Indonesian ace riders Roy Adrianto and Hardi Fadillah along with fellow rider Chuchat Sohmanee will be cited by Norkis-Yamaha executives during the grand launch of the new Yamaha Sniper 135 which they rode in Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam and the Philippines. Luis Quisumbing, Norkis Gorup of Companies president, will hand-over the special award.

Travelling from end to end on each of the six ASEAN countries, the three riders endured the body ache brought about by the long hours of riding and at times, homesickness, while they tested the dependability of the Yamaha Sniper 135 on the finest and worst road networks in South East Asia.

The Yamaha PAN ASEAN tour started in Indonesia last November and the grand finale will be at the Greenhills Shopping Center Promenade Area in San Juan capping the 2,328-km Philippine Leg.

Roy, Hardi and Chuchat were the only ones who completed the historic tour on motorcycle that opened the gateway to the six Pan ASEAN nations despite being separated by huge bodies of water. Yamaha authorities dubbed their 15,000-kilometer path that linked the six Southeast Asian countries as "The Pan ASEAN Road Network."

"Such kind of event will never happen again. It is a very rare, historic trip," said Adrianto, an advertising executive who was a motocross and underbone race competitor in Indonesia. "It is a once in a lifetime experience for me," he added. He owns the Sinar Cup Advertising Agency in Semarang, Indonesia.

Twenty-year-old Hardi, on the other hand, had to take a break from school in order to complete the Pan ASEAN tour. He was supposed to be in third year college taking up economics when he signed up for Yamaha Indonesia.

Considered the "baby" in the group, Hardi even had to endure an asthma attack triggered by the cold weather in Northern Thailand last January.

For Hardi, fighting homesickness meant phoning home. Still single, he would call up his family and his girl friend every two days using a locally bought SIM card.

Lester Dizon of Philippine Star, who is among the Filipino riders who joined the Pan ASEAN for Norkis-Yamaha, remembered one incident when Hardi almost hit a truck when he fell asleep while riding the T-135 as a result of extreme riding fatigue.

The Yamaha riders averaged 200 to 300 kilometers a day. In the 4,500-kilometer Indonesia Leg, there