16 Mar 2018 Alessandro Valia and Li Zheng-Peng takes Speed Hero 600cc and 1000cc pole positions respectively

On 16 March Friday, under a cloudy sky but with warm temperature, 2018 Pan Delta Super Racing Festival Speed Hero qualifying session took place at 15:10.

Since 2017 Speed Hero was promoted to FIM regional international status, prompting the many international manufacturers to invite international riders to come and race. Their arrival not just raised the competitiveness of the race but also its profile. It is also a stage where local riders can compete on an equal footing with international riders.

Speed Hero 600cc qualifying is first. 26 riders must complete their best lap within the 20 minutes session in order to determine their starting grid positions.

With half the session over, #26 Li Zheng-Peng took his lap record to 1:38.852, #17 Lin Zhi-Fei overtook #23 Deng Yuan-Hong to take 2nd place and CL2 pole position with a 1:41.459.

In the end, CL1 class #26 Li Zheng-Peng took pole position without much opposition. From second to fourth are #17 Lin Zhi-Fei, CL2 #23 Deng Yuan-Hong and CL1 #68 Yu Yao-Long.

Speed Hero 1000cc immediately follows. There are 14 riders in total, half are local and half are from overseas. Huang Shi-Zhao and Simon Kwan lead the local charge, while Alessandro Valia, official test rider for Ducati, lead the overseas group.

The riders in this top level competition are quick to act. By lap 2, 4 riders are already into 1:40s bracket. Open A class Shinjo Masahiro leads with 1:37.193. At 10 minutes, CER Ducati HK's Alessandro Valia recorded a 1:35.139. Huang Shi-Zhao follows with a 1:36.154 to take second position from #7 Shinjo Masahiro.

On lap 7, Valia once again managed the fastest lap 1:34.784 to lock up pole position. CER Ducati HK's two other riders #62 Simon Kwan and #27 Max Lau are third and fourth respectively in Open B class.

CER Ducati HK rider Simon Kwan said after the session, "My teammate Valia performed very well today. The gap between him and second place is quite big. My own bike has some suspension issues. Also Zhuhai's temperature is a little high for my bike, so the lap time is more than 1 second slower than usual. The team will readjust the bike before the race, hopefully we can perform normally in the race.”