Underbone 150

photo : Honda Racing Vietnam Honda Racing Vietnam has decided on Nguyen Duc Thanh to replace Le Khanh Loc who was injured in the previous leg of the 2019 FIM Asia Road Racing Championship. 20-year-old Thanh will be making his ARRC debut at Round 4 in Japan.

ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team’s seasoned campaigner, Ahmad Fazli Sham, won a truncated UB150 Race 2 with a resounding victory as Round 3 of the 2019 FIM Asia Road Racing Championship drew to an end at the Chang International Circuit. The race was red flagged on the first lap following a starting grid incident between Mohd Hafiza Rofa, Travis Hall and Le Khanh Loc. All three riders had been reported to be doing fine after the incident. The race was re-started with the number of laps shortened from the original eight to six. The incident had clearly done nothing to dampen the spirits of the rest of the riders. With only six laps on the lapboards, there was even less time for the riders to strategize. The melee was fierce and furious right up to the final lap. Ahmad Fazli Sham got himself into the lead at Turn 10 and benefitted when Wahyu Aji Trilaksana bottled up the rest of the group. Fazli sprinted to the chequered flag with a time of 12’20.355s. Behind Fazli, the Indonesian riders finally revealed their true colours on the Underbone bikes. Wawan Wello took second place with 12’20.769s followed by Wahyu Nugroho third with 12’20.955s. Wahyu Aji Trilaksana finished fourth ahead of Richard Taroreh. Thai rider Peerapong Luiboonpeng made it to sixth place followed by a trio of Malaysians – Mohd Faiz Zekri Sabri, polesitter Mohd Haziq Mohd Fairues and Rozaiman Said. Japanese youngster Gun Mie rounded up the top 10. Filipino rider McKinley Kyle Paz still holds a nominal lead at the top of the championship standings. McKinley finished sixth in Race 1 and 11th in Race 2. He holds 56 points at the front. Wawan Wello is now second on the standings with 51 points while Affendi Rosli is third with 44.

UMA Racing Yamaha Maju Motor Asia Team’s Mohd Akid Aziz gave a masterclass in the perfect underbone strategy when he won Race 1 against a 20-bike front group at the Chang International Circuit. This would be Akid’s first win of the season. It has been a weekend of ups and downs for 2016 Underbone champion Akid. He broke the lap record during the free practice and set a new record for the underbones at the 4.55km Chang International Circuit. Akid was half a second faster during the qualifying but something went awry during the SuperPole and Akid lost his anticipated position on the front row, instead started the race from 15th on the grid. Akid was quick to make up for lost ground and led the pack into Lap 1, but there was no breaking away from the chasing group. ONEXOX TKKR SAG Team’s Hafiza Rofa was dominant during the first half of the race, leading from laps two to four but Hafiza was unable to sustain his pace against the tide of riders behind him. Meanwhile, Akid had opted to stay out of trouble before emerging in the lead again on Lap 7. The young Malaysian rider, no stranger to winning Underbone 150cc races, expertly threaded his way past the 20-bike group and was first across the finish line with 16’25.633s Indonesian rider Richard Taroreh, racing in Pro-Liner 549 Kaboci Racing Team colours this year, also picked up his first ARRC Underbone podium in second place with 16’25.776s. Seasoned Malaysian campaigner Mohd Affendi Rosli claimed the final spot on the podium in third place with 16’26.017s “The front group was bigger than usual and it was very difficult to strategize with attacks coming from all corners. I’m glad our plan worked out although I wish that my team mate, Haziq Fairues was standing beside me on the podium,” said Akid. Haziq was the man with the pole advantage when he aced the SuperPole with 2’02.416s but finished 15th with 16’26.713s Championship leader McKinley Kyle Paz picked up enough points from sixth to stay ahead on the championship standings. The Filipino rider leads with 51 points. Affendi Rosli ranks second with 44 points followed by Akid third with 41 points.

Mohd Akid Aziz smashed the Underbone 150cc lap record at the Chang International Circuit by 0.024s to take provisional pole ahead of the UB150 SuperPole on Saturday morning. The UMA Racing Yamaha Maju Motor Asia Team rider went from fifth on the combined free practice results to first in the qualifying session with 1’59.974s. Akid’s blistering pace has effectively erased Wawan Wello’s 2018 record (1’59.998s). Akid was also the only rider among the 30-man grid to lap below two minutes. After a morning dominated by the Yamaha riders, Mohd Amirul Ariff Musa came out strong in the qualifier. The Yuzy Honda Racing rider posted 2’00.730s to clinch the second quickest time of the day. Indonesia’s Richard Taroreh, representing team Pro-Liner 549 Kaboci Racing Team this season, was third with 2’00.732s. Behind the three leaders, nine riders found themselves lapping within the same minute. The sole Thai rider on the grid, Peerapong Luiboonpeng clocked fourth fastest with 2’01.036s followed by his Team One For All team mate Mohd Affendi Rosli with 2’01.160s. Championship leader McKinley Kyle Paz will need to up his pace if he were to retain any hopes of keeping the championship lead. McKinley clocked 13th quickest with 2’02.089s, a full two seconds behind pace-setter Akid.

