[DaveT]

Morning.

Great weekend!
Any videos or photos?

Dave.

[mym]

I'll be posting the videos once it's edited. However, it'll be for the pre-finals and finals only.

[Gary80]

Can anyone post the results as I was out of the country so unable to compete.

[Jules]

Congrats to all who participated in the event and especially to our winners.

In the Seniors - James Lee ( a Malaysian ahem.... ) did enough to secure his championship, 4 points ahead of Mikko Nassi who I must say was unlucky at the end of the day...Anyhow, there's always the AMC to win!

Masters - well, congrats to Ray Kong altho he drove a conservative race and John King....well, just demolished everyone in this round. ( yes, John its your 1st win but its how u won it! ) Razman did provide some interesting moments midpack, I must say.

DD2 - erh......despite Fei Hoong's extra-ordinary pace, John King sealed it as soon as he started the final. Tried as I could, I could only hold John King at bay for 3 laps, I think...and have now sore hands and neck as a reward. Good & painful fun tho!

Juniors - this was the heartbreak of the race in my eyes....due to engine technicalities - Nabil was DQ, even tho he only won it by a small margin, and lost the championship. Rules are rules....as they all say - kudos who those who upheld this!! However, the weekend's racing was good clean for the contenders and Ryan Ritchie was the deserving champion.

Cadets/MicroMax - sorry......i was just not paying attention.

On my end, thanks again to James Leong, Mikko and the mechanic crews ( esp Joe and Jai ) for arranging and helping me thru the day and at least we solve our carburation and did my best lap in the finals.....

Thanks also to all - organisers, KKS, AAM, marshalls - who made this a pleasant & safe outing for all of us. ( including the families, supporters, sponsors and those who gave me a lunch cum picnic "kenduri" style!!!! )

There's next year! ( & time to build my fitness!!! )

[Mikko Nassi]

Thank You KKS for the quick work in getting the results uploaded - already available on MYLAPS HERE.

Congratulations to James Lee, Ryan Ritchie, Ray Kong, John King, Andhika Sasabone, and Brendan Seibl on their championships!

It was very encouraging to see the largest grid for Malaysia Max Seniors in the final round - at 16 drivers which was the same as in round 2. Overall 29 drivers took part in the Senior category over the 5 rounds - imagine having everyone show up at every round . Good to see a few new drivers as well as a few drivers take part that have been out of action for a while .

[Mikko Nassi]

Championship Standings

[james lee]

Thanks everyone for making this year's RMC a success & congratulations to all the other winners. C u guys in La Con Ca.
It has been an interesting racing year for me. Almost surreal.
After winning last year's Master, decided to take up the challenge & battle with the best in Malaysia. It was close right up till the last few laps!

Entering into Rd5 with 9 points ahead has somehow caused me to be more nervous, knowing that the championship is on the line. This has been the only race where I am joining without thinking about winning.

It was a race which I feel somewhat falls into my advantage many times, almost fated.
If I finished 4th in the prefinals, I need to finish 3rd to win the championship ( with the assumption that Mikko will be 1st - I was thinking that it will be very likely judging from his pace in Rd4 ).

As I was planning my strategy, so was Mikko & company!
Qualifying went according to his plan ( i guess ), when 3 of them are infront of me.
In Heat 1, I lost a place to Dominic but Ijaz engine seized & I came back where I started.
With Ijaz DNF, things looked better for me.

In heat 2, I found my pace ( seems like cool weather was good for my set-up ). I was able to catch up to the 3 of them. Unexpectedly, things get even better for me as Afiq's chain protector came off & he DNF too.

So, I am entering Pre-finals starting from 2nd besides Mikko & knowing that Ijaz & Afiq will have to get pass Dominic & Farriz first. But things turned around in the 1st corner where I hit Mikko's back & got bogged down while Afiq & Ijaz flew past by. Just keep on trying to chase but with about 2~3 tenths of the pace, it was just not possible to close in.
Then, out of the blue, Afiq's bumper cross bar came off & he was flagged to go in.
So, things go my way again.

With 7 points into the finals, I planned to finish 4th which will win me the championship by 1 point.
Starting from 3rd, with Ijaz 2nd & Mikko 1st was not really a comfortable place. I was thinking something will bound to happen in the 1st corner. As we approached the 1st corner, Ijaz was in front while Mikko was 2nd & opened some space on the inside. As I was charging in, Mikko closed in the line & I did an oversteer manouvering. My sideways travel hit Mikko's front & this has caused the nose cone to obstruct his throttle. After the slight bump, managed to overtake Terrence & Farriz after some chasing & stayed at 2nd. Still my pace do not allow me to get near Ijaz.

As the race went on, Mikko catched up & overtook me. Strategy changed again, Mikko was doing the slowing me down manouvre so that, Afiq & Farriz can take me too. It was not to be for him, for the numbers of laps are reducing & Farriz went into the pit while Ijaz was pulling ahead too far.

Eventually, Ijaz won the race while the actions were happening behind him.
Championship was won with strategy & luck in the last round.
It has been great to race with all the fine pool of drivers & I have learnt much more this year than all the 7 years combined in karting.
Sorry, Mikko, someone has to be the champion but I guess lady luck is more on my side.
Thanks for the Battles.

[Mikko Nassi]

It was not to be for him, for the numbers of laps are reducing & Farriz went into the pit while Ijaz was pulling ahead too far.

