The Nexen / Mazdatrix Mazda RX-8 Leaves Atlanta 10^th in the Formula Drift Points Championship

May 15, 2012 (Signal Hill, Calif.) – Until this weekend, the Road Atlanta round of the Formula Drift Pro Championship was the only one where Mohan had never taken part in the opening ceremonies. However, after a strong pair of qualifying runs and a first-round win in the Nexen / Mazdatrix Mazda RX-8, Mohan ticked the box as he advanced to the top-16 of the event at Road Atlanta.

Controversy surrounded qualifying, as the Formula Drift judging panel elected to award the full ten points for speed scores to all of the qualifying drivers. As one of the few drivers to achieve the speed necessary to gain the 10 points, Mohan was left unimpressed by the decision, which meant his run of 85.5 was only good for 19^th.

“I don’t understand it, and I don’t agree with it,” said Mohan. “It was completely arbitrary and unfair for the few of us who did a good job and drove well. I felt bad for my guys because we worked so hard to make the car work well in qualifying, and we definitely had a car that was better than 19^th.”

As a result, Mohan would match up with Dennis Mertzanis, in a V8-powered Nissan S14, in the top-32 round. After two close runs, the judges had a split decision to send the two for a One More Time.  After a strong lead run by Mertzanis, Mohan established a gap when Mertzanis went off course, and the judges advanced him to the top-16.

In the top-16, Mohan would meet Frederic Aasbo in Need For Speed Scion tC. While Mohan had a strong lead run and followed Aasbo closely, the judges elected to advance Aasbo to the round of Great Eight. Aasbo would ultimately finish second in the event.

“I knew the battle with Dennis was going to be a close one, and I think if not for him putting a wheel off we might have had another One More Time,” said Mohan. “And everyone knows that Frederic can really lay down some awesome runs. I think I matched him well up the hill, but he came out of the horseshoe better than I did and got a gap. I had a great time in Atlanta, the crowd was nuts, and we enjoyed having support from Rick Case Mazda in Duluth. I can’t wait to come back next year!”

After two rounds of the 2012 Formula Drift Pro Championship, Mohan sits tenth in the championship standings with 109.5 points. The next round of the Formula Drift Pro Championship is June 1-2, at Palm Beach International Raceway in Palm Beach, Florida.

Videos

Top-32  against Dennis Mertzanis - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LGQ6hRuN4M&feature=plcp

About Kyle Mohan Racing

Kyle Mohan competes in the Formula Drift Pro Championship in the No.99 Nexen Tire / Mazdatrix Mazda RX-8, with support from Nexen Tire, Mazdatrix, and Mazda USA. More information can be found at www.kylemohanracing.com.

Contact: Efrain Olivares | 818.254.7196 | efrain@shiftgroup.net

After Ending 2011 Event in Gravel Trap, Mohan is Aiming his Purple Mazda at a Top-16

May 8, 2012 (Signal Hill, Calif.) – The Formula Drift event at Road Atlanta is one of the craziest events of the seven-round championship – as anyone who has attended will tell you. For Kyle Mohan, the event is important as among the fans that go to Road Atlanta each year to watch drifting is a large number of Mazda fans, eager to see a rotary-powered vehicle advance deep into competition.

The KMR crew has not had much rest since the season opened in Long Beach last month. After making the top-16 in the first round, Mohan teamed with Nexen Tires teammate Odi Bakchis to win Formula Drift’s Team Drift Challenge at the Long Beach Grand Prix. Immediately after Team Drift, the Nexen / Mazdatrix Mazda RX-8 came apart and the team made several major updates, including the installation of a quick-change rear end. Mohan hopes the new changes help him improve his fortunes at Road Atlanta.

“Yeah, Road Atlanta hasn’t been the best place for me or the Nexen / Mazdatrix Mazda RX-8,” said Mohan. “It’s actually the only track where I have never been in the top-16, and believe me I’m really not happy about that! The frustrating thing about it is there are a lot of Mazda owners in Georgia and we always have a ton of them coming by to ask questions about the car or rotary engines in general. We haven’t given them much to cheer about yet but we are going for it this year!”

One of the biggest issues that the KMR team has been working on is the change in the Road Atlanta course for this year’s event. For the first time, the course will change direction of the horseshoe – a change that Mohan welcomes.

