If there was one weakness that has marred the promising career of Indonesian rider Rafid Topan Sucipto, it would be his lack of consistency. Brilliant one day, india the next, it has always been hard to predict what Rafid would do in any given race.
However, Rafid displayed none of that at the Zhuhai International Circuit when he picked up a double AP250 win from the 4.3km circuit. All eyes were on the Bike Corner SYS KYT Racing Team rider when he lined up on pole position – would he repeat his Race 1 feat?
Rafid struggled at the start of the race, dropping quickly from pole to fourth on Lap 1 as Andy Muhammad Fadly, Awhin Sanjaya, and Tatchakorn Buasri took charge of the 10-lap race.
The newly applied equalizer rule on Awhin and Irfan had done little to slow the pace of the two Astra Honda Racing Team riders. The duo had been able to quickly adjust to the reduction in power and were dominant in the first half of the race.
By Lap 8, with two laps remaining, Rafid was still hunkered down in P6, deep within the leading group. The Indonesian rider finally made his move on the penultimate lap, moving up three spots to get into position for the final push to the finish line.
When Muklada Sarapuech powered her way past Awhin and Irfan into the lead, Rafid tucked himself into her slipstream. With only half a lap remaining, the Indonesian rider successfully got past Muklada and stormed to his second win of the weekend with 19’10.448s
Irfan Ardiansyah claimed the second spot with 19’10.541s followed by a jubilant Piyawat Patoomyos in third. This would be Piyawat’s first podium of the season.
The AP250 Race 2 was a strategically important race for championship leader Andy Muhammad Fadly. After Race 1, Fadly was 47 points ahead of his team mate Aiki Iyoshi. Under the equalizer rules in the AP250 class, a second equalizer would be imposed should Fadly’s lead margin extend beyond 50 points against that of the fifth placed rider. In this case, to avoid the second equalizer, Fadly had to rein in his performance in Race 2. In other words, he had to lose the battle in order to win the war.
Fadly finished the race in P9 to add seven more points to his points haul while his team mate Aiki Iyoshi picked up none after crashing out on Lap 2. Luckily for Andy, Aiki has dropped down to sixth overall while Lucky Hendriansya is now fifth with 97 points. Andy’s 145 points at the top of the table is 48 points clear of Lucky’s position. Therefore, the second equalizer will not take effect just yet.