Sunday October 14, 2012

Zamri on front row in ARRC 600cc race

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia’s Mohd Zamri Baba stepped up his bid to win the Petronas Asia Road Racing Championship (ARRC) SuperSports 600cc title by claiming a front row start for today’s race at the Penbay International Circuit in Taiwan.

The Petronas Hong Leong Yamaha qualified third on the grid after clocking an impressive 1:46.611 in qualifying yesterday.

Katsuaki Fujiwara (Manual Tech BEET Kawasaki Racing) took pole position in 1:45.360 while Ryuichi Kiyonari (MUSASHi Boon Siew Honda Racing) recorded the second fastest time of 1:45.858.

“The practice session did not do us much justice. We were overwhelmed by technical issues and I had trouble shifting through the gears on the track,” said Mohd Zamri.

“My gear sequence was wrong and I wasted a lot of time. We started everything from scratch for the qualifying but everything was better after talking to the engineers,” said Zamri.

Things looked good for Mohd Affendi Rosli in the Underbone 115cc class as he secured a front row start for today’s race by posting the third best time of 2:02.519.

Fastest for the day was Indonesia’s Rey Ratukore (Nissin R9 KYT Federal Oil BRT) in 2:01.247 followed by compatriot Hadi Wijaya (Yamaha Yamalube KYT R9 Tunggal Jaya) in 2:02.519.

“It’s great to land a front row start in Penbay. This track has limited space for overtaking so starting ahead of the pack is an added advantage, thus increasing my chances of pulling away from the pack early,” said the 27-year-old Affendi.

Leading qualifying results

SuperSports 600cc: 1. Katsuaki Fujiwara (Kawasaki) 1:45.360, 2. Ryuichi Kiyonari (Honda) 1:45.858, 3. Zamri Baba (Yamaha) 1:46.611, 4. M.Fadli (Kawasaki) 1:46.642, 5. Makoto Inagaki (Yamaha) 1:46.658.

Underbone 115cc: 1. Rey Ratukore (Yamaha) 2:01.247, 2. Hadi Wijaya (Yamaha) 2:01.519, 3. Affendi Rosli (Honda) 2:02.076, 4. Amirul Ariff Musa (Honda) 2:02.094, 5. Denny Triyugo (Honda) 2:02.460.

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