“I was happy to see the change in the course,” said Mohan. “It changes things up a bit and will be a challenge for everyone. I think you’ll see the same people who typically do well in Atlanta do well again, but it means we have a new challenge as far as adapting our driving and setting up our cars. For us, I think the change is good because I think it will be better for our car. We’re ready for it.”

Following Thursday’s open practice, Mohan and his Nexen / Mazdatrix Mazda RX-8 will travel to Rick Case Mazda in nearby Duluth for a meet-and-greet with dealership staff and customers. Team swag, as well as tickets for the Formula Drift weekend, will be given away at the meet-and-greet which starts at 6:00 PM ET.

“We really enjoy taking the car to Mazda dealerships and the guys at Rick Case Mazda are really cool,” said Mohan. “They are racers and they really appreciate drifting. I really enjoy spending time there and talking about Formula Drift, hopefully we reach some new fans for the sport and help them to sell some more Mazdas!”

Qualifying for Formula Drift Road Atlanta begins on Friday, May 11 at 6:45 PM ET. Saturday’s top-32 begins at 4:00 PM ET on May 12, with the Livestream broadcasting the entire event at formulad.com/live.

About Kyle Mohan Racing

Kyle Mohan competes in the Formula Drift Pro Championship in the No.99 Nexen Tire / Mazdatrix Mazda RX-8, with support from Nexen Tire, Mazdatrix, and Mazda USA. More information can be found at www.kylemohanracing.com.

Contact: Efrain Olivares | 818.254.7196 | efrain@shiftgroup.net

April 17, 2012 (Signal Hill, Calif.) – For the second year in a row, Long Beach native Kyle Mohan stood in the famous Victory Lane at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach as the winner of the Formula Drift Team Drift Challenge. Mohan partnered with fellow Nexen Tires driver in the Formula Drift Pro Championship, Aurimas ‘Odi’ Bakchis, to make up Team Nexen.

Mohan and Bakchis impressed a judging panel including Formula Drift judge Andy Yen, 2011 champion Daijiro Yoshihara, and two-time Formula Drift champion Tanner Foust to take the victory over five other tandem pairs. Taking to the streets of Long Beach right after the IndyCar Series race, a packed house saw Mohan and Bakchis execute near-perfect runs through the judged section of turns 9, 10, and 11 of the Grand Prix circuit.

With the victory, Mohan and Bakchis were able to spray champagne in the famous Victory Circle on Shoreline Blvd.

“The Team Drift Challenge is always a really fun experience, but Odi and I really thought about it and planned things out because we really wanted to win,” said Mohan. “We tried a lot of different things during practice and whether he led or I led, we were confident that we would put down a strong run in the judged section.”

Even though the rest of the 1.9 mile Long Beach Grand Prix circuit is not judged, Mohan and Bakchis entertained the crowd throughout the circuit.

“We knew there were fans in all the grandstands, down around the fountain turn, and on both sides of the fence down Pine Ave.,” said Mohan. “We did our best to entertain them and put on a good show, we waved at the crazy crowd in turn one and turn eight, but we made sure to save enough of our Nexen tires for the judged section. It was a really great time, I’m really happy to win this two years in a row! Thanks to my teammate, Odi, and everyone at KMR, Mazdatrix, and Nexen that came out and supported us this weekend.”

Mohan will compete next in the second round of the Formula Drift Pro Championship, at Road Atlanta near Atlanta, Georgia on May 11-12.

About Kyle Mohan Racing

Kyle Mohan competes in the Formula Drift Pro Championship in the No.99 Nexen Tire / Mazdatrix Mazda RX-8, with support from Nexen Tire, Mazdatrix, and Mazda USA. More information can be found at www.kylemohanracing.com.

Contact: Efrain Olivares | 818.254.7196 | efrain@shiftgroup.net

April 10, 2012 (Signal Hill, Calif.) – Wanting to put on a strong show in front of his hometown crowd, and get his championship off to a strong start, Kyle Mohan was looking for a strong qualifying run when he rolled the Nexen/ Mazdatrix Mazda RX-8 to the starting line for his first of two qualifying runs. What he didn’t have in mind, however, was nosing his car into the turn 10 tire wall after making contact with the wall in the first clipping zone of the track.

