Supersports 600

A controversial second round in Thailand behind him, Australian rider Anthony West made a strong comeback into the SuperSports 600cc class of the 2017 FIM Asia Road Racing Championship when he bagged a double win at the Suzuka Circuit in Japan. The Akeno Speed rider put in a smart performance throughout the 13-lap race. A slow start placed him squarely in the middle of the chasing swarm but the experienced rider took his time as he picked one competitor off after another. The race pace heated up on Lap 4 when West arrived at the sharp end of the pack. The lead changed hands several times but on Lap 11, West was able to create a small gap at the front while Japanese compatriots Yuki Ito and Taiga Hada were engrossed with fighting for P2. The Australian rider finally crossed the finish line with a time of 28’56.621s to clinch a double victory at the Suzuka Circuit.  Yamaha Racing’s Yuki Ito had been strong throughout the Suzuka weekend, consistently making it to the front end of the timesheets. However, Ito was unable to hold back West’s progress in both races, and eventually settled for a double podium in second place with 28’56.985s. However, it was Yukio Kagayama who really stole the limelight in the second race. He entered as a wildcard entry, but none of the riders had ever discounted his abilities to score big. In Race 2, Kagayama lived up to his top billings with a stunning performance that saw him go from 10th on the grid to third at the flag. Kagayama popped up among the top five on Lap 9. His superior experience and race craft was clearly evident as he finessed his way around the difficult Suzuka Circuit. While Ito and young Japanese rider Taiga Hada tried to put up a spirited defense, Kagayama outwitted the younger riders at the last chicane when he nipped into third place and raced to the chequered flag with a time of 28’57.588s. Taiga Hada was relegated to fourth, followed by Chalermpol Polamai in fifth. Mohd Zaqhwan Zaidi finished sixth, one spot ahead of polesitter Ikuhiro Enokido. AP Honda Racing duo Tatsuya Yamaguchi and Ratthapong Wilairot occupied eighth and ninth spots respectively. Meanwhile, Azlan Shah Kamaruzaman whose performance clearly suffered due to his injured hand, finished 10th, enough to keep him at the top of the championship standings with a total of 102 points. Yuki Ito climbed to second overall position with 83 points followed by MUSASHi Boon Siew Honda’s Mohd Zaqhwan Zaidi third with 80 points. Team Manual Tech KYT Kawasaki Racing continues to hold down the fort at the top of the team standings with 102 points. Title defenders MUSASHi Boon Siew Honda is now ranked second with 88 points and team RAMA Honda by NTS T.Pro Ten 10 third with 84 points.

Australian GP rider Anthony West won the SuperSports 600cc Race 1 at the Suzuka Circuit, host to the third leg of the 2017 FIM Asia Road Racing Championship. After a dramatic morning of qualifying practices, the 600cc race finally took off with wildcard rider Ikuhiro Enokido as pole sitter. Malaysian ace, Azlan Shah Kamaruzaman injured himself during the qualifying session but still made it to the grid with a heavily bandaged hand. Azlan sped to the holeshot at the start of the 600cc race, but soon lost his position as the pain from his injury hampered his performance. Yamaha Racing’s Yuki Ito stole most of the limelight as he led the 19-rider grid for 10 straight laps. Behind Ito, West clawed his way up to the leading group, eventually putting his yellow Akeno bike right on Ito’s tail. The Australian made a decisive move on Lap 11 and led a train of four to the chequered flag with a time of 28’56.056s. Yuki Ito finished second with 28’56.140s while Mohd Zaqhwan Zaidi claimed the final spot on the podium with 28’57.346s. Azlan still managed a creditable fourth place finishing, and extends his championship lead to 96 points. Zaqhwan ranked second after Race 1 with 70 points followed by Taiga Hada third with 65 points. Further down the field, poleman Enokido finally ended the race in fifth place. The remaining five places in the top ten were taken up by the home Japanese riders with Taiga Hada in sixth; Noriyuki Haga in seventh after popping up to second for a short while at the start of the race; Yukio Kagayama eighth, Tatsuya Yamaguchi ninth and Keisuke Maeda tenth. Yamaha Thailand Racing’s Chalermpol Polamai was on course for a podium position until an unfortunate last-lap incident with Ratthapong Wilairot sent him sprawling into the gravel. Ratthapong was disqualified for having caused the accident.

