Underbone 150

Indonesian team Yamaha Yamalube SND Factory is pulling no punches in the final leg of the 2018 FIM Asia Road Racing Championship. With super-wildcard Wawan Wello astride the team’s striking yellow Yamaha, the team has smashed lap times in the Underbone 150cc class.   Wawan was the only rider to lap below the 2-minute mark during the free practice, and earned the right to park his bike on pole position when he aced the Underbone 150 SuperPole with 2’01.313s.   The front row of the Underbone 150cc class will feature a mixed bag of nationalities. Local rider Peerapong Luiboonpeng qualified second on the grid with 2’02.979s and Malaysian seasoned campaigner Mohd Affendi Rosli third with 2’03.222s. Both riders are racing under the Team One For All colours, owned by former GP rider Youichi Ui.   A blown engine during the qualifying session prevented championship leader Mohd Helmi Azman from making the cut into the SuperPoles. He will start the race from 19th on the grid.

Laptimes continue to tumble in the Underbone 150cc class as the teams bring one years’ worth of developmental efforts back to the Chang International Circuit in Buriram, Thailand for the final joust of the 2018 FIM Asia Road Racing Championship.   Championship leader Mohd Helmi Azman broke his own Round 1 lap record (2’01.917s) in the first free practice session with 2’01.359s and upped the ante in the second free practice by lapping 2 minutes flat.   However, the SCK Rapido Hi Rev Honda Racing Team paid a heavy price for that initial burst of speed when Helmi’s bike broke down before he managed to clock a single lap in the Qualifying for SuperPole.   While the SCK engineers raced against time to get Helmi back out on track, wildcard rider Wawan Wello had taken charge at the top of the timesheets. Not only did the Yamaha Yamalube SND Factory rider improve on the lap record, he was the only Underbone 150cc competitor to lap under the 2-minute mark. Wawan has set a new benchmark for the Underbone class at the 4.5km Chang International Circuit with 1’59.998s.   Wawan’s time is followed by a quartet of Malaysian riders. Yuzy Vietnam Honda Racing’s Mohd Amirul Ariff Musa posted the second quickest time with 2’00.198s followed by Team One For All’s Mohd Affendi Rosli third fastest with 2’00.530s, and UMA Racing Yamaha Maju Motor Asia Team’s Mohd Akid Aziz fourth with 2’01.231s. Amirul’s younger team mate, Mohd Aiman Azman clocked home at fifth fastest with 2’01.475s.   Other riders who made the cut into the SuperPole include Reza Fahlevi (sixth with 2’01.503s), title contender Mohd Izzat Zaidi (seventh with 2’01.678s), Fakhrusy Syakirin Rostam (eighth with 2’01.762s), Peerapong Luiboonpeng (ninth with 2’01.931s) and Wahyu Aji Trilaksana (tenth with 2’01.953s).   As a result of the mistake in the Qualifying session, championship leader Helmi Azman will start both Race 1 and Race 2 from 19th on the grid.

UMA Racing Yamaha Maju Motor will be bringing back popular wildcards for the final round of the 2018 Idemitsu FIM Asia Road Racing Championship. Mckinley Kyle Paz from the Philippines and Vietnamese rider To Ha Dong Nghi will join full-season riders Mohd Akid Aziz and Mohd Haziq Mohd Fairues on the Underbone 150cc grid.   McKinley, in particular, has been one of the more outstanding wildcards of the season, especially when he pulled off a stunning ride in Australia to finish second in his 150cc debut.

The SCK Rapido Hi Rev Honda Racing is going all out to end a nine-year title drought in the Underbone class of the FIM Asia Road Racing Championship. With Mohd Helmi Azman in good standings for the riders’ trophy, hopes are high that the team will also be able to claim the crown that they last won in 2009.   Standing in their way, is another Malaysian racing bedrock, the RCB Yamaha YY Pang Racing Team. The two teams are separated by 36 points. To seal the deal, the SCK team will only need one of their riders (championship leader Mohd Helmi Azman, Fakhrusy Syakirin Rostam, or Australian wildcard-turned-permanent-rider Travis Hall) to finish within the top 9 in Race 1 and Race 2.   In this respect, the SCK team has the advantage of numbers. By fielding three riders to YY Pang’s Izzat-Adib Rosley combination, the SCK team betters their odds of picking up the points they need.   The Team Awards points system in the Asia Road Racing Championship assigns points from each team’s top performing rider to the team.

