2008 FIM Asia Supercross Indonesian Round 3, Checkered Flag Report

August 18th, 2008

Thai Trio Take Top Three places at Jember Stadium Supercross

With an Entry list of 31 Riders from 9 different Countries and just 20 gates allocated for the challenging Jember Supercross purpose built track inside the Notohadinegoro Football Stadium, it was obvious there would be 11 disappointed Riders not lining up for the single point scoring 20 lap final on Sunday 10th August.

Round 3 of the FIM UAM Asian Championship combined with Round 3 of the 2008 Pertamina International Indonesia Supercross Championship for this one Round and the resultant field included the heavily supported top Thai Riders Thanarat Penjan and Watana Kanlaya, a lone Australian privateer – Lewis Woods, as well as Asian regular Riders and a host of Indonesian Riders.

Saturday 9th Aug
Running to Supercross format with all practices transponder timed, the field was divided into two groups with Riders
first riding the track at 12.50 with a 15 min free practice. Combined group times -
Woods 1:12.142
Thanarat 1:15.512
Trakarn Thanthong 1:1.17.597

15 min. Official practice on the 800 Mtr course at 14.50. Resultant times –
Woods 1:10.707
Thanarat 1:12.338
Watana 1:14.326

15 min QTT at 1600
Thanarat 1:08.915
Woods 1:10.900
Trakarn 1:11.507

Day one was eventful as the massive bridge jump over two widths of the track was immediately followed by a RH berm right in front of the main Grandstand. Quite a few Riders took some time to dial this one in, with a few including Iran’s Mojtaba Kadimzadeh finishing up sore and sorry but keen for more. Keen to hold onto his Championship lead, Mongolia’s Khaliunbold Erdenbileg rode with an ankle injury while Trakarn Thanthong took a massive tumble through the track markers almost into the arms of his mechanic.

Sunday 10th Aug
Weather:- Sunny and hot again. Overnight a small section of the track was modified for safety reasons and some watering assisted with the dust factor.

0830 Warm up of 10 min. Although inserted as a warm up and start practice, Riders still produced competitive times.
Thanarat 1:10.152
Woods 1:11.062
Trakarn 1:13.703
Watana 1:15.131
Denny Orlando (Indonesia)1:15.160

Now the real part of the program emerged as the two groups of A 16-Riders and B-15 Riders raced for the top 8 positions to go straight to the final. The successful 16 –

Gp A
Thanarat Penjan - Thailand - Yamaha
Trakarn Thanthong - Thailand - Honda
Iwan Hermawan - Indonesia - KTM
Hannu Malherbe - Indonesia - Yamaha
Zulfikar - Indonesia - Yamaha
Aep Dadang - Indonesia - Honda
Yusuf Irawan - Indonesia - Yamaha
Tri Prio Nugroho - Indonesia - Honda

Gp B
Lewis Woods - Australia - Honda
Watana Kanlaya - Thailand - Suzuki
Dede Mulyadi - Indonesia - KTM
Dede Mulyadi - Indonesia - KTM
Alexander Wiguna - Indonesia - Yamaha
Aldi Lazaroni - Indonesia - Yamaha
Aris Setyo - Indonesia - Suzuki
Asep Lukman - Indonesia - Honda
C. S. Santosh - India - Suzuki

The balance of Riders moved to the Last chance Qualifier and only the top 4 would make it to the final. Tabuchi lead the 10 min Race in the opening laps before some desperate riding by 15yo Amir gained the lead with his first ever ride on a KTM. Top ranking Indonesian Denny Orlando was not going to be left out as he pushed his Suzuki (and body) to the limit ahead of his younger compatriots Honda.

1. Amir Sabeti Far - Iran
2. Denny Orlando - Indonesia
3. Takeshi Tabuchi - Japan
4. Leo Marhean - Indonesia

Riders about to exit 20 Lap Final waiting Zone. Left Thanarat 71 RightWoods 49

1450
20 Lap Point scoring Final
Weather Hot and Cloudy after a sprinkle of rain.
Hole shot went to Thanarat with the pack hard on his wheel.

Lap 1 positions – Thanarat Watana Woods
Lap 2 “” Woods, Thanarat, Woods, Trakarn, Zulfikar, Hannu, Denny, Aep, Aldi, Leo, Amir, Iwan.

The pace was blistering as Thanarat and Woods passed and repassed on lap 3, with Amir moving up 1 place and Iwan 2 places. By lap 5 the leadings were encountering lapped Riders with Woods maintaining a 6 – 8 sec lead over Thanarat until around the 16th lap he became noticeably slower and ragged. On the 18th lap he fell and after a lengthy restart and remount he fell again and was out of the race. Thanarat cruised to the finish with results as follows –

1. Thanarat
2. Watana
3. Trakarn.
4. Zulfikar
5. Hannu
6. Aep
7. Aldi
8. Denny
9.Aris
10. Alexander
11.Leo
12. Amir.
13. Tri Prio
14. Iwan.
15. Asep
16. Takeshi
17. Santosh
18. Dede
19. Yusuf

Ironically the top 3 in the Championship before Jember all failed to make the cut for the final Race however with the lead they previously held and only one point scoring Supercross race up for grabs at Jember, they still retain their positions, however all three came away with injuries from Jember and their lead reduced whereby any Rider in the top group theoretically could take out the Championship

2008 FIM UAM Asia Motocross/Supercross standings after Round 3 Jember
1st Khaliunbold Erdenbileg - 72 Pts
2nd Kenneth San Andres - 69 Pts
3rd Mojtaba Karimzadeh - 67 “”
4th Amir SabetiFar - 67 “”
5th Iwan Hermawan - 66 “”
6th Trakarn Thanthong - 60 “”
7th Dede Mulyadi - 50 “”
8th Alexander Wiguna - 49 “”
9th Glen Aguilar - 42 “”
10th Santosh C S - 30 “”