Exciting racing by 47 riders from five ASEAN countries YAMAHA ASEAN CUP RACE 2007 Indonesian claims its third Cup victory with consecutive Expert/Novice classes wins

Over the two days of December 15 and 16, 2007, Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. held the 5th YAMAHA ASEAN CUP RACE at the Batu Kawan Circuit (one lap = 1,807.1 m) in Malaysia's Penang State. The total spectator attendance for the two days was approximately 30,000.
This time the "YAMAHA ASEAN CUP RACE 2007" was held with the cooperation of Hong Leong Yamaha Motor Sdn Bhd and gathered riders who had qualified in national competitions in the five ASEAN countries of Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and the host country, Malaysia. This is a race where riders compete for the title of No. 1 in the ASEAN region, racing on one-make machines kept in equal performance condition.
The YAMAHA ASEAN CUP RACE was competed with in two classes, the Novice class using the popular ASEAN market model T110 (Malaysia market name: Lagenda 110Z) and the Expert Class using Yamaha's deluxe moped model T135 (Malaysia market name: 135LC).

The finals for the two classes were held on December 16 (Sunday) under wet track conditions with a two-heat format for each class. Both classes were won by riders from Indonesia, with Sigit. PD winning the Novice class and Hokky Krisdianto the Expert class. For the Indonesia team this was their second consecutive team championship and their third in the 5-year history of the YAMAHA ASEAN CUP RACE. Once again the team showed the strength of their riders following in the footsteps of Doni Tata Pradita, who won the YAMAHA ASEAN CUP RACE and went on to make spot entries in the Malaysia round of the World GP and is continuing his challenge to become a world-class racer.

It has been decided that the "YAMAHA ASEAN CUP RACE 2008" will be held in Thailand.

For this year's event was held at the Batu Kawan circuit, a special course was laid out on the large parking lot of the Penang State sports facility "STADIUM NEGERI PULAU PINANG." This public stadium is usually used for sports like soccer, but this time it became a venue for motor sports.
The Batu Kawan circuit was set up as a course with a total length (one lap) of 1807.1 m and decorated abundantly with Yamaha flags. The circuit consisted of 14 straights (longest of 258 m) and 15 curves in a layout that made it a very technical course. In the qualifying rounds held on Saturday, the Expert class pole position was won by Hokky Krisdianto (Indonesia) on machine #57. Controlling his T135 machine with great skill through the chicane sections designed to demand skilled braking, he recorded a fastest lap time of 1 min.19.044 sec. and a fast average speed for the course of 82.3 km/h.

December 16 (Sunday) dawned with a cool and comfortable temperature but once the pre-race warm-up session began the Batu Kawan circuit the competition quickly heated up between the qualifying riders from the five ASEAN countries Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. These highly skilled riders put their machines through their paces before the final and made their last-minute adjustments.

The opening ceremony was wrapped in a mood of welcome and excitement, and you could sense the growing anticipation in the spectators turned out to watch the racing. Both classes were competed on a two-heat format with 10 laps for each heat of the Novice class and 12 laps for each heat of the Expert class. The class champions would be decided by the sum of points from the two heats, so the competition was fierce in every heat.

The racing began with the first heat of the Novice class. The leader into the first turn after the start was Chanon Chumjai of the Thai team riding machine #53. Right behind him was the pole sitter, Sigit. PD (#163) of Indonesia, and these two riders began to pull away from the rest of the pack in the first lap.
PD grabbed the lead entering the chicane at the end of the 66-m #8 straight on the second lap and went on from there to win the heat. Chumjai continued to give chase, and scored the fastest lap of the race along the way, being the only rider to run under 1 min. 21 sec. But he failed to catch PD, finishing 2nd by a slim margin of just 0.1 sec. Running steady to finish 3rd was Feizy Juniardit (#120) of Indonesia. Recovering from a slow start to finish 4th was Malaysia rider Elly Idzliaikmal Ilias (#3), carrying the pride of the home team.

The second heat was run in wet conditions as a heavy rain fell. The leader from the start was again PD of Indonesia, who proceeded to run away from the competition and open up a 4-sec. Advantage by the finish. This gave him a perfect win (both heats) and the championship title for the Novice class. Finishing 2nd with well-controlled riding in the bad conditions was Thitipong Warokorn (#10) of Thailand. Third place and the final podium position went to Malaysia's Ilias, improving one place on his first heat finish.

Heat one of the Expert class competition, held under now clear skies, turned out to be an exciting battle worthy of the challenge these riders faced to be crowned the fastest ASEAN rider. Soon after the start, the race developed into a fierce battle between the two Indonesian riders Iswandi Muis (#77) and Hokky Krisdianto (#57) and the Malaysian rider Elly Idzlianizar Ilias (#16).
None of them let up for a minute, continuing to race hard, sliding their rear wheels on the turns and doing wheelies as they accelerated out of the curves. It was Krisdianto who eventually emerged the winner after taking the lead from his Indonesian teammate, Muis, on lap nine and running away at a very fast pace, recording 1 min. 17 sec. laps.
After following close behind 2nd-place runner Muis into the final lap, Ilias found a gap to slip past him and take the checkered in 2nd place to the thrill of the local Malaysian fans, who were naturally pleased to see their flag above the winners' podium. Finishing behind Ilias in 3rd was 23-year-old Muis, who was competing in the YAMAHA ASEAN CUP RACE for the first time.

Rain fell again for the second heat of the Expert class competition, where the first heat's winner, Krisdianto took the hole shot and continued to lead the race all the way to the last lap. There he lost the lead and the race to his Indonesian teammate Florianus Roy (#92). With Krisdianto finishing 2nd, it was a 1-2 sweep for the Indonesian team. Based on the point totals for the two heats, the overall win and the Expert class title went to Krisdianto. Finishing 3rd in this heat after a valiant chase was Malaysia's Ilias.