Yukio Kagayama, who currently is the General Manager for SUZUKI ASIAN CHALLENGE (SAC), announces his entry into the Supersports 600 category in the FIM Asia Road Racing Championship (ARRC), as a wildcard at Suzuka. The Suzuka round of the ARRC will be held 2-4 June at the infamous Suzuka Circuit in Mie, Japan. Kagayama has been active in the Asian field, since the startup of SUZUKI ASIAN CHALLENGE, and at the same time fielded a two-rider team in ARRC’s pinnacle class, the Supersports 600 (SS600). Due to unavoidable situation, Kagayama was forced to put a temporary rest to the SS600 squad this season. Until last season, Kagayama used the SS600 team to show the SAC riders what a top team is about, but was not able to do that this season due to the temporary halt. Kagayama wanted this season’s SAC riders to see for themselves how a top team operates, and decided to do this race at Suzuka. He will be having the SAC riders learn from the team, with opportunities for them to help with the team. His strong desire to do this at Suzuka, made this entry possible. This will be the first time for Kagayama to race himself in ARRC, as well as to race in 600cc bike. He will be riding the SUZUKI GSX-R600 along with Dunlop tires. Championship: 2017 FIM Asia Road Racing Championship Category: Supersports 600 Team: Team KAGAYAMA Rider: Yukio Kagayama Entry number: #71 Machine: SUZUKI GSX-R600 Tires: Dunlop Yukio Kagayama | #71 “I have been a little impatient this year, because we had to put our 600 squad to a temporary halt due to unavoidable reasons. So I had ARRC and my team to make this possible, and I thank their hard work for making it happen. We are going to do this in the SAC pit at Suzuka, so I hope this will motivate the SAC riders. I wish they look closely to what a top team does, and learn from it. I am doing this not for myself, but the riders in SAC. But on the other hand, I am not going to lose to our former rider…..lol”

FIM Asia Official Statement   ANTHONY WEST DAMPER AS TEAM AKENO SPEED REFUSES TO STRIP THE BIKE   SuperSports 600cc Bike No. 13, Anthony West (Akeno Speed Racing), was excluded from the results of Race 1 and Race 2 in Round 2 of the 2017 FIM Asia Road Racing Championship that took place at the Chang International Circuit in Thailand on April 14 and 15, 2017.   Team Akeno Speed Racing had refused to strip the motorcycle at parc ferme for post-race scrutineering. This was an infringement of the technical procedures and was the cause for the disqualification.   The breakdown of the incident at Round 2 ARRC in Thailand was as follows:   1. Post-Race SuperSports 600cc   Time: 1600hrs ICT Race Category: SuperSports 600cc Location: Parc Ferme   After the SuperSports 600cc Race 2, the top three bikes (Bike No. 13, Bike No. 25 and Bike No. 24) were told to provide various parts of their engine for post-race scrutineering, a common procedure done at the end of every race weekend. There was no protest made by any of the teams with regards to the post-race scrutineering.   Team Mechanics for Bike No. 13 were against the order to do so.   2. Post-Scrutineering SuperSports 600cc   Time: 1705hrs ICT Race Category: SuperSports 600cc Location: Parc Ferme   At the end of the time stipulated to strip their engines, Team Mechanics for Bike No. 13 rolled the bike out of the scrutineering area in full comprehension that if they do so without stripping their engine, they will be disqualified.   Throughout the hour-long stipulated time, not a single bolt was removed from Bike No. 13.   Post-race Scrutineering finished with Bike No. 25 and Bike No. 24 – both teams had provided the necessary parts for inspection.       3. Issuance of Race Results   Provisional results were issued at 1548 hrs ICT pending the end of protest time.   An amended result was issued at 1723 hrs ICT for Race 2 at Round 2. Subsequently, an amended result for Race 1 at Round 2 was also made, because the post race scrutineering affects both races as the engines are sealed. Hence, any infringement on the technical side would affect results in both Race 1 and Race 2.   When the amended results were issued at 1723 hrs ICT, no protest were made against the amended results.     4. Technical Director   The Technical Director walked out therefore resigning his position at 1350 ICT during the post-race scrutineering for the Underbone 150cc motorcycles and prior to the SuperSports 600cc race. He was not present during the SuperSports 600cc Race 2.   His duties were continued by Mr. Somchow Thanawin, a licensed FIM Technical Steward (License No: 11344) for the remainder of the races.   5. FIM Asia Road Racing Championship   The FIM Asia Road Racing Championship is organized to the standards as laid down by the FIM and the FIM Asia.  There was no injustice caused in any way to any participant or team. It is equally disappointing when accusations and assumptions were made without full understanding of the facts and proper processes of the rules laid in Motorsports that emphasizes the highest standards for sportsmanship and professionalism.     FIM ORIGINAL STATEMENT  

