Soeharto to open Marlboro Indonesian Grand Prix '97

JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto will open the Marlboro Indonesian motorcycle Grand Prix '97 at Sentul on Sept. 28.

Minister of Youth and Sport Affairs Hayono Isman said yesterday that Soeharto said he would open the Grand Prix after a meeting recently.

"Soeharto said that Indonesia should keep holding Grand Prix motorcycle races because the Sentul circuit has received recommendations for world-class motorcycle and car racing from both the world motorcycle federation (FIM) and the world auto races controlling body (FIA)," Hayono said.

The Indonesian Grand Prix '97 is the 14th leg of the 15 leg series, the final race will be on Philip Island, in Australia, on Oct. 12.

This will be the second Grand Prix in Indonesia. The first was last year.

Tickets for this year's Grand Prix will cost Rp 100,000 for the grandstands, and Rp 20,000 for entry to trackside enclosures.

The first leg of the Grand Prix series was in Shah Alam, Malaysia, on April 13. The second was in Suzuka, Japan (April 20), the third was in Spain (May 4), the fifth in Italy (May 18), the sixth in Austria (June 1), the seventh in the Netherlands (June 28), the eighth in Italy (July 6), the ninth in Germany (July 20), the 10th in Brazil (Aug. 3) and the 11th in England (Aug. 17).

The Czech Republic will host the 12th leg, on Aug. 31, and Spain the 13th, on Sept. 14.

The Indonesian Grand Prix '97 will feature three races, the 125cc, 250cc and the 500cc.

Australian world champion Michael Doohan will lead the world ranked riders.

Doohan had 270 points after the 11th leg of the series in England, on Aug. 17.

Valentino Rossi of Italy will race in the 125cc event. Max Biaggi (Italy), Ralph Waldman (Denmark) and Tetsuya Harada (Japan) will race in the 250cc event.

Doohan has won four world Grand Prix championship titles between 1994 and 1997. Doohan won last year's event at Sentul.

The racers will compete for a total cash prize of US$2.1 million (Rp 7 billion), and trophies.

Director of the Sentul circuit, Tinton Soeprapto, said the circuit was ready for Grand Prix '97.

"We have done some repairs to the circuit, particularly to fix the bumpy parts. Race tests are being conducted, and FIM will check the track soon," Tinton said.

Tinton, a former leading national car racer, said he hoped the Grand Prix would attract more spectators. "Marlboro will hand out hats to the first 10,000 people and give out free soft drinks." (lnt)