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CASPER CANUL Kicks off 2009 Comeback at Formula Drift Round 1
Casper Canul Kicks off 2009 Comeback at Formula Drift Round 1
(Long Beach, Calif.) – Formula Drift Round 1 kicked off on April 10th, 2009. On this day Casper Canul made his official return to drifting at a professional level. He did so, when he hit the streets of Long Beach, CA. Casper had taken a year off in 2008, deciding to refocus on family and his then 1 year old son. Even though having a noticeable absence from the Formula Drift series in 2008, Casper continued drifting and competing, as well holding various drift clinics in Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Singapore and Mexico.
Casper has made his comeback possible through friends, family, and sponsors, namely receiving major support and assistance from the likes of ARK Performance USA, Swing Shift Motorsports (SSM), and Frontmann Competitive Corporation. SSM extended the opportunity to help Casper rebuild his S14 and bring it back into competitive form. Frontmann Competitive Corp brought his spirit and heart back from contemplating retirement, and ARK Performance USA helped by believing in him as a driver and developing a road map for him to run all seven competitions.
Rundown of Formula Drift Round 1 was as follows.
Friday April 10th, 2009
Practice and Qualifying - During practice Casper had only three practice runs before his 3rd gear blew out in his transmission. Casper was getting up to speed in his new ARK Performance suspension coilovers when the transmission scattered consequently missing his first qualifying run. Casper’s team & Swing Shift Motorsports was able swap out a new transmission giving him one last chance at qualifying.
“I was very excited during this run and I didn’t expect this type of pressure. I wanted to lay down a conservative run and have a decent score. My team worked so hard that I made sure that I was good enough to get into the show.”
Casper’s conservative run qualified him 28th out of 43 drivers. After qualifying, Casper regained his aggressive form by practicing for over and hour, boosting his confidence for the event that would take place the following race day.
Saturday April 11th, 2009.
For tandem competition, Casper was paired with Justin Pawlak for the first tandem run. Towards the end of the run Pawlak’s car abruptly shut down causing a collision. The impact caused the oil cooler to break on Casper’s car. Casper’s car was disqualified due to mechanical problems. Casper protested the disqualification on the grounds that he was not given the proper time to make repairs on his vehicle.
The Formula D officials, judges, Track Marshal, and team managers intensely deliberated Canul meriting another run. With only minutes to spare Team ARK Performance/Swing Shift Motorsports furiously worked to have the car ready for the next anticipated run. Having reached a consensus, Formula D officials and the Track Marshall allowed Canul one more run to decide who would proceed to next round of drifting. However, Pawlak refused the final tandem run with Canul and took his win based on a technicality.
Formula D and track officials efforts to allow Canul to make another run during the competition were greatly appreciated. Canul said “the spirit of drifting is to win on the track not in the paddock.” He eagerly anticipates getting out on the track in the ATL to thrill the drifting fans down South. Team ARK Performance/SSM looks forward to an exciting season of drifting.
Casper Canul and CasperCanulRacing.com would like to thank all his supporters and is able to compete in Formula Drift with the help and support of ARK Performance USA, Swing Shift Motorsports, Apexi, Turbonetics, Frontmann Competitive Corp., MOMO, MOTUL Oil, 12-GA Jeans, SPEC Clutches, Enjuku Racing, Wicked Tuning, Cypher Signworks, Team X, PTB Performance Tube Bending, Mishimoto, Eibach Springs, Grip, South Gate Auto Body, YLM Wrecking, Garage Bomber, Everything Drift, GK Partners and Driftwell.
Casper Canul Kicks off 2009 Comeback at Formula Drift Round 1
(Long Beach, Calif.) – Formula Drift Round 1 kicked off on April 10th, 2009. On this day Casper Canul made his official return to drifting at a professional level. He did so, when he hit the streets of Long Beach, CA. Casper had taken a year off in 2008, deciding to refocus on family and his then 1 year old son. Even though having a noticeable absence from the Formula Drift series in 2008, Casper continued drifting and competing, as well holding various drift clinics in Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Singapore and Mexico.
Casper has made his comeback possible through friends, family, and sponsors, namely receiving major support and assistance from the likes of ARK Performance USA, Swing Shift Motorsports (SSM), and Frontmann Competitive Corporation. SSM extended the opportunity to help Casper rebuild his S14 and bring it back into competitive form. Frontmann Competitive Corp brought his spirit and heart back from contemplating retirement, and ARK Performance USA helped by believing in him as a driver and developing a road map for him to run all seven competitions.
Rundown of Formula Drift Round 1 was as follows.
Friday April 10th, 2009
Practice and Qualifying - During practice Casper had only three practice runs before his 3rd gear blew out in his transmission. Casper was getting up to speed in his new ARK Performance suspension coilovers when the transmission scattered consequently missing his first qualifying run. Casper’s team & Swing Shift Motorsports was able swap out a new transmission giving him one last chance at qualifying.
“I was very excited during this run and I didn’t expect this type of pressure. I wanted to lay down a conservative run and have a decent score. My team worked so hard that I made sure that I was good enough to get into the show.”
Casper’s conservative run qualified him 28th out of 43 drivers. After qualifying, Casper regained his aggressive form by practicing for over and hour, boosting his confidence for the event that would take place the following race day.
Saturday April 11th, 2009.
For tandem competition, Casper was paired with Justin Pawlak for the first tandem run. Towards the end of the run Pawlak’s car abruptly shut down causing a collision. The impact caused the oil cooler to break on Casper’s car. Casper’s car was disqualified due to mechanical problems. Casper protested the disqualification on the grounds that he was not given the proper time to make repairs on his vehicle.
The Formula D officials, judges, Track Marshal, and team managers intensely deliberated Canul meriting another run. With only minutes to spare Team ARK Performance/Swing Shift Motorsports furiously worked to have the car ready for the next anticipated run. Having reached a consensus, Formula D officials and the Track Marshall allowed Canul one more run to decide who would proceed to next round of drifting. However, Pawlak refused the final tandem run with Canul and took his win based on a technicality.
Formula D and track officials efforts to allow Canul to make another run during the competition were greatly appreciated. Canul said “the spirit of drifting is to win on the track not in the paddock.” He eagerly anticipates getting out on the track in the ATL to thrill the drifting fans down South. Team ARK Performance/SSM looks forward to an exciting season of drifting.
Casper Canul and CasperCanulRacing.com would like to thank all his supporters and is able to compete in Formula Drift with the help and support of ARK Performance USA, Swing Shift Motorsports, Apexi, Turbonetics, Frontmann Competitive Corp., MOMO, MOTUL Oil, 12-GA Jeans, SPEC Clutches, Enjuku Racing, Wicked Tuning, Cypher Signworks, Team X, PTB Performance Tube Bending, Mishimoto, Eibach Springs, Grip, South Gate Auto Body, YLM Wrecking, Garage Bomber, Everything Drift, GK Partners and Driftwell.