The 2nd round of Rotax Max Malaysia Challenge and the Asia Max Challenge was successfully organised lat weekend 12&13 May 2007.

As usual it was very interestinng to watch the karters racing.

The senior category was won by an Indonesian Driver by the name of Haryanto. 2nd was Fariz Fawzi and 3rd was Imran.

The Junior was won by Kelvin Wong, 2nd Ooi Fei Hong and 3rd Bryan Ritchie.

Ikhwan started the Final Race in 3rd grid behind the 2 drivers. His lack of racing experience surfice when he panic and did few mistakes which failed him to challenge the 2 drivers. He did superbly well in Heat1, Heat2 and the pre-finals. Being a new driver nobody knew him and his potential. His present was really felt after Heat2 and the Pre-Finals.

Eventhough his finished was not impressive, but he was the talk of the town just before the finals. Other teams especially the top 2 drivers feared that he would outperform them in the Final. His smooth driving during the Pre-Final was evident. All the other pits were impressed with performance and was like expecting him to challange the 2 season drivers who were the champions before in the finals.

In qualifying he was 6th fastest. In Heat 1 he finished 5th, Heat2 he fnished 4th and the Pre-Final he finished 3rd. He stole the show that day, when he finished 3rd with a big gap between him and the 4th position whom is his team mate Hasif.

In the Final he forgot to peel of the tape at the radiator which was suppose to heat up the engine quickly to give the optimum output for the first few corners after starting. However after couple of laps the engine gets a litlle too hot and the performance degrade. He was for a couple of laps holding position 2nd. As the engine performance degarde he lost 2 more placing to 4th. At this point he was strucgling and later was pushed out by an indonesian driver few laps before the race ends. He finally concluded the race in 8th position.

When he overtook Ooi Fei Hong, all the other teams ran from their pit to watch the race thinking that Ikhwan is already showing his real potential.Unfortunately it was only for 2 laps before his engine got overheated.

He is now even more determine and many believes that he would be able to at least match the top 2 drivers, in the next couple of races.

He will be racing in India this 8th and 9th June for the 2nd AsiaMax Round. Later on the 23rd & 24th for the 3rd Malaysia Max Challenge in Sepang. 30th June & 1st July, he will be racing in Surabaya for the 3rd Asia Max Challenge.

Hope to see you guys at the track, to give him the moral suport that is much needed especially during finals.

Some videos taken for the recent race

Heat 1

Ikhwan driving kart # 76 wearing orange/white suite with red/white air brushed heltmet, started from Grid 6th. After the incident at the 1st corner he was 10th. Made his way up to 5th. His team mate Hasif driving kart # 10 wearing white helmet with red/white suite was asked by the team to stop the race to safe tyres fro Heat 2.

Heat 1 Part 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XuwRO6Hrfo

Heat 1 Part 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTIEPIstOz0

Heat 2

Ikhwan started from Grid 5th and later made it up to 3rd. Paced the race (so he said) for his team mate Hasif to gain position. Hasif took 3rd and after aggregating Heat 1 & 2, Hasif started from 9th Grid and Ikhwan started in 4th at the Pre-Final.

Heat 2 Part 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWtRmLvVt0M

Heat 2 Part 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2W8Lw0wUEM

The Pre-final. In the pre-final Ikhwan finished 3rd and started 3rd from the grid in the final.

Pre-Final Part 1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPOeS62LpXw

Pre-Final Part 2

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o4bnFq6elXM

report taken from Yazid todt

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alfa romeo,once u luv it,it will be forever!

All these while i was wondering how is our lil'bro Ikhwan was doing and from your feedback shows that he's doing great
I wish him all the best and i'll be there next time when he have a race in Sepang

Thanks bro for the updates

tq for the update...

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Boost...what is boost if u r not a heavy footer...

This young man will go far with support and encouragement. We saw his talent during his tenure in my-kart K3 races and its no surprise to me that he was soon taken in by Team Swiss Hutless Malaysia. Yazid, its payback time...

