Chennai: Amidst dramatic crashes in searing heat with the track temperatures soaring to 63 degrees, Malaysia’s Mohd. Zaqhwan Zaidi, astride a Honda, powered his way to victory in the premier SuperSports 600cc class as battles for leaderboard positions intensified in the fifth and penultimate round of the Asia Road Racing Championship, hosted by Madras Motor Sports Club at the MMRT track here on Saturday.
Zaidi started second on the grid behind pole-sitter Keminth Kubo (Japan, Yamaha), but eased to the front early in the 16-lap race. He then kept his nerves even as two other Japanese riders, Taiga Hada (Honda) and Yuki Ito (Yamaha), scrapped for the other two podium spots, to post his second win of the season. Hada finished second, ahead of Ito.
India’s Shankar Sarath Kumar achieved his objective of doing a one- minute, 46-second lap, but could not make headway in the competitive 600cc field and finished a lap down in the 12th spot.
Rajiv Sethu clinched the title in the Honda CBR 250 (Open) category of the MMSC One-Make Championship despite finishing fifth in the support race which was won by Deepak Ravikumar.
The 10 points that Sethu earned took his tally to 179, well clear of second-placed Hari Krishnan Rajagopal (145), who in turn, is 39 ahead of Anish Shetty with just one more race to be run on Sunday.
Arun Muthukrishnan took the honours in the other support race, the TVS Apache 200 (Open) where Sivanesan, who finished third behind Anand Kumar, has already clinched the title.
The results (provisional):
SuperSports 600cc, Race 1 (16 laps): 1. Md. Zaqhwan Zaidi (Mas, Honda) 27:20.721; 2. Taiga Hada (Jap, Honda) 27:21.347; 3. Yuki Ito (Jap, Yamaha) 27:21.710.
Asia Production 250cc, Race 1 (12 Laps): 1. Tomoyoshi Koyama (Jap, Honda) 22: 07.059; 2. Anupab Sarmoon (Tha, Yamaha) 22: 07.176; 3. Galang Hendra Pratama (Ina, Yamaha) 22:11.328).
Underbone 150cc, Race 1 (10 Laps): 1. Fakhrusy Syakirin Rostam (Mas, Honda) 19:14.180; 2. Md. Haziq Md. Fairues (Mas, Yamaha) 19: 14.358; 3. Azroy Hakeem Anuar (Mas, Honda) 19:14.432.
Support Races (MMSC One-Make Championship): Honda CBR 250 (Open), Race 1 (10 Laps): 1. Deepak Ravikumar (Chennai) 20:31.867; 2. Anish D. Shetty (Hubballi) 20:33.699; 3. Hari Krishnan Rajagopal (Chennai) 20:33.916.
TVS Apache 200 (Open), Race 1 (10 Laps): 1. Arun Muthukrishnan (Che) 22:07.866; 2. Anand Kumar S. (Che) 22:08.311; 3. Sivanesan S. (Che) 22:08.401.