2016 Round6

Zaqhwan Zaidi’s victory at the Chang International Circuit handed a fifth consecutive FIM Asian title into the hands of team MUSASHi Boon Siew Honda Racing. The 21-year-old rider continued a five-year trend of the Malaysian racing outfit’s reign at the top of the Asian motorcycle racing arena. Team MUSASHi Boon Siew Honda’s rising star began with Ryuichi Kiyonari in 2012, followed by Azlan Shah Kamaruzaman in 2013, Zaqhwan Zaidi in 2014, and Yuki Takahashi in 2015. Zaqhwan became the first rider from the Honda marquee to win the title twice. “Out of the five championship titles that we had won, this year’s battle reminded us of 2014. Coming into the final race, we knew that the odds were very slim. When the first practice started and we saw how well prepared the Yamaha Thailand team was, we had to face the reality that not only the podium was out of reach, but Zaqhwan had to finish three spots ahead of Koyama,” said Zulhelmi Ahmad, team manager of team MUSASHi Boon Siew Honda. “While the team did the best we could to prepare the bikes for Zaqhwan and Yuki Takahashi, we did not apply undue pressure on either riders. At this level of competition, the riders themselves want the win as badly as we do. Any extra pressure could lead to disastrous results. A good example was how Takahashi’s fighting spirit led him into crashing out of Lap 1, all because he was too eager to catch up to the front and opened up on the gas too early at the exit of Turn 2.” “This year’s title was one of the most difficult. There was simply no room for mistake. On paper, it looked like our team had an easy time dominating the championship for five whole years. But in reality, each title was hard won as the level of competition kept increasing from year to year. This time, we learnt a very valuable lesson – not to take the wildcards for granted. Decha Kraisart and Chalermpol Polamai’s dominating performance at the Chang International Circuit almost changed the course of the title chase.”

MUSASHi Boon Siew Honda rider Mohd Zaqhwan Zaidi became the FIM Asian SuperSports 600cc champion for the second time in his career when he did just enough to lift the 2016 trophy at the final leg of the FIM Asia Road Racing Championship in Buriram, Thailand. When the race weekend began, the 21-year-old Malaysian was one of four riders within shot of the title. The unexpected results from Race 1 on Saturday whittled the field down to only two when defending champion Yuki Takahashi and Azlan Shah Kamaruzaman were eliminated from the title chase. As the 19 SuperSports 600cc riders lined up on the grid for Race 2, there were only six points separating championship leader Tomoyoshi Koyama to Zaqhwan. In order for Koyama to win the title, all he had to do was shadow Zaqhwan for the entirety of the 18-lap race. On the other hand, Zaqhwan would need to hunt down a 6-point advantage over his Japanese rival. The final race of the season flagged off with Zaqhwan starting from seventh on the grid. Ahead of him, team Yamaha Thailand Racing stamped their authority on the Chang International Circuit when long-time collaborators Decha Kraisart and Chalermpol Polamai effortlessly swept into the lead. As the two Thai riders created a gap at the front of the field, Azlan Shah lost third position to Australian Anthony West. While the leading group sped away at the front, Zaqhwan and Koyama were initially stranded within the third group, fighting against Indonesians Ahmad Yudhistira and Dimas Ekky Pratama. Koyama stuck close to Zaqhwan’s bike for the first eight laps. At that point, the Japanese rider would have won the title. Unfortunately for Koyama, disaster struck at the midway point of the race. The Japanese rider was forced to the side of the track when his engine malfunctioned at the start of Lap 9. This automatically handed the title to Zaqhwan, on the condition that the MUSASHi Boon Siew Honda rider must finish the race within the top 10. Zaqhwan was well within target, pacing consistently in ninth position. A second windfall at the last corner, when Zaqhwan’s own team mate Yuki Takahashi ran wide, boosted the Malaysian rider’s position and allowed him to better his finishing position in sixth place. The results from Race 2 brought Zaqhwan’s points haul to a total of 162 points. Koyama is second overall with 158 points while Azlan Shah Kamaruzaman ended the season in third overall with 142 points. “I honestly did not know that I had won the title. There was no information on my pit board and I was unaware that Koyama had retired halfway through the race. I was just focusing on pacing myself and making sure that I finished as high as I could. I was surprised to be greeted by the pitlane marshalls and instructed to ride to the podium. That was when I saw my team celebrating our fifth Asian win,” said Zaqhwan. The final race was won by Decha Kraisart with a time of 29’56.605s, Chalermpol in second place with 29’57.533s and Anthony West in third with 29’59.565s.

In keeping with the Yamaha momentum in Round 6 of the FIM Asia Road Racing Championship, compatriots and team mates Decha Kraisart, Chalermpol Polamai and Anucha Nakcharoensri reigned supreme on their home track during Race 1 of the SuperSports 600cc. However, all eyes were on the four title contenders who were fighting to become the 2016 FIM Asian Champion. As Decha and his team mates raced uncontested at the front of the 600cc grid, title defender Yuki Takahashi looked strong at the start of the 18-lap race until he crashed out at the exit of Turn 2 on Lap 1. Behind the Yamaha trio, Malaysian rider Azlan Shah Kamaruzaman was embroiled in a big fight against Anthony West and Indonesia’s Dimas Ekky Pratama. Further down the field, championship leaders Tomoyoshi Koyama and Mohd Zaqhwan Zaidi found themselves fighting for track position against Yuki Ito and Ahmad Yudhistira. The battle royale between the four riders would have a big impact on the title chase. Fully aware of the situation, Koyama and Zaqhwan put in superb performances as they jousted against each other to get ahead. When the chequered flag came down for Decha at 30’00.113s, Azlan pipped West to the finish line to finish fourth. However, this was not enough to keep him in the title hunt. In Race 2, Azlan will be expected to fight against Yuki Takahashi to defend third overall position. Zaqhwan gained a small reprieve when he finished seventh ahead of Koyama. After Race 1, Koyama now leads with 158 points followed by Zaqhwan with 152 points. The 6-point margin between the two riders meant that, should Zaqhwan win Race 2, Koyama must finish second in order to take his first Asian title. “Before this race, everyone was saying that the wildcards could not impact the championship. This is clearly untrue. They can easily spoil the party for us if I cannot match or outrun the pace of the Yamaha machines,” said Zaqhwan. Elsewhere in the SuperSports 600cc results sheet, Round 5 double winner Anthony West finished fifth, followed by Dimas Ekky in sixth. Wildcard Hikari Okubo took 12th place while Zulfahmi Khairuddin finished 15th. In the preoccupation over the riders’ title chase in the SuperSports 600cc class, many had overlooked that the Team Award title had fallen into team MUSASHi Boon Siew Honda for the fifth consecutive time. Even though defending champion Yuki Takahashi dropped out of Race 1 in the final leg of the 2016 season, Zaqhwan Zaidi’s seventh place finish was enough to hand the title back to the Malaysian racing outfit.