Starting from the second place of the starting grid, Gerry has shown a solid performance since the beginning of the race. After the start, Gerry immediately led the way and outperformed their rivals, having a tight battle until the mid-race. He lost his position, but could remain in the front group and in the last five laps, Rheza also emerged as a new contender for top three. Rheza could even take the first place on Lap 7, before being overtaken by Gerry. The battle became tighter in the final corner. Gerry managed to overcome his rival and take the win.
This is the third consecutive victory for Gerry at the beginning of 2017 in the AP250 class and continues to lead the championship overall with 75 points. The 3rd place reached by Rheza means his first podium finish and also the first for a rider who debuts in AP250 class, riding the competitive bike Honda CBR250RR. Awhin Sanjaya also took an impressive result finishing 5th, despite being down in 11th place in the early laps.
Meanwhile, in SuperSports 600cc class, Irfan Ardiansyah finished in 8th place. During a tough race, the Indonesian rider fought hard in the middle group. Irfan is now in sixth position of the championship standings with 32 points.
Race 2 will be held on Saturday, starting from 13:00 Western Indonesian Time.
QUOTES
“I want to say thank you to my parents, the Astra Honda Racing Team and Indonesian people. Today the weather was very hot and the wind was quite strong. I tried to push in the early laps, but I couldn’t break the group and I changed my strategy to attack in the last three laps. This victory is thanks to the CBR250RR bike, and also to the hard work from the team to achieve the best result.”
Gerry Salim | AHRT ASIA PRODUCTION 250CC RIDER
“Thank you to the Astra Honda Racing Team, all mechanics and especially my parents. Today we had a very tight race since the start until the finish. I tried to follow the other riders lap by lap. I could keep a constant pace and I finally was able to get my first podium by riding my CBR250RR bike. I will try to even improve in the second race.”
Rheza Danica | AHRT ASIA PRODUCTION 250CC RIDER
“I’m quite happy with this first race result. I have found the right set-up for my bike to race in Chang Circuit. But there were some points where I still made some mistakes during the race and I will to try to fix it in the future. Although I started from ninth place I could finish in fifth.”
Awhin Sanjaya | AHRT ASIA PRODUCTION 250CC RIDER
“I’m so happy for the result in this first race. I’m thankful also to all who has supported me, especially my family and Astra Honda Racing Team, as well as the mechanics who have worked hard to find the right set-up for my bike. Although I crashed during qualifying I fought hard during the race, little by little I got the rhythm and finally was able to finish in eighth position.”
Irfan Ardiansyah | AHRT SUPERSPORTS 600CC RIDER