Just so you know how close it was - if you dropped into 5th with me in 2nd Hijaz would've helped me out a bit . That's why I was able to slow you down... with Farriz still in the race it was a long shot but worth trying .

Sorry, Mikko, someone has to be the champion but I guess lady luck is more on my side.
Thanks for the Battles.

I really enjoyed the final yesterday - first I thought it was all gone because I was losing ground with the throttle only going half-way out of a few corners and then sticking when braking for the next corner... I was able to adapt to it though and found some pace. Then it was a matter of trying everything I could think of. Once Farriz dropped out I realised that there wasn't anything left for me to do though.

Afiq's bumper in the pre-final was . I've never been so disappointed after winning a race

A championships is year-long thing though not just the final round . You managed to finish consistently and kept out of trouble in the pre-finals and finals while I had one round where it all went wrong.

I've also got to thank Hijaz and Afiq for being willing to help me out in the championship battle.

It's on to go for the Asia Max Championship for me now .

Btw - for drivers wondering if they can be competitive in Rotax with an engine that is out of the box - my engine this weekend was brand-new, out of the box without even a crank balancing. It was good enough for pole and had the pace to win.

Fei Hoong in Kota Bharu was also on an out of the box engine.

[JohnKing6]

It was great watching the seniors, especially for those of us that understood the (fair) tactics going on. What made it even better was that it was obvious that James knew exactly what was happening as well. Congratulations to both James and Mikko for the great fight this year. James - please stay in seniors next year - I want to have a proper go at RMC masters and you're too fast now

Congratulations to all the champions.

Thanks to the organisers, stewards, marshalls etc for making the racing possible. It's been a great year again although my ribs and my poor old Gillard chassis are hoping that more races are away from Elite next year

[Jules]

Btw - for drivers wondering if they can be competitive in Rotax with an engine that is out of the box - my engine this weekend was brand-new, out of the box without even a crank balancing. It was good enough for pole and had the pace to win.

This I can confirm as I was there on Friday.....

[Jules]

Btw, congrats to both Mikko and James for setting a fine finsh to the seniors championship where races are fought hard on the track, with clean driving and on equal technical basis.

I think this fine display of intense competition, right to the last race can only be healthy to the Max championship and the karting sports on the whole - as it gives newcomers ( & existing competitors ) faith that this is indeed the class to come in to for competitive karting at an affordable level. ( right up to world level too )

In addition, what pleases me most is also that you BOTH can write an account truthfully, of your weekend's & year's racing says a lot of your excellent sportsmanship - kudos!

All the best to those representing Malaysia ( & others...) in La Conca, Italy for the World Finals!

[Alex Ritchie]

Round 5 always has an end of school term feeling - some don't run because they feel they have nothing to fight for, the school kids and their parents are worried about year-end exams and others just relax and enjoy the fun - so entries are usually down significantly. The fact that there were so many entries for Round 5 this year surely is a pointer to the way Rotax is developing in Malaysia.

Thank you to KKS, AAM and Kartmore for putting together a terrific series. The Club has worked hard at improving their already impressive performances and even an old, cynical coot like me has to say this year: "Nothing to complain".

I must say bringing in the Indonesian scrutineer for Round 4 changed the atmosphere in the paddock 100%. Instantly those who were quick to say "so and so" is cheating had to swallow their words. And after the ruling in Round 5 there can be no questions left about the attitude and intention of the Club and the promoter.

Once again the Junior class was fast and furious. The battles of the top three, joined by Mitchell in the final, were almost too much for this old heart of mine. And the mid-pack battles were just as fierce and exciting. It was good to see that, except for one obvious incident in the mid-pack, the battles were hard but fair - a little rubbing maybe, but no intentional "I'm going to take him off" kind of thing. Congratulations to all the boys and the young lady who put on a fantastic show for us.

We feel sorry for Nabil. He drove excellently all year and forced anyone who wanted to beat him to be close to perfect - in set-up, engine and driver. He obviously had nothing to do with technical matters so it was a shame that his team let him down. But he will be in La Conca as the Asia Max champion, so we hope that is some consolation to him. Now if only James could find a way to bring Hafiz to the World Finals too....we'd have a pretty decent Team Malaysia!

[Alex Ritchie]

...and I will stick my neck out to say there will be more than 80 entries for Round 1 RMC 2009! How about it James, the beer's on you if we have more than 80.

[Geoff Green]

Hey, It's Ross

Just wanna say Congrats to my teamate Ryan, and all the other champs. Hard luck on Nabil, I really must say he is an excellent driver and will be back with avengence nxt yr. All the catorgories will be double in size , I reckon. Ok hope to see you guys down the track, best of luck for nxt yr. Should be fun!!

[James Leong]

I must thank everyone who had the faith in me and also for supporting the series for the whole year. Although PLUS did sponsor the series, it was not enough to cover all the expenses. Bringing the scrutineer from Indonesia was another expense but I think it was worth the effort. Judging from the number of entries for round 5, I can only hope what Alex said will come true. The beers will be on me no worry!

Raymond Gunawan the scrutineer will be at the WF as assistant scrutineer and will undergo a scrutineering test conducted by BRP. Once he passes that test he will be issued with a Scrutineering certificate and he will be the official scrutineer for all RMC in Asia.

I am now in the midst of working out the schedule for 2009 and should have it done by Hari Raya. I have to inscribe with CIK before end October. I will make sure there is at least one month between our races and AMC (if held out of Malaysia) for 2009.

I must ask all rotax engines owners to come out in force to support this series especially DD2.

James Leong