MARCH 27 PLAYDATE FOR 2011 FIM ASIA PUERTO PRINCESA INTL MX
For the eight straight year, the City of Puerto Princesa in Palawan will host the opening round of “The Motocross Masters of Asia”, the Philippine leg of the FIM Asian Motocross Supercross Championship, the annual FIM Asia continental motocross event that showcases the top riders of the nations comprising FIM Asia, the continental union of Asian motorcycle federations.
Puerto Princesa City Mayor Edward Hagedorn and FIM Asia President Macky Carapiet recently signed the agreement that will bring back the annual motorsports spectacle to the Philippines’ “last frontier” on March 26-27. Each year, since its inception in 2004, the event has been able to deliver what the thousands of spectators always come for, heart-stopping motocross action from the best Asian riders.
The event will also bring back Japan’s Tomoya “Kamikaze” Suzuki, the 2010 champion in the series’ centerpiece Asian MX2 (Pro 125) category who will is bidding to become the series’ first-ever back-to-back champion. The task however will not be easy for the Japanese since he will need to hurdle the ominous task presented by the formidable competition to be provided by Mongolia’s Khaliunbold Erdenebileg, the Philippines’ reigning National Motocross Rider of the Year Kenneth San Andres and Iran’s Amirreza Sabetifar, seasoned Asian national champions who wound up second, third and fourth places respectively in the final championship scoreboard. This year’s darkhorse entries are Thailand’s Arungkrung Pinpon, the series’ 2007 Asian Junior 85cc champion and the top MX2 rider from Taiwan.
The Asian Junior 85cc event promises to be no less exciting with the Philippines’ Mark Reggie Flores and Gabriel Macaso kicking-starting their bids to duplicate the feat of PSA Awardee Jean Erick Mitra, the 2010 Asian Junior 85cc champion from Rizal, Nueva Ecija. Flores and Macaso are expected to their meet stiffest challenge from the junior riders of Guam, Thailand and the USA.
The country’s top riders from fourteen national motocross divisions will also be seeing action in the local races that make up one leg of NAMSSA’s 2011 national motocross series scheduled to coincide with the international event. The overall champion in the MX2 category will bring home the Mayor Edward Hagedorn Cup, a handsomely crafted silver trophy from Puerto Princesa’s CEO and his constituents.
The 2011 FIM Asian Motocross Supercross Championship is being organized by NAMSSA, the national sporting authority for motorcycle sports in the Philippines and sponsored by OAKLEY. NAMSSA is the country’s sole organization affiliated with the Federation Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM) and duly recognized by the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) and the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC). For more information of the Asian Motocross Supercross Championship and other FIM Asia and NAMSSA events, please visit www.fimasia.org and www.namssa.org and call or text 09178479785.