[James Leong]

As I have said, you all call the shots. After reading through all your replies, it does sort of you will let it ride with used or new mojos in place. Then perhaps we can think about Rd 3 & 4 on MRF. If this happens, I will cancel the order for the mojo tyres since I will have 300 sets in January.

James Leong

[Mike]

[quote][/quote]

Hi Jules,

There is a Yamaha race coming up next weekend. It would be nice to see you there and may prove to be an interesting experience for you. I believe that you would be running in the senior class and the racing there is intense and competitive.

From our experience of running 4 rounds of Yamaha, we have never had any problems obtaining tyres and the tyres used are Bridgestones which we find very good and inexpensive.

[Mikko Nassi]

Ideally we would like to use Round 2 as a training session for La Conca, so our preference is for (used) Mojos. F

Slightly beside the point but Ryan will be on Mojo D1 in Italy, not D2 .

[Alex Ritchie]

Yeah, my reasoning is used D2 Mojos will be closer to D1s than new MRFs.

Ryan is running in a non-championship class in the KKS series so we don't really care where he ends up in the results. We just want to race!

[James Leong]

Over the weekend at Sepang, I was asked and accused that I deliberately not stock any Mojo tyres. That someone who spoke to me even when as far as to say that AAM was in league with KKS and me that while others do not have tyres they do not get the licence to organise while we can do what we want.

I want to put this in writing once and for all that the AAM-KKS Championship has nothing to do with me. This is an event organised by the club for the drivers. To make up the grid and also at the urging of some drivers to include Rotax into the championship, I managed to get KKS to agree to this. The club stated in the SR that either MRF or Mojo can be used. Frankly, I am under NO OBLIGATIONS to bring in mojos especially for this championship as unfortunately after the last round we finished all our tyres. New orders have been placed and scheduled to arrive in January with over 300 sets. Therefore I see little reason to air freight mojo into KL for a handful of drivers. Even my own team used old tyres for the race last weekend. I will make arrangements for some small quantities of mojos for the last round in December. However, drivers must let me know that they want the tyres before hand and I will keep them for you. Otherwise, I will sell them on a first come, first serve.

There were also accusations that I deliberately opposed the idea of using Bridgestone tyres since there were stocks available. This is not my call but KKS. Then again as the official distributor of Bridgestone tyres in Malaysia, I am surprised that there are tyres available here. That only meant these tyres are brought in illegally without my consent. But that's another issue. If the Club wants to use Bridgestone tyres, it is no problem with me as I can place an order with Japan for them in container loads if you want. My special concern is always why have so many type of tyres? If drivers can save some money by using same tyres for most events, it is better for the importer in terms of stocking and ordering from overseas. Perhaps the Club should start the tender system of tyres for their championship then there will be no complaints.

James Leong

[Alex Ritchie]

Thanks to all involved for organising the race yesterday. Fields were small but the racing was excellent in all three classes. The best racing all day was in the cadet class with excitement from start to finish. Well done to all the cadet drivers.

One thing we learned from Sunday is that you actually do not need new tyres! In RMC Round 1 Ryan clocked 49.9 sec, in this KKS race, on leftover tyres from RMC Rounds 4 & 5, he clocked 50.0 with the same kart and engine. Without the cost of new tyres KKS Round 2 turned out to be the cheapest race we've run all year.

The problem is when new tyres are available we don't want to take a chance so we are "forced" to buy new ones for practice and the race...

[Jules]

Over the weekend at Sepang, I was asked and accused that I deliberately not stock any Mojo tyres. That someone who spoke to me even when as far as to say that AAM was in league with KKS and me that while others do not have tyres they do not get the licence to organise while we can do what we want.

I want to put this in writing once and for all that the AAM-KKS Championship has nothing to do with me. This is an event organised by the club for the drivers. To make up the grid and also at the urging of some drivers to include Rotax into the championship, I managed to get KKS to agree to this. The club stated in the SR that either MRF or Mojo can be used. Frankly, I am under NO OBLIGATIONS to bring in mojos especially for this championship as unfortunately after the last round we finished all our tyres. New orders have been placed and scheduled to arrive in January with over 300 sets. Therefore I see little reason to air freight mojo into KL for a handful of drivers. Even my own team used old tyres for the race last weekend. I will make arrangements for some small quantities of mojos for the last round in December. However, drivers must let me know that they want the tyres before hand and I will keep them for you. Otherwise, I will sell them on a first come, first serve.

There were also accusations that I deliberately opposed the idea of using Bridgestone tyres since there were stocks available. This is not my call but KKS. Then again as the official distributor of Bridgestone tyres in Malaysia, I am surprised that there are tyres available here. That only meant these tyres are brought in illegally without my consent. But that's another issue. If the Club wants to use Bridgestone tyres, it is no problem with me as I can place an order with Japan for them in container loads if you want. My special concern is always why have so many type of tyres? If drivers can save some money by using same tyres for most events, it is better for the importer in terms of stocking and ordering from overseas. Perhaps the Club should start the tender system of tyres for their championship then there will be no complaints.

James Leong

Mr Leong,

I waited for 24 hours to see if anyone will react to this but I guess, it will only be me.

