Grand double for Aussie star Anthony West
Chennai, 5 Aug 2018: Anthony West’s hot form continued as he scored a lights-to-flag victory, his second of the weekend, while destroying the premier SuperSport 600cc field to stamp his class and authority on the fourth round of the FIM Asia Road Racing Championship which concluded at the MMRT, here on Sunday.
Such was 37-year old West’s supremacy today that he won by over seven seconds while recording his fourth win of the season which put him in line for his maiden ARRC title. While West cruised to victory untroubled and unchallenged on his Yamaha, behind him Tomoyoshi Koyoma (MUSASHi Boon Siew Honda), a former MotoGP rider, won a thrilling scrap with fellow-Japanese, the 19-year old Taiga Hada (Idemitsu Honda Racing India), to grab the second spot. For Hada, who became an instant favourite with the large crowd, it was his second podium of the weekend.
Rafid Topan Sucipto (Yamaha) and Andy Muhammad Fadly (Kawasaki) delivered a 1-2 for Indonesia in the Asia Production 250cc race ahead of Thailand’s Anupab Sarmoon (Yamaha) in a near photo-finish with barely three-tenth of a second separating the trio.
The two Indian riders in this category, Rajiv Sethu and Anish Damodara Shetty, it was a disappointing finish as they rode in 16th and 19th, thus out of points.
Among the most notable podium finishers of the day was 14-year old Australian boy Travis Hall who fought his way to third place, his first podium of the season, in the second race of the highly competitive Underbone 150cc class while Malaysians Ahmad Fazli Sham and Md. Helmi Azman took the top two positions. Incidentally, championship leader in this category Indonesian Rheza Danica Ahrens, who had notched five wins in a row, finished a distant 17th following a crash early in the race.
Bengaluru’s Abhishek Vasudev and Aravind Balasubramaniam (Chennai) shared the honours in the two Idemitsu Honda India Talent Cup races. However, in the championship stakes, Coimbatore’s Senthil Kumar, with two second-place finishes, moved to the top of the leaderboard with 99 points, ahead of Vasudev (88) and Anish Shetty (86) who sat out both the races due to injury.
The TVS One-Make Championship (Apache RR310) double-header dished out close races as Vivek Pillai and PM Soorya, both from Chennai, won one apiece. The victory helped Pillai (94 points) close in on championship leader Deepak Ravikumar (98), who finished second and fifth in the two races, Soorya managed to move up to mid-table with a tally of 33.
The results:
SuperSport 600cc (Race-2, 16 laps): 1. Anthony West (Australia, Webike Kazuchi Racing, Yamaha) (27mins, 10.157secs); 2. Tomoyoshi Koyama (Japan, Musashi Boon Siew Honda Racing) (27:17.240); 3. Taiga Hada (Japan, Idemitsu Honda Racing India) (27:17.568).
Asia Production 250cc (Race-2, 12 laps): 1. Rafid Topan Sucipto (Indonesia, Yamalube KYT TJM WR Super Battery) (22:00:544); 2. Andy Muhammad Fadly (Indonesia, Manual Tech KYT Kawasaki Racing) (22:00.686); 3. Anupab Sarmoon (Thailand, Yamaha Thailand Racing Team) (22:00.830).
Underbone 150cc (Race-2): 1. Ahmad Fazli Sham (Malaysia, Onexox TKKR Racing) (18:59.247); 2. Md. Helmi Azman (Malaysia, SCK Rapido Hi Rev Honda Racing) (18:59.355); 3. Travis Hall (Australia, SCK Rapido Hi Rev Honda Racing Team) (19:03.008).
Idemitsu Honda India Talent Cup (CBR 250) organised by MMSC (Race-1, 6 laps): 1. Abhishek Vasudev (Bengaluru) (12:18.230); 2. Senthil Kumar (Coimbatore) (12:18.792); 3. Aravind Balasubramaniam (Chennai) (12:18.891). Race 2 (8 laps): Aravind Balasubramaniam (Chennai) (16:31.817); 2. Senthil Kumar (Coimbatore) (16:32.049); 3. Amit Richard Topno (Ranchi) (16:33.190).
TVS One-Make Championship (Apache RR310) – Race 1 (6 laps): 1. Vivek Pillai (Chennai) (13:04.471); 2. Deepak Ravikumar (Chennai) (13:06.967); 3. Peddu Sriharsha (Hyderabad) (13:06.968). Race 2 (8 laps): 1. PM Soorya (Chennai) (16:17.261); 2. Vivek Pillai (Chennai) (16:17.821); 3. Yashas RL (Bengaluru) (16:17.926).
