ASB 1000: Parkes takes win number three at Zhuhai
Air and track temperatures continued to scorch machines and riders on Sunday, there was a very different look to ASB 1000 race two. Broc Parkes, who had been out of sorts with a front brake problem on Saturday, got his Yamaha Racing ASEAN R1 hooked up perfectly for race two to take a relatively comfortable win. Zaqhwan Zaidi, meanwhile, who had been a fast, inch-perfect winner of race one, had a real fight on his hands, as Azlan Shah Kamaruzaman also turned things around after the previous day’s DNF. Yuki Ito followed up his race one P2 with third place after edging Zaqhwan off the podium and Thitipong continued his comeback from injury by finishing fifth, just 2.9 seconds behind the winner.
Zaqhwan got off to a good start, as did Azlan, who looked confident on the ONEXOX TKKR SAG BMW. He harrassed the Honda Asia Dream Racing by Showa rider while keeping Parkes, Thitipong, Ito and Apiwat Wongthananon at bay behind him. Apiwat’s challenge ended on lap three when he retired with his front brake faded away. Ito passed Thitipong for fourth and Parkes passed Azlan for second.
Parkes took the lead on lap five and did what he does best, putting a series of fast, consistent laps together to open a gap of more than a second at the front. Zaqhwan and Azlan grappled for second behind him, shadowed by Ito and Thitipong.
A forced error by Zaqhwan let Azlan through to second and Ito through to third. He fought back, briefly recovering to second before running wide again to let Azlan and Ito through.
Having open up a lead of 2.5 seconds, Parkes eased up on the last two laps to take the chequered flag by 1.4 seconds from Azlan. A further one second back, Ito held off Zaqhwan for third and Thitipong followed closely into fifth. Nine seconds behind the Thai Kawasaki, Mark Aitchison was the first of the wildcards home in sixth in front of Ahmad Yudhistira and Ratthapong Wilairot. Kawasaki Thailand’s Chaiwichit Nisakul was ninth and wildcard Li Zheng Peng completed the top ten.
It was a good weekend’s work for Broc, finishing fourth when he had problems in race one and taking his third win of the season when everything came together. His tally at the top of the standings is now 188, 35 clear of Zaqhwan and 45 from Azlan. Yuki Ito is in a solid fourth position with 131 points.
Supersport 600: Kasma takes revenge and notches first win
The Supersport 600 class again delivered the race of the day, thanks to another nerve-jangling battle between the three Yamahas of Kasma Daniel Kasmayudin, Adam Norrodin and Peerapong Boonlert.
Kasma converted his pole position to a first lap lead ahead of Peerapong, Andi Farid Izdihar, Adam and Ramdan Rosli, who was quickly sidelined by a mechanical issue to make his weekend literally pointless. Andi made it to half distance before crashing out again. The Astra Honda man made it back to the pits before realising there were only fourteen bikes left, so returned to the race to pick up the single championship point that was going begging.
Peerapong moved into the lead, but Kasma took it back and then Adam relegated the championship leader to third. A battle of pride ensued between the two young Malaysians, which again came down to the last corner. This time positions were reversed, as Norrodin, into the turn first, was forced wide by Kasma, who held his line and powered to the chequered flag to win by 0.075s. Peerapong, who had placed himself perfectly to take advantage of any clash between the two bikes in front of him was just half a bike length back in third.
More than seven seconds further back, Azroy Hakeen Anuar was the first Honda home in front of AP Honda’s Passawit Thitiwararak, his Musashi Boon Siew Honda team-mate, Helmi Azman, Rheza Danica Ahrens, who was seventh from Kritchaporn Kaewsonthi. Victor Racing’s Javier Orellana Malloy was ninth in front of Ma Sai, who was the first of the wildcards.
In the championship tables there remains a mathematical chance of Peerapong not winning the title. He is now on 223 points, a lead of 80 over Kasma with 100 points left on the table in the last four races of 2019. Adam Norrodin is 98 points behind Peerpong on 125.
AP250: Rafid completes double win for Bike Corner SYS KYT Racing
Rafid Topan Sucipto, in just his second outing on the Bike Corner SYS KYT Honda is taking two winner’s trophies back home to Indonesia. With doubles usually the preserve of manufacturer supported teams it was an extraordinary achievement by the 25-year-old, coming through a close-fought, incident-packed race two.
Following race one results, Astra Honda’s Irfan Ardiansyah and Awhin Sanjaya joined Andy Fadly, Aiki Iyoshi and Muklada Sarapuech in the elite group that had earned themselves a 500rpm cut in their maximum rev limit.
Starting from pole position, Rafid kept himself close to the front as he had done on Saturday. Once again, all three Astra Hondas featured in the leading group together, this time with all three AP Hondas. For the Thai team, Tatchakorn Buasri looked especially strong, Muklada Sarapuech was as fast and aggressive as ever, while Piyawat Patoomyos looked comfortable, just behind his compatriots. Championship leader Fadly began to lose touch with the front group on lap two.
As the 10 lap race progressed it was Irfan, Tatchakorn and Awhin who featured most prominently in the front two or three riders, with Muklada and Rafid also taking turns in the lead as the competition reached boiling point in the last two laps.
Muklada started the final lap in first position, with Irfan, Rafid, Tatchakorn, Piywat, Awhin and Lucky Hendriansiah all within reach of the podium. Muklada ran wide and dropped four places, leaving Rafid in the lead from Irfan. As she fought back, she tangled with Tatchakorn in the final turn, sending both riders down heavily, together with Awhin. Clear of the chaos behind, Rafid and Irfan crossed the line half a bike length apart in first and second and Piyawat led home those who managed to ride safely around the two stricken AP Hondas. Lucky was fourth from Rey Ratukore, Anggi Setiawan, Muzakir and Nazirul Izzat Bahauddin. Fadly finished ninth, just holding off Sethu Rajiv and Suttipat Patchaetron.
Irfan’s consistency and a relatively quiet weekend for Fadly means that the Manual Tech KYT Kawasaki rider’s leading points total of 145 is just five ahead of Irfan. Awhin is third on 123 and Muklada fourth on 107.
Canny Akid claims race two
UMA Racing Malaysia’s Akid Aziz made up for a disappointing race one at Zhuhai International Circuit, when he was held up by the mistakes of others on the last lap, by taking a superbly judged victory in race two. The race initially was red-flagged when a crash at turn 4 by Richard Taroreh and Izzat Raduan left debris on the track. The mess was quickly cleared up and the race restarted with a reduced distance of six laps.
Many of the usual suspects took turns at the front, including 13-year-old pole man, Satya Aldi Mahendra, Ahmad Fazli Sham, Gupita Kresna and Wahyu Aji Trilaksana, Haziq Fairues and UMA Racing Philippines duo, McKinley Kyle Paz and Fernando Masato, who were riding high after their one-two on Saturday.
On the final lap, Akid made his way through the pack to get into the last corner ahead of danger and sprinted to the line 51 hundredths in front of Fazli Sham, with a similar gap to Wahyu, who notched up his second podium of the season for ONEXOX TKKR SAG.
Hot on the heels of the podium finishers were Akid’s ream-mate, Haziq Fairues, Kyle Paz, Masato and Mahendra.
Wawan Wello’s race one woes were compounded when a mechanical failure took him out of contention. His misfortunes have dropped him from first to fifth in the standings, while Kyle Paz has moved to the top with 95 points, four ahead of Akid. Fazli lies third with 81.