Tag: Triple Crown

Justin Pawlak Wins the Tires.com Triple Crown

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Long Beach, Calif. – October 26, 2012 – Justin Pawlak in the Falken Tire Ford Mustang is the winner of the Tires.com Triple Crown bonus prize taking home $10,000 and a 51-30 Nixon watch. Pawlak finished fourth in the overall 2012 Formula DRIFT Pro Championship standings.

“This was an exciting Tires.com Triple Crown chase. We could not believe how close it was and were excited to crown a new champion. JTP has a college fund to start and we are happy to provide the first deposit. We are very happy to support the sport and drivers with this prize,” said Discount Tire.

The Tires.com Triple Crown bonus prize is awarded to the driver that accumulates the most points within the selected three rounds of competition. For the 2012 Formula DRIFT Pro Championship season the event chosen were Round 2: Road to the Championship at Road Atlanta, Round 5: Throwdown at Evergreen Speedway and Round 7: Title Fight at Irwindale Speedway.

“Going into the year with two wins I really thought this could be my year for the championship,” said Justin Pawlak, winner of the 2012 Tires.com Triple Crown. “After things started to shank down I knew this wasn’t going to be the year. But winning the Tires.com Triple Crown kind of made it all worthwhile. All the trials of the season and the birth of my son, it’s the icing on the cake!”

Pawlak edged out the 2012 Formula DRIFT champion Daigo Saito and the 2010 Formula DRIFT champion Vaughn Gittin, Jr. in the closest chase for the Triple Crown in history. Pawlak joins past winners of the Tires.com Triple Crown that include:

2011 – Dai Yoshihara
2010 – Tanner Foust
2009 – Chris Forsberg
2008 – Rhys Millen
2007 – Chris Forsberg
2006 – Rhys Millen

Formula DRIFT enters its tenth season of competition in 2013. Tickets are on-sale currently and can be purchased through the Formula DRIFT website and Ticketmaster. Round 1: Streets of Long Beach will be held on April 12-13, 2013.

Discount Tire Takes Drift Fans for a Thrill Ride on Season 2 of “Behind The Smoke” with Formula D Champion Daijiro Yoshihara

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Discount Tire, America’s largest tire and wheel retailer, and sponsor of the Formula D Discount Tire/Falken Tire Nissan S13, announced Season 2 of Behind The Smoke, its hit GTChannel web video series featuring Formula D champion Daijiro Yoshihara. The first webisode of the new season will premiere April 14 on GTChannel’s YouTube Channel.

GTChannel’s cameras will follow Yoshihara throughout the 2012 season giving fans an exclusive look into the life of this world renowned Formula D driver. On track action and off track adventures will be chronicled in 21 videos with a new episode appearing each week.

“We’re very excited to work with Dai and Discount Tire to produce a follow up to our hugely popular premier season,” said Behind the Smoke producer Taro Koki. “We anticipate an even greater response from fans for Season 2 and Dai is sure to keep them hooked with his genuine brand of entertainment.”

Behind the Smoke is a weekly web video series produced by GTChannel in association with Discount Tire. First launched in 2011, Behind the Smoke is the first Drift racing reality series to cover the extreme motorsport and one of its most notable driver personalities. The premier season attracted 1.5 million unique views with an average of 50,000 views per episode. A playlist for Season 1 is available at http://tinyurl.com/3ebnfrx.

“Last year I won my first championship and Behind The Smoke captured every moment,” said Yoshihara. “This time I’m defending the trophy for my fans!”

Discount Tire, a long standing North American Drift supporter, has been the primary sponsor of Yoshihara since 2009 and the exclusive tire and wheel retailer of the Formula D Championship series for the past eight years.

Discount Tire also sponsors the tires.com Triple Crown, which is made up of three regular season Formula D events. The driver with the highest combined score from Road Atlanta, Evergreen Speedway and Irwindale Speedway receive a $10,000 cash prize. In addition to winning the Formula D championship, Yoshihara also won the tires.com Triple Crown in 2011, marking the first time in Formula D history that a driver took home both the Formula D series championship and the tires.com Triple Crown title in the same year.

Formula DRIFT Round 5: Throwdown Results

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Formula DRIFT Round 5: Throwdown Results;
Daijiro Yoshihara Takes the Victory and the Lead in the Standings

Long Beach, Calif. – July 23, 2011 – Formula DRIFT returned to Evergreen Speedway for Round 5: Throwdown. Daijiro Yoshihara in the Discount Tire / Falken Nissan S13 takes the victory and the lead in the overall Pro Championship points standings. Attendance records were broken as the event reached capacity for the venue.

Round 5: Throwdown reached capacity as fans came in droves to Evergreen Speedway. Attendance was up over 10% from last season continuing the increase in numbers for the Series. Fans were treated to an exciting round of action from the top drivers in the sport.

“The Pacific Northwest has an amazing fan base, which was proven today,” said Jim Liaw, president and co-founder of Formula DRIFT. “We are excited to see the growth of the sport and the Series this season with a continued increase in attendance at each event.”

The competition heated up with the final four drivers aiming to move closer in their chase for the championship. Fredric Aasbo in the Need For Speed / Scion Racing TC went head to head with Rhys Millen in the Red Bull / Hankook Hyundai Genesis Coupe and edged out the former champion earning third place. The Finals matched up the 2009 champion, Chris Forsberg in the NOS Energy Drink / Hankook Nissan 370Z with Daijiro Yoshihara. Yoshihara took the victory and gained the lead in the Pro Championship point standings and remains the leader with a commanding lead in the Tires.com Triple Crown bonus.

“It feels great to be in the lead,” stated Daijiro Yoshihara, winner of Round 5: Throwdown. “After the Top 32 when Justin Pawlak was taken out of the competition I knew I had a good chance to win, but I didn’t want to think about points and focused on winning one round at a time, which worked! We have 2 competitions left so I need to focus on them still before I can think too much about the championship.”

The Formula DRIFT Championship continues for Round 6: After Dark at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway on August 26 – 27. Tickets are available to purchase online.

Behind the Smoke Ep 7: Atlanta Drift Battles Begins

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[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgQhRFhPzuc&feature=youtu.be[/youtube]

Episode 7 of series BEHIND THE SMOKE by GTChannel. The first round of the Tires.com Triple Crown, Atlanta round heats up as Dai and his S13 enter the tandem battles vs Jeff Jones, Fredric Aasbo and 2010 champion Vaughn Gittin Jr. Will Dai pull off a repeat in Atlanta? Check it out!