Monday September 14, 2009
New sponsors for Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix
By LIM TEIK HUAT
PETALING JAYA: Shell Advance will come on board as sponsors of the Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix for the first time.
The manufacturers of a leading motorcycle oil brand have been signed on by MotoGP rights holders Dorna as replacements for Polini, who were sponsors of the event for the last two editions.
Shell Advance have already made their presence felt through track side advertising campaigns in the MotoGP legs this season in Qatar, Italy, Germany and the United States. They are also the official technical partners of the factory Ducati MotoGP team.
With the title sponsors secured for the penultimate round of a 17-stop world championships, the Sepang International Circuit (SIC) chief executive officer, Razlan Razali, said they were looking forward to hosting another exciting edition from Oct 23-25.
“You can’t get any bigger than this in terms of two-wheel racing and this is the only such race organised in South-East Asia,” he said.
“The race for the MotoGP championship title is still wide open and you’ll be able to catch some of the best of the best battles in Sepang.”
Reigning world champion Valentino Rossi of Italy rode away with a 30-point advantage ahead of his fellow Yamaha Racing team-mate Jorge Lorenzo after winning the recent race in San Marino.
With just two rounds to go in Portugal (Oct 2-4) and Australia (Oct 16-18) before the championships come to Sepang, Rossi has amassed 237 point and Lorenzo has 207 points.
Of equal interest is the ongoing tussle to decide the Malaysian rider to get a wildcard to race in the 125cc class.
From an initial pool of 16, the field has been trimmed to four riders – Elly Idzlianizar Ilias, Mohd Iskandar Raduan, Mohd Farid Ahmad and Mohd Zulfahmi Khairuddin.
The final two should be known before the end of the month as the Ongetta ISPA team will be holding a special testing session from Sept 21-23 in Sepang.
The two riders will be put under attachment with Ongetta Ispa, who are one of the leading outfits in the 125cc world championships.
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