Indonesia fails to win Sentul road race

JAKARTA (JP): The host team finished empty-handed in the four categories of the Asian road race in Sentul, near Bogor, on Sunday.

Thailand took three classes of the 125cc, 150cc sports production and 110cc underbone, and Japan captured the 250cc sports production. Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Japan took part in the one-day event.

Ahmad Jayadi, Indonesia's lone hope in the 125cc, could not match the speed of the mighty Thais Eakrach Panbuboa and Anan Meechaniad, who finished in first and second. Jayadi was sixth in 16 minutes 32.869 seconds.

Panbuboa clocked 16:07.635 and Meechaniad 16:09.401. Malaysian Sharun Nizam was third in 16:11.516.

Jayadi was disappointed over his defeat and blamed it on engine trouble of his Yamaha 125Z motorcycle. The new motorcycle cost Rp 120 million and was bought by the Indonesian Automotive Foundation from Japan.

"My motorcycle could not run fast. If I had used by own motorcycle (Yamaha 125RG), there was a possibility I could have won the race," Jayadi was quoted as saying on Sunday by Antara news agency.

Bob Nasution, chairman of the Indonesian Motor Association (IMI), was also disappointed by Jayadi's failure.

"If Jayadi had won, we would certainly be proud of him. We must admit that the foreign racers are better than us."

Jayadi also fell short in the 150cc sports production, chugging home in eighth place.

Thai riders swept the top three spots, with Direk Achawong (17:10.969), Sumath L. (17:17.173) and Christmas Wilairoj (17:17.241).

Thailand again showed its supremacy by winning the 110cc underbone through Suhathai Chamsub (17:06.877). Malaysian Faisal Ahmed took second place in 17:43.973 and teammate Sivenesen was third in 19:01.399.

Yoichi Nakajima of Japan broke the Thai dominance in the road race by winning the 250cc sports production. He clocked 24:57.252. Second and third places went to Malaysians Kuan Meng Heng (24:57.678) and Chow Yan Kit (24:57.743). (lnt)