Frenetic MSF Round 3

 

Round 3 of the 2017 Malaysia Speed Festival (MSF) can be described both as being the best the season has ever produced and also the most drama filled race in the history of the series. With participation from legendary saloon car champions who provided fantastic entertainment for the spectators, the carnage behind them saw the weekend’s races filled with damaged cars and regular intervention of the safety car.

With a total of 173 cars competing in various categories incidents are expected as drivers jostle for prime positions. As the race weekend ended some were left disappointed and would have to regroup for some damage limitation strategy for the next round.

Race Car Open

Keifli Continues Winning Streak As Title Rivals Fall

For the third time this season Keifli Othman scored another victory moving him further ahead in the championship points. Starting from pole in both races the team Mayhem-Fast Autoworks Maxxoil driver put in a dominant performance in the races finishing ahead of SITTY-DNT Racing driver Akid Azlee and F Tuned Racing’s Rifkee Abu Bakar Banafee/Mohd Syahrizal Jamaludin in third in Race 1. In Race 2 Keifli repeated his feat finishing once again ahead of Akid Azlee followed by team Smartroleum-Prodrag driver Shamir Aizan Hanafiah.

Coming into the second season, the Race Car Open category rarely sees on track incidents but during this round the inevitable happened. Aside from this Keifli’s main title rivals Shazull Hisham from team Smartroleum-Evotech and Mark Darwin of SITTY-DNT both had problems with their cars and was a non-starter in both races which made Keifli’s task much easier.

Running together with other classes, once the lights went off an incident between GUNS-FTUNED RACING’s Gan Kiat Huat Perodua Kancil Turbo and Smartroleum – Prodrag’s Shamir Aizan brought out the safety car almost immediately.

Shamir who was in the Race Car Open category had some issues with his car during qualifying and was starting from the back of the grid. Trying to make up ground as quickly as possible, the fast moving Honda driver made a slight contact with Gan who is competing in the Special Kei category, which catapult the latter’s car into a spin and almost rolled right in front of the pit straight. This incident ended Gan and teammate Hafeez’s successful run in their category prematurely while Shamir pitted to have his car looked over.

Once the race resumed, Keifli again made a good start and began to build up a substantial gap as the race went on. Behind him SITTY-DNT Racing driver Akid Azlee and returnee Faidzil Alang from team Fast Lap Autoworks were having a private duel, and while the latter held the advantage he had engine issues on the penultimate lap. With Faidzil falling out, Akid Azlee brought his car home in second place 10.790 seconds behind winner Keifli while F Tuned Racing’s Rifkee Abu Bakar Banafee managed to salvage some points with a third place finish.

Race 2 was a much cleaner race and Keifli went on to win his category again, and while en-route he produced a new lap record of 2m 19:778 seconds! Behind him Akid Azlee was having a lonely race but nevertheless was pushing as hard as he could to try and close the gap to Keifli. But the man on a mission was Smartroleum-Prodrag’s Shamir Aizan who was scathing right from the back of the field. Although his car doesn’t seem to have quite the pace similar to Akid’s car but his determined drive allowed him to snatch third place from Syahrizal Jamaludin who was now behind the wheel of the F Tuned Racing’s car, nursing some brake problems.

“Today, everything was simply spot-on and it was a perfect race for me,” commented Keifli after the race. “Before the race I knew about my title rivals issues and the plan was to capitalise on their setbacks while making sure that I bring the car back in one piece. The team once again has given me a very good car and we’ve established a new lap record and that’s a bonus for all of us in the team,” Keifli added.

Race Car 1800

JDM Racing Back In Control

The partnership of Winston Tan-Philip Tang from team JDM Racing is back in control of the Race Car 1800 class when they won both races in Round 3. With more than half the field having to retire due to incidents and engine failures Winston Tan and Philip Tang were racing in damage control mode which was key to their success.

Incredibly only two cars survived Race 1 with JDM Racing drivers pair finishing in first place followed by Fast Autowork’s Nanthan Kumar in second place.

After their setback in Race 1 team MaxxOil Racing Team were able to make it to the starting grid for the second race of the day. With most of their main rivals still unable to start the second race, the team’s driver pair of Cy Khoo and Harve Singh would try to salvage some valuable points if their swiftly repaired car could hold it together till the end.

This was a close second race between race leader JDM Racing and MaxxOil Racing Team but it almost looked like both were not planning to get in each others way and was just on a points scoring mission. The pair were separated by 2.456 seconds by the time the crossed the finish line followed by Nanthan Kumar in third place.

Race Car 1600

N1 Racing Halts Main Title Contenders Progress

The arrival of Desmond Yee from N1 Racing fame has spurred more competition in the category which would see championship leader, team Dream Chaser, team DNT and F Tuned Racing reviewing their strategy should they want to keep their title ambition alive.

