{"id":2244,"date":"2012-04-08T21:49:23","date_gmt":"2012-04-09T01:49:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.elusivemedia.com\/v3\/?p=2244"},"modified":"2012-07-12T03:21:31","modified_gmt":"2012-07-12T07:21:31","slug":"formula-drift-round-1-streets-of-long-beach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.elusivemedia.com\/v3\/?p=2244","title":{"rendered":"Formula DRIFT Round 1: Streets of Long Beach"},"content":{"rendered":"<iframe src=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/like.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.elusivemedia.com%2Fv3%2F%3Fp%3D2244&amp;layout=standard&amp;show_faces=true&amp;width=450&amp;action=like&amp;colorscheme=dark\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowTransparency=\"true\" style=\"border:none; overflow:hidden; width:450px;height:60px;margin-top:5px;\"><\/iframe><p>April 7, 2012<\/p>\n<p>Formula DRIFT Round 1: Streets of Long Beach Results:<br \/>\nJustin Pawlak Wins the Season Opener for the Second Consecutive Season <\/p>\n<p>Long Beach, Calif. \u2013 April 7, 2012 \u2013 Justin Pawlak in the Falken Tire Ford Mustang earns the victory at the first event of the 2012 Formula DRIFT season. Daijiro Yoshihara in the America&#8217;s Tire \/ Falken Nissan 240SX takes second place while Formula DRIFT rookie Daigo Saito, in the Achilles Tires \/ Bridges Racing Lexus SC430 rounds out the podium.<\/p>\n<p>Round 1: Streets of Long Beach kicked off the 2012 season to a sold out audience. The largest driver pool participated in the two-day event with the largest rookie field of any season with 19 rookies. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cStarting the season to a sold out crowd is a great feeling,\u201d says Jim Liaw, president and co-founder of Formula DRIFT. \u201cThe drivers stepped up and provided a highly competitive event that sets the tone for the rest of the year. We\u2019re looking forward to how the season will unfold.\u201d\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Justin Pawlak found the top of the podium for the second consecutive season in Long Beach taking the lead to start the 2012 Pro Championship season. Pawlak battled the 2011 Formula DRIFT champion, Daijiro Yoshihara, in a hard fought battle to win the event. Yoshihara defeated Formula DRIFT Asia champion and rookie Daigo Saito in the Top 4 to move on to Finals eventually taking second place. Saito defeated Matt Powers, who finished in third place in 2011, in the consolation round to find the podium in his very first Formula DRIFT Pro Championship event. Saito is now leads the new X-Mini Rookie Challenge.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIts just amazing to come back to Long Beach and put down another win 2 years in a row,\u201d said Justin Pawlak, winner of Round 1: Streets of Long Beach. \u201cThis is a great way to start the season and go for the championship.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The 2012 Pro Championship season continues for Round 2: Road to the Championship at Road Atlanta on May 11-12. Tickets are available to purchase online now. <\/p>\n<p>For more information visit: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.formuladrift.com\">http:\/\/www.formuladrift.com<\/a><br \/>\nFormula DRIFT Professional Championship 2012 Point Standings After 1 Event<br \/>\n1. Pawlak, Justin\tFalken Tire Ford Mustang\t106 Points<br \/>\n2. Yoshihara, Daijiro\tAmerica&#8217;s Tire \/ Falken Tire Nissan S13\t92 Points<br \/>\n3. Saito, Daigo\tAchilles Tire \/ Bridges Racing Lexus SC430\t78.50 Points<br \/>\n4. Powers, Matt\tNeed for Speed \/ Nitto Nissan S14\t69.50 Points<br \/>\n5. Tuerck, Ryan\tTeam Retaks Nissan 240SX\t66 Points<br \/>\n6. McQuarrie, Tyler\tMobil 1 Camaro\t64 Points<br \/>\n6. Millen, Rhys\tHankook \/ Rhys Millen Racing Hyundai Genesis Coupe\t64 Points<br \/>\n8. Forsberg, Chris\tNOS Energy Drink \/ Hankook Nissan 370Z\t63 Points<br \/>\n9. Gushi, Ken\tScion Racing Scion FR-S\t62 Points<br \/>\n10. Moen, Kenneth\tLutz Performance Nissan 350Z\t61.50 Points<br \/>\n11. Grunewald, Conrad\tHankook Tire Chevy Camaro\t57 Points<br \/>\n12. Aasbo, Fredric\tNeed for Speed \/ Papadakis Racing Scion TC\t57 Points<br \/>\n12. Kado, Ryan\tRyan Kado Racing Nissan 350Z\t56 Points<br \/>\n14. Mohan, Kyle\tNexen Tire \/ Mazdatrix Mazda RX-8\t55 Points<br \/>\n15. Bakchis, Aurimas &#8220;Odi&#8221;\tBakchis Motorsports Nissan 240SX S14\t54.25 Points<br \/>\n15. Yoshioka, Toshiki\tRS*R Nissan Silvia S15\t54.25 Points<br \/>\nRound 7: Title Fight Event Results<br \/>\n1. Pawlak, Justin\tFalken Tire Ford Mustang\tWinner<br \/>\n2. Yoshihara, Daijiro\tAmerica&#8217;s Tire \/ Falken Tire Nissan S13\tSecond Place<br \/>\n3. Saito, Daigo\tAchilles Tire \/ Bridges Racing Lexus SC430<\/p>\n<p>Stay tuned for complete coverage.<\/p>\n<iframe src=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/plugins\/like.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.elusivemedia.com%2Fv3%2F%3Fp%3D2244&amp;layout=standard&amp;show_faces=true&amp;width=450&amp;action=like&amp;colorscheme=dark\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowTransparency=\"true\" style=\"border:none; overflow:hidden; width:450px;height:60px;margin-top:5px;\"><\/iframe>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>April 7, 2012 Formula DRIFT Round 1: Streets of Long Beach Results: Justin Pawlak Wins the Season Opener for the Second Consecutive Season Long Beach, Calif. \u2013 April 7, 2012 \u2013 Justin Pawlak in the Falken Tire Ford Mustang earns the victory at the first event of the 2012 Formula DRIFT season. Daijiro Yoshihara in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,145,27],"tags":[10,338],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elusivemedia.com\/v3\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2244"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elusivemedia.com\/v3\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elusivemedia.com\/v3\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elusivemedia.com\/v3\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elusivemedia.com\/v3\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2244"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.elusivemedia.com\/v3\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2244\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2603,"href":"https:\/\/www.elusivemedia.com\/v3\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2244\/revisions\/2603"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elusivemedia.com\/v3\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elusivemedia.com\/v3\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elusivemedia.com\/v3\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}