The FIM Asia Road Racing Championship’s second round at The Bend Motorsport Park will be Azlan Shah Kamaruzaman’s best chance to gain the SuperSports 600cc title lead.
The newly-opened 4.9km circuit in South Australia represents a level playing field for teams and riders alike. The FIM Asia Road Racing Championship, together with the Australian Superbike Championship, will be the first major motorcycle race events to take place at The Bend.
The Manual Tech KYT Kawasaki Racing rider, who is also the defending champion of the premiere class, scored two third place finishes in Round 1 at the Chang International Circuit and is presently second on the championship ladder behind Anthony West.
However, the top-end of the SuperSports 600cc grid in Australia will see a number of absentees. Notably, championship leader Anthony West who has World SSP duties and Zaqhwan Zaidi whose focus this year would be the All Japan JSB1000 in preparation for the eventual introduction of the ASB1000 class in 2019.
“Rider adaptability and ability to give accurate data and feedback to their respective team engineers will be the key to winning this race. In that sense, the senior riders would probably have a slight advantage over the younger set,” said Azlan.
The Malaysian’s key competitors are expected to be Thailand’s Decha Kraisart, and Japanese duo Tomoyoshi Koyama as well as Yuki Ito.
SuperSports 600cc Provisional Entry List
| NO | NAME | COMP NO | TEAM NAME | NAT | MAKE |
| 1 | Broc Pearson*** | 12 | AUS | Yamaha | |
| 2 | Irfan Ardiansyah. | 16 | Astra Honda Racing Team | INA | Honda |
| 3 | Tom Toparis*** | 17 | Cube Racing | AUS | Kawasaki |
| 4 | Azroy Hakeem Anuar | 20 | Musashi Boon Siew Honda | MAS | Honda |
| 5 | Taiga Hada | 23 | Idemitsu Honda Racing India by T.Pro Ten10 | JPN | Honda |
| 6 | Decha Kraisart | 24 | YAMAHA Thailand Racing TEAM | THA | Yamaha |
| 7 | Azlan Shah Kamaruzaman | 25 | Manual Tech KYT Kawasaki Racing | MAS | Kawasaki |
| 8 | Andi Farid Izdihar | 27 | Astra Honda Racing Team | INA | Honda |
| 9 | Patrick Li | 29 | Webike IKAZUCHI Racing | AUS | Yamaha |
| 10 | Md Ramdan Rosli | 32 | Hong Leong YAMAHA Malaysia | MAS | Yamaha |
| 11 | Ahmad Yudhistira | 33 | Manual Tech KYT Kawasaki Racing | INA | Kawasaki |
| 12 | Scott Nicholson*** | 39 | NextGen Motorsports | AUS | Suzuki |
| 13 | Ratthapong Wilairot | 56 | YAMAHA Thailand Racing TEAM | THA | Yamaha |
| 14 | Keminth Kubo | 64 | YAMAHA Racing Team ASEAN | THA | Yamaha |
| 15 | Muhammad Ibrahim Norrodin | 66 | ZK Racing Kawasaki | MAS | Kawasaki |
| 16 | Yuki Ito | 76 | YAMAHA Racing Team ASEAN | JPN | Yamaha |
| 17 | Md Afiq Azmi | 80 | ONEXOX TKKR Racing Team | MAS | Yamaha |
| 18 | Keisuke Kurihara | 88 | A.P. Honda Racing Thailand | JPN | Honda |
| 19 | Md Muzakkir Mohamed | 92 | ONEXOX TKKR Racing Team | MAS | Yamaha |
| 20 | Passawit Thitivararak | 123 | A.P Honda Racing Thailand | THA | Honda |
| 21 | Kasma Daniel Kasmayudin | 127 | Hong Leong YAMAHA Malaysia | MAS | Yamaha |
| 22 | Tomoyoshi Koyama | 634 | Musashi Boon Siew Honda | JPN | Honda |
| 23 | TBC** | TBC | Webike IKAZUCHI Racing | Yamaha |