After the racing was finished, everyone gathered at the Sunway Hotel in Butterworth for the Farewell Party. Released at last from the tension of the day's competition, the five countries' riders congratulated each other at the awards ceremony and enjoyed the dancing and comedy acts at the party. In this merry atmosphere the riders were able to build bonds as Yamaha riders.

[Novice Class]
Comment by class Champion(1st, 1st), Sigit. PD (#163, Indonesia, age 19):
"I am very happy to have won the class championship. It was a very exciting race week for me here at the YAMAHA ASEAN CUP RACE. I am also very proud as an Indonesian to have won the title. I want to build on this success and work to someday become a MotoGP rider."





Comment by 2nd place finisher(2nd, 4th), Chanon Cumjai (#53, Thailand, age 23):
"Today was a very exciting day of racing for me. It was my first time competing on a course like this Batu Kawan circuit, but it was a well organized race and I was able to enjoy the competition. I am satisfied with my results and I am grateful for all the support of the team and our mechanics. My dream is to become a MotoGP rider!"




Comment by 3rd finisher(4th, 3rd), Elly Idzliaikmal Ilias (#3, Malaysia, age 20):
"This was my first time competing in the YAMAHA ASEAN CUP RACE and I am glad that I was able to perform this well. If I get the opportunity to participate again next year, I hope to improve my racing and win the title. If I can do that, I will try to use it as a stepping stone to international competition."




[Expert Class]
Comment by class Champion(1st, 2nd), Hokky Krisdianto (#57, Indonesia, age 27):
"This year's YAMAHA ASEAN CUP RACE was very competitive from the beginning, with the riders running times that were very close to each other. This Batu Kawan circuit was a very difficult course, but thanks to the support of my teammates and our team manager, I was able to race well. There is no secret to the strength of the Indonesian team. I believe it is just the result of everyone working together as one."



Comment by 2nd finisher(2nd, 3rd), Elly Idzlianizar Ilias (#16, Malaysia, age 23):
"In the qualifying, I was determined to get myself a stop on the front row. I went for the win in both heats. In the first heat I finished 2nd but in the second heat I had brake trouble because of the rain that kept me from running like I wanted to. Being from the host country, I had raced here before, but the layout of the course was changed dramatically for the YAMAHA ASEAN CUP RACE, so there was no home-track advantage. That made the racing very tough. There are many young riders coming up here in Malaysia. I hope that competitions like this YAMAHA ASEAN CUP RACE will continue to help raising the level of motorcycle sports here in Malaysia."

Comment by 3rd finisher(8th, 1st), Florianus Roy (#92, Indonesia, age 24):
"I was hoping to win the championship title here again like last year, but every year the level of competition in the YAMAHA ASEAN CUP RACE is getting higher. With the rivals getting more skilled, it made the competition very tough and I wasn't able to repeat as champion. As last year's YAMAHA ASEAN CUP RACE champion I was given the Yamaha Scholarship and the opportunity to compete in two races of the 600cc class of the FIM Asia Road Racing Championships. It was a very stimulating experience for me and I want to use that experience and this experience in the YAMAHA ASEAN CUP RACE to compete in next year's FIM Asia Road Racing Championships and win the 110cc class!"

Comment by Indonesian Team Manager, Rizki Mario:
"I am very pleased that we were able to win the team championship for the second year in a row. I think that the reason we won was that we were able to get together the best riders from all of Indonesia. The competition was tough, but everyone did their best. I hope that YAMAHA ASEAN CUP RACE will continue to be a race that helps riders grade-up to world-class competition like Doni Tata Pradita did."



Comment by Michifumi Matoba (General manager ,Yamaha Motor Company's Sales Division 1 Motorcycle Headquarters), YAMAHA ASEAN CUP 2007 event Chairman:
"Team Indonesia showed us some outstanding racing. And I am looking forward to next year's performances by the other for teams that were unable to beat Indonesia this time. After the racing I was also glad to see the teams from the different countries interacting and building friendships in a warm atmosphere that the Yamaha brand has been able to create with this competition. I was also glad to see so many well-organized events off the race track as well, and I am sure that the total of about 30,000 spectators who came to the race enjoyed them thoroughly. In this way, the event was a great success not only as a race but also in the area of sales promotion. The YAMAHA ASEAN CUP RACE has proved to be a good stepping stone for riders who want to compete at a higher level. I'm sure that it is a good stimulus for riders from the ASEAN to see someone like Indonesia's Doni Tata Pradita moving up to world-class competition. Next year the "YAMAHA ASEAN CUP RACE 2008" will be help in Thailand. I hope it will be an even higher-level competition."

Comment by host country representative, C.H. Ng (Managing Director, Hong Leong Yamaha Motor Sdn Bhd):
"This year's "YAMAHA ASEAN CUP RACE 2007" was a great success, with about 30,000 spectators gathering over the two days of the 15th and 16th. The spectators were very excited to see the exhibition of Super Motard riding by top riders who came here all the way from Japan. The "YAMAHA Gallery" with its four YZR-M1 models on display and the concerts were also very popular with the visitors. We were especially glad to see that the spectators stayed around the venue enjoying it all day. I am grateful to everyone whose support helped to make this event a success. The racing itself was also very exciting to watch. By winning its second team championship in a row, the Indonesian team looked like it was a head above the rest, but the other four teams also showed that they have reached a higher level of competitiveness. It made us feel that someday there will really be a world champion from the ASEAN region."