Formula Drift Road Atlanta 2013 from King and Crown Media on Vimeo.

BALTIMORE, Md. (May 13, 2013) – Vaughn Gittin Jr. and the RTR Drift team traveled to Georgia for an action-packed weekend of Formula Drift fun on Saturday and a signature Smoke Show at Fort Gordon on Sunday. The monumental success of the event at Fort Gordon was only icing on the cake after Vaughn and the Monster Energy Nitto Tire Ford Mustang RTR supported by ASD Motorsports placed 3^rd at Round 2 and moved into 1^st place overall in the Formula Drift Championship.

Formula Drift returned for the 10th consecutive season to Road Atlanta. Known for it’s die-hard fans and spectacular drifting under the lights, Round 2 did not disappoint despite the intermittent rain, the fans in Atlanta came out in force and stayed through to the end of the event. The Road Atlanta stop has the largest attendance for the Series outside of California.

The RTR Drift Team came to this round ready to turn up the heat, on and off the track. The RTR Drift Team compound was the “hot spot” for the fans all day; they came by to use the Ready to Rock Free WiFi, charge their mobile devices from the charging station, pick up the latest Vaughn Gittin Jr., Drift Alliance, Speedhunters, Electric Visual, and Mustang RTR gear, check out the jaw-dropping ’69 Mustang RTR-X that was on display, take a picture with the beautiful Monster Models, get an autograph from Vaughn, or to listen to the musical styling’s of DJ Ahuf that were jamming on the speakers.

Back on track, Vaughn placed 9^th out of over 50 drivers in the first round of qualifying and therefore was obligated to omit taking a second run by placing in the top sixteen in accordance with Formula Drift rules. He battled his way through Dave Briggs in the top 32, Matt Fields in the top 16, and found himself faced with fellow Speedhunters driver Fredric Aasbo in the Great Eight.

“This event has always been an event that is just hard to predict as the weather always seems to test us. There were a lot of hard fought battles and a lot of that was due to the inconsistent weather,” says Vaughn. “With the rain, the track changed every run and every turn. We saw the first moment of insanity during my battle with Fredric Aasbo. I literally jumped over the front corner of his car, landed in drift and completed the course. The judges ruled that we would run again and I was able to hold it down to win the battle.”

Vaughn continued: “We had more insanity in my battle with Daigo [Saito] in the semi-finals. As soon as we entered the track, the tape that was holding the seam of his roof flew at me, and the six-foot streamer hanging off completely disoriented my timing. I went off through the infield and made some contact. On the lead run, I gapped him at every single turn and I was just driving as absolutely hard as I possibly could. Despite having our disadvantage from our chase run, we clearly dominated Daigo on our lead run and I look forward to battling him throughout the season.”

Vaughn then faced Michael Essa in the consolation round and earned the third place spot on the podium after throwing down two solid runs.

“I am just so pumped on the support from ASD motorsports and the entire RTR drift team; we all gave it one-hundred percent,” says Vaughn. “Finishing on the podium for the second event in a row and taking the points lead is an awesome result to all the hard work. We are looking forward to continuing the momentum through out the rest of the season!”

The day after Formula Drift, the RTR Drift team traveled to Augusta’s Fort Gordon for one of their signature “Smokeshows”. Vaughn Gittin Jr. gave rides in the Monster Energy Nitto Tire Ford Mustang RTR and fellow Formula Drift driver and Drift Alliance teammate Ryan Tuerck gave rides in the Gotta Have it Green Mustang RTR Spec 2. A huge crowd was onsite to witness the drifting skills of Vaughn and Ryan, as well as take in the whole experience which also consisted of getting the chance to drive many HPI Racing remote control cars, sample a Monster Energy drink, take a picture with the beautiful Monster Energy models, buy some Vaughn Gittin Jr. / Drift Alliance gear, check out the brand new Ford GT500 and the ’69 Mustang RTR-X that were both on display and on the track piloted Vaughn, and get autographs and high-fives from both the drivers. The event turned out to be a monumental success for everyone in attendance.

