On an afternoon interrupted by torrential rain, Shinichi Nakatomi, no stranger to ARRC and especially to Suzuka, scored a brilliant win in race two on a wet track.
Nakatomi had been unable to find the right set-up for the dry race one on Saturday, but revelled in the conditions that Suzuka served up on Sunday.
From the start Zaqhwan got away well, but was quickly passed by Yamaha Thailand’s Ratthapong Wilairot, then Nakatomi, who shot through after starting from ninth on the grid, Broc Parkes and Yuki Ito. Azlan Shah got a poor start, and finished lap one in eighth. Apiwat Wongthananon, who had started from the outside of the front row, also fell back from the start.
Ratthapong held the lead until lap three, when Nakatomi got through. Yuki Ito, riding with a strapped up broken ankle from a crash on Friday, displaced the Thai for third.
At mid distance Broc was four bike lengths back in fourth, but gradually reeled in and passed Ratthapong. Meanwhile Nakatomi was passed briefly by Ito, but regained his place and stretched his lead by a few tenths a lap, displaying confidence in his bike and his tyres by sliding through some of the turns. With two laps left, Broc closed on his injured team-mate, who resisted until turn 15 on final time around, when the Australian got good drive out of the spoon curve and went past.
Ito stayed close, but was unable to stop Broc from taking second, two seconds behind a jubilant Nakatomi. Ratthapong came through in fourth, five seconds further back and with a similar margin between himself and fifth-placed Zaqhwan. Azlan got past Apiwat and Yudhistira to finish sixth. Apiwat won a four way battle for eighth ahead of Kazuma Tsuda, Chaiwichit Nisakul and Bryan Staring.
With 45 points from his weekend’s work, Broc Parkes extends his points total to 150, now 27 clear of Azlan Shah, who earned himself 26 points in Suzuka. Zaqhwan lies third on 115.