MotoGP 2012: Sepang

Finally, the day has finally come. I booked our MotoGP tickets in June; and we have been waiting for 4 months for this day. We left Singapore rather early in the morning. By the time we left the Tuas Customs checkpoint, it was 7am.

Had a quick stop around 1 hour later for water and toilet breaks.

We continued for about another hour before we stopped for breakfast at this huge rest area. It's a bridge mall that stretches across the north south highway. Nothing smells better in the morning than an A&W breakfast heh.

We met this group of Singapore riders who were going to Sepang International Circuit too.

We finally arrived around noon. The parking area was very muddy, saw a few cars roll back trying to drive up the slope.

Ducati owners get to enjoy preferential parking. That sways the decision on my next bike towards the Italian manufacturer a lot haha.

The atmosphere was just electrifying. The little motorcycle village, or paradise as I would call it was nothing short of magnificent. Dozens of shops selling everything from Alpinestars keychains to Ducati 1199 Panigales. It was definitely an experience not to be missed for all motorcycle lovers.

Not forgetting the hot motorcycle babes!

Hmm yummy. Oh, I forgot to mention that it was Saturday when we arrived and we were there to watch the qualifying rounds. Malaysian rider, Zulfahmi Khairuddin clocked the fastest lap, and qualified in pole position. It was also his birthday, and on home ground; there was no better birthday present the young rider could ask for.

Here are some photos from the MotoGP qualifying round.

Moto2 was the last to qualify. Didn't manage to watch the entire session though because it was already 3pm and we had to check in to our hotel, Concorde Inn KLIA, before 4pm. We took our final photos and rushed back to the car. Fortunately, the hotel was just a 10-minute drive away, yay!

Checked in and I couldn't wait to take a shower, but first...

Cosy little room. It cost us about 250rm per room per night, including breakfast and wifi. There is nothing to do in the area though. The nearest pubs you can go to are at the Nilai area, the hotel's concierge should be able to give you directions. Though I would recommend taking the 1 hour trip to Kuala Lumpur, Sepang is not particularly famous for its nightlife.

The next morning's breakfast was decent. The first warm up session was at 10.40am. We left the hotel at 10am, thinking we would still make it in time. Boy, were we wrong; very wrong. The traffic towards the circuit was horrendous! What was supposed to be a 10-minute drive took us almost 1 hour. So word of advice, go there early on race day!

By the time we parked the car and walked to the grand stand, it was already noon and the warm up sessions were over haha. The weather was cool and dry, perfect to start the Moto3 race with. 1 hour later, the teams started to gather at their starting positions.

It was a really exciting race with the locals cheering for their local talent, Zulfahmi Khairuddin. He was leading the race in the last few laps but was overtaken by Sandro Cortese in the last turn on the last lap.

And past the finishing line...

Zulfahmi was THAT close to winning a race for the first time. Tough luck. But the locals were still chanting his name as he celebrated his victory lap. I wish perhaps one day, Singaporeans will be able to do the same for a local rider. The Moto3 chequered flag was the only chequered flag we saw that day, Moto2 and MotoGP were red flagged. As Rafie aptly puts it, 3 races but only 1 chequered flag. It started raining right after the Moto3 race, even the podium girls were not spared.

Next up was the Moto2 race which had a wildcard Petronas Malaysian rider, Hafizh Syahrin. The race was red flagged as heavy rain poured down onto the track halfway into the race. Hafizh led the race for about 2 laps, and finished with an impressive 4th position after the red flag. I thought I heard the commentator say that it was the best ever result for a wildcard rider.

Finally, the event that everyone has been waiting for; MotoGP! Very wet race with a lot of riders crashing out. Ben Spies seems to be down on his luck this season, as he crashes out again.

The race was red flagged with Dani Pedrosa taking the win. Congratulations to him on his first win in a wet race.

This was definitely one of the best weekends I've had this year. I'm sure everyone who was there would agree with me. If you ever have the chance to watch MotoGP live, DO IT!

There are just too many photos for me to post here. You can find the rest of the photos on the Facebook page at www.facebook.com/RidingBible. Don't forget to like the page!

Thanks for reading. Ride safe!