Canadian wins first leg of national drag race

JAKARTA (JP): Canadian Robert Paul and Ronny Hermawan of Indonesia took out first and second places in the free-for-all category in the first leg of the national drag race in Sentul, near Bogor, yesterday.

Paul, driving a Holden Torana, clocked in at 11.716 seconds while Ronny (Ford RS 200) crossed the line in 12.280 seconds. Herry Agung (Datsun Fairlady) took third place with a time of 12.510 seconds.

Donnie Pangemanan (VW Beetle), slipped to ninth place with a time of 14.097 seconds.

Paul won last year's drag race series after collecting 99 points and Ronny took out second place with 54 points. Paul also won the 1995 supercar race and came third in the 1996 drag race.

Last year Paul drove a BMW M3 but has since switched to a Holden Torana.

"I changed to Holden Torana after discovering that it was faster than the BMW M3," Paul said.

Donnie was disappointed with his ninth placing.

"In the second leg, I will try harder."

Yesterday's race was opened by Bob Nasution, chairman of the Indonesian Motor Federation (IMI). About 40,000 people turned out to watch the one-day race which involved 300 participants.

The drag race was followed by two other races in the 1000cc- 1400cc and the 1401cc-1800 categories.

In the 1000cc-1400cc category, Sugeriawan took out first place followed by Joko Nugraha in second and Alex Hunanda in third.

Boy Juliadi won the 1401cc-1800cc category with Firdianto in second and Andhika A placing third.

The national drag race consist of six legs. The other five legs will all take place in Sentul. (lnt)