KUCHING: In his debut race, local Go-karter Tiong Shiun San kept his cool battling for track supremacy under the scorching afternoon sun at the Sarawak Stadium temporary race circuit here to win the Rotax Mania Go-kart Challenge yesterday.
Tiong crossed the finish line with a total time of 13 minutes and 44 seconds with Baron Sim Kwong Teck in second, just four seconds behind.
“I am so happy with this victory today. The competition was intense as there were lots of good racers in the race. I trained hard for this,” said a jubilant Tiong after the race.
“With this win, I will definitely gun for more top prizes in future races. It gives me the motivation and I can’t wait for my next race. I hope this is a good start for me and I don’t want this to be my only win. Since nobody expected me to win, you can now call me the Dark Horse,” said Tiong jokingly.
Simon Fang finished the race at third place despite blazing the track in the opening few laps. He clocked 14 minutes and three seconds.
12 racers competed at the final 20-lap race with three racers not classified as they did not complete the full laps.
The race was jointly organised by Sarawak Automotive Racing Sports Association (SARSA) and Kuching North City Comission (DBKU) in conjunction with the 2012 Sarawak Motorcycle Racing Championship.