Thanks guys.Infact there were 2 other my-karters that are involved in the Rotax Max Challenge i.e. Masedenal Ali and Wan Dassila. Masedenal did well in the 1st race where he came 2nd and 7th in Kelantan.

As for Ikhwan, well, the 1st person that he wants me to inform on the Kelantan race was Naza and so I did. Not only I was surprise that he was able to be in the top 3 for the final race but the team and also the other teams were as well as it was only his 2nd race.

As Fazz said it, building mental strength is essential and that was what Ikhwan was lacking and during the final it suffice. He drove with confidence during Heat 2 & the pre-final but during the final the pressure starts to mount.

"Never mind" as Naza said it, he lost the race but gain invaluable experience. He now understand the chasis and is very determine to do well in India which is schedule to take place on the 9th & 10th of June. I was informed that there would be around 20 karters from Malaysia participating in Kolhapur, India.

The team is very confidence that Ikhwan progress will not stop here and that he will improve with every training and races.

My-kart has given Ikhwan the platform to developed his talent and I would like to thank all of you for giving him the the support and the guidance.

I will update you guys on India...

Ikhwan did very well in Kota Bharu but to me Hasif stood out even more.. he clawed his way from dead last place and still finished an impressive 6th position.. unfortunately for Masedenal Ali and I.. we suffered in heat 1 as Ede suffered an engine failure and i met with an accident just before the start... but it was an awesome experience and hope to see more my-karters join the next round in sepang...

-Dass-

Actually Hasif finished 3rd in Heat 2. But after aggregating he started 9th for the Pre-Final. He DNF heat 1 and finished 4th in the pre-final. He started in the 4th grid besides Ikhwan for the final. Hasif finished 6th.

Yes Dass, I also hope not to see only Tarmizi in Round 3 but the also some of the others. I think some of you would be able to do well.

Rainman apa macam? I think your new but old Toni Kart is perfect for the next round. Kalau tak rasa tak tau. Tapi kalau dah rasa takut tak tau berhenti...

...Excellent work by Ede in his debut in round 1....very very good indeed for a rookie and so is for Wan Dassila. What's important here is the experience of learning to protect yourself and the engine to last from qualifying till the Final. All mykarters will be cheering for you when you carry the Bolehland flag in India.....am..mak!

Interesting point here: Race in my-kart series and you will likely be frontrunners in other races.

The only downside to doing well is people are more cautious now with us.. in sepang Ede proved his potential and in Kota Bharu impressed in a circuit we've never been to.. but 2 DNF's for me made it both unsuccessful races... but as mentioned its good experience..

Whaddaya mean by "more cautious" ??

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Karting Forums

less underestimated... more referring to hairul and his garage mates..

Mikko, you were just one unlucky fella... next time remember to secure your battery conection. For everyones info. Mikko had problem with his battery connection which stalled his kart and had to finished the Pre-Final in 17th position. He was leading Heat 1 and Heat 2 and also the pre-final until the batter connection failed him.Otherwise it would probably be a more exciting Senior race as Ryan was running solo way-way infront (11 sec) of the pack.

Some of you may be also wondering why was Raja Razman not in Heat 2 & Pre-final. Raja who just came back from Mecca had diarrhoea and with the track having limited restrooms, he skipped the 2 races. In the final he started from the last grid. He had an incident with one of the Sri Lankan driver Rikaaz Khalid in turn 4 or 5 after the start where he skidded and plunged himself into a wet spot of the grass run-off area. He was the only driver that came out wet with mud on his suite from the track. To some it was humor but probably to Raja it was one of the days that was not his.

It was in the papers. He looked so upset and showing hand gestures to the other mate.

In which newspaper & section, bro? Will look for it online.

