The Rotax Max Challenge Asia Festival held at Morac Adventure Park Langkawi was the highly anticipated end-of-year event for Alex. Drivers from many countries and nationalities gathered to contest the biggest race in South East Asian post covid.
Although the event was being held on a beautiful tropical island, there was some seriously hard work to be done against top teams and equipment. It was an amazing experience for Alex to compete in his largest event yet.
Again, Alex chose the services of KL based RL Karting/BirelART for the event and the team set about helping him learn the track and get the kart set-up to give him a fighting chance. A couple of days of testing prior to the official start were essential.
In karting, a good qualifying position is also essential and this event was no different. Unfortunately a misjudgement during the wet Friday qualifying session saw Alex stuck behind 3 slowing karts and he was forced to abort his fast lap. Starting in P11 for the 2 heats wasn’t going to be easy.
Saturday morning was bright and sunny and hopes were high for a good start in a dry race. The warm-up started well but a slight contact with another driver spun Alex around and he was left parked in the middle of a turn. Most of the field managed to get around him but his teammate was unable to avoid him and serious damage was caused to both karts. Fortunately both drivers were uninjured.The RL team worked frantically to get the kart straight and did as best as they could in a short time.
The start of Heat 1 was good but further contact pushed Alex off line and he was then last in P19. A spirited fight brought him back to 15th, after which, the RL team had more work to straighten the chassis. It was looking like the day was going to be a busy one for them.
Heat 2 saw a good clean run with no contact, however, an accident directly in front of Alex forced him to slow and take avoiding action. This allowed some drivers to get past, but at least no damage to his kart! Another hard push helped him to catch the group ahead but he ran out of time and finished 13th.
The starting positions of the final on Sunday would be determined by the finishing positions in the Pre-Final and the team were hopeful a good result could possibly provide a top 10 start position.
The Pre-Final started in dry conditions and Alex went from 13th to P10 by the end of lap 2. Some great fighting between 2 other drivers on the 3rd lap saw Alex up to P9 coming through the last sector, but at that moment a young driver made an ambitious attempt to pass all 3 karts in front of him in one turn. Unfortunately, he crashed, hit the kerb and bounced high in the air before landing on Alex’s front end. Brought to a halt on the exit of the corner, Alex escaped with no injuries, but the weeks of work and training had just been wasted. Unable to finish the Pre-Final meant starting the Final from last place… 19th.
Sunday’s Final was always going to be a gamble. The plan was just to go full gas from last place and see what happens… And so he did. On the opening lap he gained 4 places, some passing on lap 2 and an incident with 2 other drivers put Alex up further up the order. His spirited drive got him into P11 and closing in on 3 more karts, but he ran out of time and took the chequered flag 11th. A great run considering he didn’t do super fast lap times, just quick and consistent with precise decision making.
No matter how much effort you put in and how much you think you deserve to win, something outside of your control can happen that completely wipes out your chances. It’s a hard life lesson for young athletes to go learn, but that’s life… You have to get back up, smile, and get back to work.
So that wraps up 2022. A year of ups and downs, joy and heartache. But that's racing! Now, it’s time to relax, walk away from the kart and regroup. 2023 will be a year of many changes.
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