Next up for Vaughn Gittin Jr., he begins his international competition efforts by heading to China for the first round of WDS. For more information, please visit VaughnGittin.com or Facebook.com/OfficialVaughnGittinJr.

Long Beach, Calif. – May 11, 2013 – Formula DRIFT presented by GoPro continued to Round 2: Road to the Championship at Road Atlanta. Defending 2012 champion, Daigo Saito in the Achilles / Bridges Racing Lexus SC430 takes the victory.

Round 2: Road to the Championship returned for the tenth consecutive season to the home of the inaugural Formula DRIFT competition at Road Atlanta. This is the only course on the circuit that has paved a custom section of the track specifically for drifting. Despite the intermittent rain, the fans in Atlanta came out in force and stayed through to the end of the event. Road Atlanta has the largest attendance for the Series outside of California.

“Drifting is chaotic and unpredictable,” stated Jim Liaw, president and co-founder of Formula DRIFT. “Today showed the ability of the Formula DRIFT drivers to adapt to the changing conditions while still performing.”

The rain slicked track proved to be a challenge as the event entered into the Top 16 portion of the competition. Heading into the competition, Daijiro Yoshihara in the Discount Tire / Falken Tire Nissan 240SX held the points lead, but surprisingly failed to make it into the Top 16, opening the opportunity for other drivers in the point standings. Michael Essa in the GSR Autosport / Yokohama Tire BMW M3 faced Vaughn Gittin, Jr. in the Monster Energy / Nitto Tire Ford Mustang RTR in the consolation round. Gittin won third place and takes the lead in the 2013 Pro Championship point standings. The final round pitted Darren McNamara in the Falken Tire Nissan 240SX against returning champion Daigo Saito. McNamara on the first run misjudged the speed of Saito and ran into his car causing damage and giving up the advantage, which his team was not able to overcome. Saito earned his first victory of the season and moves into second place overall.

“This almost feels like revenge from Long Beach since I was only able to make it into the Top 16 at Round 1,” said Daigo Saito, winner of Round 2: Road to the Championship. “The track conditions were horrible and it could have been anyone that won, but I am happy that I was able to pull off the victory. Thanks to the team and Achilles for helping make this all possible.”

For more information visit: www.formuladrift.com

1. Fredric Aasbo

2.Michael Essa

3. Justin Pawlak

4. Chelsea Denofa

5. Daigo Saito

6. Darren Mcnamara

7. Matt Powers

8. Matt Field

9. Vaughn Gittin Jr.

10. Aurimas Bakchis

11.Chris Forwsburg

12. Forrest Wang

13. Jeff Jones

14. Danny George

15. Daijiro Yoshihara

16. Kenneth Moen

17.Robbie Nishida

18.Conrad Grunewald

19. Ryan Tuerck

20. Kyle Mohan

21 .Miro Ovcharik

22. Toshiki Yoshioka

23. Taka Aono

24. David Briggs

25. Chris Ward

26. Will Parsons

27. Nate Hamilton

28. Pat Mordaunt

29. Joon Maeng

30. Pat Goodin

31. Corey Hosford

32. Walker Wilkerson

May 8, 2013 (Signal Hill, Calif.) – It was a minor error that prevented Kyle Mohan from advancing past the first round at the Streets of Long Beach in the Nexen Tire / Energy-X / Mazdatrix Mazda RX-8. While scraping bumpers and pushing the limits is part of every Formula Drift run, the cone that Mohan knocked over was an out-of-bounds cone – meaning he would score a zero while going against Ken Gushi. Despite putting up two strong runs, he would not advance into the second round.

KMR Streets of Long Beach Trailer from Steven Reyes on Vimeo.