Although arriving late in the championship series Desmond signaled his intention clearly by winning both races convincingly. In Race 1 Desmond took the win with a substantial gap of 14.377 seconds ahead of Mayhem Racing Team’s Mirza Syahmi and F Tuned Racing’s Soffiz Hardy/Wan Ahmad Farouk.

Desmond took another win in Race 2 but this time had to be more cautious as team Dream Chaser driver CY Ong who had taken over the wheel from Geraldine Read was on a charge. Although CY Ong had made up some ground but he was running out of laps to challenge Desmond from crossing the line in first place, and coming home 4.618 seconds behind. DNT’s duo Mohd Fazree and Mohammad Rashidi took the final steps of the podium in third. With today’s overall results, this category is building up to be one of the most unpredictable title challenge for the championship.

Saga Cup – Ron Jeremy (Expert)

Advantage Tommy Lee As Boy Wong Suffers Rare Mechanical Failure

Boy Wong and Tommy Lee provided fans and even participating racers on how it’s done when it comes to proper saloon car racing with the pair trading places almost every lap and even in some turns. Their on-track ‘gentlemen’ duel includes paint-swapping (rubbing), leaning and some very light taps, but there was never a moment of them wanting to take each other out, and this is what professional and legendary drivers are made of and highly entertaining. In a race that was marred with various on track altercations behind them, things up front were different and had all the ingredients for a spectacular race.

Running alongside the faster Super 1500 NA class, top drivers in the Ron Jeremy class are usually in close contact with the faster cars, and it was no different during this round with Tommy Lee, ST Wangan Racing’s Boy Wong, JNA Racing’s Alif Hamdan and team SMRT’s Jay Choong all behind the overall lead car of Sing Boy during the opening laps of Race 1.

For the first 3 laps the lead quartet in the Ron Jeremy were in close contact with Alif Hamdan, Jay Choong and even second place men in the Super 1500 NA class Momentum Auto Garage’s Alex Chow and William Ho having the best view watching the battle between Tommy Lee and Boy Wong ahead of them. It was a class act between Tommy Lee and Boy Wong with both never having a large gap between them and this went on right till the last lap after the safety car period.

With the safety car out of the way Tommy and Boy Wong resumed their battle and there was nothing in it between the pair and continuing to trade places at every opportunity. On the penultimate lap and should things stay this way it was going to be one close finish at the line, but the inevitable happened!

As the lead pair was about to exit turn 14 with Tommy just ahead, something broke on Boy Wong’s car spinning him out of control with the left rear wheel flying off his car in full view of Alex Chow/William Ho and Jay Choong who were just behind the Ron Jeremy class leading pair. It was later determined that the cause was a left rear wheel bearing failure, but it’s reassuring to know that Boy Wong came out unscathed.

With Boy Wong’s race ended on the penultimate lap, there was no holding back Tommy Lee and he took his first ever win in the MSF Series. With a DNF for Alif Hamdan who was running in third place during the opening laps, Jay Choong inherited second place and was followed to the line by Ngah Motorsports driver Choo Yong Choon.

Tommy Lee completed a brilliant weekend performance in a lively Race 2 to beat Jay Choong by crossing the line just 0.677 seconds ahead. Choo Yong Choon took third place once again with the result completing an excellent race for team Ngah Motorsports.

Super Street

Nishiram Grabs First Win, Upset For Raja Imran, AHM Penrite Racing Maintains Title Lead

In a tightly fought race, team Millennium Motorsport Asia’s Nishiram Singh/Karamjit Singh took their first win of the season after capitalising a mistake by FTuned Racing Team’s Raja Imran on the penultimate lap.

Right from the start of Race 1 the pair were in close contact with Raja Imran assuming the lead and able to open up a gap every time the Millennium Motorsport Asia’s car got too close. But in the race a couple of mistakes by Raja Imran allowed Nishiram Singh/Karamjit Singh to take over the lead briefly before Raja Imran grabbed the lead back swiftly. The crucial factor came on the penultimate lap when another mistake by Raja Imran at turn 15, and this time involving some contact with the Millennium Motorsport Asia’s car ended his winning target paving the way for Nishiram Singh/Karamjit Singh to take their first win of the season.

In a race that many were expected to see battle resumed between team AHM Penrite Racing’s Alif Hamdan/Adian Yein and Raja Imran after the previous round, in Race 1 the former doesn’t seem to have the pace to match the cars ahead of them and was a watching brief lying in 5th position throughout the duration of the race. Keeping up with the lead duo were N1 Racing’s Desmond Yee and Revmax Lubricants-JJ Racing’s Jaza Jassa/Johanz Jassa who completed the race in third and fourth place respectively.

