Even with everyone busy battling the world wide financial crisis , motor racing enthusiasts in Asia still took time out from their busy schedules to relax and watch the kickoff races for the Asian Festival of Speed in Sepang, Malaysia. Racers from 20 countries returned this year to participate in the racing events that pit the future big names of the racing world’s skill and talent against the maturity and familiarity of the more seasoned pro’s. Up anc coming racer Kevin Chen returned to the very same circuit he first raced in last year together with the likes of Chin Tzer Jinn, Hamad Al Fardan, and Antonio Martinez. Having spent the off season fine tuning his racing machine, studying past race errors, and developing new team strategies, Kevin was hyped up and already feeling like a winner because of his successful return to the speed circuit. Just like all the other drivers, Chen was hard pressed to find sponsors this year as everyone faced financial difficulties. Thanks to the unwavering support of Franz Collection, together with his new sponsor Quest Composite, he was able to return to the sport that he excels at the most. “Without my sponsors, I would not have had the opportunity to participate in this years race. I appreciate everything that my sponsorsFranz Collection and Quest Composite have done for me since the racing season began. Everything that I accomplish this year, I offer to my fans and sponsors.” Chen related during a pre-race interview. The season started off lightly for Chen, who took to the qualifying circuit fully intent on gaining a frontliner position on the track. However, wrong team strategy saw him fall short of expectations by a mere 0.6 seconds, he qualified only for 3rd position in the actual race. Things began looking up for him in the first race as he easily bumped fellow racer Charlz from second place. He defended and held held his position till the end of the race which saw former GP2 racer Hamad Al Fardan finish in first place. Starting the 2nd race in a position of advantage, his full concentration was on stealing the pole position from Fardan. But 3rd placer Charlz had other ideas and did his best to steal the 2nd place position from Chen. At the 2nd corner of the race, Charlz tried to do a clean overtake of Chen but accidentally touched the rear wheel of his racer instead. This small incident caused Chen to fall to 3rd place as his car was thrown out of alignment and damaged slightly by the wheel clipping. With an unmanouverable car at his hands, Chen did his best to defend and retain his 2nd place position from Charlz but failed to do so due to the damages incurred by the car. Charlz successfully passed Chen during the middle of the 3rd lap. Doing his best to control his damaged car, Chen, managed to fall back to 3rd place and kept the position till the end of the race. Asked if he was disgusted by the way his race ended Kevin had this to say; ” It is still early in the season. My team and I have more than enough time to study my opponents and develop driving strategies that will exploit the weaknesses of my opponents to my advantage. What happened with the car could have happened to anyone. I will say this though, I will try my best to never let it happen again. I intend to come out on top this year and nothing will stop me from achieving it.”