ARRC RD01:PRACTICE REPORT

SUPERSPORTS 600cc

PETRONAS Hong Leong Yamaha went through a mixed but positive outing in the opening practice of the Malaysian PETRONAS Asia Road Racing Championship at the Sepang Circuit on Friday.

Earmarked as one of the possible SuperSports 600cc title candidate, Yuki Ito came in third fastest in the combined practice time sheets with 1’05.842s. Yuki made his fastest time in his 15th lap in FP2.

Quickest man for the day was compatriot, Katsuaki Fujiwara. Running on medium compound tyres, Fujiwara set the quickest lap for the day at 1’05.793s in FP1 which was interrupted by a red flag early into the session following an oil spill caused by Ahmad Fuad Baharudin.

The oil spill also resulted in several crashes that includes Thailand’s Suhatthai Chaemseap, Mohd Fitri Ashraf Razali and Mohd Zamri Baba. Fortunately all the riders escaped without serious injuries.

While the crash did add on to former Yamaha rider, Zamri’s lingering pain from a recovering broken leg, it did not stop the newly appointed Honda rider from topping FP2 with 1’05.793s, which would become the next best effort after Fujiwara in the combined time sheets.

UNDERBONE 130CC

Separately the Malaysian contingent made the most of their home advantage to dominate the Underbone 130cc opening practice.

Norizman Ismail set a scorching pace of 1’22.048s ahead of former teammate, Mohd Affendi Rosli who now rides for PETRONAS Hong Leong Yamaha and Ahmad Fazrul Sham with 1’22.048s and 1’22.217s respectively.

Affendi’s teammate, Ahmad Fazli Sham and Motul Yamaha YY Pang’s Tengku Amirul Haffiruddin completed the top five.

SuperSports 600cc Combined Practice Time 1.Katsuaki Fujiwara (Kawasaki) 1’05.793s 2.Mohd Zamri Baba (Honda) 1’05.814s 3.Yuki Ito (Yamaha) 1’05.842s 4.H.A Yudhistira (Kawasaki) 1’05.843s 5.Makoto Tamada (Honda) 1’05.950s

Underbone 130cc Combined Practice Time 1.Norizman Ismail (Honda) 1’21.682s 2.Mohd Affendi Rosli (Yamaha) 1’22.048s 3.Ahmad Fazrul Sham (Honda) 1’22.217s 4.Ahmad Fazli Sham (Yamaha) 1’22.296s 5.Tengku Amirul Haffiruddin (Yamaha) 1’22.351s