With air temperatures of 36 degrees and a track temperature of 45 degrees, Race 2 looked likely to deliver another drama at the Chang International Circuit, Round 2 host venue of the 2017 FIM Asia Road Racing Championship. There was plenty of drama from the onset of the race. Astra Honda’s Irfan Ardiansyah endured a nail-biting wait in the pitlane as his team engineers worked frantically for him to join the race from pitlane. Thai rider Chalermpol Polamai jumped the start from the outside for the front row, streaking away from the rest of the field. Manual Tech Kawasaki’s Ahmad Yudhistira tucked his Kawasaki into second position but was constantly harassed by Yamaha Thailand rider Decha Kraisart and Mohd Zaqhwan Zaidi of MUSASHi Boon Siew Honda. Chalermpol came in for his ride-through penalty on lap three and Decha pushed his way past the leading Kawasaki as they came through the final turn to begin lap 4. Yudhistira fought back hard, but the determined Decha had enough pace to stretch out a half second lead as they began lap 5. Meanwhile Azlan, Zaidi and Yuki Ito got past Yudhistira, who recovered quickly to push his way back into third in front of Ito, Anthony West and Zaqhwan, these being seven seconds clear of Ratthapong Wilairot in seventh position. Looking like a man with a plan for the second half of the race, West got through to a secure third began to close on Azlan, passing the Malaysian cleanly on the brakes into Turn 4 on lap 12. The Australian kept his pace up and closed in on Decha, taking the lead on the brakes at the end of the same lap into turn 12. He was unable to break away, however, with Decha and Azlan pushing him hard all around the circuit. On the last lap, Azlan slid up the inside of Decha into Turn 4 to take second, but they were three abreast as they squeezed the brakes hard into the final corner. Decha put everything on the line, but ran wide leaving West and Azlan to take first and second. However, the Australian rider was subsequently disqualified from the results of both Race 1 and Race 2 due to an infringement of technical procedure. This left Azlan Shah Kamaruzaman as the big winner from Round 2. Having won Race 1 on Friday, Azlan was promoted to the top of the timesheets for Race 2 with a time of 30’00.670s. Decha Kraisart went from third to second with 30’01.825s. Zaqhwan Zaidi won a tense battle for third with 30’03.201s, ahead of Ahmad Yudhistira and Yuki Ito.  Taiga Hada finished sixth, 18 seconds further behind, with Keminth Kubo, Tatsuya Yamaguchi, Ratthapong Wilairot and Tatsuya Yamaguchi completing the top ten. Chalermpol fought back to 14thafter his penalty, 38 seconds behind the winner and took the honours for fastest lap with a time of 1:39.755.

Azlan Shah rose above a series of challenges in Race 1 to take a well deserved win in Race 1 at Chang International Circuit. The race got off to a false start when green lights were mistakenly shown. The race was immediately red flagged and the riders brought back to the line for another warm-up lap and a restart to a race shortened by two laps to 16. A determined Decha Kraisart capitalised on his pole position to take the holeshot and lead the first six in the order they qualified for the starting grid over the first few laps. Azlan Shah showed good pace behind, holding off the leader’s Yamaha Thailand team mate, Chalermpol Polamai and the second Manual Tech Kawasaki of Ahmad Yudhistira. These four opened a gap of three seconds to the chasing pack, which consisted of Zaqhwan Zaidi, Yuki Ito and Anthony West. Decha’s race ended in a heart-stopping moment at the beginning of lap 7, when the front of his R6 tucked going into Turn 1, leaving him in the middle of the track. As he got up to find safety, he ran directly into the path of Zaqhwan, who had got clear of Ito and West. The Malaysian somehow missed him, running wide in the process and losing his hard won race position. Meanwhile, West got the upper hand on Yudhistira to create a comfortable position for himself in third place. Back at the front, Chalermpol kept pushing the leading Kawasaki, briefly getting in front on lap 12, only for Azlan to snatch it back. The Thai rider made a bold lunge for the lead at Turn 4 on the final lap, but went in too hot and gave Azlan, who had not put a foot wrong, a clear margin to take to the chequered flag, Behind Anthony West, Yudhistira took fourth place, with Zaqhwan and Ito evenly spaced behind. While the indomitable Decha will be kicking himself for losing a clear chance of victory, he will also be thankful for today’s lucky escape and is sure come back strongly for Race 2.

In Supersport 600 Qualifying Azlan Shah showed his class early in the session, running in the early 1:39s, ahead of Yamaha Thailand’s Decha Kraisart and Chalermpol Polamai, Ahmad Yudhistira, Zaqhwan Zaidi and Anthony West, who carried their strong form through from Free Practice. With 12 minutes remaining, Decha pulled out a sensational lap of 1:38.641 to go half a second clear of Azlan. Sensing it was enough, he pulled into the pits, took his helmet off and watched the rest of the session on the TV monitors. Chalermpol edged to within a few thousandths of the Malaysian’s Kawasaki, shadowed by Yuki Ito, who looked like he was trying to work out where the Thai former champion was getting his half second advantage on the 4.5 kilometre circuit. Decha’s best lap did indeed prove to be unassailable and he is joined on the front row by Azlan and Chalermpol. The Manual Tech Kawasaki of Yudhistra ended up fourth ahead of the MUSASHI Boon Siew Honda of Zaqhwan and the ever threatening Akeno Speed Yamaha of Anthony West. Taiga Hada was seventh fastest with a lap of 1:39.640 on his RAMA Honda, just a few hundredths faster than AP Honda’s Ratthapong and Yamaha Racing’s Yuki Ito, who make up Row 3. Decha will be looking to delight his home fans in Race 1 by following up his recent World Supersport second place at Chang International Circuit with a win this afternoon. Despite his qualifying performance, the pace of Azlan Shah throughout the event so far and the sheer speed of Chalermpol, mean that Decha will be facing a stern test. The injured Zaqhwan will also be looking for a podium position, while the quality and experience Anthony West keeps him squarely in the frame. Yudhistira is also capable of making the top three on his day.