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Hadi Wijaya ended his 2013 Underbone 115cc campaign on a historic high when he became the first rider to win the Asian title thrice. |
Needing only 20 more points to clinch the deal, the R9 Racing Team rider claimed the honours when he finished third for the first race at the Losail International Circuit. He timed 19:15.910 behind winner, Mohamed Affendi Rosli (Harian Metro Y-TEQ SCK Honda Racing) with 19:15.810 and Thailand’s Vorapong Malahuan (Honda NJT Racing) with 19:15.885.
Wijaya then capped off a memorable campaign when he claimed his third victory for the season in the second race with his trademark last minute dash, crossing the finish line in 19:11.578, a mere 0.006 seconds ahead of Mohamed Amirul Ariff Musa (19:11.584) and Kazuki Masaki (19:11.618).
Bagging 41 points, Hadi locked in the rider standings with 220 points followed by Ahmad Afif with 171 points and Affendi with 130 points.
However, this season, the rider’s trophy and the team trophy in the Underbone 115cc class was split. While the rider’s title will be returning home to Indonesia with Wijaya, the team title has landed into the hands of team Harian Metro Y-TEQ SCK Honda with 235 points. Wijaya’s team, R9 Racing, ended the season in second overall with 221 points followed by PETRONAS Hong Leong Yamaha in third overall with 171 points.
After twelve long years, the SuperSports 600cc Asian trophy returns to Malaysian shores carried proudly by Azlan Shah Kamaruzaman.
In Race 1, Azlan seized the lead at the first lap and proceeded to storm to 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 32:20.579s, 7.964s ahead of second placed Fujiwara and third placed Zamri Baba.
After his win in Race 1, 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, the Malaysian rider pipped Parkes by 0.180 seconds with Fujiwara finishing third.
Hiroki Ono could not have asked for a better way to sign off the season when he recorded a double victory in the final leg of the 2013 Asia Dream Cup season.
Ono, who had already secured the overall title in Japan last September, completed Race 1 first within 18:21.668 followed by Malaysian, Mohd Fitri Ashraf Razali second and Indonesian rider, Gerry Salim third, 18:26.087 and 18:26.163 respectively.
Race 2 would have been the showdown between Fitri and Gerry who by then, were tied on points with 171 points each. However, the Japanese rider went on to dominate Race 2, crossing the finish line first within 18:18.514. In second place came Reitoku Kurogi in 18:18.549, with Salim finished third with 18:18.551.