Race beside Macau Grand Prix

By Terence, Hoi Chin Hou

 

There has been a local motorbike championship
event hosted for more than 10 years. Has anybody heard of
it? No matter whether you're a tourist, a local citizen or even
if you're an addicted race person, you'll still not be familiar
with this other local race in Macao. Most of us only have two
things associated with the word "race" in our minds, the Macau
Grand Prix and street races. Somehow the Macau Grand
Prix is a legal one and the street race is illegal. However, the
local motorbike championship event is a legal one and has
been held for many years and still not many people notice it.
It sounds like a secret race in Macao.

 

The "secret" race has been organized by the Automobile
General Association Macao-China (AAMC) since 1985. It
is the only association which can organize automobile activities,
especially for motorbikes. There are four main categories
that AAMC organizes, Macao Touring Car Championship
(MTCC), Karting and Motorcycle Championship (KMC),
Asia Karting Open Championship (AKOC) and Karting
Grand Prix (KGP). It also takes part in the Macau Grand
Prix every year.

 

Those race events held by AAMC are adapting the circuit
ring, which is located in the Coloane Island. It is a 1.2 kmlong
and 10 m-wide track with professional support which is
open for all users to train their skills and for entertainment
as well. It is one of the most exciting kart-racing circuits in
Southeast Asia and also the only one to be found in Hong
Kong and Macao.

 

Although these championships sound international, there
are still not much local participation and audience for these
events. As we know, a race is an exciting activity, which attracts
a great deal of people's attention. However, why are
these events not popular and well known to people?

 

"Racing is a kind of big investment, but you'll never get
anything back in terms of money," said Alex Ieong, a participant
of KMC for several years. "You can win money if you
join the 1000 cc superbike category. But that is impossible.
No one can start his race from this category. So you can never
treat it as your career," Ieong sighed.

 

Asked if the government is supporting this kind of event,
Ieong grinned, "Well, they do. But more for the 1000 cc category
which is taking part in the Macau Grand Prix....I think
they should put more in these particular events (motorbike
championships) in order to raise the city's reputation and let
more people know them. At least, people would become more
familiar with what we're doing," Ieong continued.

 

"I race because I don't like racing on streets as it would affect
others. This is the best platform for me to do what I want. I'll
treat it as a sport activity hoping that the government will
eventually realize its value and give more attention to popularizing
it so that more people will enjoy the race."