The Midwest Drift Union held their first 2013 event last weekend at Lucas Oil Raceway in Indianapolis, IN on the oval track. MDU officials planned on using last year’s setup outside of the track on a road course that they designed in the trailer staging area, but a NHRA event was rescheduled because of rain from a week prior making it impossible to use that area.  Rain was threatening the entire MDU event, but luckily we only had to deal with a few sprinkles.

Geoff Stoneback chasing Hooman Rahimi

Some drivers jumped right in like they were at home while others took a little time to get used to the long banking first turn. There was plenty of practice time and as the day went on more drivers began to find a line that worked for them.

Bill Cook in his Lexus GS300

It was awesome to see an old face return to the drifting scene, Kris Hackenson made it out to round 1 after being absent last season in a borrowed car as his was not ready yet.

One of the cars that I was looking forward seeing the most was Shane Whalley’s GTO sponsored by Ice Nine Group. I’ve been following this car very closely in the off season and I was very excited to finally see it in person, huge wing and all!

Unfortunately he met his demise in an accident during a top 16 run against Kris Hakenson. He’s been updating his Facebook page with repair reports and it seems that he will be on track for round 2 coming up in July.

A familiar face to the Midwest drifting scene is Brian Waggoner who has returned with his LS powered S13 complete with a brand new livery courtesy of his title sponsor White Crane Tattoo/Mario Johnson.

There were a few more accidents throughout the day including Austin Matta, Oliver Vaughn, and Camden Fox.

Austin Matta

Oliver Vaughn

Camden Fox

The overall completion was fierce and here are your top 3 drivers from round 1!

First place Brian Peter

Second place Hooman Rahimi

Third place Geoff Stoneback

Midwest Drift Union released the top 16 drivers according to points accumulated during qualifying and final standings after round 1:

1.) Brian Peter (51)

2.) Geoff Stoneback (40)

3.) Andrew Lewis (34)

4.) Hooman Rahimi (31)

5.) Jake Maturen (31)

6.) Brian Waggoner (28)

7.) Bill Cook (26)

8.) Tyson Schmidt (24)

9.) Shane Whalley (23)

10.) Kris Hackenson (18)

11.) Adam Ouziel (17)

12.) Travis Lacombe (13)

13.) Michael Tung (10)

14.) Alex Ledbetter (7)

15.) Cody Grim (3)

16.) Josh Collins (1)

Congrats to the drivers and the staff for an amazing first event. Stay tuned here and the Midwest Drift Union website for announcements regarding Round 2 in St. Louis, MO at Gateway Motorsports park on July 13th!

Go check out our full gallery of photos on our Facebook page!

The Midwest Drift Union season is about to kick off once again! Last weekend they hosted their tech inspection day at Zerolift Autolab hosted by Neo Motorsport in Fairfield, Ohio and a practice day at Kil-Kare Speedway in Xenia, Ohio. Drivers were given free reign of the track where the final round will be hosted later this year.  The turnout wasn’t enormous so that gave the drivers plenty of track time. I got to sit down with Nick Swann, the director of Midwest Drift Union, and ask him a few questions about last weekend as well as Round 1 which is happening this weekend in Indianapolis, IN at Lucas Oil Raceway.

1.       Since taking over operations at Midwest Drift Union what is the one thing you are looking forward to most in the 2013 season?

To be honest, I’m really looking forward to the entire season. This will be my first season in a position other than grid so I’m very excited to experience event coordination from a new perspective. We’re very proud to be working with the guys at Import Image Racing for the first time this year. They’re very supportive of the growth and direction of this series and the sport in general. However, if I had to single out one specific thing that I’m looking forward to the most, it would have to be Round 3 which we are holding in the Streets of Detroit. We’re really going back to the “street style” roots of American drifting by providing MDU competitors a venue similar to spots they may have driven before so many track events were available. The entire MDU staff is very proud to be a part of the first ever sanctioned competitive street drifting event outside of Formula Drift.

2.       How did you think the tech and practice day went last weekend? I know this is something that MDU is trying this year that is similar to how Formula D operates. Is this something we will be seeing next year as well?

