SNF Round 6: Recap and intro!

It’s been a 4-month long break from SNF. That’s long.. too long! We’ve received a lot of feedback on the matter, many fans are missing the intense racing action, dogfights, late-braking manoeuvres, screaming exhaust notes, the beautiful beautiful girls in the paddock, and all-round general party atmosphere.

Well fret no longer, it’ll all be back at the Sepang International Circuit this 22 September 2012! To heat things up, let’s recall the conflicts that took place in the previous round in each category:

Special Kei

Special Kei has set a benchmark to be followed by all participants in other categories. Why? There was some controversy in earlier rounds involving several participants, but they did not extend it to Facebook, instead submitting a formal protest to resolve the matter. Decisions are made and those involved have accepted the results with an open heart. That’s the proper way to get things resolved!

Close battles in Special Kei

Razee, Syazril Amri and Sing Boy seem to in their own class, with thrilling races between them in earlier rounds. Razee seems to be the current main target for most participants in the category, and be is being pushed hard by Syazril Amri. Sing Boy is trying his best to fulfil his mission, but he was caught up in a gaggle of Super1500 category cars having their own fight. As his tyres heated up, Razee began to run wide into the turns, which Sing Boy tried to take advantage of, unfortunately resulting in them coming together, leaving Syazril Amri Amri Syazril to claim first place at the flag.

Super 1500

Ahmad Shariffudin aka Pok Deng, and Aril Hamka aka Mr Ariel are usually prominent characters in this category, but last round saw the dominance of their Starlet fleet destroyed by the interloper Hari Haran in his Suzuki Swift Turbo who took the win! Pok Deng experienced engine trouble at the beginning but came back with a fierce fight for second place, recording the fastest laptime for the category along the way. Aril Hamka led at the start, but got caught up by the incident between Sing Boy and Razee, having to settle for 3rd place.

Mini

Syafiq Ali, Hairani, Mashlino, Juan Lee Fook are the great players in this category. The crowd playfully refers to them as “Italian Job” after the steaming action that takes place every round, reminiscent of the moves in the movie! Syafiq Ali dominated throughout the night, but a fierce battle involving Hairani, Mashlino, Juan Lee Fook and Siva Suriyan kept the spectators on their feet. They fought hard for second place, pulling out all the stops as they went door handle to door handle. All 4 crossed the line almost nose-to-tail, and we’re looking forward to another heated argument between them this coming round!

CamproChase

R3 may be the super power for Campro cars in the Malaysian Super Series, but not necessarily at SNF! Machines and drivers need to be quick and fast, and take every little advantage that they can. Michael Ayyavu aka Aboy, Halim, and Hasrin are R3’s Syafiq Ali’s toughest competitors, competition which he doesn’t get at MSS. Action was tighter than Britney Spears in a her red leather bodysuit, reminds of the good old Proton Championship days. Racing was intense, and at the chequered flag is was Aboy ahead of Halim, Syafiq Ali and Hasrin.

SuperStreet

For two years now Desmond Yee has been synonymous with the SuperStreet category, always up there at the pointy end, with no competition to take him on. But rumours are rife that some new challengers are coming next round.. can anyone take him on?

Last round, as usual Desmond Yee pulled far ahead right from the start. The focus was on a fierce battle between Badrul Hisham (Evo 8) and Sebastian Lee, both dropping into the 1m17s as they ducked and dodged each other. Peculiar to note that Badrul’s driving style if very defensive, hugging the corner entries leaving Sebastian an opportunity to try take the long way around the outside. Azly (Subaru Impreza) was caught in his own little battle with Mohd Fahmi (Honda Civic EK9) and Lim Han Jin (Honda Civic FD2R). But in the end as ever it was Desmond Yee crossing the line first, followed by Sebastian and Badrul.

RaceCars

Kesavamoorthy is back – again – this time upgrading his DC5R to Race Cars category to bring the challenge to Akina Teo in Class 1. Moorthy gave Akina chase hard throughout the race, as usual providing a display of his sublime racing skills, but Akina was first past the flag. Both were lapping in the 1m15s, which is pretty incredible.

In Class 2 it was Lee Kum Soon successfully holding off challenges Keno and Hafidz, after the machines of Winson Eu and Jeffrey Moo broke down in the preliminaries.

GAB Street 1.8 Open

As usual, the category known as the “Mafia category” was loaded with drama and controversy.

The 'Mafia' category will resume battle on Sept 22!

The VTEC / FI sub-category saw a revival of Ahmad Fauzi aka Ali Prodrag. After experiencing bad luck in earlier rounds, he came back hard in Round 4 by winning first place after great battle with Philip Tang and Ahmad Firdaus aka Daud. At the start of Heat 3, it was Philip Tang, Daud and Abdul Farid and his 4G93 turbo Satria (running RS Ignition suspension!) pulling ahead at the start, closely followed by Ali Prodrag. Farid got hit by Francis though into Turn 1, suffering a bent tie-rod which was to afflict him for the rest of the final heat. By lap 3, Ali Prodrag started to pull a bit of a lead as the Philip tang and Daud got caught up dogfighting each other. Daud eventually succumbed to engine and gearbox problems which allowed Francis Ng to snatch 3rd place from him in the final lap. Abdul Farid meanwhile was able to bring it home in fifth place after an intense battle with Mahyudin’s VTEC.

In the N/A sub-category, must was hoped of by Joe Mivec but once again his vehicle failed miserably and had to pull out from the final. Mohd Noor Fairuz thus took the chance to strengthen his position as championship leader. But it was smooth sailing as he had to fight off challenges from Fadzalisham and Razlan, the trio separated by less than a second at the finish line! Trailing close behind was Afdzal, Morzalee, and Nasrul Azizi, three drivers who’s consistency has paid off leaving them in 2nd, 3rd, and 4th place in the championship standings.

And thus it is with great excitement that we look forward to Round 5 this coming 22 September 2012. Many teams have taken the opportunity to rebuild and reset their war-weary battle machines, and are hoping to be return to Sepang after the long break with more power and better laptimes. Be sure not to miss it!