(Downey, CA) After a stellar performance of the Hankook Tire / JIC USA drift Porsche at Formula D, New Jersey, the team made its way down to Georgia where a weeks worth of preparation began on the Silvia that had a sub par result at Wall, NJ. Many hours of tuning and labor went into place to prepare the Silvia and Kenji Yamanaka for battle at the NOPI Drift World Championships at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

                The whole NOPI Nationals event was in a buzz as over 250,000 auto enthusiasts came to celebrate the motorsport / auto culture and the highlight of the weekend was the NOPI Drift World Championships. All the fences, stands, and any standing area that was around the track was packed full of spectators ready to watch the top NOPI Drift Teams battle it out for the double points / double payout event. Kenji Yamanka stepped into the S15 that is normally used for Formula D for this NOPI Drift World Championship so that the he could perform at the top of his game.

                Saturday was a practice day for Kenji as he took time to get familiarized with the course layout that NOPI created. Kenji commented that this track will be very suitable for the S15 so they went to work and put out a stellar performance with the Nissan S15. As Kenji was already 3^rd in Championship points, he did not need to qualify on Saturday. The stands and the surrounding track area had about a good 40,000 people watching at all times during the Saturday practice.

                Stands were again packed with more spectators as the Sunday main event came around. For the best 16 qualifier, Kenji scored a blazing 91 points giving him the 2^nd place spot for the Top 16 tandem battle. In the first round of tandem eliminations, Kenji was paired up with Erin Sanford. Kenji keeps a good line on both rounds and this allowed Kenji to move on to the great 8. In the great 8, Kenji faced fellow Formula Drift Pro Driver, Chris Cook in the Mopar Dodge Viper. This being the first time that the two have faced each other, Kenji was delighted to face up against such a skilled driver. When both drivers took off, their skills dazzled the judges and crowd as their battle was too close to call. The judges determined that the pair would have to battle again to determine a winner so both went out again. In one of the battles, Chris Cook’s Dodge Viper hit the Hankook Tire / JIC USA’s Nissan Silvia in one of the clipping points and the win was awarded to Kenji.

                Kenji moved onto the Semi-Final rounds and the excitement heated up. The stands were packed with fans on their toes waiting to see what else could happen. The Silvia was paired up with Dan Willie from Batlground Engineering. Both drivers put up a good fight against each other. Although Kenji drove valiantly, the judges awarded the win to Willie putting Kenji in position for 4^th place due to a loss with Nate Brasz. Even with a very difficult course Kenji was able to pick up the National NOPI Drift Points to put him at 2^nd place in National Points standings which is a historical moment for JIC USA. Without the help of our supporters and sponsors we could have not achieved this momentous accolade. A very special thanks goes out to our supporters: Hankook Tire USA (http://www.hankooktireusa.com), Works Bell, A SPEC, ECKO UNLTD, Exedy Clutches, Stoptech Brakes, Tomei Powered, Instyle Graphics, Cobra Seats, Vertex T&E, Seibon, APR Performance, Sparco USA, Turbo By Garrett, MSD Ignition, Blitz USA, Spec Clutches, RC Injection, and Meguiar’s.