Home Motorsports Ford Finishes First in Class At Malaysian Rally Championship Round 4

Ford Finishes First in Class At Malaysian Rally Championship Round 4

Motorsports

by ys khong - Jul 5, 2004

Sunday, July 4th 2004 – Despite turbo problems and a collapsed suspension, Ian Khong and Ivan Ng romped home first in the Open class (P12) in the 4th round of the Malaysian Rally Championship held over two days on the 3rd and 4th July. The rally was run over the two legs and covered a total of 360 kilometres in the seaside district of Port Dickson.

Four special stages were run twice on each leg, giving a total of a shade over 90 kilometres of high speed driving opportunity to separate the men from the boys. Located about 25 kilometres from the sleepy town of Port Dickson, and about 15 kilometres from the well-known seaside picnic area of Telok Kemang, the stages are palm oil estate service roads. Some of the rally special stage roads run parallel to the main trunk road from Telok Kemang to Lubok Cina, and presented fantastic views of the rally cars in action to the hundreds of spectators, some of who drove down from Kuala Lumpur. The fans were not disappointed; the weather was fine, and an overnight downpour kep the ground slightly moist and relatively dust-free. The roads were relatively smooth compared to previous rounds, and the spectators were treated to many spectacular ‘yumps’ as the cars lifted off over the many crests and jumps on the stages.

A total of 22 cars in various categories took part in the event. The participants included Kan Chee Hong and Lim Leong Onn from Perodua MS Racing Team, Brian Green and co-driver Fleur Louise Pederson, and Dermott Malley and co-driver Patrick Malley, all the way from New Zealand, Wong Mun Kheong and Wong May Yeen representing the Brienheimmer-Quantum Wangsa Emas World Rally Team, and many of the locals. Also present was Rod Anders, a rally veteran from Great Britain, this time in the co-driver’s seat for Khairul Faizal Aziz.

Also making his debut was Ken Yap, popularly known as ‘Ken Boy’, who gave up being a rally co-driver to be a driver. He was co-driven by newcomer Bryan Mok. This pair made ‘zero to hero’ in their debut run by winning 10th overall and 2nd in their class.

Top favourite Kan Chee Hong and co-driver Bernard Chin took overall honours in his Perodua sponsored Kelisa Turbo 4WD, which ran trouble-free in the narrow gravel stages. The Ford Focus was driven by Ian Khong, and co-driven by Ivan Ng.

According to a spokesman from the Ford team, the Focus was up to 2nd overall position until the suspension broke over a particularly bad jump, and dropped down to 8th overall. After some field repairs, the duo put pedal to the metal, and clawed their way back to finish a credible 4th overall and first in their class.