FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Mohan has battle of the day while Kanavas takes second in Pro-Am
(Signal Hill, Calif.) – Kyle Mohan, Formula Drift Pro Championship driver – and for the first team, team owner – got his weekend at the fourth round of the Formula Drift Pro Championship in Las Vegas started off on the right foot with his best qualifying effort of the season.
On a newly-configured Las Vegas track that featured a fast entry and long initiation that claimed cars all weekend, Mohan laid down an 80-point qualifying run that put him 12th in the field, putting him against good friend Patrick Mordaunt in the first round of competition.
The first pair of runs were a war, with Mordaunt and Mohan alternately giving chase and neither driver having a clear advantage. The judges called for a One More Time, but after two runs, the judges could not decide on a winner and a second One More Time was called. Mohan led again for the third time and impressively laid the rear bumper of his Mazda RX-8 against the concrete intitation wall and into the first clipping points – effectively enough that Mordaunt made a minor mistake. Mordaunt led the second run, and Mohan also made a minor mistake while giving chase.
Judges are only allowed to give two One More Times and had to select a winner, and voted 2-1 to advance Mordaunt.
“It’s disappointing to not move on, especially after such a great battle,” said Mohan. “We didn’t have any idea which one of us they would advance until it was announced. That was the hardest battle I have had in Formula Drift, but Patrick and I have driven with each other before – we did Team Drift together and we did a tandem at Adams Motorsports Park a couple of weeks ago, so we kind of knew what to expect. I’m glad we put on a good show for the fans.”
“Our Mazda RX-8 ran great throughout the battle – it did everything I asked of it, and we got great smoke and grip from our Cooper 2XS tires even as we wore them down after six runs.”
Earlier in the day, Mohan got to celebrate for the first time as a team owner when Johnny Kanavas wheeled the KMR / Mazdatrix / Cooper Tire Mazda FC3S to second place in the Pro-Am competition sanctioned by Vegas Drift. Recording the highest entry speed in the competition at 94 mph and qualifying in the top-5 for tandem competition, Kanavas triumphed in two tandem battles before facing off against former Formula Drift Pro Championship driver Forrest Wang in the final.
Kanavas made contact with the wall on his first run but still put enough pressure to force a One More Time, but Wang ultimately prevailed. In his first tandem competition, Kanavas brought the KMR Mazda FC3S home on the second spot of the podium.
“This was unbelievable, such a fun way to start out in Formula Drift,” said Kanavas. “I really want to thank Kyle Mohan, Mazdatrix, Cooper Tire and Adams Motorsports Park for their support this weekend. We struggled a bit on Friday, but made some changes and focused hard on the job at hand today and we are really proud of the result.”
‘Johnny K’ was awarded cash and prizes from Longacre Racing Products and Exedy Clutch, as well as an invite to compete in the Formula Drift Pro-Am Nationals in December.
About Kyle Mohan Racing
Kyle Mohan Racing competes in the Formula Drift Pro Championship aboard a 2009 Mazda RX-8, with support from Mazda USA, Mazdatrix, Cooper Tires, Exedy, WPC, Idemitsu, Turbonetics, Mishimoto, JIC Magic, TCSportline, KAAZ, F&L Racing Fuel, XXR Wheels, Music Saves Lives and Epic Action Sports Camera. For more information, visit www.kylemohanracing.com.
For more information on Johnny Kanavas, visit www.johnnykanavas.com.