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Pit Notes
Saturday February 26, 2005, Irwindale Speedway.
Qualifying for the 2005 Round 1 D1 Grand Prix took place today at legendary Irwindale speedway. Over 50 teams started the day's practice, many crashing out or suffering mechanical problems.
8:30 A.M. - A press Conference was held featuring Manabu Suzuki and Keiichi Tsuchiya. A few new key points were made about the 2005 season of D1GP. Many countries are enthusiastic about D1 and have petitioned to host an event for this season. Singapore and England are just a couple who were mentioned. A new DriftBox system will be introduced that will provide space age analysis of each and every drift. Angle is measured using a complex GPS system. This event at Irwindale will mark the first time that it will be tested. However, it won't be used in actual judging just yet.
The judges will lose a familiar face this season, as Manabu Orido steps down from his position and becomes a driver competing for the top prize. Also, more points will be given to drivers who place in 11 through 16. They will receive 1 point each.
9:30 A.M. Nomura, Kazama, Tanaguchi, Imamura, Miki, Kumakubo, Tanaka, Hibino, Maeda, and Matsuda put on a several lap demo run which blasts the morning air with the sound of wastegates and screeching tires.
9:45 A.M. Practice session and D1 license testing for all drivers begins.
-Tony Angelo has very fast and very smooth runs back to back in the K's Garage/Falken S13.
-Ryan Hampton does very well for his first event driving a right hand drive 180sx provided by Koguchi Power and Falken.
-Richard Parise taps the wall in his white s13 and continues a very good run.
4 drivers are granted D1 licenses by the judges.
Tony Angelo S13
Ryan Hampton RPS13
Andrew Hately Z33
Kenji Yamanaka RPS13
Tony Angelo on getting his license. - "Better late than never."
12:00 P.M. All driver practice.
-Gen Terasaki crashes his new Autobacs AP1 S2000 hard into the wall.
-Yoshinori Koguchi debuts his new HPI S15 to the U.S. soil. Constant perfect runs.
- Ernie Fixmer has mechanical problems with newly painted Mckinney 240sx.
-Yasushi Wakamatsu, member of famed drift club, Marionette, runs flawless runs every time in his 180sx.
-Tyler McQuarrie in the Jasper JZA80 Supra has mechanical engine troubles. has to be pushed off the course.
-Calvin Wan debuts his Falken VP35 to the Irwindale tarmac.
-Kazuhiro Tanaka of team orange hits wall hard. Rear corner is smashed in. GT wing breaks off.
1:20 P.M. Qualifying for Sunday's D1GP begins.
-Drift Zamurai taps rear end of the K-Style 180sx truck on the wall, but continues his run.
-Tsuyoshi Tezuka breaks off rear bumper of his BEE*R HCR32, and continues to maintain his drift the rest of the course.
-Yasushi Wakamatsu in his RPS13 180sx does repeated flawless runs. Most exciting of the day.
-Tyler McQuarrie has machine troubles again with his Jasper Supra.
-Vaugn Gitten Jr. smashes rear bumper of his S13 into the wall and leaves it behind as if it never happened.
-Andy Yen in JIC 240sx hits the main banking wall and breaks a tie rod.
-Takahasi Yuichiro in the Weld JZX100 Mark2 hits the main sweeper wall hard and destroys the front right suspension and body work.
-Quoc Ly in a stock motored 240sx has very impressive, consistant runs.
-Chris Forsberg was doing well, but made a few minor errors that kept him from being chosen. He had just finished putting a new engine in the car early this morning, due to a blown motor earlier in the week. Running on no sleep might have been the culprit.
3:00 P.M. Qualifying ends and the top 20 are announced shortly after.
1. Masao Suenaga
2. Kuniaki Takahashi
3. Masato Kawabata
4. Rhys Millen
5. Tsuyoshi Tezuka
6. Hideo Hiraoka
7. Kamiya Tsukasa
8. Noritsugu Totani
9. Hiroshi Fukuda
10. Alex Pfieffer
11. Manabu Orido
12. Kazunari Hayashida
13. Akinori Utsumi
14. Kouichi Yamashita
15. Toshiki Yoshioka
16. Takahiro Ueno
17. Michihiro Takatori
18. Masayoshi Tokita
19. Yoshinori Koguchi
20. Vaugh Gitten Jr.
Tomorrow these 20 drivers will join the top 10 seeded drivers who already have a spot for the competition.
1. Ryuji Miki
2. Nobuteru Taniguchi
3. Youichi Imamura
4. Yasuyuki Kazama
5. Ken Nomura
6. Nobushige Kumakubo
7. Ken Maeda
8. Kazuhiro Tanaka
9. Tetsuya Hibino
10. Toyohisa Matsuda
Today's events ended and the teams rushed to the pits to make changes and fix broken parts. Many of the cars were on jacks, with the pit crew working under the car as the sun went down. Tomorrow is the 2005 season opener for D1 Grand Prix. A great start to a new season will happen at one of the most brutal tracks the D1 has to offer.
