Freddy bags podium finish at round four of Akoc in Macau
KUCHING: International gokart racer Freddy Lawan made a winning return to the Asian Karting Open Championship (Akoc) when he finished third in Round 4 at Kartrodomo de Coloane, Macau last Sunday.
It was his first podium finish after taking part in two races this year and after a two-year rest to rehabilitate from a hip operation.
Freddy also took part in Akoc Round 3 at Biral Circuit in Pattaya, Thailand on Nov 11 where he finished fourth in the race under the Veteran X-30 series.
In Macau, racing under MD Racing Team, Freddy came in third place in the Veteran X30 series Heat 1 behind champion Leung Pui Chiu of Hong Kong and former Mr Hong Kong Alexander Mui.
Unfortunately, he met with an accident in Heat 2 and was unable to continue with Heat 3 and Finals.
“In Heat 2, I made a good start from behind the last eight in the starting lap and I was about to manoeuvre the second turn when an aggressive racer from the Senior category hit me from behind, and caused my machine to flip over and it landed on me.
“I suffered two fractured ribs from the impact and I was lying on the track for about two minutes before they removed me from the go-kart and the race track,” he said.
The accident also caused him to pull out from the X30 Asia Final in Pattaya, Thailand this weekend.
It also ended his campaign this season both in go-karting and car touring competitions.
“I am going to take a good rest now and make a comeback next year,” he said.
Meanwhile, Freddy feels that there is a lot of potential in gokart racing in Sarawak and it should be further promoted as a sports tourism product in the state.
“Go-kart racing is very popular in Semenanjung Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong, Macau and even now China is coming up fast, with 400 over racing circuits built there.
“We can bring in series of Rotax Max Asia Challenge, Akoc and X30 Series Asia Championship to Kuching to promote and boost our sports tourism. By bringing in the racers, their crew and family members will be coming along and they will spend their money here.
“However, to organise the racing events, we need a proper racing track and I think we can upgrade the temporary racing track at the Sarawak Stadium Complex and make it a proper racing track,” he added.
By having a proper track, Freddy said many go-karting competitions, motorbike cub championships could be organised and this will also help to reduce illegal road racing.