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  Channel NewsAsia 25 Mar 07
Singapore dirt-bike racers hope to train on home ground

Channel NewsAsia 4 Feb 07
Adventure race held in Punggol to introduce sport to public and spur interest
By Hasnita A Majid

SINGAPORE: Some 1,500 residents in Punggol got a glimpse of the kinds of activities they may see in their area soon. These include adventure racing that aims to encourage a more rugged lifestyle and spur greater interest in sport participation.

An adventure race was held in Punggol on Sunday. Aside from the fun, participants also got to enjoy idyllic scenery and experience a rustic part of the island that's perhaps not known to many Singaporeans such as the Coney Island that will cease to exist under future developments.

There's also Lorong Halus, a former dumping ground. It's the first time the area is opened for such sporting use. Organisers say that the former landfill, with its rugged terrain, is an ideal area for adventure sports such as mountain biking and motocross. In fact, a 10-kilometre track was created specially for the adventure race and another sporting event last month.

The Singapore Adventure Racing Team said that this is one of the best routes for an adventure race in Singapore. Lien Choong Luen of the Singapore Adventure Racing Team said: "The great thing about adventure race is that unlike triathlon or other races, the format is unknown, there's a great degree of uncertainty. The uncertainty builds a certain resilience of spirit and character, you need to be able to work together as a team." Organisers are however negotiating for long-term controlled use of the area.

Teo Chee Hean, MP for Pasir-Ris Punggol GRC, said: "Well, I hope that we can make much better use of the Lorong Halus area. I spoke with our people from the PUB who are going to turn that into part of the banks of the reservoirs and the wetland and I think there's scope for it to be used in other ways as well."

The adventure race brought together some 250 participants, including families. Those who turned up at Sunday's event also got to enjoy a motocross demonstration by the Motor Cycle Safety and Sports Club. - CNA/ir

Channel NewsAsia 25 Mar 07
Singapore dirt-bike racers hope to train on home ground

The heat is on for Singapore to host the Formula One race but two-wheelers don't want to be ignored. The seeds are being planted for a Motocross Grand Prix to be held in Singapore in the next 10 years. The "M-X-G-P" is the dirt-bike equivalent of the F1 race. 34-year-old Salimi Salleh can be regarded as a motocross veteran in Singapore.

"Din", as he's known by his friends, has competed in dirt bike races for more than 20 years. He even has the scars to prove it. "I have a plate on my elbow, I don't know how long it will take to heal. And I have a plate on my shin. I dislocated my shoulder and it's already seasoned, it drops off anytime but I can fix it back," said Din.

But not even his injuries can separate Din from his machine and the dirt tracks. He has taken part in over 50 races, most of them in Malaysia. Out of these, the largest prize money he has won was RM1,500 or over 650 Singapore dollars.

"It's more like an exercise to me. Without this kind of sport, I guess I will be sitting at home watching TV and being a couch potato," said Din.

And promoting dirt bike races as another way of keeping fit is exactly what the Motorcycle Safety and Sports Club is doing. The club currently provides motocross training classes to some 25 children aged 5 to 12. No licence is required but each 2-hour lesson on a mini-bike costs $160. The mini-bikes cost between $4,000 and $5,000.

Edward Soh, Motorcycle Safety & Sports Club's General Secretary, said: "Especially next year, they're going to cancel the TAF (Trim And Fit) programme in school, so we need to have exciting sports like this that are physically challenging and demanding to help toughen up the youths."

Exercise aside, the club hopes children can pick up safe riding techniques and hopefully be better riders when they grow up. Training sessions often take place in Johor on a 100,000 sq-metre land which the club leases at S$1,000 per month.

But it is eyeing something closer to home - a 570,000 sq-metre plot in Lorong Halus, a former dumping ground in the east. The site is one area which the government has said it plans to develop for adventure sports.

Passion alone is not enough to power up the sport in Singapore. Riders and clubs say a major roadblock is the lack of space to burn their wheels. And even though they can go up north for dirt tracks in Malaysia, nothing beats having a place of their own back home.

Din said: "Unfortunately, there's no track for them to practise. So we've been left far out from Malaysia, unlike the early 70s and 80s when Singapore riders were well known in the motocross industry....that particular time, we had our own track at Loyang." Mr Soh said:

"We have a sufficient population of riders in Singapore. But the bottomline is that we want our riders to basically ride in Singapore and have competitions in Singapore rather than going over to Malaysia to ride and spending all our money in our weekends in Malaysia. Yes, they're doing some races in Malaysia but the level of racing is different. It's almost like asking a street car driver to race in F1."

So by having its own motocross playground at home, the club also hopes to hone the next Team Singapore in motocross racing. Another aim is to prepare aspiring young racers for the F1 equivalent in dirt bike racing - the Motocross Grand Prix in the next decade or so. Indonesia is the only Southeast Asian country to have done so.

Mr Soh said: "They had one in Yogjakarta a few years ago which I attended. How good? Something about 2.5 million crowd down there. A GP (Grand Prix) basically sells the country to the rest of the world. That's what it actually does. So it encourages tourism and it builds up a better image of the country, especially in Singapore where everyone thinks it is a concrete jungle. Having a motocross race here would be good."

For now, the club works with both government and non-government bodies to promote the sport to the young. - CNA/ir
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