(Downey, CA) After a strong finish at the Formula Drift Round 3 in West Virginia, the group stopped off at St. Louis, Mossourri for Nopi Drift. Kenji is ranked at #2 in overall championship points and when Hankook Tire / JIC USA team showed up, this caused a huge buzz in the pits. Kenji was also fortunant enough to talk with Nick Hogan, son of Wrestling Star Hulk Hogan, and Kenji was featured on the show “Hogan Knows Best”. Kenji has now developed a strong friendship with Nick Hogan and the episode will be aired shortly.
Kenji, once again, hopped into the S14 and wowed the judges during practice as he demonstrating the correct speed, angle, and style that they were looking for. Unlike the other drivers, Kenji clutch kicked into the first corner while the other drivers initiated by braking or pulling the hand brake. This gave Kenji the advantage as he showed what a professional driver should do.
In front of a large crowd, Kenji passed driver after driver during tandem practice. Other drivers would come into the first corner at an extremely wide racing line and Kenji took full advantage. Kenji did the similar thing for the Top 16 and Top 8 rounds which aided him to advance to the Semi Finals.
For the Semi Finals, Kenji was paired up with Andy Sapp, a well respected grass roots drifter in a BMW 3-Series. Kenji had more power and was able to pull on Andy as he lead the lap. Kenji was also able to stick on Andy throughout the whole lap, giving him extreme pressure.
In the finals, Kenji was paired up with Bill Sherman from Enjuku Racing. Bill knocked Kenji out of contention in Atlanta Formula Drift and Kenji was seeking redemption against Bill. Both took off with precise drifting and with text book drifting. The judges thought it was too close to call as they sent the pair off to a ‘one more time’ round. Again, a close match but Kenji was able to pull away from Bill when Kenji lead the tandem match. The winner was not announced right away as they judges needed more time to figure out the winner.
Both Kenji and Bill were brought up on stage and the winner was announced. Kenji took the first place win and the much needed championship points which put him on top for the 1st place position. JIC USA would like to thank our following supporters: Hankook Tire USA (http://www.hankooktireusa.com), Works Bell, A SPEC, ECKO UNLTD, Exedy Clutches, Stoptech Brakes, Enkei Wheels, Tomei Powered, Instyle Graphics, Cobra Seats, Vertex T&E, Seibon, APR Performance, Sparco USA, Turbo By Garrett, and Meguiar’s. A special thanks goes to Adrenaline Motorsports for their kind welcome and their support.      
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