Ivan and the All Stars Team Triumph at Proton Street Shoot-Out in Johore Baru
Proton Street Shoot-Out – SS01.5 Johor Baru
Johore Baru, 17 April 2005 – Team All Stars triumphed over six other teams in the Proton Street Shoot-Out autocross event held at Danga Bay, the latest tourist attraction and ‘happening’ place in Johore Baru today. A total of 52 cars from Malaysia and Singapore slugged it out to decide who are the best drivers in four categories. The field included modified Protons, Suzuki Swift Gti, Hondas, Subaru WRXs, Toyota Celica MRS’s, Corollas and a lone Lotus Elise.
Sponsored by Proton and ably organized by Clerk-of-Course Adian Yein Khalid, the Proton Street Shoot-Out, code-named SS01.5 Johore Baru attracted thousands of spectators, many who traveled from Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, and local motoring enthusiasts from the state of Johore.
The star of the day was Ivan Khong who clocked the fastest time of 46.18 seconds over the tight course to win top honours and first in his ‘Rocco’ class. Diving his Subaru WRX in spectacular fashion, Ivan clocked his best time during the second of the three ‘timed’ runs allowed, beating his own initial best time in the first run by 0.18 seconds. His closest rival was Fiki, who clocked a best time of 48.07 seconds on his third and final run in a Subaru WRX Sti. In the overall standings, Ivan beat Hammond Lai by 0.05 seconds.
In the ‘Eat Me’ Class, (1301 to 1600 cc), WK Ho, driving a Proton Wira, trailed closely behind his rivals Galen Lai (Honda Civic 1.6 VTEC) and Soo Sing Kuan (Honda Civic 1.6) in the first two timed runs, but made a superb comeback in the third run to clock 47.09 seconds, pipping Galen Lai by 0.73 seconds to clinch the class win.
In the ‘Hung’ Class, (1800 – 2000 cc) Hammond Lai, driving a Civic VTEC 1.8, led the field, clocking a personal best of 46.23 seconds. Second in his class was Stanley Tai in a Proton Satria R3, clocking a fastest time of 47.89 seconds in his final run after languishing in the 49 second bracket earlier.
The talk of the town for the day was Ian Khong, who, despite a broken driveshaft suffered near the end of his first (and only run of the day) that forced him to coast the last few metres to the finish line, still managed to clock a time of 47.61 seconds, beating Asrul by 1.05 seconds. Both Ian and Asrul were in Suzuki Swift Gtis.
Team All Stars, made up of Ivan, Ian and WK Ho, won the coveted team award, beating Team Furtive, made up of Hammond Lai, Galen Lai, and Julian Pang by a very small margin of 1.12 seconds.