2000 HPI Challenge Malaysia
Round 2
The Round 2 of the Malaysian HPI Challenge was held on the 4th of June at the Putra World Trade Centre. As it was held in conjunction with the Big Boys Toys Exhibition, the crowd was tremendous with the race being the main attraction. Round 2 proved to be a very challenging round as the track layout was totally different from the first race. The surface was carpet with the wooden barriers height of about 3 inches. The size of the track was about 120 feet X 27 feet. As you could imagine, it was long on the straights, but extremely tight and technical on the inside, which caused quite a bit of problem with the gearing for some participants. Of course traffic and understeering made it worse for some unlucky few.......
Heat 1 started with Group A consisting of the Top 8 drivers from Round 1,with Asri, Chai Kok Chin and Nilwan leading the pack. Lap times were about 11.5 seconds. The top 3 drivers took turns to lead the pack, with not much separating them. All it takes is one nudge on the barriers and you would have lost the lead. The 3 musketeers finished with 25 laps each looking set to dominate the session....till Group B started.
Ong Chee Yong, who missed the first round of the championship, burn up the track to put in a blistering pace and crossed the line with 26 laps, which put the top 3 drivers 1 lap down. The following heats saw the top drivers pushing to the limits, with only Chai Kok Chin coming close to the 26 lap mark, missing by just an inch or two. Pressure mounted and with constant traffic problems, saw Asri, the championship leader, qualifying 5th and Nilwan in 6th....but of course, finals is the one that counts, not the qualifiers..right guys?? Out of the chaos, Chuah Yew Aik revealed his talent to qualify 3rd.Ong Chee Yong held on to take the Pole Position for the A Finals.
The First A main finals started with a bang with Ong Chee Yong leading the pack. He looked set to go all the way, until he got involved with an accident on lap 9,which ended his run with a broken universal joint. Asri went on to take the chequered flag for the 1st A Final with Chai Kok Chin another 5 seconds behind, both with 25 laps. Nilwan finished 3rd with a lap down.
For the 2nd A Final, the race looked set to be between Asri and Chai Kok Chin as they had a 1 lap advantage. Ong Chee Yong skipped the race as he was out of the running and decided to concentrate for the Open Class Event later in the afternoon. Starting from 5th on the grid, Asri with his cool driving took his time picking traffic to take the lead again. Chai Kok Chin was caught in traffic and couldn't get a clean run. Asri was certain to take the win when he came up to lap Chai, however the pressure came from someone else instead. Ooi Eng Chuan closed up on the leader and challenged for the lead. The two were side by side all the way, with Asri crossing the finish line 0.07 seconds ahead of Ooi. Phew, that was close!!!!Both finished with 26 laps as they pushed each other to the limits.
After taking into account of both the results, here are the Final Standings of the A main finals.
1st) Asri Amri
2nd) Chai Kok Chin ( Team HPC )
3rd) Nilwan
4th) Ooi Eng Chuan
5th) Chuah Yew Aik
6th) Leonard Pong
7th) Ong Teck Wooi
8th) Moh Chipto
9th) Anthony Tan
10) Ong Chee Yong
The B main first finals saw Leon who held the number 1 plate for B main, lead for most of the race, with Raymond Chan and Zahari battling for 2nd position. As the race progressed, Leon was losing his advantage and with technical problems, saw the fighting duo overtaking him. Raymond held on the cross the line ahead of Zahari.
Second final saw Raymond in the lead from the go with Leon hot on his trail seeking to avenge his defeat. Raymond, being cheered on by his team mates kept his cool to take the win 2 seconds ahead of Leon. Raymond, with his first R/C career win in the B Finals, were to have an 'expensive' celebration dinner with his team mates. No wonder they were cheering him on so loudly.....
Below are the final results of the B main.
1st) Raymond Chan ( Team HPC )
2nd) Zahari
3rd) Zaidi
4th) Leon
5th) Zuhaili
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| The organizers of the racing event | All the participant's cars |
Overall, it was an extremely enjoyable race and with the luxury of an airconditioned indoor race and with the carpet surface, the chassis was happy too.
Below are the overall championship standings after 2 rounds of racing:
| Position | Driver | Points Total |
| 1 | Asri Amri | 69 |
| 2 | Chai Kok Chin | 60 |
| 2 | Nilwan | 60 |
| 4 | Chuah Yew Aik | 53 |
| 5 | Moh Chipto | 52 |
| 6 | Ong Teck Wooi | 50 |
| 7 | Anthony Tan | 46 |
| 8 | Zahari | 40 |
| 9 | Ooi Eng Chuan | 28 |
| 10 | Anol Amri | 27 |
| 11 | Leonard Pong | 26 |
| 12 | Andy Daas | 24 |
| 13 | Ong Chee Yong | 23 |
| 14 | Ah Heng | 21 |
| 14 | Raymond Chan | 21 |
| 16 | Lee Sow Chun | 18 |
| 17 | Lim Kok Beng | 16 |
| 17 | Zaidi | 16 |
| 19 | Leon | 15 |
| 20 | Zuhaili | 14 |
The Round 3 Of the Malaysian HPI Challenge will be held on the 9th July at the Seremban Raceway. Again, the track layout will be totally different from the previous races and the drivers will be truly tested to determine the Champion of all tracks, the Champion of the HPI Challenge!!!
See you there !!!!!
Regards from HPC Malaysia.
RACE VENUES AND DATES:
Round 3 - Endah Parade Raceway
- 9th July
Round 4 - Seremban Raceway - 13 August
Subsequent races will be held on every 2nd Sunday of the month. Venues will be announce at a later date.
The HPI Challenge for the Nitro series will be held at a later date.