Paul leads fourth leg of National Drag Race

JAKARTA (JP): Canadian Robert J. Paul, of the Star Mild team, has won the fourth leg of the eight-leg National Drag Race in Bali.

Paul, driving a BMW M3, won the 402-meter race with a time of 13.62 seconds. He was the fastest in the three other races of the drag race.

With this victory, Paul, who works as a consultant in Jakarta, leads the pole positions with a total of 64 points in the free- for-all class.

Semarang's Donnie Pangemanan won the third leg in Semarang, Central Java, but had to be satisfied with second place in his Volkswagen Beetle in Denpasar. Third place went to Ronnie Hermawan of the Star Mild team.

Paul said he had his Australian technician to thank for the victory in Denpasar.

"The race was very competitive and I had to face tough rivals such as Donnie, Pare Soelmoele and Hermawan," Paul said as quoted by Antara in Denpasar on Sunday.

Paul has 64 points in the preliminary rankings, followed by Donnie (57), Pare (35), Dolly Indra Nasution (32), Ronnie (32) and Wie Sie Rianto (27).

The National Drag Race was opened by Bali governor Ida Bagus Oka. Five thousand people braved a blazing sun to watch the race.

Sugeriawan, Agam Julian and G. Suta Suryantana came first, second and third respectively in the 1,500cc race.

The fifth leg of the drag race will be in Manado, the capital of North Sulawesi, on Sept. 14. (lnt)