Underbone 150

Ahmad Fazli Sham netted a second UB150 victory for the ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team when he dominated Race 2 in the 2020 FIM Asia Road Racing Championship season opener at the Sepang International Circuit. With this win, Fazli erased the bad memories from 2019 when he finished out of the points in both the Sepang rounds. Race 2 got off, again with Fazli’s younger brother Ahmad Fazrul Sham on pole. The Cardinals Racing Team rider lost the holeshot to Akid Aziz, but made up for lost ground when he led his team mate Iqbal Abdul Malek in 1-2 formation across the finish line by the end of Lap 1. Fazli got into the lead as Lap 2 commenced. The seasoned UB150 campaigner kept his position even as a big crash between Wahyu Aji Trilaksana, Iqbal Abdul Malek and Fernando Masato shook things up at the front. As the 20-rider group swarmed into the final lap, poleman Fazrul tried to peel away but lost his advantage in the long backstraight before heading to the last corner. A neat move by Fazli saw him ducking into the inside line and raced ahead of Fazrul to pick up his sixth career Sepang win with 15’34.448s. RCB YAMAHA YY Pang’s Mohd Izzat Zaidi served up a surprise when he finished the race in second place with 15’34.549s. The outcome from Race 2 represented a big comeback for Izzat who sat out of Race 1 on Saturday due to mechanical errors. Race 2 reunited the two brothers on the podium as Cardinals Racing Team’s Ahmad Fazrul Sham crossed the line in third. The Sham siblings are now leading the UB150 title chase. Fazrul’s double Sepang podiums placed him at the top of the ladder with 36 points. Fazli ranked second with 34 points. Wahyu Aji Trilaksana, winner of Race 1, was one of the riders who crashed out on Lap 3. The Indonesian dropped to third overall with 25 points. The UB150 Race 2 also brought some sterling performances from the newcomers to the Asian series. SND Factory Racing Rapido’s Muhammad Hildan Kusuma finished a creditable fourth while 4S1M YAMAHA Racing Team’s John Emerson Inguito gave Filipino fans something to cheer for when he crossed the finish line in fifth. UB150: Top 5 Race 2 Results Ahmad Fazli Sham (MAS) (Yamaha)                   15’34.448s Mohd Izzat Zaidi (MAS) (Yamaha)                      15’34.549s Ahmad Fazrul Sham (MAS) (Yamaha)                15’34.749s M. Hildan Kusuma (INA) (Honda)                       15’35.407s John Emerson Inguito (PHI) (Yamaha)               15’35.413s UB150: Top 5 Standings After Round 1 Ahmad Fazrul Sham (MAS) (Yamaha)                36 pts Ahmad Fazli Sham (MAS) (Yamaha)                   34 pts Wahyu Aji Trilaksana (INA) (Yamaha)                25 pts Mohd Izzat Zaidi (MAS) (Yamaha)                      20 pts Peerapong Luiboonpeng (THA) (Yamaha)         18 pts UB150: Top 5 Team Standings After Round 1 ONEXOX TKKR SAG Racing Team 1                       59 pts Cardinals Racing Team                                             40 pts UMA Racing YAMAHA Maju Motor Asia Team   34 pts RCB YAMAHA YY PANG                                           28 pts Team One For All                                                        25 pts

Indonesian rider and 2017 Underbone Asian champion Wahyu Aji Trilaksana ended a 2-year winning drought with bit of smart racing at the season opener of the 2020 FIM Asia Road Racing Championship at the Sepang International Circuit.   The ONEXOX TKKR SAG Racing Team rider who had consistently posted fastest times in the practice sessions, started the race from second on the grid when he clocked 2’35.006s in the qualifier.   As Race 1 flagged off, Wahyu tucked himself into the leading group, allowing Malaysians Ahmad Fazrul Sham and Akid Aziz to lead the pack across the start/finish line. The savvy Indonesian rider made his move at the start of the final lap when he pushed out of the slipstream into the lead.   Wahyu held on to his position up to the back straight but came under attack when the leading group caught up. At the last corner, Wahyu grimly hung on to the inside line while Fazrul attacked from the outside. The Indonesian was able to defend his position in the final sprint to the finish line and notched up his first Sepang career win with 15’36.063s.   Behind Wahyu, the Cardinals Racing Team reached a significant milestone when the team’s riders Ahmad Fazrul Sham qualified for pole position with 2’34.389s and Mohd Iqbal Abdul Malek earned the right to park his bike on P3 with 2’35.504s.   Fazrul led the group for the majority of the race, but was caught out by Wahyu in the final lap. Denied the win, Fazrul still brought home a first podium for the Cardinals Racing Team when he finished second with 15’36.108s.   Peerapong Luiboonpeng crossed the finish line in third with 15’36.138s.     UB150: Top 5 SuperPole Results   Ahmad Fazrul Sham (MAS) (Yamaha)                2’34.389s Wahyu Aji Trilaksana (INA) (Yamaha)                2’35.006s Iqbal Abdul Malek (MAS) (Yamaha)                   2’35.504s Izzat Zaidi (MAS) (Yamaha)                                 2’35.606s Akid Aziz (MAS) (Yamaha)                                   2’35.784s   UB150: Top 5 Race 1 Results   Wahyu Aji Trilaksana (INA) (Yamaha)             15’36.063s Ahmad Fazrul Sham (MAS) (Yamaha)                15’36.108s Peerapong Luiboonpeng (THA) (Yamaha)              15’36.138s Mohd Akid Aziz (MAS) (Yamaha)                        15’36.270s Wawan Wello (INA) (Yamaha)                            15’36.370s  

