Two-time champion Lai Wee Sing remains optimistic of winning a third Sepang Drag Battle crown despite finishing second in the opening round at Sepang Circuit last Saturday (April 5). 

“I was just plain unlucky to lose. I simply misjudged the starting lights for the final race. Before that, everything else was perfect,” said Wee Sing, who was disqualified in the final race for a jumpstart.

Despite taking his fully-modified Mitsubishi Evo III machine ahead of Dixon Chen for the checkered flag in the final, the race stewards awarded the win to his rival; penalizing Wee Sing for a jumpstart.

Champion in 2006 and 2007, the Johor-born driver, however, openly accepted the steward’s decision; declaring that he was happy to finish second and that there were still four more rounds in the championship for him to make up for what he described as ‘merely a temporary setback’.

“I have no complaints about the car. It was perfect and it was beating everybody else. So, we just need to keep this setting for the car and get ready for battle in the next round. We should win the next race,” said Wee Sing, whose car was prepared by R-Engineering.

Competing in the premier Class A, the open class attracted a total of 11 entries of full modified cars where turbo-charged and supercharged engines were allowed as well as the Nitrous Oxide System power booster.

Competing on Sepang Circuit’s front straight, the cars takes just over 13 seconds to cover a 400-meter stretch of track; spitting out flames and screaming roars to the cheers of the crowd. Some 7,000 spectators attended the opening round which started at 9pm and concluded at 3am.

The new season opened with a record eight categories and a massive 172 entries as a new Campro category was introduced and the popular Avantech On The Road Class making its second season.

Divided in two categories, the V-Tec category of the Avantech On The Road Class was won by Suhaimi Hamid while the non V-Tec category was won by Ahmad Nizam Ibrahim.

Round 2 would be held on May 31.

For more details, contact the Press Officer Azhar Ghazali at 019-3837865.

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