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3 Singapore Championships for Drakar

Opai, Singapore Senior championPress Release

Singapore, 15 November 2010 – After seven months of continuous victories
and numerous podium finishes in both rain or shine, Drakar Racing
impressively concluded the inaugural Singapore Karting Championship (SKC)
with three overall championship titles in the Senior, Junior and Cadet
categories. At the end of a wet Sunday afternoon of the fifth and final
round held on 13 – 14 November at Kartright Speedway, Drakar Racing scored
a total of no less than five podium finishes.

SENIOR 1st – Mohammad Nasri Naufal (Opai) / 2nd – Sean Hudspeth
Overall Champion – Mohammad Nasri Naufal (Opai)

Mohammad Nasri Naufal bin Nasir (Opai) delivered as expected and won the
final race to clinch the overall Senior championship title. “It’s a truly
tremendous feeling to the win the final race of course. It hasn’t been an
entirely smooth season with post-race penalties taking wins away from me
and various on-track race incidents in previous rounds. But all’s well that
ends well and winning the championship is a bonus for me!” said Opai.

21-year-old Opai is Drakar Racing’s most experienced driver, boasting more
than a decade of kart racing experience with titles such as the 2000 KBS
AAM Malaysian Kart Prix cadet champion, 2003 Asian Karting Open
Championship Junior champion and 2006 Macau International Kart Prix (ROK
Senior) Asia champion under his belt.

Sean Hudspeth’s engine seized during the heats and he was forced to retire
on the first day. Fortunately, his kart was ready in time for the final
where he finished second after Opai. “The race was fantastic and great fun
as always. This is my second podium finish this year, which is a great
result for me. I think I’ve improved substantially from the first race,
with my lap times faster by more than a second now. I owe a big thank you
to Drakar Racing for an excellent season and I am looking forward to next
year,” said Hudspeth.

JUNIOR 3rd – Amin Noorzilan / Overall Champion – Amin Noorzilan

Amin Noorzilan knew that he had to work hard to win the championship with
only a six-point lead over the next driver. It was a tough weekend for
13-year-old Amin as he finished third in qualifying and in the heats, while
his strongest rival was dominating the field until an engine failure in the
last two rounds of the final removed him from the competition, giving Amin
overall win. “This is my first year in competitive kart racing and to be
honest, I never expected to become overall national Junior champion. I had
very strong competitors who are very fast and more experienced than me.
Nonetheless, it was a great accomplishment and I would like to thank my
mechanics, my team-mates and my family for their support,” said Amin.

CADET 1st – Jon Lee Xuanhao / 3rd – Jordan Tay
Overall Champion – Jon Lee Xuanhao

Entering the final round with 32 points ahead of team-mate Glenn Chiam, Jon
Lee qualified in pole position but unfortunately was handed a nine-second
penalty for crossing the blend line and hence was relegated to sixth. Only
managing to finish fifth in the heats, Lee made it up in the pre-final by
finishing first. That put him at the start of the grid for the final, where
he drove brilliantly on the wet track and took the chequered flag first,
winning the race as well as the overall championship.

“When I lost my pole position for qualifying, I started to get worried
because my championship strategy was compromised. I knew I had to get to
the front of the grid for a stronger chance of winning. I’m glad that all
went well in the end and I would like to thank my father for being my
mentor and mechanic, Drakar Racing Team and also my sponsors Motul and
Neuromath Pte Ltd,” said 11-year-old Lee.

Jordan Tay, the youngest driver on the Drakar Racing Team as well as in the
SKC, scored his second podium finish when he finished third in the final
round of the SKC. The nine-year-old showed tremendous improvement when he
qualified second and won both heats. He finished second in the both the
pre-final and final, but was demoted to third due to a jump start. “I’ve
had a great SKC season and I gained a lot of experience racing against
drivers older than me. I will go on to train even harder and continue to
make progress in my racing. Next year, I intend to compete in more regional
competitions to gain more exposure,” said Tay.

Glenn Chiam was the only contender able to challenge Jon Lee for the Cadet
title. Things were looking up for 11-year-old Chiam when he secured pole
position for qualifying after Lee was given the penalty. Chiam however
finished second in both heats behind Jordan Tay and unfortunately had his
engine blow up in the pre-final. “This year has been a very valuable
learning experience for me. For example, I need to be more patient and get
accustomed to the wet driving conditions instead of pushing too hard in the
beginning. Nonetheless, a special thank you to my father for being my
mechanic and to the team as well,” said Chiam.

“My partner Raymond Low and I started Drakar Racing as a platform to
develop potential young drivers to a level that matches or even surpasses
the quality in the region. Throughout this year, our drivers have dominated
the SKC and produced three overall champions in the Cadet, Junior and
Senior categories. We have also won races at the Rotax Max Challenge
Malaysia series,” said Drakar Racing’s team manager Jonathan Tay.

“We are constantly looking into improving the quality of our training and
recently we acquired the services of Mr. JP Cariño, a top driver from the
Philippines to manage our young drivers. Moving forward, our next priority
is to secure sponsorship for our drivers. I believe by the time the Changi
Motorsports Hub is ready, Drakar Racing will be able to produce Singapore
drivers who will fly the flag high in the region,” said Jonathan Tay, team
manager for Drakar Racing.

Permanent link to this article: http://www.kartingasia.com/2010/3-singapore-championships-for-drakar/