Is he referring to the one in Harian Metro last Tuesday. Quite a bit of report on the RMC in KB

Yazid,

Ikhwan is doing very well in the race, its only his 2nd time in Rotax Max and i can see he is smoother than alot of other drivers.
I have confidence that he will be in the podium in this year itself
no doubt about it.
Just need to be prepared mentally and get used to taking pressure.

I still have to prepare myseld financially so that i can join u guys next year and feel the pressure .

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Races are not won in the first corner; However, they are often lost there

I sure hope so. So does the team, having the same opinion and confidence. Let's see how he and the team does in India. All the juniors, Ikhwan, Hasif & Rahimi are going on the 6th June. The race shall be in Kolhapur India, south of Mumbai. Last I heard there'll be about 10 drivers going and majority are the Juniors.

Like I said, many of My-Karters can do well in the RMC and you are one of them. I have told Naza, if Tarmizi is not racing than he should. There are only a few drivers in the vateran class and the fastest would probably be Mr. King. Naza is not any slower.

You should not too much longer and give it a try and have a feel how is it like coz you are not slow yourself. This year would be the last year for some of the Juniors to compete in the class. They will move up to Senior next year. Drivers like, Ooi Fei Hong, Calvin Wong have reached their age limit and so does Ikhwan...

The round 3 that was schedule on 23 & 24 June , would probably be postpone and they will run the AMC round 3 in Surabaya 1st. This is to give the drivers and the organiser some break as the dates for India and RMC Round 3 is only 2 weeks apart.

Bro,
We will be rooting and hooting for our juniors, so fly the Malaysian flag and show what the bolehland racers can do. 10 drivers?...who are they?

So Desmond, next year ok?

Wicked I'm going to India as well. For a while I thought I'd be stuck in Malaysia and would've taken part in an MSS bike race instead but just got the go-ahead to be able to make my way to the races. This time the battery connections will be soldered and taped and super glued and zip-tied together.

I've been trying to get this through to my-karters as well... many in the my-kart grid can slot right into the mid-pack at their first meeting and then quickly move up the field. Get a kart and start racing!

No.. this year if possible! Otherwise you spend the first few races learning and come end of the year when you just miss out on 1st/2nd/3rd in the championship you would've wished you had done a few rounds the year before. It's a really good idea to take part in the last few races of a year and you'll be real ready then for the new season. Usually last few rounds have a few less drivers as well so it's less hectic on-track so good to learn.

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Karting Forums

Agreed Mikko and all the best to you and the others from Malaysia.

So, inlcuding Mikko, there'll be 4 drivers from Team Swiss Hutless. I heard the Juniors from RL Karting are also coming and there are, Bryan Mehta, Natasha Seatter & Calvin Wong... I don't know any of the other drivers...

There were 6 or 7 karts either packed up or being packed up for India at Swiss Hutless today. I didn't ask who all the karts were for though.

Edit: Oh crap... now it looks like nobody from Swiss Hutless will be going... some issues with the flight tickets... now I'm going to rush to get a bike licence to do the MSS bike race this weekend!

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Karting Forums

Hey Mikko, soory to hear the disappointing news, but wow MSS is a great event. My brother in law used to participate in the MSS Superbike series. Which are you in?

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Da Lobster

Edit again.... looks we will going after all.

I got my AAM Road Racing licence made on the spot (AAM was fast) today because I was expecting to race at the MSS... but I'm happy to be going to India.

My father has two bikes he has raced in on the MSS - Kawasaki KIPS 150cc... and a Kawasaki SuperSport bike... I was going to race the KIPS this weekend .

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Karting Forums

Just got back today form India after a fairly long trip with the Swiss Hutless AP team including an 8 hour bus ride and a 13 hour transit in Sri Lanka.

The track was wicked with a ~15 second flat out section followed by another fast section and then a very slow twisty bit (which had the asphalt breaking up and being patched up so times varied by over a second from session-to-session sometimes). The first corner was tricky on race starts with the drivers on the outside (2-4-6-8) often losing out a lot because there really was only one line through it and if you got pushed a bit wide you'd lose a few more places.