The Underbone 150 riders are gearing up to do battle once again after a break that had lasted for almost three months. At the season opener in Sepang, Filipino duo McKinley Kyle Paz and team mate Fernando Masato took the underbone racing world by storm when they bagged a win each to lead the class into Round 3. Together, the two riders delivered a dream start for debutant outfit, the UMA Racing Yamaha Philippine Team. The 4.554km Chang International Circuit was the venue where Kyle first stepped into the ARRC spotlight when he scored a third place podium finish as a wildcard in 2018. The Malaysian contingent would be raring for a chance to make up for a disappointing Round 1. Of the 30 riders scheduled to start the UB150 race in Thailand, 14 Malaysian riders make up almost half of the grid. Wily campaigner Mohd Affendi Rosli will be leading the troops. Affendi finished second and eighth in the first leg, enough to put a smile back on the face of Team One For All principal, Youichi Ui. The former MotoGP rider had had a bad start to the season when his team truck was stolen in Japan, along with almost all of his operational assets. Despite the challenges, the determined racing outfit was still able to put their best foot forward with Affendi managing a podium and Peerapong Luiboonpeng consistent among the top five. At the Chang International Circuit this coming week, Peerapong will be the only Thai rider in the Underbone class. While the anticipated battle between the Filipino and Malaysian riders take up the bulk of everyone’s attention, an Indonesian renaissance may be in the making in the Underbone class. Wawan Wello, now with the SND Factory Racing Rapido team, holds the lap record at the 4.5km Chang International Circuit. Wawan was the only rider to lap below the 2 minute mark last year. The time to beat, set by Wawan, is 1’59.998s. 2016 Underbone champion Wahyu Aji Trilaksana will also be looking to make an impact in Buriram. Wahyu secured an eleventh-hour slot with burgeoning team ONEXOX TKKR SAG Racing Team just days ahead of the season opener. Currently 10th in the standings, Wahyu will need to bring his A-game to the second round.

The rough-and-tumble visual feast of sheer guts and adrenaline that is the Underbone 150cc racing is back! After a one-round hiatus in Australia, the 30-man UB150 grid will be joining the AP250, SS600 and ASB1000 classes as they head to the Chang International Circuit this May 31 to June 2 for Round 3. The first of two stops at Buriram this season will also feature the next generation of Thai talents through the inclusion of the Honda Thailand Talent Cup. In all, 83 riders representing 13 countries will be racing at the 4.5km Chang International Circuit for Round 3.

In Race 1, McKinley Kyle Paz made history when he became the first rider from the Philippines to win an Underbone 150cc class at the FIM Asia Road Racing Championship.  In Race 2, Fernando Masato followed up on the previous day’s success to claim a double win for debutant Uma Racing Yamaha Philippines Team. The two ace riders from the Philippines executed their race strategy to perfection. The race flagged off with Kyle on front row and Fernando on second row. 13-year-old Indonesian Aldi Mahendra was dominant in the opening lap. Smaller and lighter than the majority of the grid, Aldi’s flying start took him straight into the lead but he was swallowed up one lap later by the horde. An 8-rider lead group had splintered off by Lap 3. The competition hotted up on the final lap. Wawan Wello locked his rear wheel and lost touch with the pack. A 3-bike pileup at Turn 15 whittled the group down to six. The speed of the Yamaha Y15 ZR prepared by the Maju engineers were clearly hard to beat. Fernando sailed to the finish line with 15’32.583s. Mohd Amirul Ariff Musa made it to second place with 15’32.691s and McKinley Kyle Paz claimed third place with 15’32.708s. Kyle is the current Underbone 150cc leader with 41 points.

Filipino rider McKinley Kyle Paz had a dream start to his 2019 FIM Asia Road Racing Championship. Arriving at the Sepang Circuit for his full-season debut, the Uma Racing Yamaha Philippines rider delivered an astounding win to prevent an all-Malaysian clean sweep of the Underbone 150cc podium. McKinley qualified for the second spot on the front row, but on a 34-rider Underbone grid, the front row starting position gave him only minimal advantages. While the usual jostling for position carried on for the entire six laps of the race, McKinley was one of the more consistent leaders of the front pack along with team mates Mohd Akid Aziz and Fernando Masato. The Uma Racing Yamaha Philippines Team rider won the slipstream race at the final sprint to the finish line with 15’28.658s. Mohd Affendi Rosli placed second with 15’28.870s and Mohd Akid Aziz was third with 15’28.886s.

There’s a special term in Underbone racing known as ‘the tuck’. Essentially, the term refers to an Underbone rider’s ability to literally ‘tuck’ himself into the frame of the bike and maximizing the natural aerodynamics of the machine. In Malaysia, seasoned campaigner Ahmad Fazli Sham is the undisputed king of ‘the tuck’. Fifth after the first two free practice sessions, Fazli Sham slipstreamed his way to the top of the timesheets during the qualifying practice with 2’32.984s. The ONEXOX TKKR SAG Racing Team rider was the only Underbone rider to lap within 2’32 in the qualifying practice. Yamaha Racing Indonesia’s Aldi Satya Mahendra, a rookie entry in the 2019 season, continued to gain fans with his consistent performance. Aldi clocked in with 2’33.213s behind Fazli Sham. Indonesian Underbone specialist and now Ahmad Fazli Sham’s ONEXOX TKKR SAG Racing Team team mate, Wahyu Aji Trilaksana posted the third fastest time of the day with 2’33.364s. The 30-minute Underbone qualifier also brought out the best from Fernando Masato of the Philippines. The UMA Racing Yamaha Philippine Team rider stopped the clock at 2’33.629s. Meanwhile, Mohd Akid Aziz who had been fastest in the morning practice, dropped to fifth with 2’33.846s.