I’m looking forward to the full version, check out the sound off the Aston Martin DB9R

The 23 year old West Cork driver, the 2007 winner of the Billy Coleman Award for Young Rally Driver of the Year, won three of the six rounds in his Cremins Coaches Mitsubishi Evo 9 and finished second in two more behind three times champion Mark Higgins.

Kris Meeke and Paul Nagle won Rally San Remo in Italy in their Peugeot 207 to take the Intercontinental Rally Challenge even though one round remains next month. Their title rival, Czech ace Jan Kopecky, crashed out on the opening day leaving the Tyrone-Kerry combination in an unbeatable position.

In the United States, double Young Racing Driver of the Year Peter Dempsey from Ashbourne, Co Meath, scored his fifth win of the year at Road Atlanta to increase his lead in the Star Mazda Championship as it heads for its final round at Laguna Seca in California in two weeks.

Dempsey qualified in pole position ahead of Conor Daly, son of Ireland’s former Formula 1 driver Derek Daly, and dominated the race, with Daly finishing in second place. Britain’s Adam Christodoulou, who took third place, is the only one who could beat the Irishman to the title but sixth place for Dempsey would be enough to become champion.

Closer to home in Fermoy on Sunday Mike Deane wrapped up the Prodrift Irish Series, the results from the day
1st James Deane
2nd JP McCarthy
3rd Jonny Power
4th Dean Karnage

Congrats to all the lads ! Check out the Motorsport Forum for images from the weekend !

Dublin, Ireland. September 16th 2009:

Dean “Karnage” Kearney the 2009 Prodrift Super Series champion has confirmed a dream of his today to compete in the USA in the elite drifting series worldwide, Formula D. The final round of the Formula D championship will be staged at the Toyota Speedway or more popularly known as the  “House of Drift” in Irwindale, California on the 16h/17th October 2009. Deans ambition to compete in the USA came after witnessing the REDBULL Drifting World Championships in 2008 at the port of Long Beach and wanted to follow in the footsteps of past Prodrift Champions of 2006 Darren “DMAC” McNamara and 2007 Eric “Flat Eric” O’Sullivan.

Following a successful championship campaign in the Prodrift Super Series which is a championship consisting of the best of both Irish and UK competitors Dean managed 1 victory, 2 seconds and a Top 16 to secure the 2009 championship on home soil earlier this month. Team Karnage will be traveling to the USA in the coming weeks to join up with Intec Racing based out of Seattle, Washington and meet up with Lawrence Ojas the founder of Intec Racing and his crew. Intec Racing are supplying Team Karnage with the use of their ex-Falken Nissan S14 which Mitsuru Haruguchi drove throughout the 2007 Formula D season. Lawrence Ojas was quick to realize the potential he saw in Dean “Karnage” Kearney and seize the opportunity:

“It was great to hear from a team so hungry and determined to get out here to the USA and compete, let the truth be told I was planning on selling the S14 but suddenly these guys have re-lit a fire inside of me! I am delighted to have a Prodrift Champion contact me and drive my Intec Racing S14 and I will be doing my utmost to deliver a competitive package for these guys at Irwindale. With the car being a similar S body platform to what Dean is used to driving already an being Right Hand Drive, and finally having the same tire support package from Maxxis means that we have quite a strong overall package in both the driver and team around him to forget about making up the numbers and really challenge for honors! The sooner these guys can get out here the sooner we can start testing and preparations for Irwindale and I cant wait.” – Lawrence Ojas

Haruguchi lined up on track at Irwindale in 2007.

Here are some current pictures of the car taken only last week:

Although the car is Falken color blue/teal inside, Dean will not be using Falken Tires for this event. Team Karnage is delighted to announce that it will be continuing to use its championship winning Maxxis MAZ1 drift tire for the Irwindale final, a tire which Dean has used all season. Brandon Bentley from Maxxis tires USA was delighted to hear about and International Maxxis driver and now champion from Prodrift was coming out to drive.

“Having witnessed past Prodrift champions like DMAC successfully making the transition from Prodrift to Formula D driving for Falken, and more recently Eric O’Sullivan doing likewise for Hankook its great to see another champion like Dean Kearney joining the Formula Drift field but this time on Maxxis tires which is also currently sitting 1st and 2nd overall in the Formula D championship standings. Dean has proved the MAZ1 is an International championship winning tire and hopefully our Formula D drivers can do likewise at Irwindale next month. I will be all looking forward to meeting with Dean and his Team and working together at Irwindale.” – Brandon Bentley.

