ASB 1000: doubles all round in race two
It was double podiums all round at Sepang as Azlan Shah Kamaruzaman scored his fifth win of the year and Thitipong Warakorn and Apiwat Wongthananon sealed a brace of seconds and thirds respectively.
Flu-struck Thitipong shot through from row two at the start to lead into turn one, chased hard by long time Thai rival, Apiwat and Broc Parkes, who looked in better shape than he had in race one. Zaqhwan and Azlan, who had made a poor start, led the chase behind the first three.
Zaqhwan began to slip back and Frederico Sandi showed that his race one performance had been no fluke by moving past both Malaysians and Ahmad Yudhistira into fourth place on lap five.
Then Azlan began to move up, passing Frederico, Broc and Apiwat to take second and put Thitipong under pressure. Apiwat stayed in the hunt as Azlan went through to take the lead on lap 8. Thitipong hung on, as Apiwat continued to breath down his neck and Broc remained fourth until lap 10, when Zaqhwan got through. The Honda man almost immediately lost the front, but found his inner Marc Marquez to recover without losing his track position. Frederico dropped down the order after lap seven, as his Dunlop-munching Panigale became increasingly wayward. Yudhistira lowsided off on lap 10.
Azlan looked comfortable on the last lap, stroking his BMW to his fifth win of the year with a margin of 1.2 seconds, as Thitipong fought off the attentions of Apiwat. Zaqhwan finished fourth, while Broc took fifth place just behind him. Yuki Ito, Frederico, Ratthapong, Chaiwichit Nisakul and Ali Adriansyah Rusmiputro completed the top ten.
Broc Parkes will go into the final round on 212 points to Azlan’s 193 and Zaqhwan’s 166.
Supersport 600: Peerapong equals Fujiwara’s record of eight wins
With the pressure of winning the ARRC Supersport title lifted from his shoulders, Yamaha Thailand’s Peerapong Boonlert was back to his imperious best for race two. The newly crowned champion absorbed as much pressure as Kasma Daniel Kasmayudin and Ramdan Rosli could pile on and took his eighth win of the year. In the history books, this puts him level with Katsuake Fujiwara’s 2011 record ahead of the last round of the season, which will be at Peerapong’s home track.
When the red lights went out, Kasma got away well from pole position to lead Peerapong, Azroy and Ramdan. Helmi Azman also made a bright start.
Peerapong took a wide line at turn 13, getting good drive to slingshot past Kasma into first place to lead from the second lap. Musashi Boon Siew Honda’s Helmi crashed at the beginning of lap two, but team-mate Azroy kept himself in touch with the three Yamahas at the front, briefly getting in front of Ramdan.
Andi Farid Izdihar was one second back from the leading four and in front of Izam, Afif and Rheza. Meanwhile, Peerapong looked to be back to his early season form: fast, smooth and controlling the race from the front. Azroy hung on doggedly to the three Yamahas in front of him, while, one second further back, Izam got the better of Andi. Another five seconds behind the Astra Honda, Passawit, Amran and Rheza squabbled over seventh.
The front three: Peerapong, Kasma and Ramdan, stayed in formation. On the last lap Kasma closed the gap, got his nose in front and then led the run down to the last corner. Peerapong went in tight, then went round the outside of the Hong Leong Yamaha, getting enough drive off the kerb to get him to the line 32 thousandths in front of Kasma. SIC ZK Racing’s Izam Ikmal was fourth from Azroy, who was again the best of the Honda riders.
The jubilation from Peerapong and the Yamaha Thailand team in pit lane revealed how much they had been feeling the pressure of winning the championship since round four at Suzuka. Their celebrations of this win were demonstrably more joyful than they had been 24 hours earlier, when they sealed the Supersport title for the second year in succession.
The standings are well spread out ahead of the final round. Peerapong has 264 points, Kasma has 183 and Adam Norrodin, who was absent on GP duty, has 125.
AP 250: Awhin wins, as Fadly scrambles back to the top
There was trouble before the start for Izzat Nazirul Bauhauddin, as his ONEXOX TKKR SAG Yamaha was pushed off the grid as the field was about to set off on the warm-up lap. The team fixed the bike, but Izzat had to start from pit lane.
AP Honda’s Muklada Sarapuech was the last rider to settle into her grid position and was first away from pole as the field tore down to turn one. Andy Fadly quickly got past and led the way over the line for the start of lap two from Muklada, Awhin, Iyoshi, Irfan, Rey Ratukore and Rafid Topan Sucipto. The AP Honda rider reasserted herself to lead the field into lap three, chased by Irfan and Fadly.
Piyawat moved up amongst the contenders on lap, only to get tangled with two other riders to suffer his second crash of the weekend. The incident opened up the field and Muklada got back to the front.
On lap five Awhin, Lucky and Rey Ratukore moved into contention and these four began to open a gap to Rafid, who led the chase a few bike lengths further back. With two laps remaining, Rafid and Fadly moved back to within striking distance, as Muklada maintained her lead.
As they started the last lap, Muklada, Awhin and Fadly had clear air back to the Rey, but the group soon bunched up again. Rafid went down at the back of the circuit and, as the bikes fanned out under breaking for turn 14, Awhin and Fadly got in front of the Thai rider, who highsided at the exit to record her fifth DNF of the season. At the line, 48 hundredths of a second separated Awhin and Fadly, and Rey got through to third in front of Astra’s Lucky and Irfan.
In the standings Andy Fadly returns to the top. He and Irfan are equal on 176, but Fadly leads because he has more wins. Awhin Sanjaya is third on 162, while Muklada has 127.
Underbone 150: Haziq takes his first win of 2019
A wide-open race two was anticipated, after race one winner and championship leader, Akid Aziz, was handed a ride through penalty for kicking out at Aldi Satya Mahendra on Saturday; his title rival, McKinley Kyle Paz, was again starting from 35th place. The Filipino had missed qualifying on Friday after a heavy crash in free practice.
Akid, with his penalty in mind, got away fast from pole position to lead the drag into turn one. Jousting around the opening lap with Fernando Masato, Affendi Rosli, Izzat Zaidi and UMA team-mate Haziq Fairues, Akid went straight on into pit entry at the final turn to take his punishment early. He rejoined the race behind Kyle Paz, who was already making his way through the field.
As now seems inevitable, 13-year-old Aldi got closer to the front as the six lap race progressed. SND Factory had a miserable race, with both Gupita Kresna crashing and Wawan Wello breaking down. Haziq looked stronger and more comfortable at the front, getting into the last corner first and ahead of the chaos behind as four riders went down in the braking zone. He got to the chequered flag in front of ONEXOX TKKR’s Faiz Zekri Sabri and Aldi, who claimed another podium. Team One for All’s Peerapong Luiboonpeng led the next group over the line, with Izzat Zaidi and Aiman Azman on his tail. Akid recovered to finish 13th, while Kyle Paz came through to 10th.
Akid leads the standings with 119 points from McKinley, who has 111. Haziq moves up to third, with 98, while Aldi is fourth on 81.