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| Team Falken continued its success in both the 2012 Formula Drift Championship and at the series event at Road Atlanta. |
Falken Tire Achieves Second Three-Peat in a Row at Atlanta Formula Drift Event
Team Falken continued its success in both the 2012 Formula Drift Championship and at the series event at Road Atlanta, where Justin Pawlak, winner of the first event of the year at last month’s Long Beach street course, took the victory over Fredric Aasbo. It was Falken’s third consecutive Formula D win at the Atlanta track.
Driving the ’13 Falken Tire Ford Mustang, Pawlak has now notched the first two wins and leads the Formula D championship rankings by a commanding margin. The number of entrants competing in the drift series has grown significantly with 48 drivers fighting for a chance to compete in the top 32 tandem round. Falken teammate Vaughn Gittin Jr. qualified second; Pawlak eighth; while the remaining Falken team members sat in ninth (Daijiro Yoshihara); 21st (Falken privateer Walker Wilkerson); and 31st (Darren McNamara, who debuted his new Falken Tire 350Z).
Pawlak, Gittin Jr. and Wilkerson advanced to Top 16, where Gittin Jr. was defeated. Pawlak and Wilkerson continued to advance until Pawlak beat the privateer in the Top 4. It was Wilkerson’s first fourth-place finish in only his second season of drifting competition in the Formula D series. Round three—the “Invasion”—will be held June 1–2, at Palm Beach International Raceway.
AMA Pro Racing and Lucas Oil Announce AMA Pro Flat Track Sponsorship
AMA Pro Racing and Lucas Oil have reached an agreement naming the lubricant and motorsports company as a presenting sponsor of AMA Pro Flat Track's top division and designating MAVTV as the series broadcast partner for the 2012 season.
Starting with this month's doubleheader (Saturday, May 26) at the Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield, Illinois, 10 rounds of the newly named AMA Pro Harley-Davidson Insurance Grand National Championship presented by Motorcycle-Superstore.com and Lucas Oil will be aired on MAVTV with select programs slotted to air on both MAVTV and NBC Sports.
Whenever possible, broadcasts on MAVTV will be featured in a primetime motorsports timeslot during a weekday, while programs on NBC Sports will air on Saturday or Sunday afternoon.
The broadcasts, which will be one hour long, will include highlights of the event's qualifying heats followed by flag-to-flag coverage of the main event.
As part of the agreement, Lucas Oil and MAVTV will have access to at-track marketing assets at each AMA Pro Flat Track round including PA announcements, signage, banners and vendor space within the paddock.