Hattrick For Drag King LAI WEE SING

Malaysia’s top drag racer Lai Wee Sing surprised even himself when he capture his third consecutive Sepang Drag Battle; winning the final round for Class A open category at Sepang Circuit on Saturday night (November 15) to edge out favourite Dixon Chen to the overall title.

Trailing Dixon by four points, Wee Sing – winner for 2006 and 2007 - needed to win Round 4 for a maximum haul of five points and hope that Dixon failed to score a single point to win. His prayers, were answered when Dixon was not at the registration table that night.

“My hopes went high when registration closed for the night and Dixon was not around. But then, there were still nine other competitors to beat that night. I thanked the team for giving the car and God for giving me the opportunity. I did not expect this at all,” he said after the podium ceremony with dragged to 2am.

It was a double celebration for Team R-Engineering from Johor Bahru when Wee Sing’s team-mate also took the overall honours for Class B for the two-wheel drive forced induction machines in a similar grand style by winning the round.

“Frankly, I must admit that midway through the season I thought the overall title was already out of reach. Throughout the season, I have been struggling with so much problems. Finally, in Round 5, everything went right. I am happy … but at the same, I am also sad as well that Dixon was not around. I would love to win it with him among the competitors.

“So, I am already looking forward for next year’s series. The target, of course, is to win the overall title for the fourth time,” said Wee Sing, who moved into drag racing after winning two consecutive Malaysian Super Series Supersixteen Championship titles in 2004 and 2005.

“As I told you before, Sepang Drag Battle is more glamourous than the MSS. The crowd is huge and they are great. It’s more fun to compete in the drag race than the MSS,” said Wee Sing, who was third in Class A at this year’s Petronas Primax 3 Merdeka Millennium Endurance Race.

For Johor-born Mohd Zamri, it was his second successive Class B overall crown and his new mission would to be to win it for a third straight year next season. “I would not have been able to do it without the support of the team and especially Ah Lai,” said Mohd Zamri, who was third overall in 2006.

With the Class C crown already in the bag, Mohd Maziz Ahmad decided to skip the final; opening the way for Ahmad Firdaus Ahmad to take victory for the round and five precious championship points to thrust him into second place in the overall standings with 10 points.

In the battle among the sub-1600cc two-wheel cars with NA engines, Ismail Mutalib took victory for the round and the overall title as he took the total haul of 13 points. The overall title for Class E for compact cars went to Azery Mohd Norazali, who, however, was upset in the final round; losing to Azlee Awang who finished as vice-champion among the sub-1000cc cars.

For more details, contact the Press Officer Azhar Ghazali at 019 383 7865.