Latest News

SVA Imports Ensures a Clean Sweep for Maxxis Drift Teams

Monday, October 19, 2009

Maxxis is celebrating a clean sweep of the top drift events held in the UK and Ireland after Mark ‘Buff’ Luney in the Maxxis-sponsored SVA Imports Nissan 350Z clinched the 2009 Need for Speed European Drift Championship (EDC).

Mark’s victory at Snetterton (October 11) – a high speed course and one of the toughest circuits of the six rounds contested this season – gave him the title by a 25 point margin over Phil Morrison. Pete Barber in the RX7, who also used the Maxxis MA-Z1 Drift tyre in 2009, finished third overall and Declan Hicks, another Maxxis runner in the Toyota Soarer finished eighth overall.

Morrison was heading the table going into the final round at Snetteron but spun out after making an uncharacteristic error in his Top 8 battle against Luney, who then beat James Russell by the narrowest of margins to progress to the final against Paul Conlan in a Nissan S15 2JZ. This contest was so close that the drivers had to wait for the judges’ final decision before Luney was declared EDC champion for 2009.

This superb result follows Dean Kearney’s victory in the Prodrift Super Series, a leading drift competition contested by the best Irish and UK drivers, and the success of Maxxis-sponsored Team Japspeed in the British Drift Championship. Dean took the win in the Maxxis Tyres Nissan Onevia at the final round of the Prodrift Super Series at Mondello Park, where the MA-Z1 Drift tyre performed extremely well in the wet conditions. This, coupled with two second places and a Top 16 finish during the season, enabled him to clinch the title by a single point from Alan Sinott.

In the British Drift Championship Team Japspeed driver Steve Biagioni claimed the driver’s title while team mates Danny Eyles and Shane Lynch finished in second and fifth respectively and Nathan Chivers was runner up in the Semi-Pro class.

Japspeed teams also scooped second and third in the British Drift Team Championship, a new five-round series introduced for the first time this year to enhance the competition, and Danny Eyles rounded off a superb season – in which he posted his first victory as a professional drift driver – by finishing in overall fourth in the Prodrift Super Series.

The British Open attracts entrants from a variety of drift championships and this year 59 drivers took part. The close competition culminated in a Team Japspeed shoot out, with Danny Eyles taking a narrow victory and the £1,000 first prize over team mate Shane Lynch, who received a cheque for £500.

“Mark Luney and SVA Imports worked extremely hard and their victory in the Need for Speed European Drift Championship is the icing on the cake in what has been a fantastic season of drifting for Maxxis and its sponsored teams and drivers,” says Derek McMartin, managing director of Maxxis International UK.

“We have seen some excellent demonstrations of what drifting is all about by some of Europe’s leading professionals and are delighted that Mark, Dean and the Team Japspeed boys and the MA-Z1 Drift tyre made 2009 a year to remember by proving they are a winning combination. We look forward to building on these results in 2010 and to that end have already agreed our support for Team Japspeed next season”.