Gushi Outdrifts All At Laguna Seca!

[noobster]

Ken Gushi redeems himself at seca! Sweet! Way to go Ken!

See all the info here...or read below!

http://www.laguna-seca.com/PressRele...ndex.cfm?ID=78

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Media Contact: Ed Nicholls (831) 277-9814
General Information: (831) 648-5111
Tickets: (800) 327-SECA
May 1, 2004

GUSHI TAKES $10,000 WINNER-TAKE-ALL INTERNATIONAL DRIFTING SHOOT-OUT

MONTEREY, Calif. (May 1, 2004) - Team Rotora's Ken Gushi defeated Team RMR's Rhys Millen in the finals of the $10,000 winner-take-all International Drifting Shoot-Out, part of the Road & Track magazine-sponsored U.S. Sports Car Invitational at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

Gushi, driving a Nissan 240SX, defeated Japan's Kazu Hayashida (Team R-SR Nissan Silvia S-14) and Samuell Hubinette (Lateral G Racing Dodge Viper) en route to the finals against Rhys Millen's Pontiac GTO.

Millen defeated Daijiro Yoshihara (Pacific Rim Drift Nissan Silvia PS 13) and Tanner Foust (Jasper Performance Toyota Supra Turbo) to earn his entry into the finals.

It was an all California final when Gushi, a 17-year-old high school student from San Gabriel, won the $10,000 purse - the richest in U.S. drifting history - with a series of strong runs against Huntingdon Beach's Rhys Millen.

Foust out-pointed Hubinette to take third place and the final spot on the podium.

ROUND-BY-ROUND RESULTS

Best 16
- Rhys Millen advances on a bye
- Daijiro Yoshihara defeated Tony Angelo (DG Trials Mazda RX-7)
- Ernie Fixmer (Team Rotora Nissan 180SX) advances when Rich Rutherford (Team Kengai - IGN Nissan 240SX) was unable to start
- Tanner Foust defeats Chris Forsberg (MotoRex Nissan 350Z)
- Ken Gushi advances on a bye when Ryan Hampton (Team JIC Mazdaspeed MX-5 Miata) was unable to start
- Hayashida defeats Todd HO (NorCal Drift Academy Mazda RX-7)
- Alex Pheiffer (Team R-SR Honda S2000) defeats Bryan Norris (Team JiC Nissan 350Z))
- Hubinette advances on a bye

Best 8
- Millen defeats Yoshihara
- Foust defeats Fixmer
- Gushi defeats Hayashida
- Hubinette defeats Pheiffer

Semi Finals
- Millen defeats Tanner
- Gushi defeats Hubinette

Finals
- Gushi defeats Millen

# # #

[my 1 88 u]

see, now that is the expirience that i felt robbed of in atlanta. i wish i could of been there to see ken and rhys compete at their best.

[doriftokouki]

hehe, thats funny, in the standings it says Alex defeated the JIC 350z but the people who were there said Alex hit the 350z while grip driving on the inside and the 350z was unable to drive after that...I guess there is a new technique to use in tandem just take out your opponent

[S13_Steve]

japser owns all american drifters except me cus im sexy and good

[slide]

sounds like an awesome event, congrats to Ken Gushi, congrats to all who competed, our pros are doing it now. Doesnt this mark the first time an American Driver has beaten a Japanese driver in heads up competition? Ken vs. Hayashida Congrats again Ken.
Yea dorifuto kouki thats the way to look at it...not

[nissanguy_24]

Originally posted by doriftokouki
hehe, thats funny, in the standings it says Alex defeated the JIC 350z but the people who were there said Alex hit the 350z while grip driving on the inside and the 350z was unable to drive after that...I guess there is a new technique to use in tandem just take out your opponent

Thats not True


Norris screwed up, took a long outside turn, nearly exiting the track, i think he even went into the dirt, Phiffer cut inside, with less of an angle, but still drifting, he followed a much better racing line, Norris tried to recover, His line suddenly cut right back in and his noise collided with the front fender of the drifting S2000 shattering that fender. They where both in a drift.

I dont recall seeing the S2000 race after that, i believe it ended both of there days.. and norris was pissed. But honestly, i think he was pissed because he knew it was his fault. I had been up for 40 hours straight, and i recorded the whole thing so i need to go back over it. but i think the Viper was passed on, because the S2000 was unable to compete, i dont think he drifted against him, But the S2000 wasnt drifting too well, i believe he had alot of potential, just didnt have it all squared away yet.

[ACDSupra7]

Anyone have a video of this event?

[nissanguy_24]

i have the whole thing, look for it online in a few days

[Chas]

NICE! Good job ken, dont spend it all in one place.

[ACDSupra7]

Originally posted by nissanguy_24
i have the whole thing, look for it online in a few days

Awesome, I can't believe I forgot about it

[doriftokouki]

Well, I wasnt there, what I was told is what I posted, my friend with JIC also told me Alex went and apologized and said "my bad" to Bryan after the accident.

[Brian]

Alex would not hit somebody on purpose. he is a good guy.
he is not the person to "win at all costs" or any of that garbage. anywho, congrats to Ken. i hope he uses it/ saves it wisely.

[CrazyHawaiian]

First I'd like to say congrats to Ken. Great start to your racing career! Glad to see the young guy take the win because it shows everyone that you dont need previous professional racing experience to compete at the professional level of drifting. A lot of these guys have been practicing on the streets and tracks on their own time, and its great see them at or above the level of the competition with previous professional racing experience.

Next, I gotta say that I've met Alex on many occasions, and while I dont know him personally, I agree that he is not the type of person that would intentionally cause a collision. He's a very cool, laid back kind of guy. He has mad skills and he's very humble about it IMO. He probably said 'my bad' because he's a nice guy. I know of people here locally that have been involved in stuff like this and lemme tell you the guy that apologizes is not always the guy that screwed up. My guess is that Alex was thinking about what happened at Formula D and it caused him to adjust his style a bit. After Formula D I feel that instead of tailing the person in a tandem battle (beat them with skill D1 style), the USA events seem to reward agressive driving and going for the pass. So maybe where he wouldn't have gone for a pass before, he would go for it now and it just didnt work out like he planned. Anyway, its just a guess based off what I would do if I were in these situations. I dont know what really happened because I wasnt there. I really hope this isn't where USA events are going because I dont really like it. I think a person with more skill will show it by maintaining a short distance between his front bumper and the rear bumper of his opponent regardless of angle, speed, or line. Then when its his turn in front he goes all out. Not this try and go for the pass if the person is taking a wide line for a nice show drift. I think that should get MINUS points because it disrupts the line of the person in front and in turn disrupts their drift.

Sorry for the rant

[nissanguy_24]

Nah, CH, thats not what happened. Though there was alot of passing at that event, Ken didnt "go for the pass" Norris screwed up, went to the outside, his rear hanging off the track, he was rotating reaching a spin. Alex who was behind him at highspeed could either A hit him, B stop or C cut to the inside. He did. Norris began to recover from his bad drift. He pulled it in, but his wheels bit or something when he hit got all four tires on the aslphalt again. He swung in suddenly, and Alex was there. Exiting the drift and corner.

Alex wasnt going for the pass, he just took a shorter line, that reached the apex, norris messed up and was on the outside, he did his best to get control of it, and he did, but somewhere in the process he didnt realize alex, was where he needed to be.

it all happened so fast, i doubt either one of them had a chance to think about it.

[CrazyHawaiian]

Damn that sucks. Well thanks for clearing it up for me.