Race 2 presented another exciting race and this time Raja Imran had his close title rival primed and ready to battle rightfully on the circuit. After rectifying issues they had in Race 1 with their car, team AHM Penrite Racing’s Alif Hamdan/Adian Yein was on the move and was already in the lead on the first lap. Raja Imran wasn’t going to allow the Mercedes A45 AMG of AHM Penrite Racing get away too far and was attempting to make a move at every opportunity. As they were trying gain advantage over one another, for the first 3 laps they were posting lap times in the 2m 33seconds and yet Raja Imran wasn’t able to make any move stick on Alif Hamdan.

This went on for almost 3 laps until Raja Imran retired due to brake issues thus allowing Alif Hamdan to cross the line in first position comfortably. In a surprising turn of event Desmond Yee driving a Honda Integra DC5 managed to finish second ahead of the more powerful car of team Millennium Motorsport Asia’s Mitsubishi EVO 3.

Street Tune Limited

Another Dominant Weekend For Team JDM Racing

Going into Round 3 JDM Racing’s lead driver Gan Kim Koa has taken a back seat with Lim Lee Hua taking over the driving duties partnering Philip Tang. The new partnership did not hamper their title progress as they went on to win both races in the highly charged Street Tumed Limited category.

JDM Racing’s drivers used their front starting position and took the lead before entering turn 1. With that move they were soon pulling clear from the rest of the field in their category with Infinity Speed Works Mohd Shawal/Roakhir Abd Malik and WG-MA Racing’s Zairi Latif rounding out the top three in the opening stages. There were no changes in the order right to the flag and with a controlled drive Lim Lee Hua/Philip Tang brought the car home in first place 9.873 seconds ahead of second place car of team Infinity Speed Works followed by WG-MA Racing’s Zairi Latif in third.

In another domineering race JDM Racing scored another victory and had a much larger gap between second place team Infinity Speed Works with a margin of 19.589 seconds. Finishing in third was team Dzamir Dzuhairulidzham Shah from team SP Racing whole battled hard with the mid-fielders to get to this position.

Proton 1800

Perajun Target Title Contenders With A Pair Of Wins

Seasoned race car driver K. Perajun has claimed two victories in Round 3 of the tightly contested Proton 1800 category. The drama began as soon as the lights went off in Race 1 when championship leader Lau Seng Keat was trying to gain an advantage and being overzealous going into turn 1. His attempt resulted with him making hard contact with Dilan Jay/Davy Wong of team Millennium Motorsport Asia’s car which ended both their racing for the day.

Taking advantage of the retirement of a strong opposition, K. Perajun demonstrated that he had not lost any of his race craft although he has been on a hiatus from the scene for quite awhile. In the race he did not hold back and went about setting benchmark pace to bring his car home in first place with a massive gap between him and second place car in both races.

Finishing second and third respectively for both races were JDM Hardcore driver Nadz Srhidhara and Eelan from team VAG Racing.

Street 1600 LTD

Kenny Lee Back On Form

After a difficult Round 2, team Kegani Racing’s Kenny Lee had a successful race in Round 3 when he claimed two wins and extends his championship points.

In a race marred by various incidents, Kenny was able to avoid those on-track altercations when he made an impressive start by mixing it with the faster cars from different category. With his brilliant move Kenny was able to stay out of trouble while close title rival Hazrin Mad Kaidi/Khairul Amri of team UITM Racing JMS Tuner had to be content fighting with the tough mid-field scrap which impede their progress. Unfortunately for the latter, team WAKOS Garage & R.N. R Autosport’s Muhd Hazlami/Muslim Mustafa finished the race behind Kenny while Hazrin Mad Kaidi/Khairul Amri fought hard to salvage that vital third place.

In Race 2 Kenny once again did a brilliant start and stayed close with the bigger class which gave him the advantage later on to finish ahead of the charging Hazrin Mad Kaidi/Khairul Amri. In the race the pair had almost similar pace with both posting 2:42 lap times but with a gap of 8.570 seconds that Kenny had by the time he crossed the finish line, team UITM Racing JMS Tuner simply just ran out of laps to make any threats. Team RDA Garage Ravenol’s Fadhlan Hilmi/Faiz Sulaiman completed the podium scoring position when they crossed the line in third.

Super 1500 NA

Double Wins Reaffirms Sing Boy’s Title Lead

Team MTRD Sing Boy Racing driver Sing Boy perfected his Sunday’s race by scoring two wins in the Super 1500 NA category. The early challenges from title rival Keu Sian Shi/William Ho from team Momentum Auto Garage faded as they faced yet another issue with their car.

Starting from pole Sing Boy was momentarily challenged by Keu Sian Shi/William Ho going into turn 1 and the expert group from the Saga Cup runners. For the next 2 laps the lead pair were close together and amazingly also had the expert Saga Cup runners tagging along with them. After just completing the third lap Keu Sian Shi/William Ho seemed to lose his race pace and this ultimately gave Sing Boy a trouble-free run en-route to winning Race 1.

