Alvin wins Sentul Formula Asia event

Alvin wins Sentul Formula Asia event

JAKARTA (JP): Alvin Bahar won the national Formula Asia motor
race at Sentul, near Bogor, Sunday.

Alvin won the event involving two races over two days by
scoring 75 points. Fino Saksono came second with 52 points
followed by Stanley Iriawan (50), Haridharma (31) and Dendy
Rukmana (28).

The races were watched by only 500 people, including
Indonesian Motor Association chairman Bob Nasution and Tinton
Suprapto, the circuit's director.

Bob was surprised by the number of spectators, which was far
less than the drag race Oct.5 which was watched by more than
30,000 fans.

Alvin, the son of former racing great Aswin Bahar, said he was
seeking to become a professional racer.

"There are still other races, on November 22, December 21
which I want to win," Alvin said.

Only Indonesians are eligible to compete in the national
Formula Asia series.

Dendy said this was his first Formula Asia race as he spends
most of his time rallying. "I will try hard to improve my points
total in the coming two races."

Supercar

Each day there were also two 12-lap supercar races. Pre-race
favorite Robert Paul from Canada, driving for the GT Radial team
in a BMW M3 only managed to finish third.

He won the event in 1995 and came third last year.

Paul also took part in the national drag race series, which he
won. The drag race consisted of six legs; the last was held at
Sentul on Oct. 5 and was won by Wie Wie Riantor.

Paul led the race until the third lap, when he was overtaken
by Chandra Alim, in a Mazda RX-7. Chandra went on to win the
race.

Chandra won with a time of 19:24.709. Indra Saksono (Toyota)
was second in 19:36.837. Paul's time was 19:45.674 seconds.
Fourth place went to Anthony Walker of England, clocking
20:06.151.

Chandra's victory, however, only earned him fourth place over
the two days of racing. Indra came first and was followed by Paul
and Walker.

"I must admit that Chandra and Indra are good racers. The
tires I used in training on Friday were practically worn out. I
will try to do better in the next race on November 22," Paul
said.

As with the Formula Asia series, the final supercar race will
also be held at Sentul from Dec. 20 to Dec. 21.

In the Mesran Prima BSD Sprint Rally at Bumi Serpong,
Tangerang, Yaldi Indra and his navigator Herry Koentoyo captured
first place with a time of 15 minutes 10.20 seconds (not
00:07:29.60 as reported in a photo caption in yesterday's paper).

Rifat Sungkar and his navigator mother Ria were in second,
clocking 15:11.20 and Dina Gondokusumo/Irwan Soewondo third in
15:14.00.

Forty-five cars competed in the two special stages covering a
total distance of 12 kilometers. (lnt)