Wahyu Aji Trilaksana continues to ride high in the Underbone 150cc class. With only a day’s break between the 2020 pre-season tests and the start of Round 1, the ONEXOX TKKR SAG Racing Team rider had been able to sustain his momentum at the top of the Underbone timesheets.   The Indonesian rider led the Underbone 150cc qualifying charge and posted a new lap record of 2’31.358s in the process.   Proliner RCB 549 KABOCI Racing Team’s Richie Taroreh was a close second with 2’31.874s, the only rider on the 27-man grid to lap within the same second as Wahyu Aji.   Behind the two charging Indonesians, competitive siblings Ahmad Fazli Sham and Ahmad Fazrul Sham looked well prepared for this season’s title chase. Fazli, representing the ONEXOX TKKR SAG Racing Team, was the third fastest man in qualifying with 2’32.059s. Younger brother Fazrul who is racing under the Cardinals Racing Team banner this year, posted fourth with 2’32.311s.   Peerapong Luiboonpeng has shown remarkable progress in his third full season in the UB150. The Team One For All rider, who is also the sole Thai representative in the class, was fifth quickest in qualifying with 2’32.625s.   Off the top five, UMA Racing YAMAHA Maju Motor Asia Team looked to have hit a spot of trouble during the UB150 qualifier. Akid Aziz led the field in Practice 1 and Practice 2, but ended the qualifying session in seventh behind team mate Haziq Fairues. Akid’s best time in the qualifying, 2’32.862s, was about a second off his best pace earlier in the day.   Similarly, UMA Racing YAMAHA Philippine Team struggled to get the pace out of their Yamaha Sniper 150. Fernando Masato narrowly made the cut into the SuperPole when he qualified 14th with 2’34.181s. Kerwin Chang was 25th on the list with 2’36.179s.   In contrast, newcomer team 4S1M YAMAHA Racing Team has gotten their UB150 debut off to a solid start with Gupita Kresna 13th quickest with 2’34.078s.     UB150: Top 5 Qualifying Results 2020 Lap Record: 2’31.359s – Wahyu Aji Trilaksana (INA) (Yamaha)   Wahyu Aji Trilaksana (INA) (Yamaha)                2’31.358s Richie Taroreh (INA) (Yamaha)                           2’31.874s Ahmad Fazli Sham (MAS) (Yamaha)                   2’32.059s Ahmad Fazrul Sham (MAS) (Yamaha)                2’32.311s Peerapong Luiboonpeng (THA) (Yamaha)              2’32.625s

An incident occurred at Turn 7 on Lap 3 of the Underbone 150cc Race 2 at the Chang International Circuit. Rider Amber Garcia from the Philippines was injured in the incident.   Amber first received medical attention at the Medical Centre before being transferred to the Buriram Hospital where treatment continued in the ICU unit.   The FIM Asia, Two Wheels Motor Racing, and the FIM Asia Road Racing Championship family ask for everyone to join us as we pray for Amber’s recovery.   Statement : Amber Garcia

