A Cambodian racer powers through deep mud during the previous Rally Raid event. KHMER RALLY
The expert group of motor racing event organisers KARA Cambodia has full confidence that the 2022 Khmer Rally Raid Practice will run smoothly and successfully. This will be the first time the event will be run entirely by Cambodians – without the collaboration or assistance from international groups as were the cases in previous events.
In an April 22 meeting, Ho Sethykun, one of Kara Cambodia Club members, said the Rally Raid Practice is already receiving registrations for both car and motorcycle entrants. This event’s main focus is on the development of Cambodian motor sports, especially the training of new competitors in both car and motorcycle categories.
“This is the first time that we will train a local team to run the event. This is a purely Khmer-organised event. We have prepared the race track and other technical aspects. This event not only provides an important opportunity to develop our sport, but also contributes to the promotion of tourism because this event will help promote natural areas, communities and potential tourism sites in Cambodia to the public, both domestically and abroad,” said Sethykun.
The technical team of KARA Cambodia is confident that it will be a success. This type of Rally is a discipline where competitors are required to race through stages, so they will be racing against the clock rather than each other, a different kind of pressure from the need to pass another. Each driver or rider is sent off individually and is timed over each stage. Drivers will find out about the route of each stage through maps which will be provided by the organisers.
Ho Sethykun noted: “We are confident this event will be successful because we have a lot of experience holding previous events, albeit with members of the International Commission on hand. This time, we stand on the basis of a fully self-organised position that we believe will be successful in expanding to large-scale events, which will in turn attract hundreds of national and international participants.”
“For our first event, we do not foresee any serious obstacles, because when we cooperated with the International Commission in the past, our teams learnt a lot from them. This means I am not the only one with international experience – our team of more than 20 people have also worked with foreign organisers, so they have a clear understanding of each part of their role. I am confident that they will fulfill their duties, without any worries or challenges,” he added.
The 2022 Khmer Rally Raid Practice was originally limited to 20 registered motorcycles and 20 cars, but so far there have been more registrations than expected.
The committee is now discussing breaking the event into different disciplines to provide opportunities for more racers to participate, especially new drivers. The event – which is supported by the Ministry of Environment, the Union of Youth Federations of Cambodia and the Cambodia Motor Sports Federation – is scheduled to begin on May 14, and will depart from Phnom Penh to Kampot province and then return to finish in the capital.
