Day 14th of August, FEDERAL-FLEX Asia Cross Country Rally, It carried out by SS4 / 501.59 km out of the SS in 166.87km of the total runs that goes from Buriram to Ubon RACHATHANI. The schedule has been SS4 of 166.87km but due to the military situation SS was cut short to 84km. The layout of the first half of the course start with muddy section going over the junkyard, and the rest of the course was the very fine high speed section everyone seems to be feeling good driving.
The car numbers #1 start at 8:00 am from the MTC (main time control) at the hotel. The rally started from the hotel 105.72km RS and goes on the SS3. The first starter number 1 car of the Leg 4is the famous and everyone number 1 push, the car number #9 Bandit PANTHITA / Pairote PONGSAPA Team (ISUZU D-MAX) Overwhelming speed which gives the difference of about 4 minutes to the 2nd place. After that follows by #5 Wichai WATTANAWISUTH / Somkiat NOICHAD Team(ISUZU D-MAX)A#2 Chamnan ON-SRI / Cholanat PHOPIPAT Team (MITSUBISHI TRITON)A#15 Paitoon THAMMASIRIKUL / Thanyapat MEENIL Team (ISUZU D-MAX) Follow by the Thailand's strong 3 cars in close times.
SS4 1st
#9 Bandit PANTHITA / Pairote PONGSAPAN
(Team Bandit / ISUZU D-MAX)
SS4 2nd
#5 Wichai WATTANAWISUTH / Somkiat NOICHAD
(MAXXIS N MOTORSPORT ISUZU / ISUZU D-MAX)
SS4 5th
#6 Takuma AOKI / Ittipon SIMARAKS / Katsuhiko SHIINE
(D-MAX GEOLANDAR takuma-gp / ISUZU D-MAX)
This part of the SS 4 greatly came back to the rally was the car number #6 Takuma AOKI / Ittipon SIMARAKS / Katsuhiko SHIINE (D-MAX GEOLANDAR takuma-gp / ISUZU D-MAX) the fact that Mr. AOKI at the prologue part of the rally, he didn't seems to had anything wrong about the driving and the car itself. On the first day the car's drive shaft broke and the car becomes 2WD, and the Axle drive shaft was repaired. The day two a turbine being damaged in the afternoon of SS2, and deceiving and deceiving running the machine and ending SS somehow naturally turbine was exchange at scheduled service. At the hotel the turbine was found broken and repaired again. On the third day of the rally the Team found out the turbine was broken again and they had to repair the turbine again. Mr. AOKI said gMy race is from today! The race was pleasant for the first time and the engine to have revived at last. Although at the SS leg 1 variously things happened like my drive shaft broke, competitor Mr. Asai towed me in, lots of things happened and helped by the other but tomorrow is Laos. I want to do my best one by one and I want to use this experience to do well in next season of the rally" and also he said that gall I want now is to complete the run of the remainder of the rally safely". Mr. Aoki's navigator Mr. Shinne said gtoday's SS was great both running and driving". Mr. Aoki's rally has begun now.
SS4 7th
#17 Masahiro TERADA / Jia-Ying SHEN / Hirokazu SOMEMIYA
(FLEX FEDERAL SHOW AIKAWA Racing / TOYOTA FJ CRUISER)
In the 7th place #17 Masahiro TERADA / Jia-Ying SHEN / Hirokazu SOMEMIYA (FLEX FEDERAL SHOW AIKAWA Racing / TOYOTA FJ CRUISER) said gToday's SS was very good running. The road was very wide, red sand, and flat dirt road everything was very good".
SS4 8th
#7 Yoshiro ITO / Takeshi HIRAKA
(Team TAGA meets NAIRAN / ISUZU D-MAX)
In the 8th place #7 Yoshiro ITO / Takeshi HIRAKA (Team TAGA meets NAIRAN / ISUZU D-MAX) Today's SS was very tough for me. Helping out the Thai's competitor and the others, and despise I was running alone. Tomorrow's run will be the important part of the rally to Laos. Also tomorrow's course will be the tough and the starting turns will be necessary in front if possible, so maintaining the machine is absorbed not enough time.
