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| It's Elimination day! |
Eliminations started with Odi in the M7 Japan/Nexen Tire Nissan 240SX taking on Formula Drift Rookie Nick D’Alessio in the Elite JDM Nissan 240SX powered by a 1JZ-GTE I6. Nick just couldn’t keep up with the 2011 Rookie of the Year and Odi moved on! Luke Lonberger in the Blu808/Hankook Tire Chevrolet Corvette looked to take out the Achilles Tire Lexus SC300 of Daigo Saito. However, a bobble by Luke meant that Saito held the advantage and Saito moved on. Conrad Grunewald in the Hankook Tires Chevrolet Camaro battled against Formula Drift Rookie, Chris Ward in the Tiger Racing/Cooper Tires Nissan 240SX. Transmission failure would lead to Chris not being able to keep up with Conrad at all and Grunewald moved on.
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| With a working transmission, Conrad Grunewald moves on to the Top 16! |
Ken Gushi driving the Greddy/Hankook Tires FR-S would get by Pat Mordaunt in the A’Pexi/Yokohama TireLexus SC430. A Top 32 was a better weekend for Pat considering he didn’t make it to Florida because of his tow truck failing a vehicle inspection by Florida State Police. Taka Aono in the Megan Racing/Nexen Tire Toyota Corolla would be the first victim of Daijiro Yoshihara and his run to the championship. The Discount Tire/Falken Tire Nissan 240SX was just faster and performed better than the little AE86 that could. Rhys Millen in the Hyundai/Hankook Tires Hyundai Genesis Coupe took on friend of MotoIQ’s, Mike Essa in his GSR Autosport/Nitto Tires BMW Z4. Rhys would put on the better show in the Judges eyes and allow him to move on!
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| Ken Gushi moves on! |
Next, Chelsea Denofa in the BC Racing BMW M3 looked to say howdy and get rowdy against Tony Angelo in the Scion Racing/Hankook Tire Scion tC. Tony’s car seemed to just not be up to speed as Chelsea dominated in both his lead and follow runs. Maybe there is something to that large wing? Tyler McQuarrie’s GoPro/Mobil 1 Chevrolet Camaro looked to bring domination to the FuledCulture.com/Kenda Tires Nissan 240SX of Dennis Mertzanis. Dennis couldn’t use his Gyro-ism against the end of the wall. It resulted in him going off course and he lost out to McQuarrie.
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| Flapping in the wind, Tony Angelo and his Scion tC are eliminated by Chelsea Denofa. |
Vaughn Gittin Jr. in the Monster Energy/Falken Tires Ford Mustang would face the Sikky Swapped Nissan 240SX of Miro Ovcharik. Ovcharik really put on some impressive runs last round, but couldn’t bring it with him to Round 4 and lost to Gittin. Joon Maeng in the Nitto Tire Mazda RX-8 would bring the back firing Rotary power to Robbie Nishida in the Achilles Tire Lexus SC430 (or Soarer, if you prefer). Joon’s poor performance on his lead run would result in a large advantage to Robbie and Nishida didn’t let it go. Nishida would move on to Top 16. Tony Brakohiapa in the EBay/Yokohama Tires Ford Mustang would give Kenny Moen in the Lutz Performance Nissan 350Z a run, but the Mustang just didn’t look like it was competitive and struggled on both its lead run and follow run. Moen would move on.
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| Robbie Nishida in the Achilles Tire “Soarer” moves on against Nice Guy Joon Maeng! |
Darren McNamara in the Falken Tires Nissan Silvia took on the Need for Speed/Nitto Tire Nissan 240SX of Matt Powers. Darren again showed that he has talent in any car, but it wouldn’t be enough as Matt Powers brought the “closeness” that the judges were looking for. Once Darren and the SPD Metalworks crew get a hang of each other, look for Darren to really show what he’s capable of doing! Jhonnattan Castro in the Banco del Progreso/Hankook Tires 350Z would bring the Dominican Heat against the Norwegian Hammer of Fredric Aasbo in the Need for Speed/Hankook Tires Scion tC. However, Wall Speedway hammered against Castro and Fredric would move on to the Top 16.
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| Darren McNamara just didn't have the seat time to get past Matt Powers. Don't think that means Darren is washed up. He's far from that! |