19-year-old Mohd Helmi Azman is heading for the biggest race of his career. Six years after his racing debut in the mono-brand races of the Malaysian Cub Prix Championship, Helmi is on course for the first major title of his career to date. Racing with the SCK Rapido Hi Rev Honda Racing Team this season, Helmi has amassed a 42-point advantage at the top of the Underbone 150cc standings. With six podiums in the bag, two of which are race wins, Helmi has raked in 164 points up to Round 5 in Indonesia. His closest rival, Mohd Izzat Zaidi, stands at second overall with 122 points. In order to stand even a ghost of a chance to turn the tables around at this late stage, Izzat must win both final races in Buriram this coming December 1 and 2. Should that happen, Helmi will need just eight more points to be equal on points. To be safe, Helmi will need one more point to secure the title. At the worst case scenario, even if both riders end up equal on points, Helmi’s higher number of podiums will effectively break the tie. For the 19-year-old Malaysian rider, this will be the biggest title of his career to date. Helmi made a name for himself in the PETRONAS AAM Malaysian Cub Prix Championship in 2013. He subsequently spent two seasons in the Asia Talent Cup. Helmi subsequently returned to Asia and found a home with the SCK Rapido Hi Rev Honda Racing Team where he ended the 2017 Underbone 150 season in fourth overall.

With Izzat Zaidi second in the standings and declared unfit to ride, the focus of Underbone fans for Race 2 was whether SCK Rapido Hi Rev Honda’s Helmi Azman could clinch the 2018 championship by finishing first or second at Sentul. In a race that featured a good deal more wheel-to-wheel combat than we had seen in Race 1, the Malaysian championship leader kept himself clear of danger for most of the race, staying within striking distance of the front of a leading group that consisted initially of five, then 11 bikes as the bunch behind took advantage of the battle at the front. Gupita Kresna, who finished third in Race 1, only made it to the first corner; Travis Hall was another noteable first lap crasher. After a poor showing on Saturday, the UMA Racing Yamahas of Haziq Fairues and Akid Aziz made their presence felt, trying to break away on occasion, but without success. Wildcards, Agung Fahrul and Wawan Wello, also kept themselves in contention. Helmi was well placed on the last lap, until a bike got out of shape in front of him forcing him to slow and change direction. He had to settle for sixth, while Haziq, Agung and Akid crossed the line together, separated by an almost imperceptible five hundredths of a second. Wawan took fourth ahead of Reza Fahlevi, Helmi and Adib Rosley. Amirul Ariff Musa, Wahyu Nugroho and Iaham Elsan Efendi rounded out the top ten. It was another bad day at the office for 2016 champion, Wahyu Aji Trilaksana, who could only finish 14th. Helmi, with 164 points will take a championship lead over Izzat of 42 to Thailand at for the sixth and final round. Ahmad Fazli Sham and Akid Aziz lie fourth and fifth with 87 and 83 points respectively.

Advantage Helmi as wildcard Agung wins at Sentul Agung Fahrul, one of six wildcard riders in today’s opening race at Sentul , left his mark on the 2018 championship by taking a win from Helmi Azman, whose main rivals, Izzat Zaidi, Ahmad Fazli Sham and Whayu Aji Trilaksana fell further behind. Starting from fourth on the 26-bike grid, Agung stayed in the top five throughout and frequently held the lead, before timing a perfect run to the chequered flag to win from SCK Rapido Hi Rev Honda’s Helmi, who had begun work for the day with a 23 point advantage in the standings over RCB Yamaha’s Izzat. The drama bagan on the startline, when Wahyu’s Yamaha was pushed off the grid with a problem, effectively snuffing out the 2016 champion’s title chances. Haziq Fairues converted his pole position into an early lead, which he traded with Agung, Helmi and SND Factory’s Gupita Kresna, before falling back from the 11 bike leading group with mechanical problems. Defending champion, Akid Aziz also broke down and pulled into the pits on lap eight. A fast game of cat and mouse for nine laps gave way to a fist fight at the front at the end, with bikes fanning out across the circuit’s 15 metre width as they fought for advantage. Agung  gained a bike length at the start of the last lap, which computed into  a win of 0.153s over Helmi, who crossed the line a few hundredths in front of Gupita, Amirul Ariff Musa, Izzat, Syahrul Amin and fellow wildcard, Wawan Wello. Fazli Sham finished eighth from Rusman Fadhil and Murobbil Fatoni, who completed the top ten. Izzat suffered a heart-stopping crash after taking the chequered flag, being ejected from his machine, apparently due to another rider hitting his rear wheel. Helmi goes into Race 2 having extended his lead over Izzat by another 9 points and over Fazli Sham by a further 12.

