National racers to join Tugu Muda c'ship

JAKARTA (JP): National and local racers are to do battle in the Tugu Muda Road Racing 1997 National Championship at the Tanjung Mas circuit, Semarang.

The Indonesian Motor Association's Central Java chapter's official, Pudyastomo Gunadi, said Saturday that the first leg of the championship, which is to be staged on Jan. 5, 1997, will feature underbone, sport and superbike divisions.

Pudyastomo said that the 1,080 meters circuit has been used by the racers as preparation for the championship.

The Rp 6 million (US$2,510) championship features divisions in local 110cc standard underbone, local novice 110cc standard underbone, local novice 150cc sport standard, national novice four-stroke underbone special class, national 110cc tune-up underbone and national 150cc tune-up sport class.

Pudyastomo said there will be a new category system for road racers, which is to be applied in 1997.

Seeded A racers are only allowed to take part in the tune-up 150cc sports class. But in championships, they are allowed to join the tune-up underbone, 150cc sport, 250cc SP, 125cc GP and Superbike classes, which are scheduled to be staged at the Sentul international circuit, near Bogor, West Java.

Seeded B racers are not allowed to take part in novice special divisions, they are only allowed to join all deciding classes. Novice racers are only able to take part in the 110 cc underbone standard and four-stroke 110 cc class.

Indonesia has 24 seeded A racers and 212 seeded B racers, Pudyastomo said.

Antara reported that the championship's seeds are Ricky Setyawan (Surakarta), Deni Suyanto (Jakarta), Imanudin (Bandung), Asep Hendro (Garut), Penta Wijaya (Yogyakarta), Bima Oktavianus (Yogyakarta), I Made Feri (Bali), Momo H (Gresik), Imron Pamor (Surabaya) and Feliz JY (Jakarta). (yan)