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May Featured Drivers
Matt Field : Formula Drift Pro
Aurimas Bakchis: Formula Drift Pro
Chelsea DeNofa : Formula Drift Pro
Coming from the 2016 Formula Drift Championship and placing 2nd overall in the World Championship and 5th overall in the U.S. Championship, Matt Field has progressively advanced his Formula Drift career every season. Whether it be Quarter Midget racing or Desert Truck Off-Road with his father Bruce, you can be sure that motosports racing is in Matt's DNA. Recently obtaining his college degree in business, Matt embraces his entrepreneurial adventures as business owner of Drift Cave Motorsports and as a professional athlete. Since Matt’s partnership with Falken Tire, the results have been stacking up. With his first and second Career win coming in 2016, 2017 is shaping up to be an exciting season. 2009 - Matt earned his Formula Drift license through Just Drift Series 2011 - Matt competes full time and participates in all 7 Formula Drift rounds making 5 qualifications, Top 16 in New Jersey, and finishes 12th at Long Beach 2012 - Matt makes two Great 8 finishes 2013 - Matt finished 4th overall for the season and earns his first podium, 2nd Place at Texas Motor Speedway. Matt also wins 1st Place at the Triple Crown held at Pikes Peak International Speedway 2014 - Matt finishes the season as a Top 16 driver 2015 - Matt finishes 3rd overall in Formula Drift World Championship and 9th Overall in the U.S. Championship. 2016 - Matt wins 1st Place at Motegi Racing Super Drift Challenge at Toyota Grand Prix Long Beach, 1st Place at Formula Drift Texas, and 1st Place at Formula Drift Irwindale. Finishing 5th in the FD USA Championship and 2nd in the FD World Championship.
After finishing 4th overall in the 2016 Formula Drift championship, Aurimas is eager to continue to grow as a successful driver in the sport and consistently rise to new challenges. He has been intrigued by motorsports for as long as he can remember. Moving to the US from Lithuania when he was 8 years old, Aurimas was already familiar with the racing lifestyle since he had watched his father professionally race hydroplane boats in the European championship. Aurimas raced motocross in California, experimented with his own motorcycle suspension, and then opened a motorcycle suspension company, Feal Suspension. Using his engineering and technical skills, he then started to explore various automotive hobbies from building custom four-link suspension systems to fabricating air-ride body-dropped sleds. After college he raced rally cars and expanded Feal Suspension to offer automotive suspension solutions. 2009 - After a friend brought him to a local drift track, Aurimas purchased a Nissan S13. He decided to try drifting since he found it challenging and was intrigued by the ability to express driving style. 2010 - Aurimas earned his professional license through two ProAm series during his first season of competitive drifting. 2011 - Aurimas was awarded honors as the 2011 Formula Drift “Rookie of the Year”, finishing the season as a Top 16 driver. 2012- Aurimas continued to succeed in drifting, finishing the season as a Top 16 driver. 2013 - Aurimas finished the 2013 Formula Drift season as a Top 10 drive
Since the start of his racing career, 28 year-old Chelsea DeNofa has had his hands in several forms of racing. His ability to balance an aggressive style and accurate driving techniques have set him apart from the rest in Drifting, Road Racing and Stunt Driving. Chelsea's drifting career began before he had an actual drivers license, at age 15 his Mother drove his car to the first major drift event in Miami for him. Soon after that Chelsea extended his driving abilities through schooling in Road-Racing and Stunt-Driving. Continuing along his road-racing path, he was granted an SCCA Pro racing license and started racing in several series. When his focus turned to the exploding sport of drifting, he quickly made a name for himself and was seen at drifting events all over the east coast and the majority of pro events throughout the States. DeNofa continued to hone his skills in 2007 thru 2011 by campaigning complete seasons of NOPI Drift, D1GP USA, and then proceeded to win back-to-back Xtreme Drift Championships in 2010 and 2011. Internationally, Chelsea has drifted in over 10 countries and been on the podium in Latvia and twice in Australia. Over the last 5 years Chelsea has pushed his efforts into Formula Drift. With a win at Long Beach and several top 3 qualifications, he has proved himself amongst the best in the world. In 2017 DeNofa is excited to join forces with Formula Drift Champion Vaughn Gittin JR and the RTR Drift Team. From grassroots events worldwide to the no-lift entry at Formula Drift, Chelsea's great attitude, dedication to the sport, and limit pushing style will keep him on the road to victory.
APRIL FEATURED DRIVERS
Jeff Jones : Formula Drift USA
Jeff Jones is a professional driver who competes in the Formula Drift World Championship Series. He started drifting in 2002 in his 85 Celica GTS and eventually moved on to local competitions such as Just Drift and Drift Day with a FC3S. In 2009 he received his Formula Drift Pro License. Jeff travels from coast to coast with his 800hp Nissan S14. In the 2014-2015 season, Jeff stood on 4 out of 8 podiums in Pro 2 series. 2016 saw Jeff yet again pulling double duty in Pro 1 & Pro 2 and ending his season with the 2nd place Championship in Pro 2. As a driver with the most seat time in the past 3 seasons.....Jeff is ready for battle in the 2017 season.
@jeffjonesracing
@drifthacks
Kyle Mohan : Formula Drift USA
Ken Gushi : Formula Drift USA
Kyle Mohan owns and operates Kyle Mohan Racing based in Signal Hill, California where develops and produces cutting-edge racing products and has competed in the following pro driving series and events: Competed in Formula Drift each season since 2003 ● 2011: Finished 10th in Formula Drift Pro Championship points ● 2011 & 2012: Long Beach Grand Prix Team Drift Champion ● 2009: Long Beach Grand Prix Team Drift podium Competed in the professional World Drift Series (since 2011), Redbull Drifting World Championship (2008), Redline Time Attack (2010 Drift Class Champion), Ken Block's Gymkhana Grid (2010), and served as a Global Rally Cross test driver (2012).
Kenshiro Gushi (also known as Ken Gushi) is one of the nations top competitors in the sport of drifting. Born in Okinawa, Japan, but raised in Los Angeles, his father Tsukasa Gushi taught Ken fundamentals of driving at the age of 13 with a Toyota AE86. By the time Ken turned 16 he was the youngest competitor in both the D1 Grand Prix of Japan and the Formula Drift Championship. Now entering into his tenth year as a Toyota factory backed driver and sixth year with the GReddy Racing Team, Ken remains a fan favorite and true ambassador of the sport. When not competing in either the U.S. or Asia Drift Series, Ken is often found at local drift events interacting with fans and giving ride-along in his personal cars. 2004 - Entered Formula Drift Championships at the age of 15. 2005 - FD Event Win, RD3 Houston, TX, 2011 - Winner Toyota Pro Celebrity Race, Long Beach Grand Prix, Pikes Peak International Hill Climb - 2013 - Exhibition Class Winner, PPIHC 2014 - Time Attack I Podium - 2015 2nd Overall Formula Drift Pro Championships