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Justin Pawlak in the Falken Tire Ford Mustang faced the Evasive Tuning/Team Nitto Mazda RX7 of Charles Ng. JTP was able to build a large gap between himself and Charles pushed hard to try and make up. Doing so, however, caused Ng to hit the wall and damage the car beyond the 5 minute repair and JTP was able to move on to Top 16, improving his chances for the 2011 Championship. Luke Lonberger in the Blu808/LG Headers Chevrolet Corvette went up against Toshiki Yoshioka in his RETAKS/Cooper Tire 240SX S13 Hatchback, known as the “240LS.” With Luke being able to pull a gap and have great lines on his lead run, and the great run Yoshioka had on his follow run, the judges called for a OMT! With shallow lines and small angles, Toshiki gave up too much on his follow run and Luke Lonberger took the win!
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| Luke Lonberger taking out “Toshiking”! |
Walker Wilkerson in his Fatlace Nissan 240SX S13 Coupe drove against one of the faster cars in the 2011 field, Darren McNamara and his Falken Tire Saturn Sky. Walker from Qualifying to his Lead Run killed it! His runs were impressive, to say the least, especially when up against McNamara. However, the need to keep up with a fast car on his follow run bit Walker and he slid into the inner oval wall, ending his day. Next was Matt Powers in the Team Nitto/Team Need for Speed Nissan 240SX S14 against the Garage BOSO Nissan Silvia of Ross Petty and while he has expressed frustration with the judges this year, he couldn't be but so frustrated today as he moved on to the Top 16! Matt Powers would have to watch from the sidelines, so close to the championship, however with 2012 on the horizon Matt has shown he will be the driver to beat in coming seasons!
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| Garage BOSO, BRAH! Ross Petty taking out Matt Powers! |
Cyrus Martinez in the Megan Racing/Nexen Tire Nissan 240SX S13 Hatchback faced off against Tyler McQuarrie in the Falken Tire 350Z. This round would be the last one for Tyler, as announced to the public that Saturday morning that Tyler would not be driving for Team Falken in 2012. Unfortunately for Cyrus, Tyler was a man on a mission to prove that he shouldn't leave the team. Cyrus also knew that he had to push and going into his follow run, hit the wall going out of the big bank and gave the win to McQuarrie. Ryan Kado, in his Green Nissan 350Z with Falken Tires faced off against the Federal Tire/V-LEDs Dodge Viper of Dean Kearney. With what appeared to be engine gremlins plaguging Ryan, the V-LEDs Viper was able to move on against Kado.
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| Dean Kearney wins against Ryan Kado! |
Daijiro Yoshihara in the Discount Tire/Falken Tire Nissan 240SX S13 coupe matched up against Jeff Abbott and his Millennium Motorsports/Jeff Abbott Racing Mazda Miata. While Dai was able to pull away from Jeff because of the power difference, there was some worry backstage as the lower-powered, smaller car of Abbott's would pose the biggest challenge considering Dai would have to drive drastically different. However, that proved to be the least of his worries as Dai was able to hold his own and surpass Abbott, moving on to the Top 16. The final battle for the Top 16 was Taka Aono in the Megan Racing/Nexen Tire Toyota Corolla going up against the RS-R/Scion Racing Scion tC of Ken Gushi. With Ken Gushi able to put down a good lead run after a slight stall on the start, he continued to maintain the advantage against Taka on his follow run. Ken Gushi moved on and could start to put an end to a horrible 2011 season, as he has pointed out many times on his blog. Could this be a start to a far better 2012 season?
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| Ken Gushi takes the win against Taka Aono! |
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Kyle Mohan's team waits nervously after Fredric Aasbo crashed and called 5 minutes. Fredric was not able to make it to the line giving Kyle the bye. |
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Kenneth Moen also fell victim to the unforgiving wall of the inner bank.
Chris Forsberg warms the tires in his Nissan 370Z
