THE opening weekend of the inaugural FIM MiniGP Malaysia Series proved to be a highly competitive affair, with young riders Emil Idzhar Ezuan and Farres Putra Fadhill splitting the four races between them (two each).
In round one on Saturday, Emil emerged victorious in race one at the Sepang International Karting Circuit in a time of 19 minutes and 25.072s while Farres and Farish Hafiy Farid Sezli settled for second and third.
Farres, however, bounced back to win race two in 19:23.913s, as Farish and Emil crossed the line second and third.
In round two yesterday, Farres continued his winning ways in race one (19:24.082s) with Farish again in second while Adib Arsyad completed the podium.
Emil, who finished seventh in race one, won race two (19:28.873s), which saw seven riders failing to finish following a crash.
Akif Abdullah and Sharf Muhriz took second and third place. Farres and Farish were among the casualties.
Emil leads the 160cc series with 75 points, followed by Farres (70 points) and Farish (56).
Emil, 14, said he was pleased with his overall performance in the opening two rounds of the championship.
"I had some issues with my bike in the first race today (yesterday) but managed to fix them for race two," said Emil.
"I was a bit more conservative in race two as I wanted to conserve my tyres. I pushed hard when it was safe to do so, and I was able to win.
"We have another few weeks until the final two rounds, and I will work hard on my fitness and analyse my races to see where I can improve."
The top three riders in the FIM MiniGP Malaysia Series will qualify for the FIM MiniGP World Series finale in Valencia next month.
Meanwhile, there were no surprises in the 110cc SIC Ohvale Championship as defending champion Qabil Irfan Azlan swept all four races in round one and two. He now leads the championship with 100 points.
Shah Putra Nor Sharizan (72 points) and Adam Danial Noor Zamri (66 points) are second and third.
The third and fourth rounds of both series will be held on Oct 23-24 at the same venue.