I am saddened that such accusation has surfaced and implicated you. No doubt, it's not very hard for those who dun know you well enough - not too since you are also the distributor of Mojo tyres. BUT I would like to believe that you will NOT DO that by compromising your conscience since your personal integrity and aspiration to be in business for the long haul will at stake.

Said simply - I do believe if you want to really have a hand in the KKS SR tyre 'fix' - you will have BRAND NEW MOJOS TYRES for Round 2 and I will see you and Chan peddling your wares. Some may say I am naive, but I trust my instincts...

This however does not explain that I agree to the logic that having Mojos on the SR for ths 125 Open will help karters as I have explained, those coming from the serious RMC Category would have finished their tyres.....from their own practise sessions and that's now proven. I am aware this is the direction you/the club has tried to explain but I am sorry, it is just not logical.

Mind you - the club has run MRF for years and I do not hear any complaints on multiple tyres from different championships. ( which is a norm in Malaysian karting scene but that's a topic on its own ) I do understand the question - why different tyres, different championships but to sort that story amongst the organisers - will take an Herculean task, as I see it. My question is, why did the club decide to do this in Sept 2008 ( last SR date ), and did they consult their driver members? Answer was NO, for the latter question AFAIK.

Now, I am more disappointed that NO ONE raised the tyre topic after Sunday's Driver's Briefing ( during Rd 2 ), specifically on what tyres do we use for Rd 3 and Rd 4. Why? The club had the best chance to get a vote from their drivers at this point - minus one or two insignificant drivers like me, but did not chance upon it.

Well, folks - with that slip ( intentional or otherwise ), it simply means status quo and we are still at it. The situation for Rd 3 and 4 is possibly still no Mojo tyres for some, unless we tell Mr Leong well ahead of time. This means if someone comes last minute - he will be on MRFs ( risking himself and others ) and typical of Malaysians, we do get last minute entries like that too....

Mr Leong, I am sure the tyre issue will bounce back and forth ONTO YOU until the club confirms ONE tyre make. Looking at a different angle albeit a more critical one - the club has put you in a fix with their indecisiveness and I go on to say this : risking your fine reputation as the sole distributor of Mojo tyres as you own mail has already explained.

If I am in your shoes, I would coax the club to resolve this before Rd 3 & 4, as that would uphold your reputation. Well, if indeed we go Mojos - then there's more business for you ( pre Xmas bonus ) and more stagnant MRF tyres for club but hell, that's a decision! Your mail last Friday did say if the drivers are so unhappy about it, things can change! I would be hopeful to see that, for the betterment of our karting sports.

In parting and to be clear - I vote for MRF and I think Mr James Lee has casted the same vote. So its so far : 2 for MRF, 0 for Mojos.

Guys - I am thankful I am not associated with karting other than being a self funded driver hence please always read my replies with that thought, critical as they may sound.

Have a good day.

[Alex Ritchie]

I did not comment on James's post simply because I could not understand the criticism. If James wanted to have an advantage for the KRS team then he could easily have saved some Mojos for them or brought in some stock from Indonesia just for them. He did neither and as far as I know they ran on used Mojos. Only Silvano had new tyres and he brought them with him from Indonesia.

If James wanted to make some money he would have made sure that he had new stock to sell.

So why point fingers at him?

..................

One thing that we can learn from 2006 & 2007 is that too few races are bad, but too many races is bad too - for the competitors and race promoters. As far as I can see the costs of running a race for 20 - 30 competitors vs. a race for 80 - 90 competitors is nearly the same, but the revenues are quite different. I would guess that the Club lost money on the first two rounds this year...

The current situation is very unhealthy, especially when we expect economic conditions to deteriorate further next year. This is something that the AAM Karting Commission should tackle seriously.

..............

Back to the tyre issue - whatever the Club decides is fine with us, but the decision should be announced as early as possible.

[James Leong]

Thank you all for your feed back. I will speak to the Club and I am all for the MRF to be used. Personally, I hate bringing in small quantities of tyres as they cost a lot more than 300 sets at one time. To meet 20 sets order I will have to air freight them in and this cost a lot with the fuel surcharges at the moment.

So I am quite happy if you want to use MRF as the club still has a lot of tyres left. I believe the Club will not have any problems if you all decide to use the MRF and we could issue an ASR to that effect. However 2 drivers does not speak for all the rest. I am sure the club lost money over the last 2 rounds as entries have not been encouraging. I think for the last 2 rounds more drivers should turn up for it and I am sure we can throw in a pre-christmas makan after the race.

I will work on this tyre issue and come back to you all.

James Leong

[Alex Ritchie]

... and I am sure we can throw in a pre-christmas makan after the race.

James Leong

Kartmore giving free makan...count us in!

[DaveT]

Does anyone know if KKS Rd2 results will be posted on mylaps.com?

[Mikko Nassi]

Does anyone know if KKS Rd2 results will be posted on mylaps.com?

For most races this year they've had the results up on Monday after the race, and over the past two years I think almost always the results have been up by Thursday. I didn't pick up the results last weekend expecting the same but it looks like there's been a delay in the process this time.