GRA Round 4 – Ivan Wins by Narrow Margin to keep Championship Hopes Alive
Shah Alam 26 October 2008 – After botching up two runs, Ivan Khong went all out to get two clean runs to win the fourth round of the GRA (Grassracing Autosports) Autocross Championship, narrowing the gap between him and championship leader Andy Kow.
Ivan suffered an ignition problem during the first timed run, and had to stop during the run. In his second timed run, he hit a cone, which added a 5 second penalty to his time. In the third and fourth timed runs, he drove more carefully, clocking 1min 55.461 seconds and 1 min 55.325 seconds respectively, on the elongated track which now has a straight long enough for some of the cars to hit fourth gear. Ivan’s final run time was also the fastest time of the day (FTD).
Andy Kow also had his own set of problems for the day. Like Ivan, Andy also messed up his first two timed runs, hitting cones and incurring time penalties. Andy clocked a time of 1 min 58.146 for his third timed run, and 1 min 55.685 for his final run, losing by a deficit of 3.045 seconds to Ivan. In the overall points standings, Andy now leads Ivan by two points, with one more round to go.
“I owe this win to Andy, really! If he hadn’t so magnanimously offered his car to me to drive, he would have walked away with this championship easily after today,” said Ivan after the race. “This is a great example of the comradeship and sporting behaviour that this event has promoted to the motorsport community. As you can also see, the standard of driving has improved greatly, and all those who started with us a couple of years ago have become much faster drivers,” he added.
In the 1300 cc Class, Kenneth drove a steady race in his Wira Aeroback 1.3 to seal his championship, easily beating Alfian in his Kancil Turbo by a total of 12 seconds.
In the 1600 cc Pro-Grass Class, Ong Tek Wee in a Honda Civic EG had a relatively easy win, with a 6 second lead over second place Marith Mahat in a Wira 1.6. Third place went to Clement Yeo in a Civic, three seconds adrift.
In the 1800 cc category, Jason Foo stamped his mark of superiority and gained another 9 points, effectively sewing up the class for the championship with one more round to go. His closest rivals Julian Pang and Mitch Chong only managed third and fourth in the class, with Soo Sing Kuan slotting in between to take second place.
In the Grass Class, a section for novices, Charlene Khoo, the quiet little music teacher from Petaling Jaya, won the A class of up to 1000 cc in her Kelisa, followed by Woo Keen Pong and Kevin Kok, in two Kancils.
In the 1600 cc Grass Class, Garick Goh took honours, narrowly beating Julian Foo by less than two tenths of a second. Charlie Ling was another two tenths of a second away in third place. Looking at the very close times, it appears that this category is very hotly contested.
In the Automatic Class for Grass Class, William Lim had an easy win, beating second place winner Chu Kean Wei in a Perodua Myvi. Third place went to Tuah Damak in a Honda EG8 auto.
The next round will be the final round for the 2008 championship series, and will be held at the Sepang International Circuit end November.
