DOHA: Malaysia’s Azlan Shah Kamaruzaman claimed the SuperSports 600cc Asian trophy to bring back the crown to Malaysia after 12 long years in the 2013 PETRONAS Asia Road Racing Championship, held at Losail International Circuit.
After topping the qualifying times, Azlan used his prime starting position to good effect as he charged to his first double win of the season.
In Race One, Azlan seized the lead at the first lap and stormed the finish line, leaving Zamri Baba, Broc Parkes, and Katsuaki Fujiwara fighting for second position.
The Malaysian rider completed the 15-lap race with a time of 32:20.579 seconds, 7.964 seconds faster than second-placed Fujiwara and third placed Zamri Baba.
The second race of the category, was delayed due to a crash by Md Farid Badrul Hisham during the warm-up lap, which resulted the race being reduced to
13 laps.
After his win in Race One, Azlan only needed 0.5 points to seal the championship and could have taken it easy by just completing the race within the points.
Instead, Azlan still had intentions to win the second race.
Parkes, in particular, was extremely strong in the final two laps of the race and came close to preventing Azlan from ending the season on a high note. However, Azlan fought back and pipped the Australian rider to the finish line.
Behind the duelling leaders, Fujiwara muscled past Zamri Baba and finished third with a time of 27:59.440s.
The newly-crowned champion said: “This weekend was extremely challenging and the crew worked really hard to produce the best bike possible.”
Azlan added: “We got lucky in Race One because I was able to escape the tussle between Fujiwara, Zamri, Broc and Yudhistira but Race Two was a bit more dramatic. My rivals were so much faster and was a bit more aggressive than usual which is understandable because it is the final race of the season.”
“I had to work really hard to get ahead of them but towards the end I was sliding all over the place and this was when Broc caught up. By right I should have tone down the pace a notch because going any faster would be very risky but I was not about to let another victory slip away. Fortunately everything went well,” he said.
With 12 consecutive podiums to his name, Azlan etches his name as one of the SuperSports 600cc greats with 228 points. Fujiwara came second and Zamri was third with 194.5 points and 149.5 points respectively in the standings.
Team MUSASHi Boon Siew Honda Racing made it a double celebration as they successfully defended the Team Award in
the SuperSports 600cc
category.
Elsewhere, Indonesia’s Hadi Wijaya claimed an historic Underbone 115cc title after becoming the first rider to win the Asian Underbone title three times.
Needing only 20 more points to clinch the deal, the R9 Racing Team rider claimed the honours when he came third for Race One. He timed 19’15.910 seconds behind winner, Mohd Affendi Rosli (Harian Metro Y-TEQ SCK Honda Racing), who clocked 19’15.810 while Thailand’s Vorapong Malahuan finished second. THE PENINSULA