McKinley Kyle Paz (UMA Racing Yamaha Philippine Team) was disappointed to qualify off the front row at the 2019 FIM Asia Road Racing Championship season finale at Buriram, but in the Underbone class, the UMA Racing Yamaha Philippine Team rider knew that grid position is not everything.   The 18-year-old, who was one of five riders still in the running for the 2019 title, knew that all he had to do was hunker down within the front group and bide his time for a last lap, last corner attack.   However, in the sheer unpredictability that is so characteristic of Underbone racing, pre-drawn plans and strategy went flying out the window the moment the 8-lap race was flagged off.   Haziq Fairues and Akid Aziz (UMA Racing Yamaha Maju Motor Asia Team)  were among the early leaders at the start of Race 2. At the end of Lap 1, 28 out of 31 were still bunched up in one big group, attacking the corners six abreast.   The first title contender to drop out of the race was Aldi Satya Mahendra (Yamaha Racing Indonesia). Aldi crashed out of the last turn along with Mohd Rozaiman Said (Cardinals Racing Team). Haziq Fairues was very nearly swept along by the incident and lost eight positions to drop down to the back of the group.   On Lap 4, championship leader Akid Aziz retired from the race, his title hunt derailed again by mechanical failure. This left 20 riders in the leading charge, among them, McKinley Kyle Paz, Ahmad Fazli Sham (ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team), and Haziq Fairues.   McKinley’s bid for the title faltered when he crashed in the mid-section of the 4.554km circuit. Refusing to give up, the young Filipino rider was back on his bike in a flash even though he had lost touch of the front pack.   The leading group had not shrunk noticeably by the final lap. With the notorious Buriram Turn 12 looming, Ahmad Fazli Sham began to slipstream his way past Richie Taroreh, Mohd Izzat Zaidi and Wawan Wello. The seasoned campaigner was all set to take control of the final corner until he got skittled by Syahrul Amin (SND Factory Racing Rapido).   Mohd Izzat Zaidi (RCB Accentwire Yamaha YY Pang Racing Team) led the group across the finish line but was later penalized for exceeding the track limit at the last corner.   Izzat’s penalty handed the win to Richie Taroreh (Proliner 549 Kaboci Racing Team) who claimed his first win of the season with 16’23.670s. Wawan Wello (SND Factory Racing Rapido) and Wahyu Aji Trilaksana (ONEXOX TKKR SAG Racing Team) made it an all-Indonesian clean sweep in the Underbone 150 Race 2.   15 seconds behind, McKinley Kyle Paz finished just outside of the points in 16th place. Clueless about what had happened in front of him, the disappointed young rider had no idea that his title contenders had been taken out one by one in the intensity of the race. It was only when he returned, dejected, to the pits that he found out he had officially entered the history books as the first Filipino rider to become the FIM Asian Underbone 150cc champion with 121 points to his name.   Akid Aziz, despite two DNF finishes in the final round, stayed in second overall with 119 points while his team mate Haziq Fairues closed the season in third with 113 points.   While the UMA Racing Yamaha riders were busy celebrating their personal achievements, the ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team had quietly triumphed over UMA Racing Yamaha Maju Motor Asia Team in the UB150 Team Awards. Thanks to Wahyu’s steady performance, the Malaysian-based team won the team award by 190 points. UMA Racing Yamaha Maju Motor Asia Team dropped to second with 178 points while UMA Racing Yamaha Philippine Team was ranked third with 139 points.

A change in the UB150 pecking order after Race 1 has set the stage for an explosive final race at the FIM Asia Road Racing Championship finale in Thailand this week.   A strong performance in the SuperPole earlier in the day had brought title contender Mohd Haziq Mohd Fairues to pole position alongside two ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team riders Ahmad Fazli Sham and Wahyu Aji Trilaksana on the front row.   As the 31 riders assembled on the congested grid for the start of Race 1, a clean start brought polesitter Haziq into the lead at Turn 1 with the rest of the grid in hot pursuit. The intensity of the title chase had ramped up the action in the Underbone 150cc Race 1. At the end of the first lap, the top 11 riders came across the finish line within the same second.   Unfortunately for championship leader Mohd Akid Aziz, mechanical failure forced the Uma Racing Yamaha Maju Motor Asia Team rider out of the race on Lap 2. More carnage ensued on the same lap when Mohammad Murobbil Vitoni, Syahrul Amin, Richard Taroreh and Muhamad Iqbal Abdul Malek got involved in a big pile-up at Turn 4. Thankfully, all the riders were able to walk away from the crash.   Seasoned campaigner Ahmad Fazli Sham used every bit of skill in his arsenal to lead the group across the finish line for most of the 8-lap race. Three laps to go, while Fazli continues to mix things up at the front, championship hopeful McKinley Kyle Paz was tucked into the front group on P6.   McKinley’s team mate Fernando Masato sprung a surprise on the last lap when he stormed past Fazli and into the lead. The Filipino rider held on to his advantage for two more corners but lost the lead to Fazli as they exited Turn 3. Team tactics came into play at this point when the ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team riders bunched up together to squeeze Masato out of the front. Fazli got onto the lead with the aid of their slipstream.   Another crash at the same corner gave Fazli the space he needed to pull ahead of the group. The Malaysian rider kept his momentum for the rest of the final lap and notched his second win of the season. Wahyu Aji Trilaksana made it a ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team 1-2 when he crossed the line in second place. Fernando Masato settled for third place.   McKinley Kyle Paz took control of the title chase when he finished tenth in Race 1. McKinley leads Akid by only two points. The Underbone 150 title chase is now down to five riders including Haziq Fairues, Ahmad Fazli Sham and Aldi Satya Mahendra ahead of the final race on Sunday.