All-Thai show in Siol Challenge

KUCHING: It was an all-Thai show at the weekend’s rain-soaked Sarawak Energy Siol International Mountain Bike Challenge.

In its first year as a UCI event, Siol is the last round of the Asian Mountain Bike Series.

The two-day Challenge, held at Petra Jaya’s Bukit Siol track at the base of Kuching City Hall North, saw the Thais taking the blue ribbon Men and Women’s Elite XC Olympic (XCO) in addition to the Downhill.

The other teams had their work cut out when the Thais showed up with basically the cream of their mountain bike corp from the 2016 Asian Championship in May at Chinat, Thailand.

Apart from 2016 Asian women’s XCO silver medallist Supaksorn Nuntana and reigning Asian junior women champion Nathalie Panyawan, they also had Myammar SEA Games men’s silver medallist Keerati Sukprasart in their line-up.

Sukprasart and Nuntana confirmed their mountain biking prowess by winning their Elite XCO at the Siol Challenge on Sunday.

Team manager Suphat Srisawai said they wanted the valuable UCI points on offer as they look to burnish their Tokyo Olympic hopes.

Small wonder SBS Giant’s Mohd Fauzan A Lufti, the Malaysian XCO ace who had won the last two editions, admitted after the Men’s Elite XCO that his chances to three-peat were decidedly thin.

“This race had some of the best racers in the region while the last two years, I only faced local riders,” Fauzan said.

His strategy was simple — to go out hard for as long as he could. It appeared to be working as he was in the top three until the fourth lap when he began having shoe problems.

He hung on to finish third, 43 secs behind Indon Fanani Zaenal, who was 16 secs behind the victor Sukprasat who finished the six-lap 22.8km race in 1hr 28mins 45secs.

“Second place was a possibility if I didn’t have the shoe problem but first place was out of reach,” conceded Fauzan who took home 500Euros.

His consolation was helping his team to victory over the Thais in the relay to three-peat as champions. Sukprasart, who pocketted 1,000 Euros, was happy the race went according to plan.

“Basically, I just wanted to put in a consistent effort for each lap and not go too fast or too slow,” he said.

Team Corbusier’s Laurel L Adrian from Sabah was the top Sarawak-based rider in the event when he finished eighth in 1hr 38mins 57secs. That position would have won him the Sarawak Closed title but he did not qualify due to his Sabahan status.

The title went to local rider Wan Haikal of City Cycling Club  who finished ninth behind Laurel. Another local rider Mohd Adham of Giant Kuching was tenth which gave him second place in the Closed.

“I’m happy with the Sarawak Closed win as this is my first victory in a year,” said Haikal, a Sukma rider.

In the women XCO, 27-year-old Nuntana returned 1hr 36mins 6secs to take home the winner’s prize of 1,000Euros, beating rising star from the Philippines, 20-year-old Ariana Dormitario, by 2mins 45secs.

Thailand’s Warinothorn Phetpraphan was third in 1hr 46mins 12secs.

SBS Giant’s Khairul Aniq won the Junior Men’s XCO to deny the Thais a clean sweep.

He finished in 1hr 2mins 46secs with Thailand’s Kanatip Jinda 39secs off the pace as runner-up  and Mohd Faizikry Jumah third in 1hr 8mins 40secs.

The Downhill went to Thailand’s Suebsakun Sukchanya in 1min 32secs with compatriot Tanaphon Jarupeng and Filipino Eleazar Barba Jr second and third respectively. SBS Giant’s Muhd Aim M Fauzi was the top Malaysian in the event with an eighth-place finish.