SS4 9th
#16 Hiromi / Sadatoshi ANDO
(FLEX FEDERAL SHOW AIKAWA Racing / TOYOTA FJ CRUISER)
The 9th place finisher was #16 Hiromi / Sadatoshi ANDO (FLEX FEDERAL SHOW AIKAWA Racing / TOYOTA FJ CRUISER). The driver Mr. Hiromi said gLast part of the rally course was very flat, and it was very smooth running, but I tried to run the car very carefully. But it was very fun".
SS4 10th
#12 Michihiro ASAI / Dean CHOU
(Kenny Wen & Mitchy ASAI World Rally Team / D-MAX)
In the 10th place the car number #12 Michihiro ASAI / Dean CHOU (Kenny Wen & Mitchy ASAI World Rally Team / D-MAX) at the prologue run we as a team has suffered, since then his team's bad luck begun. At SS 3, the car got stock in the hole and broke the right rear side of the bracket of the leaf spring, so the team lost large amount of time, and later stock again and helped by the car number #17 Mr. Terada and his navigator. Despise from all that happened in a past, today's run went so well, and it was very fun and pleasant.
This year's rally felt fairly different from the time of being participation last time, saying "Although a little mistake overlaps and suffered by the troubles. This time using physical strength, and also may be fortunate one that can experience such rallies, and it is happy that I can start tomorrow again pleasantly.
SS4 13th
#14 Satoshi TAKENO / Naoyuki YANAGAWA
(KONYUDOU-KUN with Garage MONCHI KIZUNA MRS / SUZUKI Jimmny SIERA)
In the 13th place #14 Satoshi TAKENO / Naoyuki YANAGAWA (KONYUDOU-KUN with Garage MONCHI KIZUNA MRS / SUZUKI Jimmny SIERA) Mr. Satoshi said gtoday's run was very hard for us as a team, because during the run car jumps over quite frequently, it's seem from the damage in the shock observer at service they switch the shocks preparing for the run to Laos tomorrow.
SS4 13th
#10 Takatsugu AOKI / Kenji ISHIDA
(TWO & FOUR MOTORSPORTS / MITSUBISHI OUTLANDER PHEV)
The car number #10 Takatsugu AOKI / Kenji ISHIDA (TWO & FOUR MOTORSPORTS / MITSUBISHI OUTLANDER PHEV) Now, the pickup truck carried the vehicles of plug-in hybrid into the mainstream of the Asian rally, and made it's repeated improvement on the first and second day of the rally "according to an Asian rally, a suspension and an electric system are improved from the specification of the first day, and it can run now considerably after" the second" despise the effort of the team mechanics the condition of the present car is very favorable.
MOTO Division
As for the Moto Cross, the Sweden team number #107 Olle OHLSSON (Rally Raid Sweden Team KTM Scandinavia / KTM 450EXC SixDays) got 1st place. The team number #114 Sumaetee TRAKULCHAI (AP HONDA / HONDA CRF250L) got 2nd place, and 3rd place went to team number #105 Tadao EZURE (Team Japan [mcc EZURE] / YAMAHA WR450) the rider commented gthis year's rally wasn't hard for us team despise from all that happened in the runs". In the 4th place went to team number #102 Hideyuki FUKUOKA (Team Japan / HONDA CRF450X) Mr. Hideyuki said gthis year's rally course was very balanced and was very fun".
SS4 1st
#107 Olle OHLSSON (Rally Raid Sweden Team KTM Scandinavia / KTM 450EXC SixDays)
SS4 2nd
#114 Sumaetee TRAKULCHAI (AP HONDA / HONDA CRF250L)
SS4 3rd
#105 Tadao EZURE (Team Japan [mcc EZURE] / YAMAHA WR450)
SS4 4th
#102 Hideyuki FUKUOKA (Team Japan / HONDA CRF450X)
Tomorrow is LEG 5 of the Asian Cross Country Rally goes from Ubon RACHATHANI to Pakse 285.05km in length by the boarder. In Laos will run 89.65km. At 6:00 am in the morning Ubon RACHATHANI hotel, the team will start the moving and going toward the boarder.
