Canada's Paul hopes to win Super Car series at Sentul

JAKARTA (JP): Canadian Robert J. Paul is hopeful of winning the Super Car title at the Sentul circuit, near Bogor, on Sunday.

If Paul wins, he will have won two titles this year after winning the 1997 national drag race series.

Sunday's race is the fifth and final leg of the Super Car series.

Paul, a consultant at an oil company based in Jakarta, will compete for the GT Radial team. He will drive the BMW M3 which he also used in the drag races.

Paul won the Super Car race in 1995 and came third last year.

Paul's main rivals on Sunday will be Indra Saksono, Anthony Walker, Chandra Alim, a former leading rally driver, Fauzan and Jimmy Lukita.

In the Super Car series, Paul leads the rankings list with 67 points, two points ahead of Indra. Anthony is in third with 46 points, Fauzan in fourth with 20 and Jimmy in fifth with 16 points.

The winner gets 20 points, meaning that only Indra can overtake Paul.

"I will certainly do my best to win the Super Car race. Since this is a tough race, I have to be cautious about Indra who is aching to add to his points," Paul said.

The Super Car race will be followed by Formula Asia, Group N and Volkswagen races.

In the drag race, Paul represented the Star Mild team together with Indonesian Ronny Hermawan.

The Canadian won the drag race title after collecting a total of 99 points. Ronny was in second with 54 points and Wie Wie Riantor in third with 43 points.

Other races

Racing will be held at the Senayan East parking lot on Saturday, Star Mild drag races and several motorcycle events.

The two categories will be run on a 201-meter track. The drivers will compete for total prize money of Rp 15 million (US$2,750).

Organizer Dradjat Sayoeti said that the competitions would be the last events of the year run by the Jakarta chapter of the Indonesian Motor Association and Astoria Motorsport.

"Many people are interested in taking part in the races. We have limited the numbers to 600 drivers, 400 of which are in cars and 200 on motorcycles," Sayoeti said.

The drag race will involve cars in 1500cc, 1800cc, 1800cc minivans, and 1300cc-2500cc jeep categories. The motorcycles includes mopeds and sport standard 135cc-150cc bikes.

Sayoeti said that among the drivers in the drag race were Donnie Pangemanan, Ronny Hermawan, Wie Wie, Agam Julian, Hardi Rianto, Pare Soemoele, Dandy Rukmana, Dolly Indra Nasution and Hutomo Mandala Putra. Hutomo is the son of President Soeharto.

Referring to the fact that the track will be 201 meters and not the normal 402 meters, IMI Jaya Secretary Faryd Sungkar said that this did not raise any problems.

"There is no problem about holding a 201-meter-track race and this is not against the regulation. In the United States, many 201-meter races have been held," Faryd said.

Registration is still open until tomorrow for those who are interested to take part, both in the drag races and motorcycle races. They may register at IMI Jaya on Jl. Patogokan I No. 44, Kebayoran Baru, Kodok Motor on Jl. Rajawali Raya 12A, Ikatan Karting Indonesia at Jakarta Theater, fourth floor on Jl. M.H. Thamrin and MCC Motorsport on Jl. Raya Kebayoran Lama No. 10. (lnt)