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| First pair for Top 32 was Kenny Moen in the Lutz Performance 350Z and Rhys Millen in the Hyundai Genesis. Rhys would be able to out perform Kenny and Rhys would move on to the Top 16. Kenny's year has been filled with ups and downs. He blew his engine in Las Vegas and had a tough opponent here at Irwindale, but he has made his Norwegian friends proud with the year he's had in 2012. |
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| Irwindale would bite Daijiro Yoshihara once again this year in the Discount Tires Nissan 240SX. Kyle Mohan also continues to be a thorn in the side of Yoshihara in the Energy X/Nexen Tires Mazda RX-8. With this loss, Daijiro had zero chance of winning the 2012 Formula Drift Championship, his chances had already been fairly slim with Vaughn Gittin, Jr. having out qualified him. Even if Vaughn could be knocked out, Daijiro had no chance of getting past Rhys Millen either. 2012 will be a fairly bitter pill to swallow for Dai, but look for a stronger Yoshihara in 2013. |
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| While Pat Mordaunt in the A'PEXi Lexus SC430 was able to get past Chelsea Denofa in the Nitto Tire / BC Racing Mazda RX8, scary contact between Denofa and Mordaunt at the finish effectively eliminated Denofa as the contact was his fault. He came in faster than Mordaunt did and plowed the left front into the rear of Mordaunt's right front quarter panel. This sent Denofa's front end into the air for a moment. He did land and no further contact was made. |
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| With Daijiro eliminated, Vaughn Gittin, Jr had one less driver to deal with in the 2012 Championship, but he did still have Rhys Millen to deal with. However, his first battle would be against a Drift Alliance driver, Nick D'alessio in the Elite JDM Nissan 240SX. The Monster/Falken Ford Mustang had no issue taking out the less powerful D'alessio. |
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| While Chris Forsberg had the early advantage in the NOS Energy Nissan 370Z against the Hankook Chevrolet Camaro of Conrad Grunewald, Forsberg would take himself out on his follow run. As Conrad tapped the inner bank wall, Forsberg slammed into it, eliminating himself in the final round of the 2012 season. |
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| In a test of how one of the slowest cars in the field would match up against one of the fastest cars in the field, Taka Aono in the Nexen Tire/Megan Racing Toyota Corolla would have to do his best to keep up with Daigo Saito in the Achilles Radial Lexus SC430. However, the wall began to get hungry and decided to add Taka's Corolla to the platter. That hit was too much to repair and Daigo Saito moved on by default. |