Chris Forsberg and Ryan Tuerck both Maxxis tires drivers sit 1st and 2nd of the Formula Drift championship going into the final round at Irwindale. Team Karnage is delighted to have continued support from Maxxis and will be doing all they can to make them proud at Irwindale.

Formula D is considered by most as the most elite drifting series in the world today. It showcased a 7 round championship throughout 2009 and numbers are continually growing from both sides of the fence. Exclusive TV coverage with a mainstream network TV station has been confirmed and goes out to 75 million homes which shows why most drivers worldwide want to see themselves competing with the best at FormulaD.

- Ends -

Team Karnage would like to thank all its sponsors throughout the 2009 season and is looking forward to working with Intec Racing and Maxxis USA at Irwindale. We will be looking at putting together a program to compete in Formula D in 2010 and is currently seeking sponsorship support. If you would a copy of our 2010 sponsorship and marketing plans and you are interested in joining Team Karnage and become part of Dean “Karnage” Kearney’s future within Formula D and drifting throughout 2010 please contact us on the following:

Team Karnage – www.deankearney.com

Post: 23 Brookdale Avenue, Rivervalley, Swords, Co. Dublin, Ireland.
Phone: +353 86 165446/ +353 87 1216621
email: ian@deankearney.com
fax: +353 1 8407021

Dean Karnage

Pro Seeded
1.Mike Deane
2.James Deane
3.Johnny Power

Non seeded
1.Stephen Bolger
2.Trevor Murphy
3.Dan Moorehead

Fully Gallery Here

In less than 1 week, another name will enter the Prodrift Hall of Fame, but this time as the winner of the 2009 Prodrift Super Series.

The championship race couldn’t be much tighter. In fact, not since the D-Mac days have we witnessed such a closely contested championship. The UK’s Federal smoking Bon Bon travels to the home of Irish motorsport holding a slender 4 point lead over none other than Mondello specialist Dean Kearney, who will undoubtedly enjoy the lions share of home support.

Slightly further back, but definitely in contention given his recent form of 2 consecutive victories, Team Japspeeds Danny Eyles will fancy his chances should Bon and Kearney meet a Mondello Park banana skin. Add to the mix a packed house as part of Ireland’s largest Japanese tuning show and the stage is set for a historic Prodrift finale. Ladies and gentlemen place your bets; better still get their early to claim your spot in the Mondello Park grandstand – championship glory and national pride is on the line.

Working around the feature motorsport events will be a full day of track activity which will include Drift Practice, Track Time sessions, stunts, Autotesting and demonstration runs. In addition to the Prodrift competition, drifting fans will be extremely well catered for with additional Drifting Practice sessions also scheduled and an appearance by Ireland’s top Rally driver Eugene Donnelly, who will sample drifting for only the second time as he performs some demonstration runs.

The morning of the event will be filled by Track Time sessions for clubs and individuals as they warm their cars up before putting them on display in the Mondello paddock for the remainder of the show. The stunt entertainment will be a new addition to Mondello Jap-Fest for 2009 and will be performed on two wheels and four. World famous precision driving expert Paul Swift will provide the four wheeled action as he demonstrates some of his most famous manoeuvres, which could also include some two wheel driving. Keeping to two wheels or less will be Motorcycle Freestyle rider Mattie Griffin who will be the first motorcycle act to appear at Jap-Fest. Rounding out the active part of the show will be the ever popular Autotest display will take up its usual space in the paddock and will be on the go throughout the show.

Show visitors who need a break from the non-stop track action will be able to chill out with a walk around the static displays in the Mondello paddock area. These will include Irelands top Modified Japanese Cars in the ‘Modified Motors’ area, a show and shine competition, the latest offerings from Japanese and Korean car manufacturers, trade stands, all of the competition cars taking part in the track activities and many other attractions.

Tickets for the 2009 Mondello Jap-Fest are currently on sale at reduced rates for advanced booking and will remain on sale up to Friday evening. For further information or to purchase your entrance and grandstand tickets phone +353-(0)45-860200 or visit mondellopark.ie.