Tweet
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Qualifying in top-ten puts an exclamation mark on Mohan’s season
November 20, 2008 (Signal Hill, Calif.) – With the smoky sky from the Southern California wildfires as a backdrop, Kyle Mohan wheeled his 1991 Mazda RX-7 Turbo ll to his best qualifying effort of the season in the biggest race of the season in last weekend’s Red Bull Drifting World Championship, held on Terminal Island just north of Long Beach.
Mohan went big in qualifying and thrilled the crowd that was cheering on the Long Beach native. Hanging the rear of his Mazda inches from the wall during the initiation, Mohan laid down a 93.08 point qualifying run at at 99.9 mph on his first pass. The run was good enough for the tenth qualifying spot.
“I’m not going to lie - I thought for sure I was going to scrape the wall on that initiation,” said Mohan afterwards. "I just kept my foot in it and steered it where I wanted it to go. I knew it was going to be a killer run after I initiated and could hear the crowd in the background. I couldn’t be happier with how that went.”
Mohan’s qualifying run meant he would tandem against Australian Leighton Fine in the first round of competition. Fine had struggled throughout qualifying with a steering issue, but his crew resolved it for Sunday’s practice – promising a great tandem battle between the Aussie and Mohan.
Mohan led the first tandem run and had another stellar initiation, but midway through the first corner, his car suddenly lost power and he lost drift. The problem was later traced to a charging problem, which dropped the voltage enough that the car’s computer shut off. This happened a second time later in the run, but the computer turned back on and gave the car a moment of full throttle as Mohan attempted to slow the car at the end of the course.
This caused Mohan to make contact with a concrete barrier at the track exit. Mohan was fine, and his Mazdatrix crew was able to repair the car sufficiently for him to complete his tandem run. However, the car was still wounded, and Mohan wasn't able to pressure Fine, and he bowed out of competition.
“I knew the car wasn’t 100%, but I still wanted to take a lap for my sponsors and for everyone that supported me this year,” said Mohan. “We can fix the car; I just wish Leighton and I had been able to put on a better show for the crowd.”
With his season wrapped up, Mohan will now concentrate on his plans for the 2009 Formula Drift championship. New developments about the Kyle Mohan Racing program will be announced during the winter months.
In The News
Recently, the Kyle Mohan Racing Mazda RX-7 has been featured on the Mazdaspeed website in the Tuning section. The car was also featured in an eight page spread in the second issue of Rotary Speed Magazine.
About Kyle Mohan Racing
Kyle Mohan Racing competes in the Formula Drift Pro Championship aboard a Mazda RX-7, with support from Mazda, Mazdatrix, Cooper Tires, Sparco USA, Exedy, WPC, Idemitsu, Turbonetics and XXR wheels. For more information, visit www.kylemohanracing.com.
Qualifying in top-ten puts an exclamation mark on Mohan’s season
November 20, 2008 (Signal Hill, Calif.) – With the smoky sky from the Southern California wildfires as a backdrop, Kyle Mohan wheeled his 1991 Mazda RX-7 Turbo ll to his best qualifying effort of the season in the biggest race of the season in last weekend’s Red Bull Drifting World Championship, held on Terminal Island just north of Long Beach.
Mohan went big in qualifying and thrilled the crowd that was cheering on the Long Beach native. Hanging the rear of his Mazda inches from the wall during the initiation, Mohan laid down a 93.08 point qualifying run at at 99.9 mph on his first pass. The run was good enough for the tenth qualifying spot.
“I’m not going to lie - I thought for sure I was going to scrape the wall on that initiation,” said Mohan afterwards. "I just kept my foot in it and steered it where I wanted it to go. I knew it was going to be a killer run after I initiated and could hear the crowd in the background. I couldn’t be happier with how that went.”
Mohan’s qualifying run meant he would tandem against Australian Leighton Fine in the first round of competition. Fine had struggled throughout qualifying with a steering issue, but his crew resolved it for Sunday’s practice – promising a great tandem battle between the Aussie and Mohan.
Mohan led the first tandem run and had another stellar initiation, but midway through the first corner, his car suddenly lost power and he lost drift. The problem was later traced to a charging problem, which dropped the voltage enough that the car’s computer shut off. This happened a second time later in the run, but the computer turned back on and gave the car a moment of full throttle as Mohan attempted to slow the car at the end of the course.
This caused Mohan to make contact with a concrete barrier at the track exit. Mohan was fine, and his Mazdatrix crew was able to repair the car sufficiently for him to complete his tandem run. However, the car was still wounded, and Mohan wasn't able to pressure Fine, and he bowed out of competition.
“I knew the car wasn’t 100%, but I still wanted to take a lap for my sponsors and for everyone that supported me this year,” said Mohan. “We can fix the car; I just wish Leighton and I had been able to put on a better show for the crowd.”
With his season wrapped up, Mohan will now concentrate on his plans for the 2009 Formula Drift championship. New developments about the Kyle Mohan Racing program will be announced during the winter months.
In The News
Recently, the Kyle Mohan Racing Mazda RX-7 has been featured on the Mazdaspeed website in the Tuning section. The car was also featured in an eight page spread in the second issue of Rotary Speed Magazine.
About Kyle Mohan Racing
Kyle Mohan Racing competes in the Formula Drift Pro Championship aboard a Mazda RX-7, with support from Mazda, Mazdatrix, Cooper Tires, Sparco USA, Exedy, WPC, Idemitsu, Turbonetics and XXR wheels. For more information, visit www.kylemohanracing.com.
Comment