He was a stand-out rider in the Malaysian/Asian RR Champs, but the general perception was that he had an awful lot of Air Asia money thrown at him. There are other riders as good, but without the backing. That being said, he has improved immeasurably with three seasons in GPs. Last year he got three fastest laps - always an indicator of ability.
A second year with Ajo will be good for him - that man seems to have the knack for nurturing talent - and I think he has shown enough now to be able to get backing in his own right, rather than be an Air Asia protege. Competition in RB KTM Ajo mut be fierce, with Arthur Sissis and Louis Salom as team-mates.
There are some damned good riders in these parts - just need to hang around downtown Penang to see what they can do five-wide into a corner on 150cc step-throughs
Having a few decent tracks has helped SE Asian motorsport a lot - Shah Alam was ok, but is suffering from lack of maintenance, Sepang is fantastic and there are a few others worthy of a visit. Sentul (IND), Penbay (TAIW) and Zhuhai (CHN), as well as Losail in Qatar, now (Asia? Really?).
Tomi Koyama is racing in the ARRC this year, as is <span style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif;font-size:13px;Katsuaki Fujiwara. There have been guest appearances by various Euro-based SBK riders and the odd Septic, as well as fast Aussie kids trying out the big time.
If Khairuddin keeps on developing in the way he has since joining Ajo, he has every chance to be in the top five, with a win certainly not out of the question.
World Champion? Hard to say - getting to the front and staying there isn't only about talent.
