theSUN MOTOR HUNT 2008 - IT'S A WRAP

KUALA LUMPUR 2 Nov 08: Today, a massive 275 cars took to the roads in the Klang Valley in search of answers to treasure hunt clues in theSun Motor Hunt 2008.

Split into three categories, the bulk of teams competed in the Open Category (meant for novice and budding hunters), a handful of Press and Sponsor teams competed in the Closed Category while exactly 20 teams fought it out for bragging rights in the Masters Category (meant for seasoned hunters) in the second major event of the treasure hunting calendar.

In the Masters Category, teams were required to decipher 35 route questions, 4 treasure questions and some customary Road Safety questions within the regulation 5.5 hours. The Clerk-of-Course was rather lenient, I felt, in the route questions, supplementing easy-to-comprehend questions with generous amount of clues. The sectors choosen proved to be more demanding than the questions itself, especially in SS2 and Kota Damansara, where teams had to manoeuvre through narrow streets that were crowded with cars and a sea of people out foraging for food. If that wasn't bad enough, the Clerk-of-Course brutally selected locations that were sardine-packed with signages on both sides of the road, with the intention to slow the hunters down.

The real challenge turned out to be in the treasures, wherein a couple of them were difficult to solve while one of them was difficult to find. In the end, no team had more than 2 correct treasures while most were successful with only the "fairest" treasure.

In today's hunt, employing the right strategies made the difference in the end. Teams like ours, who decided to pay more attention to the treasures paid the price, and ended up racking penalty points while dropping a few fairly breakable questions in the final sectors in Kota Damansara.

And the bragging rights for the year's second major goes to ....... (drum roll) ....... the quartet from the Latent Talent, Adrian Wong, Toh Weng Ngai, Goh Teck Koon and Michael Pang (applause). Surprised? Not me!

While a few members of this team had humbly brushed off their victory as a "surprise win" or a "flash in the pan", I have a difference in opinion. This team actually had in their midst a secret weapon, a very in-form hunter, who had been quietly racking up consecutive podium finishes in motor hunts, a good run stretching all the way back to September (although with a different team) with 1 victory and 3 second place finishes.

And coupled with some good strategies and a bit of luck, this awesome foursome ended up registering themselves in the history books as the first repeating winner of this very elusive Major.

So folks, someone else to watch out for in the coming hunts other than the usual faces from the Nutty Gang huh! :D

Once again, congratulations to the winners.

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theSun Motor Hunt 2008 Master Category Results
(full score: 130)

1st: Adrian Wong, Michael Pang, Goh Teck Koon, Toh Weng Ngai (108)
2nd: Alexander Hoh, Andre Teh, Rosemawarni, Mohd Shahrin (107)
3rd: Dr Ho Seng Hooi, Chin Kar Peng, Liong Chian Min, Jayaram Menon (103)
4th: Ho King Mun, Ho Mun Yee, Dr Ben Lau, Teoh Cheow Teong (100)
5th: Ramesh Rajaratnam, Liew Kok Seng, Chong Foo Seong, Lim Kong Yew (97)
6th: Suresh Vasudevan, Justin Chow, Yee Choon Heng, Chiam Tat Hong (97)
7th: Muhammad Razif Ahmad, Gary Guna Sager, Darmataksiah Abai, Raja Zaen (96)
8th: Lim Kim Meng, Viki Lim, Jeffrey Wong, Richard Tan (96)
9th: Chai Koh Khai, Margaret Sha, Vincent Woo, Chong Voon Kiat (94)
10th: Tan Eng Siang, Ong Kheng Heng, Wong Sze Lynn, Diana Foong (94)
11th: Teh Boon Kai, Sam Rahman, Angie Teh, Yow Hui Hui (88)
12th: Ruben Chelliah, Angeline Chelliah, Mohan Campos, Raj Kumar (87)
13th: Steven Arockiaraj, Sanjay Abdullah, Sumita Devadas, Rahmah Othman (85)
14th: Selina Yong, Toh Wei Ming, Lily Loh, Loh Siew Fun (81)
15th: Ng Ek Leong, Tan Kok Cheeng, Cornelius Koh, Chan Kah Sing (81)
16th: Yeap Heng Boon, K. Pavananthan, Shandra Dass, Kumaran Nagapa (79)
17th: Haji Suhaimi, Ahmad Zahrol Abd Kadir, Sharifah Nur Laila, Mazri Muda (78)
18th: Jasvinder Singh, Wong Poh Wen, Choong Chee Mun, Peh Kok Hun (75)
19th: Muzamil Amzirin, Mohd Khalid Rashad, Ezura Mohd Ghazali, Juanita Johari (57)
20th: Rajj Melambaran, Shirley Hoe, Amerthanathan Sebastian Thomas , Yeo Siew Kheng (46)