07 Dec 2019 Hong Yuan Racing #77 wins a dramatic race-Speed Hero 3 Hours Endurance Race
At noon on 7 December, Speed Hero 3 Hours Endurance Race officially begins. After a dramatic race, Hong Yuan Racing #77 Li Hong/Huang Yan-Jia/Ma Sai comes through to win with a steady performance. The trio completed 103 laps to take overall victory.
At 12:45 p.m. the 3 hours race begins, a total of 12 teams have entered 23 groups of riders. At the start #71 moves into the overall lead with #453 following closely behind. Pole position starter #77 makes an early rider change and is in last place. On lap 3 #453 overtakes #71 to take the lead, while #1 has also moved up to third place. After 15 laps, the order is set and the top 5 are #453, #71, #1, #72 and #83. #77 is moving up the order and is now running in 8th place.
Near the 35 minutes mark, all the teams prepare for rider changes. But race leader #453 continues to circulate and its lead is now over a lap. 5 minutes later, race leader #453 finally goes into the pits for a rider change. At this stage the order is #453, #1 and #71. At the one hour mark, #61 and #77 exceed the speed limit in the pit lane and are given drive through penalties.
The race enters the second hour. #453 still has a big lead, but in CL2 class #1 and #72 are enjoying a great battle. In the end #72 successfully overtakes and moves up to second place. At the 1 hour 20 minutes mark, the top 3 enter the pits at the same time for rider changes. But as they exit the pit lane there is a change of order. #71 and #77 have moved up to second and third places. #1 and #72 are down in 4th and 5th places. #453 continues to lead.
With 90 minutes left to go, the top 5 are: #453 leads with a big gap, #77 are up to second place and has a 15 seconds gap to #71 in third place. In CL2 class, #1 and #72 continue to battle. #72 successfully gets ahead to take fourth place and begins to pull away.
With 35 minutes to go, at T4, #453 loses control and falls down, #83, running directly behind is unable to avoid it and the two teammates hit. The safety car is deployed. #453 is not able to re-start and the rider takes the transponder off the bike and runs back to the pits to put on the team’s other bike. The safety car returns to the pit lane after the accident is cleared and the race resumes. At this time #77 is in the lead and pulling away. #453 is down to third place after the accident. In the last 10 minutes, #453 once again returns to the pits due to mechanical problems and sadly has to retire from the race. On the last lap, #1 runs out of fuel at T11, the rider gets down and pushes the bike over the finish line. But as external help has been used to bring the bike back on track, the team is disqualified. In the end, Hong Yuan Racing #77 Li Hong/Huang Yan-Jia/Ma Sai takes overall victory with 103 laps. Dan Kruger Racing #71 Dan Kruger/Wu Rong-Zhi and Jim777y GT Racing Team #72 Chen Hong-Yan/Li Hai-Bo/Karl Yip finish second and third respectively. Both teams completed 102 laps.
In the classes, CL1 top 3 are: Hong Yuan Racing #77 Li Hong/Huang Yan-Jia/Ma Sai, Dan Kruger Racing #71 Dan Kruger/Wu Rong-Zhi and Dream Team #7 Chen Xuan-Ming/Hong Jiang-Ping; CL2 top 3 are Jim777y GT Racing Team #72 Chen Hong-Yan/Li Hai-Bo/Karl Yip, Shi Zhao Racing #37 Jiang Jiang/Jiang Zhuo-Ran, Shi Zhao Racing #109 Chen Hai-Lei/Huang He; CL3 top 3 are Dainese Lash Racing #83 Ao Ieong Hou/Mai Zhi-Cong, Shenzhen 299&YNSSC Racing #299 Zeng Zhi-Qi/Luo Tao/Mai Hao-Yuan and Shi Zhao Racing #56 Jiang Ou/Chen Ya-Lei.
Overall champion Hong Yuan Racing #77 states,“We feel very good to have taken first place overall. But in the race we committed many low level mistakes. Fortunately in the second half of the race we were able to adjust and maintain a good attitude, we were able to go faster and faster, in the end we won and we are very happy. We will return for next year’s endurance race.”
Second overall Dan Kruger Racing #71 says, “Dan Kruger suffered an injury in the Macau Motorcycle Grand Prix in November. It is very difficult for him to finish the race while carrying that injury. We could not have finished second without the support of our team.”
Third place over all Jim777y GT Racing Team #72 says, “It is very emotional for us to take third place overall and CL2 class victory. It is a breakthrough and growth for our whole team. In the entire race we have been flawless and the rider changes were excellent. We are very happy with the result.”
Pirelli is the sole official tyre supplier for the Speed Hero 3 Hours Endurance Race. For this race they supplied SC0,SC1 and SC2 tyres. All tyres originate from the World Superbike Championship (WSBK). These tyres can enhance the handling abilities of the motorcycles, giving the riders more possibilities to achieve great results.
2019 Speed Hero 3 Hours Endurance Race is over. We now look forward to March 2020 when the riders and teams return for the Pan Delta Super Racing Festival.