GRA AutoCross Championship 2008

Grass Racing Autosports or GRA held their Autocross Championships for the second time around this year. This year’s GRA races are sponsored by Red Line Synthetic Oils, Meguiar’s Detailing Products, and Vanli Genuine Parts. GRA’s initiative set out 1 year ago is paying off with more enthusiasts joining its races every round. Last year’s GRA and defending champion for 2007, Ivan Khong is setting the stage again for this year. The event sanctioned by MAM is run on large car parks laid out with pylons to depict a small race circuit.

It was a hot and sunny day for the Shah Alam circuit next to the stadium. Ivan Khong defending autocross champion for 2007, won the first round convincingly with him doing the donuts in smoking fashion in his Subaru WRX 4wd Turbo. Andy Kow driving a similar Subaru with the same livery came in 2nd overall with only 4scs away from Ivan in cumulative times after 6 runs. Lotus driver Marcus Chye after a one year absence only managed a 3rd place this time.

It was a disastrous day for last year’s runner-up in the championship, Mickey Teoh. Driving his neatly styled Toyota MR2 RWD Turbo, he suffered countless mechanical failures and his NitrousOxideSystem was giving him problems. Hot favourite in the least powered car for this year, Julian Pang from Team Red Line, only managed a 10th Overall finish. The first time run for the year started off at 9am with the Grass Class getting out first. In Class A up to 1300cc, Gan Tze Shen took top spot in his stock Kelisa. Following in 2nd spot was taken by Wong Kang Yoon in a Proton Iswara Aeroback. Coming in 3rd was Charlene Khoo in an automatic kelisa, which she also took home the Fastest Lady of the day Award.

In Grass Class B 1300cc-1600cc, 1st place went to Charlie Ling piloting an old skool Toyota Levin AE86. In 2nd and 3rd was Julian Foo and Garick Goh, both piloting Proton Satrias 1600cc. In Class AA Automatic Cars up to 1600cc, William Lim in a Suzuki Swift stormed to first place with a time of 1m08.906scds which is close to some of the Pro-Grass drivers. Adam Marcos and Tuah Damak took 2nd and 3rd place respectively in a shared Honda Civic DX Automatic. In Class AB Automatic Cars up to 2500cc, Victor Lim piloting a Ford Lynx RS, won convincingly.

In the afternoon, the Pro-Grass drivers took centre stage, with the sun scorching down on the tarmac. In Class OA up tp 1300cc, Kenneth Chiew from Team Meguiar’s took top spot in his class. Alfian Bin Abdul Rani, took 2nd spot with his Kancil Turbo. Maharith B. Mahat took a surprise victory in the class of OB for car from 1300cc-1600cc. He made 3 bad runs and made up with 3 faster runs to give himself the fastest cumulative times for his class. Kenneth Kok from Johor Baru came in 2nd in his Proton Wira and Clement Yeo from Team Meguiar’s came in 3rd. Clement Yeo also won the “Bling Bling Award “ for being the most spectacular looking ride for this round.

For Class OC 1601cc-2000cc, last year’s Novice Champion, Jason Foo took 1st position convincingly in his decked out Proton Satria representing Team Red Line Oils. 2nd place went to novice driver Mitch Chong piloting a Proton Satria and 3rd place driver Julian Pang also from Team Red Line could only managed a 3rd place in his ageing Wira. In the combined class of OC for the top three novice drivers, went to Mitch Chong, Adrian Tan and Shannon Lee who won 1st, 2nd and 3rd respectively.

In Class OD Beyond 2000cc, Ivan Khong took top honours in his Subaru Impreza WRX 4WD. Following closely in 2nd spot was Andy Kow in a similar Subaru Impreza WRX. Both cars belong having similar livery were seen doing smoking donuts in the course. In 3rd spot, Marcus Chye from Team Lotus took the spot after a one year absence.
In the Overall Championship standings Ivan Khong now leads with Andy Kow and Marcus Chye following closely behind. Ian Khong ambassador for GRA said, ‘ Autocross is back again, we are trying very hard to put autocrossing on the map of motosports here, we only hope to keep it alive, and hopefully we can make it stay ‘.