6th September, Sepang - Totally outclassed in his debut at the world stage last year, Indonesia’s riding sensation Doni Tata Pradita gets a second chance to prove himself against the world’s best 125cc riders at the 2006 Marlboro Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix this weekend in Sepang.

The 15-year old former Asian Grand Prix 115cc champion is overjoyed to have been granted by the Malaysian organisers a wildcard ticket along with Spain’s Daniel Saiz to compete in Round 13 of the FIM World Grand Prix Championship.

Currently competing in selected rounds of the All Japan Championship to enhance his skills, the 15-year old would be determined improve his 2005 results where he found himself finishing last in 31st place and more than 20 seconds behind winner Thomas Luthi.

While the team had openly declared that the Malaysian GP was just a small component of their long term programme, Doni, with his added experience in Japan and last year’s race in Sepang, would not want a repeat of last year’s performance.

The Kid from Yogjakarta would be determined to secure GP world championship points to show for his fans back home and generate greater support from Indonesia for the team in their effort to progress to the World GP.

Team manager Bambang Asmarabudi Kamis had announced that the target being set for Doni was to compete in a FIM World Grand Prix Championship in 2009 in the 250cc class with 2007 being fixed as the date for a full participation in the 250cc All Japan Championship 2007.

While Doni Tata would be targeting world GP points, championship leader Alvaro Bautista would be looking for his sixth win of the season and cementing his position at the top of the world standings.

With 230 points and a huge lead of 69 points over his closest rival Mika Kallio, Bautista is the overwhelming favourite to win the world title though he would still need to wait beyond Malaysian GP.

After Malaysia, there would still be four more rounds and a maximum of 100 points to be contested by the riders.

125cc WINNERS IN SEPANG
2005 Thomas Luthi (SWI), Honda
2004 Casey Stoner (AUS), KTM
2003 Dani Pedrosa (SPA), Honda
2002 Arnaud Vincent (FRA), Aprilia
2001 Youichi Ui (JPN), Derbi
2000 Roberto Locatelli (ITA), Aprilia
1999 Noboru Ueda (JPN), Honda
125cc Current Top 10 Leaders
1. Alvaro Bautista (Spain) 230 points
2. Mika Kallio (Finland) 161
3. Mattia Pasini (Italy) 147
4. Sergio Gardea (Spain) 133
5. Hector Faubel (Spain) 123
6. Lukas Pesek (Rep. Czech) 102
7. Thomas Luthi (Switzerland) 91
8. Gabor Talmacsi (Hundary) 81
9. Simone Corsi (Italy) 71
10. Joan Olive (Spain) 68


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