The SuperSports 600cc was fired up this afternoon with the rush to victory at Chang International Circuit. Nakarin Atiratphuvapat of HONDA RACING THAILAND emerged winner in Race 2 of Round 1, FIM Asia Road Racing Championship (ARRC).
Time waits for no man and Super KIP knew that phrase all too well when he dove into motion as the race was flagged off yesterday. Nakarin however was not about to bow defeat on his home-ground and went on a chase before taking lead. Unfortunately, SS600 seeks perfection and one wrong move was another man’s advantage. Helmi on the other hand took a calmer approach and braved through confidently for the third spot.
In today’s race, Nakarin beat Khairul to the punch at turn 1 but down to the second sector, Khairul was quick to overtake Nakarin before completing lap 1. At P3 and P4, Keito Abe and Soichiro were bracing the challenge but the latter was quicker. Three laps down, Nakarin was chasing Khairul furiously. By the 3rd turn of lap 5, Khairul managed to form a slight gap while Soichiro inched closer to Nakarin.
By mid-race, Khairul was 0.446s apart but Nakarin was picking up speed. Meanwhile, Keito Abe was fighting to close up the gap with Soichiro. By the 10th lap, Nakarin made his way closer to Khairul with approximately, 0.239s gap. The Thai lad was determined to close the gap and make his up way into P1. One more lap to go and Nakarin is getting closer towards Khairul and at turn 4, he made it pass the Malaysian. Nakarin broke away from Khairul at 0.105s gap and succeeded victoriously at 20’02:187s.
Commenting on the race, Nakarin said, “Last night I couldn’t sleep as I kept thinking about the race and how to do differently today. The game was pretty similar to yesterday but I tried my best to manage to tires till the last lap. Personally, KIP is very strong. But I tried overtake him at the last lap and close the gap at the last corner and I made it.”
Khairul Idham Pawi of BOON SIEW HONDA RACING TEAM took second at 20’02:292s.
At the third spot, it was Soichiro Ninamimoto of YAMAHA GEN BLU RACING TEAM ASEAN at 20’05:717s.
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