Borneo Star Drift Battle starts today with 35 participations from across M’sia

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Lim takes videos of Chew’s Toyota Trueno during the practice run at La Promenade Mall’s parking lot. – Photo by Chimon Upon

SAMARAHAN (March 4): Rev up your engines and prepare to burn the asphalt fellow drifters, because the Borneo Star Drift Battle commences today!

Day one of the drift battle today has garnered 35 professional and novice drifters all across Malaysia, with most participants coming in from Sarawak such as Kuching, Sibu and Miri;  from Sabah as well as Kuala Lumpur.

At around 10am, participants were instructed to attend a briefing session by the drift battle’s four judges who were also professional drifters – Jason Lim, Gui Foo Sing, Mohd Zaiham ‘Bullzai’ Hamdan, and Fazreen Ismail.

All four of them introduced themselves to the participants and shared their respective achievements in the motorsports scene.

They then proceeded to brief the participants, giving them a crash-course on the proper techniques, the do’s and don’ts, as well as guidance while drifting along the track, located at the carpark area of La Promenade Mall here.

Jason Lim – one of the judges for the Borneo Star Drift Battle. – Photo by Chimon Upon

From 2pm to 6.30pm, the track is open for the drifters to practice during the open practice session.

When met by reporters after the briefing session, Lim expressed his excitement on the event’s overwhelming response, saying that the reception was ‘perfect’.

The Old But Gold (OBG) Adventurers drift team founder said the Borneo Star Drift Battle was one of the biggest drift events that took place this year, sanctioned by the Malaysia Motorsports Association as well as Sarawak Motorsports Association.

He said the event can serve as a platform for new drivers who want to get themselves recognised throughout Malaysia.

Bullzai (second left) giving advice and guidance on the drift track during the briefing session with the participants. Also seen are Fazreen (left), Gui (second right) and Lim (right). – Photo by Chimon Upon

“As you can see, we have novice drivers who had just started not long ago. At least they know how to do it (drifting) –  but they only just learnt on how to participate (in drift competitions) and to be more competitive.

“(Participating) in competitions is always a very different (experience), sometimes you can feel the excitement, sometimes you feel nervous. (By joining drift competitions), that’s how they gain the experience they need, before going in for international participation or competition.

“It can also be a milestone for them, and at the same time, events like this can help the local scenes especially those who are involved in motorsports, the workshops and mechanics, they pick up their economic as well,” he added.

Lim (left) alongside Borneo Star Drift Battle participant Sherwin Chew with his Toyota Trueno. – Photo by Chimon Upon

Lim then hoped that the local motorsports scene can come out and help each other so that more people can recognise the scene, especially for the younger generation.

“Malaysia motorsports (scene) is already well-known, but in the drift scenes, in the many generations back, Malaysia is actually one of the very famous drift scenes throughout Asia, aside from Japan, but unfortunately, a lot of sponsors already started to diversify into another aspect.

“It cannot be a one-man show. So, I hope all these people can come out and help each other, to bring out the scene to be more recognised, especially among the younger generation,” he said.

Day two tomorrow will start with the qualification race for the novice category and professional (PRO-AM) category – followed by tandem races in the afternoon.