Daijiro Yoshihara

During the practice sessions, my S13 felt great, but I felt the gearing didn't go well with the track, so we changed the final drive. The new gearset matched perfectly and the car felt even better. After a few solid runs, I was ready for Qualifying.

I tried to be conservative to get a decent score in my first Qualifying run, but ended up initiating a little too aggressively and ran off the line. I guess I scored some good excitement points, though, because I was standing in Third. Then I dropped to Eighth before my second run. I went smoother and cleaner after that, got 89.4 points, and ended up qualifying Fourth.

In the Top 32 round, I went up against "Mad Mike" Whiddett. He's a good driver, but it seemed like he was still having a hard time adjusting to his car and the track, so I thought I could beat him as long as I didn't make a mistake. I made sure to drive nice and clean, and moved on to the Top 16.

Next round, I raced against Pat Mordaunt. He beat me last year, so it was a great chance to get revenge. I'm usually nervous in that type of situation, but I was able to keep calm and both my runs were good. Plus, he spun at the first corner when I was leading.

I faced Darren "D-Mac" McNamara in the Top 8. His car was fast, so we set the tire pressures five psi lower and tried to gain a little more traction.

He was damn fast! The battle was close, so the judges called for an OMT. When I was leading, he was really close to me the whole run. As I was about to transition at the horseshoe, he hit me. It was pretty hard and I thought my car was broken. But my spotter Mike said it didn't seem any worse than cosmetic, so I drove back to the start line and we called a five-minute break.

Luckily, there was no frame damage and Scott and Owen got it ready to drive in time. When I was following, I knew the wing was gone, so I initiated carefully. After that, I tried to stick with his ass the whole time and made it to the final four!

I met Chris Forsberg in the Semis. He's a great driver-super-consistent. But I knew my car was faster and I could pull away coming down from the horseshoe. I focused on running as fast as possible while leading, and when I was following, it wasn't too hard to keep up.

It was myself and Vaughn Gittin, Jr. in the Finals. I couldn't really think of anything at this point, other than that I really, really wanted to win. There was no strategy. I just tried my best and got the result.

Overall, it was a victory through great teamwork. Scott and Mike set the car up exactly the way I wanted it. Scott and Owen maintained the car after each run so it was working great the whole weekend. We had good strategies. And Mike did a great job spotting. I had so much information about other drivers and my driving all weekend that I didn't have to worry or guess about those things, I could just focus on driving. All those factors went well and gave us the win. I really appreciate everyone's effort on the team.

Finally, thank you to all my sponsors for continuing to believe in me. And to all my fans. After a disappointing 2009, my fans continue to provide great support. I had so many encouraging comments on Twitter and Facebook during the event. It definitely helped. I'm so happy I could prove to everyone-and to myself-that I can still fight for a winning spot. Although this is only one win, I will try hard in the upcoming events to take more and be the 2010 champion!

Falken Tire
www.falkentire.com

Discount Tire
www.discounttire.com

KW Suspension
www.kw-suspension.com

Round 2 Results

Atlanta Podium

Overall Standings