In the Juniors Ikhwan drove great in the Final to take 3rd out of the Asia Max registered drivers with his teammate Hasif following him in 4th after unfortunately getting dropped to 6th place in the pre-final after finishing it in 2nd (10sec penalty for overtaking under a yellow flag). Indonesian driver Rio Haryanto took the win ahead of Calvin Wong. (I hope I remember stuff right, I don't have the actual results)

My Final:
In the Seniors I was struggling with getting the kart to power out of corners all weekend and in the Final I think I set only about the 8th fastest laptime but was able to take 2nd place despite dropping to 7th on the start (started 4th). The pole position guy was perhaps a bit too eager in re-taking his lead on the first lap after losing it and was punished by getting tangled up and losing a lot of time.

At this point I was in 5th but was able to get past 2 drivers in one go when the driver in 3rd found no power out of a corner for a second. I then followed the Sri Lankan driver Rikaaz and attempted an outbreaking overtaking move into a hairpin once which didn't quite work out but after 5 more or so laps of following him I tried it again and was able to pull it off and then had to fight to keep 2nd for the rest of the final.

Ameya Walavalkar form India took 1st place in the Final while the Championship leader finished it in 4th and his pre-final win was enough to keep him well ahead in the championship. After my KB mistake I think I'm now in about joint-2nd or maybe 3rd just a point or two from second, but about 15 points from Ryan.

Getting 2nd after going into the race expecting a 4th or 5th was great, although a win would've tasted even better. In Indonesia which is just 2-and-a-bit weeks away the plan is to have the Kart performing from the get-go and give Ryan and the other Indonesians a good race at their track.

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Karting Forums

It was indeed a happy moment for Ikhwan as it was his 1st podium finish after 3 rounds of competitive racing and only couple of months of serious karting. Ikhwan started the race with no time recorded from the time trial. It was disastrous when the team had to face with a problem where the air pressure supplied to the teams participating in the event via a piping system from an air compressor wasn’t enough to inflate the tires to the rim. The mechanics could only manage to fit in Hasif tires. This happen purely because everyone was using the compressed air and the pressure drops drastically. It was only Hasif managed to go out and clocked the 7th fastest in the time trial. Ikhwan did go out but only to see the chaquered flag signaling the end of the time trial. He was really down at this point of time. So, Ikhwan started the race from the back of the pack in 14th grid together with the other team mate Rahimi in 15th.

During heat 1 of the Junior race, Ikhwan managed to make his way after a pile-up involving several drivers and him. He was lucky enough when his kart was pointing back to the track after hitting the tire wall on the right side of the track. After taking on some of the other drivers, he completed the race in 6th position while team mate Hasif finished 2nd. Hasif who started from the left side of the grids (7th) got a clear line and escape the incident and came out 3rd after the 1st turn. He had a good race with Rio Haryanto, the driver from Indonesia who took Ikhwan out from his 4th position in Kota Bharu and also Calvin Wong.

In Heat 2, Ikhwan started the race from 6th grid and Hasif started from 2nd. The nightmare happened again and this time both Hasif and Ikhwan were involved. Hasif was hit from the back and went off the track but managed to squeeze through and continue. Ikhwan was delayed as he spun out at the end of the straight towards the 50m straight after hitting the driver in front of him. Both of them finished the race in 5th and 8th position respectively.

In the pre-final, Hasif was in a better position to make a break, while Ikhwan starting from 8th was a tough one. The pre-final went on with a clean start. Hasif got a clean break and got 3rd after the 1st turn while Ikhwan being 8th had to work his way up. The pre-final was a close fight with lots of hitting and pushing especially from the Indian drivers who wants good result in their homeland. Ikhwan managed to overtake few drivers and later concluded the race in 5th position, a place where he wanted to be. It was during this race the boys tried to get the left side of the grid instead of the right. Hasif who was 2nd slowed down to allow a driver behind him to overtake him. But the driver behind him just doesn’t want to take him. He finished 2nd, however at the end of the race was penalized for overtaking under a yellow flag. A 10 sec penalty was given and he had to start the final race in 6th position while Ikhwan had to start from 4th. With the result, the pressure on the boys was really great. It can be clearly seen from their body language and their faces. To start from the right side of the grid was a nightmare as far as they are concern.

