and the second event will be held in Mexico at the Autodromo Monterrey, on August 23, 2008.
For the first time in the 5 year history of Formula DRIFT, the series will be holding an international exhibition and drift competition. The Singapore Air Show Grounds plays host to the milestone event and is presented by Binter & Co, as an exclusive alliance with Formula DRIFT Holdings, LLC to expand and build the sport of drifting out of North America. Formula DRIFT Singapore will see 37 Singaporean, Malaysian, Thai, Chinese, Indonesian drifters compete with 3 Formula DRIFT Pros for the Trophy and a drift exhibition with some of Formula DRIFT’s top talent. The ambassadors of Formula DRIFT will be drivers: Ryuji Miki, Daijiro Yoshihara, and Casper Canul. More information can be found at: http://www.formuladrift.com.sg.
“Taking the Formula DRIFT brand internationally is a huge milestone. Our priority is to continue to build the Series here while growing the sport of drifting as a whole,” said Jim Liaw, president and co-founder of Formula DRIFT. “We are very careful in choosing our event partners and take careful consideration of the boundaries of our international affiliates such as Drift Australia, MSC, and Pro Drift.”
The second international event will be in conjunction with GDC/Drifting Mexico and will be held at Autodromo Monterrey on August 23, 2008. The original date of this event has been moved and this is the new confirmed date. More information on this event will be available soon.
ABOUT FORMULA DRIFT
Entering its fifth season, Formula DRIFT is recognized as the North American professional drifting championship series. Established on the streets of Japan, drifting has involved into a worldwide competitive sport that challenges each racer's driving ability and vehicle control. Formula DRIFT provides a forum for North American professionals to demonstrate their skills against the world's top drifters. As the first official series in North America, Formula DRIFT has taken competitive motorsports to the extreme attracting fans and car enthusiasts from all walks of life. For a race schedule and ticket information, visit: http://www.formuladrift.com.
About IMG
IMG is the world's premier Sports, Entertainment and Media Company. IMG is a diversified global business with two major business segments: IMG Sports & Entertainment, and IMG Media. IMG employs over 2,500 people in 30 countries. Forstmann Little & Co. purchased IMG in 2004.
IMG Sports & Entertainment includes: consulting services; event ownership and management; fashion events and models representation; licensing; golf course design; client representation in golf, tennis, broadcasting, European football, rugby, cricket, motorsports, coaching, Olympic sports and action sports. In addition, IMG Academies are the world's largest and most advanced, state-of-the-art, multi-sport training and educational facility, delivering world-class sports training experiences to over 12,000 junior, collegiate, adult and professional athletes each year.
IMG Media, which includes our content production subsidiaries TWI, Darlow Smithson Productions (DSP) and Tiger Aspect Productions (TAP), is recognized as a global leader in the delivery of traditional and new media content and services, with Internet, broadband and mobile expertise, transforming how audiences access and interact with content.
IMG Media produces and distributes over 10,000 hours of sports, documentary, drama, comedy, entertainment, popular factual and children's content annually, over multiple platforms across 200 countries, including award-winning television and radio programming. It also represents the broadcast rights to many of the world's premier sporting events and has the world's biggest sports archive with more than 200,000 hours of footage.
More information about IMG is available at http://www.imgworld.com.
OFFICIAL 2008 FORMULA DRIFT FAN GUIDE TO BE PRODUCED BY URBANRACER.COMLong Beach, Calif. – January 30, 2008 – Formula DRIFT has announced an exclusive agreement with UrbanRacer.Com, published by URC Media, to produce the 2008 Official Formula DRIFT Fan Guide. The collaboration between the Formula DRIFT Championship and UrbanRacer.com is the latest in a relationship that dates back to the inception of the series five years ago.
