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Dean “Carnage” Kearney in the Federal Tires/V-LEDs Dodge Viper battled the youngest driver in the field, Pat Mordaunt in the NuMovements Nissan 350Z. It was an upset battle as Pat took out Kearney to move on to the Top 16! This battle shows that when Pat in within his zone, he is a tough driver to beat, despite the lead that Kearny put on his lead run, Pat sucked right back on to him in the clipping points.
Dennis “DMZ” Mertzanis in his Kenda Tire/Konig Wheels Nissan S14 240SX faced the Mazda-man, Kyle Mohan in the Nexen Tire/Mazdatrix Mazda RX-8. Despite the shallowness of the second rear zone, Mohan’s great entries and better clipping points allowed him to move on. Dennis is still on a decent year and if he could get the car to lose a little more weight or get a little more speed, Dennis could do very well next year.
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| Kyle Mohan was just too strong for Dennis Mertzanis in this round. |
Mike Essa in the GSR Autosport BMW Z4 faced the Formula Drift Asia driver Emmanuel Armandio in the Achilles Tire Nissan 350Z convertible. This was Chris Forsberg’s old car, but with him making contact with the wall on Thursday, Top 32 proved that having a championship car doesn’t mean anything in drifting as he wrecked the car again and Mike Essa moved on to the Top 16.
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| Sadly, this is how Armandio ended his day at Las Vegas. |
Next, Robbie Nishida in the Bridges Racing Nissan S13 240SX faced off against Justin Pawlak and the “rental” Falken Tire 350Z, gremlins from Seattle were also plaguing Nishida’s car, as it shut down twice on him, once just after exiting the rear zone then at the end of the run. Doing so gave JTP the advantage and he advanced on to Top 16.
Otto Graven and the Monster Mob/Insane Speed Nissan 350Z faced Rookie of the year leader Odimas “Odi” Bakchis in the Forged Motorsport Nissan S14 240SX. Otto came in with a lot of angle in the first Rear Clipping zone, which Odi had to take evasive action to avoid contact with Graven. On Otto’s follow run, his car broke and could not complete the course meaning that Odi would move on and take a commanding lead in the Rookie of the Year points battle from Walker Wilkerson in the Fatlace Nissan S13 240SX, who broke prior to qualifying and did not make the field.
Daijiro Yoshihara in the Discount Tire/Falken Tire Nissan S13 240SX went up against his friend and Falken Tire team mate, Ross Petty, in his Falken Tire/BOSO Garage Nissan S15 Silvia. Because of a broken clutch, Ross would basically shut down every time he tried to use the brakes and lock up the rear tires. This huge disadvantage did not allow Ross to fully utilize his car and Dai was able to outperform him and move on to the Top 16.
The final Top 32 round was Ryan Kado in his Max Parts Nissan 350Z and Toshiki Yoshioka in the RETAKS Nissan S13 “240LS.” Ryan had a great lead run going up against the Japanese veteran and on his follow run Toshiki Yoshioka had the better run in the judges view and gave the win to him.
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| With a broken clutch, there wasn’t much that Ross Petty could do against Daijiro Yoshihara |