Talking about the flags, all the marshal and some pretty Russian ladies were wearing yellow. There was a confusion and distraction especially for the boys when the Russian girls were showing off their bellies. Well what do you expect from a growing up boys… There was only 1 blue flag which was held by one of the official at the start finish straight. This has created lots of problem to the drivers especially Ikhwan and Mikko when they were slowed down by a driver to be lapped. Mikko escaped couple of times but only to give away precious time after making a gap. Ikhwan had to hit out a driver in front of him during the pre-final as the driver in-front of him that to be lapped was not given a blue flag and refused to allow Ikhwan through. It was professionally done and seen as race incident. He just had to do that as Calvin Wong was breathing down his neck in the pre-final. Calvin finished 6th in the pre-final behind Ikhwan

Finally the final race was on and it was a big relief. Ikhwan managed to squeeze through to 3rd position after turn 1 without any mishaps. He was chased from behind by Calvin Wong who managed to take him after few laps. Hasif got stuck as there was an incident, and was about 4 sec behind Ikhwan and Calvin. For about 10 laps Ikhwan was following the top 3 position very closely before the engine starts to misfire on acceleration. Lap after lap he lost the sight of the 3rd position as his karts starts to under steer. He was caught up by Hasif but managed to keep his 4th overall position until the chacquered flag. During one of the incidents Ikhwan broke the rib one of the rear Free Line Magnesium rim. This rim was later replaced with a different of set that give a little too much grip. Nothing much can be done by the mechanic as there was no softer axle to assist. So the understeering problem was much anticipated by the mechanic.

Eventhough Ikhwan finished 4th, the Indian driver that was placed 3rd did not compete in the AMC. So the 3rd AMC place went to Ikhwan.

With that result, Ikhwan is unofficially 3rd in the AMC championship with 159 points behind Calvin Wong in 1st with 171 points and Rio Haryanto of Indonesia in 2nd with 161 points. Hasif is in 4th with 157 points and probably sharing the same points with Bryan Mehta.

We also saw that the Indians organizes the event not up to our standards. Paul David who was there “pening kepala” with the way the Indian runs the event. I would proudly say that “My-Kart” would have organized it far better than them.

The next round will be held in Surabaya on the 30th June and 1st July. I saw the Surabaya track layout and notice that the track is a very fast one with only a couple of Mickey Mouse corners and a very-very long 250m straight.

Ikhwan and his team mate Hasif has got a mission to accomplish i.e to be in-front of Rio at his homeland. If the new Toxic 2 chassis arrive in time, they would probably drive the new chassis in Surabaya. Rio success in India was pretty much due to Calvin Wong. Rio and Calvin are team mates. It was clearly seen that Calvin Wong lets Rio overtook him in the pre-final and he was also protecting Rio in the final to give him the maximum points.No doubt that Rio is a good driver but I think both the boys are not far off.

Well, the podium finish boosted the boys’ confidence and morale. The race in India has thought them a lot and made them tougher challengers. Let’s hope that they will do well in Indonesia. Not forgetting Mikko is also in the hunt for the AMC championship where Ryan brother of Rio Haryanto is currently leading.

way to go guys!

Well done to everyone! Great to see people associated with MyKart doing well. The trouble they go through to compete truly reflects the grassroot racing spirit.

Yazid, even fully grown adults have trouble with belly baring Russian girls.....

Good work by Mikko and our rookies. A podium finish in international meetings is reason for Malaysians to take pride of. Better things are expected in Surabaya and my-kart will be solidly behind our young guns to do better.

...amd thanks for that complement to my-kart....