Setting up an all-or-nothing second qualifying run, Mohan scored an 85.5 which would ultimately put him 13^th in the field for the top-32 competition, meaning he would face Mike Essa in the first round. After two close runs, Mohan would defeat Essa and move on to the round of 16.

“I did not want to miss out on opening ceremonies at Long Beach, and I really wanted points for the championship,” said Mohan. “For a minute there in qualifying, I thought we might be in trouble, but I was able to relax a bit after our second qualifying pass. I knew our battle with Mike would be close, his BMW looked really fast all weekend, but our Nexen / Mazdatrix Mazda RX-8 is making great power and hooking up well, so we were able to take the win.”

In front of a large and supportive crowd, including a large contingent of Kyle Mohan Racing supporters, Mohan took part in the Opening Ceremonies alongside his Nexen Tires teammates Aurimas ‘Odi’ Bakchis and Ryan Kado. Mohan’s day would end after a close battle in the top-16, losing to Justin Pawlak, who would go on to win the event.

“I think I did a pretty good job battling with Justin, but I didn’t get off the start line well and he got a gap that I couldn’t overcome,” said Mohan. “We’ll just learn from that and move on to Road Atlanta. I’m really happy with how the car is working, everyone at KMR did a great job all weekend putting up with me and getting the car to work so well. We are in a good spot in the points – things are so competitive in Formula Drift that you really don’t want to start the year way behind everyone in the top-16.”

After the first round, Mohan sits 14^th in the Formula Drift Pro Championship standings with 55 points. Mohan and his Nexen / Mazdatrix Mazda RX-8 will take part in next week’s Team Drifting Challenge, during the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.

The next round of the 2012 Formula Drift Pro Championship is the Road to the Championship at Road Atlanta, near Atlanta, Georgia on May 11-12.

About Kyle Mohan Racing

Kyle Mohan competes in the Formula Drift Pro Championship in the No.99 Nexen Tire / Mazdatrix Mazda RX-8, with support from Nexen Tire, Mazdatrix, and Mazda USA. More information can be found at www.kylemohanracing.com.

Contact: Efrain Olivares | 818.254.7196 | efrain@shiftgroup.net

###

April 5, 2012 (Long Beach, Calif.) – Not having far to travel, Kyle Mohan may be the first Formula Drift driver at the streets of Long Beach on Friday morning when the gates open for the first round of the 2012 Formula Drift Pro Championship season.

Mohan begins the 2012 season coming off of his strongest Formula Drift season in the six-year history of his KMR operation. Last year, he drove the Nexen / Mazdatrix Mazda RX-8 to fifth in the season-opening event at the Streets of Long Beach on his way to finishing tenth in the championship – finishing ahead of several much larger, much better funded, and more storied teams and drivers.

In an effort to stay at the sharp end of the field, Mohan devoted his entire off-season to finding more performance out of the Nexen / Mazdatrix Mazda RX-8.

“I am really happy to be getting the Formula Drift season started – it has been way too long of an off-season,” said Mohan. “Irwindale last year seems like such a long time ago. From the moment that we got the car back in the shop, it came apart and the team has been working non-stop on making it stronger, lighter, better for this year. You can’t stand still in Formula Drift – every year, the cars are making more power, drivers are throwing more angle, and the level of competition is going up. We need to not only keep up, but try to find any advantage we can.”

Mohan’s advantage this weekend may be his hometown advantage – the Streets of Long Beach circuit is where Mohan has scored his two best career results. It’s also close to his home in Long Beach – Mohan attended nearby Lakewood High School – and a mere few miles from KMR’s base in Signal Hill.

“One of the reasons I really look forward to driving at Long Beach is it really is a home event for not just myself, but the entire program,” said Mohan. “A great deal of our partners – Nexen, Mazdatrix, Mazda USA, and several others – are very close to Long Beach. So we always have a very large and supportive crowd here, and it is a great feeling to represent Long Beach in Formula Drift, especially as it continues to grow and evolve as an international sport. It pushes me to try harder and tap the wall on every pass!”

The Formula Drift Pro Championship season officially kicks off Friday on the Streets of Long Beach with practice and top-32 qualifying, ahead of Saturday’s rounds of top-32 and top-16 competition. Qualifying and tandem competition are streamed live on the Driftstream at justin.tv/driftstream.