With Keu Sian Shi/William Ho car continuing to lose more pace, teammate Alex Chow took over second position ahead of team Smartroleum-Rab Pro Drag’s Mohamad Shahril who had a scorching drive coming from behind the grid.

Race 2 presented another great result for Sing Boy. Although he was challenged during the opening laps Sing Boy managed to pull clear of his immediate rivals, controlled the pace and celebrated another dominant victory in his category. In the race he had the much needed pace and consistency to move further from his closest rivals whenever he needs to. Team Momentum Auto Garage Alex Chow/William Ho crossed the line in second after resisting attacks from Mohamad Shahril who had to be content with a third place finish.

Special KEI

JFA Autoparts Finally Gets The Top Spot

This was a race that competitors in the Special KEI category would want to forget. Round 3 of the MSF has seen various incidents in different categories but for the Special KEI it ended both lead title contenders run effectively.

Running alongside various classes of race cars Mohd Johan from team JFA Autoparts won both races ahead of Ezamin Ezham from team Zam Auto Garage and Kie Garage’s Kamal Shukri who finished third in Race 1. This was Mohd Johan and Ezamin finest result to date as they completed both races following the demise of team Guns-FTuned Racing and Kie Garage.

At the start of Race 1, championship leader Guns-FTuned Racing car driven by Gan Kiat Huat made a slight contact with Smartroleum-Prodrag’s Shamir Aizan who was running in a different category, and was carving his way from the back of the grid. That contact caused the Guns-FTuned Racing car to spin and almost rolled right in front of the pit straight before coming to a halt after crashing into the barrier. Although Gan Kiat Huat escape unscathed, the damage to the car was substantial which effectively ended their race.

The second incident involved Kie Garage’s Mohamed Zahid Mohamed Latiff at the start of Race 2, and he only made it as far as turn 1 after being sling-shot off the track by another car, also running in a different category. The Kie Garage’s car too suffered massive damage and was unable to continue racing for the day.

Lead driver for team Guns-FTuned Racing, Mohamed Hafez Kamarudin was a dejected man as he feels that the incident has some damaging consequences for their championship hunt. “For sure we have accepted that this was a racing incident but one that could have been avoided, at least that’s how I feel. We’re all friends here and I wouldn’t want to put blame on anyone but hopefully, everyone including me, would have learned something from today’s mishap and avoid things like this from ever happening again in the future. The incident has put a dent on our championship run and financially too, as we now have to source for another shell if we want to continue targeting the championship title, so we’ll see what’s going to happen next,” said Hafez.

Saga Cup (Rocco)

Unstoppable Tan Chaw Wei

Tan Chaw Wei ensured everyone that his previous MSF round wins was no fluke when he won his category again in both races in Round 3 of the MSF Championship. The Seng Motorsport’s driver was hardly battling with his Saga Cup Rocco group in the races but was right on the tail of the leading top four runners in the expert class. Coming home second was Loco Racing’s Ahmad Faizry finishing ahead of JNA Racing Team’s Navin Kumar.

Race 2 proved to be more chaotic as drivers jostle for position and the busy grid ultimately resulted with many damaged cars and retirements. Although his car showed signs of having taken some beating, Tan Chaw Wei managed to get out of the carnage and moved away which helped him achieve his second victory of the day. Navin Kumar who managed to claw his way out of the carnage and crossed the line in second place followed by team Malkar Racing’s Saiful Zamri.

Jazz Cup

DK Motorsports Extends Championship Lead

Mixed in a large grid and running together with other categories, DK Motorsports driver pairing of Mohd Noorhafidzi/Hendra Eryawan avoided many incidents and drove brilliantly to win Race 1 in the Jazz Cup category. Also on a collision avoidance strategy was team Sauk Store Maba Racing Izwan Amin/Zainal Saeim who finish the race in second place, 2.136 seconds behind the DK Motorsports car followed by Flex Racing’s Muhamad Roni/Chong Tun Lung in third.

Race 2 proved to be even more chaotic and witnessed one of the biggest panel bashing racing in MSF. With cars and body parts strewn on track plus the intervention of safety car it was another strategic and brilliant drive from the DK Motorsports drivers to come out on top of this situation.

Pulling away from the tough and troubled mid-field runners quick was key and by the time they crossed the finish line DK Motorsports Mohd Noorhafidzi/Hendra Eryawan had a comfortable gap of 13:675 seconds ahead of second place team, Flex Racing’s Muhamad Roni/Chong Tun Lung followed by Izwan Amin/Zainal Saeim from Sauk Store Maba Racing.

Round 4 of the 2017 Malaysia Speed Festival will be the Enduro and will be held on 9 July at the Sepang International Circuit. To keep in touch with all the latest news and updates, follow MSF’s social media channels by clicking on the link https://www.facebook.com/msfracingseries/