Redemption of a Mat Rempit
Interview by Satiman Jamin
WHEN most people say their life was full of hairpins and turns, it would be just an expression. But for me, it would be literally true, because now I am striving to stop youths from doing what I had done earlier in life — being a Mat Rempit.
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| BIKE REPAIRS: Norizal Mohamed’s motorcycle workshop. |
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| GETTING THE RIGHT FIT: Norizal Mohamed (right) discussing with a colleague engine repair works. |
I started motorcycle racing illegally at the age of 13, about four years after I had befriended a group of illegal racers. It was the culmination of a very wild childhood instead of the start of it, something I would surely change if I could turn back the clock.
It was nobody’s fault but mine and mine alone, as my parents, elder siblings and relatives had done all they could to make me change my ways. But all the lectures, talks and even beatings had no effect on me.
The teachers in school had even less effect. I raced even on schooldays without much care for school and my studies.
Racing took precedence over all other things. I raced and crashed two days before my Form Three Penilaian Menengah Rendah examinations, which I took at the Batu Pahat Hospital with the help of a nurse there because I could not hold a pen or pencil with all my limbs in cast.
I did not continue my studies after that, having lost all interest in formal education.
My life took a turn for the better when Mohd Hatta Turin, who hailed from my village, became a big name in the local motorcycle racing.
I would not have minded if someone were to do well in other things, but I was jolted into reality when someone from my own village gained official recognition as a racer.
Only the achievement of a fellow racer could stir me into taking hold of my life, acknowledging for the first time that I would get nowhere if I continued with my wild ways. And my regrets soon turned into resolve to put my life in order.
Thus, I started my career as a novice racer at 18, the youngest legal age to apply for a racing licence those days.
I was involved in drug abuse long before I started racing illegally, but I stopped taking drugs when I started my racing career.
Incredibly, I managed to quit drugs cold turkey, knowing if I were caught with a banned substance in my system, I would lose my racing licence.
The rush and euphoria I got when I was astride a racing bike on a track was more powerful than the drug-induced high, and I soon forgot about drugs altogether.
The excitement of racing for the first time drove me wild, causing me to crash at the very first corner of the Temerloh Suzuki Cub Prix as I rode the machine well beyond its capacity to respond to my commands.
I learnt from the seniors like Amirul Hizam Ngarip, Shahrul Nizam Tamrin, Wazi Abdul Hamid, M. Meganathan and Chow Tuck Cheong.
I really admired Chow’s discipline. He always turned up about half an hour before even the engineer and chief mechanic arrived, and after that he would proceed to jog without saying a word.
After many races and podium finishes, in 2000, I decided to work as a mechanic and raced only on a part-time basis.
After working in three workshops, I opened my own workshop at my rented house in Wadi Hana, Johor Baru, catering to friends who knew me from my racing days.
I was only able to open a proper workshop in 2005, and with that I got involved in racing again, this time as a bike owner.
The cost of entering a race is prohibitive, but my passion for the sport saw me dumping whatever I earned into the necessary spares for my racing bikes.
It was my turn now to sponsor budding riders, even if I had to part ways with my hard-earned money.
From 2005 until now, I have spent more than RM280,000 on my bikes, recovering less than a quarter of it when my riders win races. However, I am not fretting over it.
I would really like to guide the illegal racers back into the folds of society, and I am confident it could be done because racers like them would only listen to someone they respected — a veteran racer like me.
Norizal Mohamed was a champion racer, dominating the Kawasaki Cup from 1999 to 2000. Since 2005, he has trained budding riders to race his bikes.
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