Astra Honda’s Andi Farid Izdihar completed a statistically perfect weekend by adding a Supersport 600 Race 2 win to the pole position and Race 1 he achieved on Saturday in ARRC Round 5 at Sentul International Circuit, Indonesia.
The first half of the race looked much like the previous day’s, as Ahmad Yudhistira rocketed away from the middle of the front row to take the lead. Farid struggled to get away cleanly and Zaqwan Zaidi and Ratthapong Wilairot pushed him back to fourth. By the end of the first lap, the red and white Honda was through to second and began pushing his compatriot’s Kawasaki for the lead, while Zaqwan tagged on, looking intent on making the most of the absence of championship rivals, Anthony West and Yuki Ito. Ratthapong Wilairot tried to stay with the leaders, but was two tenths of a second a lap off their pace and slowly drifted back, while Farid’s team-mate, Irfan Adiyansyah, contested fifth place with Decha Kraisart, Azlan Shah Kamaruzaman, and Tomoyoshi Koyama in a group behind.
The pattern of the race began to change from lap nine of 16, as tyre wear became an increasing factor and Zaqwan lost touch with the fight at the front. After a few rehearsals, Farid got past Yudhistira, who, after an initial attempt to fight back, slipped out of reach of the leader. Meanwhile, Yamaha Thailand’s Rattaphong got the better of Zaqwan and moved away to make a Honda-Kawasaki-Yamaha podium look likely. Further back, Azlan Shah was not having an easy time in the dispute over fifth, which was being led by Irfan.
Farid’s lead increased in the last few laps, as Yudhistira struggled on the Manual Tech KTY Kawasaki’s worn Dunlops and he took his second win of the weekend by more than three seconds. Ratthapong was another two seconds behind, resisting a last lap charge by Zaqwan, who was fourth. Irfan took fifth as he, Decha, Azlan and Koyama all crossed the line within four tenths of a second. Keminth Kubo and Taiga Hada were ninth and tenth, while Ramdan Rosli, Sheridan Morais, Kasma Daniel Kasmayudin, Zulfahmi Kairudin Amirul Hafiq Azmi took the remaining point scoring positions.
While it is still unknown whether West will race in the final round at Buriram, he leads the championship by 34 points from Azlan, who added just 17 at Sentul. Three points behind Azlan, Farid and Yudhistira are tied on 99, while Zaqwan has 94 and Koyama 91. With 50 points on the board, all five riders have a chance of winning the title.