“It's our ten-year anniversary and we're excited and proud to be producing the Official Formula DRIFT Fan Guide, especially in a milestone year for both UrbanRacer.Com and the Formula DRIFT Championship,” said Jackie Ling, Director, UrbanRacer.Com. “The Official Fan Guide will supplement the extensive coverage UrbanRacer.Com already provides of the Championship. Not only will fans see unforgettable drifting competitions at Formula DRIFT events this year, they’ll also be able to take home the Formula DRIFT Fan Guide as a collectible memento.”
The uniqueness of UrbanRacer.Com’s 2008 Official Formula DRIFT Fan Guide is underscored by its unprecedented use of a Manga-like format. The pocket-sized theme and design is not only a nod to the Japanese roots in the sport of drifting, but also serves practical reasons. Featuring illustrated graphics and quality paper like its Japanese anime novel inspiration, the Official Guide is certain to naturally find their way to more coffee tables and bookshelves than conventional magazine-grade publications.
More than 50,000 Fan Guides will be produced and distributed free-of-charge to fans and enthusiasts attending any of the seven nationwide Formula DRIFT events scheduled this year. The Fan Guide will be an invaluable resource for new and returning fans, containing information about the Championship, competition, cars, and drivers – with plenty of room for fan-favorite autographs.
“This year is an exciting year for both Formula DRIFT and UrbanRacer.com. Formula DRIFT is celebrating the 5th championship season, while UrbanRacer.com is celebrating 10 years of providing the best online content in the Sport Compact market and we are excited to be working with them on the Fan Guide,” said Jim Liaw, president and co-founder of Formula DRIFT.
ABOUT FORMULA DRIFT
Entering its fifth season, Formula DRIFT is recognized as the North American professional drifting championship series. Established on the streets of Japan, drifting has involved into a worldwide competitive sport that challenges each racer's driving ability and vehicle control. Formula DRIFT provides a forum for North American professionals to demonstrate their skills against the world's top drifters. As the first official series in North America, Formula DRIFT has taken competitive motorsports to the extreme attracting fans and car enthusiasts from all walks of life. For a race schedule and ticket information, visit: http://www.formuladrift.com.
About IMG
IMG is the world's premier Sports, Entertainment and Media Company. IMG is a diversified global business with two major business segments: IMG Sports & Entertainment, and IMG Media. IMG employs over 2,500 people in 30 countries. Forstmann Little & Co. purchased IMG in 2004.
IMG Sports & Entertainment includes: consulting services; event ownership and management; fashion events and models representation; licensing; golf course design; client representation in golf, tennis, broadcasting, European football, rugby, cricket, motorsports, coaching, Olympic sports and action sports. In addition, IMG Academies are the world's largest and most advanced, state-of-the-art, multi-sport training and educational facility, delivering world-class sports training experiences to over 12,000 junior, collegiate, adult and professional athletes each year.
IMG Media, which includes our content production subsidiaries TWI, Darlow Smithson Productions (DSP) and Tiger Aspect Productions (TAP), is recognized as a global leader in the delivery of traditional and new media content and services, with Internet, broadband and mobile expertise, transforming how audiences access and interact with content.
IMG Media produces and distributes over 10,000 hours of sports, documentary, drama, comedy, entertainment, popular factual and children's content annually, over multiple platforms across 200 countries, including award-winning television and radio programming. It also represents the broadcast rights to many of the world's premier sporting events and has the world's biggest sports archive with more than 200,000 hours of footage.
More information about IMG is available at http://www.imgworld.com.
About UrbanRacer.Com
With offices in Bayside, New York and Los Angeles, Calif., UrbanRacer.Com celebrates its 10th anniversary in 2008 as the leading online magazine for import and sport compact performance enthusiasts. Daily-updated static and video content by an industry-respected staff, including Editor-in-Chief Bob Hernandez and Technical Editor Evan Griffey, provides visitors with segment-leading event coverage, features, and technical information. UrbanRacer.Com is published by URC Media, a New York-based media and marketing company that services the automotive industry.
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