On this page you will learn about me and my racing career.
I didn't post too many pictures here just for the sake of faster loading time.
This picture was taken at Sitges Beach near
Kenny Roberts Training Ranch
in Barcelona, Spain.
If you want to view more of my pictures, please go to my picture
Gallery.
My childhood:
I was born on December 14th, 1978 in Semarang, the capital city of Central Java Province.
It lies 350 miles east of Jakarta, Indonesia. My father is Agus Marianto, he used to be an auto-rally driver. That's where I got the racing blood flowing in my body from, I guess. I have a big brother, Jeffrey, who is a tough motorcyle racer as well.
When I was seven, I participated in a BMX race. That was my debut in racing.
My racing career:
I began competing seriously in motocross in 1992. My first win was in 110 cc novice-class in May 1993. Since then until the end of 1993 I had won not less than 30 championships in various motocross events. From 1994 till 1996 I joined Team Yamaha Indonesia and competed in numerous national motocross championships across the country.
In the middle of 1996 I switched to motorcyle road racing. I won the first place in Marlboro Yamaha Cup Race Grand Final on Sentul Circuit at the end of 1996. This triumph brought me to the higher level,
Asia Road Racing Championship 1997,
with
Marlboro Team Roberts Asia.
Then the disaster struck, if I may say so. An unprecedented monetary crisis swept accross Asia, South East Asia took the hardest blow. Team Roberts Asia did not participate in 1998 season. During that hard time, as a privateer, I was only competing in regional events.
In Year 2000 I was recruited by Caltex Yamaha Indonesia, to compete in Underbone 110cc and 125cc, and Sport 150cc National Championship. So, wish me luck.
Marlboro Team Roberts Asia:
MTRA was founded in 1996 by 'King' Kenny Roberts, the three times 500 cc. World Grand Prix champion. One of his purposes of building this team is to promote Asian racers to the world level. Two Malaysian riders, Chow Yan Kit and Shahrun Nizam were the riders of the 1996 team. Robbie Petersen, a former racer himself, was the team manager. MTRA only competed in 250 cc. Sport Production category in Asia Road Racing Championship.
1996 was not a bad year for this team, Chow was in fifth place and Nizam was in 6th place in the final standings.
In 1997 the team retained Chow Yan Kit as the first rider and recruited two
rookies,
another Malaysian rider, Wazi Abdul Hamid (1996 125 cc. Underbone champion) and myself.
I feel very proud to be
the first Indonesian rider
ever recruited by a foreign team like this marvelous team. So
Marlboro Team Roberts Asia 1997
consisted of the three riders and Robbie Petersen was still the team manager.
Kenny Roberts Training Ranch:
Kenny Roberts also built a training facility for his teams and other racers. It's located in
Montmelo, 20 miles from Barcelona, Spain, side by side with Circuit de Catalunya, one of the World Grand Prix venues.
This facility has two dirt track circuits. According to Kenny Roberts, dirt tracking is one of basic skills that every motorcyle road racer must have. Many excellent racers have sharpened their skills at KRTR, Randy Mamola, Wayne Rainey, Luca Cadalora, Norifumi Abe, John Kocinski, and Carlos Checa are some of them.
I was lucky enough to be given chances to train in this wonderful facility. The first time I was
there was in January 1997. I was sent there by Marlboro Yamaha Team Indonesia together with two
other Indonesian riders, Ade Taruna and Petrus Canisius. After that I have been there twice, in March and in June 1997.
Each training session there lasted for two weeks. During these session I was undaunted by the relentless training of Jimmy Felice and Larry Duncarton, former US dirt track racers.
Asia Road Racing Championship 1997:
The championship consisted of six rounds. It had four categories: 250 cc. Sport Production, 150 cc. Sport Production, 125 cc. Underbone, and 110 cc. Underbone.
My team, MTRA, only competed in 250 cc. Sport Production. We rode Yamaha TZM 250s, very fast machines.
Round 1: Pasir Gudang Circuit, Malaysia.
This was my first experience in an international road race and I was the youngest rider on the starting line.
My team manager, Robbie Petersen, didn't burden me with any target in that season. "Just race well and reach the finish
line," he said. I finished in 13th place.
Round 2: Nakonchiasri Circuit, Thailand.
It was a wet race. The rain poured down onto the 2.5 kms long track. This condition gave me a little advantage.
Used to be a motorcross rider, I was accustomed to the wet slippery track. I finished in 7th place just ahead of my team mate, Wazi.
Round 3: Prembudur Circuit, Madras, India.
The bumpy surface and tricky corners caused many riders to fall down. After battling with a Japanese rider, Kawase, I managed to finish in 4th place.
Round 4: Sentul Circuit, Indonesia.
This was my home race. The crowds demanded me to race well, I knew that. Due to a new layer of asphalt, the tires lost traction easily if you were careless. In fact, several riders fell down on the hot tropical track. I, thankfully, finished in 4th place once again.
Round 5: Subic Bay Circuit, Philippines.
This track was formerly the US military runway. It had deadly corners but the surface condition was good. I fell down in lap 15 of 18 laps, while defending my 4th position. Luckily, nothing was
damaged, I was able to continue the race and touched the finish line in 6th place.
Round 6: Pasir Gudang Circuit, Malaysia.
ARRC 1997 began and ended at this circuit. I finished in 7th place, much improved compared with my first race here.
In the
overall standings
I reached 4th position after my team mate, Chow Yan Kit, Kuan Meng Heng (1996 250 cc.
champ), and Yoichi Nakajima. My other team mate, Wazi, did well too, he grabbed the 7th place.
On this page you will learn about me and my racing career.