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)