[Aldi Rizky]

hello guyss..

im looking forward for next weekend race,, anybody knows how many drivers are taking parts in next weekend race? escpecially for the seniors.. look forward for ur reply and see u next week guys!!

cheers

Aldi Rizky

[Mikko Nassi]

I haven't seen the numbers yet Aldi but it looks like Seniors will be really good. A lot of last year's Juniors are now in Senior, and a few of them are pretty damn quick!

[Jules]

Good luck to all those racing!

I found the entry to the double hairpin now a bit dicey......esp if in racing conditions. Some will be taken out there, so drive safely!

GENTLEMEN ( & LADIES ) - START YOUR ENGINES!

[kymehallion]

RMC 2010 starts this this weekend, Friday lots of drivers at the track.....

[Mikko Nassi]

First corner seemed to go quite smoothly today. I think only the Juniors had a bit of a worry there? I didn't see it but heard some talk.

For me heat 1 had no overtaking action after the 1st corner (after which I was in a fairly lonely 3rd place) so can't really comment what the track is like to race on since I haven't really raced anyone on it yet.

As posted in the predictions thread here's the heat 1 results:
Senior:
1. Nabil
2. Afiq
3. Mikko
4. Farriz
5. Steven

(Japanese driver Sena was 2nd in qual but had some trouble with a bent axle)

Junior:
1. Rahul Raj Mayer
2. Daniel Woodroof
3. Yasuo Senna Iriawan
4. Andy Chang
5. Freddie Ang
6. Timothy Yeo (fastest by quite a margin in qual but underweight so started from the back in 27th)

Masters:
1. Kyle Blockley
2. Guy Ermer
3. Hilarion Anthony
4. Terence Chap
5. Low Took Loong Raymond

MicroMax:
1. Muhammad Luqman Hakim
2. Gezha Sudirman
3. Perdana Putra Minang
4. Brendan Seibl
5. James Pull

DD2:
1. Siti
2. Kelvin Choo
3. Freddy Lawan
4. Ray Kong
5. Guy Ermer

[Mikko Nassi]

Full results are on MyLaps already. Jed David got them up almost immediately after the race.

TRY THIS LINK.

I'm not sure if the direct link will work because MyLaps seems to annoyingly make a redirect and you have to select your region and language. So if the above link doesn't work just select Malaysia and then on the next page KART and you'll see the results.

[Mikko Nassi]

First pictures are in by Peter Lim. View the gallery.

[Mikko Nassi]

A selection of pictures by Anas Zakaria HERE.

[JohnKing6]

For me there were two really interesting things about the results (and both should stip up some debate because some will disagree) :

1) The mix of chassis and the equality between them. 4 different brands won in 5 categories, or 4 from 4 if you exclude DD2 - I'd rather not because that gave GP Racing the kudos of being the only double winner . But it should now be clear to everyone that the differences in the chassis brands are minimal - the driver and set-up makes the difference. Mikko finished 2nd in seniors with the "cheap" model of Intrepid.

2) In the younger age groups, experience means a lot during the races. In cadets, the "usual suspects" came to the fore during the races. The less experienced kids - like Max and James - were very quick in practice but haven't developed the racecraft yet to really fight at the front in the races. The same is true in juniors. Zarul - last year's cadet champion and winner at the Sangari race - has also been quick in practice but didn't show that well in the races. He ran top 10 in a few of the races but faded towards the end of the longer races. You could even say the same about Tim - he's stunningly fast but is probably still learning a bit to race in juniors and how to make the right decisions in races. So, two messages for parents - be patient, it probably takes 2 years to develop consistency and racecraft in cadets and at least a year in juniors and particularly in juniors, strength and fitness need to be developed as well. Juniors to seniors is easy, same karts, same speed (or a bit slower because of weight), Nabil and others before him have shown it's no problem to transition.

Before anyone jumps up and starts screaming, all the examples I've used above to illustrate the point are really good drivers and will win races, maybe even this year (especially Tim), but they are at a disadvantage against their more experienced competitors.

[ace]

Looking at the senior results between qualifying and finals, there were some quite drastic drop in performance. People like Steven Kok, Silvano Christian and Julien Fong seem like different drivers from quali to final. Steven dropped from 4th to seemingly trying to follow at the back. Same for Silvano and Julien. Julien seemed quite drastic though, nearly a second difference in timing from quali to final. Any explanations for their drop in performance for steven, silvano and julien? (for people like me who weren't there)

[Mikko Nassi]

Julien said that he likely had a crash in heat 2 that resulted in a bent frame, so that explains the drastic drop.

Silvano couldn't quite keep his pace up. In qual he was about 0.15 off the 3rd fastest time, in the final that had increased to about 4 tenths. Silvano had a DNF in heat 1 which made him drop down the starting order for the pre-final.

With the grid as close as it is it doesn't take much of a drop in relative pace to slide down the leaderboard. 1 lap in qual is also quite different to being fast consistently for 25 laps. There was only about 2 tenths difference in pace from 2nd to 11th. If you had one bad heat even if you did have the pace you would struggle to make back lost ground.

It's a matter of adapting both the driver and setup to the increased grip - it's easy to lose 2 tenths if you start bogging down too much exiting corners.

The Japanese driver Sena Fujita also had really good pace in Qualifyinig but had a few crashes in the heats. And by the looks of it he didn't have the outright pace by the final.

Because I only had my first run in my new kart in qualifying I was actually chasing the general kart setup rather than chasing the track for the heats and into the prefinal. By the pre-final i was fairly happy with the setup, so I didn't do anything drastic anymore because if I did go the wrong way with a big change I might've ended up in about 6th-9th rather than 2nd - especially after getting run off the track on lap one and dropping a few paces. That's how close it was from 2nd-11th on pace.

There's a similar trend in the Juniors and MicroMax as well, the racing is close enough that one mistake or one good setup change can rocket you up or down the standings.

Finally as John mentioned fitness also plays a role. With more grip on the track it also gets more physical to drive, and with the track now being run anti-clockwise plus the intense heat it makes it all the more difficult to maintain your pace throughout the finals.

[Jules]

Drastic drop in performance over weekend of racing? Lack in FITNESS, is on my mind now.

John,

Totally agree with your on race craft. Well ppl tell me, how fast someone is in practise.....I just yawn. Sorry if anyone is offended esp parents who pour out $$$ and expect the kids to win!

Sure, you need to be fast but consistency and MATURED race craft is what takes you to podiums......and sadly, i dun have any! LOL

[Mikko Nassi]

Julian for an old dog you're plenty quick .

There's a really nice picture-report of the race weekend up now on racerevo.com by Nazim Idris. FOLLOW THIS LINK.


It's great to have such good photographers covering the events. It really adds to the weekend being able to see such great pictures .

[Mikko Nassi]

Podium shots from Nazim Idris/RaceRevo:

[Aldi Rizky]

hey guys, last week race is very tough... 1st congrats to Nabil, Mikko, Andrew Tang to finish @ the top 3.. anyway is there any confirmation yet for Surabaya Asian Max Challenge Round 2?? look forward for ur reply..


Best Regards

Aldi Rizky