Championship leader Helmi Azman shrugged off assumptions of local superiority to top both free practice and qualifying on Friday. The Malaysian took his SCK Rapido Hi Rev Honda around Sentul’s tricky 3.964km in 1:48.692, almost seven tenths faster than Yuzy Honda Vietnam’s Amirul Ariff Musa, who was just clear of Indonesian wildcards, Agung Fahrul and Reza Fahlevi. Gupita Kresna was fifth on the SND Factory Yamaha, while Adib Rosley was sixth for RCB Yamaha YY Pang. Two other wildcards, Rusman Fadhil and Wawan Wello made it to Superpole, as did 2017 champion, Akid Aziz, who was the last rider through on 1:50.447. Shock news was that 2016 champion, Wahyu Aji Trilaksana was 18th and will therefore miss the shootout for the first 15 grid slots. Travis Hall, riding with a strapped up arm from an injury he picked up in Australia, managed 1:51.121 on his Sentul debut and will start from 20th for SCK Rapido. United Oil’s Miu Nakahara, also on her first trip to Indonesia, was outside of the 107% Qualifying maxima and will take no further part this weekend.

For most of the 2018 season, the Indonesian riders in the Underbone 150cc category had been outnumbered 2-to-1 by their Malaysian arch rivals. Indonesia’s top performing Underbonerider, Wahyu Aji Trilaksana, had struggled with consistency issues for most of the seasons, often finding himself out-flanked and boxed in by the usual Underbone tactics. However, the Indonesians, long reigning champions in the Underbone class, will enjoy a respite in the upcoming round as an influx of six wildcard riders even out the odds at the 3.964km Sentul track. After four rounds, Mohd Helmi Azman has a small lead with 134 points. He leads Mohd Izzat Zaidi by 23 points. Ahmad Fazli Sham’s double win in India had promoted him to third overall while Wahyu Aji dropped down to fourth. The penultimate round in Indonesia will be Wahyu’s best opportunity to turn the tables around in the Underbone class. Mathematically, 53 points adrift to the leader, the Yamaha rider still has a shot at creating an upset that would open up the title chase.

Ahmad Fazli Sham again came out tops in the unpredictable Underbone 150cc category. After delighting the ONEXOX TKKR Racing Team with their first win in Race 1, the seasoned campaigner added to the team’s celebrations by making it a double. Completing the 10-lap race with a time of 18’59.247s, Fazli put up a masterclass in defensive racing as he beat Mohd Helmi Azman to the chequered flag by 0.108s. As the Underbone 150cc riders lined up for Race 2, Fazli was once again faced with the prospect of starting from the back end of the grid. However, this was a negligible disadvantage in the Underbone class. By Lap 3, he had arrived to spoil the party in the front group. As Fazli engaged Helmi, Mohd Affendi Rosli and Peerapong Luiboonpeng for the lead, the formidable UMA Racing Yamaha Maju Motor Asia Team trio (Mohd Akid Aziz, Mohd Haziq Mohd Fairues and McKinley Kyle Paz) had dropped off the pace. The grid lost another rider when Fakhrusy Syakirin Rostam pitted on Lap 5. By Lap 6, Fazli had a 1-second lead but was unable to shake clear of Helmi Azman. The two duelling riders soon extended a lead at the front. Behind them, Travis Hall finally got into the Underbone rhythm when he challenged team mates Affendi Rosli and Peerapong Luiboonpeng for P3. The two race leaders pulled the lead to two seconds by Lap 8 and as their battle intensified in the final lap, Fazli put up a rock solid defense against Helmi’s attacks. More drama ensued in the second group when Peerapong Luiboonpeng low-sided on the final lap. The Thai rider crashed into Affendi Rosli, simultaneously taking out both Team One For All riders. Travis Hall became the first Australian rider to step onto the Underbone podium in third place. Mohd Adib Rosley and Mohd Aiman Azman finished 4th and 5th respectively while Mohd Izzat Zaidi, Wahyu Aji Trilaksana, Mohd Amirul Ariff Musa, Syafieq Aiman and Miu Nakahara completed the top 10. Helmi Azman’s double podium in Chennai has brought his championship points up to 134 points. Mohd Izzat Zaidi, still in second overall, has lost some traction in the title chase with 111 points. Fazli Sham jumps up to third overall with 88 points.