About Kyle Mohan Racing

Kyle Mohan competes in the Formula Drift Pro Championship in the No.99 Nexen Tire / Mazdatrix Mazda RX-8, with support from Nexen Tire, Mazdatrix, and Mazda USA. More information can be found at www.kylemohanracing.com.

Contact: Efrain Olivares | 818.254.7196 | efrain@shiftgroup.net

Mazdatrix / AIT Wide Body and Fresh Purple Paint

]]> http://kylemohanracing.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=1495 0 http://kylemohanracing.com/blog/?p=1484 http://kylemohanracing.com/blog/?p=1484#comments Tue, 06 Mar 2012 18:03:49 +0000 Kyle http://kylemohanracing.com/blog/?p=1484 KMR Video Blog part 1.

Here is our first attempt at a video blog to keep everyone up to date with our off season progress.  We have been hard at work improving the RX-7 for 2012. Hope you enjoy!

On car GoPro footage.

These events are pretty wild, the track is  paved inside an Olympic stadium and lined with lose K rails. If you make a mistake its game over, but if you don’t then its a lot of fun to fly around the track!  Short Video Check it out!

CLICK THE LINK BELOW!

http://www.motormavens.com/2012/01/formula-drift-driver-kyle-mohan-mazda-rx8/

Motor Mavens Blog with Kyle Mohan

Down town Long Beach, Home Track

We started the year off right with a top 5 finish at the opening round in Long Beach. Its my home town and Ive always enjoyed the track so it was a great feeling to do well in front of my friends, fans and family.

Hot lanta 2011

Atlanta was a little rougher, After transport problems with our car and very little practice we qualified 8th and had a good run but that was about it. The sceneries around and inside Road Atlanta are awesome. Its one of my favorite venues just because of the beautiful track and surrounding forest. I wish we could just do full laps  of Road Atlanta.

Palm Beach International Raceway

New track on the circuit, after the first layout was found to be hazardous to spectators the second layout was established. It was a little slower but very technical. In the end we had a great run to the top 8. After a close battle with Die that ended in contact I meet with Rhys. We fought hard and got a one more time but unfortunately we would finish there. Still a great event that im looking forward to in 2012.

Riding Wall NJ

Wall is scary, if you touch the wall at Wall, then your going into the wall, atleast most likley. Its a decivingly real name to a track. The guardrail’s feel ok at first then it sucks  the back of the car in and grabs you, launching the car headfirst into the wall.

Seattle smoke screen

This is a great shot from Seattle. Fast and smoky following Essa riding the bank at full throttle for what seems to be an endless turn when your in someones smoke. Then coming down the power ally in front of all the cheering fans, its crazy, Seattle is a fast track and when your folowing you cant see.

Vegas, Night event

Vegas,  Its a wild town in the desert. Summer time temps hit 114 degrees out there so they just have us run at night,  like that fixes the fact that its still 100+ out without the sun. lol. Its always a fast track but dangerous  with concrete walls.

Hang time in vegas

Crash! You hope it never happens but like I said Vegas can be a crazy event. It the dark of the event we failed to see a brake line had moved and was being cooked by the heat from the exhaust. At 100MPH+ I lost the brakes and hit the wall. Luckily the team had put together a safe strong car and I walked away.

c

Round 1 WDS China

China WDS 2011. Travel for 22 + hours, eat crazy food and get no sleep. The cars arrive at the very last possible moment, no problem. Just when a photographer like Larry Chen says stand right here its going to look awesome for a picture, you just do it.

China, Tianjin 2011

The competition goes down inside of the massive olimpic stadiums. They pave the outer ring or running track in this case, it can be a little tight and unforgiving  as its lined with k-rails but it dose make for great competition and tons of seating. I heard they had over 25,000 people there on competition night.

Irwindale wall rides

Back in the good ole US of A! I love Irwindale. California weather, the crowds, the smoke, the walls the fact that its the season finale and its its all on the line. Its just an amazing way to end the season.

Late nights in China

So, not long after Inwindale it was back to China for round 2. I had some repairs to make to the FC after a fender bender in round 1. Most of us had some kind of repair work. with only one day tell the event started we all worked into the night fixing our cars for battle.

KMR, Workin on the 8

The off season. Back at the shop getting ready for the 2012 season!