The MDU Tech and Practice event went very well for our first year. The turn out wasn’t huge, but the event itself came together pretty last minute in the offseason. Our main goal was to plant the seed within the Midwest drifting community that, from here on out, MDU will have an official technical inspection and practice day before the points season begins and this event will be mandatory within a certain distance of where we host the event. We’re very thankful for our friends at Zerolift Autolab for opening up their awesome facility this year to inspect the cars as well as Neo Motorsport for coming down to promote their incredible products and provide us with a track to practice on.

3.       After seeing some MDU drivers at No Star Bash and the tech/test day is there any drivers that you think we should be looking out for at round 1?

Everyone drove really well at NSB this year, but I’ve got to say Andrew Lewis out of the St. Louis area is looking very strong in his LS powered S13 coupe. Andrew debuted the car at NSB and it seems to work really well. There were a lot of MDU competitors who were unable to attend No Star Bash due to last minute touches on their builds, so it’s very tough to say who the biggest threat is going into the season.

4.       Any final words to MDU fans before this season kicks off this weekend?

Since its beginning in 2010, MDU has grown in leaps and bounds due to all of the talented drivers, supportive fan base, and a hard working staff. As the case is every year, this season will be the biggest and best Midwest Drift Union season yet.

I would like to thank Nick for sitting down with me during his busy schedule between events. If you are in the Midwest and would like to see some awesome drifting action this weekend it will be going down at Lucas Oil Raceway 10267 E Us Highway 136, Indianapolis, Indiana 46234 on Saturday. Spectator gates open around 11am. Swing by the Midwest Drift Union Website for specific details about the event!

 Formula D Driver Carlos Cano-Estrella was out playing around with his monster corrolla and giving some ride along’s.

Just Drift Staffer and Vegas Pro-Am Judge Mike B0lanos always putting on a good show and helping up and coming drivers by showing them some of his skills.

For link to albums Click here. SATURDAY ALBUM / SUNDAY ALBUM

Saturday schedule:
7AM-12PM – tech inspection/roll in/Drivers meeting/check in/Practice
12PM – 1PM – lunch break
1PM – 5PM – Practice

Sunday
7AM – Drivers meeting
8am-12pm – Practice
12PM – Drivers meeting/Lunch break (LUNCH IS FREE FOR REGISTERED DRIVERS – PROVIDED BY MEGAN RACING)
1PM – 5PM  qualifying – Finals

For Registration Click Link Here or image above.

Formula D returned to the Streets of Long Beach to kick off its 10th year of competition.  The Long Beach Round is always an exciting one, from all of the new vehicles to the new group of ProAm drivers making a leap to the pro ranks. Also this round of competition would also be the debut of the all new formula D Rules including the re working of how Qualifying will play out.

Daijiro Yoshihara was able the take the number 1 qualifying spot on Fridays qualifying day.  To check out full Qualifying results check out post HERE

Another surprise during qualifying was that of Fan favorite Taka Aono. He would take his corolla to the limits and throw down one amazing qualifying score showing that his trustworthy 86 still had some fight in it.

For coverage from Qualifying day Check out the Albums HERE Album-A / Album-B

One of the most exciting runs of the weekend was Fredric Aasbo vs. Daigo Saito. Aasbo would give it his all against the 2012 champ and force him into multiple one more time battles. And in the end Aasbo would take the victory.

The finals would see former teammates battle it out. Vaughn Gittin Jr. with his new Team and Daijiro Yoshihara with his very dialed in car. Both man would give it their all but in the end Dai would end up with the win. But for Jr. have starting his own team having a new car and new tire sponsor it  the 2nd place finish had to be a win in itself for him. Fellow Drift Alliance Team mate Chris Forsberg  would end up in 3rd place after battling it out with Chelsea Denofa who mad a very exciting return in his own BMW.

For Main event day Albums Check out links Here Main-A /  Main-B