Brian Harte
-Pink GodziRa-
Saturday February 26, 2005, Irwindale Speedway.
Qualifying for the 2005 Round 1 D1 Grand Prix took place today at legendary Irwindale speedway. Over 50 teams started the day's practice, many crashing out or suffering mechanical problems.
8:30 A.M. - A press Conference was held featuring Manabu Suzuki and Keiichi Tsuchiya. A few new key points were made about the 2005 season of D1GP. Many countries are enthusiastic about D1 and have petitioned to host an event for this season. Singapore and England are just a couple who were mentioned. A new DriftBox system will be introduced that will provide space age analysis of each and every drift. Angle is measured using a complex GPS system. This event at Irwindale will mark the first time that it will be tested. However, it won't be used in actual judging just yet.
The judges will lose a familiar face this season, as Manabu Orido steps down from his position and becomes a driver competing for the top prize. Also, more points will be given to drivers who place in 11 through 16. They will receive 1 point each.
9:30 A.M. Nomura, Kazama, Tanaguchi, Imamura, Miki, Kumakubo, Tanaka, Hibino, Maeda, and Matsuda put on a several lap demo run which blasts the morning air with the sound of wastegates and screeching tires.
9:45 A.M. Practice session and D1 license testing for all drivers begins.
-Tony Angelo has very fast and very smooth runs back to back in the K's Garage/Falken S13.
-Ryan Hampton does very well for his first event driving a right hand drive 180sx provided by Koguchi Power and Falken.
-Richard Parise taps the wall in his white s13 and continues a very good run.
4 drivers are granted D1 licenses by the judges.
Tony Angelo S13
Ryan Hampton RPS13
Andrew Hately Z33
Kenji Yamanaka RPS13
Tony Angelo on getting his license. - "Better late than never."
12:00 P.M. All driver practice.
-Gen Terasaki crashes his new Autobacs AP1 S2000 hard into the wall.
-Yoshinori Koguchi debuts his new HPI S15 to the U.S. soil. Constant perfect runs.
- Ernie Fixmer has mechanical problems with newly painted Mckinney 240sx.
-Yasushi Wakamatsu, member of famed drift club, Marionette, runs flawless runs every time in his 180sx.
-Tyler McQuarrie in the Jasper JZA80 Supra has mechanical engine troubles. has to be pushed off the course.
-Calvin Wan debuts his Falken VP35 to the Irwindale tarmac.
-Kazuhiro Tanaka of team orange hits wall hard. Rear corner is smashed in. GT wing breaks off.
1:20 P.M. Qualifying for Sunday's D1GP begins.
-Drift Zamurai taps rear end of the K-Style 180sx truck on the wall, but continues his run.
-Tsuyoshi Tezuka breaks off rear bumper of his BEE*R HCR32, and continues to maintain his drift the rest of the course.
-Yasushi Wakamatsu in his RPS13 180sx does repeated flawless runs. Most exciting of the day.
-Tyler McQuarrie has machine troubles again with his Jasper Supra.
-Vaugn Gitten Jr. smashes rear bumper of his S13 into the wall and leaves it behind as if it never happened.
-Andy Yen in JIC 240sx hits the main banking wall and breaks a tie rod.
-Takahasi Yuichiro in the Weld JZX100 Mark2 hits the main sweeper wall hard and destroys the front right suspension and body work.
-Quoc Ly in a stock motored 240sx has very impressive, consistant runs.
-Chris Forsberg was doing well, but made a few minor errors that kept him from being chosen. He had just finished putting a new engine in the car early this morning, due to a blown motor earlier in the week. Running on no sleep might have been the culprit.
3:00 P.M. Qualifying ends and the top 20 are announced shortly after.
1. Masao Suenaga
2. Kuniaki Takahashi
3. Masato Kawabata
4. Rhys Millen
5. Tsuyoshi Tezuka
6. Hideo Hiraoka
7. Kamiya Tsukasa
8. Noritsugu Totani
9. Hiroshi Fukuda
10. Alex Pfieffer
11. Manabu Orido
12. Kazunari Hayashida
13. Akinori Utsumi
14. Kouichi Yamashita
15. Toshiki Yoshioka
16. Takahiro Ueno
17. Michihiro Takatori
18. Masayoshi Tokita
19. Yoshinori Koguchi
20. Vaugh Gitten Jr.
Tomorrow these 20 drivers will join the top 10 seeded drivers who already have a spot for the competition.
1. Ryuji Miki
2. Nobuteru Taniguchi
3. Youichi Imamura
4. Yasuyuki Kazama
5. Ken Nomura
6. Nobushige Kumakubo
7. Ken Maeda
8. Kazuhiro Tanaka
9. Tetsuya Hibino
10. Toyohisa Matsuda
Today's events ended and the teams rushed to the pits to make changes and fix broken parts. Many of the cars were on jacks, with the pit crew working under the car as the sun went down. Tomorrow is the 2005 season opener for D1 Grand Prix. A great start to a new season will happen at one of the most brutal tracks the D1 has to offer.
Brian Harte
-Pink GodziRa-
maybe hell do better later this year.
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